History Main / NewChildLeftBehind

* ''WhatAGirlWants'' has the main character wanting to meet her father because her mother left without even telling him that she was pregnant.

Sometimes the LoveInterest deliberately wanted to get pregnant (this is {{Lampshaded}}, and then averted, in ''SinceYouWentAway''). This was a TruthInTelevision, and in many places still is. It represents the desire of a woman to have [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy something of her lover to keep]] in case the [[AnyoneCanDie worst]] happens to him. Of course, there is also some WishFulfillment for the man as well, since he gets to leave a mark on the world though he's going off into danger. A child means that part of him will live on if he dies.

* {{Lampshaded}} and then averted in ''SinceYouWentAway''.
* Kirk from ''StarTrek'' has this in ''[[StarTrekTheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]''. Justified when Kirk comments to the mother: "I did what you wanted, I stayed away".

* ''MahouSenseiNegima'' has Negi's father Nagi [[DisappearedDad going missing]] shortly after Negi was born. Given that Negi's [[MissingMom mother]] also disappeared soon after his birth, it's highly probable that the two incidents are related.

* In ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean: At World's End'', after the final battle and Will and Elizabeth's wedding, [[spoiler: the pair [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean spend the day together]] and he gives her his heart before he sails away as captain of the Flying Dutchman. The movie's [[TheStinger Stinger]] reveals that, ten years later, he returns to find [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming that he has a son]].]]
* {{Lampshaded}} and then averted in ''SinceYouWentAway''

* A genuine wartime version of this trope occurs in Margery Allingham's {{Campion}} series. Albert Campion marries his longtime fiancee just before going overseas for three years of dangerous intelligence work. He is overcome by a strong emotion nine-tenths pure embarrassment when he finally gets home to Amanda, to discover a small, blond person not quite three years old playing in front of his home.

An AlwaysMale main character --f or obviously biological reasons -- gets an AlwaysFemale character pregnant, just before leaving to... do whatever. The original version of this is for this to happen during a war movie.

An AlwaysMale main character--for obviously biological reasons--gets an AlwaysFemale character pregnant, just before leaving to... do whatever. The original version of this is for this to happen during a war movie.

Occasionally even the mother [[SurprisePregnancy didn't know she was pregnant]] until after the male leaves, but often the lover left behind will not tell the father because she "didn't want to distract him" or "worry him"- though it's just as common for the father to receive a letter announcing the birth. Usually this letter arrives when the father is in either a prison camp, or in a muddy foxhole while under fire. Something to [[BirthDeathJuxtaposition juxtapose the brutally and ugliness of war with the joy and innocence of a new baby]]. Expect the father to become stunned and speechless for several minutes, and for his [[{{Nakama}} comrades]]- even the cynical DeadpanSnarker or DrillSergeantNasty of the group- to become respectful and moved by the news. A joyful makeshift party might follow. If in a prison camp this has a strong possibility of a PetTheDog moment for the prison guards.

* Happens in ''{{Farscape}}'''s season 2 in the "Look at the Princess" episodes. The pregnant mother is stuck for the next 80 years or so in a kind of unaging stasis which Crichton cannot undergo anymore, so at least he's got a (ridiculously) good excuse.

* In that quasi-''GroundhogDay'' movie, ''Premonition'', this happens.

* ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'': In the "Fling" story, Collossus was seduced by girls who had the expressed intent of getting pregnant, and he objected on the basis that he couldn't stay to be a father. They told him children were raised by the whole tribe and they really did want his babies because he was obviously good breeding stock. (OK, it wasn't quite that bad.) So the writers went out of their way to avoid the implication of the (young and idealistic) character acting without consideration for the consequences.

* In that quasi-GroundhogDay movie, ''Premonition'', this happens.

* [[DefiedTrope Defied]] in ''HarryPotter and the DeathlyHallows'', after Lupin and Tonks get married and Tonks gets pregnant, Lupin learns that Dumbledore sent Harry on a secret mission and offers to go with him to assist him in whatever he can, Harry refuses and tells him that his wife and son are more important and leaving them would be an act of cowardice. Lupin storms off but realizes that Harry was right and spends the rest of his time with his family.

* Some ''{{Batman}}'' stories have this element.
* Happens in ''{{Farscape}}'''s season 2 in the Look at the Princess episodes. The pregnant mother is stuck for the next 80 years or so in a kind of unaging stasis which Crichton cannot undergo anymore, so at least he's got a (ridiculously) good excuse.

* Kirk from ''StarTrek'' has this in ''Wrath of Khan''. Justified when Kirk comments to the mother: "I did what you wanted, I stayed away".

* Part of [[spoiler:John Casey's]] backstory in {{Chuck}}.

[[folder: Unsorted Examples]]
* {{Lampshaded}} and then averted in ''SinceYouWentAway''
* Harry Keogh's wife falls pregnant at the end of ''Necroscope'', but he doesn't find out until the sequel (when he's already dead).
* In ''ElfQuest'' with that bit about "leaving a kid behind so in case I die, there will still be something of me left." Skot said this shortly before his death. Basically, to the Go-Backs, life was just doing what you could for as long as you could, and then having a kid who could keep going after you. It was described visually as a person walking through the snow, then collapsing, and another person carrying on from that point... a little depressing, but solid enough as a belief.
* A variation on this happened in ''{{Myst}}: The Book of Atrus'': Atrus' mother [[DeathByChildbirth dies giving birth to him,]] and his father Gehn leaves for the ruins of D'Ni, cursing his mother Anna as he leaves, who ends up raising Atrus in his stead.
* In ''SailorOfTheKing'' Captain Richard Saville and Able Seaman Andrew Brown are in for a shock and Lucinda Brown is going to have some explaining to do.
* Played with in an ''ApprenticeAdept'' book by Piers Anthony. It has been prophesied that Lady Blue will have "a son by two" -- her second husband -- so protagonist Stile marries her just before going off to do something dangerous, leaving the marriage (temporarily) unconsummated as a little extra insurance for his survival. It works.
* In ''TheNightsDawnTrilogy'', notorious womanizer Joshua Calvert uses a business trip to a planet with self-imposed limits in technological and social progress to seduce and deflower the teenage daughter of his business partner. After he leaves the planet again, she finds out she's pregnant and he finds out he does not forget her as easily as his other affairs. Both are greatly chased around by the plot, so for the majority of the trilogy the trope applies. Fortunately for them said plot seems to wrap up quickly enough that they are reunited even before the pregnancy is immediately recognizable.
* Inverted somewhat in the anime ''Bokurano'' when [[spoiler: Chizu Honda is found to be pregnant after she has gone off to save the word via giant mech. Her lover, who is also her teacher, ends up being the one left behind and alive. Not that the jerk deserved it.]]
[[/folder]]

* Part of [[spoiler:John Casey's]] backstory in {{Chuck}}.

* At the end of the {{Superman}} arc ''New Krypton,'' [[spoiler: [[ForegoneConclusion Mon-El gets trapped in the Phantom Zone again]], and his girlfriend Billie reveals to her uncle, the superhero Guardian, that she's pregnant right as they're skipping town.]]

* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', "A Hundred Days": This may have happened with Jack O'Niell's fiancée when he is GoingNative while stranded. It's never proven, but implied from the way she touches her belly when she leaves.
** On the other hand, they still have contact with those people after they leave, so presumably if she were pregnant a plot point about it would come up. Also, it seems a lot like the day he leaves is right after the day he decides to marry her, and she had been talking about wanting a baby, so it could just be her hoping that she is pregnant.

* In one ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' episode, a reunion of old school heroes visits a training academy and one of the older heroes is casually introduced to his daughter. Of course since the mom was an Amazon, her lack of a father growing up was completely unremarkable and not a source of angst to anyone but him.
* Some ''{{Batman}}'' stories have this element.
* Happens in ''{{Farscape}}'''s season 2 in the Look at the Princess episodes. The pregnant mother is stuck for the next 80 years or so in a kind of unaging stasis which Crichton cannot undergo anymore, so at least he's got a (ridiculously) good excuse.
** Also, think of the reason she wanted to marry him in the first place.
* JamesBond is supposed to have had a son by one of his many conquests (In the new books, not the originals.)
* Kirk from ''StarTrek'' has this in ''Wrath of Khan''. Justified when Kirk comments to the mother: "I did what you wanted, I stayed away".
* {{Lampshaded}} and then averted in ''SinceYouWentAway''
* ''SupermanReturns'' with [[spoiler:Supes and Lois' son]].
* Harry Keogh's wife falls pregnant at the end of ''Necroscope'', but he doesn't find out until the sequel (when he's already dead).

* This is the entire plot of ''MammaMia''.
* ''{{Charmed}}'': After spending half a season fighting against his duties as an Elder, [[spoiler: Leo]] finally decides to leave the sisters to join the Elders after a near death experience that nearly cost him and [[spoiler: Piper]] their lives. Guess who's pregnant at the end of the episode and [[KidFromtheFuture what the real identity of the Whitelighter that appeared at the end of last season is]]? Playing true to the trope, instead of using this as a reason to bring [[spoiler: Leo]] back, no matter how easy it would be for him to visit anyway, [[spoiler:Piper and even the grown up Chris]] insist on not getting [[spoiler: Leo]] involved.
* This also may or may not have happened in ''{{Supernatural}}''. Despite what the mom said her son was ''Dean incarnate''.
* ''{{Baywatch}}'' episodes "''{{Baywatch}}'' Down Under (parts 1 and 2)". One of the lifeguards discovers that an Australian woman he married and later separated from had a son without telling him. She withheld the information because she knew that if she had told him, he would have felt obligated to stay with her.
* ''TheSimpsons'': Grandpa Simpson has a kid like this with a woman in England.
* In ''ElfQuest'' with that bit about "leaving a kid behind so in case I die, there will still be something of me left." Skot said this shortly before his death. Basically, to the Go-Backs, life was just doing what you could for as long as you could, and then having a kid who could keep going after you. It was described visually as a person walking through the snow, then collapsing, and another person carrying on from that point... a little depressing, but solid enough as a belief.
* In that quasi-GroundhogDay movie, ''Premonition'', this happens.

* A variation on this happened in ''{{Myst}}: The Book of Atrus'': Atrus' mother [[DeathByChildbirth dies giving birth to him,]] and his father Gehn leaves for the ruins of D'Ni, cursing his mother Anna as he leaves, who ends up raising Atrus in his stead.
* ''MahouSenseiNegima'' has Negi's father Nagi [[DisappearedDad going missing]] shortly after Negi was born. Given that Negi's [[MissingMom mother]] also disappeared soon after his birth, it's highly probable that the two incidents are related.
* ''OnePiece''. [[spoiler:Gold Roger got Portugas D. Rogue pregnant with Ace soon before he was captured. Rogue managed to stay pregnant for over a year as to make sure her child would actually be born.]]
* Part of [[spoiler:John Casey's]] backstory in {{Chuck}}.

* In ''SailorOfTheKing'' Captain Richard Saville and Able Seaman Andrew Brown are in for a shock and Lucinda Brown is going to have some explaining to do.
* Played with in an ''ApprenticeAdept'' book by Piers Anthony. It has been prophesied that Lady Blue will have "a son by two" -- her second husband -- so protagonist Stile marries her just before going off to do something dangerous, leaving the marriage (temporarily) unconsummated as a little extra insurance for his survival. It works.
* At the end of the {{Superman}} arc ''New Krypton,'' [[spoiler: [[ForegoneConclusion Mon-El gets trapped in the Phantom Zone again]], and his girlfriend Billie reveals to her uncle, the superhero Guardian, that she's pregnant right as they're skipping town.]]
* In ''TheNightsDawnTrilogy'', notorious womaniser Joshua Calvert uses a business trip to a planet with self-imposed limits in technological and social progress to seduce and deflower the teenage daughter of his business partner. After he leaves the planet again, she finds out she's pregnant and he finds out he does not forget her as easily as his other affairs. Both are greatly chased around by the plot, so for the majority of the trilogy the trope applies. Fortunately for them said plot seems to wrap up quickly enough that they are reunited even before the pregnancy is immediately recognisable.
* In ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean: At World's End'', after the final battle and Will and Elizabeth's wedding, [[spoiler: the pair [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean spend the day together]] and he gives her his heart before he sails away as captain of the Flying Dutchman. The movie's [[TheStinger Stinger]] reveals that, ten years later, he returns to find [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming that he has a son]].]]
* Inverted somewhat in the anime ''Bokurano'' when [[spoiler: Chizu Honda is found to be pregnant after she has gone off to save the word via giant mech. Her lover, who is also her teacher, ends up being the one left behind and alive. Not that the jerk deserved it.]]

* I've heard-it-said that something like this happened to Colossus in ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' comics.
** In Colossus's defense, in the Fling Story the girls seduced him with the expressed intent of getting pregnant, and he objected on the basis that he couldn't stay to be a father. They told him children were raised by the whole tribe and they really did want his babies because he was obviously good breeding stock. (OK, it wasn't quite that bad.) So the writers went out of their way to avoid the implication of the (young and idealistic) character acting without consideration for the consequences.
* In one ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' ep, a reunion of old school heroes visits a training academy and one of the older heroes is casually introduced to his daughter. Of course since the mom was an amazon, her lack of a father growing up was completely unremarkable and not a source of angst to anyone but him.
* Some {{Batman}} stories have this element.

* Isn't JamesBond supposed to have had a son by one of his many conquests? (In the new books, not the original ones.)

* Lampshaded and then averted in ''SinceYouWentAway''

* This is basically the entire plot of MammaMia
* ''{{Charmed}}''. After spending half a season fighting against his duties as an Elder, [[spoiler: Leo]] finally decides to leave the sisters to join the Elders after a near death experience that nearly cost him and [[spoiler: Piper]] their lives. Guess who's pregnant at the end of the episode and [[KidFromtheFuture what the real identity of the Whitelighter that appeared at the end of last season is]]? Playing true to the trope, instead of using this as a reason to bring [[spoiler: Leo]] back, no matter how easy it would be for him to visit anyway, [[spoiler:Piper and even the grown up Chris]] insist on not getting [[spoiler: Leo]] involved.

* [[TheSimpsons Grandpa Simpson]] has a kid like this with a woman in England.

* MahouSenseiNegima has Negi's father Nagi [[DisappearedDad going missing]] shortly after Negi was born. Given that Negi's [[MissingMom mother]] also disappeared soon after his birth, it's highly probable that the two incidents are related.

* In TheNightsDawnTrilogy, notorious womaniser Joshua Calvert uses a business trip to a planet with self-imposed limits in technological and social progress to seduce and deflower the teenage daughter of his business partner. After he leaves the planet again, she finds out she's pregnant and he finds out he does not forget her as easily as his other affairs. Both are greatly chased around by the plot, so for the majority of the trilogy the trope applies. Fortunately for them said plot seems to wrap up quickly enough that they are reunited even before the pregnancy is immediately recognisable.

* ''Charmed'' After spending half a season fighting against his duties as an Elder, [[spoiler: Leo]] finally decides to leave the sisters to join the Elders after a near death experience that nearly cost him and [[spoiler: Piper]] their lives. Guess who's pregnant at the end of the episode and [[KidFromtheFuture what the real identity of the Whitelighter that appeared at the end of last season is]]? Playing true to the trope, instead of using this as a reason to bring [[spoiler: Leo]] back, no matter how easy it would be for him to visit anyway, [[spoiler:Piper and even the grown up Chris]] insist on not getting [[spoiler: Leo]] involved.

<<|EndingTropes|>>
<<|LoveTropes|>>

* O'Neill's GoingNative TimeSkip-wife in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', "A Hundred Days." It's obviously implied the way she holds her belly in the last shot.

* In ''SailorOfTheKing'', a movie based on a C.S. Forrester short story, a young naval officer named Richard Savile enjoys a romantic interlude with pretty Lucinda Bentley before going off to war but the girl refuses his offer of marriage. Years later, and still unmarried, he is captain of a cruiser squadron during WWII. His command tangles with a German raider which Savile eventually succeeds in sinking thanks to the one man delaying action of a young Canadian sailor named Brown. Much later, back in England the two men are waiting for their decorations from the King and Savile asks why 'Canada' Brown is serving in the R.N. The young sailor credits his mother, an English girl, who is a huge fan of the Royal Navy and raised him as the same. He further remarks that his mother is in Montreal and so couldn't make the ceremony. Savile tells him that their next posting is to the North Atlantic making a visit to his mum possible. Nothing is said but it is safe to assume that Richard and young Brown are in for a shock and Lucinda is going to have some explaining to do.

* In ''Sailor of the King'', a movie based on a C.S. Forrester short story, a young naval officer named Richard Savile enjoys a romantic interlude with pretty Lucinda Bentley before going off to war but the girl refuses his offer of marriage. Years later, and still unmarried, he is captain of a cruiser squadron during WWII. His command tangles with a German raider which Savile eventually succeeds in sinking thanks to the one man delaying action of a young Canadian sailor named Brown. Much later, back in England the two men are waiting for their decorations from the King and Savile asks why 'Canada' Brown is serving in the R.N. The young sailor credits his mother, an English girl, who is a huge fan of the Royal Navy and raised him as the same. He further remarks that his mother is in Montreal and so couldn't make the ceremony. Savile tells him that their next posting is to the North Atlantic making a visit to his mum possible. Nothing is said but it is safe to assume that Richard and young Brown are in for a shock and Lucinda is going to have some explaining to do.

* ''OnePiece''. [[spoiler:Gold Roger got Monkey D. Rogue pregnant with Ace soon before he was captured. Rogue managed to stay pregnant for over a year as to make sure her child would actually be born.]]