  We define a Higgs descendant $\chi$ to be a particle beyond the standard
model whose mass arises predominantly from the vacuum expectation value of the
Higgs boson. Higgs descendants arise naturally from new physics whose intrinsic
mass scale is unrelated to the electroweak scale. The coupling of $\chi$ to the
Higgs boson is fixed by the mass and spin of $\chi$, yielding a highly
predictive setup in which there may be substantial modifications to the
properties of the Higgs boson. For example, if the decay of the Higgs boson to
$\chi$ is kinematically allowed, then this branching ratio is largely
determined. Depending on the stability of $\chi$, Higgs decays may result in a
variety of possible visible or invisible final states. Alternatively, loops of
$\chi$ may affect Higgs boson production or its decays to standard model
particles. If $\chi$ is stable dark matter, then the mandatory coupling between
$\chi$ and the Higgs boson gives a lower bound on the direct detection cross
section as a function of the $\chi$ mass. We also present a number of explicit
models which are examples of Higgs descendants. Finally, we comment on Higgs
descendants in the context of the excesses near 125 GeV recently observed at
ATLAS and CMS.
