Anime & Manga
Asuka: So your mother...
Shinji: Died. I guess around the time that my dad and I came to the U. S.
Asuka: How... did she die...?
Shinji: I don't know. I don't remember much about that time.
Asuka: Your father didn't tell you?
Shinji: He doesn't talk about it. Or her... Now I have to wait the rest of my life to see her... And I have to wait that long to see my father, for that matter...
Shinji: Died. I guess around the time that my dad and I came to the U. S.
Asuka: How... did she die...?
Shinji: I don't know. I don't remember much about that time.
Asuka: Your father didn't tell you?
Shinji: He doesn't talk about it. Or her... Now I have to wait the rest of my life to see her... And I have to wait that long to see my father, for that matter...
Reader: Why is the death rate of mothers in the OP world so high? (Rouge [Ace's mother; he and his father Gold Roger are dead, too], Olvia [Robin's mother; Robin's father is also presumed dead], Usopp's mother [Banchina], Russian [Senor Pink's wife; implied to have died in a coma, not long after their son Gimlet succumbed to illness], Bellemere [Nami and Nojiko's adoptive mother], Vivi's mother [Nefeltari Titi], Shirahoshi's [Queen Otohime], Law's mother [not to mention his father and sister Lamy], Scarlet [Rebecca's mother; there's strong implications her mother is also dead])
Oda: It's because the opposite of 'adventure' is 'mother'.
— One Piece, Volume 78 SBSnote
Film
"What have you got to be sorry about? My mother? Don't waste your time. She ditched us when I was eleven and ran off with some hotel man in the East. You know what a mother's love is."
—Melanie Daniels, The Birds
He and my mom got divorced when I was like, five, and she lives on a Havasu reservation in Arizona with her new husband and three replacement kids. Oh, and she inexplicably mails me a cactus every Valentine's Day. And I'm like, "Thanks a heap, coyote ugly, this cactus-gram stings even worse than your abandonment."
— Juno, Juno
Angus: When's Mummy coming back?
Angus' Father: Soon... I'd better go.
Jasmine: Do you have daddy issues?
Vanellope: I don't even have a mom!
Most of the other princesses: Neither do we!
Mayor Perkins: I wanted you to meet my daughter, Sheriff. She's a good cook, a mighty fine-looking girl. Takes after her dear, departed mother.
Jason McCullough: Mother died, huh?
Mayor Perkins: Nope, she just departed.
Literature
Two years.
She'd taken the boat out of the marina. She'd sailed it out into a rough sea. No one knew why. She'd never done it before. We'd always gone out together, the three of us.
That night, after the high winds had blown past, they found the boat driven up onto the rocks. The hull was shattered. There was no sign of my mother, except for a frayed safety rope.
They never found her body. The Coast Guard guys said that was not unusual. The ocean is a big place.
— Marco, Animorphs #5: The Predator
"My mama left me when I was too young to be without her, and I always swore I would do better than she did. Turns out the only thing I was better at was leaving."
—Alice Healy, InCryptid
Live-Action TV
Sir Gavin: Please, have mercy! Not all Disney characters have to lose a parent!
Walt Disney: No, you're right (opens a snickers bar) ...just Cinderella, Snow White, Aladdin, Jasmine, Shang, Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Ariel, Mowgli, Tarzan, Jane, Peter Pan, The Lost Boys, Christopher Robin, Bambi, Simba, Nemo, Tod, The Aristocats, Arther, Belle, Tiana, Pocahontas, Remy, Linguini,, Flik, Atta, Andy, Kuzco, Flynn Rider, Anna, Elsa, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Lilo, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Gabriella, Hannah Montana, Mia Thermopolis, and Pollyanna. (eats the snickers bar) The mouse createth and the mouse destroyeth.
— Studio C (Disney Plans Hero's Death)
Music
"I think about how it ain't fair
That you weren't there to braid my hair, like mothers do
You weren't around to cheer me on,
Help me dress for my high school prom, like mothers do
Did you think I didn't need you here?
To hold my hand, to dry my tears?
Did you even miss me through the years at all?"
That you weren't there to braid my hair, like mothers do
You weren't around to cheer me on,
Help me dress for my high school prom, like mothers do
Did you think I didn't need you here?
To hold my hand, to dry my tears?
Did you even miss me through the years at all?"
— Kellie Pickler, "I Wonder"
Theatre
It's so lovely that you're sharing.
No, really, I'm all ears.
But where has all this caring been
For sixteen years?
No, really, I'm all ears.
But where has all this caring been
For sixteen years?
— Natalie, Next to Normal
Daddy's moving forward...
DADDY DIDN'T LOSE A MOM!
DADDY DIDN'T LOSE A MOM!
— Lydia Deetz, "Dead Mom", Beetlejuice
Video Games
Ulster: Heh... Man, that iron will of yours! Guess you're just like Mom was, if what Prince Shanan's told us is true.
Larcei: Yeah... Ayra... I can't remember a thing about her. You?
Ulster: No, of course not. We're twins, remember? If you were too young to remember, then so was I! We weren't even two years old yet back then... It was Oifey who took us with him when he fled to Isaach with Seliph. We waited and waited, but Mom never followed... I guess she didn't make it out of the Battle of Belhalla alive...
Larcei: Ulster! You swore you'd never say awful things like that! Mom is alive! ALIVE! I'm sure of it! Don't you dare say otherwise ever again!
Ulster: ...Er, sorry, Larcei... You're right... I'm sorry.
Larcei: Yeah... Ayra... I can't remember a thing about her. You?
Ulster: No, of course not. We're twins, remember? If you were too young to remember, then so was I! We weren't even two years old yet back then... It was Oifey who took us with him when he fled to Isaach with Seliph. We waited and waited, but Mom never followed... I guess she didn't make it out of the Battle of Belhalla alive...
Larcei: Ulster! You swore you'd never say awful things like that! Mom is alive! ALIVE! I'm sure of it! Don't you dare say otherwise ever again!
Ulster: ...Er, sorry, Larcei... You're right... I'm sorry.
— Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (Project Naga translation)
I can't remember the smile that you gave it to me
I have no way to tell you, "don't walk away"
Still, sorrow keeps on tying me, but my soul wants to get freed
Let my heart loose from a chain
I have no way to tell you, "don't walk away"
Still, sorrow keeps on tying me, but my soul wants to get freed
Let my heart loose from a chain
— Heaven (Reincarnation), Persona 4
Web Original
"Did the Disney company just commit matricide when the child is born?"
...the father is never around and the mother died of the fatal off-camera disease..."
— The Nostalgia Critic, review of Mr. Nanny
Then, a daughter is born, and he names her Odette. (There’s no mention of Odette’s mother ever in the movie. Period. Odette is one of those babies that appears out of thin air. It’s amazing.)
— Here
, about The Swan Princess
, about The Swan PrincessAladdin's Mom was Slain for Plot Convenience
If the both of us go where there's no ground beneath her
Does that mean I'm of no use in death either?
Is that how it's supposed to be wherever I arrive?
And would it be the same if my mom was alive after her work?
All I know is nothin' ever compares
To the days when my mother was there
It's all my fault...
I miss the days when my mother was there
Does that mean I'm of no use in death either?
Is that how it's supposed to be wherever I arrive?
And would it be the same if my mom was alive after her work?
All I know is nothin' ever compares
To the days when my mother was there
It's all my fault...
I miss the days when my mother was there
— J-MUSIC Ensemble, "The Days When My Mother Was There"
"Okay, okay, sheesh! I take it all back, Disney! Go ahead and kill all the mommies and daddies you want! Shoot 'em, toss 'em off cliffs, throw 'em to the sharks, let 'em disappear in mysterious and unexplained pre-prologue circumstances! I won't say another word about it! All I ask, and it's a little thing really, no trouble on your part, is to make sure their offspring are plucky and resourceful and SURVIVE to live Happily Ever After. Okay? Please?"
— Sue, Mutant Reviewers From Hell review of Grave of the Fireflies
review of Grave of the FirefliesWestern Animation
Sonic: He wouldn't like livin' with us, big guy. He'd miss his mom.
Tails: I miss my mom, too.
Wolf: We could be heading for a full-scale Beef-Melt!
Honeybee: What's a Beef-Melt? That sounds delicious.
Moon: It's not. It's when our dad has a Freak Out. He closes himself in his room, he only eats icicles, and watches every season of Gilmore Girls on a loop.
Wolf: Yeah, we avoid Beef-Melts at all costs. He had his first one when our mom left.
Judy: Even though she was a really bad mom, okay? And it was actually better when she left.
Moon: Yeah. She named our dog "Grandma" so she wouldn't be lying when she said we were with Grandma when people asked.
Honeybee: What's a Beef-Melt? That sounds delicious.
Moon: It's not. It's when our dad has a Freak Out. He closes himself in his room, he only eats icicles, and watches every season of Gilmore Girls on a loop.
Wolf: Yeah, we avoid Beef-Melts at all costs. He had his first one when our mom left.
Judy: Even though she was a really bad mom, okay? And it was actually better when she left.
Moon: Yeah. She named our dog "Grandma" so she wouldn't be lying when she said we were with Grandma when people asked.
Real Life
Disney maybe doesn't have the best track record with... moms.
— Frank Angones, San Diego Comic-Con 2019 DuckTales (2017) Panel
