History Main / DeceasedparentsAreTheBest

* Creator/CoriFalls's Pokémon fanfics portray Jessie's mother Miyamoto as a [[PuritySue saintly, loving, nurturing woman who died tragically before her time]], and Jessie never misses a chance to [[{{Wangst}} wax emotional about this]]. Becomes a double dose of this trope when Jessie finally finds out about her father Dorian, who's portrayed as a TragicHero.

* Creator/StanLee, co-creator of Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}, loved this trope, and it's especially noticeable in ComicBook/SpiderMan, where Peter Parker is three times an orphan, with his biological parents already dead at the beginning of ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 and his surrogate father, Uncle Ben, killed in that story. It was later revealed that his parents were badass secret agents who once saved ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}. Oh, and Uncle Ben apparently saw ComicBook/CaptainAmerica first-hand. Other examples from the Silver Age:

* ''ComicBook/{{Hound|2014}}'': King Connor's sister is a loving mother to Setanta, kissing his forehead after she tells her brother that the boy is strong like his father the sun god. She dies trying to get him off Morrigan's claws when he is only a baby.

* ''{{ComicBook/Maus}}'': Art was significantly closer to his mother Anya than his father Vladek and seems to idolize her to an almost unhealthy extent. Art took her suicide very hard, and his father (who was still trying and failing to deal with his own Holocaust-based emotional issues) was no help, and without Anya to act as a buffer between them, their relationship also deteriorated.

* In ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeFanfic'', subverted with Jason and Bruce in the original timeline. While Jason had made peace with Bruce's faults and dearly loved and missed him long after his death, he'd be the first to tell you how terrible of a father Bruce was. The only exceptions he made to that (in which he applied NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead) were to his own children, probably because three of them [[PromotionToParent were biologically Bruce's]].

* Jessie's MissingMom, Miyamoto, in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' is presented as sweet and cheerful, even if she is a high-tier Team Rocket member. She gave up her daughter due to her career but wanted to send money to her. Miyamoto went to capture Mew specifically because it would sell for a lot of money however she ended up getting lost in a blizzard. [[spoiler:It's implied she survived and is still searching twenty years later.]]

* Creator/CoriFalls's Pokemon fanfics portray Jessie's mother Miyamoto as a [[PuritySue saintly, loving, nurturing woman who died tragically before her time]], and Jessie never misses a chance to [[{{Wangst}} wax emotional about this]]. Becomes a double dose of this trope when Jessie finally finds out about her father Dorian, who's portrayed as a TragicHero.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Compared to Raven who abandoned her family outright and Taiyang who struggled to care for them in the wake of losing two wives, Summer appears to have been the perfect parent for both Ruby and Yang. This is because she disappeared when Ruby and Yang were very young, enabling them to create idealised versions of her in their minds. This is deconstructed in that Ruby died young enough that she remembers Summer less as a person and more as an ideal, namely an ideal [[PerfectionIsImpossible she can't live up to]]. [[spoiler:This is reconstructed when learning about her mother's flaws in Volume 9; this is a rude awakening for her, but she eventually realizes that Summer was simply human and so is she.]]

** Lily in particular is pretty much flawless. She was noted to be an exceptional student and witch, and everyone who knew her speaks fondly of her (except for Petunia, who is obviously just jealous and wrong). Her sacrifice is what protects Harry from Voldemort and ultimately makes him capable of defeating him, and [[spoiler: Snape's unrequited love for her and guilt over the role he played in her death is what leads to his redemption]].

** Dumbledore's father died when he was a kid and his mother a teenager. His brother Aberforth clearly respects and loves them for their sacrifices but also doesn't deny that their mom was unnecessarily secretive.

** There is a slight twist with James though. Making him a bully in high school was a brilliant move. It's a flaw that strikes a nerve the frequently nerd-identified fans and fleshes James out a bit so that he's no longer the perfect but flat dead father. For many fans though, it struck too much of a nerve, and they can't get past James and Sirius's bullying past. It doesn't help that we never get to see James grow as a person, and the idea that someone can ''grow out of'' being a bully is not widely seen in media.
*** It does not help that there are hints that James did not completely grow out of it and that he still did so to Snape at least and just hid it from Lily, such as Snape was a "special case" and how "James didn't take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her ..."

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'':

* In ''Series/{{Merlin 1998}}'', the titular character is an orphan, born to a mortal woman without a mortal father. [[BigBad Queen Mab]] seemed to deliberately invoke this trope, as she didn't make any move to save Merlin's mother after she'd given birth to him. Before [[DeathByChildbirth dying of childbirth]], Elissa made [[ParentalSubstitute Ambrosia]] promise to [[TakeCareOfTheKids take care of Merlin]].

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Inner Child", Anne Marie Reynolds idolizes her late father, who committed suicide, but has an extremely distant relationship with her mother, whom she blames for his death.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* As revealed in ''Literature/TheFeverCode'' prologue, [[spoiler:Newt had nice parents ready to give their lives for their child]].

** Dumbledore’s father died when he was a kid and his mother a teenager. His brother Aberforth clearly respects and loves them for their sacrifices but also doesn’t deny that their mom was unnecessarily secretive.

** Not to mention Winry's parents, [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished killed by an Ishvalan refugee they were nursing back to health]], or in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime]] [[spoiler:Roy Mustang (though he was told to and ''deeply'' traumatized afterwards)]].

** [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] was introduced without a family. Eventually it was revealed that his mental troubles partly derive from his mother being killed by his abusive father. Bruce's longtime love-interest (and, for a time, wife) Betty Ross was introduced having lost her mother. The Hulk's occasional side-kick Rick Jones has been an orphan from the start.

** The Kawamoto sisters speak very fondly of their mother; Akari and Hina have strong memories of how well of a caretaker she was. [[spoiler: Their ''father'', on the other hand, is a mystery. Rei notices that they always speak of their mother and never of their father, leading Rei to theorize in his narration that something happened between the sisters and their father that doesn't exactly place him in a positive light.]]

* In ''Series/{{Moesha}}'', though her father was a loving parent throughout the series, Moesha clung to the memory of her deceased mother Marguerite quite tightly.
** This led to something of a BrokenPedestal when Moesha eventually found out [[spoiler:Marguerite abandoned Frank and Moesha when Mo was a little girl and later forced Frank to give up the son he fathered while they were separated.]]
* More often played for laughs than straight, although there was a couple of those moments, was Del Boy's and Rodney's mum in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses''. She is often spoken of in hushed reverenced tones as if she was the Virgin Mary...the truth of course is that she was a less than perfect parent but she always did the best she could for her kids.

* ''FanFic/TheJoyOfBattle'', a ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' fanfic, subverts this trope with Joy's mother. The first chapter sets up the typical DeceasedParentsAreTheBest scenario with a side character mentioning Joy's mother favorably. Several chapters later, when Sorrow channel's her mother's spirit, Joy makes it obvious that she does not like her mother (living or dead!). Much later in the story, we learn why.
* In {{Fanfic/Mutant}}, [[MotherlyScientist Kittery Abigail]] doesn't live through the second chapter, in stark contrast to the cute, happy first chapter.

* Pretty common trope in ''Creator/NipponIchi'' games. The parents of [[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Laharl]], [[VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice Mao]] (mother unknown, presumed to be dead), [[VideoGame/{{Disgaea5}} Usalia]], [[VideoGame/PhantomBrave Marona]], and [[VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters Danette]] were all depicted as loving parents before they died.

* Averted very well in the first two {{MOTHER}} games, where the main character's parents are not only loving and supportive but remain alive and well. ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', being the DarkerAndEdgier game, [[spoiler:kills Lucas's mother, Hinawa through a jarring case of DroppedABridgeOnHim. Not only was Hinawa a great mother, but Flint, the father, falls into a pit of grief-driven insanity and becomes neglectful and distant towards Lucas after her death.]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheWitchsThrone'', Agni's mom dies off-screen, in-between the prologue and the first chapter. [[Main/GoodParents And she was really nice too.]]