History Main / OffingTheOffspring

* Raven Darkhölme aka ComicBook/{{Mystique}} regularly voted “Marvel’s Worst Mother” for several decades, has infamously made two attempts on the lives of her sons, the second time being successful.

* ''Film/ShaolinMantis'' delivers a two-fer; firstly with Master Tien, realizing his daughter and granddaughter had fallen for the hero Wei Fung, killing both of them in a rage, and towards the end of the film Wei Fung realizing his entire mission was a scam... [[IAteWhat after seeing poison in a cup of tea his father had given him]].

[[folder:Pinball]]
* The randomly-generated murders in ''[[Pinball/WHODunnit WHO dunnit]]'' make this a possible result.
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* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'':
** The power-hungry Queen Brahne, who never truly loved her daughter Garnet and only wanted the powers of the eidolons that Garnet had, even going as far as to try to kill her once she had them forcibly extracted (the fact that Brahne had been manipulated by the evil Kuja towards this end didn't do much for poor Garnet's [[HeroicBSOD state of mind]] after the battle with her). [[spoiler:It is later revealed that Garnet is Brahne's adopted daughter after the real princess died very young.]]
** Honorable mention goes to [[spoiler: Garland attempting to repossess his creation, Zidane's SOUL once it becomes clear Zidane is no longer willing of carrying out [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt his original purpose]]]].

** In the final episode of, it is discovered that [[spoiler: King Gallon arranged for the murder of the son whom he exiled for marrying a common woman. As a royal secret, there was a prophecy that Gallon would be killed by someone of royal blood, presumably of his own family. His exiled son left resenting Gallon, and thus Gallon feared he would return to kill him one day, so he had him killed first. Karma got him in the end when his grandson Oswald destroyed him with the Belderiver]].
** The worst is probably [[spoiler: King Valentine, who ''strangled his own daughter Ariel to death with his bare hands'' when he found out she had given birth to his enemy Odin's children, the aforementioned Velvet and her brother Inwald]].
* This is Gau's backstory in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. His mother [[DeathByChildbirth died in childbirth]], and his father, driven mad by the accident, threw him out on the Veldt to be eaten by the monsters. [[RaisedByWolves They didn't.]]

** In ''Videogame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'', Dracula is doomed to battle his own descendants. And this is especially true of the alternate universe's Trevor Belmont, Dracula didn't know he had a child until he's already impaled Trevor with his own combat cross [[spoiler: and gave him his blood, which would eventually turn him into Alucard]]. The shock that the brotherhood knowingly sent Trevor to kill him [[DespairEventHorizon causes him to extend his vendetta from God to the whole of humanity]].

* One of the more convoluted and fucked-up examples on this page would belong to ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}''. Long story short, [[spoiler: the Supreme Hunter was created when Alex Mercer injected fellow {{Plaguemaster}} Elizabeth Greene with a combination of a sentient cancer he had earlier been infected with and his own DNA. In a metaphorical birthing scene, she immediately spits it out for a boss fight so she can get away. The result is after Alex finally kills Greene later in the game, the Supreme Hunter tries to kill and absorb him. Alex ends up hacking it to death with the [[{{BFS}} Blade]]]].

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'': [[WickedStepmother Lady Tremaine]] and her [[CainAndAbel daughters]], out of hatred towards {{WesternAnimation/Cinderella}}, attempt to murder her with an Unversed called the Cursed Coach. [[spoiler: They fail, and [[DeathByAdaptation are executed by their own monster as a result]] before Aqua could even fight them]].

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Cotton Mary Ann Cotton]], a particularly malignant BlackWidow, did this for nearly ''her entire life''. She'd get married, kill her husband and children, then collect the insurance money. Then find some other guy. Rinse, lather, repeat.

* This [[spoiler:[[ScrewDestiny was]] [[CallingTheOldManOut the]] [[SelfMadeOrphan last thing]]]] Trigon tried to do in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice,'' the immortal Comicbook/VandalSavage casually, though still regretfully, kills his daughter Olympia, [[SupernaturallyYoungParent who could probably pass as his mother]]. His much younger daughter Cassandra is clearly horrified, but stammers that it was a MercyKill due to Olympia's increasing senility.

* {{Subverted|Trope}} with ComicBook/LadyShiva, who is twice responsible for the death of her own daughter, [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra]], but both times brings her BackFromTheDead, since she has her own agenda for her.

* In the first edition of [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm Grimms' Fairy Tales]], Literature/SnowWhite's and Literature/HanselAndGretel's own mothers tried to have them killed. This was {{Bowdlerise}}d to a WickedStepmother in the second edition, but the father still (reluctantly) cooperates in Hansel and Gretel.

* Creator/MarvelComics' LegacyCharacter [[ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}} Genis-Vell]] was once under attack by the incorporeal body of the Magus, Comicbook/AdamWarlock's SuperPoweredEvilSide. In a [[EvilPlan plan]] to take over Marvel's body (who could only see him because of his [[HyperAwareness Cosmic Awareness]], he employed Marvel's son from the future, who had turned into an EnfantTerrible. Genis at one point in the fight made a horrible decision. This made his son fade away from existence (A la ''Film/BackToTheFuture''). We're later shown [[TearJerker with the gut-wrenching action]] he had to perform hanging above his son's cradle.

* Creator/MarvelComics' LegacyCharacter [[Comicbook/CaptainMarVell Genis]]- Vell was once under attack by the incorporeal body of the Magus, Comicbook/AdamWarlock's SuperPoweredEvilSide. In a [[EvilPlan plan]] to take over Marvel's body (who could only see him because of his [[HyperAwareness Cosmic Awareness]], he employed Marvel's son from the future, who had turned into an EnfantTerrible. Genis at one point in the fight made a horrible decision. This made his son fade away from existence (A la ''Film/BackToTheFuture''). We're later shown [[TearJerker with the gut-wrenching action]] he had to perform hanging above his son's cradle.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': [[spoiler: In order to obtain the Soul Stone, Thanos must sacrifice the person he loves the most. Gamora, his adopted daughter, doesn't believe he cares about anyone other than himself. Thanos tells her that's not true and, with a heavy heart, tosses Gamora off a cliff to her death and receives the Soul Stone]].

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': [[spoiler:Ego callously murders any of his children who did not inherit his powers, as he considers them worthless]].

* In ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', Philza's first action upon being whitelisted and logging on to the server is to [[spoiler:try to convince his son, Wilbur, not to blow up L'Manburg and himself in the process. When that fails, Phil protects Wilbur from the explosion, but Wilbur convinces Phil to [[SuicideByCop kill him anyway]], to which Phil eventually complies]].

* In ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', {{LetsPlay/Philza}}'s first action upon being whitelisted and logging on to the server is to [[spoiler: MercyKill his own son, Wilbur, who has gone insane and begs him to do it, having achieved his goal of destruction]].

* Despite the stereotype of the MamaBear, infanticide is rife across the animal kingdom, present in insects, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles. It is evolutionarily advantageous to have more children than you can afford (or simply be bothered) to care for, as the extras act as insurance in case there are any problems. However, if everything is fine, the spares become superfluous and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness are treated accordingly.]] This ranges from the mother simply abandoning them, to killing them, to straight-up eating them. Some only do this if resources are scarce, while others will always kill at least some of their offspring regardless - it apparently being a hardwired part of their biology. This even includes dogs. A mama dog, if left to her own devices, not uncommonly kills some of her own puppies for a variety of reasons, including simply accidentally or out of annoyance. While this is shocking to humans (more so when mothers kill children [[ARealManIsAKiller rather than males]]), truth is everything in the wild is a ruthless calculation, and evolution has no mercy.

* ''Podcast/SickSadWorld'': "The Dangers Of Being Disabled" has a case of a man murdering his daughter in a supposed {{mercy kill}}.

* The Emperor killing Horus in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. One of the more justified examples, as Horus at that point had just led a daemon-empowered invasion of Terra, ripped the Imperium apart in civil war that had claimed ''trillions'' of lives, corrupted half of his brothers, killed one of his brothers who remained loyal to the Emperor, consorted with daemons, destroyed multiple planets, laid siege to the Emperor's palace and was at that moment trying to eviscerate the Emperor. As with everything, when ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' justifies a trope, it [[UpToEleven doesn't do it by halves.]] It says a lot about how much the Emperor loved Horus that none of that was actually enough to force the Emperor to kill Horus. Even as he was being torn apart, he still hoped that Horus could be redeemed. Then a lone soldier (who prior to retcons, was an ordinary human being with absolutely no chance of hurting Horus) stood before Horus in a futile attempt to defend the Emperor. Horus casually flayed the man alive with a glance. This cold-blooded murder is what finally convinced the Emperor that Horus needed to die. So the mortally wounded Emperor launched a psychic attack of such power that it obliterated Horus and sent the four Chaos gods who had possessed Horus screaming back to the Warp.

* Slightly inverted in ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach''. Spiker and Sponge try to kill their nephew when he stands up against them ''in front of a large crowd of people and some police officers''.

* At the end of ''Film/TheOthers'', it's finally revealed that [[spoiler:Grace and her two children have been dead the whole time. When she received news that her husband was killed fighting in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, she snapped and murdered her children, then killed herself. The titular "others" are living people who have moved into the family's home, which the three of them are unknowingly haunting.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[spoiler:Hiroshi Sato ends up trying to kill his daughter]]. He is a horrible father indeed.

* This [[spoiler:[[ScrewDestiny was]] [[CallingTheOldManOut the]] [[SelfMadeOrphan last thing]]]] Trigon tried to do in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}''. Despite being the BigBad, Caleb's mother, [[spoiler:Nerissa]], deliberately spares him and tries to keep him out of battles.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "Butters Very Own Episode" Butters' mother learns her husband is going to gay movies and bathhouses. She tries to drown her son by driving the car into a lake while explaining to him "If a mommy has to end her life, she can't let her baby alone in the world to be raised by a sick pervert". His AbusiveParents haven't attempted to kill him since and just settle for grounding him all the time.
* Spanky Ham did this twice in ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether''. In "Unrestrainable Trainable", Captain Hero lamenting that he is a worse father than Spanky is followed by Spanky's wife giving birth and Spanky grinding his newborn son into sausage. The later episode "Charlotte's Web of Lies" has him eliminate the spider Charlotte and the children they had together by squishing them with a restaurant menu.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS5E11TheCopycats "The Copycats"]] it's implied that the [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct knock-off versions of the Wattersons]] killed or at least abandoned their version of Anais, due to their website having her entry replaced with [[BlackComedy "Women no right to celebrate in republic of people."]] It's a jab at both ''Animation/MiracleStar''[='s=][[labelnote:note]]The ''Gumball'' bootleg that the episode is mocking[[/labelnote]] lack of an Anais clone as well as China's [[PopulationControl One-Child Policy]].

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12629672/1/The-Hands-of-Fate-Invasion The Hands of Fate:Invasion]]'': On Earth-2, Robert Queen and Oliver both survived the sinking of the ''Queen's Gambit''. Unlike Earth-1, here Robert explained to Oliver ''why'' it was sunk and what they had to do, but Oliver only cared about getting home to Laurel. So Robert killed him, deeming him too weak to do what was necessary. Tellingly, he uses this as an example [[ItsAllAboutMe of how he does know the meaning of sacrifice]], instead of seeing as a horrific thing to do.

* The 2009 Hong Kong thriller film, ''Night and Fog'', which is VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, ends with Sam Lee, a mentally-disturbed man struggling with a broken marriage, eventually killing the wife and both his daughters, before being DrivenToSuicide.

* Czech folklore-inspired band Čechomor has a surprisingly large number of entries in the "woman kills an unwanted child" genre. This presumably harkens back to a time when birth control was hard to obtain and unreliable, and a child out of wedlock could often ruin woman's life, so some women resorted to this - although probably not this often.

** "Andulka" (just Andulka - it's a czech diminutive of Anne) is similarly about a woman who drowns her newborn son in Danube just after birth. She's similarly executed for this.

** ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'': Oedipus' father, King Laius, pierced his feet and left him on a hill to die, in attempt to prevent him from fulfilling the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. This only resulted in a MeaningfulName for Oedipus (meaning "swollen foot") and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laius_complex "Laius complex"]].

** When Meleager was born, the Fates predicted he would only live until a brand, burning in the family hearth, was consumed by fire. Overhearing them, his mother Althaea immediately doused and hid the brand. When he grew up, Meleager killed his uncles Iphicles and Eurypylus (Althaea's brothers) in an argument; Althaea was so pissed that ran back to the house, retrieved the brand from it's hiding place, and put it on the fire, killing her son.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'': Heihachi tries to kill his son Kazuya multiple times, and Kazuya later himself plans on trying to kill his son Jin (who Heihachi also tries to kill in ''Tekken 3''). In ''Tekken 5'', it's revealed even Heihachi's father Jinpachi held a certain mutual animosity for him. In ''VideoGame/Tekken7'' [[spoiler: it turns out Kazumi Mishima, wife of Heihachi and mother of Kazuya had the [[{{Satan}} Devil Gene]] and intended to kill her husband and son forcing Heihachi to kill her... though the act [[ManlyTears deeply saddened him]]. Kayzua angry at the death [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas of his mother]] attacks Heihachi, who instead of explaining the whole situation tosses him off a cliff in hopes getting rid of the Devil Gene and but ironically this act activated the Gene in Kazuya's body in the first place]]. Years later Heihachi's actions come back to bite in the ass [[spoiler: since in the climax to ''Tekken 7'', Kazuya [[{{Patricide}} kills]] Heihachi and throws his body into a burning volcano]].

* In ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'', it's revealed in the Bad Boys Love route that [[spoiler:Yuuya's stepfather ordered him to smash Sakuya's egg, due it being laid between Yuuya's mother and father. Instead of doing that, Yuuya hid Sakuya's egg until his mother and stepfather had an egg together, then switched that egg with Sakuya's, smashing the other one]].

* Many children with disabilities (most commonly autism and cerebral palsy) or fatal illness have been not only been killed by their parents, but in many cases the parents themselves are seen in the media and by supporters as sympathetic and even admirable for their actions, as they claim to do this after crossing the DespairEventHorizon and because [[MercyKill they want to spare their kid from more suffering]] or don't believe that they can get the kid the proper care to live a comfortable life. Examples include Robert Latimer, Danielle Blais, Karen [=McCarron=], and Dorothy Spourdalakis. Often the parents kill themselves as well [[TogetherInDeath to not leave their kids alone in death]]. Of course, this leads to UnfortunateImplications - chiefly, that one is [[BuryYourDisabled better off dead than disabled.]]

* ''Comicbook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'' villain Universo got tired of having his evil plots thwarted by his son Rond (who was possessed of natural immunity to Universo's hypnotic mind control) and arranged for Rond to die quietly in the hospital after suffering an "accident." Only Rond's secret possession of a GreenLanternRing kept the plan from working.

* Subverted in ''Fanfic/SonOftheSannin''. Fugaku thought he had successfully killed Itachi in their battle, but it quickly turned out to have been a clone and Itachi in turn fatally injures him a few seconds later. However, those few seconds before he realized the truth [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening were enough to trigger his Mangekyo Sharingan]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', [[spoiler:three of the four major endings require you to do this to your son Shaun, who you have spent the better part of the game trying to reach, due to him having become Father, the director of the Institute and the game's primary BigBad, during the course of the sixty years between his kidnapping from Vault 111 and your release from that same Vault, in one of the more tragic examples of The Bad Seed. If you're feeling especially cruel, you can also do this to Synth Shaun by leaving him to die when the Institute goes kaboom, but virtually every one of the good companions and [=NPC=]s with you will hate this decision]].

* An old Welsh tradition about [[Myth/KingArthur "King" Arthur]], related as early as ''Literature/HistoriaBrittonum'', is that he killed a son of his own called Amr. The circumstances are not known, but possibly this is the root for the later tradition that Arthur killed his own son Mo(r)dred (in the process being himself mortally wounded). Note that with Mordred at least this was Type 2.

** The power-hungry Queen Brahne, who didn't love her daughter Garnet and only wanted the powers of the eidolons that Garnet had, even going as far as to try to kill her once she had them (the fact that Brahne had been manipulated by the evil Kuja towards this end didn't do much for poor Garnet's [[HeroicBSOD state of mind]] after the battle with her). [[spoiler:It is later revealed that Garnet is Brahne's adopted daughter after the real princess died very young.]]