Community Suggestion: Family Tree (Full View w/ Multiple Bloodlines) Alongside Timelines
Family Tree (Full View w/ Multiple Bloodlines) Alongside Timelines
What functionality is missing? What is unsatisfying with the current situation?
While, already confirmed that the ability to see "Full Family Trees" is in the works, it is not currently available, AND the ability to easily and generally see where your characters fall in history is not available.
How does this feature request address the current situation?
I have made a family tree similar to what I'm discussing but it isn't very interactive and does not exist with the World Anvil platform which would be cool to effectively peruse through the world's history of important characters and click on one and be taken to their page.
Basically what it would show is a large canvas with a timeline running vertically down the sides. On the canvas are columns with specific families/bloodlines/dynasties (columns that are easily swapped with other columns in some editing mode for easier organization). Within these columns are characters located vertically in relation to the timeline on the date they are born (don't want to show how long they've lived simply to avoid clutter). For clarity with large families, deceased ancestors could be greyed out and maybe come with a "(Deceased)" tag. Currently living characters would not be greyed out. Above the parent of a dynasty would be a dynasty header and above/alongside new houses could also exist a smaller house header though that is pretty specific. I would also say that something like a "notes" feature could be good to give context to specific characters if desired.
It's a good way to visualize your world through it's characters.
What are other uses for this feature request?
I think the uses for this are as follows:
1. Visual tool that allows seeing the web of bloodlines that exist in a world AND where they fall in the world's history.
2. A way to integrate existing timeline features into the family tree feature that specifically highlights characters and maybe important world events so you can begin to get inside of the landscape that a character would have existed in.
3. Organizational tool to see if there are gaps in world history. This could be a good tool to identify places that could be filled with something OR could be good ways to identify naturally occurring dark ages or ages of peace that help create the narrative of a world.
The Team's Response
Thanks for your suggestion! This is an interesting idea, so thank you for bringing it up. While this is accepted, the exact feature you described is quite ambitious (technically more complicated than Chronicles, and with potentially a smaller userbase), so it won't be implemented like this. However, we are planning an update that will probably address what you want to do in some way (although, again, differently than how you described it). In the meantime, you could create a regular timeline, and use each timeline lane for a different dynasty, using events to mark character births and deaths. You could also use Chronicles and use a family tree image as the "map": as Chronicle events can change the map, you could have different timelines/lanes for each dynasty, and clicking each birth/death event could show the corresponding family tree. Here's the guide to timelines: https://www.worldanvil.com/learn/timelines/timelines, and here's the guide to chronicles: https://www.worldanvil.com/learn/chronicles/chronicles32/300 Votes · +7601 points
Votes Cast
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+300
by Attacus
on 2026-07-03 01:12 -
+300
by alomo34
on 2026-07-02 21:03 -
+300
by MPvDgamer
on 2026-06-28 23:32 -
+300
by Sondorax
on 2026-06-28 21:06 -
+100
by FzN!
on 2026-06-28 07:01 -
+300
by ISpeakDragonese
on 2026-06-27 16:42 -
+100
by Kobb
on 2026-06-27 03:42Only issue I see with having people appear along the y axis when they were born is that if people who are born somewhat far apart get married it might create some wonky situations
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+100
by PhoenixRae
on 2026-06-26 04:45 -
+100
by Elb Tenebris
on 2026-06-25 20:36 -
+300
by EleKTriiK
on 2026-06-24 00:35 -
+300
by Kyberian
on 2026-06-23 23:42 -
+300
by Ratha
on 2026-06-21 13:31 -
+100
by Josh Rendragon
on 2026-06-21 08:31 -
+300
by Kilgs
on 2026-06-20 23:39The family tree function is what makes a couple of my games possible and you've done a great job. But the above changes would allow it to be more useful and navigable as a tool for viewers.
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+300
by kerahope
on 2026-06-20 00:22 -
+300
by ChroniclesofEvalaw
on 2026-06-19 12:11 -
+300
by Lonnie makes mayhem
on 2026-06-18 04:37 -
+300
by Knuffel
on 2026-06-16 12:34 -
+300
by Avendir
on 2026-06-15 21:09 -
+300
by Nightone
on 2026-06-15 20:29 -
+300
by Adcheryl
on 2026-06-15 14:12 -
+300
by irpguardian
on 2026-06-14 22:13 -
+1
by A Thundering Dimensional Horror
on 2026-06-14 19:34 -
+100
by LukeCreepus
on 2026-06-14 18:50 -
+300
by Stoatally
on 2026-06-13 21:43 -
+100
by FictionFan1995
on 2026-06-13 21:22 -
+300
by Aia Danuja
on 2026-06-13 01:57 -
+300
by Bambam57
on 2026-06-12 01:35 -
+300
by Tiberius_thrax
on 2026-06-10 16:34 -
+100
by CreativeTechy
on 2026-06-10 14:54 -
+100
by kaixabu
on 2026-06-10 11:29 -
+100
by Gerden11
on 2026-06-09 21:30 -
+300
by JohnnyPoo11d12
on 2026-06-09 17:48
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