Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Satellite Family Member

Go To

A satellite family member is a minor character whose purpose within the story revolves around their familial connection to another, more important character. The satellite family member serves to characterize their relative and in some cases motivate their actions. Their impact on the story can be major or minor, but regardless it is entirely dependent on their relationship to the central character. This central character is typically the protagonist, but may also be the deuteragonist, antagonist, or another major supporting character.

Oftentimes, writers will give the central character a family to depict them as family-oriented, making that character more likable or relatable to the audience. It is also very common for a satellite family member to be harmed or placed in peril to invoke angst in the central character, spur them into a rescue mission, or motivate them to get revenge. A dysfunctional relationship with a satellite family member may be used as a Freudian Excuse for the central character. If the central character is a villain, they can be shown treating their family member well to humanize them or treating their family member badly to make them look worse.

As a consequence of not having their own arcs and depending on the central character for their relevance to the story, satellite family members normally won't have much in the way of a personality or notable traits. However, this is not the case for all satellite family members. If they do have interesting characterization, it will be in service of the central character's story. The satellite family member's characterization can be used to explain something about the central character, such as a protagonist's parents being portrayed as overly strict to explain why the protagonist rebels against authority figures. If the satellite family member has a special skill but all they do is teach that skill to the central character so they can use it later on, that would be another instance of this trope.

Sub-Trope of Satellite Character and Sister Trope of Satellite Love Interest. If the character is a parent, this could overlap with Unnamed Parent. See also Death by Origin Story when the death of the satellite family member serves as an integral event for the central character to become who they are now. Some of the family members will have small roles with big impacts. Any familial relationship counts, biological or otherwise. This can include instances of Parental Substitute, Like a Son to Me, Honorary Uncle, and Family of Choice.

Examples

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Many of the girlfriends' relatives have made brief appearances or were mentioned in passing. Ones with particular effects on the story include:
    • Shizuka's mother played a major role in her daughter being a Cute Mute through her abusive attempts at getting her to talk like a normal person. She's initially only visible in a brief flashback in Chapter 3, then takes the spotlight in Chapters 134 and 135 when Rentarou confronts her about confiscating Shizuka's phone for using a text-to-speech app to talk.
    • Hakari's father was a terminally ill middle school student with whom Hahari had herself artificially inseminated. His subsequent passing was the main factor in Hahari vying for younger days, and by extension becoming highly protective of her daughter, whom she believed would make the same reckless choices as she did without her guidance.
    • Mei's Abusive Parents disowned her after being crippled by Loan Shark debts, leaving her to wander through the snow until she was rescued by Hahari, who went on to hire her as a maid.
    • Iku's older brother Ikuya was inadvertently responsible for Iku's awakening to masochism.
    • Chiyo's father Hiro did everything in his power to pair up Rentarou and his daughter after Rentarou saved him from a truck as a young boy. Once they get together, he pops up to cheer on whatever Chiyo's doing, push her to be the main girlfriend (much to her irritation), or showcase her role as the responsible child to his immature parent. Her mother disappeared from her life before she met Rentarou, and Chiyo wears her glasses as a Tragic Keepsake.
    • Naddy's parents disowned her after she abandoned her Yamato Nadeshiko lifestyle in favor of that of a reverse Occidental Otaku. They had forced her to behave like a traditional Japanese lady through abusive tactics, which led to her rebelling against them and embracing American culture.
    • Yamame's father looks after his daughter quite well. Her refusal to leave the house after accidentally stepping on a bug led him to hypnotize her to alleviate her feelings of guilt and then teach her to walk on stilts so she could feel more comfortable about working in the garden.
    • Yaku and her deceased husband loved each other very much, and Rentarou finds himself navigating the legacy of that relationship - trying to live up to his example, discovering the secrets he hid, etc.
    • Kishika's parents had busy lifestyles that led to her raising her siblings all on her own. Her childhood responsibilities deprived her of the chance to enjoy being a little girl to the point where she secretly wishes to be pampered by someone else despite publicly presenting herself as a mature and knightly kendo club captain.
    • Mai always wanted to be a maid like her grandmother, the previous head maid at the Hanazono estate, and repeatedly asked her to take her to work. When Mai's grandmother finally let her tag along, seeing Mei at work left a big impression on the young Mai, and she decided to try and be just like her. She holds her grandmother in high regard, and wants to show her that she's improved.
    • Rin's parents did their best to have her avoid encountering any violence from infancy onwards, fearing her love for it would hinder her upbringing (coupled with her father's fear she'd get her heart broken over being an open Nightmare Fetishist). However, she caught a brief glimpse of a Resident Evil film as a young girl which, true to the trope of Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids, had her falling back in love with violence on the quiet.
    • Eira's father is a capoeira instructor who trained his daughter extensively in the art, and as a result she became convinced she could take down anything with a kick, including colds and rivers. When he realized this, he tried to use a Bedsheet Ghost to teach her that there were some things a kick couldn't handle, but instead she developed a phobia of anything that couldn't be kicked. She also has anxieties over her role as Heir to the Dojo.
    • Matsuri met Rentarou while working at her grandparents' yakisoba stand.
  • Asteroid in Love: Ao's unnamed father is only known for having job reassignments every a few years that causes the Manaka family to move rather frequently. This explains Ao's initial separation from Mira, and nearly caused their second separation.
  • Attack on Titan has Eren's mother Carla. Her character's purpose is to galvanize Eren to take revenge and join the Survey Corps through her early death. We don't know much about her except that she was a good mother to Eren and Mikasa.
  • Berserk:
    • Gambino only appears in flashback to show what's like to grow with Abusive Parents and why Guts Hates Being Touched.
    • Casca's parents (and other relatives) are only mentioned as being the ones who sent her work as a castle maid to a nobleman they thought is a decent man. He tried almost immediately to rape her only to be stopped by Griffith.
  • Bleach:
    • Masaki Kurisaki's role consists of showing how much her son Ichigo and her husband Isshin miss her and what impact her death from Yhwach's hands has on her family.
    • Kanae Katagiri's role is to die and show how Poor Communication Kills can ruin a relationship between her son Uryu Ishida and her husband Ryuken Ishida.
    • Soken Ishida's role is to be a teacher to his grandson Uryu and give Kurotsuchi a chance to rub his death in Uryu's face.
    • Orihime's family consists of unnamed Abusive Parents, aunt and uncle and older brother Sora. Their roles: being jerks in parents' case, give Origime money in aunt and uncle's case, and being Cool Big Bro who rescued Orihime from abuse.
    • Yasutora Sado's grandfather Oscar Joaquín de la Rosa and his unnamed parents. Sado's parents died and he was raised by his grandfather until his death. This is where he gets his views.
    • Lampshaded in a very dark way: antagonist Shukuro Tsukishima, whose main power is being a Backstory Invader, replaced Orihime's brother and Sado's grandfather with himself in their memories and their only difference is loyalty to him.
  • Dragon Ball: King Vegeta, is the present Vegeta's ruthless and clever warrior father. He forced his views on him and let Vegeta feel the first taste of humiliation by allowing himself to be treated like a chair by the God of Destruction, Beerus.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood: Dio and Jonathan's parents. While both of their mothers were cases of Deceased Parents Are the Best, Dio's father Dario was an Asshole Victim Jerkass alcoholic who contributed to Dio becoming evil, and Jonathan's father George turned Jonathan into the man he is. George adopting Dio after mistakenly thinking Dario saved his life is what kickstarts the plot.
    • All members of the Zeppeli Family except Will, Ceasar and Gyro. Their role is either exist or tragically die (Will's dad died by being unwillingly turned into a vampire and Caesar's dad died by pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to save a bystander who, unbeknownst to him, is his son).
      • Don't forget about Caesar's siblings, two unnamed brothers and two unnamed sisters. Their father abandoned them and Caesar was eventually separated from them and sent to an orphanage after getting into a fight. That's all. No mention of if they were also in an orphanage, if they also became criminals to survive, nothing.
  • Pretty much all of Nanoha's relatives in the first two seasons of Lyrical Nanoha exist pretty much to establish that the nine-year-old heroine is not living alone. Beyond that their plot relevance is minimal, and once Nanoha grows up and moves out, they stop being mentioned at all outside of supplimental material. In an interesting twist, MGLN was a spinoff of another series centered around her older siblings Kyouya and Miyuki, and in that series, she was the Satellite Family Member.
  • In Magic of Stella, we never see Tamaki's father since he returns home about a weekend per month. This is the reason behind Tamaki's own Electra Complex, as well as her Likes Older Men tendencies.
  • One Piece:
    • Bell-mère's role consists solely of being a good parent to her adopted daughters Nami and Nojiko and dying to set up their backstory.
    • Zeff's role to be a good father figure (and foster father) to Sanji, which Vinsmoke Judge failed to provide due to his It's All About Me mindset. Zeff was a major influence for the type of man Sanji grew up to be.
    • Played for Drama in case of Sanji's mother Sora and brothers. Their role was only being pawns in Judge's own ambitions. Sora wanted to rescue her sons from becoming monsters but succeeded only with Sanji. It's Invoked Trope with Sanji's brothers: he wanted to make them in his own image so they're The Dividual.
  • Pretty Cure:
    • Futari wa Pretty Cure: Taro and Aya Yukishiro are absent most of the time, and when they do appear, it's because the plot is centered on their daughter Honoka.
    • Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star: While Mai's brother Kazuya is a recurring character who gets a few plots, their parents are flat and have few notable traits.
    • Yes! Pretty Cure 5: Minako and Taro Minazuki are traveling musicians who only affect the plot via giving their daughter Karen a love of music.
    • Fresh Pretty Cure!: The only reason Miki's father is mentioned at all is to establish that Miki has divorced parents.
    • HeartCatch Pretty Cure!: Momoka Kurumi primarily exists to show up her sister Erika, while Satsuki Myoudouin's sickly demeanor is a major factor in why his sister Itsuki is a Wholesome Crossdresser.
    • Suite Pretty Cure ♪: Sousuke Minamino's only contribution to the series in inspiring a love of baking in his daughter Kanade.
    • Smile PreCure!: Most of the family members sans Nao's siblings only exist to fill the family roles in the Cures' households. Notably, Akane's father and brother added so little to the story that the Glitter Force dub managed to remove them entirely without a single plot hole arising from their absence.
    • Doki Doki! PreCure: Alice is primarily looked after by her butler, while her parents are so minor that her mother doesn't even have a name.
    • HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!: Yuko’s family, which consists of her parents, grandparents, and sister, run a rice farm (thus making rice Yuko’s favourite food). Other than that, little is known about them.
    • Go! Princess Pretty Cure: Because the series takes place in a boarding school, Haruka, Minami, and Kirara's families have few traits besides being their family members. Haruka's mother Moe in particular has no personality beyond just "Haruka's mother", as she doesn't have a known occupation or hobby.
    • Maho Girls Pretty Cure!: Mirai's parents are unremarkable other than being parents to a Cure, unlike her grandmother who was responsible for bringing Mofurun into the world.
    • KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode: Aoi's parents inspired her love of music, but only make one appearance in the whole show, just to establish that Aoi has parents.
    • HuGtto! Pretty Cure: Emiru's family mostly exist in terms of being "Emiru's dramatic parents", "Emiru's sexist brother", and "Emiru's even-more-sexist grandfather". Overall, the only family member who doesn't just exist to be a Cure's family member is Hugtan, the main mascot of the series who turns out to be Hana's Kid from the Future.
    • Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure: Harukichi and Fuyuki aren't much besides "Hikaru's strict grandfather" and "Madoka's overbearing father", who give their daughters motivations, but aren't much outside of them.
    • Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure: While Nodoka's parents are very involved in her life, Chiyu and Hinata's families are more minor and don't have much going for them outside of being related to the protagonists.
    • Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure: Miyuki and Narumi's characterizations begin and end with "Sango/Minori’s mother".
    • Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure: All four of the Cures' families are primarily just vehicles to get their girls interested in food.
    • Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure: Little is known about Mahiru or Akira Nijigaoka, other than they are Mashiro's parents who are away on a business trip.
  • Twilight's Origins Chapter in SPY×FAMILY shows his unnamed father to be a strict disciplinarian who berated and even beat him in the hopes of toughening him up. This impacts how Twilight parents Anya, as he sees how he was brought up as how not to be a father.
  • Justified with Lulune in 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess. Although she's technically one of the leaders of the Hell-Horde, being the Hell-Lord's wife, she's only ever seen with her daughter, Mao-Mao... but that's not because she's unimportant, it's because she's a housewife.
  • The Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise is filled with many of these:
    • The original Yu-Gi-Oh! series has these with the main trio of Yugi Mutou, Katsuya Jonouchi/Joey Wheeler, and Seto Kaiba.
      • Yugi's grandpa, Sugoroku Mutou, is usually seen with Yugi or his friends, with not much characterization beyond explaining the current game or offering insight about the duel. He also becomes a mentor for Jonouchi when it comes to the Duel Monsters card game. Sugoroku has also been used as a motivator for Yugi twice: the first time is when he became hospitalized due to Kaiba subjecting him to Death T's penalty game. The second time is when Pegasus J. Crawford stole his soul, forcing Yugi to participate in his Duelist Kingdom tournament. The Millennium World arc reveals that he was once an adventuring archaeologist who played plenty of games, which is how he discovered the Millennium Puzzle. After he retired from his adventure, he would give the Puzzle to Yugi, kicking off the events of the entire manga years later. The NAS anime expands on his archaeologist traits, with Filler Arcs and Episodes focused on him and his friend Professor Hawkins. Yugi's mother also makes a few appearances in the manga (she only appears once in the NAS anime) and is characterized as being worried about her son talking to himself (when in actuality he is talking to Yami Yugi). Yugi also has an unnamed father who is away on a business trip according to Kazuki Takahashi.
      • Katsuya Jonouchi/Joey Wheeler has a mom, sister, and dad, who don't get much characterization beyond their relation to him. His father is introduced by him throwing a bottle at the door, with the only features we see of his father being his boots. From there, the readers learn that Jonouchi's parents are divorced, with his father being an alcoholic and gambling addict. It characterizes Jonouchi as the underdog, looking to do anything to help clear up the debts, including doing several part-time jobs or entering a game show to win a million yen. Jonouchi's sister came under his mother's custody after their divorce. Shizuka Kawai/Serenity Wheeler is used as a motivator for him as well, where by the time the Duelist Kingdom arc rolls around, she needs an expensive eye surgery to prevent her from going blind. Jonouchi enters Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom tournament to win the prize money that would be able to pay for the operation. After Duelist Kingdom and during the Battle City arc, Shizuka becomes a Recurring Character, though mainly to support Jonouchi. The NAS anime has her dueling against Big Five member Soichiro Ota/Nezbitt during the Virtual World Filler arc but is seen as an inexperienced duelist whose character revolves around being protected by her brother, or Ryuji Otogi/Duke Devlin and Hiroto Honda/Tristan Taylor's love triangle shenanigans.
      • In the manga, Gozaburo Kaiba is the catalyst that explains why Seto Kaiba is the way he is and not much else. Gozaburo was looking for an heir to his company, with Seto challenging him to a Chess match with the stipulation of adopting him and Mokuba if Seto won, which he did. Gozaburo then raised him through an abusive accelerated learning program, which motivated Seto to overthrow him as KaibaCorp's CEO. Gozaburo then taught him what happens to losers, where he then threw himself out of a window, with Kaiba becoming a cold-hearted and ruthless person himself. The Battle City arc in particular reveals that Seto built the Duel Tower over the remains of his stepfather's military facility, looking to destroy everything he knew about the past and his abusive stepfather, with his victory against Yugi during finals intending to be representative of that.
      • The Virtual World filler arc of the NAS anime reveals that Gozaburo digitized his mind into the same world as his biological son Noah and that he was the orchestrator behind the arc's events. This arc frames his adoption of Seto as finding a proper vessel for his sickly son, though his plans changed so that he could become the true CEO once again. He's defeated by Seto once again in a Duel and is destroyed by a missile that was fired by Noah, which they both perish in. This opens a slight plot hole regarding Seto's reason for defeating Yugi in the Battle City finals above, as he had defeated his Stepfather again in this arc.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX introduces Jun Manjoume/Chazz Princeton's older brothers, who look to control the world with their family's finances and influence, with Jun being poised to do so using Duel Monsters. They however only make these appearances during Jun's character arcs in Season 1, where he is trying to step out of their shadows. After the first season, the antagonistic brothers are never seen again, as Jun grows to become a respected duelist in his own right without needing his family's influence.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Aki Izayoi/Akiza Izinski has a mother and father who are only involved during her initial character arc. Her father, Hideo, is established in her backstory as a senator who is constantly busy with his work and never has time for her, and the one time they do spend time together, she awakens her Psychic Powers that turn her cards real, injuring him in the process. Fearing these powers and not knowing what to do, Hideo and his wife Setsuko send Aki away to Duel Academy. It's a sticking point with Aki and it isn't until much later during the Dark Signer arc that they resolve their issues with each other.

    Comic Strips 
  • Calvin and Hobbes: Calvin's Uncle Max. He was initially conceived as a character whom the family could go visit during summer vacation and have other interactions with, but Bill Waterson quickly realized that dialog between Max and Calvin's parents was extremely awkward due to Calvin's parents not having names. As such, Max disappeared after his first appearance, so the only thing known about him is that he is Calvin's dad's brother.

    Films — Animation 
  • Maurice from Beauty and the Beast is this to his daughter Belle. His kindness and openmindedness explains her being educated despite being a woman, him getting captured by the Beast prompts her to go find him and offer to take his place in the castle, her finding out that he's searching for her at the risk of his own life causes the Beast to formally end her imprisonment so she can go rescue him, Gaston threatening to throw him into an insane asylum for supposedly imagining the Beast leads to Belle revealing the Beast's existence in desperation, and finally, his woodcutting machine frees them from the cellar they're locked in so she can go rescue the Beast from Gaston.
  • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio: Geppetto had a son named Carlo, named after the author of The Adventures of Pinocchio. He got killed by a bombing in a church. Geppetto got depressed by the event and started creating a puppet to make it look like Carlo.
  • Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Not much is known about Big Jack Horner's parents. After they died, they give him a pie factory to inherit and Big Jack became the greedy Manchild we know today.
  • Turning Red: Ping, Helen, Lily, and Chen (collectively called "Mei's Aunties") are critical to the plot because like Mei and Ming, they are female descendants of Sun Yee. As such, they all have red panda spirits sealed inside talismans, which they can (and do) set free in the climax to help save Ming.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Wilbur Wonka, a dentist and father to Willy Wonka. He doesn't want his son to become a chocolatier and Willy decides to run away from home. When Willy came back, he saw that both his father and house were gone. He grew up to be a chocolatier like he always wanted but started distrusting families.
  • In Commando, the bad guys compel Matrix to follow their plan by kidnapping his daughter Jenny. If he doesn't do what they want, they'll kill her. This both motivates him to rescue her and places a time limit on his actions: he has about twelve hours before the bad guys discover he's not following their orders, so he has to rescue Jenny within that timespan.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): In the opening scene, Peter Quill meets his mother who is dying of cancer. His mother tells him that he'll be her Little Star Lord before she died. This causes the tearful Peter to run away from the hospital and his family. He was captured by the Ravagers and grew up to be the space outlaw named "Star-Lord".
  • James and the Giant Peach: In the film version, James had lived with his kind mother and father near the beach. On James' eighth birthday, his parents were planning on going to New York City. But an angry rhino came and killed James' parents, and he was forced to live with his two Aunts, Sponge and Spiker. With the death of his parents and the abuse from his aunts, James wanted to escape from his troubles and go to New York City.
  • Deliberately invoked in Spider-Man: Far From Home, where Mysterio repeatedly alludes to the family he lost when his world was destroyed. Neither the family nor the alternate universe exists; he's actually a disgruntled Stark employee running a massive, elaborate con to get access to SHIELD technology.
  • Star Wars: A New Hope: Luke Skywalker has always lived with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on the desert planet Tatooine. Owen doesn't want Luke to leave and become a pilot; he insists that Luke stay and work on the family moisture farm. When Owen and Beru are both killed by Imperial stormtroopers, Luke has all the motivation he needs to go to Alderaan with Obi-Wan Kenobi and become a Jedi, and join the fight against the Empire that murdered his foster parents.
  • The Terminator: Sarah Connor's mother appears on screen exactly once, by which time she's already dead, killed by the Terminator. But she's critical to the plot: by that point in the film, there's no one else in all the world Sarah would trust with the knowledge of where she is. Sadly, Sarah doesn't know she's talking to the Terminator, not her mother, so she herself unknowingly tells the Terminator how to find her again.
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Eddie Valiant had always solved mysteries with his brother Teddy. During a mission in Toon Town, Teddy was killed by a red-eyed toon by dropping a piano on his head. This unfortunate event had made Eddie into a bitter alcoholic with a hatred for toons.

    Literature 
  • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: Rowdy's father is an abusive father and alcoholic. The abuse he had received from his father made Rowdy into an angry bully. It’s also implied that his mother drank while she was pregnant, resulting in Rowdy having Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
  • Eleanor & Park:
    • Eleanor’s unnamed father only exists to show that he’s a neglectful and oblivious man towards his children and to give Eleanor an opportunity to bond with Park over the phone in private when he hires her to babysit his soon-to-be stepson.
    • Eleanor’s youngest brother Little Richie only exists to give her mother a reason to not leave her abusive husband Richie. He doesn’t get any lines or personality and appears to act younger than two years old.
  • Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte: The late August Riefenstahl, who is Lieselotte's uncle, Bruno's older brother, Elizabeth Marschner's fiance, and Fiene's father is only referred to in the novels (the Animated Adaptation however gave him speaking lines). Fiene grew up as a commoner as the indirect result of him being Delicate and Sickly. At the time Elizabeth could marry him, he was already dying, so her parents issued a Parental Marriage Veto despite the two were completely in love with each other. Fiene was conceived when they decided to consummated their relationship nonetheless. As a result, Elizabeth (and Fiene) had been on the run for the past 15 years, owing to the Marschners considering that scandalous and are completely willing to kill both of them.
  • Harry Potter:
    • Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley are the eponymous character's horribly abusive uncle, aunt, and cousin who only appear when he isn't in the Wizarding World. Their mistreatment of Harry makes him a tragic and sympathetic figure. The cruel, stupid, and spoiled Dudley is used as a Foil to Harry, making the latter appear more kind, intelligent, and humble by comparison. In later books Dudley and Petunia receive a little more characterization beyond being "Harry's awful relatives", but this is not explored with much depth.
    • Exaggerated with Marge Dursley, Dudley's wife and kids, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione's kids except Albus because they're satellite family members to satellite family members. Marge exists solely to show that even worse people than the Dursleys exist. Vernon at least has some sympathetic traits (he's a Happily Married and a Doting Parent to Dudley) and a Freudian Excuse for why he hates magic and Harry (James constantly teased him about his wealth) while Marge's only traits are that she's Super Gullible, Locked Out of the Loop, even more cruel and jerkish (to the level of Card-Carrying Jerkass) than Vernon, and Hates Everyone Equally (it's implied that she hates even Vernon and Dudley, her only blood relatives). Dudley's future relatives only show how much he changed and tries to be The Atoner to Harry (they even have no given names) while all the kids in Weasley Bloodline (except Albus) is to show that Harry is a Kid Hero All Grown-Up (and Rose Weasley's role to be Albus' best friend and Foil to his years at Hogwarts).
    • Nothing is said of Hermione's parents apart from the fact they are muggle dentists and accept her being a witch. At the beginning of the seventh book, Hermione erases their memories of her and sends them to Australia to keep them safe, demonstrating how dire the situation has become and how desperate she is to protect them.
  • My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!:
  • My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected: Of all the Satellite Characters of the light novel, the most remarkable (or discardable, depending on the reader/viewer) are the parents of Hikigaya siblings (Hachiman and Komachi), who never showed up in all the series and both suffering Parental Abandonment, making Hachiman a Parental Substitute for his sister. Maybe their mother appeared a bit in the series but only in the light novel, she's absent (literally) in the anime.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Birds of a Feather: Ralph is Tracey's second husband, who she married after she divorced Darryl, and he is used to provide a reason as to why Sharon isn't living with Tracey by the time of the revival. However, he gets no characterization outside of the fact that he's a Gold Digger and he both gets no physical appearances or is even mentioned after the first episode of the revival.
  • The Brittas Empire:
    • Emily and Jessica are Carole's two young twin daughters. They are born at the end of Series 2 both to stir up paternity drama for Carole, who doesn't know who their father is, and to stir up drama for Brittas, who unbeknownst to them, is the actual father of the twins. However, aside from the implication in Series 6 that they are becoming somewhat bratty, they get little characterization and barely appear on-screen. Their actual personality is so little that Jessica used to be a boy called Tom before being retconned in Series 5.
    • Brittas has five children, three of which (Jonathan, Tom, and an unnamed third) are from his wife Helen's previous marriages and the other two (Matthew and Mark) being twins born at the end of Series 3. The twins are used to set up the plots of "The Christening" (which had Helen misplace them) and "We All Fall Down" (where they fail to be picked for a nappy commercial, causing Helen to take drastic action). Meanwhile, Jonathan's relations with his teachers is used to set up Helen's subplots in "The Old, Old Story" and "Brussels Calling". However, none of the children get much characterization aside from their implication that Jonathan might be a Dumbass Teenage Son and that Tom has a poor relationship with his stepfather — the stepchildren only have a brief appearance from afar in "Laying the Foundations", whilst the twins aren't seen on-screen after "The Christening". They are so unimportant otherwise that one of the stepchildren is not only never named, but is retconned out by the time of "Shall We Dance?".
    • Barney is the son of Laura and Michael T. Farrell III. He is the end result of Michael's Series Goal of impregnating Laura so that he can get inheritance and is also the reason why Laura is Put on a Bus, as Michael's father wants the child to be raised in Chicago rather than the UK. However, he only has one appearance, in the Flash Forward episode "In the Beginning..." and his only role in it is to provide someone who can ask why Laura meets up with the staff at the end of each year, with no personality traits other than the fact that he goes to Cambridge.
  • Harlots:
    • Harriet has two children who are in danger of being sold into slavery in the Americas, so she becomes a sex worker to earn enough money to buy their freedom. Once she accomplishes that, she stays in the sex industry to fund their education. Her kids don't matter to the story outside of that.
    • Sophia's significance to the story comes from being the illegitimate daughter of Isabella and her brother Harcourt. Sophia was conceived when the latter raped the former, and her existence was kept a secret for many years. She is unwittingly brought into the power struggle between her parents, with her mother trying to keep her safe and her father trying to use her as a pawn once he finds out about her.
  • Leo Valentine in Hollyoaks has almost no characterisation beyond the premise of "irresponsible, cheating father", and no real storylines of his own. Everything he does is connected to his children, and he seems to exist primarily to cause trouble for them.
  • Ted's children in How I Met Your Mother are only featured listening to their father's story of how he met their mother, facilitating the show's Framing Device.
  • Kanon Fukami in Kamen Rider Ghost principally serves as the target of her brother Makoto's Big Brother Instinct, and continues to have similar relevance to the story even after Makoto restores her to a human body. It's not until the post-series spinoffs that she gets to defy this trope.
  • Marco Polo: Ling Ling's role is to be the person her mother Mei Lin tries to protect. Her Evil Uncle Jia Sidao threatens Ling Ling to force Mei Lin to spy on the Mongols, but later Ling Ling is held hostage by Empress Chabi to force Mei Lin to spy on the Chinese. After Marco rescues Ling Ling in Season 2, Mei Lin helps him stop Ahmad's plan to overthrow and kill Kublai Khan.
  • In Orphan Black, Gemma and Oscar Hendrix have no role in the story except to be Alison's children, whom she is fiercely protective of. Her desire to keep them safe and far away from the clone conspiracy motives many of her actions. The fact that she had to adopt them due to her infertility is used to foreshadow the illness she and her fellow clones are susceptible to.
  • Queen Sugar:
    • Charley Bordelon's mother Lorna only exists because she needs to have a different mother than her half-siblings, Nova and Ralph Angel. The fact that Charley is their half-sibling explains why she had a different childhood than them, resulting in her snobbier, more materialistic worldview. It also explains why Charley is initially more disconnected from their community because she grew up with her mother in California rather than in Louisiana. Lorna appears from time to time but is largely uninvolved in the drama that the Bordelons experience throughout the series. Lorna's absence is explained away as her being too busy with work.
    • Davis' secret love child Tia is introduced to cause further turmoil in his already tense relationships with his son Micah and ex-wife Charley. The fact that he hid his affair and Tia's existence for years (she's only a few years younger than Micah) makes Davis look really bad, especially after he tries to pressure Charley into being a mother figure for Tia. Charley refuses, but the fact that she is never unkind toward Tia in spite of her own heartbreak makes her extremely sympathetic. Tia herself is not given any characterization at all and disappears from the story shortly afterward.

    Video Games 
  • Another Code: Jessica Robins, Ashley's aunt, who has been raising the girl since she was a toddler. While she does receive some light characterization thanks to scattered comments and observations Ashley makes throughout the games, her principle role in both stories is to help push Ashley and Richard into developing a good father-daughter relationship. Both games begin with Ashley acknowledging that a major factor in her traveling to that game's given location is because Jessica either encouraged (Two Memories) or outright forced (Journey into Lost Memories) her to make the trip and see her dad.
  • I Was a Teenage Exocolonist: Given Tirah's minor appearances, she only shows up to establish Cal's closeness to her.
  • Lonely Wolf Treat: Trick's human master who raised them since childhood. Because a lot of mystery surrounds him, you can't really talk about much regarding him outside of the Parental Substitute relationship he had with them. This changes in Chapter 8 where more depth is given to him and he's revealed to be more important than previously thought.
  • The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has Vanilla the Rabbit, mother of Cream the Rabbit. First introduced in Sonic Advance 2, she was kidnapped by Dr. Eggman, motivating Cream to go and rescue her alongside Sonic and his friends. She's responsible for teaching Cream proper manners, which is why the Rabbits are more polite than any of the other characters. Her appearances are usually tied to Cream if the latter is involved in the plot, and doesn't actively take part in fighting against Dr. Eggman. Other media like Sonic X and the IDW Comics mixes things up by having Vector the Crocodile of Team Chaotix having a slight crush on her, but the motherly rabbit still usually only appears whenever Cream is involved.

    Web Video 

    Western Animation 
  • Amphibia: Marcy Wu's parents' only role (in their only appearance) is that they announce to Marcy that they're moving to another state, which prompts Marcy to steal The Calamity Box and kickstart the whole plot.
  • Avatar: This is the case for several of the main characters' families.
    • Avatar: The Last Airbender
      • Gyatso was Aang's beloved guardian, who was killed by the Fire Nation while Aang was frozen in the iceberg. When Aang awakens, he initially doesn't believe that the other Air Nomads have all been wiped out. After discovering Gyatso's remains in the ruins of the Southern Air Temple, Aang has a Heroic BSoD and finally accepts that he's the last remaining airbender. It's later revealed that learning of Gyatso's death filled Aang with guilt over running away from home and not being there to protect his people.
      • Kya, Katara and Sokka's mother, is important to the story because she sacrificed herself to save Katara's life when Katara was a little girl. Every mention of her is related to Katara's (and occasionally Sokka's) grief and the consequences of her death. Katara was forced to grow up early and take on her mother's role in the family, resulting in her being the Team Mom for her friends. In Book 3, Zuko helps Katara track down Kya's murderer, which causes her to forgive him and accept him as a friend.
      • Toph's zealously overprotective parents Lao and Poppy Beifong are only important to her arc. They refuse to let her have even the smallest bit of freedom, even after learning that she's a powerful earthbender capable of taking on several adult men on her own. This motivates her to run away from home, join Team Avatar, and teach Aang earthbending. Upon discovering that their daughter is missing, they send Xin Fu and Yu to track her down.
      • Ursa's role in the story revolves around the impact she had on her children, Zuko and Azula. She was extremely loving and affectionate toward Zuko to make up for his father's abuse. Following her mysterious disappearance, Zuko clings to his childhood memories of her in hard times. In Book 2, he briefly bonds with Katara over their lost mothers. On the flip side, Ursa had a more troubled relationship with Azula. She loved her daughter but had a difficult time understanding or connecting with her. Azula believes that her mother thought she was a monster and loved Zuko more than her, which significantly contributes to Azula's Villainous Breakdown in Book 3.
      • Lu Ten's only contribution to the plot is his death during the 600-day siege of Ba Sing Se, which triggered his father Iroh's Heel–Face Turn and caused him to abandon the war effort out of grief.
    • Legend of Korra: Senna's role in the story is to emotionally support her daughter Korra during difficult times and occasionally provide her with exposition.
  • Big City Greens: Bill's father, Ernest Green, shows only that he was a loving husband and parent, whose death is what kickstarted the building of Big City.
  • The Ghost and Molly McGee:
    • Billy and Jilly McGee appear in only one episode, where they instigate the episode's conflict by bullying their younger brother Pete, Molly's father, causing him to feel inadequate and miserable. They apologize in the end, admitting that did so out of jealously that he always seemed to have his life more put together than they did even when he was a kid
    • The Suksai family (Molly's relatives on her mother's side) also appear in just one episode, where their presence causes Molly to be anxious about being "not Thai enough" comparison because she can't speak Thai fluently, play Makruk, or eat spicy food. The episode ends with everyone in the family admitting that they've similarly struggled with their cultural identity for various reasons, and that there's no one way to be Thai.
  • Gravity Falls:
    • Dipper and Mabel's parents have only one role: send them to Gravity Falls. They are only mentioned rarely and their arms are only shown in "Tourist Trapped" during Dipper’s How We Got Here flashback. But they clearly have a close enough relationship with Grunkle Stan to have their children stay with him for a full summer.
    • Stan and Ford's parents Filbrick and Caryn Pines only show how horrible their life was and what started their feud. In addition, their unseen (unless he’s the baby Caryn is carrying when she’s woken up by Stan and Filbrick’s fight) brother Sherman "Shermie" Pines only exists to show that neither Stan or Ford is the grandfather of Dipper and Mabel.
  • In The Owl House, Manny Noceda's character, not counting his death and connection with Camila, almost entirely revolves around the impact he had on our main character Luz, his daughter.
  • The Simpsons: Agnes Skinner only exists to be Seymour Skinner's trope-naming beloved smother. The vast majority of her scenes involve Seymour in some way, and we never learn about who she is as a person.
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil:

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top