History Main / MysteriousParent

** Eren's father Grisha vanished after the fall of Shinganshina. [[spoiler:It is revealed that Grisha was the Attack Titan, who massacred the Reiss Family and stole the Founding Titan. He then titanized Eren and fed himself to his son to transfer the Attack and Founding Titans to him. It is further revealed that Grisha was originally from [[TechnologicallAdvancedFoe Marley]], a nation outside the Walls.]]

* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', Historia Reiss's father is a nobleman that had an affair with a servant. [[spoiler: Rod Reiss is actually the ''true'' King of the Walls, ruling from the shadows. After his death, Historia reveals herself to the public and is crowned Queen]].

* In ''VideoGame/DinerDash'' the protagonist's parents are never mentioned, and all the adventures Flo has are with her grandmother. In ''VideoGame/DinerDashAdventures'', their disappearance becomes a plot point when an InterepidReporter wants to cover a story about Flo's mother, and Flo has to solve a series of puzzles her mom left to find her.

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'''s Kay Faraday [[spoiler: took up the thief's lifestyle after finding out that her dead father was the original Yatagarasu. She doesn't find out the [[CollectiveIdentity major twist]] until later.]]

* Chris Hyde is this for Kyle in ''VisualNovel/LastWindow''. The primary objective is to find out about his OneLastJob and how it got him killed.

** Arguably, Pidge and Matt's father, Sam Holt, is also one of these.

Interestingly, [[TruthInTelevision real-life]] relationships can be just as tortuous and surprising as the fictional ones; for a famous example, Creator/JackNicholson learned just days before the premiere of ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'' that his recently deceased "sister" was in fact his natural mother, and that the parents who raised him were in fact his grandparents (similar switches occurred in other people's lives, such as singer Bobby Darrin).

* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': Back in Season 2, it was revealed that [[spoiler: Keith's long-lost mother was part if not full Galra and worked with the Blade of Marmora]]. [[spoiler: In Season 5, it is revealed that her name is Krolia, and eighteen years after giving birth to her son and literally vanishing off the face of the Earth, she is still working with the Blade of Marmora.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': Back in Season 2, it was revealed that [[spoiler: Keith's long-lost mother was part if not full Galra and worked with the Blade of Marmora]]. [[In Season 5, it is revealed that her name is Krolia, and eighteen years after giving birth to her son and literally vanishing off the face of the Earth, she is still working with the Blade of Marmora.]]

* [[spoiler:Morgana]], Roxy's mother, in ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub''.

** [[spoiler: The latest games confirm this. A flashback sequence shows the second generation rival (Silver) talking to his dad, Giovanni.]]

* Tobias, in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', when Elfangor, the Andalite who gave the kids the morphing cube, is revealed to be his father.

* In the ''WhateleyUniverse'', She-Beast is now known to be the daughter of the notorious supervillain Dr. Diabolik. And she has a pretty darn good idea about her mother. It's not pretty.

* ''ComicBook/{{Shutter}}'': Kate's father Christopher is a mystery, with his many deals and war orphans.

* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' takes Ash's father and his status of this in canon up to 11. Not only does Ash realize the memories of him have become so hazy he can't even remember anything about him, but [[spoiler: Ash also encounters a number of characters who look like him, culminating in one of these people calling Ash her brother.]] Outside of that, plot occurring outside of Ash's awareness builds the mystery up more and more.

Interestingly, [[TruthInTelevision real-life]] relationships can be just as tortuous and surprising as the fictional ones; for a famous example, JackNicholson learned just days before the premiere of ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'' that his recently deceased "sister" was in fact his natural mother, and that the parents who raised him were in fact his grandparents (similar switches occurred in other people's lives, such as singer Bobby Darrin).

* In the ''HisDarkMaterials'' trilogy, [[spoiler:Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are revealed to be Lyra's parents.]]

* Bootstrap Bill Turner in ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', who manages to be vital to the plot of the first movie without actually appearing in it.

* In ''{{Drowtales}}'' [[spoiler:Mel'arnach turns out to be the "father" of Kalki, with Snadhya'rune as the mother.]] Made possible with the Jaal'darya clan's OrganicTechnology / BioAugmentation.

* In [[http://thewretchedoneswebcomic.com The Wretched Ones,]] Charlie and Kazuko's father disappeared right before Kazuko was born. His fate is unknown.

** Also Negi's mother [[spoiler: Arika]]. {{Justified|Trope}} in that she was unjustly accused of a crime, and they didn't want Negi going off half-cocked to defend her reputation, so they didn't tell him about her at all.

* [[spoiler:Suzuhara Shuuko]] in ''KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'' [[spoiler:is Misaki's long-gone mother, "busy with work" and defending her title as Angelic Layer champion.]] This is a spoiler for the manga, but is revealed early in the anime.

* Maka's mother in Manga/SoulEater is quite possibly being setup as something like this. Reportedly very skilled as a meister, former partner (and ex-wife) of the current Death Scythe, yet she has not turned up in any capacity - or had any significant references made - in the manga while Shibusen was dealing with Asura. The anime's Gecko Ending had her send Maka encouraging postcards from her trips around the world...rather than doing anything practical for her daughter or colleagues who were trying to prevent the end of the world. Maka idolises her mother, and from ''her'' comments about the woman she is clearly trying to emulate her as a successful, strong scythe meister.

* [[spoiler:The Evil Queen]] of ''TheTenthKingdom.''

* Shun's father from ''GateKeepers''.