Missing Mom - Television Tropes & Idioms

Cowboy Bebop: Radical Edward/Françoise has no mother. She's nearly a case of Parental Abandonment as well, because her father forgot her in an orphanage for several years, and seems not entirely sure his child is a girl, or what her name is.
- Which is why it's so sad when she leaves the Bebop, because Jet was far better a father for her than her real dad.
Very common in Naruto: the title character's mother Kushina Uzumaki is nowhere to be found, she was never even mentioned until very late in the series. The popular fan theory being she is still alive, though probably she dies in childbirth. He shares her surname, though.
- Also, Lots of characters like Neji, Hinata, Shino, etc., are shown to have fathers but no mothers.
Although much ado is made about the whereabouts of Negi's father in Mahou Sensei Negima, no mention is ever made of his mother.
- Similarly, of the students whose parents are shown, only their fathers are seen: Konoka's is not mentioned, while Yuuna's is dead.
  - The few most recent manga chapters have Negi starting to theorize on who his mother is. There's at least one very strong-looking candidate right now.
  - One of the most recent chapters has Negi straight out asking who his mother is. The person refused to answer.
  - Chapter 252 seems to have confirmed that Princess Arika of Old Ostia is Negi's mother, although the source of the confirmation isn't exactly trustworthy.
  - It also turns out that there's a decent reason that no one told Negi who his mother is: a Government Conspiracy framed her for genocide, and tried to have her executed, and now they might be targeting Negi. Who was safely hidden until he started poking around, looking for information about his parents...
  - Rakan confirms it again in chapter 258.
Fullmetal Alchemist has a few examples.
- The Elric brothers' mother, Trisha, is dead, so both boys tried to rectify the Missing Mom situation by attempting to bring her back to life through alchemy (with disastrous results), both basically become the parent to the other. Edward is also hostile to the notion of his father.
- Winry Rockbell is raised by her grandmother Pinaco after both parents died during the Ishbal war, though the exact circumstances of their death varies between the manga (killed by Scar) and anime (killed by Roy Mustang.)
- Scar's parents are absent in the anime, and are killed by Kimbley when he attacks the area where Scar lives in the manga.
- Riza's mother presuambly died when she was young leaving her with her mentally unstable father.
Brock's mother Lola in Pokémon was said to have left their family (or dead in the American translation), but later returned.
The mother of Subaru and Ginga in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha was an Action Mom who was killed during a secret mission. Her death didn't seem to affect them in a negative way, and they remember her quite fondly. Nanoha is much more notable for missing men, though, Nanoha herself has a father her Triangle Heart 3 Sweet Songs Forever counterpart didn't.
Nadeshiko in Cardcaptor Sakura died when Sakura was three years old. Like in the Nanoha example, there doesn't seem to be any negative repercussions and her presence can still be felt in the series... sometimes literally, since she visits her family every so often as a ghost.
In Lucky Star, Konata's mother died when Konata was very young, forcing her Otaku father to raise her on his own. An episode has her visiting her family as a ghost... which causes much terror for Konata and her father when she secretly joins in on a picture. Hilarity Ensues, in a genuine way.
In Clannad, Tomoya lost his mother when he was young, and the grief caused his father to become an alcoholic bum in the process.
Ranma ½ has a boatload of missing mothers:
- The Tendō sisters' mother died when they were little, which especially affected Akane (and apparently Nabiki in the manga); Kasumi got a Promotion To Parent (or at least, homemaker) and Soūn appears to have never gotten over it. (The Tendōs' ongoing grief is played remarkably straight for a comedy series,)
- Ranma left to train with his father at such a very young age that until his Hot Shounen Mom Nodoka showed up to visit he'd forgotten he ever had one.
- Shampoo's father was seen a time or two in the manga, but never her mother, and she is otherwise raised by her great-grandmother.
- Both of Ryōga Hibiki's parents are never around due to an improbably bad sense of direction and we never meet them. Different from the Ranma ½ norm because they're all alive and aware of the others' existence and would spend more time together under better circumstances.
- Mousse's mother is never mentioned in the manga and only briefly in the anime.
- The Kunō siblings' mother and Ukyō's mother are never seen or even mentioned.
Inu Yasha has three as well:
- Inu-Yasha himself has a prominent older brother and father, but his mother is rarely mentioned — except as part of his tragic Back Story and as a point of difference between Inu-Yasha and his half-brother. Indeed, Inu-Yasha's mother was a human noblewoman who died when he was a child, while Sesshōmaru's mother is a still-living, full-blooded youkai.
- Miroku's mother is never mentioned, only his father, grandfather, and caretaker, Mushin.
- Sango's mother is likewise rarely (if ever) mentioned, though she apparently had a close relationship with her father and brother.
- Kagome inverts this somewhat with an absent father who died in a car crash when she was a little girl.
In Urusei Yatsura, Ryuunosuke Fujinami is about the only main character with this. Everyone else has a mother, even if they only show up in rare occasions (Sakura's Gonkish mother, Jariten's obsessive firefighter mother, etc) or don't get paid much attention (Shinobu's parents). It's never made clear whether her mother, Masako Fujinami, died in childbirth or if she was driven off by Mr. Fujinami's whacked-out obsession with having a son to carry on the family tea shop. Nobody knows what she looked like- not even the Fujinamis themselves; Mr. Fujinami hired lots of women to pose for pictures with him and baby Ryuunosuke after Masako left, and took so many that even he doesn't remember which of them is Ryuunosuke's real mother and which are fakes.
Neon Genesis Evangelion has every single child (and most of the adults) motherless, even the peripheral schoolmates. We know the story behind the central characters', and we're shown enough to guess the reason (it isn't pretty).
Sho Fukamachi's father in Guyver is a single father; Sho's mother died years before. He does a good job raising Sho and even gets in on the action until he gets turned into a Zoanoid that nearly kills Sho, forcing the catatonic Guyver to kill his own father in one of the most shocking twists in anime.
Let's examine Sailor Moon. Rei and Hotaru both have living fathers and never-seen dead mothers; this is a plot point in the case of the latter. Setsuna may not even have parents, but she's called "Daughter of Cronos" at least once; that's a father, if taken literally, but also no mother. Neither Haruka nor Michiru ever reference parents; although they do have a mysterious benefactor, this is generally theorized to be Setsuna, sometimes jokingly referring to how her ability to see the future could be used in the stock market.
In FLCL, Naota's mother is never mentioned at all. Really, if it weren't for the presence of a grandfather, you'd think he was either adopted or a test tube baby.
- This troper was under the impression that she divorced Kamon when he quit his "real" job in Tokyo to focus on his self-published 'zine, but whether he pieced it together from off-hand comments and hints in the show, read it in a supplemental piece somewhere, or crafted it himself from whole cloth is not immediately clear.
- This troper once read a fanfic in which Naota's mother was Atomsk.
In Code Geass, Lelouch's mother Marianne "The Flash" Lamperouge was murdered in specially messy and suspicious circumstances which also left Lelouch's sister Nunally blinded and crippled. One of Lelouch's leitmotives for his "revolution" is to find out the truth behind Marianne's death.
- Played straight with the never-mentioned variety when it comes to Suzaku's mother, who is never touched upon. His dead father is the main tragic plot-point behind his story.
In two of the three Captain Tsubasa anime series, Roberto Hongo lost his mother very tragically. In Captain Tsubasa J, she abandoned him in a convent to work and later die of illness; in Road to 2002, she was a factory worker who died in a work accident.
- In the WYC manga, Brazilian star player Carlos Santana was abandoned by his mother as a baby, since she was a teenager and couldn't raise him. In the end of the Japanese cup, she actually appears and begs him for forgiveness, and Santana not only hugs her tearfully and accepts, he actually takes her to live with him in Spain to rekindle their relationship.
The whole plot behind the 1000 leagues to find Mother TV series. The melodramatic journey of 11-year-old Marco in search of his estranged mother Anna, who was working in South America, traumatized This Troper and hundreds of other Latin-American 80's children.
Ojamajo Doremi: Aiko Senou lives with her divorced father, the cab driver Kenji; her mother, a nurse named Atsuko, lives in Osaka, and they were estranged for a long time. Apparently, Kenji and Atsuko get back together much later.
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 spent an episode on Urara's deceased mother and how Urara feels about her.
Tenchi Masaki's mother from Tenchi Muyo! Both the first movie and the third OVA series focus on his relationship with her; the OVA deconstructs the trope by revealing that she was kind of a bitch.
- Not exactly a bitch, just a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold — exactly like her mother (and, arguably, most of the series female characters). Also, first movie and third OVA are the separate storylines.
Juri Katou from Digimon Tamers: her biological mother died when she was very young and she never quite got over it, after being told that it was her "destiny" by her father (who also never quite got over it). She has a good-hearted and caring stepmother, but poor Juri is simply too screwed up to connect with the second Mrs. Katou emotionally, despite trying to do so and having no ill will towards her.
In Digimon Savers, Touma's mother was hit by a truck on their way to a summer festival and died. Oddly enough, the mother of Touma's Ill Girl half-sister Relena also died, apparently in childbirth.
In Ouran High School Host Club, Haruhi's mother Kotoko is dead and Tamaki's French mother is currently forbidden from seeing him by his strict grandmother.
In Tokyo Mew Mew, Bu-ling's mother died some time before the start of the show; her father is alive, but she and her younger siblings ended up with full Parental Abandonment because he left to practice martial arts. Zakuro is a case of Parental Abandonment from the start.
- This is only in the anime. In the manga, the only parents ever seen are Ichigo's, who have a bad case of Older Than They Look, while Mint's mom is mentioned, but never seen. Ichigo's parents are seen twice in the series. Adults do not exist practically at all.
In Pretear, Himeno's mother died when Himeno was a child, leading to her being raised by her father alone — as a result, she is pretty good in martial arts, but finds it difficult to behave like a lady, which becomes a problem after her father marries a rich widow with two daughters. (Yes, this plot is from Cinderella; lampshaded in the manga by Yayoi.)
In Blood Plus, Saya and Diva's biological mother is only briefly mentioned, and only appears in corpse form. Though Saya ends up with a replacement or two for their biological father, who is never mentioned in the context of the story (though Diva's chevalier Nathan makes some mysterious comments suggesting that he is their father), neither of the girls ends up with another mother figure (unless you count Julia).
Renton from Eureka 7 has no mother to speak of. In addition, Renton's replacement mother figure and older sister, Diane, is gone by the beginning of the series, which directly and indirectly causes angst for several members of the main cast.
None of the four protagonists from the various Zoids anime have mothers; in fact, their mothers are never mentioned at all. It's particularly notworthy with Van from Chaotic Century/Guardian Force; his father is an oft-mentioned decorated war hero, but his mother's existence is never even hinted at.
Kurosaki Ichigo's mother in Bleach died when he was nine years old, protecting him from a Hollow that she couldn't even see.
- This led to him becoming quite a bit more aloof. Tatsuki notes that, when he was nine, he was a bit of a crybaby and a momma's boy but after his mother's death he became horribly depressed and while he eventually became less depressed, he was a different person.
- While Uryuu's father and grandfather both appeared in the story, his mother wasn't even mentioned.
In G Gundam, Domon's mother Mikino was shot by the government when trying to protect his brother. It's also full Parental Abandonment, since the same incident led to his father being arrested and sentenced to a cryogenic state. Reversed later, when Dr. Kasshu is cleared of his supposed "crimes" (he was framed) and returns: he's shown as a good person who encourages and even helps Domon to fight against the true Big Bad.
- Domon's close friend Chibodee Crocket is also an example. His Hot Shounen Mom disappeared during a riot caused by terrorists dressed as clowns and is strongly hinted to be dead after that. No wonder Chibodee is a sort-of Momas Boy.
In Soul Eater there are a number of these.
- Despite the fact that Maka's parents divorce is mentioned, and Maka's estrangement from her father is a plot point, Maka's mother has yet to appear in the anime.
- This is lampshaded in Death The Kid's case as people point out that his existence implies his father had a wife, but they and the adience have no idea who this is.
  - It does if you assume that Kid's existence came about in the same way a human's does; alternatively, he may simply not have a mother. The Baba Yaga arc has the biggest hint to Kid's origins yet, where it's demonstrated that Shinigami and Kid's souls are connected; Kid's Sanzu Line connection temporarily incapacitates Shinigami.
- Black*Star is a case of Dead Parents, his family was wiped out for being dangerous psychopaths, and he was raised by the school.
- Tsubaki and Soul Eater, by contrast, seem to have practically normal families, albeit ones they don't have much contact with. Even though Soul dislikes his surname, this seems to be down more to his issues with individuality than suggestion of a troubled history with his parents.
Tamaki's mother in Bamboo Blade. The fact that she practiced kendo and taught it to her daughter is a major plot point.
In Kaiba, Popo's mother was separated from him at a young age, saying that they'd be reunited if he became great. This serves as a drive for his efforts to overthrow the government.
A major plot point of the manga Bunny Drop is that the whereabouts of six year-old Rin's mother are unknown. As the series progresses, her guardian Daikichi eventually tracks down and confronts her. Rin's mother, Masako, struggled between taking care of Rin and her career as a manga-ka and eventually chose career. Though rather immature, she clearly cares for Rin, as evidenced by her request Rin use Daikichi's surname upon entering school to help cut down on any teasing she may catch from their names being different.
While in the Cutie Honey series both parents are mostly absent, tha father at least is mentiond or drops sometimes (and in Flash, honey has no mother at all, being created by the matter transformer.
Arika's reason for joining Garderobe Academy in Mai-Otome is to find out what happened to her mother. Near the end of the main series, she finds her dead body in a jar.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! Marik's mother died giving birth to him and was raised by his strict father whom he later killed when he became possessed by the Millennium Rod.
In Dragon Ball Z, neither Goku nor Vegeta's mothers are ever brought up or shown, although Goku's may have died in childbirth which may be the reason why his father initially resented him; if not, both are likely to have perished when Frieza blew up their home planet.
Yoshimori Sumimura's mother in Kekkaishi is never seen by the audience properly, not even when she showed up again briefly in the mange (only to leave again immediately).
In One Piece, Luffy's mother hasn't been shown yet and it's unknown whether she's still even alive. Ace reveals that he took his mother's maiden name Portgas as his own since he refuses to acknowledge his father's side of the family and he states that he "owes her a great debt." It's unknown as of yet whether Luffy knows/remembers his mother, especially given his response to hearing about his father was "I have a dad?" But his family has a tendency to pop out of the woodwork at the most unexpected times.
- In an SBS Oda stated she's probably alive, but he hasn't decided if she'll actually make an appearance.
- In a more traditional case, Robin's mother Olvia left Robin as a young child to go and continue her late husband's work in archeology. Robin is only given a brief time to reunite with her long-lost mother before all the archeologists are killed in a Buster Call by the World Government.
- Ace's mother, Portgas D. Rouge, was introduced in the story immediately prior to Ace's execution. There it was revealed that to prevent Ace from being found by the government (who sought him out because of his father), Rouge managed to delay giving birth and remained pregnant for twenty months to protect her son. An act that ultimately killed her.
- Other Straw Hats hit by the Missing Mom are Usopp and Nami. The death of Usopp's mother by illness started him on his tendency for lying. Nami's mother sacrificed herself to save her and her sister Nojiko.
Fruits Basket just... Fruits Basket...
They have yet to mention it in the anime of Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, but the reason no one's seen Battler in such a long time is because he left his family after his mother died six years ago. Kyrie's his stepmother.
Kotoko's mother is dead at the start of Itazura Na Kiss and she lives with just her father — until they lose their home, and she gets sort of adopted/taken over by Naoki's mother.

Close Anime & Manga

Cassandra Cain's mother passed her to her father literally at birth, who in turn shot the midwife dead and took the infant to be trained as the ultimate assassin in isolation from spoken language. Given that said mother became known as Lady Shiva, it is hard to imagine that her influence would have helped... and the kid seemed to have turned out emotionally together enough to run away from home rather than kill... again.
Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, was raised entirely by his father (this turned into Parental Abandonment when the guy was murdered in the first issue of Matt's series). His mother went completely unmentioned for over twenty years before finally showing up out of the blue; turns out that she abandoned her child to become a nun.
- Darkdevil, Daredevil's Legacy Character in Spider-Girl, also has a missing mom and a dead dad. It's implied that Mom is still in jail for killing her abusive father. At least, that's what Darkdevil hopes.
In The DCU, Roy Harper once broke an illusory world by asking about his mother — she's so comprehensively missing that the illusion couldn't summon anything from his mind to fill in the details.
Rogue's biological mother Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence when Rogue was a small child, leaving her traumatized and in the care of her strict aunt.
Peppermint Patty from Peanuts is raised only by her father, and it's hinted that her mom is dead.
The children in Baldo are cared for by their father and great-aunt, after having lost their mother in a car accident.
Brian Fies' Whatever happened to the World of Tomorrow is more about the world at large than the unnamed main characters, but the fact that the son's mother is never ever mentioned stands out like a sore thumb when it's heavily implied his father is serving in WWII - so who is taking care of the teenaged or pre-teen kid?

Close Comics

The mothers of the title characters of Snow White and Cinderella have no role other than dying to leave their respective daughter to nasty step-mothers.

Close Fairy Tales

Armageddon begins with a Missing Mom as Harry Tasker raises his daughter Grace with a bunch of oil rig roughnecks, but it turns to an adult-onset Parental Abandonment as Harry dies saving the earth from a giant meteor the size of Texas. We find out from Grace that mom left.
Disney Animated Canon movies are rife with this trope:
- Aladdin: The Sultan's wife is only mentioned once: she's dead. Even more directly, Aladdin's mother, who appears in the original story, was going to be in the movie as well, but was dropped early on. In the third movie he mentions that his mother died when he was a kid.
- Two Words: Bambi's mom.
- Beauty and the Beast: No mention of what happened to Maurice's wife. Not so in the stage musical, which reveals her to be dead and still honoured in the family, but she's still a Missing Mom.
- Cinderella: Mother is dead, hence the stepmother.
- Enchanted: Morgan's mother left. We had the explanation, and it was significant.
- The Goofy Movies and Goof Troop indicate Max Goof's mother is dead.
- The Little Mermaid: No mother for Ariel. No mention of what became of her. (The Little Mermaid III: Ariel's Beginning is set to be about her: she's called Athena.)
- The title character of Pocahontas also has a dead mother and receives a necklace in memory of her. According to Wikipedia, though it's not outright stated in the film, the mother's spirit is the source of the Dramatic Wind that follows the heroine throughout.
- See the Literature section for Peter Pan.
- Meet the Robinsons: Lewis' mother left him in an orphanage. His desire to discover her drives most of the story.
- Pinocchio is a wooden puppet created by Gepetto BEFORE becoming a "real boy". As such, no mom ever existed.
- Snow White is taken care of by her step-mother. It is unclear what happened to her parents.
- Mowgli from The Jungle Book is a feral child raised by... wolves. Since he was found abandoned in a wrecked boat, it can be assumed his parents are dead.
- Penny from The Rescuers is an orphan.
- Quasimodo's mother in The Hunchback of Notre Dame is kicked down a flight of stone stairs and cracks her head open. And all while trying to save her son from Frollo, too. His dad was arrested, so one can assume he's dead.
- Tarzan's mother, and father, are eaten by a leopard. How lovely.
- Kuzco from The Emperors New Groove lacks in the parental department as well.
- The female titular character from Lilo and Stitch lives with her older sister. Apparently their parents died recently, as she remembers things they used to say. Given her explanation ("It was raining, and they went for a drive"), we can assume they died in a car accident.
  - Is it just me, or does Disney have the biggest hard-on for Missing Mom's in the history of EVER?
Ella Enchanted: As a partial send-up of Cinderella, Ella also lost her mother and ended up with an Wicked Stepmother.
Independence Day: Russell Case is raising his kids alone. By a comment he makes, she probably died of a chronic illness, possibly the same one his child suffers from.
Jersey Girl: The title character's mother dies early on in the film.
Sleepless in Seattle: Jonah's mother has died, which prompts him to find his dad a new wife and himself a new mother.
In The Movie version of The Spiderwick Chronicles, the children's mother is a rare case of a Missing Mom who is physically present but absent in the motherly duties thing. She was so fixated on doing everything the way they "agreed" they would in therapy, and refused to discuss anything else. She did get better, though.
Stardust: Tristan Thorn's mother is missing. She's a Distressed Damsel on the other side of the wall. She is a rare example of the type of Missing Mom who is rescued and returns for the Happy Ending.
Juno has this, but the titular character has a stepmother, who she has a pretty close bond with, as the film continues.
The Land Before Time: Both Littlefoot and Cera's mothers are dead, though Cera gets a stepmother several movies later (and a little stepsister).
Obligatory 28 Days Later example: Hannah's mother is deceased, though whether this is before or after the titular period of devastation is unclear. Jim's parents commit suicide together some time before he wakes from his coma, realising somewhat what's happening, and though Jim is an adult this is presumably part of why he bonds so well with the much older Frank.
Underdog: Shoeshine's human family has a Missing Mom. It takes two thirds of the movie before someone mentions she died.
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wonka's father features prominently in flashbacks, but Wonka's mother appears to be absent. Her fate is not explored, however.
In Hancock, Aaron's mother died shortly after his birth, but he has a stepmom who may as well be his mother since she's known him from his infancy.
Repo! The Genetic Opera has Marni, Shilo's mother, who died before the movie began, and the missing mother(s) of the three Largo children.
Let's not forget Finding Nemo: Nemo's mom is missing because she was killed by a barracuda, along with all of Nemo's unhached siblings. This is why his dad, Marlin, is so overprotective.
In Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood must raise his son and daughter alone, trying to atone for his past solely on the memory of his late wife.
Fly Away Home begins with the heroine's mother dying in car crash.
This is the plot of Grace Is Gone. The mother died in Iraq, and the father tries to explain this to kids.
This is Hallie's fate in The Parent Trap.
In Spaceballs, princess Vespa has (naturally) no mother.
The heroine of Whale Rider has no mother.
In The Sound of Music we see a von Trapp family: Father, seven children, and no mother.
In Forward, Gardemarines, one of the heroes is a bastard, whose mother, a poor woman, died in childbirth — and thus his father, a rich count, hates him.
In Hound Dog, Lewellen also has no mother.
Jackie Chan in Drunken Master also seems to have no mother.
Amelie also features a titular heroine who is motherless. Her death is explained at the beginning of the movie.
The child protagonists of Millions lost their mother before the events of the film.
In Kung Fu Panda we again see the titular panda and his father, and no mother. And we don't even get to know what happened to her!
- According to The Art of Kung Fu Panda, the directors originally intended to put Po's mother into the story, but decided in the end that it distracted from the main story and wasn't very interesting. The fact they didn't want to make Po seem special for having a goose father, and that they wanted to play silly buggers with the audience about the Oblivious Adoption may also have had something to do with it.
In The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Bridget's mother is dead, presumably having committed suicide because of mental instability. Her funeral is shown briefly when the characters are introduced. Later, after Bridget gets it on with her soccer coach, she cries and wishes her mom was still alive to talk things over with.
In Batman Begins, while both Bruce's parents die, he spends the rest of the movie obsessed only with whether or not his father would be proud of him. Mother is not mentioned after her death, and while she does appear on film, she's not cast as a speaking part.

Close Films

The title character of Peter Pan is a runaway, but when he gets Wendy and her brothers to come with him to Neverland, he tries to fit Wendy into the role of the Missing Mom for the Lost Boys. This is also true in The Movie.
Luna's mother in Harry Potter died when she was 9 years old. She was then raised by her father alone.
- And while we're in the Potter Verse — Lily Potter, anyone?
- Also, at the end of the last book, Teddy Lupin suffers from the trope thanks to his parents' death when he was a baby.
- And Voldemort's mother, of course, who suffered Death By Childbirth. Significantly, she could have saved herself with magic, but was apparently so distraught over her husband's abandonment that she chose to simply leave her son in an orphanage.
- To be fair, this was more a case of her being destitute and heartbroken and running to an orphanage as it was known as a safe place for mothers and children and then dying in childbirth than choosing to leave.
The title character of The Dresden Files lost his mother to Death By Childbirth apparently; it later emerged that she was murdered when she happened to be giving birth. He then became a full Parental Abandonment case when his father died some years later.
Nancy Drew is famously being raised by her attorney father and housekeeper Hannah Grue. Mom died when Nancy was three — presumably too young to remember her, as she's rarely mentioned and never in detail.
In Animorphs, Marco's mom is presumed dead, and his father is torn apart by grief. Initially, Marco was reluctant to get involved in the fight against the Yeerks, knowing that his father would never recover if he died as well. Unfortunately, The Call knew where he lived, and his mother wasn't dead; she was a Controller.
Raoul de Bragelonne grew up without a mother, since he's the result of a one night stand and she left him with his dad as soon as it was convenient. (She had her reasons, but still.)
In A Song of Ice and Fire Jon Snow is raised in his father's home as a bastard, never being told who his mother is while growing up.
Vlad Taltos of the Dragaera series was raised by his father and his paternal grandfather. He has no memories of his mother, has no idea how old he was when she disappeared and doesn't know if she died or left his father, because his father keeps changing stories and avoiding talking about her altogether.
Brutus in Conn Iggulden's Emperor series was abandoned by his mother after his father died. However they establish some form of relationship once he's an adult.
Elena Bothari-Jesek from Lois McMasterBujold's Vorkosigan Saga stories is an especially tragic case: Miles and Elena go looking for Elena's Missing Mom totally unaware of the Awful Truth that her father raped her mother. And when they finally do find her Mom she rejects Elena as an abomination and shoots her father dead.
- Discussed in the later book A Civil Campaign. In the context of explaining why she doesn't want to marry yet, Kareen Koudelka says:
"Why else do all the stories end when the Count's daughter gets married? Hasn't that ever struck you as a bit sinister? I mean, have you ever read a folk tale where the Princess's mother gets to do anything but die young? I've never been able to figure out if that's supposed to be a warning, or an instruction."
- Ironically, Kareen herself is named after Emperor Gregor's Missing Mom who was killed in a palace coup when he was five.
The heroine in The Secret Life of Bees has what might as well be the type specimen for the realistic fiction subtrope. Her father never speaks of her missing mom, he practically ignores her, and she assumes that mommy must have been amazing.
The heroine of To Kill a Mocking Bird grows up with father (and brother), but her mother is dead.
Éowyn from The Lord of the Rings has apparently lost both parents, but a father figure is present: Théoden. No substitute for mother, though.
- The Director's Cut of the film explicitly confirms that.
- Missing Moms are pervasive in The Lord of the Rings. The closest to having a mother is Arwen (a fairly minor character in the books) who has a living grandmother (Galadriel). Most of the Fellowship have either lost their mothers (Frodo, Sam, Aragorn, Boromir) or they're simply not mentioned (Merry, Pippin, Gimli, Legolas). Gandalf is unique among them in not actually having parents (other than Eru Ilúvatar).
- Fëanor's mother died when he was young; that, and his father's subsequent remarriage, seemed to have unhinged him quite a bit.
In the Alisa Selezneva series by K. Bulychev, Alisa nominally has both parents, but only her father is actually present.
The mothers of the heroines of Jane Austen's Emma and Persuasion are both dead. The hero's mother is also dead in Northanger Abbey, which proves to be a bit of a plot point.
Aly in Trickster's Choice/ Trickster's Queen does actually miss her mom (since they're in completely different countries and she never got a chance to say goodbye) but she used this to stop Sarai and Dove from asking about her mother by saying that her mother left her father when Aly was born.
In Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci story Charmed Life, Cat and Gwendolyn's parents are killed.
In Chris Roberson's Warhammer 40000 Blood Ravens novel Dawn of War II, a Space Marine squad happens on two boys, who are searching for their mother; Sergeant Thaddeus at first thought she had abandoned them, and then realized that she could have been searching for them and been caught in the tyranid attack. When the boys realize that she is almost certainly dead, they are eager for Revenge; Thaddeus tells them to leave the fighting to the Marines, but they might be Blood Ravens one day, and they want to be, so they can fight.

Close Literature

The Brady Bunch: There was a Missing Mom in the Back Story before Mike married Carol.
The Courtship of Eddie's Father: Eddie's mother died, hence the reason for the title.
Diff'rent Strokes: Another dead mother.
Family Affair: Another dead mother.
My Three Sons: Another dead mother.
The Andy Griffith Show: Yet another dead mother.
Sanford and Son: Elizabeth Sanford, who Fred is always claiming he's "coming to join" during his fake heart attacks.
Heroes:
- Hiro Nakamura's mother is absent. We find out she's dead later on, and that it completely shattered Hiro's father. Further, in the novel Saving Charlie, we find out that Kaito being devastated by his wife's loss is why he's so emotionless and hard now. When the adult Hiro gets his memories reverted to that of his 10-year-old self, he visits his dead mother via Time Travel who uses her powers to heal him and give him the MacGuffin.
- Played with in the case of Claire Bennet, who had a Missing Mom and a Disappeared Dad in her Back Story, but she was adopted by HRG and his wife, who love her as if she was their own. Claire now knows who they are, though, and so do any viewers who have seen all of Season 1.
Privileged: Megan and Lily's mother ran out on the family when they were little, sparking the father's alcoholism and Megan's Promotedto Parent status. History repeats itself when Shelby returns, only to con Megan's boyfriend out of quite a significant (to her if not to Will) sum of money and run off once again
Psych: Shawn Spencer's mother is absent, but we find out from a bitter remark on Henry's part that she left.
- In the pilot, when Shawn sees his father for the first time in years, he makes a caustic comment about helping his mother through the divorce.
  - In the season two finale, Shawn opens Henry's front door at the very end and simply says, "Mom." So it looks like she's not so missing after all.
Pushing Daisies:
- Ned: Missing, then back, then gone for good.
- Chuck: Missing... it seems that way, doesn't it? Or maybe not, as Aunt Lily confesses on a holistic drug trip that she's really Chuck's mother.
Starman: We know Jenny Hayden freaked out shortly after birthing her half-alien child and ran off, leaving the title character to Walk The Earth raising his son alone. The show's premise was built on this.
Averted in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Yes, Maria's parents (Alan and Chrissie) are divorced because her Mum ran off with the judo instructor, and yes, Maria lives with her Dad, but Chrissie is a Drop In Character and is only absent in one story: the same one Alan doesn't appear in.
Full House: yet another dead mother. The reason why Jesse (said mother's younger brother) and Joey (Danny's best friend) moved in with the Tanners was to help Danny with the three girls.
- The sitcom the Olsen Twins were in some years after Full House, Two of a Kind, also had a rarely-mentioned dead mother, partially replaced by a recently-hired hip babysitter to take care of the (pre-)teen girly stuff professor dad obviously can't deal with. Several of their earlier movies also have a dead mother. Or so I heard.
A card of narration before the first scene of the short-lived Citizenship Marriage-based sitcom I Married Dora explained that the mother had been on a plane that mysteriously vanished. This editor doesn't recall the exact phrasing, but it was pretty clear even to a child that they were hanging a lampshade on the device.
In the TV series of The Naked Brothers Band, the mother is dead despite the fact that The Movie (which was actually a cute indie film...) had them address the camera operator as "Mom".
The Supernatural boys have another dead mother and if Home and What Is And What Should Never Be are anything to go by, then they still have issues aplenty regarding her.
In the TV western Bonanza, Ben Cartwright has three sons- Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe- by three different wives, and all of the mothers died within a few years of their son's births.
The mother of Veronica Mars ran off before the show began, when Keith lost his job as sheriff. Veronica ends up tracking her mom down and forcing her to enter rehab, and then she returns later in the season to restart her relationship with Keith... only she's still on the booze, so Veronica forces her to leave before she ruins things for Keith again.
In NUMB3RS, Don and Charlie's mom died a few years prior to the show. Definitely a case of adult-onset Missing Mom. Her death is mentioned repeatedly, appropriate given how recently it happened. She makes an appearance in Charlie and Alan's dreams in the season 2 episode Hotshot.
Hannah Montana: Mily and Jackson's mother died a while ago, prompting Miley to become upset with Robby Ray when he wants to go out with another woman.
Young Dracula: Vlad and Ingrid's mother ran off with a werewolf, and Jonathon's mother left because of van Helsing's vampire obsession.
Babylon 5: Ivanova's mother died when she was a child. Garabaldi mentioned that it was just him and his Dad when he described his birthday tradition. Delenn's mother joined a Minbari convent when she was a child. Franklin and Sheridan's mothers were alive, but only their fathers appeared on screen. G'Kar and Londo mention significant memories of their fathers, but not their mothers.
Alias: Sydney's mother is gone and everyone thinks that she died in a car accident. It's later revealed that she was a deep cover Soviet agent sent to spy on Syd's American Spy father and that the car accident happened when she was being pursued by Federal Agents. And she's not dead. It gets more convoluted from there.
One important motive for Shirley Holmes is to solve the mystery of her Mother's disappearance. And she does, eventually.
In Battlestar Galactica, Lee's mother is presumed dead when the Cylons attack.
Star Trek loves this:
- Riker has a father, but no mother.
- Geordi's mother dies in the series.
- As does the mother of Alexander.
- Jake Sisko's mother was killed by the Borg.
- Ezri has a very bad relationship with her mother.
- Kathryn Janeway appears to be raised by her father alone.
- B'Elanna's mother died when she was five.
Lost is famous for the characters having Daddy Issues, but there are some missing Moms to be had, too:
- Walt's mother dies mysteriously just before the crash.
- Locke's mother gives him up for adoption. Later, his foster mother dies.
- Jin's mother, a prostitute, leaves him with one possible father, and only shows up to blackmail his wife after he marries into a wealthy family.
- Sawyer's mother is killed in front of him (by his father) when he's very young.
- Claire leaves Aaron to follow her dead father into the jungle, and intended to give him up for adoption before the plane crashed.
- Kate's mother gives her up to the police, more than once.
- Ben's mother dies in childbirth.
- Shannon's mother is dead, and her stepmother cuts her off after her father dies.
- Claire's mother is in a coma for several years before the crash.
The first two seasons of Round the Twist have this the case for the Twist kids. The circumstances of their mother dying are never mentioned in the series (then again, there likely isn't time with all the weirdness going on).
Willow's mom is alive, but never around. Except that one episode when she tried to burn Willow at the stake, so maybe not such a helpful influence...

Close Live Action TV

In Phantom Of The Opera, both of Christine's parents are dead. However, the father is discussed in great detail; there is even a visit to his ~~grave~~ mausoleum (no mention of how a poor violinist could afford such a freakin' massive tomb) and an I Want Song about it. Christine's mother is never mentioned once.
In the Russian theater play An Ordinary Miracle by E. Shwartz, the mother of the heroine (who is a princess, of course) died when the said princess was "seven minutes old".
- Same in Naked King (again the princess) and The Shadow (both the princess and Annunciata).
In Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (and thus, in film My Fair Lady), Elisa has has no contact at all with her mother.

Close Theater

Both played straight and inverted in Chrono Trigger: Marle's mom died when she was young. But Crono has a missing dad and nothing is mentioned of him. Both of Lucca's parents are alive and well.
- Lucca's mother isn't well. Unless you do the sidequest of course. Blasted time travel.
A lot of main characters in the Fire Emblem series have mothers dead but fathers extant - e.g. Roy, Eirika and Ephraim, Ike, and so forth. (To be fair, their fathers don't languish long, either.)
- Of course, of the main characters, Ike's mother actually has plot significance, including her death. She died while trying to recover Lehran's Medallion from her husband Greil, as the relic turned him into a mindless berserker that slaughtered everything that crossed his path. Of course, by the time he learns of this, his father was already dead.
- Eliwood has the distinction of being the only Fire Emblem lord who's mother is alive, well, and visible.
- The absence of the mothers of Roy and Lilina gets around having to decide upon a canon pairing for either his or her father Lyn, in any of these cases. Ninian or Fiora, in the case of Roy. Florina or Farina, in the case of Lilina..
Kanbei and Sonja, emperor and princess of Yellow Comet in Advance Wars. No mention of Sonja's mother. Heck, Sonja practically has to mother Kanbei sometimes.
In the Half-Life series, Alyx Vance's mother, Azian, died during the Black Mesa Incident, and she was raised by her father, Eli. Eli was clearly devastated by his wife's death, and has a picture of her in whatever space is currently serving as his office. Alyx was very young when Azian died, but she still gets indignant when Big Bad Dr. Breen mentions her.
Don't forget Sonia from Mega Man Star Force, as she lost her mom due to a disease, of course she becomes a famous celebrity to cope with her mom's death.
Final Fantasy X has this one is spades.
- Rikku's mother is never mentioned outside of one unlockable scene, where it is revealed that she was killed years ago by a rampaging machina.
- Seymour Guado, the game's Dragon (or at least The Dragon's Dragon), is parentless, and not entirely by accident. The death of his mother serves as his Freudian Excuse.
- Tidus, lost both his parents in one swoop. When he was a child, his father became one of the disappeared variety, which caused his mother to die of grief. This becomes the source of much angst and whining throughout the first half of the game.
- Yuna's situation is similar, if reversed. Her mother was killed by the Big Bad's monster suit, which prompted her father to go on a suicidal mission to destroy it, and thus make the world a better place for his daughter. This greatly influences Yuna, who follows in his footsteps.
Princess Zelda fits the trope, as she is never seen as having a mother. A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time gave her a father, and she usually has a mother figure in the form of her nursemaid/protector Impa, but never a mother. And Link is never shown as having any parents at all (though he occasionally has other relatives).
- Not completely true. While Link's parents are never shown, the Great Deku Tree mentions in Ocarina of Time that Link was left in Kokiri forest by his mother as she tried to escape a war that ended before the game's beginning. She promptly dies after leaving Link in the GDT's care.
- Link also has a younger sister in Windwaker. Unless she is biologically unrelated, this would imply that WW Link must have known his parents for a short while in his childhood, despite their later absence.
The three kids in Kingdom Hearts appear to have no parents whatsoever. I mean, at the beginning of the game, they're teenagers building a boat to sail away from their island home. Are we just supposed to assume their parents are okay with this?
- Not really correct: The voice of Sora's mother is heard in an early cutscene (she tells him to come down for dinner, and is surprised, when her son doesn't answer). And Riku mentions that he's willing to abandon his parents and home for traveling the worlds. Kairi is a true orphan, since she is living with the mayor (also mentioned in one cutscene). It's implied that the heartless or Xehanort killed her parents, when they took over Radiant Garden. Sora and Riku just don't seem to care about their parents a lot, maybe they don't really like them. Another thing is Roxas' fake life in Twillight Town: he is seen living in a small flat, but no parents whatsoever. Seriously: A 15-year-old boy, still going to school, living ALL ALONE? Pretty suspicous. DiZ should have programmed him a set of virtual parents at least, or made one of the shop-owners his mother... but that would have resulted in Sora having to cry randomly every time he goes shopping in Twilight Town... (Oh, I can imagine it: Sora: "Buhuhuhu..... 15 Potion....huuhuhu....PLEASE!!!! ...Mam... and... I love you." Shop-owner: "Do I know you... kid?")
Mia and Maya's mother, Misty Fey, in the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney games. Dissapeared after the DL-6 incident, leaving Maya and Mia alone. She was ultimately killed in the last case of Trials&Tribulations, while trying to protect poor Maya from a trap prepared by Misty's sister, Morgan..
- Pearl's mother, Morgan, becomes a Missing Mom after being imprisoned in the second case of Justice for All. She's also the mother of the Yandere Dahlia and the Yamato Nadeshiko Iris.
  - From the same series, although their respective fathers are key characters to the plot and Back Story, neither Franziska's nor Edgeworth's mothers are ever even mentioned. The fandom's explanation for this is that they're either dead or were not connected to law.
Aside from the eponymous protagonist of Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army, whose past has no details (probably on purpose), Kaya Daidouji, the game's Distressed Damsel has an established (though offscreen and dying) father and an uncle, but no mention of her mother is ever made.
Lloyd Irving of Tales of Symphonia's mother was turned into a monster and died long ago, killed by Kratos, who turns out to be Lloyd's birth father. It was because of the aforementioned "turned into a monster" thing, a mercy killing/protecting Lloyd from the rampaging monster.
In Mother3, Hinawa, Lucas's mom, is found dead midway through the first chapter with a Drago fang through her heart.
Amelia Croft in the Tomb Raider: Legend arc. At the end of Underworld, Lara finds that her mom is now a zombie.
Throughout Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser Jr. went after Mario under the belief that Princess Peach is his mother (raising some...rather Unfortunate Implications). At the end of the game, Bowser tries to tell his son something about Princess Peach, but Junior beats him to the punch: "I know, she's not really my mama." He then drops the issue and focuses on his desire to fight Mario again.

Close Video Games

Ash, from Misfile, initialy has no contact with his mother. After a Gender Bender caused by a filing accident made by a pot-smoking angel, Ash's mother is back in the picture, although Ash's parents remain divorced.
Fiona's mom has been dead for many years at the start of Yu Me Dream.
Requisite El Goonish Shive example: Tedd's Mother left when he was little and is presently "somewhere in Europe", leaving poor Tedd with some serious abandonment issues.
- Serious issues.
Sam(antha) from Cheer, implied to be Death By Childbirth.

Close Web Comics

Both Generator and Heyoka, in the Whateley Universe. Generator's mom died when she was 11, and Generator hasn't physically aged since then.

Close Web Original

Avatar the Last Airbender could practically have its own entry!
- Aang had Monk Gyatso as father figure (and has the spirit of Roku, plus King Bumi as current day father figures), but there was no indication of a mother in his Back Story to date.
  - During the opening of his fourth chakra in "The Guru", Aang confronts his guilt about abandoning his people a century before and there is a woman◊ shown sitting to the right of Monk Gyatso. She doesn't look like Avatar Yengchen◊, so most fans who noticed it assume she is in fact Aang's mother.
- Katara and Sokka begin with a Missing Mom, but end up as a Parental Abandonment case as their father leaves to fight the Fire Nation, leaving Gran-Gran Kanna to raise them instead.
- Toph is a forced inversion. Her parents were both present, but emotionally and supportively absent. They were overprotective to the point of the outside world not knowing that Toph existed. And they left her caretaking to servants, so they never realized until the Avatar showed up that she was a master earthbender. Upon finding this out, seeing that their child was not only not helpless but able to hold her own against much bigger, older and seemingly stronger opponents, Mr. Bei Fong reacted by tightening the yoke of overprotectiveness. His wife did nothing but go along with it, which resulted in Toph abandoning them and running away.
- Teo, the son of the Mad Scientist occupying the Northern Air Temple is also missing his mother, killed in the same natural disaster that left him a paraplegic.
- Zuko and Azula are a variant on the theme, because although their mother Princess Ursa left, Azula fits the trope played straight, as Lord Ozai's favored child. Ozai disfigured and banished Zuko, leaving him to be raised by surrogate father figure Iroh.
  - Let's be fair here: Ursa didn't leave exactly, she was exiled for saving Zuko's life.
- Jet is a straight Parental Abandonment case, and this would appear to be the case for his entire treehouse-dwelling group of freedom fighters.
- Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe had a mother once: we see her in Flash Back. By the time Team Avatar arrives at the North Pole, though, she is nowhere to be found.
- Iroh's wife, the mother of his son Lu Ten is never mentioned. But it's a safe assumption she's dead as Lu Ten's death is regarded as the end of Iroh's bloodline.
Jonny Quest's mother is absent, presumably dead.
- One of the movies indicated she was killed by Dr. Zin, although it has since been filed under the Canon Dis Continuity heading.
  - According to comic-book side story (drawn and written by Wendy Pini of Elf Quest fame back in the mid 80s) she died of illness (presumably cancer).
- Whereas Jessie Bannon's mother, Jezebel Jade, is alive and well. And named Jezebel.
Legend of the Dragon: Played with, as the twins Ang and Ling are a Parental Abandonment case. Both parents are dead, and they end up being raised by Master Chin. It then turns out that their mother, believed dead, is alive with a case of amnesia. And finally, inverted, because the twins' father really is dead.
Oban Star Racers: Eva goes from a kid with a Missing Mom to a complete Parental Abandonment case as Don Wei abandons her to boarding school after the death of her mother. The series ends with a revert back to Missing Mom as Don Wei realizes Molly is his child and tries to do better as a father.
The Powerpuff Girls is an example that's pretty extreme. Their Missing Mom doesn't exist. No woman necessary! Professor Utonium mixed them up out of pure phlebotinum.
- The Rowdy Ruff Boys are the identical example. No woman necessary! Mojo Jojo, lacking Chemical X, made his phlebotinum out of... more mundane and disgusting substances.
- If you interpret it differently, it could be argued that their mother is Mojo Jojo.
Rocket Power: The first Mrs. Raymundo Rocket was finally revealed to have died in one of their telemovies very late in the run. Ray re-married, but the series ended practically immediately afterwards (as in, there was one full regular episode with the new wife as stepmom).
Rugrats: Chuckie's birth mother died of illness, so Chaz's second wife Kira kinda becomes his surrogate mom.
The Simpsons: Homer's mother left to become a political activist, and was on the run from the law until the events of the 19th season episode "Mona Leaves-A", which killed her off.
Averted. with Sari Sumdac of Transformers Animated. It looks at first like she has one of these, but it later turns out that she's a Half Human Hybrid Robot Girl, part human and part Cybertronian. The human part comes from the male Isaac Sumdac, and the cybertronian part doesn't come from gender-based sexual reproduction, so no female was actually involved in her production.
Ben 10: In both the original and Alien Force shows, Ben's mother generally does not appear. In Race Against Time, the Live Action Movie, she actually appears full body. We see her hands washing dishes in Ben 10 Alien Force, but other than that, she's mostly absent.
- We see more than her hands. We see the rest of her when she and her husband found out about Ben going alien.
Code Lyoko has two. Antea Hopper, Aelita's mother, was kidnapped by the "Men in Black" some time before the series timeline. Her fate remains uncertain. Sissi's mother is never seen or mentioned at all.
In The Venture Brothers, the mother of Hank and Dean was unknown until the second season when it was revealed that it might be Myra Brandish, Dr. Venture's former bodyguard who fell in love with him and went insane.
In Darkwing Duck Gosalyn is adopted by only a father (who is Darkwing).
Inspector Gadget has a niece for whom he seems to be the only relative.
Just about everyone of the kids you see in Danny Phantom has shown to have two parents. Everyone except Valerie. She is the exception; her mother is never mentioned nor seen.
- She either died, divorced, or even abandoned them.
In Tom and Jerry, Spike the bulldog has a son but his mate is nowhere to be seen.
Pretty much everyone in Defenders of the Earth — King Features' answer to the JLA that teams up Flash Gordon, the Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and his sidekick Lothar along with their children Rick, Jedda, K'Shin & Lothar Jr — suffered from this. Rick is orphaned in the very first episode when his mother, assumed to be but never named as Dale Arden, dies resisting Ming's mind probes. Though they somehow manage to rescue her essence to power the Defenders' super computer, she is never mentioned again nor are Flash or Rick ever shown interacting with the computer as though it held emotional value for them. Jedda's mother is never mentioned at all, nor is LJ's (though one might presume that the absent women were Diana and Karma, their father's respective lovers from the source comics), while K'Shin was an orphan adopted by Mandrake.
There's actually quite a few on The Fairly Oddparents. Wanda, Chester, Wendell (Dr. Bender's son), and Trixie have no mothers onscreen despite their fathers appearing. Trixie mentioned her mother in her first apperance, but she has never appeared on screen, even when all the parents in Dimmsdale meet, leading some fans to believe this was a Ret Con.
The mother of the protagonists of Street Sharks is never seen and her absence is hardly mentioned at all. All that is known is that she gave their father a watch for his birthday, which he valued greatly (implying that she was dead).
Kid Vs Kat: Coop & Molly Burtonburger's Mother is never seen or heard of, it is most likely that she is dead or divorced
On Invader Zim, Dib and Gaz have a father, world-famous scientist Professor Membrane, but no mother is ever mentioned.
- Word Of God says that before the show was cancelled, the creators were considering an episode where Dib finds out he is an Artificial Human, which may indicate he has no mother. Where Gaz is supposed to have come from in this scenario is unknown. The fandom seems fairly divided on the issue; some give them a mother (often a dead Mary Sue), some make them experiments, and some try to reconcile the two theories.
On Phineas And Ferb, no explanation is ever given for what happened to Ferb's biological mother (or Phineas and Candace's biological father, for that matter). Their happy blended family makes this something of a non-issue, however.

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