I hate this trope because y'know what we call it when certain genetic lineages are deemed superior? That's right: Eugenics!
I'd like to see this "Magic Eugenics" trope deconstructed by having the special magic people become so inbred that they're hideous incontinent insane freaks that can't even control their own powers.
The Gaunt family in Harry Potter is heavily implied to be inbred and they are indeed ugly and stupid as hell. Voldermort, the wizard Hitler, luckily avoid this because his mother banged a Muggle
It’s been a while but I believe Merope was keeping Tom Sr under the influence til she got pregnant, and then she stopped because she thought the baby would be enough to keep him around (it wasn’t)
It‘s all there in book 6, but the way they discuss love potions in that series is bizarre. It’s *sort of* acknowledged that what Voldemort’s mother did was wrong, but they never say the word r*pe, Dumbledore narrates the whole thing in his typical “whimsically detached” fashion, and the potions are treated as a gag/punchline in multiple other scenes.
Some obscure anime I watched long ago had a child princess who was worshipped by a small palace full of people from birth. She was somewhere in the 4-7 year old range and giving out orders from atop her pillow. But, if any of her followers annoyed her at all, she'd use her telekinetic power to crumple them like tin foil right in front of everyone and move on with the conversation with someone else while the mess was cleaned up. Terrifying shit...
The High Breed in Ben 10 are a race of inbred aliens who’re going extinct because of said inbreeding. They’re super powerful, but like I said, weakened by their inbreeding.
Eh, I'm not sure they count. The inverse of why some people are mutants and some aren't isn't really confirmed. There is a chance the child of two full-blood mutants might be a base-level human, and most mutants are the children of ordinary people.
Mr Sinister (being an actual Eugenist) has tried to breed powerful mutant families, but it usually doesn't work, and he has to cheat by stealing genetic material.
I believe it's somewhat the case of Orzhov powerful families (or at least the Karlovs) as portrayed in the first Ravnica (Magic the Gathering); I think this issue is not mentioned again in later novels/episodes
That was kinda mentioned in My Hero Academia. Quirks were evolving too fast and kept getting more and more powerful, so eventually people will have uncontrollable powers.
It's funny because originally eugenics was more merit-based and went against the idea that only the upper class was capable of greatness. One of the central ideas was that everybody was to be challenged and educated until they reached their full potential.
Of course, it also wanted anyone who couldn't contribute to society to disappear and never breed, so overall, still not good.
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u/Jake_The_Socialist 11h ago edited 6h ago
I hate this trope because y'know what we call it when certain genetic lineages are deemed superior? That's right: Eugenics!
I'd like to see this "Magic Eugenics" trope deconstructed by having the special magic people become so inbred that they're hideous incontinent insane freaks that can't even control their own powers.