History Main / HeroicBastard

* ''WesternAnimation/HaileysOnIt'' has an accidental example with Hailey and her brothers; in "2001: A Spouse Odyssey", it turns out that while Patricia and Kai had a wedding, they never actually sent in the paperwork due to not having decided which one of them would do it, meaning they weren't legally married. Hailey takes it as an opportunity to give them a better wedding day (one of her list items), while saying she'll have to process this information another time.

* George R.R. Martin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has bastard children of all sorts with a wide variety of temperaments. The most notable and heroic is Jon Snow, the bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark, and is one of the characters in this [[CrapsackWorld series' world]] most befitting a classic hero -- also described as a [[https://youtu.be/yarEbKyk8PU?t=146 "classic hero"]] by the [[WordOfGod author, George R. R. Martin]]. While Jon is raised by his father alongside his trueborn siblings as part of the family in his father's home castle, loves and is loved by his father and siblings, Jon still feels like somewhat of an outsider in his own family. He chooses to join the Night's Watch to earn his own honour. It is possible that his half-brother, Robb, with whom he was very close, [[spoiler: officially legitimized Jon as a Stark in his will and named Jon as heir, as he talked to his mother of doing]], but Jon does not know this yet. [[spoiler:It is a popular fandom theory that Jon is not Eddard's biological son, but his nephew, as Jon may be the son of Eddard's sister Lyanna Stark and [[TheAce Prince Rhaegar Targaryen]], both deceased. Eddard passed Jon off as his own bastard child to keep him safe from the then-reigning dynasty - a wise move, given [[DeathByAThousandCuts what]] [[YourHeadAsplode happened]] to Rhaegar's other children]].

** Cassie Sandsmark aka ComicBook/WonderGirl, who's the illegitimate daughter of Zeus or, in the ComicBook/New52, Zeus's demigod son Lennox. [[spoiler:Franchise/WonderWoman becomes this in Post-Flashpoint continuity, as the secret lovechild of Hippolyta and Zeus.]]

** ComicBook/{{Raven}}, daughter of the archdemon Trigon and a human woman. Exactly [[AdaptationalConsent how]] [[ChildByRape willing]] Arella was during Raven's conception has gone back and forth, but the two definitely weren't married.

* Jin Kazama from the ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'' series, who is the son of Jun Kazama and Kazuya Mishima. His heroism, however, has since turned to villainy as of ''Tekken 6''... [[spoiler: Jin's FaceHeelTurn is later revealed to be part of a desperate gambit to erase himself and [[EldritchAbomination Azazel]] of this world. Which would probably qualify him as a {{Tragic|Hero}} Heroic Bastard. Though he defeated Azazel, the curse has not been lifted. He must eliminate the true source: His grandmother. Sadly, Heihachi had already killed her decades ago. So his only other option is to stop Kazuya once and for all and find any survivors of his paternal grandmother's clan if possible.]]
** His half-uncle Lars Alexandersson is another one, being the illegitimate son of Heihachi Mishima. Guess they are more alike than they would realize.

* ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'' has Ichiban Kasuga, whose mother was a soapland employee who likely got pregnant on the job before disappearing shortly following his birth. The staff of the soapland took him in and raised him to adolescence until the passing of his loving foster father -- whose surname he took for himself -- drove him to delinquency. After being brought into the Arakawa yakuza family, he would eventually grow into a FriendlyNeighborhoodGangster, whose experience being born and raised by the dregs of society gave him sympathy towards Kamurocho's working-class folk. [[spoiler:This goes double for the fact that his patriarch, Masumi Arakawa, is his biological father, though he would not know this until shortly before Arakawa's death.]]

* ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'' has Ichiban Kasuga, whose mother was a soapland employee who likely got pregnant on the job before disappearing shortly following his birth. The staff of the soapland took him in and raised him to adolescence until the passing of his loving foster father -- whose surname he took for himself -- drove him to delinquency. After being brought into the Arakawa yakuza family, he would eventually grow into a FriendlyNeighborhoodGangster, whose experience being born and raised by the dregs of society gave him sympathy towards Kamurocho's working-class folk.

** Catarina's adopted brother [[CloudcuckoolandersMinder Keith]] was the son of a minor noble related to the Claes family and a common prostitute. His birth father's family greatly scorned him, especially when it turned out he had magic that he couldn't control very well. While he could have grown up into a shameless playboy to cope with loneliness, Catarina made sure to make friends with him when they were little and he ends up growing into a very calm, responsible, and elegant young man worthy of his position as the heir of the Claes duchy. And since he was adopted to become the new Claes heir, his bastardy is largely irrelevant. Note that in the original timeline, one of the reasons he was so lonely was because Catarina's mother thought he was her husband's bastard, and treated him horribly. In the new timeline, she ends up confronting her husband about it almost immediately, discovers the truth, and has a good long talk about their relationship. They become SickeninglySweethearts after that, and the Claes family grows up happily, giving Keith a stable home after spending his formative years in an abusive household.

* ''{{Film/Creed}}'': Adonis is the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed, born shortly after the latter was killed by Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, and was later adopted by Apollo's widow Mary Anne, who is kind enough to treat him as her own son and later on Rocky takes him under his wing as a champion boxer.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'''s title character Rick Castle never knew who his father was because [[WhosYourDaddy his mother never knew either]]--he was the product of a OneNightStandPregnancy. [[spoiler:He turns out in a season five two-parter to be a CIA black ops guy who never made contact to keep Castle's family safe, though he did once pull strings for his son when Castle wanted to get one of the ''Derrick Storm'' novels BackedByThePentagon.]]

** Kevin Graham was born of a single mother who was visited occasionally by his wealthy father, with the two being a SecretOtherFamily. After Kevin's father abandon them, his mother eventually tried to strangle Kevin to death in a murder suicide, before he slipped away, only to come back and find her corpse. After being taken in to an orphanage by Rias and Rufina, he eventually joined them in the ChurchMilitant Gralsritter before entering the story.

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'':

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': Played with; due to the matriarchal nature of the Nora tribe, it is Aloy's lack of a mother that shames her. Her father is also unknown, but no one, including Aloy, ever expresses any interest in that. Near the end of the game Lansra, the most hostile of the High Matriarchs, claims that [[AntiChrist her father is the Metal Devil]], but this gets brushed aside without anyone bothering to comment on it. [[spoiler:As she is actually a clone of Elisabet Sobeck created by the ArtificialIntelligence GAIA, she has no father but two mothers (genetically, her father would be Elisabet's father, who is never mentioned and died a thousand years ago)]].

** TheHedonist Oliver is the spoiled son of a wealthy [[TheEmpire Erebonian Empire]] noble's mistess. Said noble being [[spoiler:The Emperor himself.]]

* ''Manga/TimeStopBrave'': It is briefly mentioned that Prince Will Belltree was born illegitimate, but he is a heroic knight and very friendly.

* ''{{Series/Cursed}}'': [[spoiler:Nimue]] actually was conceived as a result of her parents' extramarital relationship. She's also a noble (if flawed) young woman who's [[spoiler:TheChosenOne and the protagonist.]]

* ''Franchise/MarvelComics'' also has a few:

** Wolverine himself is the product of his mother's adultery with the family groundskeeper.