Basic Trope: A character who hates children.
- Straight: Harold is a Jerkass who hates children.
- Exaggerated:
- Harold hates children so much that he would physically hurt or even kill them.
- Harold always hated children, even when he was one himself.
- Harold's hatred towards children is so extreme that he wishes to kill everyone on the planet who is under the age of 18, perform abortions on expectant mothers against their will, and render all of the adults infertile. He either is ignorant of how this will doom the human race or knows, but doesn't care.
- Harold's hatred of children extends to his own.
- Harold hates them so much that he eats them.
- Downplayed:
- Harold is annoyed by children, but doesn't despise them.
- Harold despises babies and toddlers, but doesn't mind older children.
- Harold is a Sadist Teacher, but doesn't treat adults much better.
- Harold loathes children, but keeps the hatred to himself and doesn't act on it.
- Harold hates only girls or boys and likes the other sex.
- Harold dislikes cruel and/or annoying children but is fine with nice and/or well-behaved ones.
- Harold doesn't necessarily like children at all, but he still hates those who'd harm children.
- Harold has absolutely no interest in having children considering them an unnecessary burden. He doesn't otherwise mind children so long as he doesn't have to be responsible for them.
- Teen Hater
- Justified:
- Harold finds children to be cruel, bratty, mouthy, rebellious, ungrateful spoiled brats. The same goes for teenagers.
- Harold had an encounter with an Enfante Terrible that led to him having a biased opinion towards children in general.
- Harold never got to experience childhood himself when he was young, so he takes out his anger and jealousy on them.
- Harold has powers that don't work on children.
- Harold belongs to a race that has no concept of "childhood", so seeing children offends his worldview.
- Harold was bullied and ostracized by the other kids and this cemented his hatred for them.
- Harold is quiet and withdrawn, and loves his peace and quiet. Noisy, active children drive him crazy.
- Inverted:
- Harold is an Elder Hater who scorns anyone over the age of 65.
- Friend to All Children
- Harold is a kid who hates all adults even though he will become one in later years.
- Harold is hated by children.
- Subverted:
- Harold only seemed to hate children because he had a rotten day and was feeling grumpy.
- Harold doesn't hate children, he just avoids them because he's bad with them.
- It turns out that Harold actually Hates Everyone Equally.
- Double Subverted:
- Even when he's in a good mood, Harold despises all children.
- Turns out he only hates the child protagonist for some reason.
- He hates children slightly more than the others.
- Parodied:
- In a form of Hypocritical Humor, Harold is a Manchild who loathes children for their immaturity.
- The moment Harold finds children loathsome is when they ask him one silly question.
- Harold goes from acting like a Kiddie Kid to a Grumpy Old Man the instant he reaches the age of maturity.
- Santa Claus hates his job, and on top of giving kids nothing but coal for Christmas, he goes on to reveal to the kids that he isn't real and berates them carelessly once they start crying over the truth.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Harold's attitude towards children varies depending on what mood he is in.
- Harold only hates some children, while he tolerates some and likes some others.
- Averted: Characters in the setting either like children or at least tolerate them. None of them expresses any hostility towards children even when they are annoyed by them.
- Enforced:
- The author wants to have an antagonist for the Kid Hero, so he comes up with this plan...
- The villain is made to hate children so that neither the characters/people who know this nor the audience will empathize with him.
- Lampshaded:
- Invoked: Children Are a Waste
- Exploited: Harold runs for a political position, but the heroes keep him from winning the election by exposing his hatred of children to the public.
- Defied: Harold refuses to show hostility towards children, knowing that doing so will make some people see him as a horrible person.
- Discussed: "It seems a lot of people think all children are spoiled brats. Honestly, they've never met my well-behaved [son/daughter]!"
- Conversed: "Why would a child watch shows where a villain hates children?"
- Implied:
- When Harold looks at someone's baby, he looks at them with disdain.
- Harold is poor and unemployed, but still refuses to apply for a teaching job even though he's qualified.
- Deconstructed: Harold becomes a recluse because he won't go out in society with children at large, and nobody will do anything for him nor vice versa, causing him to starve.
- Reconstructed: He had prepared for such an eventuality by stockpiling food and other supplies in his house.
- Played for Laughs: Harold is used as a Butt-Monkey for the pranks of the child characters.
- Played for Drama: Even though Harold would never hurt a child and isn't a bad person, other people accuse him of being "heartless" because he can't stand children.
- Played For Horror: Harold's hatred for children gets so bad that he becomes a Serial Killer who exclusively targets people under 18 years of age, and parents can't even let their kids out to play in their own yards due to this fact.
Back to Child Hater, the devilish fiends.