Markup View

Author: Clerval

Mar 13th 2008 at 4:53:45 AM

ItsPersonal is the supertrope, I guess, but this - dead fathers - is SO prevalent. Because typically it will handily combine the hero's motivation for going after the villain with his angsty issues about living up to his father's legacy and becoming a man, etc.

It's so strong that I've seen heroes go on and on and ON about their dead fathers and villains exploit that as their weak point even when their ''mothers'', who hardly get mentioned, were murdered too. (''Batman Begins'', for example). Its such a handy, well-worn device that it gets inserted into things where it doesn't belong. In the 1993 version of ''The Three Musketeers'', D'Artagnan is all "DON'T TALK ABOUT MY DEAD FATHER THAT WAY AAARGH I KILL YOU." Of course, he ultimately discovers that the main villain murdered said dad, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic ''retrieves his father's sword'']] from the villain, and of  dispatches him.  In the book, his father isn't even dead.

A similar thing happens in ''Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.'' "I shall not rest until my father's avenged!" (He has no such motivation in the legends) "Recognise this? It belonged to your father. Appropriate, don't you think, that I use it to send you to meet him?" So, so dead.