History Main / UnpleasantParentReveal

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': In the pilot of season 3, Cassandra is shown learning that her biological mother is [[spoiler:Gothel. Though this gets played with, it's Rapunzel who's shocked about this revelation while Cassandra thinks Gothel was a caring mother who Rapunzel stole her attention away from. Leading her to turn on Rapunzel and her friends through the season despite Rapunzel trying to tell her to the contrary. It isn't till the end that Cassandra gets solid proof that Gothel never loved her and was more than happy to abandon her after she stole Rapunzel from her crib since she couldn't get back to Cassandra when some of the kingdom's guards blocked her escape route. And she had to detour that lead her to the hidden tower, never even bothering to go back and look for her since the sun flower's power within Rapunzel was what she really wanted.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse,'' the title character's mother, Rose Quartz, is a PosthumousCharacter ([[OnlyMostlyDead more or less]]) who "died" [[DeathByChildbirth when Steven was born]]. Early episodes have her loved ones always describing her as TheAce and an AllLovingHeroine, but as the series goes on we learn more morally gray or unpleasant actions that she was involved in; her intentions were usually noble, but Steven finds himself struggling more and more with what kind of person she really was. The ur-example being that [[spoiler:rather than having shattered Pink Diamond, Rose Quarz actually ''was'' Pink Diamond in disguise, one of the four rulers of the Gem empire, who took on another identity to lead a rebellion because the other three Diamonds wouldn't listen to her desire to not strip the Earth of its organic life. And before she gained her more enlightened attitude in her time on Earth, Pink Diamond could be a real RoyalBrat, accidentally cracking Volleyball Pearl's eye during a tantrum, and leaving Spinel to wait for her in a garden indefinitely after she'd grown tired of her antics - not to mention that she'd caused the colonization of Earth in the first place by begging the other Diamonds to give her a planet so she'd be taken seriously]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse,'' the title character's mother, Rose Quartz, is a PosthumousCharacter ([[OnlyMostlyDead more or less]]) who "died" [[DeathByChildbirth when Steven was born]]. Early episodes have her loved ones always describing her as TheAce and an AllLovingHeroine, but as the series goes on we learn more morally gray or unpleasant actions that she was involved in; her intentions were usually noble, but Steven finds himself struggling more and more with what kind of person she really was. The ur-example being that [[spoiler:rather than having shattered Pink Diamond, Rose Quarz actually ''was'' Pink Diamond in disguise, one of the four rulers of the Gem empire, who took on another identity to lead a rebellion because the other three Diamonds wouldn't listen to her desire to not strip the Earth of its organic life]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse,'' the title character's mother, Rose Quartz, is a PosthumousCharacter ([[OnlyMostlyDead more or less]]) who "died" [[DeathByChildbirth when Steven was born]]. Early episodes have her loved ones always describing her as TheAce and an AllLovingHeroine, but as the series goes on we learn more morally gray or unpleasant actions that she was involved in; her intentions were usually noble, but Steven finds himself struggling more and more with what kind of person she really was. The ur-example being that [[spoiler:Rose Quarz was actually Pink Diamond in disguise, one of the four rulers of Homeworld, who took on another identity to lead a rebellion because the other three Diamonds wouldn't listen to her about not conquering planets]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse,'' the title character's mother, Rose Quartz, is a PosthumousCharacter ([[OnlyMostlyDead more or less]]) who "died" [[DeathByChildbirth when Steven was born]]. Early episodes have her loved ones always describing her as TheAce and an AllLovingHeroine, but as the series goes on we learn more morally gray or unpleasant actions that she was involved in; her intentions were usually noble, but Steven finds himself struggling more and more with what kind of person she really was.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse,'' the title character's mother, Rose Quartz, is a PosthumousCharacter ([[OnlyMostlyDead more or less]]) who "died" [[DeathByChildbirth when Steven was born]]. Early episodes have her loved ones always describing her as TheAce and an AllLovingHeroine, but as the series goes on we learn more morally gray or unpleasant actions that she was involved in; her intentions always seemed noble, but Steven finds himself struggling more and more with what kind of person she really was.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': {{Downplayed}} in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E8FathersDay "Father's Day"]]. Rose gets the Doctor to take her back in time to the day her father died, and when she meets him she discovers that Pete isn't the wonderful man "always having adventures" and inventing things that her mother described, he's a gadabout looking for his next get-rich-quick scheme and he and Jackie had a rocky marriage. However, he is a nice guy, and does make a HeroicSacrifice when he learns that he was supposed to have died but Rose saved him from being hit by a car and [[ClockRoaches accidentally created a world-ending paradox]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': {{Downplayed}} in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E8FathersDay "Father's Day"]]. Rose gets the Doctor to take her back in time to the day her father died, and when she meets him she discovers that he isn't the wonderful man "always having adventures" and inventing things that her mother described, he's a gadabout looking for his next get-rich-quick scheme and he and Jackie had a rocky marriage. However, he is a nice guy, and does make a HeroicSacrifice when he learns that he was supposed to have died but Rose saved him from being hit by a car and [[ClockRoaches accidentally created a world-ending paradox]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': {{Downplayed}} in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E8FathersDay "Father's Day"]]. Rose gets the Doctor to take her back in time to the day her father died, and when she meets him she discovers that he isn't the wonderful man "always having adventures" that her mother described, he's a gadabout looking for his next get-rich-quick scheme. However, he does make a HeroicSacrifice when he learns that he was supposed to have died but Rose saved him from being hit by a car and [[ClockRoaches changed the world for the worse]].

** [[Manga/GoldenWind Giorno Giovanni]] is horrified when he learns that his "father" DIO was a twisted and cruel vampire that caused suffering to numerous people. It's enough that after the first time he sees him in person, he [[YouAreNotMyFather denounces Dio as his parent and burns the picture that he always ccarries]]. This is averted with his biological father [[Manga/PhantomBlood Johnathan Joestar]], who happily accepts Giorno as his son (even though the former is 20 at the moment) while Giorno sees him as the parent he never had.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' Jason and Bruce spend a considerable amount of time looking for Jason's biological mother after he realizes that he's not related by blood to Catherine. Jason, excited about the prospect of having living family, tells his birth mom Sheila Haywood about his secret ID as Robin and she immediately betrays him to Comicbook/TheJoker, who then proceeds to beat Jason almost to death and blow him up. Upon his resurrection, Jay is not upset to learn Sheila died in the blast as well, although his last action in life was trying to save hers.

* In the ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' fanfiction ''Moving Forward'' Orihime's long-absent father shows up on her doorstep but he isn't there for a heart to heart talk. He is there to take her home so he can get her mother's life insurance. And he is ready to use force to make her come with him.

* In the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1242073/1/TO-On-the-Streets TO On the Streets]]", after Monica apparently left home while Ross was on a trip with his father, when Ross runs into her at her wedding to Chandler he's shocked to learn that their mother kicked Monica out and told her that he and Jack were aware of what she was planning and left because they couldn't be bothered. Once Jack confirms what Judy did, he leaves his wife that same evening, and Ross refuses to accept his mother's attempted explanation because every justification she makes is all about what she wanted rather than what he or Jack wanted.

* A variant in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}''--Miguel finds evidence that his idol, Ernesto De La Cruz, was actually his great-grandfather who [[DisappearedDad abandoned the family]] to pursue a music career. He meets Ernesto in the Land of the Dead, only to find that he's...not so nice underneath the oily persona. [[spoiler:{{Subverted}}, then, when it turns out that Miguel's ancestor is Héctor, who wrote Ernesto's songs before Ernesto betrayed and murdered him. Miguel is more than happy to find out they're related however, even stating he's grateful compared to Ernesto]].

* ''Film/{{Cruella}}'': [[spoiler: After the Baroness nearly kills via burning her alive. Estella is rescued by John, the Baroness's personal butler, who later explains to her that the Baroness is her real mother and her initial one, Catherine, was one of the Baroness's former maids who agreed to look after her when it was clear the Baroness would likely have Estella left to die then be a parent (as well as keep her from getting an inheritance). Estella unsurprisingly doesn't take this well.]]

* In the YA thriller ''Burn Our Bodies Down'' by Rory Powers, protagonist Margot gets a double whammy. First she runs away to her grandmother Vera's farm, thinking Vera will love her the way her neglectful and manipulative mother doesn't. But Vera's just as bad, and on her first day there a girl who's mysteriously identical to Margot dies in a fire that Vera refuses to discuss. [[spoiler: Then it turns out Margot, her mother, and the dead girl are parthenogenic clones of Vera--Vera used a banned fertilizer in a desperate attempt to save the farm, only to discover firsthand why it was illegal when it made her start ''budding children''. Not only that, but there have been ''many'' such clones, all of whom Vera has murdered. And Margot is next on her list.]]

* ''Series/{{Search}}'': Jun-seong is horrified to discover his father is a murderer. Played with, since in this case the parent raised the child instead of disappearing for years, but his true nature is still a shock to his son.

** Callie finds out in the first arc her mother is a wood nymph who full-on murder mortals to use their souls as decorations around her and had kidnapped her father to boot. Not helped when it was learned she nearly smothered Callie ''as a baby'' with her moss [[spoiler: and tries to force Callie to help her after learning Callie is a muse.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': In the pilot of season 3, Cassandra is shown learning that her biological mother is [[spoiler:Gothel. Though this gets played with, it's Rapunzel who's shocked about this revelation while Cassandra thinks Gothel was a caring mother who Rapunzel stole her attention away from. Leading her to turn on Rapunzel and her friends through the season despite Rapunzel trying to tell her to the contrary. It isn't till the end that Cassandra gets solid proof that Gothel never loved her and was more then happy to abandon her after she stole Rapunzel from her crib since she couldn't get back to Cassandra when some of the kingdom's guards blocked her escape route. And she had to detour that lead her to the hidden tower, never even bothering to go back and look for her since the sun flower's power within Rapunzel was what she really wanted.]]

* ''Film/{{Cruella}}'': [[spoiler: After the Baroness nearly kills via burning her alive. Cruella is rescued by John, the Baroness's personal butler, who later explains to her that the Baroness is her real mother and her initial one was one of the Baroness's former maids who agreed to look after her when it was clear the Baroness would likely have Cruella killed then be a parent. Cruella unsurprisingly doesn't take this well.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': In the pilot of season 3, Cassandra is shown learning that her biological mother is [[spoiler:Gothel.]]

* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'' it's revealed that [[spoiler:Lelouch's and Nunnally's]] sweet, deceased mother wasn't nearly as nice as presumed. [[spoiler:Marianne was alive the whole time, is a BigBad alongside her husband, and it's left vague if she even loved her children.]]

* In the third act of [[Film/Shazam2019 SHAZAM!]], after Victor and Rosa, Billy's foster parents, chew him out for skipping school and coming home battered and bruised (he cut school to make a few bucks showing off his superpowers and then got beaten up by [[BigBad Dr. Sivana]]), one of his foster siblings hacked into government databases and tracked down his biological mother, prompting him to run out of the house to meet her. When he does see her, he tries to hug her [[spoiler: but she pushes him back, and explains what happened the day she lost him at the fair. Her parents kicked her out the house [[TeenPregnancy for getting pregnant]], her husband, [[TooYoungToMarry likely a kid like her]], [[DisappearedDad skipped out soon after.]] At the fair, she lost Billy, and when she saw him being well tended by the cops that found him, she concluded that if she could barely take care of herself, much less her own child, she decided that Billy would've been better off in foster care, [[ParentalAbandonment and walked away]].]] Billy gives her back the compass she won for him and goes back to the foster home.

** {{Subverted}} with Tobias--he's initially hurt when he discovers that his MissingMom is living only a few blocks away from his uncle's house, yet never bothered to contact him. It turns out that [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou she has a decent excuse]], due to health issues and the incorrect belief that he was HappilyAdopted by this point.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Future Trunks grew up without Vegeta around, and was [[TellMeAboutMyFather given a whitewashed version of his personality]] by Future Gohan and Bulma. When they meet during the events of the Cell Saga, Trunks, initially happy to meet him, is horrified to discover that the father he never knew and wanted to meet is an arrogant, self-absorbed {{Jerkass}} who not only doesn't give a damn about Bulma or the son he fathered with her, but is perfectly willing to endanger the entire planet for the sake of a good fight.

* ''Manga/{{Rinne}}'s'' father Sabato Rokudo, who is a complete JerkAss who owns an illegal business stealing the souls of still-living people for profit. He steals left and right and is constantly scamming people. He frequently steals his teenage son's own hard earned money, forcing him to live in poverty and leaves him with debts by purchasing things in his son's name, basically committing identity theft. He's the primary antagonist in the series and even though it's PlayedForLaughs it's pretty messed up.

* In an obscure ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' comic book, he finds his long-lost uncle who later turns out to be a thief using him as a distraction. Before he left he said to Aladdin that he knows the truth about his parents. It is unknown of how much the creators of this comic were in touch with the movie creators, or if they were both following a precise lore bible, but it actually ties in pretty well with ''WesternAnimation/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves''.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' Jason and Bruce spend a considerable amount of time looking for Jason's biological mother after he realizes that he's not related by blood to Catherine. Jason, excited about the prospect of having living family, tells his birth mom Sheila Haywood about his secret ID as Robin and she immediately betrays him to Comicbook/TheJoker, who then proceeds to beat Jason almost to death and blow him up. Upon his resurrection Jay is not upset to learn Sheila died in the blast as well, although his last action in life was trying to save hers.

* In the third act of [[Film/Shazam2019 SHAZAM!]], after Victor and Rosa, Billy's foster parents, chew him out for skipping school and coming home battered and bruised (he cut school to make a few bucks showing off his superpowers and then got beaten up by [[BigBad Dr. Sivana]]), one of his foster siblings hacked into government databases and tracked down his biological mother, prompting him to run out of the house to meet her. When he does see her, he tries to hug her [[spoiler: but she pushes him back, and explains what happened the day she lost him at the fair. Her parents kicked her out the house [[TeenPregnancy for getting pregnant]], her husband, [[TooYoungToMarry likely a kid like her]], [[DisappearedDad skipped out soon after.]] At the fair, she lost Billy, and when she saw him being well tended by the cops that found him, she concluded that if she could barely take care of herself, much less her own child, she decided that Billy would've been better off in foster care, [[ParentalAbandonment and walked away]].]] Billy gives her back the compass she won for him, and goes back to the foster home.

** In probably the biggest reveal in the entire Star Wars saga, Luke Skywalker learns in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' that his father Anakin, whom he sought to emulate as a Jedi, has become the infamous Darth Vader, having fallen to the Dark Side of the Force and become an evil killing machine who strikes terror into the heart of nearly the entire galaxy. Devastated beyond belief at this horrible news, Luke's only hope is to turn his father good again. In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Luke has the task of sharing this information with his [[SeparatedAtBirth recently revealed twin sister, Leia]], who doesn't take it much better than he did.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', [[spoiler:Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf]], after spending most of a book trying to find out their parentage, are very upset about finding out that they are the product of a ''very'' taboo relationship in their society, between a medicine cat (cats who have an important religious role in society aand are supposed to be celibate) and a cat from separate Clan, which is also forbidden. The very law-abiding [[spoiler:Hollyleaf]] takes it [[FreakOut particularly badly]].

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': Lloyd doesn't show any interest in learning about his father, citing he already has [[HappilyAdopted a father in Dirk]]. When he learns his mother's past as part of the Exsphere project, he refuses to believe Kvar's worse of her having been killed by his father. But when he learns the truth about his father being [[spoiler:Kratos Aurion]], he basically has a HeroicBSOD. [[spoiler:Partly because Kratos had betrayed the party and fought against them for majority of the game.]] He does seem to accept the knowledge, as most routes of the game (except for [[spoiler:Kratos']] own route, ironically enough) have Lloyd call him 'Dad' before heading off to fight the BigBad.

** Callie finds out in the first arc her mother is a wood nymph who full on murder mortals to use their souls as decorations around her and had kidnapped her father to boot. Not helped when it was learned she nearly smothered Callie ''as a baby'' with her moss [[spoiler: and tries to force Callie to help her after learning Callie is a muse.]]
** Declan kinda gets this when he meets his grandmother, Laurel. While she's not evil, she is ''very'' snooty being the head of a high class family of Earth faires. Naturally, while Declan does learn more about his mother through her [[spoiler: (who Laurel, surprise surprise, disowned after she fell in love with a human)]], he likewise isn't too keen on her flippant attitude towards Callie, his girlfriend, and fellow friends Lasser and Radish.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Dofus}}'', Joris is an orphan raised by Kerubim, and thus spends a lot of time imagining what his parents were like (his favorite fantasy is that they were star Gobball players). Saying he's unnerved when he discovers that [[spoiler:[[BigBad Julith]] is his mother]] is an {{Understatement}}.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Future Trunks grew up without Vegeta around, and was [[TellMeAboutMyFather given a whitewashed version of his personality]] by Future Trunks and Bulma. When they meet during the events of the Cell Saga, Trunks, initially happy to meet him, is horrified to discover that the father he never knew and wanted to meet is an arrogant, self-absorbed {{Jerkass}} who not only doesn't give a damn about Bulma or the son he fathered with her, but is perfectly willing to endanger the entire planet for the sake of a good fight.

* A variant in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}''--Miguel finds evidence that his idol, Ernesto De La Cruz, was actually his great-grandfather who [[DisappearedDad abandoned the family]] to pursue a music career. He meets Ernesto in the Land of the Dead, only to find that he's...not so nice underneath the oily persona. [[spoiler:{{Subverted}}, then, when it turns out that Miguel's ancestor is Héctor, who wrote Ernesto's songs before Ernesto betrayed and murdered him. Miguel is more than happen to find out their related however, even stating he's upgrade compared to Ernesto]].

* In the third act of [[Film/Shazam2019 SHAZAM!]], after Victor and Rosa, Billy's foster parents, chew him out for skipping school and coming home battered and bruised (he cut school to make a few bucks showing off his superpowers and then got beaten up by [[BigBad Dr. Sivana]]), one of his foster siblings hacked into government databases and tracked down his biological mother, prompting him to run out of the house to meet her. When he does see her, he tries to hug her [[spoiler: but she pushes him back, and explains what happened the day she lost him at the fair. Her parents kicked her out the house [[TeenPregnancy for getting pregnant]], her husband, [[TooYoungToMarry likely a kid like her]], [[DisapearedDad skipped out soon after.]] At the fair, she lost Billy, and when she saw him being well tended by the cops that found him, she concluded that if she could barely take care of herself, much less her own child, she decided that Billy would've been better off in foster care, [[ParentalAbandonment and walked away]].]] Billy gives her back the compass she won for him, and goes back to the foster home.

* A variant in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}''--Miguel finds evidence that his idol, Ernesto De La Cruz, was actually his great-grandfather who [[DisappearedDad abandoned the family]] to pursue a music career. He meets Ernesto in the Land of the Dead, only to find that he's...not so nice underneath the oily persona. [[spoiler:{{Subverted}}, then, when it turns out that Miguel's ancestor is Héctor, who wrote Ernesto's songs before Ernesto betrayed and murdered him]].

** Callie finds out in the first arc her mother is a wood nymph who full on murder mortals to use their souls as decorations around her and had kidnapped her father to boot. Not helped when it was learned she nearly turned to smother Callie ''as a baby'' with her moss [[spoiler: and tries to force Callie to help her after learning Callie is a muse.]]