History DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou / Literature

* ''Literature/{{Tempest}}'': When the titular half-mermaid was ten, [[BigBad Tiamat]] tried to lure her into the ocean and abduct her. That was how Tempest's mermaid mother Cecily learned that Tiamat, who spent 500 years as a SealedEvilInACan, was at large again. Two weeks later, Cecily returned to the ocean to fight Tiamat. She didn't contact her family for the next six years for fear that [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies they would become targets]].

* ''Literature/{{Siren}}'': [[spoiler:Vanessa's biological mother is the siren Charlotte Bleu, who seduced Vanessa's married father. After she got pregnant, she let him go without killing him, which no siren is supposed to do. When the other sirens started to get suspicious that she hadn't actually killed him, Charlotte fled to Canada with baby Vanessa. When Vanessa's dad tracked them down, Charlotte realized how much he loved Vanessa and let him take her, figuring that Vanessa would be safest if she had no connection with Charlotte. She was right - Vanessa had a safe childhood in Boston and never learned about her siren heritage until she was seventeen.]]

* The father of ''Demon Princess'''s protagonist was first in line for the throne, which also carried the responsibility of making sure nothing bad gets through portals to the human world. The way, when the current demon king/queen dies, the heir is immediately transported to the castle and can never leave. While he was with the protagonist's mother, his father died and he was called back, giving him no time to explain or say good-bye. He decided that she wouldn't even believe the explanation, so he never made contact with his family until he learns about his daughter and her latent powers.

* In ''Literature/DragonQueen'', the old man claims Trava's mother had a good reason for abandoning her, but seems reluctant to give the reason.

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth'', specifically in the "Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife" tale, the titular character, prince Aldarion, leaves his native island for several years, many times. The last of these times, his wife (who thought he would have just settled down, by now) spent the years of his absence teaching their 4-to-7-year-old daughter Ancalimë to hate her father, and men in general. Turns out Aldarion was helping the elves and men of Middle Earth prepare against a new, vague, rising threat, which (despite not telling Aldarion) the elf king had correctly identified as Morgoth's former servant: Sauron. Whoops.

** His mother, too:she was in a car accident that left her blind and gave her amnesia of the non-[[LaserGuidedAmnesia laser-guided]] variety (i.e., it took her years to learn to take care of herself, let alone a child). She put off tracking him down because she thought, wrongly, that by this point he was HappilyAdopted and that she would just disrupt his life.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' Tobias's father left before finding out that his wife was pregnant, because [[spoiler:said dad was Elfangor, who decided to rejoin the war against the Yeerks to hopefully save the Earth from their imminent invasion]].

* In ''Literature/{{Dinoverse}}'', the rebellious graffiti artist Janine resents how her mother is often not at home, forcing her to miss school in order to prepare the hotel for guests herself. As it turns out, her mother is keeping Janine from getting in trouble over the graffiti -- she never confronted her daughter because she feared Janine would run away.

* This is a major theme in literary treatments of Myth/ArthurianLegend, where the young Arthur is given away by his father Uther Pendragon to be raised either by Merlin or Sir Ector. The reason for this varies depending on the version of the Arthur myth -- often it is [[BecauseDestinySaysSo because prophetic Merlin tells Uther he has to do this]]. Part of it depends on when Arthur was conceived, which is under discussion. In ''Literature/HistoriaRegumBritanniae'' by Geoffrey of Monmouth, his conception occurs before his parents married, with Uther magically assuming the shape of Igraine's first husband Gorlois. In this case, Arthur would have appeared to the world to be Gorlois' son, calling his legitimacy as Uther's heir into question. On the other hand, Thomas Malory was obsessed with legitimacy and therefore stresses that Arthur was only conceived after the death of Gorlois and the wedding of Uther Pendragon and Igraine, necessitating a different rationale to explain why Arthur's claim to the throne had to be established by pulling the Sword from the Stone (and anvil). In ''Literature/TheMerlinTrilogy'' by Creator/MaryStewart, Uther knows that Arthur is his son but sends him away on Merlin's advice for Arthur's own safety and the security of future legitimate heirs (who are never born).

* Played with in the second book, ''The Wizard Heir'', of Cinda William Chima's ''Literature/TheHeirChronicles''. Because Seph's mother, [[spoiler: Linda Downey]], was fighting the system of the Wizard Guilds at the time he was born, she knew he would be in danger if anyone ever found out his parentage, and thus leaves him to a foster mother to keep him safe. Seph's father, [[spoiler:Leander Hastings]], didn't even know [[spoiler:Linda]] had [[spoiler:Seph]] because she disappeared on him after finding out she was pregnant.

* ''Literature/TheOdyssey'': Odysseus had to abandon his infant son Telemachus because he was compelled by oath to help Menelaus regain his wife Helen (a cousin of Telemachus' mother Penelope). This kept him busy for ten years in the Trojan War, while on his return journey to Ithaca Odysseus was held up for another ten years by a number of often supernatural factors.
* ''Literature/OlgaDiesDreaming'': Not Daddy, Mami; Blanca, Olga and Prieto's mom, was affiliated to the Young Lords and later she joined [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boricua_Popular_Army Los Macheteros]], a Puerto Rican nationalist group. As far as she is concerned, working towards achieving [[IDidWhatIHadToDo independence for Puerto Rico justified not just leaving her family]] but sending them sporadic letters with no return address.

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth'', specifically in the "Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife" tale, the titular character, prince Aldarion, leaves his native island for several years, many times. The last of these times, his wife (who thought he would have just settled down, by now) spent the years of his absence teaching their 4-to-7-year-old daughter Ancalimë to hate her father, and men in general. Turns out Aldarion was helping the elves and men of Middle Earth prepare against a new, vague, rising threat, which (despite not telling Aldarion) the elf king had correctly identified as Morgoth's former servant: Sauron. Whoops.

* In ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', the [[MouthOfSauron Man with the Red Eyes]] comments that Meg's father hasn't been behaving in a very fatherly way. Meg defends him with this trope, saying that he was working for the government. He was on a top-secret mission -- learning about applied tessering. Of course, the real reason he wasn't with Meg's family was that [[spoiler:he was trapped on Camazotz]], and [[spoiler:trying to avoid being swallowed up mentally by IT]].

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter,'' this [[WhatCouldHaveBeen was going to be]] a subplot for Dean--he would have discovered that his biological father was a wizard who got killed for refusing to join the [[FantasticRacism Death Eaters]], but that his mom just thought he walked out on her. WordOfGod said she [[AbortedArc aborted that arc]] because it didn't tie in to Harry's story very well, but upgraded [[TheUnChosenOne Neville]]'s back story because it did. It does get a slight nod in the last book, when Dean admits that he isn't sure if he's a Muggle-born or not because he never knew his biological father.
** Also, [[spoiler:Remus Lupin]] attempts to invoke this trope, believing that it would better for him to die heroically or abandon his pregnant wife rather than have her and his unborn child suffer because of his [[spoiler:lycanthropy]]. His fears are justified, but his response is not, and [[OrphansOrdeal Harry]], having grown up without a father, is quick to [[WhatTheHellHero call him out on this]].

* This is a major theme in literary treatments of the ''[[Myth/ArthurianLegend King Arthur]]'' myth, where the young Arthur is given away by his father Uther Pendragon to be raised either by Merlin or Sir Ector. The reason for this varies depending on the version of the Arthur myth -- often it is [[BecauseDestinySaysSo because prophetic Merlin tells Uther he has to do this]]. Part of it depends on when Arthur was conceived, which is under discussion. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's version, his conception occurs before his parents married, with Uther magically assuming the shape of Igraine's first husband Gorlois. In this case, Arthur would have appeared to the world to be Gorlois' son, calling his legitimacy as Uther's heir into question. On the other hand, Thomas Malory was obsessed with legitimacy and therefore stresses that Arthur was only conceived after the death of Gorlois and the wedding of Uther Pendragon and Igraine, necessitating a different rationale to explain why Arthur's claim to the throne had to be established by pulling the Sword from the Stone (and anvil).
** In [[Creator/MaryStewart Mary Stewart's]] ''Merlin'' trilogy, Uther knows that Arthur is his son but sends him away on Merlin's advice for Arthur's own safety and the security of future legitimate heirs (who are never born).