Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You: Difference between revisions

 

See also [[Tell Me About My Father]], [[Turn Out Like His Father]]. Sometimes related to [[Give Him a Normal Life]], and may overlap with [[Because You Can Cope]] in certain instances. If the info is specifically withheld to increase tension even though there's no good reason to withhold it, see the [[Rule of Drama]]

 

== Anime and Manga ==

 

* Jolyne Kujo from Part 6 of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' resents her father, Jotaro Kujo, for being absent for most of her childhood. Although partly due to work reasons, Jotaro also didn't want her getting mixed up in the supernatural troubles that he's frequently a part of.

* In ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' and ''[[Great Mazinger]]'' it is both played straight and subverted:

** It is played straight with Kenzo. His sons, [[The Hero|Kouji]] and Shiro grew up believing their parents had died cause a laboratory experiment that went wrong. However, Kenzo's father saved his son's life by turning him into a cyborg. However, neither of them told Kouji and Shiro he was alive because {{spoiler|Kenzo was going to build a [[Humongous Mecha]] to repel the Mykene invasion they predicted, and train its pilot. And both his father and he wanted to shield Kouji and Shiro from danger and psychological shock.}} It was not a bad reason, even if it was somewhat weak because Juzo was also building another [[Humongous Mecha]] and he raised them, even if he hired a maid because he was nearly always absent. When Kenzo revealed the truth to his little son, it took a long while for Shiro forgiving him. Though Kouji forgave him right away.

** Also done in the manga where he {{spoiler|figured out the [[Big Bad]]'s evil plan and set out to stop him.}} He was also trying to {{spoiler|become mortal again, however, since he wanted to die with Trisha... which ironically he didn't want to die at the end because Edward finally called him dad and Alphonse got his body back. He still dies next to her tomb, a bittersweet smile on his lips.}}

* In the anime version of ''[[Angelic Layer]]'', Misaki's [[Missing Mom]] Shuko is revealed to have {{spoiler|been confined [[Ill Girl|to a wheelchair due to a neurological disease]], and she'd gone to Tokyo to do research on it to help look for a cure}} and hence hasn't seen her daughter for years. This is notably [[Pragmatic Adaptation|exclusive only to the anime]], while in the manga Shuko's excuse is that ''she's pathologically shy''. The manga explanation [[Moe|is cuter]], but the anime explanation makes more sense {{spoiler|[[Values Dissonance|considering Japan's treatment]] [[Disabled Means Helpless|of the disabled]]: Shuuko mentions that she doesn't want people to look down on Misaki for having "a useless mother"}}.

* In ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', Fuu's father, {{spoiler|the Sunflower Samurai}}, has a very good excuse - {{spoiler|as a Christian in isolationist Japan, if he had stayed home, his entire family would be executed.}}

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Naruto's father {{spoiler|Namikaze Minato,}} had [[Values Dissonance|what he believed was a good reason]]... {{spoiler|Sealing the Kyuubi inside of Naruto to protect Konoha with a [[Gambit Roulette]] against Uchiha Madara.}} Turns out that his mom is not only dead, but {{spoiler|[[Generation Xerox|was the ''previous'' Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails.]].}}

** In the Star Village filler arc, Sumaru's parents attempt to steal the star in order to stop the star training that kills most of those who use it, but get discovered by the Hoshikage, who has them leave the village in order to watch over the star from afar and intervene if someone plans on using it again. Sumaru grows up thinking that his parents died defending the star; his father does die from the lingering effects star training, and his mother indicates that she can't stay with him if she could die at any time. His mother returns to steal the star when the star training resumes after Akahoshi kills the Hoshikage, and dies trying to recover the star.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Luffy's [[Disappeared Dad]] turns out to be {{spoiler|Dragon the Revolutionary who is known as the Most Wanted Man in the world and [[La Résistance|actively schemes to bring down]] the [[The Government|World Government]]. It's been hinted that the man ''does'' care very deeply for his family and only stays away [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies|for their protection]].}}

** Ussop father's abandoned him and his mother and never returned. Luffy then convinces Ussop that his father had a good reason for leaving him, since he was doing some [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|pirate-stuff]], up to the point where Ussop gets proud of him.

* In ''[[The Vision of Escaflowne]]'', [[Failure Knight]] Allen Schezar was ''badly'' traumatised by his sister's kidnapping and his mother's [[Death by Despair]], and hates his [[Disappeared Dad]] for leaving the family. {{spoiler|When he ''does'' have [[Calling the Old Man Out|a chance to call him out]], Allen finds out that Leon Schezar was ''[[Dead All Along]]'', having been murdered by [[The Empire]] because he didn't give them the information he had about the Dragonkin; Mrs. Schezar was depressed to death because she ''knew'' her husband was dead since the beginning. Allen then manages to posthumously forgive his dad, and later in the series he gets his still-alive but ''badly'' fucked up younger sister back. How badly messed up is she? It turns out that she was captured by Emperor Donkirk and turned over to his wizards, tranforming her into the [[Axe Crazy]] (and [[Gender Bender|male]]) Captain of the Dragonslayers; Dilandau.}}

* Played straight as an arrow in ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam]]'' at least twice. Hangelg Ewin, the father of series protagonist Üso Ewin, was actually {{spoiler|Jinn Gehennam, the leader of [[La Résistance|the League Militaire]]}}. Likewise, Üso's mother, Mueller Miguel, {{spoiler|was also involved in League Militaire, in her case as a mobile suit engineer and spy}}. This rather neatly explains why Üso was practically left alone with his best friend Shakti Kareen, {{spoiler|whose own mother, Zanscare's Queen Maria Amonia, had abandoned her to Earth to protect her from Zanscare's rabid factionalism}}, to practically raise themselves during their early teenage years.

* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', Ruby has a deep resentment for his father, Norman, for leaving the family for five years. {{spoiler|In reality, a frenzied Salamence assaulted Ruby and Sapphire, and the injuries inflicted by Ruby caused it to careen into the Weather Institute. Norman covered it up and was disqualified from his gym leader certification trial as a result. The change in Ruby's behavior left bad blood between both of them. Norman gave Ruby the go-ahead with his Contest campaign after a prolonged battle at the ruined Weather Institute five years later (would have been a birthday gift if Ruby stuck around). Then Ruby found out the motives for Norman's actions. Dood...}}

* Gale, from ''[[Rave Master]]'' left his family when Haru was one in order to find the Rave stones, which is revealed fairly early on in the manga (or 15 years after he left. Why did no one tell Haru sooner?) This explanation alone is still unacceptable to Haru. When he actually meets Gale and learns that he left to find Rave in order to stop his [[Big Bad Friend]], the leader of Demon Card, Haru accepts him as a father.

** It kinda helped that Gale thought that the Dark Bring implanted in him by King could have created a second [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Overdrive]] at any moment, and thus wanted to be as far away from anyone as possible, especially his beloved children.

** Though when he is around/alive, he really does [[Doting Parent|try to be the best father he can to them]]. Points for effort, though his [[Spirited Competitor]] causes issues in what he ''thinks'' are good parenting decisions - he learns his lesson when he goes too far during the Cell saga, just in time to realize his folly and sacrifice himself for his son. Until then, though, ''his former archenemy'' comes off as a better parent to his son than he is.

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'' Yusei's father {{spoiler|sacrificed his life during the Zero Reverse disaster to ensure that his son would survive.}}

* Although we don't know the exact circumstances involved with Hinagiku and Yukiji's being abandoned by their birth parents in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', Hinagiku firmly believes that they had a good reason for leaving them behind. Yukiji doesn't seem to agree.

 

 

* In [[The DCU]], the Persuader's father left her mother because she was abusive towards both him and the young Persuader herself. However, her threats to [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit|rough herself up and say he did it]] if he even thought about taking their daughter convinced him that leaving her with that monster was a better alternative to living on the run with him. They eventually get reunited in a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] before the Persuader's boss kills her father just for kicks.

* Cyclops of the [[X-Men]]: Daddy had been kidnapped by aliens, and was too busy being a [[Space Pirate]], growing a [[Badass Mustache|kickin' stache]] and seducing his [[Petting Zoo People|feline]] [[Pirate Girl|first mate]] to find his way back to Earth. Well, we said he had a good reason for ''abandoning'' you, not necessarily for staying away.

* [[Sinestro]] left his family to spare them from being associated with an intergalactic criminal.

 

* In ''[http://percyjacksonfanfiction.wikia.com/wiki/Whispers_in_the_Dark Whispers in the Dark]'', a popular [[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]] fanfiction, Taylor is told that her father is dead only to find out that all this time, he's been alive and on Kronos' side. Somewhat justified in the fact that Luke didn't even know that he had a daughter until he saw Taylor and noticed that she had his [[Blue Eyes]].

 

== Film ==

 

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' has Obi-Wan's infamous [[Jedi Truth]], leading to [[Luke, I Am Your Father|the big reveal]]. But [[Disappeared Dad|Anakin]] had no choice but to "abandon" [[Separated at Birth|Luke and Leia]], because ''[[Muggle Foster Parents|he didn't even know that they were still alive]]''! As soon as he learned otherwise, [[We Can Rule Together|he planned a nice family bonding experience so that they could get to know each other]].

** And of course we can't forget Leia, whose [[Happily Adopted|other daddy]] had an equally good reason for "[[Earthshattering Kaboom|abandoning]]" her...

* [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] in ''[[The Truman Show]]'', where the writers decide to bring back Truman's father after he'd "died" at sea. This is explained through [[Easy Amnesia]], and his just then getting over it.

 

== Literature ==

* In the ''[[Warchild Series]]'', Captain Azarcon isn't around to raise his son Ryan (boy do people in fiction have tough parental issues with that name) because he's busy fighting a war against pirates and aliens.

* In ''[[Harry Potter]],'' Dean Thomas's father was an example of this. {{spoiler|He was asked to join the Death Eaters, but refused and ran away to protect his wife and baby son. He ended up getting killed.}} Dean never finds out about this.

* Five words - ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]].''

** Which includes its sequel series, [[The Heroes of Olympus]].

* In ''[[Animorphs]]'' Tobias's father, Elfangor, had to leave him because he was being sent back to the Yeerk war by the Ellimist. The timeline was changed back to what it should have been, but Tobias still remained.

* In ''The Historian'' the primary narrator, a young woman in the 1970s, was raised by her diplomat father because her mother died when she was an infant. You find out that {{spoiler|her mother only faked her death to escape getting bitten - and therefore turned into a vampire - by Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes a.k.a. Dracula himself. The mother then spent the entirety of the narrator's childhood researching when and where Vlad would next appear so that she could kill him without endangering her family.}}

 

 

* The ''[[Knight Rider]]'' remake has the character from the original show giving his son an [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies]] excuse for not being around.

* Played with on ''[[Brothers and Sisters]]''. {{spoiler|Adulterer-patriarch William sired a bastard son with a married woman. The boy, Ryan, doesn't know this until both of his bio parents are dead. William couldn't be part of his life because both he and Ryan's mother were married to other people and weren't willing to destroy their marriages for the sake of their son.}} Here it's not really even a justification, but rather an explanation. Everyone still thinks William is a dick after this is revealed.

* In ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'', Sarah Jane's parents abandoned her to [[Heroic Sacrifice|kill themselves by car crash, fixing the]] [[Timey-Wimey Ball]] and saving the world from being devastated by aliens.

** Likewise Rose's dad, on ''[[Doctor Who]]''.

*** {{spoiler|Further along the plotline, the initial reason she left them was to bring the guy ''back'' to the CIA, since he was the initial Intersect, that had failed.}}

* Done very sympathetically on an episode of ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'' where the team investigates a congressman who has spent 80 grand on a prostitute. However, they find out that he's never had sex with her, and was giving her the money to get her out of that business. She doesn't know that he's her father, and he is portrayed as someone who gave up his child for adoption but regretted it. The fact that he has no hesitation to sacrifice his reputation and political career in order to protect her from the scandal counts a lot toward making him so sympathetic.

* The episode "Family" on ''[[Cold Case]]'' {{spoiler|the girl's father was killed the night she was born and her mother, who was distraught over what she thought was dad's abandonment, also abandoned the girl.}}

** And the episodes "The Thin Blue Line" and "Into The Blue" reveal that Lily's dad abandoned her because {{spoiler|he was a recovering alcoholic and felt that his staying married to Lily's mom (also an alcoholic and refused to get sober) would jeopardize his sobriety. Lily's mom threw him out and refused to allow him to have contact with her or her sister}}.

* Averted in [[The Movie]] of ''[[Black Hole High]]'' when {{spoiler|Avenir}} tries to pull this on Josie. {{spoiler|It doesn't work.}}

* Used in season three of ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' when {{spoiler|Chuck Bass' supposedly dead}} mother shows up. Serena desperately wants to believe that her reason for leaving would play into this trope, since that would make Serena feel less horrid about having been abandoned by her own father. {{spoiler|Chuck's maybe-mama}} crushes Serena's hopes and fantasies however by simply explaining "I didn't want to have a kid and I never regretted giving my child up."

* ''[[Married... with Children|Married With Children]]'': Seven's folks stick the Bundys with the kid, but for a good reason: They felt Al/Peggy would be better parents. Of course, he ended up on the side of a milk carton, so...

 

== Music ==

 

{{quote|And he said, "Son, this world is rough/and if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough/and I knew I wouldn't be there to help you along..."}}

 

** In the movie version of the musical, her parents did intend to return for her, but {{spoiler|they were killed in a fire before they could, and, again, Miss Hannigan keeps the information from her -- as well as all of her parents' possessions, which should have gone to her}}.

 

* In ''Growlanser III'', one of your party members had a father who disappeared one day; being half human and half Featherian, this lead to some [[Fantastic Racism]] among her relatives. (You eventually learn that the [[Big Bad]] killed him.)

* Subverted in ''[[Disgaea]] 2'' with Adell's parents. They left to defeat fake Overlord Zenon and failed. The subversion is in how they intended to return (assuming they won).

* In ''[[Trace Memory]]'', Ashley's father left her with her aunt to pursue research on memory to find out about his wife's death.

* ''[[Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time|Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Echoes of Time]]'' has an unusual case, in that they actually DIDN'T have a good reason, as far as we know. However it's pointed out multiple times that, had you not been abandoned, it would certainly mean [[The End of the World as We Know It]].

* ''[[SaGa 2|Final Fantasy Legend II]]'' opens with a scene where your father is last seen leaving through your bedroom window. Throughout the game, you wind up bumping into him repeatedly, finding out he's trying to save the universe just like you are. (And you try to convince him to come home more often.)

* In ''[[Xenogears]]'', Jessie claims to have a justifiable reason for abandoning his wife and children. In the game itself, the trope is subverted, as the explanation is not very thorough and the player is left with the impression that he's making excuses. After reading the explanation given in [[All There in the Manual|Perfect Works]], though, it becomes clear that he had to leave in order to protect them and the trope is played straight.

** {{spoiler|The reason Kratos abandoned Lloyd was because he saw him, Noishe, and the monster version of his wife fall over a cliff, and after fending off the nearby Desians, found nothing but half-eaten corpses at the bottom. He thought they had died.}}

** Genis and Raine got abandoned because {{spoiler|Raine was so intelligent, the Imperial Research Academy wanted to kidnap her and keep her imprisoned with other half-elves to work on science projects for them. Their parents sent them through a magical portal to the "mythical land" of Sylvarant, where they hoped the children would be safe from [[Fantastic Racism]]. They had no way of knowing that Sylvarant was poor and mana-starved, and suffered from just as much racism as Tethe'alla...}}

* In ''[[Quest for Glory IV]]'', the Burgomeister's grandfather disappeared shortly before he was to marry the Burgomeister's grandmother, leaving her alone and pregnant. This resulted in the child and grandchild becoming rather bitter individuals. When playing as a paladin, you end up finding the grandfather's sword in a wraith's barrow, proving that his abandonment was not intentional - Piotyr had been killed before the wedding.

* ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]''. One would think that being possessed by the spirit of a near-12,000 year old megalomaniacal Wingly dictator and forced to set off a series of events that would lead to [[The End of the World as We Know It]] is a good reason for [[Parental Abandonment]].

* In ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' ''2'' Cernd left his wife and unborn son to pursue his calling as a druid. ''He'' thinks his commitment to maintaining the balance of nature is a good reason for abandoning his family. Nobody else does. Even the evil wizard who is about to sacrifice the baby to a lich calls him out on it, asking if Cernd even knows the kid's name. To be fair, he didn't know his wife was pregnant at the time.

 

== Visual Novels ==

* In the backstory of ''[[Fate/stay night]]'', {{spoiler|Kiritsugu}} had very good reasons for abandoning his Ilya. It's also not completely his choice: {{spoiler|his father-in-law got ''really pissed off'' that he destroyed the Holy Grail in the Fourth War, and forcibly cut off all contact between him and his daughter. All of his efforts to retrieve her failed, and he eventually dies a broken man, his only comfort his adopted son Shirou.}} It's not completely clear how much Ilya knows about his motivations - the Ilya path which would have focused on her was cut out of the final game, but she's still a lot less naive than she appears - but she angrily spent the ten years after he left plotting revenge. {{spoiler|Irritatingly, Kiritsugu was ''dead'' by the time of the Fifth War, so she focuses her attentions on the adopted Shirou, whom she hates for getting Kiritsugu in her stead. Shirou, though, being the involuntary [[Chick Magnet]] that he is, turns out to actually be pretty likeable once they actually meet properly, which deflects her motivations from "torture him for the remainder of his natural life" to "be rather friendly and spend time with him in the park". This is not good news for Shirou though, as Ilya tends to make people she likes into her "Servants"; which generally involves sticking their souls into inanimate dolls so ''they can never ever leave her''. Ever.}}

* In ''[[Ever 17]]'', {{spoiler|Tsugumi}} had a good reason for abandoning her son and daughter: if she didn't, they'd be captured and researched upon in the hopes of finding a way to immortality, or at the very least would never be able to attend school or have friends due to constantly being on the run. It didn't really work out, but they ''did'' get more normal lives out of it. Oddly enough, she's the only one who really has a problem over it. The kids don't care in the slightest.

** Their father also had a good reason, namely {{spoiler|doing a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save their mother and spending several years [[Human Popsicle|in cryostasis]] after that.}}

 

 

 

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' has an unusual variation, where someone else makes this excuse on the [[Disappeared Dad]]'s behalf: No one besides Anthony Carver knows why he disappeared, but his daughter Antimony says that he [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=95 "must have his reasons"].

** Except in the last panel of the same comic, she says "Perhaps I did something to displease him... or he wants nothing more to do with me." Both of which are definitely ''not'' valid excuses for basically orphaning your only daughter, [[Missing Mom|soon after her mother died in a hospital.]]

* In ''[[Drowtales]]'', Ariel comes to see her mother [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask|Quain'tana]] as this. She is quite aloof towards her children, leaving them for months or even years at a time at boarding schools or under the care of a slave or older sibling. [[The Obi-Wan|Quil'yate]] explains to Ariel that this is not because the drow are evil, but because the clan believes that it is best for young nobles to learn to prove themselves, so that they can be strong leaders. This however [[Unreliable Narrator|should be taken with a grain of salt]], since it also turns out that {{spoiler|Quain isn't really Ariel's mother, but rather her grandmother; Ariel is the daughter of her 'crazy sister' Mel'arnach, and Zhor, an elf magically turned into a spider; Quain forced the unlikely couple to give up Ariel (including an apparent attempt to kill Zhor while they were at it), thinking the two could not provide a proper environment for a future clan matriarch and wanting to take the credit for herself. Quain is also unable to have children, and it's strongly implied that the desire to have a [[Heir Club for Men|suitable heir]] is part of her motivation as well.}}

* [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]],'' where Eugene [[Pet the Dog|chooses not to follow a credible lead]] on [[Big Bad|Xykon]], whom he's sworn to destroy, because doing so would most likely mean abandoning his family and dying at best, and having Xykon hunt them down for revenge at worst. He ''did,'' however, continue to be a [[Parental Neglect|neglectful]] [[Jerkass]] to his oldest son, and [[Blatant Lies|specifically claimed that]] [[Hidden Heart of Gold|he would have abandoned the family for his quest if given a chance]].

* In the ''[[Paradise]]'' setting, in which people get turned into anthropomorphic animals, this is addressed. In the early days, a man gets turned into a polar bear, but doesn't realize it's happened to others (Since he lives out in the frozen boonies of Canada) and tries to live a normal life... until while on a Seal Hunting trip ends up mauling a seal with his [[Incredibly Lame Pun|bear]] hands, at which point he becomes terrified of what he'd become and runs out into the frozen tundra to live as the beast he had become, leaving his wife and two sons behind. Years later one of his sons changed into a wolf, realized what happened, and went looking for him.

 

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', when Omaroch is reunited with his son Refan, he explains to him why he has been absent for so many years and wasn't around to save Refan's mother from death. He had in fact been kidnapped and imprisoned by demons and was thus unable to help his family when they needed him the most. Although he claims that he managed to flee from demons, the truth ends up being much more horrific: he was actually tortured and brainwashed to become a servant of the dark god Mardük and was ordered to return to the world of mortals to make sure his sons would fulfill an ancient prophecy which would result in Mardük's resurrection and a full-scale demon invasion. He eventually breaks free from the god's taint but at that point it's too late because his actions end up causing the Cataclysm as well as turning his son into a bitter person. He does his best trying to set things straight and regain his sons' trust.

 

** Also, we're led to believe Nelson's father abandoned him. Turns out his peanut allergy caused circus dwellers to kidnap him and use him as an attraction. Thanks to Simpsons' negative continuity, he is never refered again.

* On ''[[Futurama]],'' Leela grew up thinking she was a one-eyed alien, when in reality she was an unusually normal-looking human mutant. Realizing she could [[Pass Fail|pass for "normal,"]] her parents had abandoned her at an Orphanarium when she was a baby with a note in an alien language, allowing her to live on the surface rather than as a second-class citizen in the sewers. When they reunite years later and this is revealed it's quite the [[Tear Jerker]].

** They didn't actually abandon her, the ending montage showed that they cared for and watched over her from the shadows.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has a mild version of this; Hakoda hasn't been gone all that long, and explained his reasons to his kids ''first'', but Katara at least still felt abandoned. She even says that she knew and understood Hakoda did what he had to do, but she couldn't help feeling like crap for not having him there when she needed him the most. They make up at the end of the episode, though.

** Supposedly Ursa was meant to come back sometime during the series finale, but the Avatar team didn't want to have to waste a perfectly good plot by squeezing her in. This is probably the [[Fanfic Fuel|biggest unresolved plot thread]].

* In ''[[We Are the Strange]]'', Rain had his Robot servant take his son to be raised in the Forest because {{spoiler|[[The Big Bad]] had discovered his giant robot plans and had sent minions to kill him and his family. Unfortunately, the robot died on the way so the son had to grow up in total isolation.}}

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Parental Issues]]