History Main / BastardAngst

** HeroicBastard Jon Snow, the acknowledged illegitimate son of Lord Eddard Stark. Jon grew up feeling like somewhat of an outsider among his family, though he is loved by his father, trueborn siblings,[[note]]Though Sansa, the child closest to Catelyn, is more distant toward Jon because of his illegitimacy[[/note]] and uncle, and Jon loves them. Jon struggles with his illegitimacy due to societal prejudice against bastard-born children, limited options for his future, and because he is resented by his father's wife [[WickedStepmother Catelyn]], who dislikes Jon for being Eddard's illegitimate son who Eddard brought home to raise alongside his and Catelyn's trueborn children, Jon's half-siblings.[[note]]Catelyn fears Eddard loves Jon's MissingMom more than her due to Eddard's protectiveness of Jon and resents that Jon inherited the Stark look instead of her sons with Eddard, who inherited her Tully features. She also fears that any children Jon may have one day might contest the succession for Winterfell of her grandchildren.[[/note]] Jon yearns to know who his [[MissingMom mother]] is but his father refuses to talk about her for mysterious, unknown reasons. Partly because of angst over his illegitimacy, desire to prove his worth, and to follow his dream of becoming a First Ranger like his uncle, Jon joins the Night's Watch for the sake of honour. Nonetheless, Jon has had a far better upbringing than most in Westeros, not to mention many other noble-blooded illegitimate children (Gendry, Falia Flowers, Mya Stone): his father openly acknowledges and raises Jon himself in his castle alongside his trueborn offspring and gives Jon a highborn education and castle training alongside Jon's trueborn brother, Robb, with whom Jon is very close. Part of Jon's character arc is recognizing his privileged upbringing. Notably, Jon turns down Stannis Baratheon's offer of legitimization and the chance to inherit Winterfell out of loyalty to his father's gods and because Winterfell belongs to his sister Sansa.

* In ''Literature/MoDaoZuShi'', the ''entire cultivational world'' knows that Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao is the bastard son of [[CorruptPolitician sect leader Jin Guangshan]] and [[SonOfAWhore high-ranking brothel worker Meng Shi]], and he frequently suffers public mockery by the gentry (and later brutal abuse from his father's actual wife) for it. And it turns out that he's far from the only bastard the notorious philanderer sired, as Mo Xuanyu and [[spoiler: Qin Su]] are brought into the story later, with yet more unknown children implied.

* Antagonist Zoey Tanyag from ''Series/AbotKamayNaPangarap'' is not protagonist RJ Tanyag's daughter - but rather, an illegitimate child, with Analyn Santos being his true child. Zoey loathes Analyn and her mother Lyneth because Analyn just is a better neurosurgeon, not to mention the fact that she feels [[UnfavoredChild unfavored]] because RJ pays more attention to Analyn than Zoey prior to the revelation that Zoey is not RJ's child.

* ''Series/ThePower2023'': Roxy is not happy at all to be sidelined as a result of being her dad's love child, which is shown especially after he doesn't even mention her when listing his children while making a speech. She blames his wife, her half-siblings mom, for this.

If the child's parents are [[BlueBlood royal or noble]], expect an attempt to usurp the estate. This may be of their own volition or traitorous members of the court [[PuppetKing manipulating them in order to seize power for themselves]]. More idealistic settings with more sympathetic bastards will get them a sizable inheritance at the end, [[EarnYourHappyEnding if not make them]] the UnexpectedSuccessor to the whole shebang. In more modern settings, bastards usually strive for distinction in their field of interest.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Rhaenyra's illegitimate sons by Harwin Strong [[ChocolateBaby don't look anything like their legal father Laenor Velaryon]] and are dogged by rumors about their parentage from childhood, including from rivalrous relatives. By the end of the first season, this has affected the elder two in different ways: Jacaerys feels like he has to overcompensate and be the perfect princeling; Lucerys feels like an inadequate heir.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Rhaenyra's illegitimate sons by Harwin Strong [[ChocolateBaby don't look anything like their legal father Laenor Velaryon]] and are dogged by rumors about their parentage from childhood, including from rivarlous relatives. By the end of the first season, this has affected the elder two in different ways: Jacaerys feels like he has to overcompensate and be the perfect princeling; Lucerys feels like an inadequate heir.

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' has multiple examples of this, with one that even [[PlayingWithATrope plays with it]]. Keith Claes and Anne Sherry, Catarina's adoptive brother and maid, respectively, were born from noblemen sleeping with a prostitute and a mistress, respectively, and Keith got a double-dose of this because his adoptive father was MistakenForCheating by his wife and she went AffairBlameTheBastard. The first set of relatives Keith stayed with was even worse since the light novels note that Keith wasn't allowed to call his parents "Mother" or "Father," and Keith had to use respectful language on his siblings, who bullied him. Maria Campbell [[PlayingWithATrope plays with it]] because she actually isn't a bastard, but the fact she's a commoner that had won the SuperpowerLottery by getting [[LightEmUp light magic]] when such thing is usually only found in nobility, caused her mother to get MistakenForCheating. All three of them went through hell in life because of it, getting [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer ostracized as lesser beings]]. It's not until Catarina came into their lives that they were able to start moving away from this angst and gain happier lives.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Rhaenyra's illegitimate sons by Harwin Strong [[ChocolateBaby don't look anything like their legal father Laenor Velaryon]] and are dogged by rumors about their parentage from childhood, including from their rivalrous uncles. By the end of the first season, this has affected the elder two in different ways: Jacaerys feels like he has to overcompensate and be the perfect princeling; Lucerys feels like an inadequate heir.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Rhaenyra's illegitimate sons by Harwin Strong [[ChocolateBaby don't look anything like their legal father Laenor Velaryon]] and are dogged by rumors about their parentage from childhood. By the end of the first season, this has affected the elder two in different ways: Jacaerys feels like he has to overcompensate and be the perfect princeling; Lucerys feels like an inadequate heir.

* ''Series/HouseofTheDragon'': Rhaenyra's illegitimate sons by Harwin Strong [[ChocolateBaby don't look anything like their legal parent Laenor Velaryon]] and are dogged by rumors about their parentage from childhood. By the end of the first season, this has affected the elder two in different ways: Jacaerys feels like he has to overcompensate and be the perfect princeling; Lucerys feels like an inadequate heir.

* Protagonist Se-ri from ''Series/CrashLandingOnYou'' is her father’s bastard but she has two half-brothers from his marriage. A lot of family drama from this. Her stepmother resents her for overshadowing her sons and her brothers resent her for their dad respecting her business acumen. It’s only exacerbated when her dad picks her to run the family chaebol over the two of them (even though she’s much more competent and level-headed than the two of them).
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Like his counterpart in [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the books]], Jon Snow angsts over the liminal status being an illegitimate son of a high lord (raised better than other commoners, but never truly accepted) and how he doesn't knowing anything about his mother. It's then [[TheReveal revealed]] that [[spoiler:he's not actually a bastard. Ned Stark is actually his ''uncle'' and he's the trueborn son of the former Targaryen heir to the throne]].

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Like his counterpart in [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the books]], Jon Snow angsts over his illegitimate status and not knowing anything about his mother. It's then [[TheReveal revealed]] that [[spoiler:he's not actually a bastard; Ned Stark is actually his ''uncle'' and his true parents are Rhaegar Targaryen and Ned's sister, Lyanna Stark, who [[DeathByChildbirth died giving birth to him]]. Before dying, Lyanna made Ned promise to protect her newborn son from the wrath of Robert Baratheon, who wanted all the Targaryens killed for "kidnapping" Lyanna (in truth, she left with Rhaegar willingly because she didn't return Robert's feelings and Rhaegar annulled his marriage to his previous wife to marry Lyanna). To protect his nephew, Ned passed Jon off as his own bastard, [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold never telling a single soul the truth]], not even his wife, despite the stain it left on his otherwise honorable reputation and his wife's trust in him. Eventually, Ned's legitimate son Bran and Jon's [[HeterosexualLifePartner best friend Sam]] discover the truth about the parentage of Jon through their own ways (Bran with his seer powers and Sam by poking around in some historical records)]]. While it remains to be seen how this revelation will be handled in the future books, as the show has [[OvertookTheManga overtaken the books]], the show's creators did get the go-ahead from Creator/GeorgeRRMartin himself to make the adaptation because they correctly guessed the identity of Jon's mother.

* The lack of inheritance and support. Historically, children born out of wedlock receive little to no inheritance (or at least far less than their legitimate siblings). The mother and child may also receive very little support from the father. [[note]] In most modern settings, there is less of a legal emphasis on legitimacy in regard to inheritance and support, although it still sometimes becomes a factor in nationality laws. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegitimate_child the article]] on Wiki/TheOtherWiki for more on that. [[/note]]