History Main / FairyGodmother

A magical being whose role is to help out the protagonist of a tale, sometimes appearing in their darkest hour to grant their fondest wish, sometimes through less direct methods (and often with the aid of a MagicWand). Why they do this is seldom specified -- nor why they failed to appear a lot earlier in the story when a little change could have made all the difference -- But if it IS asked why they are just showing up now, normally they express in some form how previously, the protagonist needed to learn something, as the fairy godmother says in Faerie Tale Theatre, " Solving your own problems is part of growing up!" They sometimes are part of an agency or an organization. And yes, in early fairy tales, they were meant to be their ward's actual godmother.

A magical being whose role is to help out the protagonist of a tale, sometimes appearing in their darkest hour to grant their fondest wish, sometimes through less direct methods (and often with the aid of a MagicWand). Why they do this is seldom specified -- nor why they failed to appear a lot earlier in the story when a little change could have made all the difference -- But if it IS asked why they are just showing up now, normally they express in some form how the protagonist needed to learn something, as the fairy godmother says in Faerie Tale Theatre ?"Part of solving your own problems is part of growing up!" They sometimes are part of an agency or an organization. And yes, in early fairy tales, they were meant to be their ward's actual godmother.

A magical being whose role is to help out the protagonist of a tale, sometimes appearing in their darkest hour to grant their fondest wish, sometimes through less direct methods (and often with the aid of a MagicWand). Why they do this is seldom specified -- nor why they failed to appear a lot earlier in the story when a little change could have made all the difference -- though sometimes they are part of an agency or an organization. And yes, in early fairy tales, they were meant to be their ward's actual godmother.

* One of the translations for the name of Xiannang from the Mulan remake literally MEANS “Fairy Godmother.”

* Cinder-Weasel gets a Fairy God''father'' in the I am Weasel episode of the same name.

* Cinder-Weasel gets a Fairy GodFATHER in the I am Weasel episode of the same name.

** Interestingly, during ''Changes,'' she plays with the classic Cinderella storyline by dressing Harry for [[StormingTheCastle a very different kind of party]]. Being of the Winter Court, her gifts vanish at noon instead of midnight.

Alternative Title(s): Fairy Godfather

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* ''Fanfic/TheGreatDisneyAdventureSaga'': This fic gives us Sophia, the fussiest fairy godmother ever.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek 2}}'' has a fairy godmother for Fiona, but she's actually the BigBad and the mother of [[PrinceCharmless Prince Charming]] and is almost a throwback to [[TheFairFolk older, more malevolent fairies]].

* The 1987 movie ''Maid to Order'' has a spoiled heiress (Ally Sheedy) getting busted for drug use among her many wild acts. This pushes her father to off hand wish he'd never had a daughter. The next day, the woman is bailed out by her fairy godmother who reveals that, sure enough, she's used magic to effectively erase the heiress' entire existence. The woman now has to work as a maid to learn some humility.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles,'' Harry has one of these, literally, and TheFairFolk are a lot scarier than in the Disneyverse. The kick is that Cinderella's fairy godmother would have been with the more Disney-esque Summer Court, while the Leanansidhe, Harry's godmother, comes from the [[EvilCounterpart Winter Court]]. While scary, dangerous, and insane by most reasonable standards, Lea truly does want to protect Harry and wants the best for him...[[BlueAndOrangeMorality in her own way]]. Due to a MagicallyBindingContract, he belongs to her, and she sometimes tries to collect. What happens if she wins? [[spoiler: You know those hunting dogs that herald her arrival? [[BalefulPolymorph ''They weren't dogs originally.'']]]] Later, Harry's "contract" was bought off by Lea's boss, Queen Mab, giving Lea the chance to prove herself to be very good (if ''scary'') to have as an ally.
** Interestingly, during ''Changes'' she plays with the classic Cinderella storyline by dressing Harry for [[StormingTheCastle a very different kind of party]]. Being of the Winter Court, her gifts vanish at noon instead of midnight.

* Inverted in Creator/TeresaEdgerton's ''Goblin Moon'', in which the Duchess (a three-quarter fairy UnevenHybrid) was ''supposed'' to become Elsie's godmother, but arrived so late to the christening ceremony that a substitute was chosen. Outraged at this perceived insult, she plotted revenge for years by ''pretending'' to consider Elsie her "goddaughter" nevertheless, but scheming in secret to marry her off ... to an evil troll disguised as a PrinceCharming, who'd drink the girl's blood on their wedding night.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE40WouldBeDragonslayer Would-Be Dragonslayer]]", the characters encounter Emilda, a princess' fairy godmother, who's an actual fairy resembling a short, squat and insect-winged woman in high medieval finery, complete with a horned headdress. She seems to be responsible for the princess' well-being, and erected a forest of brambles around the castle to keep danger away for her wedding.

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* Charles Perrault's "Literature/{{Cinderella}}" is probably the TropeCodifier. While most adaptations have the godmother appear out of nowhere, it is noteworthy to mention in the original Perrault text, she is literally Cinderella's godmother and actually seems to live with the family.

* A rather dark example can be found in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''. In keeping with the FairytaleMotifs, BigBad Salem acts as the fairy godmother for her subordinate Cinder Fall(who's based on Literatuer/{{Cinderella}}). Cinder's fondest wish is power, so Salem helps Cinder acquire power and learn how to properly use it so she can better serve Salem's goals.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents''

* A rather dark example can be found in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' in keeping with the FairytaleMotifs, BigBad Salem acts as the fairy godmother for her subordinate Cinder Fall(who's based on Cinderella). Cinder's fondest wish is power, so Salem helps Cinder acquire power and learn how to properly use it so she can better serve Salem's goals.

* The Fairy Godmother from ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' will help you activate summons spells in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI''. In the prequel, ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', she plays a small but fairly critical role in Aqua's character arc early in the game.

[[quoteright:300:[[Disney/{{Cinderella}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/godmother_3254.jpg]]]]

* Of all the Disney princesses, only Disney/{{Cinderella}} and [[Disney/SleepingBeauty Aurora]] have fairy godmothers.

* Played with in ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', where the protagonists are trying to stop a fairy godmother from making the peasant girl marry the prince.

** In-series fairy godmothers are treated as a subset of witches, and in some cases the two seem to blend into each other; in ''CarpeJugulum'', which starts as a parody of Sleeping Beauty, the Lancre witches are invited to attend the birth of the princess.

** Likewise, on ''Series/TheJeffersons'' , George has a dream wherein Tom is his [[Literature/TheGodfather Godfather]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'': Alastor, the Radio Demon. Despite [[ForTheEvulz his own selfish motivations]], Alastor fills the role of Charlie's Fairy Godmother. He comes out of nowhere up at her DarkestHour and does everything in his immense power to make the hotel better and more successful.
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* ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'': Alastor, the Radio Demon. Despite his own selfish motivations, Alastor fills the role of Charlie's Fairy Godmother. He comes out of nowhere up at her DarkestHour and does everything in his immense power to make the hotel better and more successful.

* ''HazbinHotel'': Alastor, the Radio Demon. Despite his own selfish motivations, Alastor fills the role of Charlie's Fairy Godmother. He comes out of nowhere up at her DarkestHour and does everything in his immense power to make the hotel better and more successful.

* Deconstructed in ''Literature/EllaEnchanted'', with a godmother who's a fairy but is inconspicuous about it, and another fairy who has a bad habit of going to the christenings of complete strangers and giving them magical gifts they don't want or need. In the original book, however, Mandy is Ella's actual FairyGodmother, and she plays this straight, being a CoolOldLady; Lucinda just happened to be at the baptism.

* In the Old Icelandic "Literature/TaleOfNornaGest" (c. 1300 AD), baby Gest is visited by some norns who make wishes for his life. The set-up is very similar to that of "Sleeping Beauty", and the "norns" are functionally {{Fairy Godmother}}s. Though, like in "Sleeping Beauty", they do not return after they made their initial good wishes.