History Main / TellMeAboutMyFather

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has Clark asking The Fortress AI (a recording of Dear Old Dad), Comicbook/{{Brainiac}}, Raya, and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} about his parents, but mainly Jor-El. He also gets to interact with a simulation of his mom Lara (played by Creator/HelenSlater, who played Supergirl in the 1984 film ''Film/{{Supergirl}}'').

* In Series/KamenRiderHibiki, the main character Asumu is a teenage boy living with a single mother. When his rival is constantly talking about surpassing his father, Asumu begins wondering what his own father is like. His mother is acting very distant about is, but gives him his father's address. Asumu indirectly gets to know his father by the testimony of other people. The episode ends with him asking his mother if its okay to like him, after which his mother encourages him to do so.

** ''Film/ANewHope'' does this, but what's told is FromACertainPointOfView. It's also implied that Luke has asked his [[MuggleFosterParents aunt and uncle]] about [[DisappearedDad Anakin]], but that they [[LockedOutOfTheLoop refuse]] [[SecretLegacy to]] [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou discuss]] [[LukeIAmYourFather him]].

* ''In The Shadows of their Fathers'', an arc of the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Star Wars Rebellion]]'' comic, Luke Skywalker gets his first inkling that his dad wasn't as heroic as he'd been thinking ever since finding out that Anakin had been a Jedi. It happened in the most dramatic way possible, of course, when he went to help out the people of Jabiim, whom Anakin had left to die back in the Clone Wars. They found out who he was, they wanted to kill him, cooler heads prevailed and he was taunted and beaten up until a more sympathetic Jabiim started protecting him. Just the ''idea'' that Anakin was actually terrible practically breaks Luke, who pleads "[[http://images.plurk.com/86f3f3cf9a763ef796975a1465e95115.jpg Did my father really behead Jabiimi children?]]" before absolutely throwing himself into the cause of helping them however he can, [[IAmNotMyFather trying to make it up to them]]. At the end of the series this attitude gets a soft reset, with Leia assuring Luke that his father had still been good and helped so many people even if he'd failed the Jabiimi, and Luke swears that if anything this just made him love Anakin more.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': One episode featured a doctor who lost his license and only got to practice because his gangster brother set him up as "the Crime Doctor". At the end of the episode, Bruce bails him out, and the doctor is instantly suspicious about what he wants in return -- until Bruce says this trope's name (the doctor had been good friends with Dr. Thomas Wayne in medical school).
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited''. [[spoiler: Shayera]] sits down beside Batman and asks him to "Tell me about my [[spoiler: son.]]" (TimeTravel was involved and it let to [[spoiler: Shayera and John learning that they'll eventually be the parents of Rex aka Warhawk, a member of a future Justice League]].)

* In an interesting inversion, ComicBook//{{Daken}}, the son of {{Wolverine}}, asks his father about his mother. Due to the fact they're in a mental plane of existence, Logan decides to show him rather than just tell him. It's a sweet moment until Daken can't touch her and demands more, which Logan can't give.

* In ''[[http://percyjacksonfanfiction.wikia.com/wiki/Whispers_in_the_Dark Whispers in the Dark]]'', Taylor was told all her life that her father drowned when she was a baby and that's why she doesn't remember him. But when [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou she actually meets him]], she's pretty pissed to find out that he's [[spoiler:the one and only [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Luke Castellan]], who betrayed the gods to join Kronos]].

* The very essence of ''[[https://www.wattpad.com/story/197976919-cabin-fever-promises-to-keep Cabin Fever: Promises To Keep]]''. A few years after Marcy accidentally got pregnant from the careless [[OneNightStandPregnancy one-night-stand she had with Paul]] during [[Film/CabinFever the deadly outbreak]], her daughter starts asking questions about her father, [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy who tragically died from the disease]].

** Harry asked the Dursleys about his parents growing up, but they never told him anything except "They died in a car crash and don't ask questions." After learning the truth, he never directly asked but got good reports from his teachers and elders. The only dissenting voice was his [[SadistTeacher cruel bullying]] teacher Snape who he had little reason to believe. Then, in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'', Harry experienced one of Snape's memories and saw for himself that James Potter was kind of a jerk when he was fifteen. This led to him directly questioning Sirius and Lupin, who assured him that James [[FormerTeenRebel deflated his head]] once he grew up.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' is sometimes shown doing this is in childhood flashbacks. He was only six months old when his mother, Mary, died and has no memories of her. Older brother Dean was only four and has a few more memories, but because of the violent way she died, neither Dean or family patriarch John like to talk about her.

* In ''TheBelgariad'', the young protagonist Garion asks his Aunt Pol about his mother. A few years later he asks Mister Wolf to tell him about his parents.

* Negi Springfield, titular character of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' sort of counts. He thought his father the [[RedBaron Thousand Master]] really was a man of a thousand powerful spells, when really he only knew five or six and had to look through a cheat sheet of complex incantations (of course his romantisizing son was rightfully disturbed). Despite all that, Nagi ''was'' a talented hand-to-hand fighter and his sheer power could more than accommodate for his lack of spells; for the spells he ''could'' do, they were often over-powered (including basics) or his natural ability made complicated magic a cinch for him. [[WorldsStrongestMan There's a reason they called him an invincible hero]].

* In ''VisualNovel/{{CLANNAD}}'' [[spoiler: the main character Tomoya's IllGirl wife Nagisa dies giving birth to his daughter Ushio and he ends up leaving her to be raised by her grandparents, who make a point of not telling Ushio about her mother. When he decides to take care of Ushio again, one of the first things he does is tell her about her dead mother. This leads to a heart breaking scene where Tomoya breaks down in tears part way through talking about Nagisa, crying over her death for the first time in years.]]

* When Skaar, the son of the [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk Incredible Hulk]], first met the Hulk's [[TrueCompanions Warbound]], he asked them this same question. [[spoiler:Subverted in that he later clarified he meant "Tell me how I can kill him."]]
* In an interesting inversion, {{ComicBook/Daken}}, the son of {{Wolverine}}, asks his father about his mother. Due to the fact they're in a mental plane of existence, Logan decides to show him rather than just tell him. It's a sweet moment until Daken can't touch her and demands more, which Logan can't give.
* In an issue of ''[[Comicbook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'', ComicBook/{{Cable}} invokes this trope by name when he asks Comicbook/{{Cyclops}} (his father) to tell him about his mother, Madelyne Pryor (presumably the woman she was before she became [[OmnicidalManiac The Goblin Queen]]). This scene is given an odd dissonance, given that thanks to time travel Cable is old enough to be Cyclops' father.
* ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'' has an entire plot arc based around this trope where their SixthRanger Victor Mancha attempts to find out the identity of his super villian father at first it appears to be [[spoiler:Doctor Doom]] but then it turns out to be [[spoiler:Ultron]] yes, that's right [[spoiler: [[RuleOfCool Technically he is an android made from Ultrons programming and his human mother's DNA.]] ]]
* ''In The Shadows of their Fathers'', an arc of the ''[[{{Franchise/Star Wars Expanded Universe}} Star Wars Rebellion]]'' comic, Luke Skywalker gets his first inkling that his dad wasn't as heroic as he'd been thinking ever since finding out that Anakin had been a Jedi. It happened in the most dramatic way possible, of course, when he went to help out the people of Jabiim, who Anakin had left to die back in the Clone Wars. They found out who he was, they wanted to kill him, cooler heads prevailed and he was taunted and beaten up until a more sympathetic Jabiim started protecting him. Just the ''idea'' that Anakin was actually terrible practically breaks Luke, who pleads "[[http://images.plurk.com/86f3f3cf9a763ef796975a1465e95115.jpg Did my father really behead Jabiimi children?]]" before absolutely throwing himself into the cause of helping them however he can, [[IAmNotMyFather trying to make it up to them]]. At the end of the series this attitude gets a soft reset, with Leia assuring Luke that his father had still been good and helped so many people even if he'd failed the Jabiimi, and Luke swears that if anything this just made him love Anakin more.

* ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'': In chapter 4 Shinji mentions Asuka that he has asked his father about [[MissingMom his mother]], but Gendo does not talk about her.

* In the My Little Pony Fanfic ''FanFic/TheSonOfTheEmperor'' Charles doesn't really know much about his father [[spoiler: Napoleon]], so when he meets someone who does he quickly starts asking about him.

* At the end of ''The Forgotten Darkness'' of ''FanFic/TheFlashSentryChronicles'', [[spoiler:Springer the Jakhowl discovers he is the son of Sharp Paw and Clear Paw, and asks Princess Luna and Ruby Scarlet, the only two ponies who knew his parents personally, if they can tell him more about them someday. They both happily agree to]].
* The very essence of [[https://www.wattpad.com/story/197976919-cabin-fever-promises-to-keep Cabin Fever: Promises To Keep]]. A few years after Marcy accidentally got pregnant from the careless [[OneNightStandPregnancy one-night-stand she had with Paul]] during [[Film/CabinFever the deadly outbreak]], her daughter starts asking questions about her father, [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy who tragically died from the disease]].

* Toyed with in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Fire Emblem Seisen no Keifu]]'', when [[spoiler: Lene the Dancer]] asks [[spoiler: Prince Lewyn]] if he knew her parents, who left her in an orphanage when she was a little girl. He doesn't tell her almost anything, but tries reassuring her that her parents will come back to her. [[spoiler: The thing is... the conversation only happens if ''Lewyn is Lene's father'', via pairing him up with Lene's MissingMom Sylvia in the first half of the game. And since Lewyn is all but stated to have become a SoulJar for the Dragon Forseti, ''he can't tell her''.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* This is inverted in ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', where the supervillain Tattletale threatens to tell the superhero Panacea about her father-specifically, about the horrible crimes that he committed that got him imprisoned in a maximum security facility for the rest of his natural life-in order to get away from a bank robbery gone wrong.
* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' takes the Future Trunks and Vegeta example (see above) and rolls with it. Bulma ''tactfully'' describes Vegeta as an abrasive loner who had trouble making friends. In the ''History of Trunks'' special, Gohan flashes back to Vegeta punching him in the face, and just says "He had a lot to prove." Needless to say, Trunks is not prepared for a verbally abusive jerk who once tried to kill all the heroes.
-->'''Kid Trunks:''' Am I a lot like him?\\
'''Future Bulma:''' You have...his gender.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In Volume 4, Taiyang makes it a point to tell Yang of her mother's positive aspects, which hits her ''really'' hard in Volume 5 when she finally meets Raven and discovers that she's a self-absorbed, pretentious SocialDarwinist and DirtyCoward who puts herself and her BanditClan above everyone and everything else. In "Haven's Fate," Yang even mentions this while [[CallingTheOldManOut calling Raven out on her cowardice and hypocrisy]].
-->'''Yang''': You're right. I ''don't'' know you. I only know the Raven Dad told me about. She was troubled, and complicated, but she fought for what she believed in, whether it was her team or her tribe! Did you kill her too?
* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': a persistent theme in "Silent Nacht" is Nacht (Kate) asking the her mother, the Bell Witch (Marzena), about her father, only to be rebuffed. [[spoiler: it turns out that Marzena probably doesn't know who he is, as she kidnapped Kate from her family and pretended to be her mother after Kate survived what she expected to be, in effect, a HumanSacrifice to a literal Force of Darkness.]]
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[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Another GenderFlipped version. Dewey wants anyone who has the knowledge to tell him about his missing/dead mother.

* ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'': After kissing for first time Shinji and Asuka open up and argue that nobody ever talked to them about their deceased mothers, not matter how many times they asked.

* A rare example of learning about one's ''mother'', from her ''son'' no less - Patrokles, protagonist of ''SoulCaliburV'', desired to learn about his mother, Sophitia, from his NonActionGuy father Rothion.

[[folder:Videogames]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* The very essence of [[https://www.wattpad.com/story/197976919-cabin-fever-promises-to-keep Cabin Fever: Promises To Keep]].

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' when [[NebulousEvilOrganization NEO Umbrella]] just goes right ahead and fills Jake Muller in about his father [[OmnicidalManiac Albert Wesker]], telling him quite a bit more than he ever wanted to hear.

* In ''Disney/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'', Kovu learns about his adoptive father, Scar, from Simba. Turns out Scar wasn't quite the unsung hero mom told him he had to avenge, but [[BrokenPedestal a psychopathic killer]].

* This happens on ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' in a gender flip after Reed Garret comes to town looking for his mother, Mac's late wife Claire. At first, he backs off when he finds out she's dead. Mac doesn't push him, but his caring persuasion and wanting to do it for Claire eventually gets Reed to open up and he eventually asks Mac about her.