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The Unfavourite: Difference between revisions
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And Heaven help the poor kid if [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth|the favorite child is dead]]. (Possibly having received the status of "favorite" by dying.) See also [[You Should Have Died Instead]].
Can easily escalate into [[Cain and Abel]]. May be rooted in a [[Death by Childbirth]]. May cross over with [["Well Done, Son" Guy]] if [[The Unfavorite]] wants some recognition. If the favorite of the parents isn't even a member of their family, it's a case of [[Why Are You Not My Son?]].
{{examples}}
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* ''Jacob Have I Loved'' takes this to biblical proportions, as implied by the title. The protagonist is overshadowed by her twin sister from birth, first because of the latter's frail health, then because of her beauty and musical talent. The title comes in when she parallels herself to Esau, Jacob's older, less fortunate brother, and decides she must be ''God's'' UnFavorite.
* Subverted in ''[[Dragonlance]]'' because Raistlin Majere appears to be [[The Unfavorite]] of the universe while his twin brother Caramon is well-liked by damn near everyone he meets; really, though, people don't like Raistlin because he's a [[Jerkass]].
* Jochi in the ''[[Conqueror]]'' books is disdained by his father, Genghis Khan, due to [[Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe|suspicion]] he was conceived as a result of Borte's rape by Tartars. In [[Real Life]], this resulted in tension between Jochi and Chagatai, which in turn was part of the reason the great khan named his third son as his successor. In [[Real Life]],
** In [[Real Life]], [[Elective Monarchy|the great khans were elected]], however.
* ''[[Outbound Flight]]'' features a minor character who hates his Jedi sister because, since she wasn't around to do anything less-than-perfect, he was forced to endure an entire childhood of "[[Why Couldn't You Be Different?|Why couldn't you be more like your sister?]] I bet ''she'' never [INSERT CHILDHOOD HIJINK HERE]."
** Survivor's Quest has him, much older and as one of the main characters, realize that it wasn't quite like that.
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** Not least in the story which shows just how small the difference in history between him and [[The Ace|Ace Rimmer]] (what a guy!) is.
** There are several scenes in the show which give Rimmer a more sympathetic POV. Curiously, a deleted scene in Series 6 shows that his brothers all ended up screwed up in later life, making Arnie perhaps the least screwed up of the lot ultimately. Another source of his angst is in Series 2, where he laments that he just wanted his father to congratulate him on something, but will never get the chance now.
* There's a bit of this buzzing around Lore, from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', who considers Data the favourite of their father. The "older brother" of the two androids Noonien Soong created, Lore (who has emotional awareness, while Data didn't), went [[
{{quote|'''Lore:''' You didn't fill Data with substandard parts, did you? No, that honour was bestowed upon me. You owe me, old man. Not him. ''Me.''}}
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': Even though Dean's Daddy issues are a lot more obvious, you could say that both of them fit this trope. The only affection Dean ever gets from John is when John is possessed or about to die, a regrettable incident that happened when he was 9 gets hung over his head for 17 years. And as for Sam, he's disowned when he wants to be normal, John actually blames him for his brother's impending death in ''In My Time Of Dying'' and he gets two utterly dismal goodbyes while Dean at least gets an apology and a smile. And the worst thing? He told Dean that he might have to kill Sam if he goes bad, and Dean thought he had to basically commit suicide (just not right away) because John gave him an order and he failed and, as shown by ''Long Distance Caller'' is still devoted to his father. Oh, John. You might have been a good man but you failed at being even a halfway decent father.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Warhammer
** On the tabletop itself several armies could lay claim to this. The long suffering Dark Eldar went ''ten years'' without receiving an update. Now that they have a new rulebook and set of models the mantle passes on to the Witchhunters, though their chances of getting an update are [[Demoted to Extra|looking grim]].
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* Mizuna of ''[[Adventurers!]]!'' '''thinks''' she's one of these, bringing up how she was always compared with Karashi when younger. When she mentions this to Karashi, the latter says that the comparisons were always ''favorable''; eg. "Mizuna is so much more advanced than Karashi was at her age!"
* [[Cain and Abel|Isaac Jenner]] from ''[[Demonology 101]]'', both in the eyes of his father and The Powers That Be. This is his primary reason for his numerous attempts to murder his brother Gabriel.
* Monette of ''[[Something
* In ''Instant Classic'', when Author is born, he has an unexpected twin brother. His parents are dismayed, the father going so far as to name the boy Xauthor, declaring him to be the ''evil twin'' at birth and treating him accordingly through his entire childhood and early adulthood, despite him not doing anything remotely evil {{spoiler|until he snaps due to being told he's evil for YEARS}} He's also got a goatee.
* ''[[What Birds Know]]'' has Dores, stuck in the shadow of her brother Ian. Her family completely fails to recognize her talents, seeing her instead as a lazy, irresponsible and ill-tempered brat. Her mother is by ''far'' the worst about this, to the point that when the parents are worrying about their daughters {{spoiler|taking several days too long to return from their errand}}, she argues ''against'' sending help, muttering that she'll just ground Dores later, and freaks out when Ian volunteers to help. "This is not going to happen!"
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*** Though generally it doesn't really matter who is less loved because Magneto is almost always a ''terrible'' father to both of them, regardless of writer or medium.
**** To be fair to him, in the original continuity, he didn't even meet them until they were almost adults, and didn't discover that they were actually his children until even later.
* In the [[Animated Series]] of Disney's ''[[Hercules (
* It depends on the writer, but each of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' kids has, at one point or another, been treated as the unfavorite. Lisa's most often made this (what with Bart being a hellion, Maggie an infant in need of constant care, and the whole family being average or stupid except for her), which is spoofed in the "Sherry Bobbins" episode. She sings, "I'm getting used to never getting noticed!" But there's also the running gag of Homer forgetting Maggie ''exists'' ("We have ''three'' kids!" "Marge, the dog doesn't count!") and while strangulation does ''technically'' count as giving Bart attention...
** In one flashback episode, the parents meet with Bart's school counselor to try to help him be less miserable in school, only to discover Lisa is a prodigy and immediately write Bart off.
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** In any case, in families that are poorer, oftentimes when they have one child, they'll be able to afford new clothes and such for that child, but when the second one comes along being able to afford to take care of both will undoubtedly be harder, so the second child ends up with a lot of hand-me-downs from their older sibling, which can lead to them feeling like they are loved less, particularly when they're at an age when they can't really understand financial issues.
* According to the history... Date Masamune, despite being the rightful heir of the Date clan and quite liked by his father, is [[The Unfavorite]] for his mother. Thanks to him [[Eye Scream|plucking his eye out]], she has deemed him unworthy to inherit the clan and favors his younger brother. This has gotten so bad that at one point [[Evil Matriarch|his mother tries poisoning his food just so he'd die and his brother could take over]]. Masamune's response? [[Kick the Dog|Kill his brother]] just so his mother can see him rule, like it or not. After his father's death, he ends up banishing his mother to her home clan (his allies, which also goes on to be one of his most trusted allies in Sekigahara).
* Wilhelm II, [[World War
** Wilhelm felt very close and dearly loved his grandmother Victoria, who died in his arms. It would seem ''she'' got along better with him than with her son, the Prince of Wales, who appears to have been her least favourite child. This may have contributed to the deep antipathy between Edward VII and Wilhelm II. And it was George V who declared war on Wilhelm, not the other way around.
*** A lot of the bitterness between Wilhelm and his mother can be put down to Bismarck's political maneuvers. Victoria, Princess Royal/Empress Frederick, was a liberal, as was Wilhelm's father. Bismarck saw that when the Crown Prince came to the throne he would be ousted and so set to work distancing the oldest surviving children (Wilhelm, Charlotte and Henrick) from their parents and succeeded. It backfired on him eventually but the damage couldn't be undone. When Bismarck saw the writing on the wall for him he went to Victoria and tried to get Wilhelm to keep him but she just replied that there was no chance of that since there was no relationship between herself and her son. Bismarck had seen to that. It also stopped Wilhelm from listening to the liberals and pushed him into the arms of the military and while he was the favourite of his grandparents it did nothing to stop his ego from getting too big and being a major factor in starting [[World War
* [[Lindsay Lohan]]'s siblings Cody (aka Dakota), Ali and Michael Jr. are apparently this to their father.
* In certain cultures, daughters.
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[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
[[Category:The Unfavourite]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unfavourite, The}}
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