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alt title(s): I Am Your Father Monarch: Hank, what if I told you that your mother was someone you've met before? And that your father was not your REAL father? Hank: What? Monarch: Hank! I am your real father! Hank: N-No, you're not... Monarch PSYCH! Oh man, I totally got you. You were all like, "Oh, daddy! You're my daddy!" — The Venture Brothers, "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean"
A specific variety of The Reveal. A parent-child relationship between two characters who were previously thought unrelated is revealed, usually with generous dollops of melodrama. Beloved of soap operas, made famous by the Star Wars films (from which the trope takes its name, though as you can see, it isn't an exact quote). For maximum melodrama, the parent giving the reveal is the villain, and the one who the reveal is given to is the hero. In cases like this, count on at least one scene where the hero worries that he or she will eventually end up like the parent.
Sometimes it's a bogus revelation, and at the end of the episode or plotline the Reset Button is pressed to restore the previous relationship — or lack of one.
Though the trope itself is too fundamental to become Discredited, any use of the actual line nowadays will be met with a groan and a "Not again!" from the audience. Also a popular insane fan theory.
Compare with Mysterious Parent, or Are You My Mummy where the characters were thought to be related, but are not parent and child.
Oh, and by the way, it was being mocked back in 1790 by Jane Austen in Love and Friendship (with four grandfather-grandchildren relationships revealed in under a page), so Older Than Radio at the very least.
Subtropes include Long Lost Sibling and Luke You Are My Father.
Spoilers incoming, in case you haven't figured it out yet.
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Examples
Anime and Manga
- The third episode of Death Note: Light's father is the one leading the police effort to catch the mysterious murderer — actually Light.
- Nadia The Secret Of Blue Water: Nadia learns that Captain Nemo is actually her long-lost father when he goes down with the damaged Nautilus at the beginning of the "castaway" arc of the series.
- A recent chapter of the One Piece manga reveals that Luffy's grandfather is Vice-Admiral Garp, a legendary Marine, and his father is Dragon, the mysterious revolutionary who saved Luffy at Loguetown.
- Misaki's relationship to Shuuko/Shuu/the Champion in Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer. The anime lets the viewer in on Shuuko's secret long before Misaki knows, but in the manga, we only learn when she does.
- A rather unlikely example in Mahou Sensei Negima, where one of 10-year-old Negi Springfield's 15-year-old students claims to be his descendant. Of course, she's from a hundred years in the future — and can prove it — so it's not as crazy as it sounds...
- Used in the Monster Rancher anime (Monster Farm in Japan), in which Holly learns that the main bad guy is her father (with the villain using the Darth Vader's dialogue from The Empire Strikes Back). It takes the trope further by having Holly screaming "NOOOOO!" afterwards.
- In Chapter 367 of Naruto, the most prevalent fan theory of the fandom is confirmed: Naruto is indeed the son of the Fourth Hokage. This is the third of three major clarified mysteries that were revealed within a span of less than five chapters. A while earlier this was a lesser one: Asuma Sarutobi is the Third Hokage's son but they had the same name and similar looks, so it was kinda obvious, just not said before then.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion does this three times. Eva 1 contains the soul of Shinji's mother. Eva 02 contains the soul (well half) of Asuka's mother. Rei is occasionally compared to Shinji's mother.
- And Lilith is the mother of all humanity.
- All in all, in Eva, "Your Mom" jokes are done at your own peril.
- Tenchi Muyo! is full of these. Piece by piece we learn that Katsuhito is Ayeka's and Sasami's half-brother, which means they're both Tenchi's great aunts; then that Washu is Ryoko's mother; and eventually that the woman we thought was Tenchi's mother is actually his sister and that Washu is also Mihoshi's great great grandmother. Then in the second movie, Daughter of Darkness, Mayuka turns up on the doorstep claiming that Tenchi is her father, which is awkward because they're both in their teens; but Washu does a DNA analysis, and yep, she's right. And of course there's the moment in the first movie when Tenchi tells Achika and Nobuyuki that they're his parents, even though they're all about the same age, but that doesn't really count.
- It's nice to see a good old-fashioned subversion, and Rave Master brings us one: there are two characters named Gale, one the antagonist (and head of the evil organization), one a good guy (who we've never seen before). Angst-tastic as it would be, the hero assumes his father is the former. Nope. It's the latter. Of course, they also play it straight with the two Musicas.
- Code Geass: When the leader of the anti-Britannian terrorists takes off his helmet and the Britannian Prince Clovis recognizes him as his presumed-dead little brother.
- A variation exists in the third season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. After a successful raid on an illegal research facility, Quint adopts a pair of experimental Combat Cyborgs because they looked so much like her and raises them as her own daughters. It's later revealed during a medical examination that the reason why Subaru and Ginga looked like her was because their genetic structures were identical. Somehow, Quint's genetic data had been acquired by the researchers and was used to create the two children.
- In the manga version of Rurouni Kenshin, Enishi, a crazed White Haired Pretty Boy who wants revenge on Kenshin is his brother in law (obviously Kenshin knew when he first met him). The old guy who befriends Kenshin is Kenshin's father in law who accepted that Kenshin killed his daughter accidentally. Naturally, Enishi ends up with the old guy and both remark that they remember seeing each other.
- Subverted in Saint Seiya. Along the series, there had been a lot of hints that Marin was Seiya's lonmg-lost sister Seika. She wasn't, his sister was actually a Waif Prophet, and Marin's brother Touma even appears as an enemy in the Tenkai-hen movie.
- And played quite straight in the manga where, it was revealed that Mitsumasa Kido was actually the birth father of all the orphans he sent around the world to be trained as Saints.
- Digimon Frontier with Koji learning he has a twin brother he was Separated At Birth from: Koichi, the Face Heel Turned Sixth Ranger with the Spirits of Darkness. Digimon Savers also has Keenan Crier finding out he is one of the "humons" he despises so much, but it's painfully obvious that he was human from the start.
- Also from Savers: Initially, it looks like Masaru's Disappeared Dad is Yggdrasil, the "world tree," central computer and god of the Digital World. But BanchouLeomon reveals that he is Masaru's father. Yggdrasil was about to kill Suguru, but BanchouLeomon absorbed his soul. Unfortunately, Yggdrasil (being a god and all...) realized it, and has been using Suguru's body for its own ends.
- Parodied in a later episode of Magical Project S. Romio claims that she's the older sister of Sasami, citing the fact that they share blue hair and the lack of resemblance between Sasami and her parents as the logical reasoning. Just as Sammy was going to run up for a "family reunion", Misa stops her and makes her realize it was a lie, which Romio confirms.
- Somewhat subverted in Sonic X. It is strongly suggested (said outright in the dub) that Dark Oak is Cosmo's father. However, while the characters do learn that the two are of the same species, Cosmo never directly learns of her heritage.
- In Princess Tutu, Rue's father is revealed to be the Raven in the second season. That's not so surprising considering she's the Dark Magical Girl...but it's later revealed that he actually kidnapped her as a child, and she's just a normal human girl after all. It's also later revealed that Drosselmeyer is Fakir's great-great-grandfather, and Fakir inherited his powers.
- The very last volume of the Chrono Crusade manga reveals that Chrono and Aion are twins, and their mother was a human woman turned into Pandaemonium when she was pregnant with them. Also, Satella discovers that her long-lost sister is Fiore.
- In Gravion Zwei, it's eventually revealed that Raven is Eiji's missing sister Ayaka.
- In Rah Xephon... er, this is going to take a while: Ayato's real mother isn't Maya, but Itsuki's adopted sister Quon. Quon is also Maya's twin sister and Itsuki's mother, making Itsuki Ayato's brother. Shirow Watari is their father. Haruka Shitow's uncle, Shougo Rikudoh, was the adoptive father of Maya and Quon. And Haruka? Before her mother remarried, her family name was Mishima - making her the same long lost "object of desire"/childhood sweetheart that Ixtli/Ishtori took her appearance from. Or, for those that don't like to read: everyone is related to everyone ever.
- Altair and Vega in GEAR Fighter Dendoh are brother and sister, both of whom had presumed each other dead for years (wearing those damn masks all the time probably only added to the confusion). Then there's Vega's true identity as Hokuto's mom.
- Glass Fleet had a pair of sibling enemies learn at the same time that they were related. Vetti and Cleo were none to pleased to say the least.
Comics
- Eighteen years after their creation, it was revealed that Avengers Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were actually the children of their former leader, long-time X-Men antagonist Magneto. Their feelings over this revelation were mixed, to put it mildly.
- Polaris, of the X-Men, was revealed early on to be Magneto's daughter, too. But then that was revealed to actually be a plot by the villain Mesmero, who was using a Magneto robot to make that claim. Then later it was again revealed that she is his daughter... then once again not. Currently, she is once again revealed to be Magneto's daughter... ugh.
- A Legion Of Super Heroes mini-series in the '80s started with the premise that R. J. Brande, the team's billionaire sponsor, was dying, and in order to save him, the Legionnaires had to figure out which one of them was secretly his child — an idea that had never been even hinted at before. It finally turned out to be Durlan shapeshifter Chameleon Boy; Brande was revealed to also be a Durlan who'd contracted a disease that froze him into human form.
- Chris, Superman's adopted son, was found in a rocket similar to his. It was revealed during an invasion that the rocket was sent from the Phantom Zone, and he was the son of Zod and Ursa.
- Mr. Sinister pulls a particularly unpleasant Luke I Am Your Father on Gambit in X-Men: The End when he reveals that Gambit is a clone created from Sinister's original DNA mixed with that of Scott Summers.
- Scott Summers is Gambit's sort-of daddy?! That makes every X-Men comic I ever read 5 times more awesome.
- In Booster Gold One Million it is revealed to the audience — but not to any of the other characters — that Rip Hunter is actually Booster's son.
- The plot of Batman R.I.P. essentially involves multiple Mind Rapes piled on top of each other to see how many it takes to make Batman crack. The biggie? Enigmatic villain Simon Hurt claims that he is actually Thomas Wayne, and that he faked his own death after hiring Joe Chill to kill his faithless whore of a wife. The truth of his story hasn't been determined, but Bruce decides to reject it at the end of the arc.
- Preacher: Mom?
- In Umbrella Academy: Dallas #6, it's revealed that 00.01 and 00.05 are biological siblings (they were adopted siblings before this point).
- Rose Walker's grandfather in Sandman is Desire, who impregnated the comatose Unity Kinkaid during Dream's imprisonment.
- A pivotal turning point in the original 2099 Marvel universe run of Spider-man featured Spider-Man 2099 discovering that the main antagonist of the series and head of the megacorp Alchemax, Tyler Stone, was in fact Spidey's father. This derailed the current plotline for quite a few issues as Spidey wrestled with his hatred of the man. The trope was somewhat subverted near the end of the title's run, when Tyler attempted to shock Spidey into compliance by dropping the bombshell of his parentage, only to have Spidey casually sip his coffee and then smugly and calmly say "Yeah, I know."
- Tossed in a blender with Luke You Are My Father (but not really) in Usagi Yojimbo: Usagi discovered that his old flame Mariko's son Jotaro is actually his son, and Mariko's husband (Usagi's very unfriendly rival) also knows but loves Jotaro anyway. Usagi and Jotaro's sword master guessed almost immediately (they're very much alike), and gives them the opportunity to travel together for several months; after talking with Tomoe about responsibilities and relationships, Usagi decides not to break the bond between Jotaro and his family, while Jotaro decides not to force Usagi to give up his wanderer lifestyle to take care of him. It turns out Mariko told Jotaro the truth, but left out the part about Usagi knowing too. Upset at his "weakness" and the fact that he doesn't know when or if he'll ever see his "uncle" again, Jotaro calls out "Miyamoto Usagi! You are my father!!" but Usagi is already too far away to hear ("Just a trick of the wind, I must be tying my ears too tight"). TL;DR: Father A and Son B know they're related, but they don't know the other knows the truth (C,D,E, and F know the truth too but they aren't talking, mainly out of respect).
- In Green Lantern Corps #35, Sinestro tells Soranik Natu that she is his daughter. He left her in the care of her foster family to keep her away from the dangers of being associated with him; making this one of the only semi-decent things he's ever done in his life. Of course, since it's Sinestro, he could be lying.
- The last of page of Green Lantern #36 makes it pretty clear that he's telling the truth.
Fan Works
- Lampshaded in A Rose and a Thorn 3.
Ashura: I am your father Luke — I mean, Shadow.
Shadow: Shut up with the clichés already! You're not actually my biological father, are you? I saw that movie. I'm not going to do that stupid NOOOOOOOOOO thing.
- I'm afraid he really is... Well, one of them, anyway.
- Nice Guy foreign transfer student from another planet, dates the female Dark And Troubled Past / The Woobie character? Seems simple until you realise... That they're MUCH closer than intended... Incest Is Relative.
Films
The big reveal in Angel Heart where Harry Angel is revealed to be Johnny Favorite, and therefore the father of Epiphany Proudfoot, who he has been having sex with, and has just murdered during a blackout; in a rather bizarre set of supernatural circumstances.
Literature
- Inverted in the Prydain Chronicles, where Taran goes on a search for his parents. He encounters a crippled shepherd who reveals that he is Taran's father but after a few months of living with Taran, the guy has a fatal accident and reveals that he was lying, that his son died years ago and that he told Taran this because he was so lonely.
- Terry Pratchett does a great job of Lampshade Hanging on this one in the Discworld novel Maskerade. In an early scene, Nanny Ogg explains the plot of the opera La Triviata to Granny Weatherwax thusly: "Well, there's a lot of humorous dressin' up, etcetera, someone will probably turn out to be someone's long-lost father or somethin'..." Near the end of the book, it is revealed that the star singer in the production of Il Trucadore really is the long-lost father of a young man in the audience. When Agnes (the junior witch) complains "This sort of thing does not happen!" the more Genre Savvy Nanny replies, "Happens all the time in opera."
- A more interesting variation happens in Thief Of Time. First, Susan has to tell Lobsang Ludd that he and Jeremy Clockson are the twin sons of the Anthropomorphic Personification of Time. Later, she admits she was lying, sort of: Lobsang and Jeremy aren't twins, they're the same individual, bifurcated at birth by the complexities of Time going through labor. For that matter, Susan's discovery that there are other children of Anthropomorphic Personifications, and natural-born, not adopted, almost qualifies but fails the "met before" requirement.
- This happens not once, but twice, and to the same character, in Ann Radcliffe's Gothic novel, The Italian. In the first instance, the evil monk Schedoni is about to murder the virginal heroine in her sleep when he happens to glimpse her locket — her ownership of which reveals that she is (gasp!) his long-lost daughter!... Only, turns out she isn't. Still, it was a pretty good reveal, wasn't it? She actually turns out to be the long-lost child of a nun who was nice to her earlier in the book, and to whom she'd previously felt a "mysterious connection". Given that The Italian was written in 1796, that makes this trope Older Than Radio.
- The Inheritance Trilogy: Murtagh reveals that the evil Dragon Rider Morzan was Eragon's father, making Eragon and Murtagh brothers. This is subverted in the third book, when it turns out that Morzan is not Eragon's father, and it was actually Brom, who fell in love with Serena, Morzan's consort (also known as the Black Hand). This is presumably due to the comparisons made between the Inheritance Cycle and Star Wars. There is also a scene where Arya is revealed to be the daughter of the elf queen Islanzadi, but this may or may not qualify since both Arya and Islanzadi knew about it even if the reader did not.
- In Robert A Heinlein's short story "'—All You Zombies—'", the main character is revealed to be ''his own'' father. And mother. And responsible for getting them together. And taking away his baby self away and putting him in an orphanage...
- His Dark Materials: Lyra's father is Lord Asriel, the man she thought was her uncle, while her mother is Mrs. Coulter, the first book's major villain. Though this could be seen as a rather knowing use of the trope, given that the reveal occurs unusually early in the story. In the film adaptation, on the other hand, it appears in the typical place as a third act plot twist.
- In Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule, the first book of the Sword Of Truth series, it is revealed that Richard is actually the son of Darken Rahl, the antagonist. Yes, his name is Darken. And he's the father of the protagonist, who has a magic sword, and is taught by an old man. This editor would have blanked it out with spoiler tags, but frankly it's not that important. And it's not even the father revealing it to his son, but his son's maternal grandfather. So.
- Dickens did it: Oliver Twist has Oliver finding out that Mr. Brownlow is his grandfather.
- Note that it only counts in the Oliver! musical. In the book... Mr. Brownlow is an old friend of Oliver's Disappeared Dad, Edwin Leeford, and he actually adopts Oliver as his son in the end. What else? The Smug Snake Monks is Oliver's half-brother (real name: Edward Leeford) and Rose Mayley is Oliver's aunt (his deceased mother Agnes was Rose's older sister).
- Dickens had a thing for lost parents. In Great Expectations, Magwitch, Pip's benefactor, turns out to be Estella's father, while in Bleak House, Lady Dedlock and Captain Hawdon ("Nemo") are Esther Summerson's mother and father.
- In Rafael Sabatini's romantic historical adventure Scaramouche, André-Louis Moreau has to deal with questions related to his mysterious past while struggling with the eternally troublesome and abhorrent Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr who dun DUN DUN, unsurprisingly turns out to be his father.
- In Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy, Lirael finds out the identity of her real father at the end of book two: it's the former Abhorsen, Terciel, making Lirael Sabriel's younger sister, and Sameth's aunt. This accounts for much of Lirael's Wangst — that is, morbid tendencies, et alia. Fortunately, she had already prevented her nephew becoming attracted to her by saying that she was thirty years older than him.
- American Gods: Shadow's father is the Norse god Odin.
- Wicked: The Wizard is Elphaba's dad.
- In Meredith Ann Pierce's Firebringer trilogy, Jan, the lead character and prince of the unicorns (all the main characters in the trilogy are unicorns), discovers in the third book that his father Korr mated with another mare before he pledged himself with Jan's mother- which is something of a problem, as the other mare's child is Jan's own mate and the mother of his children, and unicorn custom absolutely forbids incest. Lucky thing then that it turns out the mysterious, renegade stallion Calydor, who Jan felt oddly connected to upon meeting for the first time, was actually Jan's mother's first love- and Jan's biological father.
- Another Meredith Ann Pierce example: the white witch Oriencor is actually the daughter of Ravenna the Ancient. Her excuse for becoming the Big Bad was that she felt cheated of her inheritance since Ravenna promised, falsely, that she could one day return to Oceanus with the Ancients; Oriencor's schemes to take over the world are really just Part One of her attempts to get there on her own. The heroine of the trilogy, Aeriel, also has one: raised an orphaned slave in the land of Terrain, she later discovers she's the heir to the suzerainty of Pirs. Made squicky by her uncle, who killed her father and attempted to force her mother to marry him, and tries to seduce Aeriel.
- And another: Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood. Hannah is the "daughter" of the Queen, having grown from the branch the Wizard stole. Pierce really likes this trope.
- In the Animorphs supplemental novel The Andalite Chronicles, we find out that Elfangor, the Andalite prince that gave the kids the power to morph, is actually Tobias' father, from some fancy time manipulation care of the Ellimist.
- In The Night Angel Trilogy, the Godking does this to both the protagonist and someone else. In the protagonist's case, the Godking is just screwing with his mind. In the latter case, she kills him anyway.
- In The Last Book in the Universe, Spaz finds out from Ryter in the final moments of his life that Billy Bizmo is his father and Lotti Getts is his mother.
- In Christopher Moore's Fool, titular character and king's fool Pocket learns that his father was King Lear's brother, since Lear made him rape Pocket's mother. Uh-huh. (This means he's been screwing and lusting after his first cousins.)
- Done twice in Karen Miller's Godspeaker Trilogy. In Dmitak's case it's moments before he kills his mother and gets killed himself.
- Inverted (and partly subverted) in Robin Hobb's Tawny Man Trilogy where the main character is forced to interact with his children, who doesn't know who their real father is.
Live Action TV
- Lost: Claire and Jack are half-siblings. And it seems their father (or his ghost, or SOMETHING like it) is close to the mysterious Jacob.
- In season 5, Pierre Chang, the guy from the orientation tapes, turns out to be Miles's father. "The third day we were here, I was in line at the cafeteria and my mother got in line behind me. That was my first clue."
- Parodied in the Stargate SG-1 episode "200": the rest of the SG team momentarily trick Mitchell into believing that O'Neill is his father by means of Time Travel.
- Then again, all the numbers work out, those are some good arguments they give, and they never tell him they were joking. Who knows?
- Well since Mitchell is Acting For Two with his grandfather, it doesn't seem likely.
- Most folks have two grandfathers. Unless they're Fry
- The second-season finale of The Pretender: Miss Parker learns that she has a twin brother she was never told about because he supposedly died at birth — and not only is he still alive, he's one of the recurring characters! (All four of the series' season finales feature a "He's the brother you never knew you had" reveal for one of the lead characters — counting the clone in the third season finale as a brother — but this is the only one where the brother is an already-established character.)
- The X-Files episode "William": the Cigarette Smoking Man is Mulder's father, although implications thereof had been dropped throughout the series.
- The Mystic Knights Of Tir Na Nog: Maeve, the Big Bad, reveals she is The Chosen One Rohan's mother. There is no indication at what point she learned this; Maeve seemed as shocked as anyone when Lugad told her Rohan told him they were brothers. The line is almost identical to the movie's with the names changed appropriately.
- Power Rangers has been fond of this one.
- In Power Rangers In Space, we are treated to the tasty reveal that Big Bad Astronema is The Captain Andros's sister Karone after brainwashing.
- Two years later in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, we are treated to the revelation that then-evil Sixth Ranger Ryan is Mission Control Captain Mitchell's long-lost son (And, thereby, Pink Ranger Dana's brother).
- In Power Rangers Ninja Storm, we find out that Big Bad Lothor is Sensei Watanabe's twin brother, and Sixth Ranger Cam's uncle. This was fortunate for Lothor's nieces by marriage, as they would have been destroyed if Cam hadn't decided to save them—because "they're family."
- In Power Rangers Dino Thunder, we have the revelation that Sixth Ranger Trent is the adopted son of Big Bad Mesogog's human counterpart Anton Mercer.
- But the all-time leader is Power Rangers Mystic Force, where we learn in short succession that the evil Wolf Knight Koragg is the mind-controlled form of Leanbow, husband to The Obi Wan Udonna. Udonna then discovers that Red Ranger Nick is actually her long-lost son Bowen. Meanwhile, we discover that comic relief character Leelee is secretly the daughter of Necrolai, queen of the vampires.
- Parodied on The Brak Show episode All That I Desire You, itself a complete send-up of soap operas; Dad is revealed to be living a double life as billionaire oil baron Drake Gainway, and is father to Zorak, Clarence, and his secret third wife Cynthia - in addition to Brak and the Gainway children, of course.
- And just for extra craziness, when The Brak Show was "hosting" Adult Swim's New Year's Night, it was revealed that Thunderclese's father was none other than Frylock from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a completely different show.
- In the series Heroes, Claire is revealed to be the daughter of Nathan Petrelli.
- Not to mention the earlier reveal, when HRG/Noah comes home and we find out that he is Claire's father. (He adopted her, but she considers her adopted parents her "real" parents)
- And in the Season 3 premiere, Gabriel Gray/Sylar is another Petrelli Brother.
- Not so much...
- There's also rumours of yet another Petrelli on the way. I'd guess Adam, but I don't know.
- Adam's impossible as he's been around for hundreds of years and looks nothing like the Petrellis. Matt Parkman on the other hand... though his dad, Maury, has already been a character, but we don't know if he's not a HALF brother...
- On the subject of the "new Petrelli", hilariously it ended up as a literal "I am your father" moment, both when Peter and Nathan learned their father, Arthur, was still alive and when Sylar got to meet him for the first time.
- Funnily enough, there is no new Petrelli. They lied to Sylar. He killed Arthur for it, and he's working on Angela to get the location of his real parents.
- Also as of season 3, Claire is revealed to also be related to Level 5 escapee Flint, who is brother to Meredith, Claire's biological mother. Though it's as yet unknown to Claire, it will most likely comprise a bit of a surprise at least.
- Strongly hinted in the Law And Order Criminal Intent episode "End Game."
- And confirmed in "Frame."
- Subverted in an episode of Las Vegas where Mike finds evidence that the Montecito's new owner, AJ Cooper, is Piper's father. Piper confronts Cooper and he vehemently denies it. It turns out that Cooper knew her father from when they served in the Marines together and promised that he would keep an eye on her.
- Also subverted in Life on Mars, where DCI Morgan takes Sam to a graveyard. He shows Sam two graves which have the name Williams on them, telling him that these are his parents, he is not Sam Tyler, but Sam Williams, working for him undercover. Sam shrugs this off and is about to leave when he spots three graves behind him, one of which says 'Here lies Sam Tyler', the other two with his parents names, Vic and Ruth Tyler. He's a little upset by this..
- In the series Night Court it is revealed after several seasons that Harry's mentally unbalanced step-father "Buddy" is actually his biological father.
- Parodied by the Melty Man (an Anthropomorphic Personification of male impotence, complete with black glove and Darth Vader voice) in Coupling.
Patrick: You killed my erection!
Melty Man: No Patrick, I am your erection!
- Mocked in the third series of Doctor Who when dealing with The Master, Martha asks if he is the Doctor's long-lost brother. To which the Doctor responds, "you've been watching too much television."
- Though, it was originally going to be played straight, and when the Doctor was going to let the Master die, the dialogue was originally going to reveal them to actually be brothers! This line was cut before filming, though, leaving the canonocity of it heavily debated. The Master is still killed off though, due to his refusal to regenerate and live out the rest of eternity as the Doctor's prisoner after being shot by his wife.
- Masterfully inverted, gender-swapped, and played without melodrama in The Tenth Kingdom, when via the magic mirror Virginia and her father learn that the Evil Queen is her missing mother Christine. Not only is this trope combined with that of the Mysterious Parent (though here there is no revelation about the child), but despite the constant references throughout the miniseries, the scene of The Reveal genuinely took this editor by surprise when he first saw it — and it did for every other person he's ever shown the film to. It's that subtle, but so obvious on a second viewing... rather like The Sixth Sense. What makes it particularly unique is that, rather than the villain making the revelation, it comes from a third party (in this case a magical object), and it is the hero who must then convince their erstwhile parent of the truth, rather than the reverse. The tragedy ensues of course when Virginia breaks through to her real mother after the poison comb has loosed her from the Swamp Witch's spell, she remembers who she is and declares her love...and dies in her daughter's arms.
- Parodied on The Daily Show. Stephen Colbert is asked to report on the cancellation of daytime drama Another World. He goes off on a wild melodramatic tangent, reveals that Colbert is not his real name and accuses Jon Stewart of abandoning his "bastard elevator baby". Subverted within the parody because when Stephen finally calls him "Daddy", Jon spoils it by pointing out that they're the same age.
- Caleb and Sheriff Buck of American Gothic. Unique in that it is revealed in the pilot of the series, and that while Caleb reacts in disgust and anger at the notion, he never has a Heroic BSOD or otherwise freaks out over the revelation. In fact the more time passes, the less issue he seems to take with it, even welcoming and embracing the relationship by the end of the series. This could be due to being orphaned and having no one else to turn to except an increasingly unstable doctor and a
Cool Big Sis cool cousin who is also being drawn into Buck's orbit, but all things considered, probably not.
- Subverted in Veronica Mars. Paternity tests confirm that Keith Mars is Veronica's father.
- Done in very a surprising "How the hell did I not see that coming?" way on Dexter when The Ice Truck Killer is revealed to be Dexter's brother.
- This happens on Green Wing, where Guy discovers that Joanna is his mother, making him and Martin brothers. Unfortunately, he only finds this out after they have sex, leading to a complete meltdown on Guy's part.
- In Sharpe's Justice, the rabble-rouser Matt Truman is Sharpe's half-brother.
- In Jonathan Creek, an actress attempts to covertly help the son that she secretly gave up for adoption many years ago by having him cast in the movie she is currently starring in, only to learn that he has developed a bit of an obsession with her, unaware that she is his mother. He's embittered when she rejects him in this sense, understandably a bit Squicked out; unfortunately, she confesses this to her ex-husband who, holding his own grudge, manipulate the son into murdering her.
- Averted in Without A Trace: Agent Malone is captured and tortured by conwoman who thinks he's an enemy out to get her and her partner who is, naturally, her son. I can't recall all the facts, but in the end the conwoman dies and asks Malone not to tell her son the truth (it probably would've been squicky for him anyway).
- Prodied innummerable times on Whose Line Is It Anyway.
- All My Children loves this trope. Examples: Daisy Cortlandt and Myra Murdock (Nina's "dead" mother and long-lost grandmother), Palmer Cortlandt (Ross Chandler's long-lost father), and Jackson Montgomery (Greenlee Smythe's real father). In the most recent example, the show waved a magic Ret Con to make Erica Kane's aborted child appear as Josh Madden, supposedly the son of evil Dr. Madden.
- Taken to absurdity in A Bit Of Fry And Laurie, when they parody Australian soaps:
Fry: The truth is, mate, I was confused and slightly bewildered. I'd just discovered that Durnick isn't my real father.
Laurie: He isn't? Then who is?
Fry: I am.
Laurie: Then that must mean that you must be—
Fry: Exactly. Devlin's half-sister's wife's doctor's cousin's niece.
Laurie: Well then, who the hell am I?
- Parodied on Krod Mandoon And The Flaming Sword Of Fire. Krod confronts Chancellor Dungalor, who stalls for time by revealing that he's Krod's brother. Well, his brother-in-law, as Dungalor was married to Krod's sister. Ex-brother-in-law, actually, as they're not even married anymore.
Opera and Theatre
- The Marriage Of Figaro has an instance of this that's similar to the one from The Italian above: Marcellina is about to force Figaro to marry her in lieu of paying off a debt, when a casual comment he drops about a birthmark reveals that she's his mother. They embrace and make up, leading instantly to a classic Not What It Looks Like scenario...
- Happens with the Baker and the Mysterious Man in Into the Woods.
- Wicked has the Wizard realize that he's Elphaba's father. Elphaba herself never learns the connection — probably all for the better.
- Urinetown milks the revelation that Penny Pennywise is Hope Cladwell's mother for all that it's worth.
Radio
Video Games
Web Animation
- In Proxicide's MK vs. SF 3, it is revealed at the very end that Akuma and Ryu are father and son.
- The Most In The Graveyard toon on [1] reveals that Coach Z's aunt is Bubs's uncle, which makes them sixth fourth second fifth cousins thrice removed, according to Bubs.
- Broken Saints: More like I Am Her Father''. Big Bad Lear Dunham tells the other heroes that he is Shandala's biological father in his Just Between You And Me.
Web Comics
- Girl Genius: At the end of the first major arc, Agatha escapes from Baron Wulfenbach with the newfound knowledge that she is the daughter of famous adventurer Bill Heterodyne.
- In the next arc, she finds out that her mother Lucrezia was almost certainly the infamous menace known as the Other... shortly before getting a copy of said progenitor's persona uploaded into her mind.
- Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, the Baron's son, may also be the son of a woman from the lost city of Skifander. This may or may not be related to reports that a princess of Skifander is in Baron Wulfenbach's domains and according to the Baron wants Gil dead.
- He's also maybe Von Pinn's son. Which says some scary things about his genes.
- Could this be a Shout Out to the legendary parentage of Gil's heroic namesake?
- Ozy And Millie: Millie eventually learns that the dread pirate Locke is her father, even though Merlin Sickness makes him look like he's about her age.
- A variation in The Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob, when Bob first tells Molly that he considers her to be his daughter, even though they are not related.
- Still later, Jean reveals that because Molly shares some of her DNA, Jean is her mommy, "just a little bit."
- Revolver Ocelot tells this to Psycho Mantis at one point in The Last Days Of Foxhound. Mantis, having killed his father at the age of eight, states that he isn't. Ocelot concedes the point since the only reason he said it was to rip up in Mantis' old wounds.
- In Drowtales, Jer'Kol tells Ariel he is her father, but it turns out he is really an assasin sent to kill her!
- Questionable Content references it in this strip.
- In Looking for Group, when Richard is in the demonic court on the Plane of Suck, he is asked why he travels with Cale. He responds with a mumbled "He's my mother." This gets a "What?" reaction from everyone in the room, including Richard. Probably just a joke, though. But they said that about the rabbit, too, so...
- Subverted in the Dan and Mabs Furry Adventures side-comic Abel's Story, in which Abel grows up believing Cid Rewanz is his father, when in fact Cid was killed and replaced with the Incubus Aniz years before Abel was born.
Web Original
- In "AVGN vs NC", the Nostalgia Critic tries pulling this on the Nerd. It fails.
NC: Wait! Would you do this to your brother?
AVGN: Brother? You're my brother?
NC: Yeah!
AVGN: Huh. Well, certainly you know the name of our mother.
NC: Um... I don't know... Elyssa... (Nerd points Super Scope at Critic) Oh, blame a guy for trying!
- In the Legion of Net.Heroes title Dvandom Force, .Sig Lad is revealed to have been the son of Mr. Thingy and the !Visible Woman of the Net.tastic Nine, who was dosed with an unstable form of the Super-Molder Serum, and who managed to escape the Retcon Limbo where the rest of the Nine had been sent through the Dvandom Dial.... No, seriously.
Western Animation
- Kids Next Door: Number 1 learns in The Movie that the Big Bad Father is his uncle. Inverted in the same movie with the Delightful Children, who it's revealed aren't actually Father's children but former KND operatives whom he kidnapped and Brainwashed.
- Also, kind of inverted in that Numbuh Zero, who we haven't seen before, is Nigel's dad, who we have.
- Avatar The Last Airbender: In "The Avatar and the Firelord", it is revealed that Avatar Roku, Aang's spiritual predecessor, was the great-grandfather of Prince Zuko, making Aang Zuko's great-grandfather in spirit, if not in body. Did we mention that Mark Hamill voices Zuko's father? Cue run-in-the-family memes.
- He Man And The Masters Of The Universe: in the original series episode "Teela's Quest", the titular Hot Amazon finds out that she's the daughter of the Sorceress. Her mommy gave her Easy Amnesia, though, since Teela was NOT supposed to find out. This would've been true in the 2002 remake, but without the amnesia, had the show continued. Oh, we would've also learned that Fisto was Teela's biological father. For some reason, a couple of episodes seemed to hint that it was Duncan a.k.a. Man-At-Arms (who happens to be Fisto's brother and Teela's adoptive father) instead.
- Some time after the end of the original animated series, the minicomic The Search for Keldor dropped hints that Skeletor is really King Randor's long-lost brother Keldor, making him Adam/He-Man's uncle. In the 2002 remake, Skeletor was originally named Keldor, but there is no indication that he is related to Randor.
- While never stated in the show, the writers have since revealed that Keldor was intended to be Randor's half-brother. Same father, different mothers.
- Justice League Unlimited pulls this off twice, using Batman Beyond both times. In the episode "The Once and Future Thing", it's revealed that Warhawk, assumed to be the Legacy Character of Hawkman, is (or will be) in fact the son of Hawkgirl and Green Lantern John Stewart. "Epilogue", the Fully Absorbed Finale of Batman Beyond, reveals that Bruce Wayne was Terry Mc Ginnis' genetic father. Warren Mc Ginnis' reproductive DNA had been overwritten with Bruce's as part of Amanda Waller's Batman Beyond project.
- Code Lyoko: Revealed just before the Season 2 finale that Franz Hopper, creator of Lyoko, is actually Aelita's father. This also reveals that she is human, and not an AI as everyone originally thought.
- Parodied in Teen Titans. In the first episode of the fourth season, Control Freak enters a Star Wars-esque TV show, kicks the Darth Vader lookalike and approached the Luke lookalike with saying, "I am Count Rol Freakow, the twelfth-level space samurai that trained Baran Rang. And... I am your father!". Followed by the typical "NOOOOOOO!!!!"
- Parodied in Dexter's Laboratory:
Dad: Dexter, I'd like to have a little word with you.
Dexter: Oh, and what would that be?
Dad: (coming out of the shadows) Dexter, I am your father!
Dexter: NOOOOO! That Cannot Be True!... Oh, No wait, that's right.
::And Also:
- Hades tries to do this with Wonder Woman during an episode of Justice League Unlimited, with a twist that he had to resort to a technicality when WW pointed out her origin story doesn't allow her to have a father (she was sculpted of clay and made flesh by the breath of her mother, Hippolyte, instead of born; Hades claimed he was there during the sculpting, but not the life-granting).
- Parodied in The Venture Brothers, quoted above.
- However, fans are forming Epileptic Trees that it will be played straight in season three when Brock Samson, not the Monarch, is revealed to be Hank's real father. There's only vague evidence that this is true, but it would explain why Brock is so attached to the Ventures and calls them "his family," and why Dr. Venture is grooming only Dean to follow in his footsteps as a super-scientist.
- Ahem, a recent flashback episode appears to debunk this, as Brock appears to be assigned to Operation Rusty's Blanket after Hank has already been born. So, the true origin of the boys may be what we've been told all along, the creations of Dr. Venture and Crazy Cat Lady.
- This Troper can't believe no one else is counting the episodes until the Monarch is revealed to be some sort of relation to Dr.Venture. Given that we still don't know why he is so determined to destroy him (it's explicitly implied that the destruction of Venture is the only reason The Monarch became a super-villain in the first place) Not to mention the fact that they look EXACTLY alike. Including same hair colour.
- Evil Emperor Zurg pulled this during a climactic fight scene with the titular character in an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star command. Quite possibly to give a Shout Out to the Toy Story 2 movie (Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is a show within a show that got turned into a show. It gets a little headscratch-ey, but the above mention is canon because of this show, which is the derivative work and... yeah, just yeah.).
- In X Men Evolution (and also in the comics, but done with considerably less drama, as this troper remembers) Nightcrawler is lured out to a construction site with a mysterious note that promises that "everything will be explained". A hooded figure comes out of the shadows (actually, since it is early evening, there aren't many shadows to speak of, so they obviously added this in for dramatic effect) and, after making Nightcrawler squirm in confusion and anticipation for about thirty seconds, throws her hood off to reveal Mystique, Magneto's Evil Chancellor of sorts and says, "Kurt, I'm your mother." (This troper, though having not previously known this fact, was driven to hysterical laughter due to the similarities between this scene and the Trope Namer.)
- The original 90s cartoon also did this with Nightcrawler and Mystique, but with the added twist that Big Bad leader of the Friends of Humanity Grayden Creed, Jr. (who was already exposed in an earlier episode as being Sabertooth's son) was Mystique's son and Nightcrawler's brother.
- X-Men scribe Chris Claremont originally intended Mystique to be Nightcrawler's father — she's apparently a really good shapeshifter — but Executive Meddling derailed those plans.
- Thank God.
- Parodied in The Fairly Odd Parents in a "copyright-infringing dream sequence":
Timmy: Hey! You cut off my hand! I've only got two of those!
Darth Vader-like: Don't worry, you get a new one. A really cool robot one!
Timmy: How do you know all this?
Darth Vader-like: Because, Timmy, I am your father. (removes mask to reveal himself as Cosmo)
Cosmo: Your godfather!
- Parodied in Freakazoid, in the episode "The Wrath of Guitierrez". During the climax of the episode, Guitierrez is knocked off a platform and hangs dangling over an abyss, and cries for Freakazoid to pull him up.
Guitierrez: Freakazoid, help me! Would you let your father fall? Freakazoid: My father? You're my father?! Guitierrez: (glances confused at camera) O-oh yes. I am your father! Freakazoid: (goes to help him, stops) W-who was my mother? Guitierrez: Uhh... Faye Dunaway? Freakazoid: (crosses arms) No she's not... Guitierrez: Kaye Ballard? Freakazoid: Kaye—nooo. Guitierrez: Would you believe Sandy Duncan?
- Moral Orel: The episode "Dumb" shows that Nurse Bendy is Joe's mother.
- Happens in Futurama DVD movie Bender's Game, the parties being Farnsworth and Igner, the stupidest of Mom's three sons.
- Parodied in Teamo Supremo when Skate Lad corners the CheapSkate.
CheapSkate: You can't turn me in, Skate Lad.
Skate Lad: Give me one good reason.
CheapSkate: Well, um, because, uh... Skate Lad, I am your father.
Skate Lad: Huh?! No you're not; my dad works down at the sporting goods store. I look just like him, loser!
- The final episode of The Replacements reveals that Conrad Fleem is Todd and Riley's uncle.
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