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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|"Wrong kid died!"
|'''Dewey's father'''|''[[Walk Hard]]''}}
The nasty end of [[Parental Favoritism]]. Where there's an Alpha wolf, there's got to be an Omega. When there is a first banana, there is a second banana. This is the person in the family who can't get a break. For example, this is the child who's the big [[Why Couldn't You Be Different?|let-down]] to their parents, the daughter that was supposed to be a son (or vice-versa), the child the parents had by accident when they'd already decided they didn't need another mouth to feed. But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick.
A regular line that may be entailed with this is a variant of, "Honestly, (insert name), why can't ya be more like (insert favourite's name)?"
Frequently, being The Un-Favourite is a [[Freudian Excuse]] for a character who's a particularly pathetic loser. If the [[Parental Favoritism]] was garden variety (or even a product of his/her imagination), PG-rated [[Wangst]], this is probably being played for comedy, a weak excuse for being a failure. If the favoritism was particularly vicious, however, up to and including abuse,
A variant is where The Un-Favourite is actually highly successful and [[The Dutiful Son|dutiful]], but can never get the [["Well Done, Son" Guy|approval of his parents]], simply because their sibling will always do "better" in their parents' eyes. ("Hey look, dad, I won the Nobel Prize for Physics!" "That's nothin' -- your brother won Employee of the Month at Shop 'n Go last April!"). The Un-favorite doesn't need to play second fiddle to an actual sibling, and can even be an only child. Un-favorites without a sibling are often unwanted or unexpected children and can even, in perhaps an extreme case, be passed over for the family pet.
The audience's attitude towards the un-favourite is often based on [[Age
Age notwithstanding, this is usually a character you sympathize with, because we're supposed to root for the disadvantaged; expect the favorite either to be rubbing their status in their sibling's face, be an [[Aloof Big Brother]], or completely unaware of the situation. It is, however, completely possible that the character is interpreting some behavior as
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
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Jun Manjyome of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', disowned by his brothers for his inability to live up to the family name.
** Well, he was never actually disowned, just disliked a lot. When he dueled his brother Chosaku midway through season one, they both acknowledged at the end that he had grown up more than they thought, and in season four, it's implied that they either already have or will reconcile with each other, since Jun is insistent that he make it on his own in the Pro Leagues before he will join them officially. But during most of season one, definitely their Unfavorite.
* Variation: In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', [[Dark Magical Girl]] Fate {{spoiler|is a clone of Precia Testarossa's deceased daughter, Alicia. Fate has Alicia's memories of Precia being a loving and kind mother, but Precia is abusive to Fate and sees her only as a tool for bringing Alicia back to life.}} The [[Lotus Eater Machine]] in season two reveals that Fate sees Alicia as the parental favourite older sister.
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*** Fate herself, however, states that she is ''not'' Alicia.
*** {{spoiler|In spite of their identical origins and memories, Precia claims that Fate and Alicia have very different personalities (This is confirmed in the Movie). Of course, Precia was more-than-slightly unhinged by Alicia's death, so it apparently never occured to her the Fate might have turned out more Alicia-like if it weren't for the, you know, ''horrible abuse''}}.
**** It's also implied that a number of the early differences are in Precia's head. Since she knows that the clone isn't really Alicia, she starts seeing every tiny difference in behavior (even if it's just a one-off) as being proof that it's not really Alicia.
* Hinata Hyuga from ''[[Naruto]]'' starts off as The Un-Favourite of her family, due to her apparent 'lack' of talent and how her little sister Hanabi apparently had it all.
** Hiashi's disappointment in Hinata does not necessarily translate into favoring Hanabi, as earlier in the scene when he denounces Hinata as inferior, he expresses disapproval for Hanabi's performance in training.
** Sasuke is neglected by his father, Fugaku, in favor of his talented big brother Itachi. The father praises Itachi frequently and refers to him as "my son". Later Sasuke brings home a report card placing him at the top of his class hoping his father will call him "son" too, instead Fugaku tells him to become like Itachi. The situation reverses somewhat after Itachi starts acting strangely and is suspected of murdering Shisui.
** Gaara, because everyone in his family (and his entire city) is scared of him, or at least of the demon sealed inside him. {{spoiler|He was conceived only to be a container for the demon and be a living weapon, and his mother died giving birth to him and his father, the Kazekage hated him because of this.}}
* Seta Sōjirō from ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' is a particularly tragic example of this trope. {{spoiler|So much that his half siblings try to ''kill'' him for being an illegitimate child. [[Self
* Machi Kuragi from ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' is such an unfavorite that her parents automatically assume she attempted to ''kill'' her little brother, despite her (more or less believable) claim that she was just trying to keep him warm.
** Practically anyone who is born as one of the Zodiac
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*** Yes, but you have to remember they were babies at the time. Koji didn't know Koichi existed. It most likely they just that both parents just got a baby when they divorced
* Subverted in ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]''. Yuuta Fuji feels he's the unfavorite since his middle brother Shuusuke is talented, handsome and popular at their school, so he leaves and transfers into another school and its dorms. But that genuinely ''hurts'' Shuusuke, who [[Big Brother Instinct|really loves and cares for Yuuta]] and ''just didn't know'' what his brother was going through, becoming a huge [[Stepford Smiler]] out of the hurt he feels upon Yuuta abandoning him. {{spoiler|It'll take more than a year to reunite them.}}
* Subverted in ''[[Code Geass]]''. Lelouch Lemperouge spends a good portion of his life believing that not only are he and his sister Nunnally their father's unfavorites, but that their mother Marianne was too, since she was the only Imperial Wife to come from common origins; only much later on does he learn that {{spoiler|his parents practically fell in [[Love At First Sight]], and by extension, Lelouch and Nunnally were practically his favorite children. Further, they both wanted Lelouch to help them with their plan to make the world a better place... Only that, since both parents were [[Knight Templar Parent
** Further subversion: The apparent golden child who is the Emperor's right hand man and direct heir? {{spoiler|The one man that Charles' seemed to actually fear, warning that the failure of his plan means that Schneizel's would now be in play.}}
* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'s'' second season, there's an unfavourite that doesn't even need a family {{spoiler|(they got killed by terrorists several years ago)}} to feel this way. {{spoiler|Lyle Dylandy thinks that several of the Celestial Being members expect him to be just like his deceased twin older brother, Neil "Lockon Stratos" Dylandy. Lyle doesn't like it, logically, so after taking up Neil's Lockon mantle he decides to downplay his own and ''considerable'' fighting and piloting skills to make himself look different from Neil. }}
** Hong Long could be argued to be this. His father favored Wang Liu Mei, his little sister, and made ''her'' the head of the Wang family instead of him, Hong Long instead becoming a [[Battle Butler]] to his little sister. However, Mei never wanted the responsibilities of leading the clan and blamed Hong Long for "forcing" her to take charge. Hong Long, being an [[Extreme Doormat]], would go on to serve his sister faithfully for years while she treated him like crap and bitched him out [[Never My Fault|for a situation her selfishness had gotten them into]] {{spoiler|shortly before he sacrificed his life to save her from Nena. For the second time that day.}}
* ''[[
** Season 3 features a boy who becomes his parents' unfavorite before the sibling is even born.
* Played with in ''[[G Gundam]]''. It's implied that, due to being ''much'' younger as well as [[Book Dumb]], Domon felt inferior to his [[Badass Bookworm]] older brother Kyouji in the eyes of their father, [[The Professor]] Raizou Kasshu. Unlike other cases, though, Dr. Kasshu doesn't show deliberate cruelty towards Domon, who finds another father figure in his martial arts teacher Master Asia and leaves home to train with him... Fast forward 10 years and Domon finds himself with a [[Broken Pedestal]] of a mentor, a dead mother, a [[Human Popsicle|cryogenically frozen]] father, and an ''evil'' [[Aloof Big Brother]] who's become a wanted criminal...
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** ...who is ''himself'' an Unfavorite {{spoiler|due to his short telomeres giving him frail health and a limited lifespan. Adaptations of ''SEED'' state that Rau was abandoned by Al de Flaga when he was very young, once Al found out.}} This is part of why Mu empathizes with him very late in the series.
* Abo Ozawa in the baseball manga ''[[Stripe Blue]]''. His older brother Bantarou is the closing pitcher on a professional team that owes its recent success solely to him. Being that Abo is ''also'' a baseball pitcher, he has to work extra hard to stand out, even to his own parents, despite frankly having not very formidable skills.
* Shinji Ikari of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion
** In actuality, while Shinji is the unfavorite and Rei gets something resembling affection from Gendo, his
* Played with in regards to Belarus of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', who ''thinks'' she's
** [[Romantic Runner
*** And let's not even talk about Sealand.
**** Nobody ''else'' does!
** England is hated by his older brothers [[All There in the Manual|(Scotland, Wales, and most likely Ireland as well)]].
** Roman Empire clearly loved North Italy more than [[Jerkass Woobie|South Italy]]; the Chibitalia chapter said that he took Italy with him when he had to run away, but was shown to have left Romano. This pattern continues throughout their childhood, with [[Tear Jerker|Romano at one point lamenting his status.]] It gets better when Spain picks up on the situation and starts showing him as much love as he can (Spain can be weird sometimes, but at least he's trying).
*
* Definitely Ageha from ''[[Papillon Hana To Chou]]''<nowiki>:</nowiki> as an infant, her mother sent her to live with her grandmother in the country because she couldn't stop crying; her twin sister Hana/Kana (the translators kept switching) is popular and glamorous and steals her potential boyfriend; she's even screwed over by her only [[Poisonous Friend|"friend"]]. No wonder she's almost [[Driven to Suicide]]. {{spoiler|Fortunately her relationship with her mom improves dramatically when they finally start talking to each other. Kana/Hana, however, is becoming uneasy with her sister's newfound confidence...}}
* Asagi Ayase of ''[[Yotsubato]]'' gets far more than her share of crap from her mother. It's played for laughs, since Asagi tends to retaliate in kind, but at least one flashback has shown she's gotten this treatment for years.
* Moroboshi Ataru from ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' is another only-child example of this trope. His parents are constantly lamenting the fact that he was ever born, in his presence. Played pretty much entirely for laughs.
** They also wistfully mention how much they wanted a little girl, making Ataru the Unfavorite to a sister who ''doesn't even exist''.
* Sachiko in ''[[With the Light]]'' loves both of her
* In ''[[There Beyond the Beyond]]'', both of the kingdom's twin princes are named Virid Visette Viridian. The one who would eventually become the [[Axe Crazy|"Mad Prince"]] was left to be abused and forgotten in a cell, while his brother got to be doted on in the palace.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Sesshoumaru feels that he's this. After finding out that his brother [[Half
* Seileiz, eldest of the three heirs to his country in ''[[Vampire Game]]'', is also by far his mother's most hated. {{spoiler|There are three reasons for this: he's adopted (as are his brothers), he's the [[Son of a Whore]], and he's the illegitimate son of the king. The queen was willing to put up with the first two, but having a reminder of her husband's refusal to sleep with her running around really pissed her off.}}
* In ''[[Nononono]]'' Nono's brother, Yuuta is like this. Both of them were trained by their ski-jumper dad to be ski-jumpers, hoping to go to the olympics. The problem is, Nono is the more talented of the two, but she can't go to the Olympics due to being a girl. Their father kept on pushing Yuuta to be as good as his sister.
* Reina in ''[[
* Moe Shishigawari from ''[[Bleach]]'' was {{spoiler|the only Fullbringer with whom Ginjo did not share Ichigo's stolen power, and Ginjo planned to kill him as soon as they were done, because he's potentially [[Too Powerful to Live]]}}.
* "Genius kunoichi" Konatsu from ''[[Ranma ½]]'', so much so that his life before encountering Ranma reads like a Japanese ninja version of ''[[Cinderella (fairy tale)|Cinderella]]''.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Loki sees himself as this, with a very "Thor was always the favorite!" outlook on life. Even though he's a total douche most of the time, most of what he does is done in an effort to gain the respect and adoration of Asgard and his father.
* In the Spider-Man [[Spider-Man (
** There was another period of Peter being the favored one, with Johnny Storm as the [[Unfavorite]]. While they eventually got over it and became buddies, for awhile, Johnny resented the fact that Peter seemed closer to his family than he was, due to Peter's shared scientific aptitude with Reed and ease at being friends with Sue.
* The [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] have a lot of this going on:
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** In the 616 timeline this actually would be quite an exaggeration. It seems to have been true of Bobby Drake (Iceman), but none of the other original five (Scott's parents were actually abducted by aliens before getting to see his and his brother's powers manifest), it was not true of Colossus, Storm (her parents were killed too early), Thunderbird I, Kitty Pryde, Rogue (she ran away from home before her powers manifested), Jubilee (her parents were dead before her powers manifested), and with reference to their human adoptive parents it was not true of Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, Nightcrawler or Gambit (who was actually preferred to his adoptive father's biological son).
* Huntress has at times been considered so, among the members of the Batfamily, due to her supposed violence and [[I Work Alone|unwillingness to work well with the others]], and especially Batman himself, with whom she has a conflicted relationship.
{{quote|
** Also in the Batfamily, Jason Todd is even more the unfavorite.
* Art Spiegelman, the [[Author Avatar]] of the biographical graphic novel ''[[Maus]]'' felt he always had to compete with his [[Dead Little Brother|dead older brother]], Richieu, who had died as a result of the Holocaust.
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** This isn't the only time {{spoiler|Briar}} mentioned this. She explains that her family treated her like an old, useless nursemaid and made {{spoiler|her younger sister Rose the queen instead of her. The reason, according to her, is because nobody knew she was a Veni-Yan-Carni, a type of powering dreaming sorcerous born into the family line. It's possible she just neglected to tell them though, since Rose mentions she thought Briar's "dreaming eye" was blind.}}
* In ''[[Adventures In The Rifle Brigade]]'', Captain Hugo Darcy is a man among men and a true hero if ever there was one. He saved the entire world at the end of the first miniseries, and once called Erwin Rommel "a big nosed cunt" to his face. At the beginning of the first mini, he visits his parents... who are much more proud of his brother Bobby, a rank and file airman who has served without distinction thus far.
* Kalibak in the [[DCU]] is Darkseid's Unfavourite. Even worse, his father's favorite, Orion, is the heroic [[Arch Enemy]] of the entire rest of his blood family and wants to kill
** Grayven has it even worse. Darkseid at least sees Kalibak as useful and loyal [[Dumb Muscle]]. Darkseid snubs Grayven at every possible opportunity since Grayven is nothing but Darkseid-lite. Grayven's [[Eye Beams]] are weaker than Darkseid's Omega Effect, Grayven isn't as strong as Darkseid, Grayven's a [[Smug Snake]] while Darkseid is a [[Magnificent Bastard]] of a [[Complete Monster]]...the only thing Grayven has going for him is his hair. There is literally nothing Grayven can do that Darkseid can't do better. Grayven's also pretty open about his ambitions to overthrow Darkseid. He's incompetent ''and'' disloyal.
* [[Marvel 2099|Paul-Philip Ravage]] suffered from this quite a bit. Didn't help that his was a family of backstabbing businessmen, all of whom immediately began plotting his downfall when he started proposing ''actual'' solutions to pollution problems. {{spoiler|And by the time he was winning his father's respect, he began losing his human form...}}
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==
* In some ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fics, Harry is treated like this when it is mistakenly
* This is the entire premise of some ''[[Naruto]]'' Fanfiction. Often, Naruto's OC sibling is substituted for the jinchuriki, and Naruto's parent-inclusive life becomes inexplicably ''worse''. One such example is [https://web.archive.org/web/20120418014936/http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6077073/1/The_Heros_Brother this].
* ''[[Star Trek (
** In one story, after becoming captain, to get back at his mother from neglecting and allowing the abuse to happen, Jim donated a huge sum of money towards charities where children had been abused, naming it her, "for all the things she did when he was a kid". Afterwards, people went up to her, asking her "how does it feel?" for raising such a nice kid and how ''proud'' she must be.
** For the record, there is little to no evidence for this in canon.
* There is a very good ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' fanfiction called ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2138430/1/Misconception Misconception]'', in which time changes and another child is born in
* Fanfiction often has [[Transformers (
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
** However, a good reason not to get over it: while in an ordinary family, grown adults are supposed to be independent of parents and get on with their life, this is a ''ruling'' family, and therefore Faramir will remain defined by his relationship with the present ruler for the rest of his life. He could not get over it, however much he might have wanted to, unless Boromir had become regent and treated him differently.
* Film/Real Life example: Johnny Cash. As the movie ''[[Walk the Line]]'' showed, Johnny never could quite match up to his dutiful dead brother in his dad's eyes.
** Spoofed in ''[[Walk Hard]]'', where Dewey Cox's father shouts "The wrong kid died!" even in completely inapplicable situations.
* The mother in ''Crossroads'' quite batantly tells her high school graduate daughter who she abandoned years ago that she was a mistake and that she never wanted to have her. She is remarried and has two sons.
* Kevin
* Nuka from ''[[Lion King]] II: Simba's Pride''. The scrawny, barely a mane growing lion voiced by Andy Dick. Little cub Kovu gets picked over him to take on Scar's heritage (Kovu not even having been sired by Scar, though it's implied Nuka is, being the son of Zira, who was apparently one of Scar's mates. Everybody got that? Good. Moving along...), and gets treated unfairly by the lionesses just cause... just cause. This makes {{spoiler|his death even more tragic, when he chases Simba up a dam, proclaiming he's doing it for his mother, and that this'd be his moment of glory, with a mad driven look in his eyes. Just before the footing gives away from underneath him, and he ends up crushed by a bunch of logs. His mother for the first time in the movie shows she actually ''does'' care and frantically tries to dig him out. He ends with a whimper. "Sorry... I tried..."}}
** A deleted storyboard set continues with Nuka saying {{spoiler|"I got your attention now . . . " and then expiring.}}
*** His mum not even warning him to be careful should have raised a red flag...
* Gordie in ''[[Stand
* Conrad's mother in ''[[Ordinary People]]'' is pretty much incapable of loving him after he survived the boating accident that killed his brother.
* ''[[Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham]]'' actually manages to play this trope compassionately ''without'' villifying the parents for it. This is arguably attributable to the fact that the Unfavorite in this case is mostly so by default, rather than actually being unloved or undervalued.
* In ''[[Dead Poets Society]]'', Todd is strongly implied to be [[The Unfavorite]].
* ''[[The Goonies]]''. Played for laughs in how Mama favors Francis over Jake.
{{quote|
'''Mama''': (''Smacks Jake'') That's right! }}
* In ''Willard'', despite being the strongest of the rats, Ben can never get the same level of affection as Socrates. {{spoiler|after he [[Love Makes You Evil|decides to stop taking it]] Willard directly states "I hate you."}}
* In ''[[Tower of Terror]]'', Abigail feels this way toward her sister {{spoiler|Sally}}, since everyone was going to something for her on Abigail's birthday. {{spoiler|That thing was going to be Abigail's suprise birthday party}}.
* In ''[[Ever After (
* Albert in ''[[The King's Speech]]'' was this as a child, due to his stuttering. But this becomes subverted as when they became older, his older brother preferred a more carefree frivolous lifestyle while Albert was [[The Dutiful Son]]. His father George does approve of the adult Albert (though still frustrated by his speech impediment) and his last words were that Albert would be a better king than his brother, even though he didn't say it to Albert directly.
* In the new ''[[Thor (
* In Gru's [[Flash Back]]s in ''[[
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[
** In ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'', Elizabeth is her father's favorite, Lydia and Jane are their mother's, and Mary is almost universally ignored, but the second-youngest Bennet daughter Kitty is perpetually told to shut up and stop getting in everyone's way.
** Similarly in ''[[Persuasion]]'', plain, sensible and sensitive Anne is ignored and dismissed by her family while her beautiful but vain sister Elisabeth is admired by all.
** Similarly in ''[[Mansfield Park]]'', Fanny's mother only cares about her sons and babies her youngest daughter, but ignores her older two daughters. Fanny only realises this when returning for a much anticipated visit after years away from home.
** In ''[[Sense and Sensibility (
* Cosette in ''[[Les Misérables]]'' is a truly extreme [[Tear Jerker]] example, who, after being put in the care of the Thenardier family (with her mother paying them all she can), is despised, terribly abused and forced to be the inn's servant at the age of five. In contrast, the real daughters of the Thenardier family are treated like little princesses. Gavroche, the other child of the family (a boy) fits this trope too, because he's so neglected that, as a baby, he's left to cry on and on with nobody paying any attention to him. He's later abandoned and lives on the streets.
** Later subverted, at least in the musical, as the Thenardiers don't seem to show a shred of angst about Eponine's death.
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* Thomas Raith in [[Jim Butcher]]'s ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. In ''Blood Rites'', it is revealed that he is Lord Raith's only surviving son, because Raith always kills his sons when they are old enough to become a threat (although he keeps his daughters around him). Thomas is still alive only because he was clever enough to avoid his father's earlier indirect attempts to get him killed.
** It's unclear how clever he is; while Thomas is [[Obfuscating Stupidity|smarter than he looks]], we've rarely if ever seen him accomplish anything that's really extraordinary for his kind. However, Thomas is the ''youngest'' son, so that might be why he survived as long as he did.
*** It's also implied he's been using the [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] to keep his father from thinking he's a threat worth eliminating.
* [[Roald Dahl]]'s ''[[Matilda (
* Ebenezer Scrooge, of [[
* In [[Teresa Edgerton]]'s ''[[Celydonn|Green Lion Trilogy]]'', Ceilyn. His parents were [[Kissing Cousins]] in a notoriously strait-laced segment of society, and felt that their marriage was all right only if it were platonic, so they were ashamed to have had him. Sometime after Ceilyn's birth, his father had a vision and felt that he and his wife had been absolved and blessed, so Ceilyn's younger siblings are beloved but he is seen as a reminder of shameful behaviour.
* Taken to new and extreme heights of Southern Gothic in Gillian Flynn's debut novel, ''Sharp Objects''; the narrator, Camille, is her [[Ax Crazy]] mother's Unfavorite, which is how she managed to ''survive'' to adulthood as {{spoiler|nothing more than a self-harming, self-destructive alcoholic}}. Her more tractable younger sister {{spoiler|died in childhood as the end result of their mother's Munchausen's by proxy}}, and her ''much'' younger half-sister is {{spoiler|a sex-and-death-obsessed psychopath}} after thirteen years of the same treatment. Fun book.
* [[Tom Holt]] has a tendency to do this - the most obvious example is the protagonist Malcolm in ''Expecting Someone Taller''. Like all of Holt's male leads, Malcolm is a total git, and his parents unabashedly compare him to his super-perfect sister Bridget. Becoming the heir to practically unlimited power makes Malcolm immediately think that it was originally meant for Bridget. {{spoiler|In fact, Malcolm's lack of self-esteem and desire to do good make him the perfect person to inherit said power; Bridget would totally mess it up.}}
** Another example is Kevin Christ in ''Only Human'', who's the younger brother to Jesus and the second son of God.
* In Sharon Lee's and Steve Miller's ''[[Liaden Universe|Scout's Progress]]'', Aelianna Caylon, despite being acknowledged as the foremost mathematical mind on Liad and the indirect saviour of many starship pilots, is
* In [[
* Tyrion Lannister of George RR Martin's ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': his mother died giving birth and he is a dwarf. No, not the [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|fantasy kind]]. His father hates him, as does most everyone else. Interesting, however, in that the favorite, Jaime, is actually the only one in the family who truly loves Tyrion and will ever take his side.
** Jon Snow is treated this way by Catelyn Stark. Although he is actually Ned Stark's bastard son, Ned treats him like all of his children. Catelyn, on the other hand, treats him coldly and at one point wishes to his face that a near-fatal accident had happened to him rather than to one of her own children.
*** {{spoiler|Made more ironic by the fact that there's a significant chance that Jon isn't actually Ned's bastard at all, but was placed under his protection and the ruse was designed to hide his true heritage. At least some portion of the readership assumes Jon may in fact be the child of Ned's sister Lyanna and Prince Rhaegar (which would make Jon <s>a rightful heir to the kingdom</s> Rhaegar and Lyanna's bastard).}}
*** The ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' TV series apparently felt that Catelyn's constant [[Kick the Dog|kicking the direwolf]] made her too unsympathetic. Whereas in the novels, Catelyn's hatred of Jon endures long after he leaves to join the Night's Watch, to the point that she loathes ''all people born out of wedlock because they remind her of him'', in the series Catelyn repents of her treatment of him, berating herself for "being unable to love a motherless child".
** Also, Samwell Tarlly to his father Lord Tarlly.
* [[Tamora Pierce]]'s ''[[Circle of Magic]]'' series had Tris. She was disowned and disposed of by her parents, who sent her to live with various relatives who used her as a live-in servant while constantly berating and bullying her. Particularly strange was that she seems to have been an only
** It's noted that at least part of the reason why this happened is that Tris's powers - which cover control over pretty much all weather - were unknown and uncontrolled at the time...which meant that they tended to synchronize with her emotions. They thought she was possessed, and it terrified them - but Tris does still think they could have handled it better. Also notable is that no one in her family is ever mentioned to have tried to make contact with Tris after she becomes known as one of the youngest and most powerful mages of her generation. (At one point in the second series, she tells her student that her family would probably like to have her back for her powers, but that'd be the only reason. She doesn't say whether or not her family attempted a reconciliation between books, though.)
** There's also Daja, whose whole ''culture'' banished her, after she was the only survivor of a shipwreck that killed the rest of her family, due to the association of a lone survivor being bad luck. She understands the reasons behind it, but it still [[Berserk Button|upsets]] her until they bring her back in.
* Josephine in [[Tim Powers]]' ''[[The Stress of Her Regard]]''. She is the disturbed and unappreciated younger sister of protagonist Michael Crawford's wife Julia; their mother [[Death
* Ron of [[
** Molly has shown some unfavorite sentiments toward Fred, George, and Ron. More than once she's compared the three of them unfavorably to their three older brothers. Later, when Ron is appointed a school prefect (like Bill, Charlie, and Percy), Molly squeals, "That's everyone in the family!" prompting George to quip, "What are Fred and I? Next door neighbors?" She also apparently didn't have much faith in Ginny becoming a prefect either.
** Ron eventually gets everything he wants. In the first book we see that his heart's desire is to win the Quidditch Cup and be Head Boy, surpassing all his brothers: he does indeed win the cup and probably ''would'' have gotten to be Head Boy if he'd stayed at Hogwarts for his seventh year. As if Fate's trying to make up for it, he gets the girl of his dreams instead while his best friend marries his younger sister.
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*** There have been other issues between J.K. Rowling and her father, besides issues of favoritism. Both admit they became distant after JK's mother died, and there have been issues over finances and money where JK's father is concerned.
* ''[[The Earth My Butt And Other Big Round Things]]'' is a great insight of being [[The Unfavorite]]. The narrator is a chubby, brown-haired, high-schooler with average grades living in a glamorous upper-class family of beautiful slim blond people.
* In [[
** Denethor himself was the Unfavourite to Thorongil/Aragorn's Favourite.
{{quote|
* ''[[
* ''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 [[
** 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.
* In their mother's eyes at least, Anna and Jesse are clearly Un-Favorites in comparison to [[Ill Girl]] Kate in ''[[
* Prince Roger of [[David Weber]] and [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Prince Roger]]'' series is the Un-Favourite due to his resemblance to his father (and, to be fair, his complete lack of accomplishment compared to his fleet-admiral sister and senior-diplomat brother.)
* ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]'' includes this but the role is split between Rodrick and Gregory, mostly because the favourite is ''obviously'' the much younger Manny.
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* In ''[[The Westing Game]]'', Grace Wexler's preference for beautiful daughter Angela is so extreme that she doesn't even ''recognize'' her younger daughter, Turtle, after a few drinks. Subverted in that {{spoiler|being ignored is actually ''better'' for Turtle than having her life micromanaged is for Angela, who's so stressed by [[My Beloved Smother]] that she starts setting off bombs}}.
* The [[Liavek]] anthologies had Nerissa Benedicti, who summed her situation up thusly: "I am the last of eight children, and any week-guest in the house can discover that everybody concerned wishes there had only been six." Nerissa ends up [[Death Seeker|joining a religion of suicides]] at the age of fourteen. (Her brother Deleon, the second Unfavorite, ran away from home on his twelfth birthday.)
* In the [[
** Another [[
** The end of the story, when Carrie Louise turns to Mildred for support and comfort and an earlier conversation between the former and [[Miss Marple]] implies that much of this 'unfavoritism' was Mildred's perception.
* In J.R. Ward's [[Black Dagger Brotherhood]], Phury is the Un-Favorite of his family. He was the second-born twin, which apparently is bad luck in his world. His twin, Zsadist, is kidnapped by a nanny as an infant and sold into slavery. Phury is not directly blamed for this, but it is inherent that his birth and its bad luck was the reason. His family falls apart, and notes that he had to drag his father's drunken body inside as dawn approached so that he would not die. It was also noted that when he left to find his brother, no one noticed his departure, and he did not attend his parents' funerals. He finally finds his twin, who is being horribly abused and tortured by an aristocrat, and helps him escape. In the process, he loses the lower half of one of his legs and uses a prothesis. He vows that he will help his brother, which includes beating him up on several occasions at his request. He takes a vow of celibacy, and becomes a drug addict. He eventually finds peace with his parents while withdrawing from the drugs, but spends most of the series with some serious guilt.
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* Conrad of ''Ordinary People'' is clearly the Unfavorite in the eyes of his mother, especially so after his brother, the Favorite, dies.
* In ''[[Parable of the Sower|Parable of the Talents]]'' by [[Octavia Butler]], Asha Vere is the unfavorite to her parents, strict Christian [[The Fundamentalist|fundamentalists]] who don't seem to love her. Their other child, Kamaria, died in a bombing. {{spoiler|It turns out she's adopted.}}
* Claudia Kishi of [[The
* In Ruth Rendell's [[Inspector Wexford]] series, Wexford's older daughter Sylvia, who comes off badly in his eyes (and Rendell's) even when she's been victimized. By contrast, the other daughter, Sheila, is an extremely successful actress who never does anything in the least bit wrong.
* ''[[Washington Square]]'''s main character Catherine Sloper is this to her father, in comparison to her older brother... who died several years before she was born and doesn't appear to have lived long enough to be named.
* In ''[[East of Eden]]'', this happens twice via [[Generation Xerox]]. Charles and Adam's father preferred Adam, which led Charles to abuse his brother. It happens again with Adam's twin boys, [[Cain and Abel|Cal and Aaron]].
* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere:
* [[Stephen Colbert]]'s "[[I Am America
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''The Song of the Cardinal'', the she-cardinal whom he kissed.
{{quote|
* The Hon. Freddie Threepwood in [[
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''A Daughter of the Land'', Kate. Mary is clearly the Favorite, but the other sisters also had their share.
{{quote|
"Mary had exceptional ability," said Mrs. Bates.
"I wonder how she convinced you of it. None of the rest of us can discover it," said Kate. '' }}
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* No matter what Det. Goren from ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' does for his mother (including taking care of her while she's in the hospital) he still can't measure up to his brother, a homeless drug addict with an illegitimate son - or were there two brothers? Either way, Goren gets no respect.
** One episode portrayed a wealthy family patriarch who had two sons, one favorite (talented, handsome, successful), the other un-favorite. The un-favorite son married the patriarch's favorite daughter-in-law (dutiful and responsible), while the favorite son married the un-favorite ("total screwup"). The favorite son is murdered, and the un-favorite is the prime suspect. {{spoiler|Ironically, the favorite daughter-in-law planned and executed the murder; the "screwup" in-law was in on the plan but chickened out.}} The ending implies that the patriarch has already picked his favorite and un-favorite ''grandsons''.
* An episode of ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'' had the detectives visit a doctor who has a huge portrait of him, his wife, and his two daughters, a doctor and a lawyer, in his office. Later, they discovered the doctor also has a son... who was working as his ''janitor''. Three guesses who turns out to be the violent rapist they're searching for.
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** Lucille lampshades this in the pilot: "I don't care for GOB."
** Even when Lindsey is revealed to be adopted Lucille mentions she still loves Lindsey as much as her other children and even more than GOB.
* Kara "Starbuck" Thrace of the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** Not quite a straight example. Socrata was bastardly and abusive to Kara because she knew Kara had a special destiny and didn't think she was trying hard enough to live up to her natural ability.
* Jan Brady of ''[[The Brady Bunch]]''.
** Jan was actually a [[Fanon]] [[Alternative Character Interpretation|interpretation]]. In her case, she was actually just [[Overshadowed
* Curious example on ''[[Dirty Sexy Money]]''. In a first-season episode, matriarch Letitia says that Brian and Jeremy are their father's unfavorites; considering the fact that Jeremy is a drug-addicted layabout and that Brian isn't Tripp's biological son, this makes sense. But after learning about Brian's illegitimacy, Tripp starts liking him ''more,'' giving him a company job and calling him 'son' for the first time in the series.
* Possibly the example most familiar to American TV viewers, Robert from ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]''. With the slight reversal that Robert is actually the elder brother himself.
{{quote|
''(Turns her back on Robert and walks out the door)'' }}
** Robert was originally going to be cast as ''shorter'' then Ray and being forced to ''literally'' look up to his younger brother. The actor being ''taller'' took the gag from funny to hysterical.
* ''[[
** Unlike his parents, Simon Tam is still a sympathetic character due to the fact that he does admit to her superior intelligence, albeit somewhat grudgingly in his younger years, abandons aforesaid medical career and status as the 'beloved child' to help her, and in the flashbacks seems to show her more affection than the parents did.
** The parents' investment is more in their lives as wealthy, law-abiding supporters of the system; naturally it's easier for them to deny everything than admit that the government is doing evil things to their daughter. Even Simon had moments of resentment at having to give that life up.
* Lorne in ''[[
* An interesting example in ''[[Frasier]]'': ''both'' Crane brothers considered themselves to be
* Monica on ''[[Friends]]'' is treated like this by her parents, while her brother can do no wrong (the reason given in the show is that they thought their mother was barren, which means that Ross was their "Miracle Child," and by the time Monica was born, the amazement was over.) Possibly why she is so screwed up. Interestingly, Ross actually calls them out on it a couple times.
** Though when her dad realises that they've been doing this, he gives her his Porsche to make up for it, so, you know, "every cloud".
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* Chuck Bass on ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' is a strange example, as he is an only child for two-thirds of season one. Sadly, once his step-siblings {{spoiler|Serena and Eric}} move in, he still obviously takes a back seat to everyone else.
** Also Blair, who is an only child but continually overshadowed in her mother's eyes by Serena and later even Jenny. Heartbreakingly.
* Mohinder Suresh of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is his father's Un-Favourite, as compared to his [[Ill Girl]] older sister Shanti. This is due to having been conceived expressly in order to be a cure for her, but born too late; Chandra half-hated him for the failure, half-didn't want to get emotionally attached again.
* Nathan Petrelli of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' could also be said to be the Unfavorite of his family. [[Evil Matriarch|Angela]] actually told Peter he was her favorite compared to Nathan. Especially since it's later revealed in season 3 that {{spoiler|Nathan was the only one in the family to be born without powers and had to be ''given'' powers via a formula.}}
** Although {{spoiler|Arthur Petrelli does claim that Nathan is his favorite, but given that he previously tried to have Nathan killed, the truth of this statement is debatable.}}
** And Angela's claims that Peter is her favorite are somewhat suspect {{spoiler|given that Angela spent the whole of Season One helping [[Big Bad]] Linderman manipulate things so that Peter would become a living bomb and Nathan could eventually become President of the United States, allowing The Company the defacto ability to rule the world.}}
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* In ''[[Judging Amy]]'', one episode feature a large, loud, and boisterous family who did not know what to make of their youngest(?) child, a quiet, apparently unathletic, and introverted kid. Apparently, ''forcing'' him into dog piles and over-enthusiastic games of football constituted abuse so the family had to learn [[An Aesop]] about different personalities.
* An episode of ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' featured the [[Evil Matriarch|mother]] of a deceased criminal known as "Bad Brain Johnson". To try and get her attention, her Un Favourite second son built a fully functional mind control machine, to offer her the whole world as a gift. Not only was he met with equal disdain as usual, but ''not even the machine at [[Explosive Overclocking|full power]]'' could force her to tell her son she loved him.
* Arnold Rimmer in ''[[
** 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:
{{quote|
* ''[[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.
** Lampshaded by the Yellow-Eyed Demon who tells Dean that even though John argued and yelled at Sam a lot, it was 'more concern than he's ever shown you.'
** Strange version: Lucifer regards himself as this, but Gabriel points out that they all know that God loved Lucifer more than any of the other angels, more than Michael and more than Gabriel himself. The reason Gabriel believes Lucifer hates humans? He felt that God cared about them more and would demote him to this trope.
* In an episode of ''[[
{{quote|
'''Nina''': ''[astonished]'' Wow... so you're the ''good'' sister? }}
* ''[[Young Dracula]]'': Despite being the child that most takes after him, Ingrid is consistently ignored and humiliated by her sexist father.
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* Carmen in ''[[The George Lopez Show]]''. Her mother, her father and her grandmother like her brother Max more.
** It's not so much that they like Max more, he's just a lot easier for them to deal with compared to Carmen, as her problems were usually a lot more serious then Max's. Angie herself calls George on this in the episode "I Only Have Eyes For You" after George punishes Carmen more harshly then Max and she accuses him of liking Max better.
{{quote|
** In rhe later seasons it actually was the opposite. Carmen's problems were much more serious than Max's were, and he felt unloved and ignored.
* Archie on ''[[
* Eunice on ''[[
* On ''[[
** Later, when they already know he's the [[Kid From the Future]] and she's already pregnant with him:
{{quote|
'''Chris:''' Hey! You used a force field with him and not with me?!
'''Piper:''' Oh, no, no, that was his, not mine.
'''Chris:''' WHAT?! HE HAD POWERS ''ON THE UTERUS''?! }}
* In [[Veronica Mars]] Cassidy Casablancas, the younger of two sons, was clearly the unfavourite as the victim of bullying by his father and the 'favourite', his elder brother, as the dad and sibling had competitions to see who could make him cry first. This character would also come under the [[All of the Other Reindeer]] umbrella.
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* In [[Victorious]], Trina is implied to be this. How much? After getting her wisdom teeth removed, her parents went on vacation for the sole purpose of not wanting to take care of her.
* In the episode of ''[[Leverage]]'' "The Snow Job", despite being the one that practically runs the crooked business, his father clearly favors the older fun loving air head son.
* Un-favourite ''pets'' appear from time to time on the various ''[[
* Oh god ''[[Skins]]'' loves this one; Chris became an unfavourite when his brother died, Freddie is constantly passed over for Karen, Katie's mum has always favoured her over Emily, and in Gen 3 the {{spoiler|Nick and Matty}} situation is... complicated.
* [[The Big Bang Theory]] has poor Leonard. As stated by Leonard:
{{quote|
== [[Music]] ==
* The premise of the song "Better Version of You" by Paul and Storm is the parents informing
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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]]. With the [[Amazon Brigade|Sisters of Battle]], for a while it was bad enough that a fan wrote ''[[The Steadfast Tin Soldier|The Steadfast Pewter]] Sororitas'' [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/The_Steadfast_Pewter_Sororitas story], and it was regularly remembered. To put it in perspective, this happened while GW gave reasons to be accused of ''blatantly'' using "cheese" as a marketing strategy (updating different factions in turn into a [[Game Breaker]]/"easy mode", to the point of being restricted in non-"official" games, so that the newbies would buy related materials - and presumably the older players a reason to buy something else).
== [[Theater]] ==
* The Broadway show ''[[Next to Normal]]'' features this trope spectacularly with the song "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" after it is revealed that {{spoiler|the son has been dead the whole time, died when he was eighteen months old, but the mother, and possibly the father, hallucinates him throughout the show as a perfect beautiful shining son, leaving the living daughter a wreck.}}
* Happy Loman in ''[[Death of a Salesman]]''.
* Elphaba in ''[[Wicked (
** Somewhat justified as {{spoiler|the opening song reveals her mother was cheating with another man, so Elphaba wasn't even his to begin with. He may have suspected that considering that she was green}}.
*** Not that he knew that. His rejection was pretty much purely a reaction to her "deformity".
*** This a change from the book, where they had a fairly good (though not close) relationship.
* In ''[[The Lion in Winter]]'', Richard is Henry's Unfavorite. John is Eleanor's Unfavorite. Geoffrey, poor guy, is the Unfavorite to both.
* The title character of [[Sophocles]]' ''[[
* In ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'', Baptista obviously prefers Bianca to Katerina. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Either this is because of]] Katerina's [[Hair
== [[Video Games]] ==
* This is the motivation of the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Drakengard]]'', Manah. Her mother showered her brother Seere with love but abused Manah, finally culminating with abandoning her in a monster-infested canyon for a cult to take. After that, she decided that the only way she could make her mother love her was if the gods themselves loved her. And since [[God Is Evil]], this entails being infused with their power, ascending to the head of the cult, taking control of [[The Empire]], and [[The End of the World
* Beat in ''[[
* In ''[[Silent Hill Homecoming]]'' Alex's younger brother Joshua is clearly the favourite of his parents, to the extent that Alex tells his mother to "stop pretending you care about me" at one point when she tries to apologize to him. It's later revealed that {{spoiler|Alex's parents had to choose one of their children to be sacrificed to Silent Hill's god in order to keep it from destroying Shepherd's Glen. They chose Alex and, knowing he was doomed, purposely remained distant with him to make the inevitable sacrifice easier}}.
* The titular [[Neverwinter Nights|Bastard of Kosigan]], whose situation at home was so uncomfortable for him that he ran off and became a mercenary after his father (the only person defending him from his uncle's abuse) died.
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*** Actually, {{spoiler|Ocelot uses Recessive and Dominant... which doesn't mean inferior or superior. It's just inherited gene prioritisation.}}
*** Also, technically, it's not just Liquid, but pretty much ALL of the Les Enfants Terribles children who were UnFavorites to Big Boss, as he hated the project, especially when it was performed without his consent. In fact, the project was the reason why he broke away from the Patriots and eventually attempted to overthrow them.
**** [[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]] had Fatman, who was neglected by his parents, and apparently, even though he built a nuclear bomb at Age 10, and was rather famous (or infamous) within the bomb trade for this feat, he was hated within his own school.
* Though it may not be confirmed as we never see his parents,Nozomi Suemitsu aka the Gourmet King from ''[[Persona 3]]'',{{spoiler|he constantly in his older and less rotund bother's shadow}}
** [[Persona 4]] takes this trope a step further with Kou Ichigo. {{spoiler|It's revealed that he was adopted as a child because his adoptive parents though they couldn't have any children of their own...until they actually do. When they do, Kou feels that they've literally cast him to the side now that they have a "real" child.}}
* Flora, in the ''[[Professor Layton]]'' series, seems like this sometimes because the Professor keeps trying to leave her at home when he goes on investigations, but allows
** Although it's arguably justified by the differences in Flora and Luke's backgrounds. Luke, as the professor's apprentice, is used to solving puzzles and hazarding dangerous situations. Flora has not had that sort of experience, and also is implied to still be recovering from {{spoiler|the trauma of her dad first trying to pass off a robot as a replacement for her mother, then being raised by [[Ridiculously
* In ''[[
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* {{spoiler|Sakura}} in ''[[Fate/stay
** Though technically, her adoptive family treated her like that because she was the ''favorite'' of the family head, {{spoiler|and was trying to make her the rightful heir of the family. Granted, said head was completely insane and her adoptive brother abused her out of spite for making ''him'' the unfavorite. Oddly enough, he initially raped her because the head's treatment meant that she actually needed magic infused semen to survive... later on, though...}}
* Subverted in ''[[Tsukihime]]''. Shiki really was the unfavorite of Makihasa and upon being wounded was promptly disinherited and kicked out. However, that's because not only were they not related - therefore making Shiki incapable of becoming the Tohno family head - Shiki was the son of the guy whose family he just killed off. He was kept around to take care of SHIKI (Makihasa's favorite) if he happened to Invert.
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* In what could potentially be the best example of this trope, Jimmy in the [[Chick Tracts|Chick tract]] "Unloved," as his parents refuse to attend his high school graduation, constantly tell him he's inferior to his sister, criticize his choice of a wife for having kids (and she later leaves him with all his money) and disown him after he asks to borrow money. Strangely enough, while his sister always does better in their eyes, [[Fridge Logic|they don't even bother to attend her wedding]].
** Generally, any character in a Chick Tract who converts tends to become the Unfavorite of the ''world at large''.
* Roy Greenhilt from ''[[The Order of the Stick
** Although it turned out his father wasn't likely the favorite either.
*** Eugene harasses Roy chiefly because he doesn't get to go to Lawful Good Heaven until Roy (or another Greenhilt descendant) fulfills the blood oath Eugene made as a younger man. The middle Greenhilt is then supremely incensed when he learns that ''he's'' Lawful Good Heaven's Unfavorite because he abandoned the oath for other pursuits.
**** Eugene's unfavoritism was well in place long before his death. In ''On the Origins of PCs'', a still-alive Eugene tells Roy all about the Blood Oath solely so that Roy can relate it to favored Julia when she gets old enough to do something about it.
**** To add to the above comment, Eugene only starts pushing Roy into finishing the oath because it gets passed down to the eldest, I.E. Roy. So when Roy died, it got passed to Julia, until Roy was brought back to life.
* Wally from ''[[Zebra Girl]]'' is a
* Rayne from ''[[Least I Could Do]]'' claims in one strip that he was locked in a cage and fed newspaper as a child. His friends know it's BS, but Mick remarks "his stories amuse me so."
* Played with in ''[[Narbonic]]''. Dave's brother Bill is actually a pretty boring, ordinary guy, but Dave is stubbornly convinced that Bill is cooler, better looking, and otherwise superior to him in every way. There's no indication whether this is related to parental favoritism.
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* Liquid Snake, in the AU ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' fancomic series [http://zarla.deviantart.com/art/Les-Enfants-Terribles-38063076 "Les Enfants Terribles."] [http://zarla.deviantart.com/art/Les-Enfants-Terribles-14-96287462 Solidus gets this treatment too], but to a lesser extent.
** This also occurs in the webcomic ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''. Hell it occured in the games as well.
* Black Mage from ''[[
** Red Mage too, although technically that was {{spoiler|entirely concocted and implanted in his mind by Thief}}.
* Riff from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is the Unfavorite to his stepbrother (who is apparently his mother's new husband's son). When said stepbrother asks if he is better than Riff, his mother tells him that it's not nice to "rub it in". Riff is thus somewhat pleased, albeit humiliated, when Bun-bun and Kiki's attempt to stand in for him at a party with a mechanical look-alike fails and results in him getting disowned.
* Mizuna of ''[[Adventurers
* [[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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** Azula, Zuko's little sister, is also an example, at least in her own mind: "My own mother...thought I was a monster." She tries to laugh it off at the time, but this perception of her relationship with her mother {{spoiler|contributes heavily to her [[Villainous Breakdown]] in the series finale}}.
*** Except in her own mind {{spoiler|her perception of her mother says that she always loved Azula}}. And in an earlier flashback she told Zuko to play with Azula, so it's not like she thought Azula should be shunned.
**** Ursa ''did'' love Azula. She was simply concerned about her budding little sociopath of a daughter. We see nothing in her onscreen behavior that says she thought Azula was "a monster". Can't help but wonder where the kid got the idea. Perhaps Ozai told her a few stories about "what your mother said when you weren't around" so he could guarantee that he was Azula's [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Well Done Daughter Guy]]. Also, it's possible {{spoiler|that "perception" was saying what Azula wanted it to say, not what she believed the real Ursa actually ''would'' say}}, and she knew it, which is why she got so upset. [[Word of God]] pretty much confirms
** Ozai himself, father of both of the above, used to be this too. After his older brother Iroh's son died, his father ordered him to kill Zuko to let him know what it feels like. To put this into perspective, though, Fire Lord Azulon only ordered this after Ozai tried to use his nephew's death as an excuse to steal his brother's birthright, and after he openly scoffed at Iroh's grief for his lost son causing him to abandon the siege of Ba Sing Se. Still...ouch! Let's face it, [[Royally Screwed
*** Except for Ursa and Iroh. Zuko eventually matured and [[Calling the Old Man Out|said 'screw you' to Ozai.]]
** The series implies that Mai's parents treat their younger son Tom-Tom much better than her. When Mai was a little girl she was forced to be stiff and rigid at all times, never showing any emotion in case it damaged her father's political career (leading into her emotionally-stunted teenage years). By the time Tom-Tom was born, her father was already a governor and given control over an entire "colony" (said colony being a conquered Earth Kingdom City), so they're free to be more expressive and affectionate with him.
* Helga Pataki from ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' is the poster child for this trope, with her prettier, more intelligent, and away-at-college older sister Olga. Ironically, Olga herself says she'd rather be the Unfavorite: her parents' excessive attention and ''ridiculously'' high expectations (especially Bob's) push her into a permanent neurosis and becoming an [[Extreme Doormat]].
* ''[[Rugrats]]'' played with this a couple times. In one episode, Angelica convinces the twins Phil and Lil that every family has a Favorite and a Reject; each one spent the rest of the episode convinced that they were the Reject, and mistaking normal parental behavior as signs of this, until, in the end, they make up and decide to be Rejects together (and Angelica even decides to become a Reject). In another, Angelica's parents are going to have another baby, and she has a horrible dream about being rejected in favor of it (until it [[Attack of the 50
** Don't forget this was quite the plot point of the first [[Rugrats]] movie. After Dil's birth, Tommy felt abandoned by his parents and attempted to return him to the hospital with the help of his friends, only to later grow fond of Dil and accept him.
** I remember one episode after the movie where Tommy starts to feel like the unfavourite out of his friends after Angelica teaches them how to cry and fake injuries to get attention from Tommy's parents, but Tommy won't do it. The parents are fussing over the other kids, but Stu does take a moment to apologise to Tommy and say he's glad there's nothing wrong with him. It's kind of sweet, but also sad.
* An example of the second variant is in ''[[Metalocalypse]]'': Pickles, the drummer of the most famous and successful band in history, lead singer of the (arguably) ''other'' most famous and successful band in history, apparent college graduate despite being an alcoholic since he was ''six'', is still second in his parents' eyes to his brother, an ex-con who lives in their attic, sponges off everyone he knows, is responsible for destroying Australia, ''and works for the company Pickles owns''.
** Further expanded in Fatherklok, where Pickles' father straight out calls him trash.
* Sometime between the original run of ''[[Family Guy]]'' and the [[
** You could go on for days about the [[Comedic Sociopathy]] Peter and Lois inflict on poor Meg. Lois in particular; she tried to steal Meg's boyfriend in one episode, couldn't even say "I love you" to the girl on her own wedding day, and ''tried to get her to kill herself''.<ref>She left a bottle of sleeping pills and an [[Emily
* [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] on ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. His mother preferred his younger brother Rodger, while his father preferred the family dog.
** It didn't help that [[Jerkass|his father]] named their dog, "Only Son."
*** Or that both his parents somehow managed to be absent for his ''birth''.
** Hints from the show and [[Word of God]] imply that Candace may possibly ''feel'' like this trope, but the Flynn-Fletcher family actually averts this trope, with the parents treating their children and stepchildren equally.
* In ''[[Wolverine and
** In ''[[X
** Which of the twins are [[The Unfavorite]] changes with the medium and writer.
*** 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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* Lifeline from the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' series is a latecomer to this trope, having become the Unfavourite of his all-pacifist family when he joined a military organization. Never mind that he's a field medic who never carries weapons or participates in combat, the fact it's ''soldiers'' he saves is enough to earn him the permanent silent treatment from his relatives.
* Hank Venture from ''[[The Venture Bros]]''. While in the first season Dr. Venture seemed equally neglectful towards both sons, the following ones made his [[Parental Favoritism]] towards Dean more and more apparent. This has become especially prominent in season 4 after {{spoiler|the clone slugs were destroyed and Brock left}} - Dr. Venture wised up and decided to be more fatherly, but only towards Dean.
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** In truth, it frequently zigzags between the two of them. Dr. Venture seems to prefer Hank in an adventuring context, and Dean in a scientific context. Needless to say, he's not the greatest father.
* As indicated by the page quote, [[King of the Hill|Hank Hill]] is the Unfavorite of his two brothers. His older brother, an illegitimate child born of Cotton Hill's affair with a woman in Japan, gains a surprising amount of affection since his mother is perhaps the only person Cotton ever genuinely loved. His younger brother Good Hank was born when Cotton was in his seventies, and at the right age to appreciate having children. Meanwhile, Hank was born in a bathroom in New York, not Texas, and Cotton never quite forgave him for failing to be a native Texan, hating him literally since the day he was born. Being saddled with a Jerkass father like Cotton affected Hank well into adulthood and left him with his uptight, close-minded personality.
* Before ''[[
* Saranoia and Carl from the show ''[[Yin Yang Yo
* In ''[[Pepper Ann]]'', Nicky is convinced she's the Unfavorite, though a lot of it is circumstantial (and the fact that people ''other than'' her parents really do tend to favor her sister). For example, when they were kids, the exercise equipment was put in Nicky's room... because it was either put it there or in her sister's room, and they feared the sister, who has very weak arms, would be much more insulted by it than the surprisingly-strong Nicky.
* A large part of the plot of the first ''[[Franklin]]'' movie, ''Franklin and the Green Knight'', is Franklin worrying that he'll become this when his new baby sister is born. This worry is only increased when everyone fawns over the upcoming baby during a baby shower. Later, this fear is soothed when he meets an armadillo with a baby brother who tells him that his parents have enough love for both him and his brother. Franklin's friend Snail has a similar fear - he worries that Franklin won't have any time for him once the baby is born. Oh, and Franklin's worries being soothed turns out to be reasonable, as there is no evidence in the fifth and sixth seasons of the show (both of which feature a version of Franklin's new sister, Harriet, that is able to talk and walk), that either child is treated as a favorite.
* An episode of ''[[
* Sugar Mama on ''[[The Proud Family]]'' tends to favor her son, Bobby over Oscar, despite the fact that Oscar is clearly the more successful of the two. Then again, Oscar is the [[Butt Monkey]] of the series. It's later revealed that Sugar Mama went through the same thing with her sister, Spice.
* In an episode of ''[[The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest]]'', Jonny is trapped in a hallucination where he thinks he is the unfavorite and that his father prefers Jessie. This ends when his father punches the hallucination's lights out.
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* A lot of kids have suspicions that they might be this.
** That being said, in all likelihood there are probably a number of Unfavourites in the big bad world.
** A recent{{when}}
*** It's entirely possible to have more than half of the population the "unfavorite" if families have more than one child, or even if they have only one seeing as how you don't actually need siblings to be an unfavorite child.
* A lot of families do have these, particularly if they were hoping for a child of a certain gender
** 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.
** In some countries, it is common for women to have abortions if the child is the "wrong gender."
*** This has actually gone so far in mainland China as to have started to ''flip'' the preferred
**** It's possible to get permission to have a second child.
***** Or if you are rich enough to not care about fines/state taxes/additional expenses/etc., as many as you can afford.
***** Chinese traditionally favored large families, and in relation to this trope, gives a bigger pool to choose the Favorite or Heir from. You sure as heck don't want the
* As shown in her book ''[[Chinese Cinderella]]'', Adeline Yen Mah was quite obviously the Unfavorite of her entire family despite being very intelligent, simply because her mother died giving birth to her and thus she was considered "unlucky". Her stepmother hated her most of all (though she also clearly favored her own two children over her stepchildren) because she stopped the stepmother from hitting the youngest sister. The rest of the book details the various circumstances the poor girl finds herself in, as everyone shoves her one way and another to get rid of her.
* In a supremely [[Irony]]-filled example (as chronicled in [[Freakonomics]]), there's the case of Richard Lane, who named one of his sons "Winner" and another younger son "Loser". "Loser" ended up becoming a police officer in New York City. "Winner" became a career criminal. Yeah...
** Though the father claims he didn't give Loser's name because of this: apparently he enjoyed the [[Book Ends|book end]] [[Theme Naming|effect]].
* David Pelzer, author of ''[[A Child Called It]]'', was this until he was removed from his family. His mother took out her rage on him, resulting in one of the worst cases of child abuse in California history, and took care of the other children. Sadly, her anger didn't end when Dave was removed from the home...she started abusing his brother Richard when her favorite target was gone.
* Urban Dictionary: Middle Child Syndrome - "it is a known fact the youngest and oldest are treated differently than the middle child for the oldest is the first child aka favorite and the smallest is the baby aka the last child known for getting whatever they desire because they are the "baby". Middle Children sydrome includes neglect, forgotten dates, and sometimes in bad cases forgetting they even exist."
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[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
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