History Main / MaternalDeathBlameTheChild

* Like the books, Tywin Lannister in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' makes no effort to hide the fact that he blames his dwarf son for his wife's DeathByChildbirth.
** Cersei also blames Tyrion for their mother's death, and after Tyrion makes a joke about [[BrotherSisterIncest her hidden relationship with Jaime]] she makes an even crueler taunt that Joanna died for his sake, which should be Tyrion's greatest joke. Jaime is in fact the only one who loves Tyrion unconditionally.

* Could be the case on ''GossipGirl''. Chuck Bass spends the first two seasons believing his father hates him because Mama Bass died giving birth to him. Then season three features a woman who claims to be Chuck's mother and that Bart simply told him she was dead because she ran out on them when Chuck was a baby. Said woman then proceeds to con him out of his hotel and leave town and the show never bothers to make it clear whether or not she was his mother or a con artist who knew the Basses back when Chuck was little. To make matters more confusing, in season two Bart talks to Chuck about his mother and claims he doesn't blame him for her death but has a hard time connecting to his son because he looks so much like the wife Bart lost. Then in season six Bart is pretty much plain evil and hates Chuck for no apparent reason.

* While it's left ambiguous, Tygra of the ''{{WesternAnimation/ThunderCats 2011}}'' series may blame Lion-O for the death of his adoptive mother. Of course her being delicate waif at the time of Lion-O's birth has probably never accord to him.

* In quite possibly the only justified example on this page, ''Series/{{Angel}}'' is particularly furious at season 4 BigBad Jasmine, whose birth put Angel's LoveInterest into a coma. It's justified because Jasmine manipulated/possessed Cordelia to create the conditions so that she could essentially give birth to herself using Cordelia's body.

* While it's left ambiguous, Tygra of the ''{{WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011}}'' series may blame Lion-O for the death of his adoptive mother. Of course her being delicate waif at the time of Lion-O's birth has probably never accord to him.

* While it's left ambiguous, Tygra of the ''WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011'' series may blame Lion-O for the death of his adoptive mother. Of course her being delicate waif at the time of Lion-O's birth has probably never accord to him.

* In the musical of ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', Elphaba is blamed for her mother's death even though she died after giving birth to her younger sister Nessarose. Their father wanted to make sure there were no more green kids in the family, so he made the mother chew milkweed pods. The result was a fair skinned but crippled daughter and the mother died soon afterwards.

* {{Subverted}} in TheBible: Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel, dies in childbirth with her second child, Benjamin. He and Rachel's other son, Joseph, are Jacob's favorite children, and Jacob becomes especially protective of Benjamin after Joseph's "[[DeathFakedForYou death]]."

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'': After Gau's mother died giving birth to him, his father was driven to insanity, thought he was a demon and threw him out into the wild.

Typically, this involves [[AbusiveParents being hated or otherwise ill-treated by their father]]. Other relatives are free to join in, though. Who's actually to blame for the death is completely irrelevant -- there's too many historical cases of DeathByChildbirth caused by doctor screw-ups (and *Streptococcus pneumoniae*), but if this trope is in play the kid's still getting full blame.

Typically, this involves [[AbusiveParents being hated or otherwise ill-treated by their father]]. Other relatives are free to join in, though. Who's actually to blame for the death is completely irrelevant -- there's too many historical cases of DeathByChildbirth caused by doctor screw-ups, but if this trope is in play the kid's still getting full blame.

* Present in some adaptations of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', which explain why young Ebenezer was left at school over the holidays with this trope. [[hottip:*:The existence of Ebenezer's younger sister argues against it, but his father might have remarried.]]

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'''Examples:'''

* In ''Anime/{{Clannad}}'', this is the main reason behind why Tomoya's father has a rough time getting along with him. [[spoiler:In a twist of fate, Tomoya's wife also dies at childbirth and he chose to neglect their newborn daughter for about five years. It wasn't until his grandmother calls him on it that he realizes he's being like his old man.]]
* Borderline example in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''. Guts was discovered as a newborn beneath the corpse of his mother (who had apparently been hanged while pregnant). After the woman who found him dies of a plague, Guts' adopted father blames him, believing him to be cursed. For bonus points, he namechecks the supertrope, YouShouldHaveDiedInstead.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Tywin Lannister loathes his son Tyrion, because Tywin's wife, Joanna (who was pretty much Tywin's MoralityChain) died giving birth to Tyrion. The fact that Tyrion was born with dwarfism and other deformities doesn't help. Tywin only acknowledges Tyrion as his son to the extent necessary under social norms, and openly tells Tyrion that if it wasn't for the love Tywin bore his mother, Tywin would have left him to die at birth.
** This is also a part of Daenerys's backstory, whose mother also died giving birth to her while her mother and brother were on the run from assassins. For that, her narration states, her older brother [[FallenPrincess Viserys]] had never forgiven her, although he continued to care for her until his StartOfDarkness.

* In the prologue to ''[[Literature/ElementalMasters Unnatural Issue]]'', Richard Whitestone's wife dies giving birth to Suzanne. Richard immediately blames Suzanne:
--> No, it was this interloper that had murdered his beloved.
* Invoked in ''Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon'', when the universally beloved Queen Sasha dies giving birth to the rather useless Prince Thomas. Thomas imagines that not only his father, but pretty much everyone in the kingdom is thinking, "We lost your mother, and we got you instead?"

* ''Literature/TheKiteRunner'': Baba blames his son Amir for the death of his wife.

* In quite possibly the only justified example on this page, ''Series/{{Angel}}'' is particularly furious at season 4 BigBad Jasmine, whose birth put Angel's LoveInterest into a coma. It's justified because Jasmine manipulated/possessed Cordelia to create the conditions so that she could essentially give birth to herself using Cordelia's body.
* One episode of ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' has a client hire the Dollhouse to program a mother for his newborn whose actual mother died in childbirth. He blamed the baby and could not give him the love he needed. In a rare subversion, the client knew it was irrational and still wanted the child to be loved which was why he had them program Echo to think she was his mother. By the end of the episode, he's gotten over his issues and takes care of his son on his own.