History Main / ResentfulGuardian

* The movie ''WesternAnimation/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 ''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.

** Emily's father [[AbusiveParents verbally and physically abuses his daughter]], [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild blaming her]] for his wife's DeathByChildbirth in ''The Survivor''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' fan fic ''FanFic/TheSunWillComeUpAndTheSeasonsWillChange'', Mary's mother Dana Summers, over years of being hypervigilant and overly controlling in an effort to keep Mary's autism from "ruining her life", has come to greatly dislike her daughter and see her as a nuisance. It got to the point of creating an entire blog to complain about her daughter. Mary has become aware of this, and Dana's treatment of her, along with seeing ''something'' on her blog that terrified her [[labelnote: click here for spoilers]] The blog entry was about Dana wanting to forcibly sterilize Mary once she turns 18 [[/labelnote]], makes her decide to run away from home in fear, which is how she winds up on the train.

!! Examples:

* ''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.
* The main characters' aunt from ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies''. Then again, considering the time and setting- Japan at the end of World War II- it's understandable.
* In ''Manga/ParadiseKiss'', George's mom Yukino complains that George's birth ended her modeling career.
* ''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.
* Gendo Ikari from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. 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.]]
* ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' has ConMan Otto Heckel being ordered by Tenma to be with Dieter, [[TheChewToy much to his dismay]].
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' has [[TheWoobie Mayu]]. Her own mother slaps her in the face when Mayu tells her about her stepfather [[spoiler:molesting her]]. She only sees Mayu as competition.
** Lucy's caretakers at the orphanage are resentful of the fact that they have to take care of a sick child.

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[BigBad Dr. Hell]]'s mother hated him and regarded him as a burden and a nuisance, and she made her contempt very clear to everyone, including her son. She constantly complained that she never wanted to be a mother and her life would be happier without him. Her daily abuse was one of the factors that drove Hell crazy.

** Rin's parents start off, despite her curse, seeming to be GoodParents during her childhood. However, when she asks them if they're truly happy, [[spoiler: they stop the act and become true AbusiveParents to her, the charade broken.]]

* 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.

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

* In ''{{ComicBook/Violine}}'', Marushka was one to Francois. She later does the same to [[spoiler: Violine, even though she pretends to be her mother]].
* When Franchise/{{Batman}} left the cowl to Azrael he specifically told him he'd be working alongside and helping ComicBook/{{Robin}} (Tim Drake), whom Azrael then tried to kill and kept from accessing any of the equipment in the Batcave because Tim was trying to keep him from turning Batman into a murderer. Then there's Tim's father's bad habit of making comments to this effect which in combination with his neglectful parenting are more convincing than him saying he wants to be a better father and spend more time with Tim (and then [[DaddyDidntShow cancelling on him]]).
* ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' introduced Beast Boy as turning to the Doom Patrol to try and escape Nicholas Galtry, who became his legal guardian after his parents died and consistently plotted to keep Garfield's inheritance to himself in addition to treating the boy like garbage.

** In "The Survivor," Jack [[AbusiveParents verbally abuses his daughter Claire]], among other things blaming Emily's [[OneNightStandPregnancy out of wedlock pregnancy]] for causing his increasingly 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 in "The Survivor."
* Ryuko in "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16306820/chapters/38142062 Secret Sunshine]]" is something of an odd case. Her resentment isn't towards her niece, Kiko, but instead her sister Satsuki, since the latter suddenly showed up one day to dump Ryuko with a baby and zero explanation before leaving to continue her own life as normal, only sending the occasional check for child support. While she loves her niece, Ryuko views the entire situation as unfair; not because of her suddenly diminished freedom, but mostly because "Kiko got the shortest end of the stick". This gets further amplified when Satsuki turns up pregnant again a few years later and tries to make Ryuko agree to take custody again.

* The whole plot of ''WesternAnimation/{{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]].

* ''Film/TheBabadook'' contains shades of this, as [[spoiler: Amelia's husband died en route to the hospital, leaving her to raise a troubled young son on her own]].
* In the film adaptation of ''Literature/BeautifulCreatures'', when Lena asks her mother if she ever loved her, her mother first says she can't remember, then insists that no mother ''really'' ever loves their daughter.
-->"It's not easy you know, pushing another female out of your body, a younger, more perfect version of yourself with every option and no mistakes."
* 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.

* ''Film/AaronLovesAngela'': In a moment of drunken rage, Aaron's father Ike tells him, "I don't know why I should ruin my own life for someone whose own mama didn't want him.… Stop fucking up my life! You know what I could've done without you? How many times I wanted to split? Just get the hell out of here!" After he calms down, he says, "Aaron, I didn't mean what I said. I just have to have someone to hurt sometimes, and you're all I got."

* Coira's nurse and caretaker in ''Literature/WhiteAsSnow'' hates and resents her charge. Ignoring the fact that if Coira did not exist, the nurse would not have a cushy, relatively easy job, but a very labour intensive one in the kitchens or scullery.

** 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]]
*** 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 siblings and thus wanted Aberforth to finish Hogwarts.

* In the first book of ''Literature/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.
* 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.
--> "Zoology lessons. I have the brain capacity of a supercomputer and I'm giving zoology lessons."
* In ''Literature/ForLoveOfEvil'', Parry (who later becomes Satan) is adopted as a baby by a sorcerer who had it forced on him by the Church and lord of the manor. At first, he is this trope (because the sorcerer wanted to sacrifice Parry in a spell), but that changes significantly as Parry grows older.
* 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]], 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 try to axe him in front of New York City.
* In ''[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians The Titan's Curse]]'', some dialog from Nico's big sister Bianca implies that this, or at least a Downplayed form, is why she joined the hunters--she wanted to know what it was like to not always be looking out for Nico.
* Setharis is this to Maia in ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor''; after a falling out with the Emperor Varenechibal, he was forced to become Maia's guardian, essentially being banished to a distant marshland estate and cutting him off from the imperial court and his beloved wife. Setharis took his anger at all of this out on Maia, mentally and physically abusing him and controlling his life for years. [[TheDogBitesBack It comes back to bite him]] when Maia becomes emperor and made a point of pushing Setharis as far away from him as possible.
* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', Tobias's guardians are an aunt and uncle who he gets passed back and forth between, and neither of whom [[ParentalNeglect particularly care about him]]. In one book Tobias remembers his aunt yelling about how she never wanted him and lambasting her sister - Tobias's mother, who had suffered a horrible accident that left her both blind and amnesiac - for "dumping" him with her.
* ''Literature/LostVoices'': After Luce's parents died, she was left with her alcoholic uncle Peter, who greatly resents having to live with her, even though he makes no effort to parent her and mostly leaves her to her own devices when he's not hitting or insulting her. He complains, "Leave it to Andrew to keep causing problems even ''after'' he's dead."

* All over in ''Series/OnceUponATime''.

* When [[Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt Kimmy Schmidt]] finally confronts her mother, Lori-Ann, about her childhood, once of her accusations is "you never wanted me". Lori-Ann, almost casually responds "of course I never wanted you, but I kept you, didn't I?" She argues that she'd accidentally gotten pregnant at 17, had no idea how to raise a daughter, but did the best she could.

-->''*Hope trips along a bridge after a long hike*''\\

'''Lightning:''' I'm sorry, but I can't protect you when- ''*grunts, collapses to knees, l'Cie brand glows through uniform*''\\

'''Lightning:''' ENOUGH! The whole world is against us. I can barely keep myself alive; let alone some helpless kid! ''*another grunt*'' I don't have time to baby you. You want to get tough? ''Do it on your own! *grunts one last time before rolling out of circle as Odin emerges*''\\
''*Hope is laying back on his rear and hands, visibly frightened of Odin*''\\
'''Lightning:''' This cannot be happening. ''*Hope cowers as Odin prepares to cut him down*'' Look out! ''*parries Odin, prepares for battle as Hope rises to a stand*''

* Lady Carmosa in ''{{VisualNovel/Cinders}}'' acts like this to her stepdaughter to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the choices of the player.
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney''
** 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 incident. [[spoiler:It turns out that Morgan loathes Misty and her daughters, and wants her own daughter Pearl to become the next Master of Kurain.]]
** In ''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 two daughters because fewer children meant more money. Given [[TheSociopath her character]], it's unclear how accurate this is.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Rose and her mother hold up a passive-aggressive one-upmanship 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.
* 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."

--->'''Abe:''' If I hadn't taken that stupid tonic 38 years ago, you'd have never been born and I'd have been happy! '''[[KickTheDog You were an accident!]]'''
--->'''Homer:''' ''({{gasp}}s, [[BrakeAngrily then stops the car]])'' ''[[GetOut Get out.]]''
* ''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.
-->'''Young [=BoJack=]:''' Are you punishing me [[RadishCure for smoking]] or for stealing?\\
'''Beatrice:''' [[TakeAThirdOption I'm punishing you for]] ''being alive''.
* Beth from ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' almost ended up having an abortion [[TeenPregnancy when she was pregnant with Summer]]. Even years later both Jerry and Beth openly wondered about what might have been otherwise if they had instead taken a chance at their dreams, leaving poor Summer with an existential crisis. Thankfully, her little brother Morty, who has by now seen his share of messed up stuff, including replacing his now deceased alternate dimensional counterpart in the present universe, [[YouAreNotAlone is there to comfort her]].

** 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 reminds her of Sae in some ways.

** 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.

** Homer slips in and out of this. While he can be openly contemptuous of Bart (from strangling him to calling him a mistake to his face), his treatment of his daughters is much better, though he wasn't looking forward to Maggie since it cost him his dream job (he got better when he first laid eyes on Maggie). That said, he once drunkenly complained about his family on a television show reminiscent of HBO's ''Taxi Cab Confessions''.

** In ''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.

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. Contrast HatesTheirParent, for when it's the child with the resentful feelings.

** Futaba Sakura's uncle always felt like the TheUnfavorite compared to her more intelligent mother, which does not go well when Wakaba dies and he gets custody. [[WouldHurtAChild He resorts to abusing]] Futaba to try and [[TheResenter get back at his deceased sister]]. Even after Sojiro [[HappilyAdopted takes Futaba in and things get better for her]], her uncle makes a habit of pestering Sojiro for money and trying to blackmail him when he says no.

* ''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 arguing 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.

* Coira's nurse and caretaker in Literature/WhiteAsSnow hates and resents her charge. Ignoring the fact that if Coira did not exist, the nurse would not have a cushy, relatively easy job, but a very labour intensive one in the kitchens or scullery.

** Makoto Niijima's older sister Sae had a PromotionToParent 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]].

** Regina wanted a child. Wanted one badly enough that, in a season 2 flashback, [[spoiler: she killed one man and tried 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.''

--->'''Homer:''' ''({{Gasp}}s, [[BrakeAngrily then stops the car]])'' ''[[GetOut Get out.]]''

--->'''Abe''': If I hadn't taken that stupid tonic 38 years ago, you'd have never been born and I'd have been happy! '''[[KickTheDog You were an accident!]]'''

* When Franchise/{{Batman}} left the cowl to Azrael he specifically told him he'd be working alongside and helping [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin (Tim)]], whom Azrael then tried to kill and kept from accessing any of the equipment in the Batcave because Tim was trying to keep him from turning Batman into a murderer. Then there's Tim's father's bad habit of making comments to this effect which in combination with his neglectful parenting are more convincing than him saying he wants to be a better father and spend more time with Tim (and then [[DaddyDidntShow cancelling on him]]).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' fan fic ''FanFic/TheSunWillComeUpAndTheSeasonsWillChange'', Mary's mother Dana Summers, over years of being hypervigilant and overly controlling in an effort to keep Mary's autism from "ruining her life", has come to greatly dislike her daughter and see her as a nuisance. It got to the point of creating an entire blog to complain about her daughter. Mary has become aware of this, and Dana's treatment of her, along with seeing ''something'' on her blog that terrified her, makes her decide to run away from home in fear, which is how she winds up on the train.

--->'''Homer:''' ''({{Gasp}}s, [[BrakeAngrily then stops the car]])'' ''[[GetOut Get out]]''.

* It's implied of Mr. Turner in the ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode ''Future Lost'':

** 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 halfway.
** And yet the moment a StrawFeminist mocks her three kids... [[MamaBear cue the catfight]].