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A subtrope of [[Parental Abandonment]]: The mother of a character or characters is missing or absent.
Perhaps she died. Perhaps she left and there's bitterness involved. Perhaps she's a [[
Missing Moms are often considered more unusual than a missing father, and may be more likely to have their absence explicitly explained. This might be because a man can technically leave his babymamma at any time after knocking her up (or she can leave him), but a woman carrying a child to term and giving birth, then disappearing, is rarer, especially if it was by her own choice, since it contradicts the [[Closer to Earth]] image most cultures have of women. If it was [[Death by Childbirth]] that disposed of the mother, this is usually mentioned because it adds an extra touch of tragedy to the character's life.
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* Kotoko's mother is dead at the start of ''[[Itazura na Kiss]]'' and she lives with just her father -- until they lose their home, and she gets sort of adopted/taken over by Naoki's mother.
* Guts of ''[[Berserk]]'' had ''two'' [[Missing Mom|Missing Moms]]. The first of them died [[Death by Childbirth|as Guts was being born]], and his adoptive mother, Sys, was an [[Ill Girl]] who died of plague before Guts's eyes just several years after she took him from his mother's lifeless body. To make matters even worse, Gambino, Sys's lover and Guts's adoptive father, blamed him for her death and was abusive toward him, resulting in [[Harmful to Minors|one hell of a]] [[Dark and Troubled Past|horrific childhood for him]].
* Kouji Kabuto, the original [[Idiot Hero]] of ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' and most of its related continuities has grandfather Juuzo ([[Killed Off for Real]], often in the first episode of any given series) and a father named Kenzou (who effectively abandoned him and his [[Tagalong Kid]] brother, but they later reconcile {{spoiler|and later dies, at least in ''[[Great Mazinger]]''}}). . . but it wasn't until ''[[Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen]]'' (made ''thirty years'' after the original) that we get to meet his mother, {{spoiler|[[Hot Scientist|Tsubasa]] [[Magnificent Bastard|Nishikiori]], a lady who is more or less responsible for all of the traits that make Kouji a [[Badass]].}} In the original anime, though, she died in a laboratory experiment gone wrong.
** Most of the young characters of the Mazinger trilogy are motherless: Sayaka -Kouji's [[Love Interest]]- and her father live alone, and it is often assumed her mother died -or left-; Tetsuya and Jun from ''[[Great Mazinger]]'' are both orphans and adopted by Kenzo; the parents of Duke and Maria from ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' got murdered and Hikaru and her little brother are raised by their father since their mother died.
* ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai]]''. Taro's mother dies in the [[Backstory]] just before the series begins. Oddly enough she's very rarely mentioned during the series itself.
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*** [[The Nostalgia Chick]]: "Now, if you're wondering where her mother is, don't forget that this is a Disney movie."
** See the Literature section for ''[[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Peter Pan]]''.
** ''[[The Fox and the Hound (film)]]'': Tod's mom is shot during the opening credits.
** ''[[Meet the Robinsons]]'': Lewis' mother left him in an orphanage. His desire to discover her drives most of the story.
** ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'' is a [[Artificial Human|wooden puppet]] created by Gepetto BEFORE becoming a "real boy". As such, no mom ever existed. The closest to a mother would be the Blue Fairy, who gave him life with her magic.
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* ''[[Sleepless in Seattle]]'': Jonah's mother died more or less recently, which prompts him to find his dad a new wife and himself a new mother.
* In [[The Movie]] version of ''[[The Spiderwick Chronicles]]'', the children's mother is a rare case of a [[Missing Mom]] who is physically present but absent in the motherly duties thing. She was so fixated on doing everything the way they "agreed" they would in therapy, and refused to discuss anything else. She did get better, though.
* ''[[Stardust (film)|Stardust]]'': Tristan Thorn's mother is missing. She's a [[
* ''[[Juno]]'' has this, but the eponymous character has a stepmother, who she has a pretty close bond with, as the film continues.
* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'': Both Littlefoot and Cera's mothers are dead, though Cera gets a stepmother several movies later (and a little stepsister).
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* The main characters' mother in ''[[Charmed]]'' was drowned by a Warlock when they were very young. Prue saw her die, Phoebe was too young to remember her at all, and Paige never knew her since she was raised by [[Muggle Foster Parents]]. They meet her in the past and some episodes feature her as a [[Spirit Advisor]], though.
* On ''[[M*A*S*H|Mash]]'', it's eventually established that Hawkeye's mother died when he was ten (although, in one of several [[Series Continuity Error|continuity error]]s on the show, an early episode has him mention her as if she were alive).
* ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'' ultimately subverts this in the second season, when {{spoiler|Annie is helping out a medium with his show and her mother attends to try to communicate with her daughter's ghost. The mother later converses with Annie, with the medium speaking on Annie's behalf, and cries because she was unable to protect her daughter. An earlier episode said that Annie and her fiancé moved away at some point, so presumably Annie's mom wasn't involved in her life very much since then.}}
* ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'': Justin's mother died before he debuted in [[The Movie]], and it's implied that his relationship with his father also enters [[When You Coming Home, Dad?]] and [[Parental Abandonment]] territory at times.
** The fate, as well as the identity, of Rita Repulsa's mother are a mystery to this day.
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*** Kay Faraday has a similar problem. After {{spoiler|her father is murdered}} she says she "went to live with her mom's family" in another town, which indicates either a death or a divorce. Someone on the writing staff had serious mom issues.
** ''[[Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney|Apollo Justice Ace Attorney]]'' also had this, although we didn't even know his mom was missing until {{spoiler|it's revealed that she's Lamiroir/Thalassa Gramarye.}} Trucy's mother Thalassa disappeared, presumed dead, when Trucy was young. {{spoiler|Also secretly Lamiroir! Yeah, that's not contrived at all...}}
* Aside from the eponymous protagonist of ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'', whose past has no details (probably on purpose), Kaya Daidouji, the game's [[
* Lloyd Irving of ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'''s mother {{spoiler|was turned into a monster and}} died long ago, killed by {{spoiler|Kratos, who turns out to be Lloyd's birth father. It was because of the aforementioned "turned into a monster" thing, a mercy killing/protecting Lloyd from the rampaging monster.}}
* In ''[[Mother 3]]'', {{spoiler|Hinawa, Lucas's mom, is found dead midway through the first chapter with a Drago fang through her heart.}}
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* ''[[Speed Racer: The Next Generation]]'': Speed and X's mother is never seen or really brought up, though the smart money is on her being Trixie.
* In ''[[Herself The Elf]],'' the protagonist's father is mentioned (the elf king who died recently) but nothing about her mother or whether she had one at all. Similarly, on the antagonist side we have an evil King Thorn and his daughter the wicked Creeping Ivy but no mention of a mother.
* Arnold's mother Stella ''and'' his father Miles are missing on ''[[Hey Arnold!]]''.
* On ''[[American Dad]],'' Hayley mentions that Jeff's mother walked out on him [[Fridge Logic|before he was born]]. Stan is understandably confused.
* [[Averted]] partially in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man|The Spectacular Spider Man]]:'' Peter's parents are still dead, but Harry's mom is alive, unlike in most other continuities. [[Word of God|Word Of]] [[Greg Weisman]] says that it just seemed odd to him for all of the [[Three Amigos]] to be from single-parent families.
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