History Main / IllegalGuardian

* In ''Les Miserables'', Fantine leaves her daughter, Cosette, in the care of the corner-cutting Innkeepers Thenardier who work Cosette as a servant.

* Prince Edgar from ''EllaEnchanted''

** Claudius, in ''?Thetre/{{Hamlet}}''. He wouldn't need to abuse his position as Hamlet's stepfather, since he's also the ''king,'' but he finds it politically advantageous to do so rather than ordering the technical-rightful-king around.

* Count Olaf throughout ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''

* Mime from Creator/RichardWagner's ''[[DerRingDesNibelungen Siegfried]]''. A DirtyCoward who tends to be (wrongly) made into The Woobie in modern productions.

* [[MichikotoHatchin Hana]] is adopted by a priest after her mother is arrested. The entire family is abusive, and the priest's main motivation for keeping Hana around is for the welfare payments.

* The abusive foster parents in the ''{{Sandman}}'' volume ''The Doll's House''.
* Beast Boy's legal guardian; from the original DoomPatrol series and referenced in ComicBook/TeenTitans

* [[ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents Count Olaf]]

* ''RichardIII'', making another one for TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples
** Claudius, in ''{{Hamlet}}''. He wouldn't need to abuse his position as Hamlet's stepfather, since he's also the ''king,'' but he finds it politically advantageous to do so rather than ordering the technical-rightful-king around.

* Beast Boy's legal guardian; from the original DoomPatrol series and referenced in [[{{ComicBook/TeenTitans}} Teen Titans]]

* Mr. Koerner from The ''PerilsOfPauline''

* RoaldDahl's ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'' features the terrifying Agatha Trunchbull, evil aunt to the angelic Miss Honey, who fits this trope to a tee. Not only did she force Miss Honey to do all the housework as a child, she also [[spoiler:mistreated her, leaving her a nervous wreck]]. All this ''after'' she had [[spoiler:killed her brother-in-law in order to get her hands on Magnus' house and money by forcing the emotionally battered Miss Honey to forfeit all rights to her inheritance]].

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' Tobias had previously lived with an aunt or uncle, neither of whom cared much about him. Then a long-lost cousin suddenly appears who seems interested in taking him in...only to be revealed to be [[spoiler:Visser Three in morph]], who became interested in Tobias because he's [[spoiler:Elfangor's son]].

* ''RichardIII'', making another one for TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples

* Mime from RichardWagner's ''[[DerRingDesNibelungen Siegfried]]''. A DirtyCoward who tends to be (wrongly) made into The Woobie in modern productions.

This is the Illegal Guardian, who may be an EvilUncle or WickedStepmother or no relative at all with an EvilPLan to get all the money from those darn ''cough, cough'' beloved children.

* Roald Dahl's ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'' features the terrifying Agatha Trunchbull, evil aunt to the angelic Miss Honey, who fits this trope to a tee. Not only did she force Miss Honey to do all the housework as a child, she also [[spoiler:mistreated her, leaving her a nervous wreck]]. All this ''after'' she had [[spoiler:killed her brother-in-law in order to get her hands on Magnus' house and money by forcing the emotionally battered Miss Honey to forfeit all rights to her inheritance]].
* The main charcter of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' spent the last four years of his childhood living with one of these, though [[EvilMentor Justin DuMorne]] was after magically powerful slaves rather than money.

* TomAndJerry helped a girl who lived with that kind of guardian in TheMovie.

This is the Illegal Guardian, who may be an EvilUncle or WickedStepmother or no relative at all with a XanatosGambit to get all the money from those darn ''cough, cough'' beloved children.

* In ''{{Animorphs}}'' Tobias had previously lived with an aunt or uncle, neither of whom cared much about him. Then a long-lost cousin suddenly appears who seems interested in taking him in...only to be revealed to be [[spoiler:Visser Three in morph]], who became interested in Tobias because he's [[spoiler:Elfangor's son]].

* Mother Gothel from {{Tangled}}

* Rooster Hannigan and Lily St. Regis, from ''[[LittleOrphanAnnie Annie]]'', pretend to be Little Orphan Annie's "real parents" to scam reward money out of Daddy Warbucks.

* Roald Dahl's ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'' featured the terrifying Agatha Trunchbull, evil aunt to the angelic Miss Honey, who fits this trope to a tee. Not only did she force Miss Honey to do all the housework as a child, she also [[spoiler:mistreated her, leaving her a nervous wreck]]. All this ''after'' she had [[spoiler:killed her brother-in-law in order to get her hands on Magnus' house and money by forcing the emotionally battered Miss Honey to forfeit all rights to her inheritance]].

* Roald Dahl's ''{{Matilda}}'' featured the terrifying Agatha Trunchbull, evil aunt to the angelic Miss Honey, who fits this trope to a tee. Not only did she force Miss Honey to do all the housework as a child, she also [[spoiler:mistreated her, leaving her a nervous wreck.]] All this ''after'' she had [[spoiler:killed her brother-in-law in order to get her hands on Magnus' house and money by forcing the emotionally battered Miss Honey to forfeit all rights to her inheritance]].

----
<<|{{Villains}}|>>
<<|FamilyTropes|>>

* A movie for ''TheLittles'' focused on Tom and Lucy befriending an orphan boy who's abused and locked up by his uncle, who only took him in for the access to boy's inheritance. Later the boy finds a letter from his father saying that his uncle was ''never'' meant to adopt him, someone else was.

* Richard III....maybe.

* Mime from RichardWagner's ''[[DerRingDesNibelungen Siegfried]]''. A DirtyCoward who tends to be (wrongly) made into The Woobie in modern productions.

Our favorite HeartwarmingOrphan has recently lost his [[ParentalAbandonment beloved parents]] and is in danger of being sent to an OrphanageOfFear. But what's this? [[EvilUncle That uncle we've never heard of has agreed to be our legal guardian!]] The family fortune is saved! We just have to wait until we're 18 and... what's uncle doing with that ax?

* Subverted by ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. Hayate's guardian is [[spoiler: Admiral Gil Graham of the TSAB]], who set her up in a nice house, paid all her bills for her, and generally gave her the comfiest life a crippled preteen could ask for. Then he put her through a HeroicBSOD and DemonicPossession and nearly had her sealed away between the dimensions for the rest of eternity. The subversion comes about because [[spoiler: Graham]] ''genuinely'' wanted Hayate to have a good life before he did this, and he viewed his actions as being regrettable but necessary in order to save billions of lives from the ArtifactOfDoom possessing Hayate.

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

* Hana from [[Michiko to Hatchin]] is adopted by a priest after her mother is arrested. The entire family is abusive, and the priest's main motivation for keeping Hana around is for the welfare payments.

* Roald Dahl's ''{{Matilda}}'' featured the terrifying Agatha Trunchbull, evil aunt to the angelic Miss Honey, who fits this trope to a tee (possibly even straying into [[CompleteMonster Complete Monster]] territory). Not only did she force Miss Honey to do all the housework as a child, she also [[spoiler:mistreated her, leaving her a nervous wreck.]] All this ''after'' she had [[spoiler:killed her brother-in-law in order to get her hands on Magnus' house and money by forcing the emotionally battered Miss Honey to forfeit all rights to her inheritance]].