History Main / SearchingForTheLostRelative

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "Interface", Geordi seeks out his mother, who disappeared along with her entire spaceship. Eventually, however, he gives up after finding an alien pretending to be Mrs. La Forge.

* In ''Life and Other Inconveniences'' by Kristan Higgins, Genevieve's favorite son disappeared as a child. Since no body was ever found, she believes he is still alive and spends the rest of her life searching for him. When her great-granddaughter Riley finds out about it, she joins the search. [[spoiler:Eventually the body is recovered -- where it would have been found earlier had Genevieve not ended the search for a body because she was so certain he wasn't dead.]]

* ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'': The plot of the game concerns Ichiban Kasuga traveling to Hawaii to find his birth mother, only to discover she is at the center of a complex criminal plot.

* ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Ace Ukiyo's wish in joining the Desire Grand Prix is to find his missing mother. As the show goes on, he finally finds her [[spoiler:but learning the truth behind her disappearance doesn't take him very well.]]

* This is the whole premise of fairy tales classified as tale type ATU 400, "The Quest for the Lost Wife": The protagonist marries an enchanted princess or maiden of supernatural origin, loses her due to his own actions, and goes to look for her. E.g, European tales "Literature/TheSwanMaiden", ''Literature/TheBlueMountains'' and ''Literature/SoriaMoriaCastle''.

* ''Anime/HelloSandybell'': Sandybell was raised by a single father, and longs for the mother she never met. Ater becoming a journalist, she travels across Europe to find clues about her fate. [[spoiler: When she finally tracks down her mother Linda, she's amnesiac and doesn't recognize her. However, her memories are jogged when Sandybell rescues a child that fell into the water - Linda suddenly remembers that years ago, she was on a ship, that suddenly sank after the engine exploded - thus separating from her husband and baby Sandybell.]]

* Sandybell of ''Anime/HelloSandybell'' is longing for her mother she never met and, after becoming a journalist, she travels across Europe to find clues about her mother's fate.

** ''[[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/64807/pg64807-images.html#THE_HORSE-DEVIL_AND_THE_WITCH The Horse-Devil and the Witch]]'' (Turkey).

* Similarly, the cycle of tales belonging to tale type ATU 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband": the heroine marries a supernatural husband or a prince cursed to be an animal, loses him due to her own actions, and has to search for him. E.g, Norwegian fairy tale "Literature/EastOfTheSunAndWestOfTheMoon" and Roman myth ''Myth/CupidAndPsyche''

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Barney used to believe that Creator/BobBarker is his father though he grows out of it. Later on, he finds out that "Uncle Jerry" who used to bring him on trips when he was young is actually his real father. [[spoiler:When Marshal's father passed away]], Barney decides to find his real father. When he finally meets him, Barney is upset that his father had another family. But he and his father eventually reconcile.