History Main / ResentfulGuardian

* The movie ''DespicableMe'' plays with this trope. A classic EvilOverlord adopts 3 children as part of one of his schemes to defeat his archnemesis. The conflict between his schemes and raising the children defines the movie.

* In ''Manga/ParadiseKiss'', George's HotMom Yukino complains that George's birth ended her modeling career.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'': Clay Puppington AND his father. The former actively sees family as a curse and the latter never even wanted children to begin with and was forever embittered towards Clay after [[spoiler:he caused his mother to die of a heart attack]].

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* The movie ''DespicableMe'' plays with this trope. A classic Evil Overlord adopts 3 children as part of one of his schemes to defeat his archnemesis. The conflict between his schemes and raising the children defines the movie.

* [[Manga/OnePiece Nico Robin's]] aunt, Roji, was not at all pleased about taking in her niece, who was the daughter of her husband's sister Olvia, excluding her from family outings and forcing her to do chores. Robin's uncle seemed to care about her more, but it's unclear how much he tried to offset or prevent his wife's mistreating Robin, if at all.
* [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]]. As far as he sees it, if Shinji had never been born, his wife probably wouldn't have [[spoiler:basically committed suicide in order to become a component of a HumongousMecha so that Shinji could interface with it]]. It still doesn't justify the utter ''Hell'' that he put Shinji and others through, [[spoiler: and Gendo himself acknowledges it at the end of his life.]]

* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' has many examples, mostly pertaining to [[TheChewToy Sato]][[CheerfulChild ko]] When her parents die, she's forced into her aunt and uncle's household, which causes them both to resent her and abuse her. The aunt loves to whip her and call her names while the uncle forces her to be his slave and go out and buy alcohol for his buddies.
** Whenever [[{{Yandere}} Shion]] is asked by her love interest to take care of Satoko, she does not do so because she hates her for taking up all of his time and interests. She later [[spoiler:brutally murders her by stabbing her to death on a cross and then later regrets it.]]

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* The Dursleys of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' are like this to Mrs. Dursley's nephew Harry acting with nothing but fear that revelation of what he is could ruin their quiet little Middle England life.

-->--'''Ollie''', one of the ''least'' resentful examples, ''Jersey Girl''

-->--'''Otto Heckel''', ''{{Anime/Monster}}''

* Ollie from KevinSmith's ''JerseyGirl'' ended up as a single father when his wife died in childbirth, he then lost his job when screwing up at work from the overloaded stress soon after. He then spends seven years working as a manual laborer, living at his dad's place, raising his daughter pretty damn well in fact but then he gets to thinking he wants his old public relations job back. Cue struggle to convince his family, cue arguments with daughter who doesn't want to move, cue page quote (wow!), cue moment where, after meeting with incidental stranger (who in this case is WillSmith, not played by, ''is'' WillSmith) realizes he should run back and attend his daughter's musical performance instead of going to his job interview.

[[AC: WebOriginal]]

* Rorshach's mother in ''{{Watchmen}}''. "I should have had that abortion!"

** Lucy's caretakers at the orphanage are resentful of the fact that they have to take care of a sick child.

** Dumbledore is an even greater example, according to back story in the final book. His parents died right around the time he graduated from Hogwarts, and despite being a prodigy he was forced to stay home to raise his younger brother Aberforth and sister Ariana. ItGotWorse when [[PuttingOnTheReich Gellert Grindelwald]] came into the picture...

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', Lightning starts off as this towards Hope Estheim, but she eventually [[CharacterDevelopment evolves]] into an effective ParentalSubstitute.
** Though in all fairness, Odin really helps this along.

* Ingrid of ''WhiteOleander'' is brutally frank with her daughter Astrid about feeling this in their final confrontation. "...clinging to me like a spider..." is a quote that references toddler Astrid, and sums up the overall feel of the rant.

* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' has [[TheWoobie Mayu]]. Her own mother is a CompleteMonster who slaps her in the face when Mayu tells her about her stepfather [[spoiler:molesting her.]] Her own mother only sees her as competition.

* Squee's father in ''JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' and ''ComicBook/{{Squee}}''. Probably his mom, too, though it's implied her neglectful parentiong is more because she's a drunk and a drug addict than anything.

* Good Lord, [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]]. To be absolutely fair to the guy, if Shinji had never been born, his wife probably wouldn't have [[spoiler:basically committed suicide in order to become a component of a HumongousMecha so that Shinji could interface with it]]. It still doesn't justify the utter ''Hell'' that he put Shinji and others through, [[spoiler: and Gendo himself acknowledges it at the end of his life.]]

* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' has [[Woobie Mayu]]. Her own mother is a CompleteMonster who slaps her in the face when Mayu tells her about her stepfather [[spoiler:molesting her.]] Her own mother only sees her as competition.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'': Clay Puppington AND his father. No explanation necessary.

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* The main characters' aunt from ''GraveOfTheFireflies''.
* In ParadiseKiss , George's HotMom Yukino complains that George's birth ended her modeling career.
* [[OnePiece Nico Robin's]] aunt, Roji, was not at all pleased about taking in her niece, who was the daughter of her husband's sister Olvia, excluding her from family outings and forcing her to do chores. Robin's uncle seemed to care about her more, but it's unclear how much he tried to offset or prevent his wife's mistreating Robin, if at all.
* Good Lord, [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]]. To be absolutely fair to the guy, if Shinji had never been born, his wife probably wouldn't have [[spoiler:basically committed suicide in order to become a component of a HumongousMecha so that Shinji could interface with it]]. It still doesn't justify the utter ''Hell'' that he put Shinji and others through, [[spoiler: and Gendo himself acknowledges it at the end of his life.]]
* ''{{Anime/Monster}}'' has ConMan Otto Heckel being ordered by Tenma to be with Dieter, [[TheChewToy much to his dismay]].
* ''{{Anime/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi}}'' has many examples, mostly pertaining to [[Satoko TheChewToy Cheerful Child]] When her parents die, she's forced into her aunt and uncle's household, which causes them both to resent her and abuse her. The aunt loves to whip her and call her names while the uncle forces her to be his slave and go out and buy alcohol for his buddies.
* Whenever [[Shion Sonozaki Yandere]] is asked by her love interest to take care of Satoko, she does not do so because she hates her for taking up all of his time and interests. She later [[spoiler:brutally murders her by stabbing her to death on a cross and then later regrets it.]]
* ''{{Anime/Elfen Lied}}'' has the [[Woobie]] Mayu. Her own mother is a [[Complete Monster]] who slaps her in the face when Mayu tells her about her stepfather [[spoiler:molesting her.]] Her own mother only sees her as competition.
* Lucy's caretakers at the orphanage are resentful of the fact that they have to take care of a sick child.

* The Dursleys of ''HarryPotter'' are like this to Mrs. Dursley's nephew Harry acting with nothing but fear that revelation of what he is could ruin their quiet little Middle England life.

* In the first book of ''TheBartimaeusTrilogy'' Dr. Underwood resents having to put up with an apprentice, although apparently every magician is expected to do the same to ensure the production of new competent magicians. His instruction technique mostly consisted of shoving him in a room with a lot of books and telling him to get on with it. His apprentice Nathaniel resents him in turn for being a failure as a teacher, magician, and parental substitute, and considers private study more useful than his infrequent and glacial-paced lessons.

* In FinalFantasyXIII, Lightning starts off as this towards Hope Estheim, but she eventually [[CharacterDevelopment evolves]] into an effective ParentalSubstitute.

* ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'': Rosa Ushiromiya. [[MemeticMutation BEST]] [[AbusiveParents MOM]] [[SarcasmMode EVER]].

* Lifelong [[ReallyGetsAround sexual hedonist]] Charisma of ''PennyAndAggie'' had Marshall unexpectedly as a teenager. Although she sees more than adequately to his material and educational needs, even paying for private school, she views him as an obstacle "put on this earth to slow me down." Some time after Nick, the first man she truly loves, overhears this outburst, he asks her to look him in the eye and assure him she didn't really mean that. She can't.

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', Rose and her mother hold up a passive-aggressive oneupmanship contest with each other. Rose sees her mother as being resentful in nature, and her somewhat quirky personality as hateful. May or may not be a huge misunderstanding on her part.

* ''FamilyGuy'': Lois Griffin has been shown to have feelings of contempt towards her oldest daughter Meg for being unable to have an abortion and therefore getting disqualified from participating in the Olympics. Instead she is now stuck raising her.

* ''Moral Orel'': Clay Puppington AND his father. No explanation necessary.

* Good lord, [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]]. To be absolutely fair to the guy, if Shinji had never been born, his wife probably wouldn't have [[spoiler:basically committed suicide in order to become a component of a HumongousMecha so that Shinji could interface with it]]. It still doesn't justify the utter ''Hell'' that he put Shinji and others through, [[spoiler: and Gendo himself acknowledges it at the end of his life.]]

* In ParadiseKiss , George's mother complains that George's birth ended her modeling career.

** For Mrs. Dursley, this resentment is based partly on the fact that her sister was a witch and got to go to Hogwarts and she didn't, which she attempts to mask and compensate for through excessive middle-class snobbery. Again, no excuse for keeping an innocent child in a cupboard for a good part of his early life.
** Dumbledore is an even greater example, according to back story in the final book. His parents died right around the time he graduated from Hogwarts, and despite being a prodigy he was forced to stay home to raise his younger brother and sister. ItGotWorse when [[PuttingOnTheReich Gellert Grindelwald]] came into the picture...

** Well, sometimes she's [[ResentfulGuardian this]] and sometimes she actually ''is'' the [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome BEST]] [[MamaBear MOM]] [[LastStand EVER]].

** Lois has actually made it clear in several episodes that she never wanted 'any' of her children, even claiming that she attempted to miscarry Chris before she chickened out half way.