History Main / EvilOrphanageLady

Interestingly, this character is almost AlwaysFemale, usually an OldMaid who has become old, overweight or otherwise physically unattractive, and the failure to gain a family of her own often explains why she has become such a terrible person. Or, the fact that she is a terrible person explains why she never had her own family in a Chicken-Or-Egg scenario.

* "Mama" from ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'' is a kind woman who acts nothing like this... Until it turns out that [[FirstEpisodeTwist she is selling the children under her care to demons to protect herself]], and using psychological mind games to root out anyone who could try to escape.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', Honorhall Orphanage in Riften is run by a terrible old woman called Grelod [[IronicNickname the Kind]]. She constantly gives speeches to the kids about how worthless they are and that they won't be adopted, ever. The kids themselves tell you that beatings are frequent and snooping around the building reveals that there is a cell with shackles on the wall. The kind normally seen in prisons. Grelod also starves the children by giving them only ''one'' meal a day in the afternoon. ''She even keeps them from being adopted'' -- she's that much of a power-hungry ControlFreak. It's so bad, that one of the kids escaped and tried to recruit [[MurderInc The Dark Brotherhood]] to kill Grelod. [[spoiler:You can pretend to be from the Brotherhood and kill Grelod yourself (notably, [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing you can do this openly and suffer no consequences for it]]). The children will ''cheer'' and praise the Dark Brotherhood. Needless to say, the Dark Brotherhood is not happy about this.]]

* The Stump in ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'' is a subversion. She takes in children whom their parents can no longer look after, often because of injury, but she does so grudgingly because most of them are faking their injuries for free food. [[spoiler:They're not. She's a latent Knight Radiant, and she's unconsciously been using her Truthwatcher abilities to heal the children]].

* The made-for-TV movie ''Samantha: An American Girl Holiday'' makes the head of Coldrock House into even more of this than in [[Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection the book]], with Miss Frouchy completely separating Nellie from her sisters, stealing money intended to help the girls in the orphanage, and blaming Samantha and Nellie for the theft when she realizes Nellie is missing. Unlike in the book, she does get her comeuppance at the end; she gets fired right before Christmas.

* Miss Pritchard's orphanage in a ''[[ComicBook/TheFlash Max Mercury]]'' story set in 1910s New York. Mrs P hates children, but gets money from the city to raise them. She ''also'' gets a cut from child-hating toymaker Archimedes Schott, for supplying him with cheap labour. And then she takes the kids' wages as well. When Schott tells her he's going to burn down his factory, because Max has pressurised him into giving the kids more rights, she decides to send them to work that day anyway. (And yes, Archimedes looks a lot like his presumed descendent, Winslow.)

* Miss Hattie from ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' runs a miserable orphanage where the children are forced to sell cookies but she keeps all the profits. If they don't sell enough they have to sit in a "box of shame".

In any good OrphanageOfFear or BoardingSchoolOfHorrors, especially one for girls, there will probably a wicked governess or headmistress who delights in frightening and tormenting the children under her care. Under her, meals are small and usually served cold, mattresses are hard, and punishments are severe.

[[caption-width-right:350: Bitch.]]

* "Mama" from ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'' is a kind woman who acts nothing like this... Until it turns out that [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler she is selling the children under her care to demons to protect herself]], and using psychological mind games to root out anyone who could try to escape.

->''"The headmistress is an evil, cruel woman. They call her Grelod [[IronicNickname the Kind]]. But she's not kind. She's terrible -- to all of us!"''

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* Miss Hannigan from {{Film/Annie 1982}} neglects the children in her care.

* In the ''[[Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection American Girl]]'' book ''Changes for Samantha'', Samantha's best friend Nellie and her two younger sisters are sent to an orphanage called Coldrock House after their parents die and their uncle abandons them. Miss Frouchy, the woman who runs Coldrock House, is harsh and cruel to the girls, to the point where it's stated that Samantha's Uncle Gard has to pretend to be quizzing the younger girls on math in order to talk with them, and Nellie and Samantha have to meet in secret. It comes to a head when she tries to send Nellie on the Orphan Train without her sisters, leading to Samantha helping the girls run away and hiding them in the attic until she is caught.

[[folder:Theater]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Ms. Ricca in ''WebVideo/LaGolda'' runs her orphanage very strictly, forbidding the children to watch [=TV=] or have pets, under penalty of eviction if they do.

* ''Literature/ThursdaysChild'', by Noel Streatfeild. St. Luke's Orphanage is run by "Matron" who steals from the children to enrich herself, and is physically abusive. After she leaves, it becomes an Orphanage of Love, due to the influence of Lady Corkberry.

* [[Fanfic/BloodSexSugarMagic IllMa]][[Fanfic/SoonIShallBeIndestructible deKnight]] has a recurring character in their ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfics called "Ms. Ikari" who is infamous across the author's personal [[TheMultiverse Multiverse]] as this trope UpToEleven. One such version is the BigBad of the {{Crossover}} between BSSM, SISBI, and various others.

* [[Fanfic/BloodSexSugarMagic IllMa]][[Fanfic/SoonIShallBeIndestructable deKnight]] has a recurring character in their ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfics called "Ms. Ikari" who is infamous across the author's personal [[TheMultiverse Multiverse]] as this trope UpToEleven. One such version is the BigBad of the {{Crossover}} between BSSM, SISBI, and various others.

* ''Fanfiction/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse:'' Lemonhearts. [[spoiler:She runs her orphanage as a Discordian farming operation. When any of her charges start showing signs of being a Discordian, she removes the chaos magic from them to feed herself, leaving the victim as an EmptyShell.]]

->"The headmistress is an evil, cruel woman. They call her Grelod the Kind. But she's not kind. She's terrible -- to all of us!"

* Ms. Mavilda from ''WesternAnimation/TheChristmasTree'' is a corrupt orphanage owner who spends all her profits on gambling rather than to help the orphans.

* Miss Hannigan from {{Film/Annie1982}} neglects the children in her care.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', Honorhall Orphanage in Riften is run by a terrible old woman called Grelod the Kind. She constantly gives speeches to the kids about how worthless they are and that they wont be adopted, ever. The kids themselves tell you that beatings are frequent and snooping around the building reveals that there is a cell with shackles on the wall. The kind normally seen in prisons. Grelod also starves the children by giving them only ''one'' meal a day in the afternoon. ''She even keeps them from being adopted'' -- she's that much of a power-hungry ControlFreak. It's so bad, that one of the kids escaped and tried to recruit [[MurderInc The Dark Brotherhood]] to kill Grelod. [[spoiler:You can pretend to be from the Brotherhood and kill Grelod yourself (notably, [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing you can do this openly and suffer no consequences for it]]). The children will ''cheer'' and praise the Dark Brotherhood. Needless to say, the Dark Brotherhood is not happy about this.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/AceAttorneyInvestigations Ace Attorney Investigations 2]]'' has an interesting example. [[spoiler: Patricia Roland has all the hallmarks of this trope, but she's actually a prison warden. It's not until the 5th case that you find out she ''used'' to be one: she ran an OrphanageOfFear and was an accomplice to the assassination of a foreign president. The "abuses a specific child" part of the trope is played straight towards Simon Keyes, but for a very specific reason: he witnessed the murder.]]

->"The headmistress is an evil, cruel woman. They call her [[IronicNickname Grelod the Kind]]. But she's not kind. She's terrible -- to all of us!"
-->-- '''Aventus Aretino''', ''TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''