A character living in the shadow of the glacier in Britain has descendants who have the same character traits in the modern age. One character in particular was an Ice Age thief and would-be rapist of another man's wife. Throughout the following millennia, his descendants continue his legacy, expanding it to cover the stealing of lands and even claims to nobility of their neighbors, all the way into the final chapter. I know many people may have a problem with this idea. Many feel that we are our own individual selves and not slaves to our ancestry, and I agree.
People cherish their link to the past.
Now more than ever, people are exploring their heritage in order to define themselves, embracing the ways of their ancestors, even though they probably can't even point out what country they were from on a map. Accordingly, it seems that who our forefathers were is very important in shaping who we are. We model ourselves after our parents, who modeled themselves after their parents, who modeled themselves after theirs, and so on. So I can easily see how we in the modern age would be just like our ancestors, especially when we try so hard to be as much like them as we can. Compassion, fear, hatred, good and evil can indeed all be handed down from father to son.