History Main / ResentfulGuardian

** Makoto Niijima's older sister Sae was PromotedToParent after their father's death. While Sae ''does'' love Makoto, she also views her as a burden and tells her as such in a fit of anger, something she [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone immediately regrets]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'''s parents hold this view of their son - his father was the victim of a ShotgunWedding, while his mother hates Bojack for saddling her with his father. However, after reading Bojack's tell-all biography, his mother eventually calls him up to apologize for her treatment of him as well as the fact that he basically inherited his parents' natural affinity for misery. Furthermore, we find out [[spoiler:Beatrice's and Butterscotch's {{Freudian Excuse}}s ]]in Season 4.

At an extreme end, the resentment may build up to loathsome levels. They may or may not go the full hog into AbusiveParents but it will be obvious to those around them that it will lead to some level of neglect. Here then, the focus is more on the child trying to get some happiness away from their parent. If the child was adopted by the guardian, an AdoptionDiss, up to and including saying that adopting them was a mistake, is a common insult for them to subject to the child to.

* ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'': Part of main character Haruyuki Arita's emotional trauma is the fact that neither of his parents seemed particularly interested in having him in the first place. During their divorce, he accidentally eavesdropped on them arguming about custody, with each trying to force the other to take him. His mother (who does have custody) rarely interacts with him beyond the bare minimum of transferring him money, often leaving him alone for weeks at a time while she travels to China on her nursing career.
* ''Anime/DotHackSign'': Morgana [=ModeGone=] becomes this for Aura, the gestating AI she was created to nurture and protect while administrating The World. Morgana came to realize that, once Aura awakened and assumed her role as Goddess of the World, Morgana would have no purpose left and her program would end. To that end she sought to keep Aura locked in stasis. Of course once the anime ends and Aura awakens, Morgana becomes a far mode antagonistic presence in the subsequent game series.

* In ''Anime/AceAttorney'', an anime-exclusive episode in the second season "Hear the Waves of Turnabout" expands on Maya's backstory in a flashback, and confirms her aunt Morgan to be this trope to her. When Maya took Morgan's daughter Pearl to the beach, Morgan berated Maya for what she had done, proceeded to badmouth Mia and Misty for leaving the village and said Pearl was a better choice for successor to the Master position than Maya, who Morgan says only was chosen by virtue of being Misty's daughter.

* ''Film/RaisingHelen'' is about a woman named Helen who receives guardianship of her recently deceased sister's three kids, but as it turns out she's the one who ends up growing up in the end (hence the [[ChildrenRaiseYou inversion]] in the title). She's got a high flying job at a modeling agency, a cool pad in Manhattan and is contractually obliged to party at 3 am in the morning. Next thing we know, she's moved to Queens, is handling school runs and is sleeping with a Lutheran minister to get them into a good school (note, cause and effect may not be as stated).

* The short documentary ''[[HollywoodAutism Autism]] Every Day'', produced by Autism Speaks, has footage of misbehaving autistic children and their parents talking about how terrible their lives are with their autistic children. There is so much said about autistic children making life difficult for the parents that it is hard to come up with a standout quote to put here. One thing especially notable about this piece, though, is the mother who says that she was sitting in a car for 15 minutes and had contemplated driving off a bridge, [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]] [[OffingTheOffspring and her autistic daughter]], but didn't because she had a non-autistic child, and said it with barely any significant emotion. In the clip you can see her seven-year-old autistic daughter [[RightBehindMe in the background]], and if you pay attention you can see that the girl's movements correspond to the mother's words in such a way that you know she understands what's being said (about as well as any seven-year-old would). Even more notable in that apparently nobody called CPS on her, and she left Autism Speaks after this.

** Albus Dumbledore is in a different way an example, according to backstory in the final book. The youngest Dumbledore child, Ariana, was left permanently traumatized after being assaulted by three Muggle children who saw her perform magic at a very young age, and had to be looked after, first by her mother Kendra (her father Percival was put in Azkaban for attacking the Muggles with magic), and later by Albus younger brother Aberforth after Kendra was killed by an accidental burst of magic by Ariana. Then, [[PuttingOnTheReich Gellert Grindelwald]] came into the picture... [[spoiler: Ariana was killed in the crossfire of a duel between Albus, Aberforth and Grindewald, and up until his death, it is the single greatest regret in Albus life, to the point that it affects both what he sees in the Mirror Of Erised and what the appearance of a Boggart takes]]

*** The inconsistencies about Regina's resentment could be a case of CharacterizationMarchesOn: the first season portrays Regina as both manipulative and a ResentfulGuardian, but she's seen mainly from the point of view of her son's bio mom. The second season denies her resentment/neglect, and uses the aforementioned flashbacks to [[spoiler: her murder and kidnapping attempt]] to illustrate her desperate and insane desire for a child, casting her instead as LoveHungry. It helps that Regina's neglect was always relatively easy to HandWave: she knows where Henry is at all times (that's a plot point as early as episode 1x02), pushes him hard to succeed, her first impulse after a nightmare in 1x20 is to go check on him and in the pilot, she can succesfully pass for a loving, if outwardly cold mother in the eyes of a trained investigator.

** A new target in the third semester of ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' is Nao Minamoto, a young man who had to drop out of school to care for his younger sister, injured her by accident and has become suicidal. After you defeat his Shadow in Mementos, he admits that while he resents having to look after his sister, he also sincerely loves her. Makoto realizes that he remind her of Sae in some ways.

* In ''Webcomic/{{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.

* James' aunts from ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach''. After his parents were killed in a rhino attack, the poor boy is forced to live with hateful, abusive aunts, who constantly [[WouldHurtAChild beat him]], [[CinderellaCircumstances make him do all the chores]], and threaten to kill him. The film version makes them worse in that, once finally called out in public, they [[MoralEventHorizon try to axe him in front of New York City]].

* ''Anime/DotHackSign'': Morgana ModeGone becomes this for Aura, the gestating AI she was created to nurture and protect while administrating The World. Morgana came to realize that, once Aura awakened and assumed her role as Goddess of the World, Morgana would have no purpose left and her program would end. To that end she sought to keep Aura locked in stasis. Of course once the anime ends and Aura awakens, Morgana becomes a far mode antagonistic presence in the subsequent game series.

** In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Justice For All]]'', Mia implies that her aunt Morgan was unhappy about raising Mia's sister Maya after Mia and Maya's mother Misty disappeared after the fallout over the DL-6 incidenet. [[spoiler:It turns out that Morgan loathes Misty and her daughters, and wants her own daughter Pearl to become the next Master of Kurain.]]

* Ryuko in ''Secret Sunshine'' is something of an odd case, as her resentment isn't towards her niece, Kiko, but, instead, is towards Satsuki, her sister, as, the latter sent her and Kiko away, leaving Ryuko to raise said niece, while, Satsuki continues life as normal. Nevertheless, while she loves her niece, Ryuko views the situation as unfair but mostly because of how it'll affect Kiko, as "Kiko got the shortest end of the stick". This gets further amplified when Satsuki turns up pregnant again.

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* The main characters' aunt from ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies''. Then again, considering the time and setting, it's understandable.

*** The inconsistancies about Regina's resentment could be a case of CharacterizationMarchesOn: the first season portrays Regina as both manipulative and a ResentfulGuardian, but she's seen mainly from the point of view of her son's bio mom. The second season denies her resentment/neglect, and uses the aforementioned flashbacks to [[spoiler: her murder and kidnapping attempt]] to illustrate her desperate and insane desire for a child, casting her instead as LoveHungry. It helps that Regina's neglect was always relatively easy to HandWave: she knows where Henry is at all times (that's a plot point as early as episode 1x02), pushes him hard to succeed, her first impulse after a nightmare in 1x20 is to go check on him and in the pilot, she can succesfully pass for a loving, if outwardly cold mother in the eyes of a trained investigator.

* In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Trials and Tribulations]]'', [[spoiler:Dahlia Hawthorne]] suggests this was the case with her father, saying that it was easy to convince him to get rid of one of his three daughters because fewer children meant more money. Given [[TheSociopath her character]], it's unclear how accurate this is.

* A one-shot opponent in ''Anime/AngelicLayer'' was a girl named Maria. Her childhood mostly consisted of having to take care of her sick younger brother, leaving her too busy to go outside and play with the other kids. As a result, [[CompanionCube her only "friend" was her Angel, Tsubaki]]. While she did resent this, she still cared about her brother, and a YouAreNotAlone speech from Misaki [[DefeatMeansFriendship during their match]] was all she needed to make her into a more cheerful person.

* A one-shot opponent in ''Anime/KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'' was a girl named Maria. Her childhood mostly consisted of having to take care of her sick younger brother, leaving her too busy to go outside and play with the other kids. As a result, [[CompanionCube her only "friend" was her Angel, Tsubaki]]. While she did resent this, she still cared about her brother, and a YouAreNotAlone speech from Misaki [[DefeatMeansFriendship during their match]] was all she needed to make her into a more cheerful person.

* In ''FanFic/BackToUs'', Adrien is sent to Milan after his father's death and exposure as the supervillain Hawk Moth, to live with his mother's sister and her family in Milan. While they treated him well, Adrien eventually found out that they didn't care about him and were only afraid that he'd turn out like his father (not understanding how the Miraculous worked).

** In "The Survivor," Jack [[AbusiveParents verbally abuses his daughter Claire]], among other things blaming Emily's [[OneNightStandPregnancy out of wedlock pregnancy]] for causing his loveless marriage — often telling his daughter he wishes she had never been born.
** In the same story, Emily's father [[AbusiveParents verbally and physically abuses his daughter]], [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild blaming her]] for his wife's DeathByChildbirth.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Two examples in "The Survivor."
** Jack [[AbusiveParents verbally abuses his daughter Claire]], among other things blaming Emily's [[OneNightStandPregnancy out of wedlock pregnancy]] for causing his loveless marriage — often telling his daughter he wishes she had never been born.
** Emily's father [[AbusiveParents verbally and physically abuses his daughter]], [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild blaming her]] for his wife's DeathByChildbirth.

* The whole plot of ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' is built on this trope. Lady Tremaine and her two biological daughters hate Cinderella because of her kindness and beauty, and following her father's death, they abuse her to no end, treating her as nothing more than a scullery maid. When she finally asks a favor from them (to go to the ball), they just rip her dress up after abusing ExactWords. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' made them [[CainAndAbel much crueler]].

** Regina wanted a child. Wanted one badly enough to [[spoiler: kill one man and try to ''take'' his kid. The kid narrowly escaped]]. Then she gets Henry, but WantingIsBetterThanHaving, and when children grow up, they aren't so helpless and dependent. She chronically neglected him, use {{Gaslighting}} to try and get him to ignore the town's weirdness, drug him to a shrink to try and keep him in line, and resented him for ''growing up.''

Compare MaternalDeathBlameTheChild, where the guardian (usually a father) resents the child because [[DeathByChildbirth the mother had died giving birth to said child]] or for reasons otherwise.

At an extreme end, the resentment may build up to loathsome levels. They may or may not go the full hog into AbusiveParents but it will be obvious to those around them that it will lead to some level of neglect. Here then, the focus is more on the child trying to get some happiness away from their parent. If the child was adopted by the guardian, an AdoptionDiss, up to an including saying that adopting them was a mistake, is a common insult for them to subject to the child to.

** Kyoko's father resented his daughter for her delinquent lifestyle, which eventually lead to him disowning her. He's called out on this by Katsuya, who points out that one shouldn't drop parenthood the moment it becomes inconvenient. Inverted when Kyoko gets pregnant and fears that her child may end up so miserable that it would resent ''her''.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Storks}}'': With her beacon destroyed, the storks were forced to raise Tulip. Hunter makes it clear that he views her as a burden to the company and wants her fired on her 18th birthday, because that's the earliest they can legally get away with it.

** Albus Dumbledore is in a different way an example, according to back story in the final book. The youngest Dumbledore child, Ariana, was left permanently traumatized after being assaulted by three Muggle children who saw her perform magic at a very young age, and had to be looked after, first by her mother Kendra (her father Percival was put in Azkaban for attacking the Muggles with magic), and later by Albus younger brother Aberforth after Kendra was killed by an accidental burst of magic by Ariana. Then, [[PuttingOnTheReich Gellert Grindelwald]] came into the picture... [[spoiler: Ariana was killed in the crossfire of a duel between Albus, Aberforth and Grindewald, and up until his death, it is the single greatest regret in Albus life, to the point that it affects both what he sees in the Mirror Of Erised and what the appearance of a Boggart takes]]
*** This is an interesting example of this guardianship being '''self-inflicted.''' Aberforth volunteered to look after Ariana but Albus ''insisted'' he take over the job of caring for the girl so Aberforth could finish his study at Hogwarts. Albus was more angry about feeling his potential being squandered, but he also cared for his younger sibilings and thus wanted Aberforth to finish Hogwarts.

* Before the start of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', [[ShapeShifter Hoole]] took in two orphans from Alderaan, Tash and Zak, out of a feeling of obligation - he's technically their uncle, since [[ShapeshiftingLover his brother and their aunt were married]] - and [[spoiler: [[TheAtoner to assuage feelings of guilt for a world]] ''he'' [[ReluctantMadScientist helped destroy]]]]. Since he's very aloof and uncommunicative early in the series he leaves most interaction with them to his [[RobotBuddy research assistant DV-9]], who was built for far more complicated and intellectual tasks than babysitting and giving lessons to twelve-and-thirteen year olds, and lets them know this regularly. All the same, both do care for their charges, and come to lose their resentment over time.

** Even before that, Light's relationship with her younger sister after a PromotionToParent for Serah seems to be a mix of a sisterly version of OverprotectiveDad, CoolBigSis and this trope, at least earlier in the story.

** Natsuhi Ushiromiya certainly felt this way about the adopted child she had been given from her fathr-in-law-Kinzo's orphanage, since she felt that being given the child due to being [[LawOfInverseFertility unable to have her own]] was an insult to her womanhood. As a result she [[spoiler:had the child and the servant carrying it pushed off a cliff, which directly led to the creation of the story's BigBad]].
** Eva ends up becoming this to her niece Ange after Eva is the SoleSurvivor of the Rokkenjima massacre and takes up custody of Ange, who wasn't on the island at the time the killings took place, and made no secret of the fact that she wished Ange was her own son George, who had been killed. Later played with when it turns out [[spoiler:Eva was protecting Ange from the AwfulTruth of Rokkenjima, which was that Ange's mother and father were the true culprits behind it. After giving up on having an healthy relationship with Ange, Eva decided to save her from hating her own parents... [[SilentScapegoat by directing all of Ange's hate on herself]].]]
* Lady Carmosa in ''{{VisualNovel/Cinders}}'' acts like this to her step daughter to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the choices of the player.

* Lifelong [[ReallyGetsAround sexual hedonist]] Charisma of ''Webcomic/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 ''WebComic/{{Drowtales}}'', Syphile hates that she was saddled with the infant Ariel in order to "prove herself" after earning the ire of her adopted mother Quain'tana for getting [[RedEyesTakeWarning tainted]]. Syphile wasn't up to the task and did the bare minimum to raise Ariel when not being outright abusive to her, to the point that when then-10-years-old Ariel was asked what she wanted most in the world, she unsurprisingly answered "kill Syphile."
* Non-parental example: In ''WebComic/StandStillStaySilent'' Sigrun is not happy at all when she finds out that the civilian who hid in one of the expedition's food supply crates is going to have to stay with her crew until the end of their mission. When her employer suggests fiding a way to make him useful, her first thought is "[[PlagueZombie Troll]] decoy". She gets better about it within two days, as when a troll actually attacks the non-immune civilian, she shields him with her arm. Being TheImmune makes the bite much less of a life risk for Sigrun, but the resulting wound is still quite nasty. Also, as she is getting the wound treated, she notices that the whole thing being such a close call has caused the TerrifiedOfGerms civilian to think he may have been infected anyway and makes sure to have TheMedic reassure him on the subject.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Lois Griffin has been shown to have feelings of contempt towards her oldest daughter Meg for being unable to have an abortion. Instead she is now stuck raising her.
** 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.

* ''SilentHillDownpour'' has [[https://silenthill.fandom.com/wiki/Ribbons a sidequest]] where you follow the route taken by an autistic eight-year-old girl to go home from school, following different-colored ribbons left by her mother. They end at a pier where the girl drowned. A confession note states that the girl's mother ''deliberately'' led her daughter to her death, getting rid of her so as to be able to live her own life.

* Ryuko in ''Secret Sunshine'' is something of an odd case, as her resentment isn't towards her niece, Kiko, but, instead, is towards Satsuki, her sister, as, the latter sent her and Kiko away, leaving Ryuko to raise said niece, while, Satsuki continues life as normal. Nevertheless, while she loves her niece, Ryuko views the situation as unfair but mostly because of how it'll affect Kiko, as "Kiko got the shortest end of the stick".

* Toki was this to Jaynine and Sunflower, which is weird, considering that she volunteered to take them after they managed to track her down (they were in a children's home, prior). Apparently, why she took them in boiled down to, "her conscience wouldn't let hear the end of it".
** Bunny is this to Madgie, however, there is the fact that the latter is a wanted fugitive and has been so since she was six, so it's a given.

You might be a decent kid. A [[ChildProdigy prodigy]] even. But that doesn't matter to the one that raised you. You stripped her of her goals in life. Whether or not that belief they hold has any factual basis doesn't matter, for your caregiver has become the Resentful Guardian. They may feel love and protection towards the child but they will have one eye on the past and what they could have been. They'll make attempts to get some of that old life back and it will end up with some neglect of the child; could lead to a case of IHaveNoSon entirely.

** Albus Dumbledore is in a different way an example, according to back story in the final book. The youngest Dumbledore child, Aria, was left permanently traumatized after being assaulted by three Muggle children who saw her perform magic at a very young age, and had to be looked after, first by her mother Kendra (her father Percival was put in Azkaban for attacking the Muggles with magic), and later by Albus younger brother Aberforth after Kendra was killed by an accidental burst of magic by Ariana. Then, [[PuttingOnTheReich Gellert Grindelwald]] came into the picture... [[spoiler: Ariana was killed in the crossfire of a duel between Albus, Aberforth and Grindewald, and up until his death, it is the single greatest regret in Albus life, to the point that it affects both what he sees in the Mirror Of Erised and what the appearance of a Boggart takes]]