Muggle Foster Parents: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
▲<small>{{quote box|Do not underestimate the little old couple. They're the reason he's [[The Cape]] rather than an [[Evil Overlord]].}}</small>
[[Wonder Child|The super-powered hero is raised by normal human foster parents]], sometimes unaware of his [[Secret Legacy|true heritage]] until his [[Puberty Superpower|abilities manifest]]. This can be used as an open plot device for a [[Luke, I Am Your Father]] later in the series. Though they might not get combat training or magic instruction while hidden, they usually find out [[Upbringing Makes the Hero]].
This is a frequent trope in mythology. If the foster parents are not called the child's mother and father, they are frequently their aunt and/or uncle. This is a throwback to older times, where children whose parents died were often adopted by the parent's brother.
[[Doomed Hometown|Don't expect them]] [[Friendly Target|to live too long]] [[Death
See [[Tell Me About My Father]], can be [[Happily Adopted]]. Contrast [[Raised
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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** Tickle from ''[[Majokko Tickle]]'' pretends to be the twin sister of a mundane girl.
** Comet-san from ''[[Cosmic Baton Girl Comet San]]'' lives with the mundane family of two toddlers she makes friends with, as a home stay student.
** Subverted in the Italian magical girl series ''[[WITCH (
** In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', Usagi's parents ''were'' her biological parents; but she ''also'' had a moon ancestry through [[Reincarnation]]. However, it comes closer to the description with her daughter Chibi-usa who (not knowing them to be her Grandparents and Uncle, at least not in the anime) hypnotized Usagi's parents and brother into thinking that she (Chibi-usa) was their niece and cousin. Chibi-Chibi is probably closest, in the anime she's not related to Usagi at all, and hypnotizes her Mother into thinking she has a second daughter; she does the same in the manga but there she {{spoiler|is apparently, an disguised version of Usagi from an alternate future and so is related to Usagi's family}}.
*** Now try absorbing Usagi's backstory in fragments (e.g., starting with Season 2 instead of Season 1) when you're too young to understand the idea of Reincarnation: There's this girl, right, and she's a super hero with cool powers, and she's really the daughter of the queen of the moon! But somehow she's living with a family on Earth, and her Earth parents and Earth brother don't seem to remember that she's really the Moon Princess. And for some reason they don't even seem to think she was adopted. Crazy Earth people. Wait, now that she knows her real mom, why is she still living with these fakers?
**** Queen Serenity is dead and the one mom she met with was actually a holographic artificial intelligence or maybe a Ghost in the Shell, programmed by her. In either case, even if Usagi moved to the moon, she'd be no better off than, for example, Harry Potter with a sentient painting of his parents. Sure, it has his parents' memories (or facsimiles of them) as well as their personalities, it wouldn't REALLY be them.
** ''[[Majokko Meg
** Implied in ''[[Tweeny Witches]]'': [[Genki Girl]] quick-magic-learner Alice's bio-dad is a [[Badass]] [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] and it's implied that the head of the witches is her bio-mom based on their shared love of long red nails and the amount of time she spent with Alice's dad. Alice's "real world" mother, on the other hand, appears to be suffering from severe depression caused by her husband's long absence; however, she still has a sense of humor so it's possible she really is Alice's mother.
** ''[[Sarutobi Ecchan]]'' is a ninja [[Magical Girl]] who moves in with her muggle friend, Miko, and Miko's grandparents.
** ''[[Mahou Shojo Lalabel]]'' is similarly taken in by her muggle school-friend, Teko, and her grandparents.
** Averted in [[
** Also averted in [[Sally the Witch]]: Sally's parents do wath over her but they stay in Astoria almost all of the time while she lives ans trains in Earth. Sally's friends and teachers believe that they work abroads.
* ''[[Glass Fleet]]'''s Vetti and Cleo were raised by these. Cleo was raised by his father's right hand man, while Vetti was raised by former subjects of his father's, [[Abusive Parents|who weren't so nice to him]].
* The Arima family for Shiki in ''[[Tsukihime]]''. It actually counts ''twice'' because of his mixed upbringing by the Nanaya (assassins, but good) and Tohno (half demon clan) families. When he finally goes back to the Tohnos, he uses his Nanaya abilities to quell problems related to the Tohnos to some extent depending on the route. Also vampires.
* Goku of ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' was found as a baby and raised by a human [[Cool Old Guy]] named Son Gohan. He thought of himself as one until his long-lost brother told him of his alien origins.
* Honoka of ''[[
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== Film ==
* Luke and Leia in ''[[Star Wars]]'', though Luke was well aware he was living with his aunt and uncle. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, Luke's caregivers, were about as Muggleish as anyone gets in ''[[Star Wars]]''. Leia's foster parents were ''royalty''.
* In the [[Disneyfication|Disney Version]] of ''[[Hercules (
** Of course, in the Greek gods' origin story, a prediction that one of the children of Kronos would kill him led him to develop the mildly unpleasant habit of swallowing his newborn children whole. To save one of her children, Gaia gives Zeus to be raised by a family of olive farmers until he was 17. At this point, naturally, he goes off to cut up his cannibalistic father and complete the cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy.
*** Though other versions of the myth have him raised by everything from Gaia to... A goat and a troupe of dancers.
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* In the [[Mahabharata]], both [[The Dragon|Karna]] and [[God in Human Form|Krishna]] are brought up by foster parents who don't realize their real power. Both end up fighting in opposite sides of the [[Civil War|Kurushetra War]].
* ''[[The Inheritance Cycle|Eragon]]''.
* Pratchett's ''[[Discworld]]'' has Carrot Ironfoundersson, born human but raised by dwarves; he is in fact the legitimate heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork. He doesn't claim the title, though: he doesn't want the job, and there's a good chance [[Badass|Vimes]] would [[Off
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]],'' Rand is found by Tam al'Thor on a battlefield, and Tam decides to take him home to his wife Kari to raise as their son. Tam isn't completely a muggle however. He is a skilled swordsman and Rand uses basic techniques Tam taught him to survive his first brushes with baddies before he can get [[Took a Level
* ''[[Chronicles of Prydain]]'': Inverted, Taran is a muggle with a Magician for a foster parent.
* Subverted in ''[[Akata Witch]]'' by [[Nnedi Okorafor]]. Sunny has magical abilities, but her parents don't. However her parents are her biological parents, the magic just skipped a generation.
* In ''[[Sword of Truth|The Sword of Truth]]'', Richard Cypher is kind of raised by a muggle foster father in the non-magical land of Westland, and although his mother is his real mother, she's also non-magical. It's only much later that he finds out that {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father|the BigBad, who is a powerful wizard, is his father]] and that the [[Cool Old Guy|'friend']] he's known all his life is actually his grandfather and a powerful wizard as well, which is where he gets all his [[God Mode Sue|awesome wizard powers from]]}}.
** Since magic is passed down by familial lines, and Richard is explicitly said to have inherited magic from {{spoiler|both the Rahl and Zorander sides of his family}}, it's very probable that his mother did have magic, but there doesn't appear to be direct evidence either way.
* [[Inverted]] in ''[[
* In [[Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians]], Alcatraz goes through [[Up to Eleven|27 sets of these]].
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* Twice in ''[[Kyle XY]]'': In the first season, when Kyle himself is unaware of his true origins, and in the second season, when Kyle wants to live the normal life that his genetic father was never allowed to have and so returns to his old foster family.
* Subverted partially in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', where Claire's <s>foster</s> adoptive dad is an [[Badass Normal|incredibly badass secret agent]], whereas her superpowered mother is a regular woman who lives in a trailer.
* ''[[Star Trek:
* In ''[[Charmed]]'', Paige Matthews was given to normal parents after her birth and didn't know her true heritage until her powers started manifesting thanks to a spell Piper had cast to bring Prue back.
* In ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'', DG believes her parents are her real parents. Later it is revealed that they are robots with nurturing chips.
* In ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]''., this applies to the Uther and Morgana relationship, until season 3. Then we find out [[Luke, I Am Your Father|he IS her father.]]
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* Agatha from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' was raised by people she knew as Adam and Lilith Clay, who she referred to as her parents, but it was later revealed {{spoiler|that they were the Heterodyne Boys' construct sidekicks, Punch and Judy (not quite Muggles, but pretending to be), and the famous Bill Heterodyne was her real father}}.
** She still treats them like her parents and is enraged when Von Pinn [[Hand Wave|handwaves]] {{spoiler|their destruction.}}
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' Molly the
== Web Original ==
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== Western Animation ==
* Similarly, [[Hey Arnold!|Arnold]]'s parents Miles and Stella are [[Badass]] adventurers who are missing and presumed dead. He's raised by his [[Cool Old Guy|Gramps]] and his [[Cool Old Lady|Grandma]], although they're not exactly normal.
* Subverted in the '80s cartoon ''[[Wildfire (
* In ''[[
* In [[Codename: Kids Next Door]], Nigel Uno/Numbuh 1's dad is seen as a very naive person. However, he is actually {{spoiler|Numbuh Zero, one of the most legendary KND members.}} Numbuh 1's mother {{spoiler|has something similar as well}}.
== Video Games ==
* Lloyd Irving in ''[[
* Ivan of ''[[
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Magical Girl Tropes]]
[[Category:Adopt an Index]]
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