Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
215,307
edits
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.DisappearedDad 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.DisappearedDad, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
m (→Live-Action TV) |
||
(22 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''"What you taught me was that [[Calling the Old Man Out|I was less important to you than people who had been dead for 500 years in another country]]. And I learned it so well that we've hardly spoken for 20 years."''
|'''[[Indiana Jones]]''' to his father, ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade|The Last Crusade]]''}}
A subtrope of [[Parental Abandonment]]: The father of a character or characters is missing or absent.
Perhaps he's died. Perhaps he's left and there's bitterness involved. Perhaps he's off fighting evil. Or maybe it's psychological
There's a bit of a [[Double Standard]] in fiction regarding single parents. A '''Disappeared Dad''' is far less likely to have his absence explained than a [[Missing Mom]]. When he's not in the picture, it's often taken for granted that he's either dead or a deadbeat. But if he ''is'' alive, he is more likely to either return and reconcile, or be a non-entity who sporadically appears just to remind the hero that Daddy doesn't care about them. It is also possible for the Disappeared Dad to have not ever met the child at all or even know that they exist, unlike the Missing Mom, since fathers don't actually have to be present during childbirth. Sometimes, a Disappeared Dad is not aware of being one, when that type of Disappeared Dad is actually an established character, you get [[Luke, You Are My Father]].
However, the flipside is that if both parents are absent, the character is ''far'' more likely to be obsessed with his or her lost father. Characters who have lost both parents often do not mention the lost mother at all.
Happens most frequently in animated series, but other media are not immune.
Compare and contrast this with [[Missing Mom]]. Combine the two, and you get [[Parental Abandonment]]. Sometimes, though, [[Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You]]. If Dad is dead, we may see a [[Happier Home Movie]]. If he is simply too busy to be with his child, it's [[When You Coming Home, Dad?]]. See also: [[Tell Me About My Father]], [[So Proud of You]], [[Turn Out Like His Father]]. Contrast [["Well Done, Son" Guy]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. The whole awful mess started when the
** While Shinji's Disappeared Dad is a major factor to his personality, Misato has one too- she hated him until the day he saved her life in the Second Impact. Dying doing such a thing is what spurs her on to fight the angels in adulthood. It's also implied that her problems with her lover Kaji are at least partially caused by her daddy issues.
*** [[Rule of Three|ANOTHER]] character who suffers from this is Asuka. Her dad 'disappeared' from her life (by her choice, really) after her mother {{spoiler|got her mind [[Mind Rape|sandblasted]] into insanity by Unit 02.}} Oh, and fitting the theme of [[It Got Worse|Evangelion]], her dad 'disappeared' {{spoiler|to have an affair with the head nurse in charge of Asuka's mother.}} And Asuka knew about it, and they knew she knew. Didn't stop them, though. {{spoiler|After that, Asuka never acknowledges anyone as her true parents.}}
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'', Kagome's lack of father has sprouted some [[Epileptic Trees]] (He's really a demon, he's really Sesshomaru, he's really ''InuYasha'', etc.) The truth? The Novel ''Shutetsu Inuyasha'' reveals that Papa Higurashi ''is'' actually dead as a doornail, and that happened in a car crash when Kagome was a little girl. This is the reason why she and her family live in the Shinto shrine, too.
** It's not just Kagome: out of the [[Five
* Yusuke and Kuwabara in [[Yu Yu Hakusho]], though they both come back briefly in the finale.
* ''[[
* Ash's father in ''[[Pokémon (
** This affects Dawn as well in the recent Diamond and Pearl season. It's even more troublesome as it seems that Dawn's father never existed at all, considering the information we are shown of her mother always traveling in contests. Then again she's some what of [[Gender Bender|a girl version of pre-Johto Ash]] with elements of [[Broken Bird]] and [[Stepford Smiler]] added.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', [[Word of God]] is that Yugi's dad is always traveling on business, but this is never referenced in the manga or anime.
** Ryou Bakura's is mentioned in-story to be traveling all over the place and had given Bakura the Millennium Ring as a souvenir from Egypt but he never makes a proper appearance, and we never see Yugi's, Tea/Anzu's, Tristan/Honda's, Duke/Otori's, or any other father aside from Joey/Jonouchi and Serenity/Shizuka's drunk of a father, the dead biological parents of Seto and Mokuba, and Seto and Mokuba's adopted father Gozoboro Kaiba (manga says {{spoiler|Seto killed Gozoboro}}, anime filler arc claims {{spoiler|he disappeared into and orchestrated a virtual reality so he could take his revenge upon Seto later. And that he had a biological son who for some reason looks like a green-haired Seto.}}). Grandpa Moto is Yugi's grandfather and pretty much raises ''most'' of the kids when they have any parental supervision at all. Seto ends up becoming Mokuba's substitute father.
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. The only characters who still have dads are Nanoha and the Nakajima sisters.
** The closest thing to a parent figure in the Yagami household would be Hayate. There's Hayate's mysterious "[[Honorary Uncle|uncle]]" who supported her financially when she was young, but he doesn't seem to have much of a role beyond that.
** We only find out what happened to Chrono's dad Clyde when the artifact that killed him becomes a plot point. His widow Lindy also adopts [[Artificial Human|Fate, Erio]] and [[Parental Abandonment|Caro]], extending the
** Speaking of Fate, where's Precia's husband anyway? We don't even see a father in the flashbacks to before she lost her mind.
** Vivio's situation would get conservatives' knickers in a twist since she [[Has Two Mommies]]. In this case, it's less of a 'Disappeared Dad', and more of a 'Dad? What Dad?'. Yuuno/Nanoha shippers, however, find evidence that he acts as a third parent; Fate/Nanoha shippers are just glad for the two.
*** Vivio suggests in the "Second Mother's Day" one shot that Fate is like her father, and gives her a gift for Father's Day.
** Lutecia's plot revolves around her trying to make her comatose mom Megane wake up again. As for her dad... well, we don't even know what he looks like or if he even exists since he's never mentioned. She does temporarily get a father figure in Zest though.
** If all
* In ''[[
** With Tomoyo, it's at least hinted at the manga that Tomoyo's mother Sonomi may be a lesbian like her daughter... and likewise with a [[Kissing Cousins|crush on a cousin]] (Sakura's mother). If that's the case, it's not surprising that the marriage would involve separate households. There are quite a few theories on how Tomoyo was born, however.
* Many jokes have been made about the non-existent father of ''[[Kanon]]'''s Nayuki. Could he have been the secret ingredient of Akiko's jam? Also, Mai has a plot-important mother, but her father isn't seen anywhere.
* The weirdest example I can think of is in ''[[Loveless]]''. Ritsuka's dad is still in the vicinity, but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise. We seldom see him, and after Seimei's departure he doesn't do much to protect his son from his mentally unhinged mother Misaki. This is dismissed by Ritsuka as "he's working all the time," but he basically leaves his child in mortal danger. Mind you, very few people in the Loveless universe seem to give a damn about child abuse.
** Weirder still when Misaki {{spoiler|[[Domestic Abuse|ties him up and confines him within the house]]}}. He considers calling his father, but he quickly dismisses the thought, thinking 'it's no use'.
* [[All There in the Manual]] with ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]''. Hikaru's home life is made up of herself, her mother, her three older brothers, and the dog. (With a very anime reason for why he's not there. She beat him in kendo. [[Little Miss Badass|When she was younger.]])
Line 46 ⟶ 47:
* ''[[Guyver]]'' has one of the most brutal subversions ever. Sho's father {{spoiler|was turned into a Guyver-killing Zoanoid who damaged Guyver 1's brain. The Guyver, on autopilot, killed Mr. Fukamachi, but Sho didn't remember it. He eventually found out and developed a psychosomatic block against activating the Guyver, until Aptom threatened Mizuki and forced him to change.}} What's even more painful is that while this all happened in the manga (and the most recent anime repeats it all, sometimes panel for panel), the anime specifically spent much more time on strengthening Sho's relationship to his father.
* In ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'', Tsubasa's father works abroad (though he makes efforts to keep contact through letters and visits) so Tsubasa is raised mostly by his mother and later by both her and Roberto Hongo, Dad's best friend. Additionally, [[The Rival|Kojiro Hyuuga]] lost his father at an early age (in an accident, the manga says; of illness, the old anime says, though to be fair the issue came up ''years'' later) and runs part-time works to help the mother and siblings he adores.
* Bu-ling's father in ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' is off training in the mountains, leaving her to raise her five younger siblings
* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', Ami's parents are divorced and she lives with her mother Saeko; her father is a painter, and apparently spends time traveling through the world. In the anime it borders on [[Parental Abandonment]]: in one episode, Ami is going to go to school overseas and the Senshi meet her at the airport, and she eventually decides to stay. Would she really not be seen off by her mother?
* In the live-action version, ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'', Usagi still has both parents, but her father is a reporter who is only ever seen on the family TV set, effectively giving her a one-parent family.
* Negi Springfield's ultimate goal in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father Nagi, known as the Thousand Master. Nagi disappeared ten years prior to the series start and was assumed dead, but various characters and events have stated that he is very much alive, although his whereabouts are still unknown.
** Negi also has a [[Missing Mom]], but for some reason he didn't seem even remotely interested finding her. {{spoiler|Until recently.}}
* Subverted humorously in ''[[
* Shobu's father from ''[[Duel Masters]]'' seems to have disappeared into thin air before the series started, which is given a [[Lampshade Hanging]] or two in the dub.
* In ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' Gon's primary goal in becoming a hunter is finding his vagabond father Ging.
* In ''[[Digimon Savers]]'', Masaru's father Suguru is notably absent. It turns out that {{spoiler|he was left behind on the first expedition to the Digital World and, after being imprisoned and supposedly executed by Yggdrasil, ends up sharing a body with Banchouleomon}}
** The kids' relationships with their families tend to be important in ''[[Digimon]]''. Sora's dad Haruhiko is never referenced in the first season, and her [[Yamato Nadeshiko|ultra-traditional]] mother Toshiko is emotionally distant (although she gets an awesome moment of [[Mama Bear]] when pushed). A lot of Sora's character development plays into mending their relationship, but Dad isn't mentioned until halfway through the second season: he's a famous researcher who spends a lot of time away from home. (Ironically, according to the [[All There in the Manual|drama track]] ''A Letter To My Father'', in his wife's hometown.)
** Jou's dad is [[The Ghost]] until the [[All There in the Manual|CD drama]] ''Michi e no Armor Shinka''. He's emotionally distant, wants his three sons to all be doctors like him, and this causes some friction. The anime gave very little resolution to this, having Jou's decision to be a doctor seem rather sudden, but ''Armor Shinka'' and another drama track, ''Telephone'', show that Jou decided to become a doctor because the Digital World didn't have any of its own and that his father did eventually rethink his positions and told Jou that it was okay if he made his own choices. So basically, Jou ''did'' become a doctor, but it was the way ''he'' wanted and not because of Dad forcing him anymore.
** [[Digimon Adventure 02|Iori's]] father, Hiroki, was a police officer who was killed protecting a political official when Iori was very young. [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Wanting to live up to and missing his father]] is implied to be the reason Iori is so serious and level-headed. Hiroki turns out [[Chekhov's Gunman|to be very important to the series' back story]], as {{spoiler|it was his death that spiraled [[The Man Behind the Man]], Hiroki's [[Forgotten Childhood Friend]] [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Yukio]] [[The Dragon|Oikawa]], into [[Despair Event Horizon|the utter depression]] that made him easy prey for Vamdemon}}.
** [[Digimon Tamers|Juri's]] father isn't a bad person per se, but is ''very'' emotionally distant for reasons described under [[Missing Mom]], and Ruki's father is nonexistent. Her mother, Rumiko, is a supermodel who had her at a very young age and they both use the father's surname, but whether he's missing because of divorce or death is contested. In the English dub, at least, Rika compares her situation to Jeri's, saying that she doesn't see her father very often, but at least she ''can'' and implies that's mostly her own choice, but the movie ''Runaway Digimon Express'' shows her to remember him fondly and might imply he's dead. Of course, that movie is also [[Canon
* In ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', the basis for Kamina wanting to leave his hometown so badly is because his disappeared dad left for the surface years ago. {{spoiler|His father is dead, his skeleton is found by the group in the second episode (which causes Kamina a brief [[Heroic BSOD]]), and latter Kamina dies too.}}
* While [[Land Mine Goes Click|we know what happens to his mother]], [[
* You could argue this for most of the dads in the ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' canon. Goku's father Bardock and adoptive grandfather Gohan are both dead before the series begins and seems to be this a fair amount himself what with spending on year dead, a year training in space, dead for seven more years, and abandoning his family ten years after that to train the reincarnation of the last [[Big Bad]]. Vegeta's father, King Vegeta, was also killed off when he was a child; in the alternate timeline has himself been killed so that version of his son grew up without a father. In the main timeline, he's shown to be present but extremely distant on both an emotional and psychological level with his son, at least until his [[Final First Hug]]. His relationship with his daughter Bra is more difficult to evaluate due to matters of [[Fanon]] and [[Fanon Discontinuity]].
** ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]'' plays up Gohan's developing anger issues with his increasingly absent and ineffective father.
* ''[[
* Most of the characters in ''[[
* Kira Yamato had two parents in [[Gundam Seed]]. Yet at the beginning of [[Gundam Seed Destiny]], he's shown living with his mom Caridad ( {{spoiler|actually his aunt}}). Dad's disappearance is never explained, nor is he even mentioned. {{spoiler|His (and Cagalli's) actual father is [[Mad Scientist]] Ulen Hibiki, who is dead by the moment the series starts.}}
** Cagalli's adoptive father is the King of Orb, Uzumi, and they're somewhat distanced in the beginning. {{spoiler|He later pulls an [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save Orb, playing the trope straight.}}
** Flay's father George was a higher-up in the colonies, and Flay mentions that she cares very much for him but he's always working and away from her. {{spoiler|He was then killed off in front of her, and she was so fucked up by the loss that she went from a mere [[Rich Bitch]] to a [[Yandere]] while seeking for revenge.}}
Line 71 ⟶ 72:
* Used straight and subverted in ''[[Soul Eater]]'': [[Mad Scientist]] Medusa is {{spoiler|Chrona's}} mother but no father is mentioned. Maka's dad is ''supposed'' to be the Disappeared Dad, having been kicked out by Maka's mom for his [[Handsome Lech|constant womanizing]], but we've yet to see [[Missing Mom|Maka's mom]].
** One way of looking at Maka's situation is that her mother disappeared because Spirit - being the Death Scythe and required to stay with Shinigami in Death City - could not. The disappearance got reversed out of necessity; the mum wanted the father out of the way, so disappeared herself when that couldn't happen. There's also the point that Maka has no contact with the mother she looks up to, and shuns any well-meant attempt her father makes at reconciliation.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Iemetsu Sawada]] of ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' pretty much fits this trope; he had been away from home for over two years, according to Tsuna, who once expressed the thought that he was actually dead.
** He ''does'' do his part in the family, however, and seems to send an undisclosed amount of money to his [[Hot Mom|cute wife, Nana]]- as she confirms this- and doesn't seem to have any kind of job. But Iemetsu is blatantly irresponsible, and has been caught [https://web.archive.org/web/20100403032006/http://www.onemanga.com/Katekyo_Hitman_Reborn/85/02/ dropping the toddlers], [https://web.archive.org/web/20090209162439/http://www.onemanga.com/Katekyo_Hitman_Reborn/84/17/ getting the toddlers drunk], and to top it all off, he's {{spoiler|pretty much second in command of the [[The Mafia|Vongola.]] }}
** Iemetsu seems to play the [[Amazingly Embarrassing Parents|Amazingly Embarrassing Parent]] role in Tsuna's eyes, and would rather him remain the
* Several ''[[School Rumble]]'' characters (The Tsukamoto sisters, Masatsugu & Haruna Tougo, Eri Sawachika, Mai Otsuka) have absentee fathers.
* Ryuuji and Taiga in ''[[Toradora
* Miyuki from ''[[
* Maria from [[Umineko no Naku Koro
** To a degree, all the dads become this when they get killed off in different continuities.
* Initially played for laughs with [[Teen Genius]] Susumu's father on ''[[Wandaba Style]]''. The girls went back in time and thought that he died in the ill-fated mission to the moon, but it turns out he's alive and well...[[Canada, Eh?|in Canada]]. Later in the series, though, he decides to check in on his son, but does so without letting his son know he's back in Japan, mentally asking [[The Jeeves|Ichirin]] to watch over his boy.
* The apparent death of Nagisa's father in [[Satou Kashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai]] has led to her obsession with joining the [[Kaiju Defense Force|military]], her brother's [[Hikikomori|withdrawal from the world]], and her mother's struggles to keep the family from becoming destitute.
* Serpico in ''[[Berserk]]'' spent his life hearing from his mother that his father was a nobleman who'd seduced her when she worked as his maid. After a while, he stopped believing it. {{spoiler|Then he became Farnese's servant, and one day her father asked about his mother. When Serpico described her, the man murmured something along the lines of "Oh, ''her''"... [[Heroic Bastard|and Serpico immediately caught on]]. Both agreed it was best for Farnese not to know about her older brother...}}
** Guts himself counts, since we know what happened to all of his parental figures except for his biological father. This just brings up a slew of fan speculation of just who - or ''what'' - [[Mysterious Parent|Guts' real dad is]], especially since he has many [[Pointy Ears|physical attributes]] that suggest to some fans that {{spoiler|he might not be entirely human.}} Other than that, this trope is played straight with Guts' adoptive father Gambino, since he talks more about the loss of Gambino than of the loss of his adoptive mother.
* Keima Katsuragi's father, in ''[[The World God Only Knows]]'', is implied to spend his time abroad collecting data. His absence helps newbie demon Elsee pass herself off as his illegitimate daughter. {{spoiler|That said, he at least remembers his wife's birthday.}}
* ''[[
** Actually, it was mentioned at the beginning that Taro's father was a painter with whom Taro's mother eloped.
* The death of Ryo's father in ''[[Princess Nine]]'' plays a huge role in the series.
* Renton suffers from this in ''[[Eureka Seven]]'', and is eager to find out what really happened to his dad (ep. 38).
* Natsumi and Fuyuki's father in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]''. It is never really explained what has happened to him, and he only appears in the anime in a brief cameo in the seventh season finale.
* Hayato's father in ''[[
* [[Kotetsu Jeeg]] has Dr. Shiba being emotionally disappeared at first (he and [[The Hero]] Hiroshi are in ''really'' bad terms since Hiroshi [[Married to
* In ''[[
* ''[[Kaichou wa Maid
* Ayumu and her sister from ''[[Life (
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* [[Spider
▲== Comic Books ==
▲* [[Spider Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] became a crime fighter after his uncle Ben, who acted as a father, was killed by a burglar.
* Shaman of ''[[Alpha Flight]]'' abandoned his daughter to learn magic. Technically, she kicked him out of her life (angry that he'd failed to save her mother / his wife as promised); but given she was maybe 12 at the time, most of the blame lies with him.
* [[Empowered
* ''[[
* Teddy of [[Young Avengers]] never knew his father. Cassie's was murdered.
* ''[[Wanted]]'' starts with Wesley Gibson discovering his disappeared father was a recently killed assassin. {{spoiler|In the movie, the one the "supposed dad"'s killer was Wesley's actual father.}}
* As with [[Missing Mom]], the [[Disney Animated Canon]] has more than a few examples:
** Both [[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]]'s and [[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'s fathers are dead. Luckily, they still have their stepmothers. [[Wicked Stepmother|Oh, wait...]]
** [[
*** However, the indication in the original film is that Bambi's dad dropped the disappearing act and took over the parenting duties after the death of Bambi's mom. This was confirmed years later by the [[Midquel]]
** In [[Beauty and The Beast]], Chip has a loving mother in Mrs. Potts. But Mr. Potts is never mentioned.
** ''[[The Lion King]]'': The death of Mufasa haunts Simba for much of the second third of the movie. [[Spirit Advisor|He does return from the dead for some encouragement.]]
** ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]] Down Under'': Cody lost his father.
** ''[[The Aristocats]]'': The kittens' father is never mentioned, but it really doesn't matter once [[Parental Substitute|O'Malley]] shows up.
** ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]] and the King of Thieves'': Al discovers that his father [[Hot Dad|Cassim]], who left his now dead mother to search for his fortune, is now... {{spoiler|well, the title pretty much gives it away, doesn't it?}}
** ''[[Atlantis:
*** {{spoiler|His girlfriend Kida}} actually loses [[Leonard Nimoy|her father, the King of Atlantis,]] to internal bleeding as a result of him being punched by the villain (her [[Missing Mom|mother, the former Queen]] was sacrificed at the very beginning of the film.) And do you know {{spoiler|[[The High Queen|what happens to a princess]] if she loses both parents?}}
** ''[[Treasure Planet]]'': Mr. Hawkins runs out on Jim and his mother. This trope has a pretty heavy effect on [[The Woobie|Jim's]] character. In fact, the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|the only pre-credits song in the movie]] is about [[Parental Abandonment]].
** ''[[Princess and The Frog]]'': While Tiana's dad is alive in the beginning, he dies during the ''[[Time Skip]]''. It's implied he died in [[World War I]].
** Plio, Aladar's adopted mother from ''[[Dinosaur]]'', for some reason actually does not have a husband despite already having a daughter named Suri.
** [[Mulan|Li Shang's]] father was actually killed in a battle against the Huns prior to Mulan and her teammates' arrival and later their fight with them. Mulan still has her dad, but he's very old; she joined the army as a [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] to 'avert'' the trope itself and save her father's life.
** Played with in ''[[
* In ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'', Andy's father is noticeably absent, implying that Mrs. Davis is a widow or a divorcee. However, [[Shrug of God]] suggests that [[The Hero|Woody]] belonged to Andy's dad.
* ''[[The Iron Giant]]'': Hogarth's father was a fighter pilot, and is assumed to have been killed during a mission.
* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' has several in the main cast: Littlefoot's father left (we find out in ''Longneck Migration'' that he's the leader of a herd; and makes a cameo in the cartoon series), and Petrie's father is never shown. Spike was abandoned before he even hatched, and Ducky's family adopts him. Ducky's father is seen but is deliberately kept silent and in the background because of what happened to [[Tear Jerker|Ducky's VA Judith Barsi]].
* ''[[Rango]]'': Beans insists that this is what happened to her father, and that she's waiting until "the people of Andromeda Five return him safe and sound". [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|He definitely did NOT fall drunk down a mineshaft.]]
* Camille's father in ''[[Therese Raquin]]''. There's pretty much no mention of him.
* The twins' father in ''[[
== Films -- Live-Action ==▼
* In ''[[The Little Shop of Horrors]]'' (the original 1960 dark comedy), Seymour lives with his hypochondriac mother, who explains to Audrey at dinner that Seymour's father ran out on her.
* In ''[[Psycho]]'', Norman's dead father plays a pivotal role in his absence. Mrs Bates' unhealthy behaviour begins after her husband's death. Norman might have had a shot at a normal childhood if he had lived. Sadly, though, this didn't happen
{{quote|
* ''[[Terminator]] 2: Judgment Day'', We know why the dad is absent: {{spoiler|Kyle was John's father and didn't survive the first movie}}. We also know Sarah tried the substitute dad treatment. It never took. You'd think after, like, 6 or 7 times...
** This troper was under the impression that she was only shacking up with them in order to learn the skills that helped her [[Took a Level
* In ''The Karate Kid'' (both the original and the 2009 remake), there is little or no mention of what happened to the title character's father.
* Director [[Steven Spielberg]] seems to use this trope a lot, played straight, averted and subverted.
** [[Truth in Television]], as his parents divorced when he was young.
* ''[[Mr.
* ''[[Son of the Mask]]'', Tim is a
* ''[[The Spiderwick Chronicles]]'': The children's father is audible over a phone conversation and seen on a photo. His absence is explained to Jared by his exasperated older sister. But the one time he does show up {{spoiler|it's the ogre Mulgarath in disguise as him}}.
* ''[[Independence Day]]'': Jasmine's son Dylan's father is ''not'' Steve Hiller, but Jasmine hopes he wants the job. We're not informed specifically what the deal is with Dylan, but given Jazz is a stripper, the potential exists that he ran out on her.
* ''The Shaggy Dog'' (2006) features Dave as the psychologically absent father.
* ''[[The Boondock Saints]]'' had a father who {{spoiler|was in prison for the last twenty-five to thirty years because he was a deadly mafia assassin known as Il Duce. He gets sprung from prison by Yakavetta to take on the job of killing Rocco, who Yakavetta believes is behind the killings that the two protagonists are doing, and he ends up fighting both of his sons and Rocco in an explosive shootout. It is only when Yakavetta guns down Rocco himself and the Duke walks in on the brothers delivering the family prayer to him that he realizes exactly who the two men are and finishes the prayer himself, thus revealing to them that he is their father}}.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'': Luke's father is mentioned in the first movie, and in the second one... [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Well, you know.]] (But hey, at least he had [[Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You|a good reason]] for disappearing!)
** Anakin ''doesn't have'' a father, unless you believe the theory that Palpatine's former master Darth Plagueis created him by use of the Force.
*** [[Word of God]] confirms this to be the case; Anakin never did have a father.
*** So is he a clone of his mother? Otherwise, where did the other half of his genome come from?
* If ''[[
** Done again in ''[[Indiana Jones and
*** Actually, Mutt has {{spoiler|two. The guy he thought was}} his dad is dead.
* In ''[[The Princess Bride (
** Also in ''Princess Bride'', there is the framing device of the grandfather reading the story to his grandson. Grandpa says, "This is the book my father used to read to me when I was sick and I used to read it to your father. And today, I'm going to read it to you." It's not mentioned why dad isn't around to read the book to the son himself, but it's probably safe to assume that he's dead.
*** Or at work?
* ''Okuribito'' (Departures): Daigo's father left so long ago he can't remember what he looks like. {{spoiler|At the end of the film Daigo claims his father's body and lovingly prepares him for his coffin. Daigo finds [[Chekhov's Gun|something]] that shows that his father still loved him despite leaving and finally remembers his face.}}
* In the [[Continuity Reboot|rebooted]]'' [[Star Trek (
* Kirk's son, David Marcus was like this until the events of ''[[Star Trek II:
* Sophie wanting to determine which of three men is her father drives the plot of the film and musical ''[[Mamma Mia!]]''.
* In Silent Hill, Alessa's father left her mother Dahlia.
* In ''[[Finding Neverland]]'', Mr. Llewelyn Davies died before the film began, leaving his four sons in the care of their mother. They haven't all recovered from the loss yet.
* Charlie's father (implied to be deceased) in ''[[Charlie and
** Yes, Charlie's father is missing, but Gustav and Mike's Dad is shown towards the beginning, as is Veruca and (possibly, sorry can't remember this one) Violet's Mom. I think you're just confused because the ticket only allowed each kid to take one guardian with them.
** The [[Adaptation Expansion]] of the 2005 film mentions Wonka's relationship with his [[Depraved Dentist]] father.
* Charlie has one in ''[[The Mighty Ducks (
* Cobb from ''[[Inception]]'' is one himself, though not by choice.
* ''[[The Manhattan Project]]'': Prior to the film, Paul's dad left his family and is now in Saudi Arabia. Paul is understandably somewhat bitter: "I guess he didn't like being married anymore. Actually he's a brilliant architect; he's just kind of a shit in his personal life."
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Return of Hanuman]]'', both Minku and Maruti's fathers have disappeared. How Minku's father disappeared wasn't revealed, while Maruti's dad disappeared because he was kidnapped and thrown into a volcano. Turns out that {{spoiler|[[Disney Death|They were alive after all]] after Maruti brings all of the villagers out of the volcano}}.
* Kevin Flynn in ''[[Tron
* In [[Don Juan Demarco
* Half of all kids movies in the 80s and early 90s had dead fathers or mothers.
* ''[[Angus]]'': There's a brief reference to the title character's parents being divorced, his father is never seen, and he lives with his mother and grandfather; the latter sort of being his father figure. In the original script, his father was still present in his life, and was gay - due to the potential controversy, he was written out of the movie altogether, the divorce reference was added, and plot-relevant scenes that were supposed to have Angus and his father in them were re-shot with his grandfather there instead.
* ''[[The Poker House]]'': The family moves away from the abusive priest father and never hears from him again.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Halfblood Chronicles]]'' by [[Mercedes Lackey]] and [[Andre Norton]]:
** ''The Elvenbane'': The titular character's foster mother is a single parent.
** ''Elvenblood'': The sympathetic [[Our Elves Are Different|elf lord]]'s father disappeared when he was a child.
* The disappearance of Meg Murray's father years ago becomes a central part of the plot in [[Madeleine L
* The absence of Daine's father in ''[[Tortall Universe|The Immortals]]'' led to Daine being branded as a [[Heroic Bastard]] and earned her much ridicule, but in the last book, she and the readers find out {{spoiler|he was actually a god}}.
** Alanna and Thom in [[Tamora Pierce|Pierce's]] related ''The Song of the Lioness'' series have the psychologically absent version; their father has never gotten over the death of their mother and more or less ignores them. They manage to pull a [[Twin Switch]] for ''years'' despite being of different genders.
* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[
* Specific cases in ''[[Harry Potter (
** James Potter died when trying to make a [[Last Stand]] to Voldemort to save his wife Lily and baby Harry.
** Frank Longbottom {{spoiler|is alive, but can't really BE a father since he was driven insane by the Cruciatus Curse}}
** Dean Thomas' father, as revealed by [[Word of God]], {{spoiler|is a wizard who left his Muggle wife and unborn child because he feared they would be targeted by the Death Eaters. He was later killed, and his family never learned the truth.}} This [[What Could Have Been|would have shown up in the text]], but got dropped in exchange for Neville's story.
** The first few books suggest Tom Riddle senior abandoned his wife and child because he didn't like magic. The sixth book revealed the much more sympathetic truth - {{spoiler|he fled from his wife Merope after she took him off the love potion she'd been feeding him. She thought after all this time and with a baby on the way he'd feel the real thing. He didn't, and Merope later went the [[Death
** The Dumbledore family lost their father after {{spoiler|he went to Azkaban prison after attacking some Muggle boys who attacked his daughter.}}
** And of course {{spoiler|BOTH of Teddy Lupin's parents are killed in the Battle of Hogwarts when he was only a few months old. He at least gets to be raised by his grandmother, and is practically a surrogate son to his godfather Harry.}}
** {{spoiler|Lucius Malfoy}} becomes this in the sixth book because he's sitting in Azkaban and it's the {{spoiler|motivation for Draco to become a Death Eater, try to kill Dumbledore, and to get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts.}}
* [[Doc Savage]]'s father leaves him [[Training
* Pretty much all of Jacqueline Wilson's teen books contain this. Parents are almost always divorced and the father has usually vanished into the ether (occasionally to be replaced with a Wicked Stepfather)
* ''[[Ella Enchanted]]'' - being a literal Cinderella story, it places Ella's father as a frequently-traveling merchant. He also has little to no interest in what goes on around his house in his absence.
Line 199 ⟶ 194:
* John Cleaver's father in ''[[I Am Not a Serial Killer]]'' is absent from the book except when he sends John a letter and an iPod at Christmas.
* The father of the titular character in [[The Underland Chronicles|Gregor the Overlander]]. {{spoiler|They find him though.}}
* The first two books of ''[[
* In [[Jim Butcher]]'s [[
** In ''Blood Rites'', Harry presupposes this after {{spoiler|Emma}}'s death, when he laments that her children are orphans. {{spoiler|Jake}} reveals that, in fact, she had not wanted to settle down with him, but he will raise their children.
** And then in ''Changes'', Harry finds out that he ''is'' the
* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''The Gods Of Mars'', [[John Carter of Mars|John Carter]] meets a young man whose father died before he was born. {{spoiler|Three guesses as to who his father was and whether that info was accurate.}}
{{quote|
"Your father is dead?" I asked.
"He died before the shell broke to let me step out into a world that has been very good to me. But for the sorrow that I had never the honour to know my father, I have been very happy. My only sorrow now is that my mother must mourn me as she has for ten long years mourned my father."'' }}
* [[Stephen King]] examples (his father left his family when King was two)
Line 215 ⟶ 210:
** Hal Shelburn in ''The Monkey'' (short story in the collection ''Skeleton Crew''). His father was a seaman, like King's.
* ''The Dark-Thirty'', a collection of African-American ghost stories: A boy with psychic powers has an irresponsible, semi-[[Affably Evil]] disappeared dad (mom despises him but when he's around it's usually a fun time). Dad takes his son back to the city when he learns about the boy's powers and uses him to make money on horse races, but when the kid's power disappears and he's beaten by his debt collectors he promptly returns the boy to his mother, never to be seen again ("And good riddance", says his mom).
* Matt's father died in an accident on the Aurora in ''[[Airborn]]'', which is why Matt must work at 15 to support the mothers and sisters.
* In ''[[Tranquilium]]'', Gleb Marin's father was killed when he was 17 or so. It's played somewhat more straight with his own son Billy, who doesn't know Gleb is his father; the man he ''thinks'' is his father is missing as of early Part Three (when the son becomes a character in his own right) because he is a prisoner of war. He is mostly raised by his mother, who is Gleb's former lover and the wife of Billy's adapted father, and by Auntie Olive, who is Gleb's former wife. Things inevitably get rather awkward when Gleb has to rescue Billy from a conspiracy (the fact that Gleb was by this point {{spoiler|a sovereign monarch}} didn't help)...
* ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'': Mr. Wingfield.
* In ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', most of the demigods where the god is the father have never met their father and before finding out their heritage, usually are told that their father wasn't in the picture. Inverted for the godly mother, of course. In Percy's case, his mother Sally told him that his father wasn't dead but had been lost in sea. Seeing how Posideon was his father ...
* Sam of ''[[Villains
* Frances Hodgson Burnett seemed to love this trope as this happens to pretty much all of her main characters. [[A Little Princess|Sara Crewe]] at least used to have a loving father, but both of [[The Secret Garden|Mary's]] parents are emotionally and largely physically absent even before they die. And then we have ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' Cedric, whose loving father died when he was a toddler, and the plot is kickstarted when he and his mom go to England to meet his grandfather...
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Aragorn's father dies in the war when he is two; he's raised by his mother and Elrond. There are more examples of
** [[The Silmarillion|The Children of Húrin]], Túrin and Nienor, also lose their father at a young age, which is the beginning of all their trouble -he's captured by Morgoth and released only after {{spoiler|they've both killed themselves.}}
* L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[
* In ''[[The Mysterious Benedict Society]]'', Kate's dad left her when she was two. {{spoiler|It is revealed to be Milligan, who was brainswept on a mission.}}
* Erika, Grünlich's daughter, suffers from this in ''[[
* In [[
** Tigerstar's own father was absent - left the Clan to be a kittypet - and this is [[Freudian Excuse|a major part of why he's evil]].
* The absent father is a major plot point in ''You Don't Know Me''. The entire premise revolves around the relationship between John and his stepfather (or the rough equivalent, anyway), so the missing father is really a necessity. The details are vague at best - though a fantasized version of the father is mentioned frequently, John has little to no recollection of who he really was, his mother rarely talks about him, and the actual disappearance was sudden and without explanation: one day there, the next day gone.
* In ''[[Chalion|Paladin of Souls]]'', it is revealed that Roya Ias' "boon companion" Chancellor Arbol dy Lutiz had essentially abandoned his latest wife and young son to attend upon his liege at court. Young Ahrys did not even remember his father but yet strove to excel in all the arts of warfare and statesmanship [["Well Done, Son" Guy|in the hopes of being summoned to the capital]] until the day the elder Dy Lutiz died. As Ahrys' half-brother (the result of their mother's long-term affair with the Castle Warder) put it:
{{quote|
* ''[[Sunshine (
* In ''[[Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close]],'' Oskar's grandfather abandoned his father before he was born. He tries to apologize and explain in letters entitled "Why I'm Not Where You Are," but all but one never get sent.
* ''[[In Death]]'': A number of characters throughout the series are much more likely to have a mother in the picture rather than a father. Does [[Nora Roberts]] have a problem with fathers?
* Subverted in [[
* ''[[
** And then we have Tobias, although Elfangor's disappearance was special circumstances.
* In ''[[Les Misérables]]'', Fantine's boyfriend Tholomyès abandoned her and their two-year-old daughter Cosette.
* In [[
* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': [[Adipose Rex|King Robert]], in direct contrast to how his dear friend [[Honor Before Reason|Ned]] [[Missing Mom|raised his bastard]], entirely ignores the existence of fifteen of his illegitimate children and does his best to avoid Edric Storm, the sixteenth. Gendry, one of his eldest children, doesn't even know that Robert ''is'' his father.
* Antonia's father dies before the events of the ''[[
* In ''[[
* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm
* ''[[
▲* ''[[I Carly (TV)|I Carly]]'': Carly/Spencer's father is in the military. Freddie's father is never mentioned and his mother seems to have raised him on her own.
** Sam's father's abandonment is finally addressed in "iParty With Victorious":
{{quote|
* The 2000s ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** Late in the series, we learn what happened to him. When Kara was young, her mother forced him to [[Sadistic Choice|choose between his family or his music]]. He chose music ( {{spoiler|some of which was written two thousand years ago by Sam Anders (or possibly Bob Dylan) on Earth}}), leaving Kara with a woman who thought [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] was a valid parenting method.
** Not to mention the original (male) Starbuck of the original series. He grew up without a father, then one day a con artist shows up and hints at possibly being his father as part of a scam. Surprise-surprise, the con artist was really his father (which shocked the heck out of him). In the end, Starbuck's dad pretends that he is NOT Starbuck's father so he won't drag his son down. (That and the part was played by expensive and elderly actor Fred Astaire)▼
** Bill Adama is stated to have been this to Lee and Zak during their childhood, what with hardly ever being around.
▲
* ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'': A
** Creator Sherwood Schwartz's original concept for the show had been for Carol to be a divorcee, but the network deemed this too controversial for the era and demanded a script change. One description of the pilot (a result of this change) has Carol being a widow (the reason why Carol's first husband apparently has no contact with his daughters), although her actual background is never explicitly stated in any of the scripts.
** In the final episode of the series, "The Hair-Brained Scheme
* ''[[
** Buffy's dad pretty much disappears after the second season premiere, even when Buffy's kicked out of her mother's house she doesn't go to him and she tells Angel that he never even came to Joyce's funeral. Further, attempts to replace him were disastrous as well.
** We never see Willow's father (and her mother is only in one episode, at that). Xander's parents are occasionally mentioned and do make one appearance, although it's pretty evident that Xander wishes they ''had'' disappeared.
* ''[[
* ''[[Chuck]]'': After years of absent and/or neglectful non-parenting, Papa Bartowski finally left his children at some point before the series started.
** He did have a good reason for it, as he didn't want his kids to be caught in the
* ''[[Good Times]]'': The Evans' family patriarch, James, is killed in a car accident to start the 1976-1977 season, the character being dropped after John Amos was fired (after disputes with the production staff). The explanation: He had left to close a partnership deal with an old friend in Mississippi, the resulting career opportunity making it possible to move his family out of the Chicago slums, and on the way back was involved in a car accident where he was fatally injured.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''
** The [[Big Bad]] Sylar's dad walked out on him and his mother when he was very small. This may be what made his mother quite so obsessed, and contributed to his [[Freudian Excuse]] and [[
*** The mother he {{spoiler|killed}} wasn't even his {{spoiler|real mother, who happens to NOT be Angela Petrelli...who also abandoned him.}}
*** It also turns out that he was abandoned {{spoiler|by two fathers. His birth father (a taxidermist) sold him to his uncle (the watchmaker), who only wanted him so that he could abandon his annoying wife with a clear conscience. Birth daddy also killed birth mommy while young Gabriel watched.}}
** Micah's dad was a now-you-see-him-now-you-don't sort of disappeared dad. He was in jail, then came back, then died, then faux-returned in flashbacks before being gone altogether.
** Claire is a weird twisty aversion. She was a complete [[Parental Abandonment]] case with both [[Missing Mom]] and
** Hiro is a particularly tragic example. He began with [[Missing Mom]] Ishi, but his father Kaito {{spoiler|was murdered by a vengeful Adam Monroe}} just as Hiro and Kaito had finally found common ground after a lifetime of Hiro never measuring up to his father's standards, and right after they'd finally begun bonding. This completes the loss of his parents and makes Hiro an adult onset [[Parental Abandonment]] case.
*** Hiro's example is more complicated than that. Throughout season 1, Hiro was made to work at the lowest levels of his company. When his father brought him and his sister in to name the proper heir to the company after retirement, he names Hiro initially, but when his sister protests, arguing that she already ran three divisions of the company, Hiro relinquishes. His father was feigning much of the disappointment he displayed and it was revealed near the season's end to be part of his plan. His father secretly knew about Hiro's powers and had greater expectations in mind, this was brought to light in the episode where Hiro meets his father dressed in traditional Samurai/Shogun robes and they spar with katanas.
** Matt Parkman is a triple-sided example.
*** His own father disappeared when he was 13 {{spoiler|only to show up later as a villain, whom Matt defeats.}}
*** Matt is technically the
*** And Matt is ''not'' the
** Mohinder Suresh's father Chandra abandoned his family after the death of Mohinder's sister Shanti to pursue his research into weird genetic superpowers. (Not quite directly afterwards, as Mohinder was the second child and was born some months ''after'' Shanti died.) Then only days prior to the start of the pilot episode, Chandra Suresh is murdered by Sylar.
** Arthur Petrelli, the father of Peter and Nathan, committed suicide six months before the start of the series. {{spoiler|As it turns out, not so much. He's the [[Big Bad]] of Season 3.}}
* ''[[Terminator]]: [[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' has the same
* I'm not sure it qualifies,{{verify}} but the cast of ''[[
** Jack
** Kate
*** Actually the man she thought was her mother's boyfriend was actually her biological father. The guy she thought was her biological father wasn't.
** Locke
** Sawyer
** Hurley
** Claire
** Walt
** Miles
** Daniel
** Jin
*** Who might not be his biological father, though Jin doesn't know it. Jin's mother was a prostitute who abandoned him shortly after his birth. His father raised him anyway, telling him that his mother had died and leaving out the part where she was a prostitute in order to prevent him from feeling further shame about his parentage.
** Sun
* ''[[
* ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' has a recursive one that starts out messed up, and just keeps getting worse:
** Ned, not knowing how his power worked, revived his mother from her death, causing the permanent death of Chuck's father.
*** Only {{spoiler|to dig him and bring him back to life. Soon after, the father departed again, this time stealing Ned's car.}}
** ''Still'' not knowing how the power worked, Ned didn't stop his mother from kissing him goodnight, causing her second and permanent death.
** Ned's father abandons Ned in boarding school, and ran off to start an entirely new life (complete with new wife and new sons), ignoring his eldest son entirely from that point on. And later he abandons those sons as well. At a magic show.
*** In one of the [[Too Good to Last|last]] episodes of the show, {{spoiler|Ned's father has reappeared, and is evidently supplying Ned with covert assistance.}}
** Emerson Cod is an involuntary
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': Sam and Dean's father John raised them, but for most of Season 1 he's
** John was pretty much a
** [[God]] would probably count as this too, actually.
* ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'' - Viktor Adler "[[Never Say "Die"|finished off]]" both of Cole's parents shortly after finding the remains of the original Master Org.
* ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' - Both of Trent's parents died before the series began, and, contrary to what you might expect, that's it.
* ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'' starts off with Nick as a total [[Parental Abandonment]] case (sort of, he does have a foster family somewhere), which morphs [ahem] into a subverted [[Missing Mom]] case, and then, a
* In ''[[VR Troopers]]'' Tyler Steele, Ryan's dad,was turned into Dark Heart by Grimlord.
** In ''[[Choujinki Metalder]]'', Top Gunder (Dark Heart's counterpart) was nobody's father (since he and Metalder were robots). However, in ''[[Jikuu Senshi Spielban]]'' (the other ''[[Metal Heroes]]'' show that was adapted into ''VR Troopers''), Dr. Bio (General Icebot's counterpart) was Spielban's missing father, Dr. Ben.
* ''[[Reba]]'' kicks off with Dad running off with his secretary; the two later show up and become regulars (much to Reba's annoyance).
* ''[[The Middleman]]'' begins with Wendy playing with a Zippo that's the last memento from the dad who vanished when she was 14. It turns out to be something of a sticking point with Wendy.
* Sam Tyler in ''[[Life On Mars]]''
**
* ''[[
** Reid gets a [[Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You|Reappeared Dad]] when a case triggers disturbing memories.
* The titular character of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' would seem to have been raised by his mother. There's yet to be a single mention of his father, which, due to [[Half
** Of course, all this changed in the final episode of season two.
* ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' has a few, which isn't surprising for a teen drama.
** Grace's dad dies in a plane crash during the series. She later gets a stepdad, but she's rather cold towards him due to the fact that her mom married him fairly soon after her dad's death.
** Adrian doesn't meet her dad until she's 16. He blows her off at first since he "has another family now." He later abruptly dumps them, gets involved in Adrian's life, and marries Adrian's mom.
** Jack's dad is dead before the series starts, [[Parental Substitute|but he has a good relationship with his stepfather.]]
* On ''[[
* On ''[[
* In
{{quote|
* Richard [[
* In ''[[
* While the dads of the ''[[Deadliest Catch]]'' crews usually return, they're gone for so long and in such dangerous conditions there (multiple) divorces are not uncommon and actually a deterrent for one young father who was thinking of joining the family business.
** Jake Anderson's dad literally disappeared, although he wasn't a crew member.
* On ''[[Misfits]]'', we still don't know exactly what the hell happened to make Nathan so furious at his father, Mike, beyond the fact that he was apparently "never around". But my ''God'', whatever took place gave Nathan some serious issues
** We know a bit more as of season 2 - apparently Mike cheated on Nathan's mother, walked out on her, and has
{{quote|
* Jeremy from ''[[Peep Show]]'', who is in many ways an unmitigated Jerkass, broke down and wept at one point in series 6 on account of his father abandoning him at the age of ten. It was unexpectedly touching.
* This happened a few times on ''[[
** Victor was forced away by Grams and Patty because he didn't want his girls to be raised as witches and to be put into danger. Apparently, Grams also used magic against him.
** Sam, Paige's father, had to abandon Paige because of his fears of what the Elders would do to her because she's half whitelighter.
** Chris from the future had suffered from this in his childhood. Leo, in his time, had Elder duties that kept him away from his family. He has issues with that.
* On ''[[
* An episode of ''[[According to Jim]]'' had Jim look after a karate classmate of his daughters (on whom both girls have a crush) whose father is hours late. When the boy's parents arrive at Jim's home to pick up their son, Jim makes the startling realization that the boy's Dad is his own, who left when Jim was 10, 35 years prior. No mention is made of Jim's daughters unknowingly crushing on their half-uncle, possibly to avoid the [[Squick
* ''[[Wings (TV series)|Wings]]'' started with the Brothers Hackett reuniting thanks to the posthumous machinations of their prankster father. {{spoiler|Ended in a similar fashion, as well.}}
* ''[[
* On ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'', Tim's dad died when Tim was eleven years old. Judging by the way Tim talks about him and reacts to others mentioning him, the death was utterly devastating and traumatizing to him as a child, and still haunts him with unusual severity throughout the series.
* In [[The Young Ones]] episode ''Boring'' this is an exchange between Vyvyan and his mum:
{{quote|
'''Vyv's Mum''': Oh honestly, Vyvyan, I wish you wouldn't ask me that. You know I have absolutely no idea who he is. }}
* ''[[Step
* ''[[Family Matters]]'': Why Rachel Crawford is a widow and baby Richie has no father. (Robert Crawford had died of an illness shortly after Richie was born, about a year before the series began.) Carl Winslow, Richie's uncle and Rachel's brother-in-law, becomes the father figure in his life.
* ''[[Happy Days]]'': As a child, Fonzie's father had abandoned him and his mother, something that Fonzie remains bitter and resentful about for years. All that the father had left his son was a locked box without a key; the box's contents are eventually revealed to be
* ''[[
* Wataru of ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'' has a missing father. Part of the show focuses on the events that led to his father's disappearance and any other event that resulted in what is happening presently.
* ''[[The Partridge Family]]'': Shirley Jones' character was a widowed mother of five. The group's manager Reuben Kincaid sometimes acted as a father figure.
* While ''[[Beverly Hills,
== [[Music]] ==
▲== Music ==
* In [[Ayreon]]: [[The Human Equation]] the protagonist's father is a womanizing jerk who left his mother long ago. He appears in his comatose hallucination to mock him (''"Day sixteen: Loser"''), the grudge the protagonist held on him was essential in igniting his rage and letting him wake up four days later.
* A Disappeared Dad is among the [[Wangst]] ([[Played for Laughs]]) of [[The Offspring]]'s "She's Got Issues":
{{quote|
''But I wish you wouldn't call me daddy
''When we're gettin' it on }}
* And let us not forget Johnny Cash's 'A Boy Named Sue' in which the abandoned son hunts down his father for giving him that name.
* Cat's In The Cradle by [[Harry Chapin]] is this trope told from the ''dad's'' perspective. It's also a bit of a [[Tear Jerker]].
Line 373 ⟶ 366:
* [[Backstreet Boys|AJ McLean]]'s "Sincerely Yours," a case of [[Calling the Old Man Out]].
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==▼
* In ''[[
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* In ''[[Dilbert (Comic Strip)|Dilbert]]'', the title character's father, who never appears in the comic, has been living in an all-you-can-eat restaurant in the mall since Christmas 1992; he won't leave until he's literally had all he can eat. When Dilbert's girlfriend Liz expresses astonishment that neither he nor his mother have so much as visited him in all this time, Dilbert replies, "We're waiting for a sale." The joke is recycled for the [[Dilbert (Animation)|animated series]], where the father, still living in the restaurant (since [[Exaggerated Trope|1979]] in this version), does appear, but [[The Faceless|his face isn't shown]].
** No, they were originally waiting for a sale to go to the mall to look for him. When his mom finally found him, Dilbert decided not to go to the restaurant to visit until they were serving a special he liked.
== [[Theatre]] ==
* In William Inge's ''Picnic'' (as well as in the 1955 film adaptation), the father of the Owens family has long since abandoned them.
* In the musical version of ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'' Cosette's father apparently took off sometime before or shortly after her birth, causing her to be sent to live with the Thenardiers and her mother Fantine to be forced into prostitution. Though she does later gain a father figure in Valjean.
** Cosette's father in the novel is Felix Tholomyes. His three friends are paired up with Fantine' three friends, and men abandon their women as a joke of sorts; Fantine either doesn't have a chance to tell him or finds out just afterwards that she's pregnant.
*** Actually, Cosette was two years old when Tholomyès abandoned them. It says in the novel that only ten months after he left, Fantine drops off the nearly-three Cosette to live with the Thénardiers. Fantine had three letters written pleading for him to come back, but he didn't.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Going to meet the missing father is what kicks off the plot of ''[[Trace Memory]]''.
* ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'': Harry Mason to Cheryl.
* This is a main plot hook in ''[[Fallout
* This is ''also'' the main plot hook in ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]''.
* As with similarities to its anime adaptation, all the ''[[Pokémon]]'' games in the main series seems to suffer from this, with the rival's included. The only games that seems to avert it is Sapphire/Ruby/Emerald in the Hoenn generation, where it was solely because your father was a major figure in the game, and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum in the Sinnoh generation, where your rival's father is the champion of the Battle Tower. The most mention of a father in the original games is a mention that "dad would like this" about a TV program.
** As far as spin-offs go, the player character of ''XD'''s dad is explicitly dead.
* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', the protagonist's father is mentioned exactly once, to establish that nobody in West Harbor has ever met him. Of course, seeing as their mother is only mentioned a handful of times and they are raised by a friend of their mother that is understandable.
* We see the mother of ''[[
** Tifa's father was murdered by Sephiroth in his Nibelheim rampage. In front of young Tifa, to make it worse.
** Then we have {{spoiler|Dyne, Marlene's biological father and Barret's old friend, who passed the [[Despair Event Horizon]] after Shinra's destruction of Corel Village and unwillingly getting an [[Arm Cannon]]; [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|after that, he's pretty much an Empty Shell of the man he once was]]. He becomes a full DD when Barret defeats him in combat; he then begs him to keep taking care of Marlene and throes himself off a cliff, despite Barret's pleas.}}
** Aerith's father {{spoiler|was Professor Gast Faremist, a scientist who was Hojo and Lucrecia's "partner" in the experiments that would lead to Sephiroth's birth. He left Shinra few afterwards and later lived with a Cetra woman, Ifalna, and fathered Aerith with her, but was gunned down by Hojo while trying to protect his wife and daughter; Ifalna dies some time later, but manages gto entrust Elmyra with bitty Aerith before kicking it.}}
* Crono's father in ''[[
** Not only Crono's, but {{spoiler|Magus's}} father never appears during the game, either. {{spoiler|It is vaguely stated by an NPC that Queen Zeal (Janus' mother) [[Freudian Excuse|hasn't been the same since the King died]], at which point she started neglecting her children and unwittingly turned Janus' sister Schala into his mother figure.}}
** The sequel, ''Chrono Cross'', continued this with the noticeable absence of Serge's father, although we see Serge's mother at the beginning of (and various times throughout) the game.
* ''[[Wild
** This seems to be a pretty common trope for ''[[Wild
* The prologue to ''[[
** Which totally inspires [[Fridge Logic]] when you realize {{spoiler|Ortega's been missing/presumed dead for about ten ''years''. In all that time in, presumably, the Dark World, he not only managed to reach the Charlock Castle ''without'' the rainbow bridge, but failed to become stronger than his son/daughter, despite the fact that he was already much, much stronger than that, considering the fact that he's on the final floor of the last dungeon in the game? What the hell?}}
* An inversion of this trope occurs in ''[[
* ''[[
* In the ''Purple Moon'' games, Sharla's father walked out on her and refuses to take her to a father-daughter function previous to her teenage rebellion, which is implied to be partially caused by this. Nobody knows where Dana's father is, either, but she certainly doesn't like her stepfather much.
* In ''[[
** Same goes for ''MOTHER''. ''[[
* Because of the strong female influence on the Fey clan in the ''[[
** This also seems to be the case with the Apollo Justice game on {{spoiler|Apollo himself}} after {{spoiler|Lamiroir is revealed to be his birth mother, with only a passing mention that his father died in an accident a long time ago}}.
** In Investigations, Lauren Paup's father left before she was old enough to even remember his face, {{spoiler|which is why she never noticed that the butler Oliver Deacon actually was her father. He was in hiding from the law and thus couldn't reveal his identity to her.}}
** It's unclear whether her mother is alive or not due to her vague mention of going to live with her 'mother's family', but {{spoiler|Kay Faraday's father dies very dramatically when she's ten. A young Edgeworth solves the case but the killer isn't brought into custody until seven years after the murder.}}
* In ''Seiken Densetsu 3'', Duran's father died while on a quest to defeat the Dragon Emperor. This becomes an important plot point for Duran's story later on, as a setup for {{spoiler|a [[Luke, I Am Your Father]] scene with the [[Black Knight|Darkshine Knight]]}}.
* In ''[[The Adventures of Sam
* Sparda from the ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' series. He's treated as gone, but what exactly happened to him hasn't been elaborated on.
* Jecht from ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' messed up his kid by disappearing for ten years, then messes him up even more by not being quite the same upon resurfacing. {{spoiler|It turns out that Jecht became the Final Aeon for the last Final Summoning, resulting in him becoming the current Sin because of the [[Vicious Cycle]] perpetuated by Yu Yevon}}.
* An interesting take on this trope occurs in ''[[Harvest Moon|Rune Factory 2]]'' where the missing dad is ''the main character''. Instead of the game following him when he leaves his family, player control switches over to his son/daughter who embarks on a quest to find out what happened to his/her father.
* Princess Zelda's father is ostensibly the King of Hyrule, but he's missing from almost every game in the entire series, leaving his underaged daughter to run the kingdom. And in one of the only two games where he ''is'' seen (''[[The Legend of Zelda
** Lest we forget, her father was in [[The
** Link himself is even worse off. His mother is mentioned in about one game (Ocarina of Time, again) and his father never. The closest relatives he ever lived with was [[The Legend of Zelda:
** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* ''[[Star Fox (
* Ritz from ''[[
* In the game ''[[
* It is never explained what happened to Lara's parents in the first ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' series, although according to the backstory of ''Legend'', Richard Croft died/disappeared during an expedition in Cambodia. She has a [[Missing Mom]] too, so that's Parental Abandonment.
** ''Underworld'' reveals the details of what happened; Lara's mother {{spoiler|became a zombie upon being transported to the Norse underworld}} and Lara's father {{spoiler|was killed by the [[Big Bad]] for not co-operating with her plans}}
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
** The first: Jacob learns that his father, who has been presumed dead for ten years, might still be alive. He admits that they hadn't spoken for ages even before the man vanished, but he naturally wants to investigate. {{spoiler|He doesn't like what he finds.}}
** Second: Thane, who ''is'' the absent father trying to reunite with his son Kolyat... {{spoiler|so he can stop Kolyat from following in his footsteps as an assassin.}} It's even called "Cat's in the Cradle".
** Third: Tali'Zorah's father (as mentioned in the first [[
** Subverted with Shepard themself if you choose the Spacer origin, while Shepard's mother is briefly interacted with in the first game and mentioned many times as a highly respected navy captain in the second. Shepard's father is never mentioned at all.
* ''[[
* ''[[Scaler]]'''s dad left when he was little. {{spoiler|It later turns out that Leon is his father - and had been stuck in a different world.}}
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed]] 2'', you get to see Ezio's father "disappear"... {{spoiler|executed by hanging.}}
Line 443 ⟶ 433:
* In ''[[Car Battler Joe]]'', Joe's father has been missing for years, and Joe sets out to find him.
▲== Visual Novel ==
* ''[[Ever 17|Ever 17: The Out of Infinity]]:'' You's father was a researcher at Leiblich Pharmaceutical, and disappeared under mysterious circumstances a year after You was born.
** {{spoiler|Rare protagonist example: Takeshi becomes one to Hokuto and Sara, though in his case, at least he had [[Heroic Sacrifice|his]] [[Human Popsicle|reasons]] (not to mention he didn't know they existed.}}
* Emiya Kiritsugu in ''[[Fate/stay
* In ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'', we have {{spoiler|Emi Ibarazaki}}'s father. {{spoiler|He died eight years ago, in the same accidnt where Emi lost her legs. His death mentally scarred Emi a
** {{spoiler|Lilly Satou}}'s father lives abroads, [[Parental Abandonment|and so does her mother.]] {{spoiler|Lilly's sister Akira [[Promotion to Parent|pretty much raised her]], and she's not exactly happy about it; she loves Lilly very much but clearly knows that she cannot replace their parents.}}
** {{spoiler|Hanako Ikezawa}}'s father {{spoiler|died in the fire that left her scarred and fully orphaned.}}
== [[Web Comics]] ==▼
* ''[[Count Your Sheep]]'' has a
▲== Web Comics ==
▲* ''[[Count Your Sheep]]'' has a [[Disappeared Dad]] in the form of Marty who we only ever hear about in flashbacks or wistful reminiscences. He's explicitly dead, though.
* ''[[Narbonic]]'' both inverts and averts the trope, as the first time we hear about Helen's father {{spoiler|it's implied Helen's mother served him for dinner}}, and then once the truth is revealed, {{spoiler|we discover there never was a dad -- Helen is a clone;}} it turns out to be a Should've Seen That Coming due to the fact that Helen's mother is a [[Mad Scientist]].
* In ''[[Fans]]!'', many of neurotic [[Ice Queen]] Shanna's issues stem from the fact that her father abandoned her and her insane mother when she was just a child. Unlike many of the fathers on this page, however, when he ''does'' finally appear he's treated somewhat sympathetically; whilst his abandonment of his wife and daughter isn't condoned he's depicted as an uptight-but-decent man who just snapped under the pressure of his life and later genuinely regretted his actions, but felt too ashamed of himself to return.
* Jodie's father (from ''[[Loserz]]'') is missing, as told [https://web.archive.org/web/20080518162322/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/index.php?comicID=461 here].
* In ''[[Misfile]]'', Emily's father disappeared before she was born, never to return. His only contribution to the plot (apart from Emily obviously) was to ensure Emily's mother became the [[Education Mama]] we all know and...er...know. A [[Epileptic Trees|fan theory has been advanced that Rumisiel could even be her father]]. We pray that it gets [[Jossed]] quickly.
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' the first time Molly ever hit anybody was when Galatea taunted her for not having a "real" daddy. (Molly felt very guilty afterwards for hitting her.)
* In ''[[
* Kimiko's father hasn't really been around much in her life in [[Dresden Codak]], aside from giving her a bunch of money when her mother died.
* Faerun of [[Juathuur]].
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Dreamer]]'', Alexander's dad left the family (or rather, his mom kicked him out) when he was about 10 years old. He's never seen him since.
* In ''[[Out There]]'', Miriam's mother makes occasional appearances, but [http://outthere.keenspot.com/d/20091218.html the first time Miriam mentions her father], she implies she hasn't seen him for awhile, if ever.
** Turns out [http://outthere.keenspot.com/d/20110712.html there's a pretty good reason].
* In ''[[
** Eugene is an interesting case. It seems that he wasn't active in Roy's life ''until'' he died; prior to that he seems to have been [[Parental Neglect|quite neglectful]], was bitter that Roy became a fighter [[Follow in My Footsteps|instead of a wizard]] and showed clear [[Parental Favoritism]] to Julia. However, he specifically passed up a chance to defeat Xykon because it would have involved abandoning the family and possibly putting them in danger, but [[Hidden Heart of Gold|specifically lied]] to Roy saying he would have left them if given the chance.
** {{spoiler|Haley's reunited with Ian but unfortunately they no longer get along, since she's abandoned the paranoia-happy way he tried to raise her.}}
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Strays]]'', Meela's father never appears; she also [[Dreaming of Times Gone By|dreams]] of a boy whose father was murdered.
* In ''[[Memoria (
* Eiji of ''[[Ninth Elsewhere]]''; he claims to see his father at family dinners once in a while, but his mother points out that he hasn't been to one in months.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (
== Web Original ==▼
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance (Roleplay)|The Gamers Alliance]]'', Omaroch vanished from the lives of his sons Refan and Kareth but later returned to guide them. It turns out he was kidnapped by his brothers who then tortured and brainwashed him to serve the dark god Mardük, and he returned only to use the sons for fulfilling an ancient prophecy about Mardük. He eventually snaps out of it, but by that time it's too late; the damage has already been done, and he has not only lost the trust of his sons but also indirectly causes the Cataclysm and the birth of the Godslayer.▼
* ''[[Erikas New Perfume|Erika's New Perfume]]'': So far there has been no mention of the patriarch of the Swanson family in the original story or in any of the sequels or related comics. {{spoiler|He does end up appearing eventually.}} According to the author, {{spoiler|there was an ugly divorce, which is why he didn't show up for some time; Veronica (Mrs. Swanson) was likely deliberately avoiding talking about him.}}▼
* While what actually went on is unclear, [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] still lives with his abusive mother. His Dad, who Critic still appears to have scary memories of, is implied to have left the family a while ago and it's also likely that he died before the ''[[Alaska]]'' review. (This is all in-character, of course, Doug's parents are lovely and helpful.)▼
▲== [[Web Original]] ==
▲* In ''[[
▲* ''[[
▲* While what actually went on is unclear, [[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[As Told
* ''[[
** Katara and Sokka started out with a [[Missing Mom]], followed by their father Hakoda becoming a
*** In fact, Katara and Sokka's entire village has a case of
** Zuko's father Ozai the Fire Lord only appeared as silhouettes and partial face shots for the first two seasons. Given that he disfigured and banished his only son, he qualifies as the "missing in fulfillment of fatherly duties" sort anyway. Fortunately, Zuko has a substitute father figure in his kind uncle [[Cool Old Guy|Iroh]]
** Aang is a full-on case of [[Parental Abandonment]], as far as anyone knows, but he had some substitute father figures: Monk Gyatso, Avatar Roku.
** Toph is an almost forced-inversion example. Her parents are present, but sheltered and narrow in their thinking. They're also so inattentive of their "tiny, helpless fragile" child that they leave the overwhelming majority of her caretaking to servants. Because of this, Toph is able to secretly become a master [[Elemental Powers|Earthbender]] under their noses. And upon finding out, instead of being impressed, Mr. Bei Fong tightens the yoke of parental overprotectiveness, which results in Toph abandoning her parents and running away with Aang's group.
* ''[[
** Mac and Terrence's father is a
** Frankie, however, is a total [[Parental Abandonment]] case, as Madame Foster is her grandmother and we see no signs of her parents. Given her age, she just might have moved out of her parents' house, but she has also appeared in old copies of the annual house photo, giving the impression that Madame Foster raised her.
** Goo on the other hand, is an aversion. Her parents are alive, just mostly offscreen.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** [[Spoiled Brat|She doesn't seem to mind]].
* ''[[
** Sam Dullard's father was the now-you-see-him-now-you-don't variety, just barely. We know that his father is an executive with no time for the family, and that's why there was a divorce. When he shows up in Ocean Shores, he is physically there, but so busy with work, he's still absent.
* In ''[[
** It's later revealed that Tino's mom divorced him, and that he lives on the other side of the country, so he can only visit once or twice a year. He does show up in a few episodes.
* ''[[WITCH (
* There's an episode of ''[[Batman:
{{quote|
'''Ex-con:''' [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]. }}
* And then there's ''[[
* At the start of ''[[
** Until he has a kid with his new wife Linda and disappears again completely
* In ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (
{{quote|
* In ''[[
* Skwisgaar Skwigelf of ''[[
* In ''[[
* An interesting case on ''[[
* Professor Membrane from ''[[
* On ''[[
** Dr. Doofenshmirtz is a subversion: his ex-wife has primary custody of [[Mad
* In ''[[
* ''[[The Fairly
** It was shown that Cosmo turned him into a fly, with possibly no way to reverse it.
* For having one of the most extensive casts, it becomes all the more noticeable to see the absence of [[The Simpsons (animation)|Marge's dad]], whose fate has only been casually mentioned.
* The dingo family's father in ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
** ''[[Jonny Quest:
* In ''[[
* ''[[Wheel Squad]]'': Emilie's biological father is never mentioned. Fortunately her stepfather is happy about [[Happily Adopted|filling the role]].
** Jessica's parents are divorced. [[Visit
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Always Male]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Parental Issues]]
[[Category:Orphaned Index]]
[[Category:
|