Child-Hater: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Classic villain type in children's stories and films, a person who [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|cannot stand children.]] At all. It may range from them being very irritated by them but not saying anything to seething hatred of insane comedic levels, but whatever the case, they simply do not like them. Typically but not always female, and often a [[Rich Bitch|glamorous woman with a shallow personality]]. The fact that they themselves were once a child never seems to cross their mind. Ironically, for some reason, they have a tendency to have a career that involves working with children, such as a camp counselor or a [[Sadist Teacher]]. For irony, they may be in a job that focuses on children (teacher, host of a children's TV show, toymaker.) as a particular type of [[Depraved Kids' Show Host]]. Sometimes a [[Complete Monster]].

 

Contrast [[Friend to All Children]], who is often the natural enemy of this kind of villain.

 

* ''[[Death Note]]'': Roger, who is in charge of the Wammy's House orphanage, dislikes children, although [[All There in the Manual|apart from being mentioned in the databook]], [[Informed Attribute|this is never shown anywhere else]].

* Asuna Kagurazaka of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is a self-proclaimed Child Hater and in earlier chapters took every chance she could to state this. Ironically she's the female lead/[[The Lancer|Lancer]] in a series that revolves around a [[Adorably Precocious Child|ten-year old Mage/Teacher]], whom she develops at times [[He Is Not My Boyfriend|ambiguous feelings for]]. To be fair, she states her reasons for not liking children; they cry when they don't get their way, they expect others to do everything for them, etc, etc.... these being traits the child lead [[Wise Beyond Their Years|does not possess]]. Eventually, he evolves into a [[Badass Teacher|full blown badass in later chapters]], even by Shounen Lead standards.

* A non-villainous example, Senjougahara Hitagi of ''[[Bakemonogatari]]'' has made it abundantly clear that she has an intense distaste for children, mainly because of an incident whereupon bumping into a small child she lost her composure and began apologizing to the unfettered child. Not particularly fond of feeling submissive to what she considers a lesser being, she has since held firm that all children should be exterminated.

 

* ''[[Fables]]'' : Frau Totenkinder not only dislikes children as her last name (German for "dead children") suggests; she even turns out to be the witch from Hansel and Gretel.

** More of an occupational hazard as her powers are fueled by eating children. She later meets Gretel again, now a teenager, they bury the hatchet and Gretel even starts learning magic from her.

** Frau Totenkinder's hatred of children seems to stem from her origin story. {{spoiler|She was denounced as a witch and kicked out of her tribe after she got pregnant by the tribe leader's son (said son had promised to marry her, and then pretended he wasn't the baby's father after he had to marry someone else). This sent her on a downward spiral that caused her to think nothing of killing one child a year for great power and two children a year for eternal youth. By the time she joined Fabletown and was made a welcome member of the community, Frau Totenkinder mellowed out. Although she still gets her powers from the abortion clinics she finances...}}

 

* Robert Mitchum's character in ''[[The Night of the Hunter]]'', although he's [[Villain with Good Publicity|very good at hiding it]].

* ''[[Problem Child]] 2'': LaWanda Dumore; in her reveal in the climax. Although its hinted at earlier, since she threatens to send Junior to boarding school in Baghdad.

* Teri Hatcher's character in ''[[Spy Kids]]''.

* ''[[Cheaper By the Dozen]]'': Ashton Kutcher's character [[Designated Villain|is supposedly this]].

* Dr. Allan Grant in ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' is highly averse to children at the beginning of the film. After encountering some friggin' dinosaurs, he [[An Aesop|understands that they aren't so bad in the long run]]. At least, kids wouldn't swallow you whole or crush you underfoot.

** This was only in the movie, though. In the book, he didn't mind kids so much, knowing they were always enthusiastic about dinosaurs.

* [[The Baroness]] in ''[[The Sound of Music]]'': "Darling, haven't you ever heard of a delightful little thing called boarding school?"

* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|The Cat Shepherd]] and [[Must Have Caffeine|Moka]], in ''[[Nocturna]]''. The Cat Shepherd is a non-villainous example, who finds kids to be ''really'' annoying, but slowly warms up to Tim. Moka meanwhile, {{spoiler|is also a non-villainous example, as it was part of act to goad Tim into journeying across Nocturna and confront [[Living Shadow|the Shadow]]}}.

* Chucky from ''[[Child's Play]]''. He bluntly [[At Least I Admit It|says so himself]] in the second movie.

 

* From the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series:

** [[Sadist Teacher|Dolores Umbridge]]. She even said so in the [[Film of the Book|film of the fifth book]]. Most likely this is why the felling is ''very'' mutual.

* ''[[In Death]]'': {{spoiler|Eve's mother}} turns out to be this. She hates kids, do-gooders, and...just about everyone and everything. She has no [[Freudian Excuse]] for this, and was most likely just born as a [[Complete Monster]].

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Arden Gillespie in the book ''Lethal Justice'' reveals in her thoughts that she doesn't like children. Rosemary Hershey had promised her husband Bobby Harcourt that they would have kids in the book ''Sweet Revenge''. Bobby, when he announces his intentions to divorce her, throws her words back in her face, saying that he doesn't see any kids around, indicating she doesn't like kids and was lying through her teeth.

 

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Principal Snyder. Giles even asks him why he chose such a profession if he hates children so much. We eventually get something of an answer, the effect that he was the kid who was always picked on; presumably he became a [[Sadist Teacher|school principal]] by way of revenge.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'': Jean-Luc Picard is a subversion. Children make him wickedly uncomfortable, due to difficulty relating to them and reminders of his strained relationship with his family; he doesn't hate them. [[Character Development|He gets better as the series goes along, though]]. A [[Teleporter Accident|transporter accident]] that meant he spent most of an episode [[Fountain of Youth|as a twelve-year-old]] might have helped.

* [[Rich Bitch|C.C. Babcock]] on ''[[The Nanny]]''.

 

* [[The Decemberists]]' [[Rock Opera]] ''The Hazards of Love'' features a character identified as the Rake, who was shocked to find that schtupping his wife produced babies. After his wife [[Death by Childbirth|died in childbirth]], he [[Offing the Offspring|killed them all]]. [[Complete Monster|He doesn't even feel guilty]]. He's contrasted with the young [[Star-Crossed Lovers]] who are the main characters, who have a surprise pregnancy in accordance with the [[Law of Inverse Fertility]], but are extremely happy to be expecting "a sweet little baby".

 

* Therese from ''[[For Better or For Worse]]''.

* "Hate" may be too strong a word for how [[Garfield]] feels about them, but he ''really'' doesn't like them, and he has good reason not to; he's had plenty of bad experiences with children. One very early strip had him stalked by four dark figures in an alley, who turned out to be little girls who covered him from head to toe in ribbons. Then there was a two-week series of strips where Jon's cousin came to visit, bringing her [[Spoiled Brat]] daughter and her infant son (leading to Garfield finding out the hard way what a diaper bag was). A far darker example of this was a little girl who bribed Garfield into taking him home with her, only to throw him to [[Fluffy the Terrible| her huge dog "Muffin".]] Maybe the reason Garfield doesn't like kids is, quite simply, ''they'' don't like ''him.''

 

 

 

* ''[[I.M. Meen]]'', although he apparently only traps 'goody-goodies' and 'bookworms' in his labyrinth...which you one can only escape if you're clever. ?!

* ''[[Drakengard]]'', as shown in [[The Dark Id]]'s [[Let's Play]]. Especially in the multiple endings.

Kid: Yay! Eat me first!

Guillo: *sigh* }}

* Grelod the Kind of ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'', who despite her name is actually an incredibly cruel old woman who also runs the orphanage. She's also [[Asshole Victim|your first unofficial "Contract" for the]] [[Murder, Inc.|Dark Brotherhood]].

 

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', Death is disgusted by a woman's pregnancy.

 

* Maddox of ''[[The Best Page in The Universe]]''.

* Yahtzee of ''[[Zero Punctuation]]'' has made it clear that he finds children annoying.

* It's basically become a stereotype that all internet personalities hate children.

 

* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'',

** Sedusa disguised herself as one of these.

** Coco Labouche from the [[Rugrats in Paris|second movie]] is basically a grownup version of the current Angelica.

** Another episode deals with Angelica visiting the set of her favorite show Ms. Carol's Happy House and discovering that the host [[Nice Character, Mean Actor|actually despises children]]. In her own words: "I'll let you know what I think of my kids, I think they're all little... ([[Sound Effect Bleep]])". Later, when Angelica tells her she heard her say it, she proudly admits it and is shortly thereafter fired and replaced by her much nicer assistant.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''

** In response to a baby riot at a concert an organization composed entirely of Child Haters band together and managed to eliminate every child...-friendly thing in Springfield (for instance, restaurant attendees who bring children are forced to eat in their own room in the back) and try to pass a law that would do even worse.

** Gabbo, a puppet, is a great hit with children. He regards the kids with utter disdain and—thinking the TV cameras have been turned off -- [[Engineered Public Confession|Gabbo mutters: "That oughta hold the little S.O.B.'s."]] [[Karma Houdini|Somehow this blunder doesn't hurt Gabbo's popularity at all]]. Inexplicably, his ventriloquist Arthur Crandall has independent thoughts and feelings.

** [[Depending on the Writer]], Krusty the Clown could be this; he was originally rather nice to them even when he ''was'' seen as a [[Depraved Kids' Show Host]], but in later episodes turned pretty mean.

** Figg's lawyer, Lickboot, was probably no better. He was also only in it for the Starling fortune as well.

* Miss McBeth from ''[[Invisible Network of Kids]]''.

 

{{reflist}}