History Main / UnknownCharacter

** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': When Giorno was a kid, he saved the life of a wounded man, who turns out to be a gangster and promises to repay him for saving his life. This leads to Giorno's Stepfather no longer hitting him and the kids that bullied him at school start being surprisingly friendly, such as giving up their seats to him in crowded movie theaters. The man is never identified, but this inspires Giorno to become a gangster.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': Erica, a character who remains offscreen for the entirety of the series. So much so that a running gag involves Mr. Peanutbutter will get distracted in some way by Erica, abruptly exclaiming her name.

* The BigBad of ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'' is one "Keyser Soze", whom very few people have ever met firsthand and lived to tell about it -- the only one the police have tracked down is a mutilated Hungarian sailor babbling nonsense. We see him with his FaceFramedInShadow, but even that is only within the {{flashback}}s of a [[UnreliableNarrator questionably-reliable narrator]]. We hear his OriginStory, but it's the kind of unlikely, mythologised tale you'd expect of a FolkHero. The only contact he has with any character is via TheDragon, Kobayashi. The final [[TheReveal Reveal]]? [[spoiler:The narrator ''is'' Keyser Soze, so far as such a man exists.]]

** In the film adaptation, [[spoiler:the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, refuses to accept her and stays behind to die in the fire.]]

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': The dead demigods. There are 9 living demigods (6 shardbearers, Ranni, Miquella, and Godefroy), but more are known to exist; 7 are entombed in the Walking Mausoleums, Enia mentions that one person before you (implied to be Gideon Ofnir) was able to gather two great runes (meaning they killed two demigods), and Vyke and Bernahl were said to be close to becoming Elden Lord, making it likely that they also killed demigods. None of these have names, backstories, or plot importance besides their mausoleums allowing you to duplicate boss Remembrances.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' has King Toadstool, Princess Peach's father. He's never been seen in the games, but he must exist given that the Mushroom Kingdom is a ''kingdom'' rather than a ''principality''. What appearances he's had are limited to the very early ''ComicBook/SuperMarioAdventures'' comics in ''Magazine/NintendoPower'', which portrayed him as a blithering idiot whose [[HypercompetentSidekick much smarter daughter]] made all the actual decisions.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Dipper and Mabel's parents. Their arms are briefly shown in a flashback in the first episode, but apart from that very little information is given about them and they make no full appearances. [[TheFaceless The only photo of them seen is cut off above the shoulders.]] Various interviews and similar WordOfGod give small pieces of information about them, but almost nothing is said in the show proper.

** [[spoiler:The ancestors of the Belforan Trolls, also the pre-scratch selves of the Alternian Trolls we're more famliar with, are this due to their existence being entirely a technicality and the only one who is directly brought up is Meenah's (Feferi's AlternateSelf).]]
** Also, Nanna's husband, and Dad Egbert's father. The only reason we know he exists is because Dad had to come from ''somewhere''.

* ComicBook/GreenArrow'': Roy Harper's mother might be one of the biggest examples of a MissingMom in comic books. In modern day retellings of Roy's origin story, the focus is placed firmly on the death of his biological father when Roy was a small child. By this point, his mom was already out of the picture when Roy gets taken in by the local indigenous community (usually by Brave Bow/Raymond Begay in Arizona). There've been no indications or tidbits about whoever this woman was, if she's alive or dead, or if she was even married to Roy's father. She's such a void her absence allowed Roy to break free of false memories implanted by a LotusEaterMachine controlled by the Gargoyle. Because Roy knows nothing about his mother, the Gargoyle's fake version of his childhood could only go as far as saying "Your mom is-," coupled with Roy's absolute certainty on how his childhood went.

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', Cain had a wife, but her very existence is a notorious theological mystery, since Adam, Eve and the murdered Abel are the only other humans mentioned from creation until that point. Later verses do mention his parents having other kids aside from Seth offering a non-linear answer. Sometimes Cain's wife and the [[IncrediblyLamePun closely related]] issue of [[BrotherSisterIncest everyone having the same parents]] are offered as reasons to not read [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis]] literally. WildMassGuessing can include God whipping her up offscreen for Cain and more. Discussions on who is right are best left to other venues. She doesn't even get a name, even though both wives of Cain's great-great-great-grandson Lamech are named.

* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': Gon’s mother. Absolutely nothing is known about her. Not her name or what happened to her (barring a DeathByAdaptation in the 1999 anime) and Gon isn't even the least bit interested in finding her.
* The second generation of ''Manga/GetBackers''. They give Ban and Ginji their name, their car, and their analogy of a retrieval being like a jigsaw puzzle, but the only reason they exist is because the identity of the ''first'' generation is a major plot twist and a surprise to the cast.
* ''Manga/{{Inuyashiki}}'': The aliens that came to Earth at the beginning of the story. The reason for their presence [[RiddleForTheAges is never explained.]]
* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
** At least four generations of the Dreyar family have been shown, and all of them have had at least some significance to the story. However, we only ever see the male side of the family--Yuri, Makarov, Ivan, and Laxus (from oldest to youngest)--with the exception of Yuri's wife, Rita, who only shows up for [[SmallRoleBigImpact one pivotal scene]] [[DeathByOriginStory before her death]]; the rest of the Dreyar women go unnamed, and it's never once mentioned where they are now.
** Ankhselam is a god of life and death who spends the entire story as TheGhost; the most we know of this character is that they're the source of the Curse of Contradiction, which turns the afflicted into an [[CompleteImmortality undying]] WalkingWasteland as punishment for defying/controlling the laws of death. Yet he is ''the'' definitive GreaterScopeVillain of the series for cursing [[spoiler:[[BigBad Zeref]] and [[BigGood Mavis]]: the former for daring to undo the death of his brother, Natsu; and the latter for [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished saving a friend]] by casting a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that effectively does Ankhselam's job for them.]]
* In the background of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', the War of Ishvalan Extermination was caused by the Ishvalans uprising against the Amestrian military. It's later explained that they did this because an Amestrian soldier shot and killed an Ishvalan child for no discernible reason, but no one knows who this soldier was and the Amestrian military claim that the Ishvalans made him up as an excuse. [[spoiler:Later still, the trope is actually subverted when it's finally revealed that the "soldier" was the disguised homunculus Envy, who deliberately started the war as part of the BigBad's plan.]]

* Used during the sixth season of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' when Alexandria learns of a hostile group called the Saviors, rumored to be led by a man named Negan. They launch a covert attack on a compound they believe to be their base and kill everyone inside, and later wonder if Negan was among them. Later episodes imply that Negan may not be a singular person, but a rather a CollectiveIdentity. The matter is left vague until the season finale, when Negan is revealed to be a [[BigBad very real person]].

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Dipper and Mabel's parents. Their arms are briefly shown in a flashback in the first episode, but apart from that very little information is given about them and they make no full appearances. [[TheFaceless The only photo of them seen is cut off from the shoulders down.]] Various interviews and similar WordOfGod give small pieces of information about them, but almost nothing is said in the show proper.