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'''Refia:''' "Too"? You mean-- <br />
'''Arc:''' I'm one, too! <br />
'''Ingus:''' Wait a minute...I, too, have no parents...|''[[
All people come with a past, a family, friends, a heritage, in other words: Every person has roots!
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Handily prevents the sadistic [[Game Master]] from exploiting [[The Load|'weak links']] that can get [[Distressed Damsel|kidnapped]] or [[Player Punch|killed off]]. If the fates of the missing parents are left nebulous, it also opens the door for that infamous twist where one of them turns out to be a villain. [[Luke, I Am Your Father|You know the one]].
Oddly enough, family outside of parents is never mentioned. Apparently [[World of No Grandparents|no one ever has grandparents]] or cousins, although having an uncle (and sometimes aunt) as surrogate parents is a common mythological motif. Siblings seem to only show up for plot-based reasons -- and not [[Promotion to Parent]], which would give them responsibilities. One wonders how the world manages to get populated when every couple only has one child. Surrogate parents show up more regularly in the form of [[Raised
The hero's orphaning is also a nice triggering point for the hero's journey. This part of the Hero's backstory is often covered in a [[Flash Back]]. If the orphaning happens at the very beginning of the story, instead of in the background, it's usually covered by [[Doomed Hometown]].
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** And the status of the parents of Lina's later allies in the novels (Luke and Milina) is unknown.
* 80% of all characters in ''[[G Gundam]]'' are orphans, major and minor characters, and a few of them have only one parent. The rest are undetermined. For many of them, this plays a role in why they became Gundam Fighters.
* Almost everyone in ''[[Saint Seiya:
* Hayate of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', which allowed her to raise a family of [[Ridiculously-Human Robots|sentient alien programs]] on her own [[Wise Beyond Their Years|since the age of nine]] and, as mentioned in the [[Comic Book Adaptation|supplementary comics]], move to Mid-childa before she even graduated from high school. Like most orphans, she does have an "[[Honorary Uncle|uncle]]" who was a friend of her father's taking care of her, although it's only financially {{spoiler|and it turns out that he never knew her father, and believes that because she is an orphan, few will have to mourn her once she's sealed away with the Book of Darkness}}.
* Most of the Strawhat crew in ''[[
** For a while, it seemed that Luffy was a victim of this trope as well, his lack of parentage explained with a throwaway remark that "that kid has no parents" in the first chapter. Years later, we learned that Luffy was actually raised by his grandfather, and that his dad, at least, is alive (he's just the most wanted man in the world, which can make it tough to raise a kid.)
* Simon of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' lost his parents in an earthquake before the start of the series, so when his [[Blood Brothers|blood brother]] Kamina decides they're going to the surface, he doesn't have anything holding him back. In a twist, Gimmy and Darry are chosen to go to the surface explicitly because they don't have family who will mourn their departure.
* Nearly all of the members of the ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
* Sousuke Sagara of ''[[Full Metal Panic]]'' being rendered an orphan helps justify why he can keep risking his life with no regard for consequences. Although his mother dying for his sake and her dramatic [[Last Words]] telling him he must "live," "never give up," and "fight!" does have the other purpose of making him the [[Crazy Survivalist]] he is today, it mainly seems to serve as a plot device to allow the readers to realize he simply has no one waiting for him.
* At one point in ''[[Hellsing]]'', during the [[Action Film Quiet Drama Scene|Quiet Drama Scene]], while discussing Seras' progress Alucard asks Walter how they covered up her death and how her family is taking it. When Walter replies that she has none and is an orphan, Alucard sardonically replies "Of ''course'' she is". However, since Seras was already an adult by the time she died, the circumstances and consequences of her parents' deaths turns out to be a major part of her character and the series veering into [[Crapsack World]] territory and running on [[Black and Grey Morality]], it's a justified trope.
* Son Goku of ''[[
* ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'': Played straight with [[Love Interest|Lyra]] who is able to play and go on adventures with Kimba, but the trope is [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructed]] with Kimba due to his [["Well Done, Son" Guy]] relationship he has with his father who [[Death By Origin Story|was killed off before Kimba was born.]]
* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', Red is the only Dex Holder to have no family even alluded to, leaving him free to travel the world where ever and whenever he wants.
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* [[Iron Man]]
* [[Batman]]
* [[Spider
** Also more than a few members of the supporting cast have lost one (Mary Jane, Harry Osborn, John Jameson) or both (Betty Brant, Gwen Stacy) parents.
* The debut issue of ''[[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' makes it clear up front that Rick Jones (Bruce Banner's newly-acquired teenaged sidekick) is an orphan.
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* The Plutonian of ''[[Irredeemable]]'' is yet another convenient superhero orphan. The series actually deconstructs this Trope, examining the effect it can really have on a little boy with super-powers.
** The Plutonian was also abandoned by his subsequent foster parents, after he accidentally crippled their biological son. They even devoted themselves to ''never speak again'' just so he wouldn't pick up their voices by superhearing.
* [[
* [[Tintin
== Film ==
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** Used as a (possible) plot point; he was chosen ''because'' he's an orphan, so family is not a factor upon training/traveling, nor will it be leverage should he be captured.
* A great many of the main characters in ''[[Star Wars]]'' are orphans. Han Solo and Anakin Skywalker are both orphans. Both Luke and Leia are orphaned - twice. Every Jedi raised back the Clone Wars era (and a long time before that as well), save Anakin and a few others I may have forgotten, was taken from their parents when they were still an infant and brought to the Temple.
* {{spoiler|Flynn Rider}} has this trope as part of his backstory in ''[[
* The two aliens of ''[[Megamind]]'' are both orphans in the extreme, given that their entire home planets have been destroyed. This allows them to experience two very different childhoods upon arriving on Earth.
* An extreme number of Disney characters have missing or killed parents. The characters where both parents are absent are: [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]], [[Lilo and Stitch|Lilo and Nani]], [[Snow White
* Subverted in ''[[Ordinary People]]'' (the novel more than the film, though it's mentioned in both). Calvin, the father, grew up in an orphanage in Detroit. While he lives a very stable life as a successful tax lawyer with a wife and children, he's haunted by his past and admits to feelings of rootlessness when he talks to his son's psychiatrist.
== Literature ==
* ''[[
** Bilbo himself, though not an orphan, manages to avoid marriage, and thus has no family ties holding him back when he goes on his adventure.
* [[Oliver Twist]] is an orphan.
* Molly Moon from the Molly Moon books, as well as most of her friends.
* Kinsey Millhone loves being an orphan (was raised by her aunt).
* [[Harry Potter]] is an orphan, raised by his aunt and uncle. [[
* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' features many of them.
** Commissiars are required to be orphans. As a consequence:
*** [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]]. Amberly Vail notes that he gives out little information about his past, and that about his parents contradicts known facts.
*** [[Dan Abnett]]'s Ibram Gaunt of ''[[
** Ragnor Blackmane, of William King's ''[[Space Wolf]]'' novels, is orphaned in the opening of the first. A major motivation for him is desire for [[Revenge]] on a fellow Space Marine who had been part of the opposing force.
* You would not believe how many characters in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] are orphaned. [[X Wing Series|Wedge Antilles]] lost both his parents when he was around twelve, Tycho Celchu was a pilot for the Empire whose entire family was on Alderaan, Corran Horn lost his mother to a speeder accident and his father to a criminal. Most of these characters are adults, and the loss of their parents spurred them to join the Rebellion. While her parents aren't dead, Mara Jade was taken from them at an early age and never looked back.
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** His ''mother'' left before he was born.
*** Lampshaded/mentioned in Unseen Academicals when only people with a note from their mother are excused from playing football. Rincewind asks the Arch-Chancellor for permission to go ask his mother for such a note. "I thought you said you didn't have a mother." [beat] "Permission to go find her, Arch-Chancellor?"
* Simon from ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
* In the Replica series, Nancy Candler is an orphan with no living relatives, making it easy for her to pass off an adopted genetically altered clone as her biological daughter without anyone raising eyebrows.
* The title character in ''[[James and
* [[Moses in
** Actually, Moses biological parents weren't only alive when they cast him off, his mom wound up becoming his nurse, so they raised him too.
* [[Doc Savage]] lost his father in his very first adventure, The Man of Bronze, and his mother had died at some point prior to that. Which begs the question, if you're full grown when your parents die, are you still an orphan?
* In [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], Yoren deliberately invokes this, telling {{spoiler|Arya}} to claim to be an orphan, since no one will give an orphan taking the Black a second glance.
* Per [[Word of God]], virtually everyone in the web-novel ''[[
* Harry Dresden, from the Dresden Files. His mother died shortly after he was born, and his father died when he was around 7. Then, later on, while living with Justin Du Morne he's orphaned again when {{spoiler|he kills Justin}}.
* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Okay, Nikki Quinn's parents are dead. Kathryn Lucas's parents are dead. Isabelle Flanders's parents are dead (maybe). Yoko Akia's mother is dead and her father is a [[Complete Monster]]. Abner Tookus's parents are dead (maybe). There's certainly a lot of orphan characters to go around!
* ''[[The
* Subverted in [[
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== Video Games ==
* A ''[[Parental Abandonment|really]]'' common occurrence in ''[[Final Fantasy]]'':
** Cloud from ''[[
*** And Aerith (though she was raised by Elmyra for fifteen years), Tifa, Marlene (raised by Barret), Red XIII...
** In ''[[
** Most of the main characters are orphans in ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** Zidane in ''[[
** In ''[[
** ''[[
** Both Vaan and Penelo from ''[[
*** Ditto with [[Ascended Extra|Ascended Extras]] Kytes and Filo from the sequel ''[[Revenant Wings]]''.
** Lightning, Serah, and Snow in ''[[
*** Though this is totally averted with the [[Big Bad]]. {{spoiler|It's unclear if, as a [[Mechanical Lifeform]], it really has parents, but the game is fond of related symbolism in regards to it, and at the very least it was abandoned by the gods who created it. Unlike the heroes, it took the [[Orphan's Ordeal|trauma]] of this situation rather badly. [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum|very badly]] actually.}} Unfortunately the heroes never [[Not So Different|discuss this]].
** Rafa and Malak in ''[[
* [[Follow the Leader|Similarly]], Dart from ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'', in addition to the [[Doomed Hometown]] at the beginning of the game.
* [[Metroid|Samus Aran]] was orphaned and raised by Chozo, who have since [[Ascend to
* ''[[Disgaea]]'': Larharl and Etna are orphans. {{spoiler|At least, Laharl ''thinks'' he's one.}}
* As is Cornet, the main character of ''[[Rhapsody a Musical Adventure|Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure]]''. She lives with her grandfather. {{spoiler|If you've played Disgaea, you'll probably see the twist coming.}}
* ''[[
* ''[[Phantom Brave]]'': Marona and Ash become orphans in the introduction.
* ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'': Revya and Danette are orphans.
* ''[[
** She definitely counts in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' viciously delights in killing off family. It's gotten to the point that if a character has a parent/sibling/uncle that loves them, nine out of ten times they're dead before the game is up, if not killed before it. {{spoiler|Lyn's parents were both killed by bandits, Hector's parents and brother die of disease, Eliwood's dad is killed by Nergal, Raven's parents committed suicide when their house was attacked, Lucius's father was killed and his mother died of sickness, Serra's parents abandoned her, Erk's are absent, both Jaffar and Nino have dead parents, Lowen probably takes the cake though, having lost first his parents, then his grandparents in fairly quick succession.}}
** You missed the worst part of Nino's family situation: {{spoiler|Her adopted family are all bosses late in the game. The worst part of it is, they're not bad guys at all, and some of the conversations if you force Nino to attack them are pretty heart wrenching. Worse still, their dead bodies are reanimated in the last level, which means she has to kill them TWICE.}}
*** What about the other part? {{spoiler|When she faces off against Sonia, the woman she thought of as her mother her entire life and who she only wanted to please, the bitch is quite happy to tell Nino how she slaughtered the girl's real parents for their knowledge on dragons and Nino's real mother died shielding her. Oh, and the only reason Sonia didn't kill Nino as well is because she figured Nino might be useful later.}}
* In ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'', just about everyone in your entire party is an orphan. With most of them, all we get is either the parent left or the parent died, or both, no further explanation. We only find out how one parent died, although it's implied (very ''very'' subtly) that several of the mothers died in childbirth. In all honesty, it feels a little ridiculous at times.
* ''[[
* In [[Baten Kaitos]], Kalas has no parents, although he makes mention to being raised by his grandfather, and to having a brother. {{spoiler|He's an [[Artificial Human]], and his grandfather actually created him.}}
** The prequel, surprisingly, averts this: Sagi's implied to be the only biological child of the woman who runs his town's orphanage, and Milly's dad is {{spoiler|one of the villains}}. Also played with: One of the boss fights culminates in YOU orphaning one of the original game's party members.
* In [[
** Isaac's father and Jenna's parents and brother are killed off right in the intro. Then it quickly turns out that the brother survived and seems to be an enemy. Then in the second game, {{spoiler|it turns out the trope is completely subverted: the parents and Isaac's dad also survived and were made hostages, and saving them is a big motivator to the quest. So the kids are not actually orphans... then [[Self-Made Orphan|they accidentally almost kill their own parents themselves]] near the end of the game.}} Poor Isaac's mother has to almost force her son to keep going on his quest and is a source of worry, as she falls gravely ill in his absence.
** Ivan is an orphan and his adoptive father is kidnapped as you meet him, but the trope is toyed with: you're told that you can't do anything about it and you should just leave the father behind, but Ivan worries a lot, and you get an optional sidequest to free his father and ease his mind; and in the second game {{spoiler|Ivan's mysterious parentage is a plot point}}.
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** Also parodied in the elven Alienage, where the number of "orphans" is directly proportional to the amount of money you're giving the beggars.
{{quote| '''Orphan Ollie''': My mother is ''especially'' dead!}}
* [[Multiple Choice Past|Two of the three options]] in ''[[
* Implied to be the case with the eponymous characters of the ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' series. They get flung forward in time in the sequel, and don't have any problem staying around. The orphan thing is explored/confirmed for [[The Hero|Jak]], but is still only an implication for Daxter, though [[Fanon|no one is saying otherwise]].
* Ratchet of ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' believes he is the only Lombax left in the universe. Although {{spoiler|this is proven wrong when Alister Azimuth, another Lombax, appears}} in ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' Future: A Crack in Time, Ratchet is forced to {{spoiler|kill Azimuth at the end, leaving him alone once again}}.
* Of the eight human protagonists of ''[[
** The tone of the game may help. ''Persona 3'' is darker than ''Persona 4'' and most of the time, the abandoment is ether a direct or indirect result of the Krijo group's expermentation on the Shadows, with the other two members having parents that made it personally preferable to live in the dorm.
* In ''[[
* [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]] with a vengence in ''[[Drakengard]]''.
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* Characters from [http://www.goldcoincomics.com Gold Coin Comics], such as Lance and Theo.
* "Onion Kid" alias "Rex" alias {{spoiler|"Sarda"}} from ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' was orphaned so often, that he's stopped looking for foster parents or even an orphanage who'd still take him in. This trauma is actually the cause for pretty much everything that happened in the comic to begin with, thanks to a [[Stable Time Loop]].
* Hanna of [[Hanna Is Not a
* [[The Dreamland Chronicles]]: [http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/chapter-05/page-284/ Felicity lightly mentions that she was orphaned.]
* Jade Harley from [[Homestuck]], who was raised by her pet dog after her grandfather died. {{spoiler|Technically speaking, John is an orphan too: both his and Jade's biological parents are long dead. He is raised by his 'father', who is technically his half-brother. Oh, and his and Jade's biological parents are John's grandmother and Jade's grandfather. [[Mind Screw|Confused yet?]]}}
** And as of {{spoiler|2/19, all of the kids are orphans in both the traditional and technical sense. [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|Damn.]]}}
** Troll society is entirely like this, as the adults go off to conquer the universe while they leave the planet in the hands of the youth for the most part, leaving them to be [[Raised
** In the Alpha universe, {{spoiler|Roxy and Dirk}}. It's hinted that {{spoiler|Betty Crocker}} had their parents killed in order to get them interested in playing Sburb.
* Most of the cast in [[Dubious Company]]. Sal is the only character firmly established as having living relatives.
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* Sinedd of [[Galactik Football]] is able to run off and join The Shadows despite a large song and dance being made in the very same episode about the need for parental permission. His departure isn't justified with this trope for another 18 episodes.
** Orphan or not, Sinedd was already of age, making the parental permission unnecessary for him.
* The Disney version of [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]. The original folklore version had a dead father but a living mother; the Disney version has neither parent until we find out in the third movie that his father only [[Disappeared Dad|disappeared.]]
** According to [[Word of God]], the Disney Aladdin was originally supposed to have a mom, who functioned as his conscience of sorts; however, it was decided that the [[An Aesop|Aesop]] would be more meaningful [[Be Yourself|if he learned it on his own]].
* Likely a requirement to be part of the ''[[Teen Titans (
** Cyborg's father is (presumably) alive. In the comics he was the one who made him a... well, [[Shaped Like Itself|Cyborg]].
** We also get to meet Beast Boy's (adoptive) parents, Elasti-Girl is pretty nice, but Mento is bit of a jerk.
** In ''[[Teen Titans Go
** Robin's parents are dead as always, but this incarnation heavily implies that he even ditched his "father" [[Batman]] so he could move on. (And ended up gathering a bunch of friends around him instead, but no adults. The closest thing to a parent he has is [[Big Bad|Slade]] purring about what a great apprentice he could be...)
* Buck and Larry 3000 of ''[[Time Squad]]'' needed Otto from the 20th century since he knows more history than they do. Since he's an orphan with no real roots, they adopted him despite the fact that it might alter history.
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