History Main / UnpleasantParentReveal

** Gil got a minor version at some point pre-canon - his father kept his parentage secret from him until he was at least eight, for fear of assassination, and he was badly bullied as a child for not having any family. He gets a small one when he and Tarvek find out that his father is apparently a rural [[MadScientist Spark]] who was killed by one of his own creations and turned into sausages, which isn't exactly the kind of parent you want. He and Tarvek weren't satisfied with the conclusions, so they dug further and learned contradicting info that Gil's father was a Spark terrorist named Petrus Teuful, which is more impressive but not exactly something to be proud of. But later in his life, Gil ''finally'' found out that his father is actually Baron Wulfenbach, ruler of most of Europa -- who hadn't told him even though he knew the bullying and torment he was going through. And he ''still'' doesn't know who his mother is, although [[spoiler:if she is indeed Zantabraxus, Queen of Skifander, like WordOfGod implies, it's going to be an even bigger surprise.]]

** Agatha gets a fairly huge one when she realizes that her mother Lucrezia Mongfish is [[BigBad the Other]], who was the cause of years of warfare and the [[MindRape mental enslavement]] of huge swathes of the population. This revelation comes at the same time as she is being hailed by worshippers of Lucrezia as the Holy Child, and then gets her [[GrandTheftMe mother's mind implanted into hers and has her body taken over]].
** Gil got a minor version at some point pre-canon - his father kept his parentage secret from him until he was at least eight, for fear of assassination, and he was badly bullied as a child for not having any family. He gets a small one when he and Tarvek find out that his father is apparently a rural [[MadScientist Spark]] who was killed by one of his own creations and turned into sausages, which isn't exactly the kind of parent you want. ''Then'' he finds out that his father is actually Baron Wulfenbach, ruler of most of Europa -- who hadn't told him even though he knew the bullying and torment he was going through. And he ''still'' doesn't know who his mother is, although [[spoiler:if she is indeed Zantabraxus, Queen of Skifander, like WordOfGod implies, it's going to be an even bigger surprise.]]

In some works, a mother or a father is simply missing and it'll get chalked up as DisappearedDad or MissingMom, no problem. The character might not care that their parent is gone and is happy without them. Or, finding out who their parents are might just be the character's whole reason for being. One day, said dad or mom might just show up, and reveal themselves to be something unpleasant. Whether it be a bad guy, a criminal, a thief, or even a combination of the three, their reveal is usually the exact opposite of how they imagined their parent to be. All their dreams of a happy family upon reuniting with their DisappearedDad or MissingMom are brutally dashed. It's the aversion of the fairy tale ending where all is made right when the character is reunited with their parents.

See ArchnemesisDad. This may also result in a BrokenPedestal. Compare VisitByDivorcedDad and AnticlimacticParent; contrast GoodParents. See also LukeIAmYourFather, for a specific form of this trope.

** ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeVTheEmpireStrikesBack'': Luke Skywalker learns 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.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'': Fifteen-years-old Trish Una had only heard stories about her father from her mother, and after her mother died she learned that her father is the Boss of the criminal organization Passione. While initially acting like a MafiaPrincess, she reveals to Bucciarati (who was tasked with delivering her to the boss) that she's terrified at the new found danger of being the Boss's daughter. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the Boss is a raging paranoiac who is obsessed with his anonymity. He only ordered Bucciarati and his team to deliver Trish so he can kill her himself, because he sees the fact he has a daughter as a threat to his identity.]]

* ''Manga/{{Rinne}}'': 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.

* ''Fanfic/CodeGeassPaladinsOfVoltron'': Rai spends most of the story with no memory of where his family his. All he knows for certain is that he has a mother and sister who disappeared. Eventually he remembers that he and his family were kidnapped by the Galra, but he doesn't learn who his father is until the chapter "Isle of the Gods" where, thanks to a combination of Nonnette revealing her history with him and the Thought Elevator activating, he learns that [[spoiler:Charles zi Britannia is his father. While this revelation horrifies him, thanks to the other Paladins, he's able to quickly move on from it, and at least becomes glad to know that he?s related to Lelouch and Suzaku, the latter due to Rai?s mother being Suzaku's aunt.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': A variant. 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/Shazam2019'': In the third act, 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 hacks into government databases and tracks 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]], and 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, stating that she needs it far more than he does, and goes back to the foster home.

* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': Subverted. In the second book, [[TheChosenOne Eragon]] is told by [[AntiHero Murtagh]] that he is the son of Morzan, the last of the Forsworn and overall bad person. As it turns out, however, while his mother ''was'' Morzan's wife, his father is actually [[spoiler: [[MentorArchetype Brom]]]].

* ''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 makes 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]].

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': A variant of this trope between Mash Kyrielight and [[spoiler:Sir Lancelot]]. In the Camelot Singularity, Mash finds out the Heroic Spirit in her is [[spoiler:Sir Galahad, Lancelot's son]]. But between [[spoiler:Galahad's pre-exisiting anger at his father]] and [[spoiler:Lancelot working under the Lion King to collect the ideal humans and discard the rest (though he has been protecting many refuges in secret)]], Mash is the most aggressive in their fight.

* ''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 the 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.

** Agatha gets a fairly huge one when she realizes that her mother, Lucrezia Mongfish, is [[BigBad the Other]], who was the cause of years of warfare and the [[MindRape mental enslavement]] of huge swathes of the population. This revelation comes at the same time as she is being hailed by worshippers of Lucrezia as the Holy Child, and then gets her [[GrandTheftMe mother's mind implanted into hers and has her body taken over]].

** His mother zig-zags this. On one hand, she loads more competent and caring, plus the leader of a colony of likely the last remaining humans on Ooo. On the other hand, she turns out to be a MadScientist as well and nearly subjects him to UnwillingRoboticisation but he manages to talk her out of it and the two are still on good terms when he heads back to the Candy Kingdom.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Steven'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, the "youngest" of the four rulers of the Gem empire, who took on another identity to lead a rebellion against herself 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]].

* Late 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 ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'', fifteen-years-old Trish Una had only heard stories about her father from her mother, and after her mother died she learned that her father is the Boss of the criminal organization Passione. While initially acting like a MafiaPrincess, she reveals to Bucciarati (who was tasked with delivering her to the boss) that she's terrified at the new found danger of being the Boss's daughter. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the Boss is a raging paranoiac who is obsessed with his anonymity. He only ordered Bucciarati and his team to deliver Trish so he can kill her himself, because he sees the fact he has a daughter as a threat to his identity.]]
* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', the first time [[spoiler:protagonist Ryuko]] met her mother [[BigBad Ragyo]] involved said mother ripping her heart out of her chest. That's not even factoring in the fact that Ragyo [[ParentalIncest sexually abused her other daughter]] for the past 12 years and plans on [[TranshumanTreachery turning the human race into food for an alien parasite]].
* ''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 ''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 a 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 ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Molly spent years deluding herself that her parents, despite being supervillains, could not possibly have been as bad as the rest of the Pride. In "Mollifest Destiny", she meets one of her parents' former enemies, who tells her that they tortured him ''for seven years straight'' just for mildly inconveniencing them. She punches him straight through a roof, and then breaks down and cries, unable to reconcile what she's been told about her parents with her own memories of them.

* 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 ''Fanfic/CellarSecrets'', we have a variant in that Satsuki and Nui find out that, not too long after he left the family, Souichiro died as opposed to having found out that he had done something horrible. However, while they knew he died, they don't find out ''how'' he died, until chapter 21, where we find out that he died in a [[spoiler: car accident]], leaving Satsuki to be relieved that he died rather quickly (his neck was broken) and not because what she would have thought previously.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Recoil}}'' [[spoiler:Aster]] was adopted by a Jewish family and grew up knowing only that [[spoiler:Miss Militia]] called her mother a hero. She was horrified when Taylor revealed her parents were [[spoiler:the neo-Nazi villains Kaiser and Purity]].

* 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.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves'', Aladdin finds out that his missing dad [[spoiler:is the King of Thieves]], who left years ago to find the Hand of Midas, but never could find it and was [[SunkCostFallacy too ashamed to return home empty handed]], until he finally returned and couldn't find his family [[note]]Aladdin's mother has died, leaving him to survive on the streets [[/note]].
* 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]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'', Anna and Elsa clearly have different feelings for their grandfather, after seeing that [[spoiler:he betrayed the Northuldrans and tried to subjugate them]].

* In ''Film/JoeDirt'', after Brandy calls Joe claiming his parents to be dead, his parents manage to find him, but he then finds out that they left him behind at the Grand Canyon on purpose and only found him to ride on the coattails on his newfound popularity. Brandy then tells him that she did indeed track them down for him and decided not to tell him after finding out how horrible they were.
* In ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'', Aurora finds out that her father, who she didn't even know was alive, was the one who disfigured her beloved "fairy godmother" Maleficent.
* 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, stating that she needs it far more than he does, and goes back to the foster home.
* ''{{Film/Sorceress}}'': Mira is deeply dismayed when Traigon, who killed her mother and foster father, reveals that he's in fact her birth father.

** 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 ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', we have an example of Unpleasant ''Grand''parent Reveal when [[spoiler:Rey learns that she's [[TheEmperor Palpatine's]] granddaughter]].

* A variant in ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}:'' just before the two-year anniversary of his mother's "[[NeverFoundTheBody death]]," Marco discovers that his mother is actually the [[GrandTheftMe host body]] of [[MagnificentBitch Visser One]], who [[DeathFakedForYou faked the death]] when she was reassigned off-planet. Marco had actually been planning to quit the team but stayed on with the goal of eventually freeing his mom from the [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerks]]. [[spoiler:He succeeds forty books later]].
** {{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]], as an accident rendered her crippled and blind when Tobias was young, and she’s under the incorrect belief that he was HappilyAdopted by this point.
* 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.]]

* Hylas, the protagonist of ''Literature/GodsAndWarriors'', is aghast to learn that his father was [[spoiler:a member of the same Mountain Clan that refused to help the High Chieftain of Mycenae fight the House of Koronos when the latter took over. Thinking his father was a coward, Hylas becomes determined to wipe out the stain of that cowardice, which he also believes to be the reason his mother ended up dying while trying to find a safe place for her children after Hylas' father refused to heed her warnings about the Crows finding them. Before the final battle, Akastos, [[RightfulKingReturns the returned High Chieftain]], tries to improve Hylas' opinion on his father by telling him that as the Mountain Clan's leader, his father was just doing what he thought was best for his clan by refusing to fight and fought bravely to the end when the Crows eventually hunted him down. This isn't much of an improvement to Hylas because his father didn't help Akastos – whom he has come to admire as a father figure – in the latter's time of need]].
* In the final chapter of ''Literature/TheGreatGillyHopkins'', the eponymous protagonist finally meets her long-lost mother in the final chapter... only to learn that her mother doesn't care about her ''at all'', and only came to visit her at all because Gilly's grandmother basically bribed her to. This leads Gilly to a near breakdown, though her former foster mother convinces her to give her grandmother -- who really does love her -- a chance anyway.
* In the ''Geekomancy'' series, it's a MissingMom who's the unpleasant reveal. Ree Reyes finds out that her LongLostRelative was thought dead... But Ree's mom was alive and had gone back to Geekomancy. In the years since leaving her daughter, Branwen had been killed, brought back from the dead, and enslaved [[spoiler:by a demon Duke into a murderous Hexomantic witch]]. Ree slides up and down the emotional spectrum between crushed and furious about this. She also has a healthy side order of guilt because she is keeping the truth of her mother's whereabouts from her father. Ree is certain he'd be devastated to know she left him because she couldn't reconcile her geekomantic talents with being a wife and mother and because she'd shacked up with an old lover in the process.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Harry looks into Severus Snape's memories for a while and finds out that his deceased father, whom everyone who knew him called a great man, was, in fact, TheBully during his school days who regularly abused Snape. Subverted as James's friends later assure Harry that James had his issues, but he became a better person beyond the context of that one memory Harry saw from Snape's perspective, and part of the reason for James being so harsh towards Snape was because Snape would often do the same to him.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''. In the second book, [[TheChosenOne Eragon]] is told by [[AntiHero Murtagh]] that he is the son of Morzan, the last of the Forsworn and overall bad person. As it turns out, however, while his mother ''was'' Morzan's wife, his father is actually [[spoiler: [[MentorArchetype Brom]]]].
* In ''Outcast of {{Literature/Redwall}}'', Veil is the son of the warlord Swartt Sixclaw, though neither attempts to do anything about it. It's only the older members of his horde that see the resemblance (and of course, the fact that both have an extra claw on their hand).
* 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 and 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]].
* The protagonists of the first arc of ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' each look for their parents in the books they star in, and almost all of them end up disappointed in some way. Clay finds out that in his tribe's culture, parents don't take care of their children at all and just abandon them at birth, though at least he has siblings who care about him. Tsunami finds out that, while her mother genuinely cares for her and isn't a full-out villain, she has some [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen very questionable morals]], not to mention being [[MyBelovedSmother very overprotective]], and that [[spoiler: she killed her own father without realizing it.]] Glory ends up in a similar scenario to Clay where her tribe turns out to not care for family, with the added aspect that, from what she knows about that tribe, her parents probably fit the stereotypes she's [[StopBeingStereotypical spent her life trying to prove wrong.]] Starflight's mother is dead and his father is a MadScientist who treats the captured [=RainWings=] horribly. Only Sunny, who never felt she needed good parents to be happy, ends up [[SweetAndSourGrapes having parents who aren't disappointing.]]

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': In Brennan's BackStory, her parents disappeared when she was 14 years old. As an adult, she learns that her parents were criminals who abandoned Brennan and her brother [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou in order to keep them from being murdered by other criminals]]. She finds this out after discovering her own mother's remains in the Jeffersonian's vault of unknown persons' remains. Her father Max is still alive and is a recurring character [[spoiler:until he sacrifices himself to save his grandchildren from an attack by an old enemy of Booth's]].
* In ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' episode "The Bar Stoolie", Cliff's DisappearedDad shows up after being missing for years. They have a great time bonding until Cliff's dad confesses that he's on the run for real estate fraud. Cliff refuses to follow his father to Australia.

* In ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', Will finally meets his father [[DisappearedDad who left him and his mother a long time ago]]. While Phil and Vivian aren't keen on seeing him again, Will wants to try and reconcile with him, even planning to hit the road with him... only for his father to just up and leave without a word to Will's dismay. Phil comforts him when Will has a breakdown and wonders why his father doesn't want him.
* In the series ''Series/MurdochMysteries'', the title character first mentions his father Henry during an interview for a promotion, but only to say the man worked as a fisherman and that they've lost touch. In a later episode, Murdoch and Constable Crabtree discover the man unconscious at a murder scene, and viewers learn that Henry has been an alcoholic for years and that William thinks his father is responsible for his mother's premature death. In a subsequent encounter, William investigates a shady land deal that's tangled with mining and murder only to have his father's name come up, and learns he has a half-brother that Henry fathered with a woman to whom he was not officially married.
* In ''Series/TheMysticKnightsOfTirNaNog'', Rohan was found abandoned as a baby by the druid Cathbad. Cathbad recognized a birthmark on Rohan as the Mark of Destiny, a sign that he would play an important role in things to come. In the final story arc of the first and only season, Rohan is horrified when he discovers [[spoiler:that the Mark of Destiny is actually a birthmark shared by his biological family: his half-brother Lugad and their mother ''Queen Maeve'']].
* In ''Series/NightCourt'': Harry Stone thinks that Harry Stone Sr. was his father. When it turns out that his stepfather Buddy (who met Harry's mother when they were both in a mental institution) is his biological father, it freaks him out.
* ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'': While Alex was growing up, her mother always told her that though they were poor, she should feel proud that she was the daughter of a great man - a rock star. However, when Alex finally gets to meet him as an adult, she finds a washed-up obnoxious jerk whose first reaction to finding out that she's his daughter is to laugh that it's good he found that out before he hit on her.
* In ''Series/PeakyBlinders'', Arthur Shelby discovers that his MissingDad Artur Sr. is still alive and back in town. Despite warnings from the rest of the family, Arthur tries to reconcile with his father believing that the man had a HeelFaceTurn. However, Arthur Sr. is still as rotten as ever and he cons his son out of a large sum of money and then leaves town once again. A despondent Arthur tries to kill himself. A subversion comes from the fact that the Shelbys, being gangsters and killers themselves, do not have an issue with Arthur Sr being a thief but they find it unforgivable that he has no problem stealing from his own family.

* The Temptations, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", in which a family learns the awful, awful, truth from Momma about their [[DisappearedDad father's]] history of lies, theft, and deception.

To pay his bills

* At the climax of the main story of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'', Rean finds out that his father is [[spoiler:the chancellor of [[TheEmpire Erebonia]] and the one who is behind the annexation of small towns, cities, and even countries to be absorbed by the Erebonian empire, Giliath Osborne]].

* ''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 the 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.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', Agatha gets a fairly huge one when she realizes that her mother, Lucrezia Mongfish, is [[BigBad the Other]], who was the cause of years of warfare and the [[MindRape mental enslavement]] of huge swathes of the population. This revelation comes at the same time as she is being hailed by worshippers of Lucrezia as the Holy Child, and then gets her [[GrandTheftMe mother's mind implanted into hers and has her body taken over]].
** Gil got a minor version at some point pre-canon - his father kept his parentage secret from him until he was at least eight, for fear of assassination, and he was badly bullied as a child for not having any family. He gets a small one when he and Tarvek find out that his father is apparently a rural [[MadScientist Spark]] who was killed by one of his own creations and turned into sausages, which isn't exactly the kind of parent you want. ''Then'' he finds out that his father is actually Baron Wulfenbach, ruler of most of Europa - who hadn't told him even though he knew the bullying and torment he was going through. And he ''still'' doesn't know who his mother is, although [[spoiler:if she is indeed Zantabraxus, Queen of Skifander, like WordOfGod implies, it's going to be an even bigger surprise.]]

* In ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'', Rory wrote a letter to his biological father and got back a profanity-laden rant for his trouble. Interestingly, the dad later sends another note apologizing, along with some backed child support for Rory's mom, though beyond that he has yet to appear in his son's life.

* Finn's father from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' is initially a complete mystery, but when it's revealed that he's alive, Finn is very eager to meet him. He obviously has high hopes that he'll be some kind of hero like Finn himself, despite the fact that it's revealed he is in an inter-dimensional prison. But of course, it turns out he's basically a selfish coward who scams and takes advantage of people as he bums around space, and Finn is devastated to find that he was abandoned and his father doesn't seem to care about him at all.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Con Heir", Stan's real dad, Jack Smith, [[DisappearedDad reappears after being gone for 20 years]]. He's eventually revealed to be a jewel thief who tricks Stan into helping him steal art and other artifacts. He's a recurring antagonist in future episodes.
* 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}}.
* In the series finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'', Fee and Foo meet their parents, whom they'd been separated from since they were very young. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Despite previously wanting to meet them]], Foo is disappointed that their parents are a pair of {{Funny Foreigner}}s who lost their children out of sheer incompetence, and openly wishes she had "normal", [[GoodParents dependable]] parents like Harvey's. However, Foo's opinion of them is greatly improved when Fee points out that their parents [[IWillFindYou spent the entire decade since looking for the twins]].
* A variant occurs in ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes''. We finally learn the identity of K.O.'s dad in "Big Reveal". At first, K.O. is excited that [[spoiler:he's the son of Laserblast, one of the greatest heroes ever...until he finds out that one of his foes, Professor Venomous, ''was'' Laserblast. K.O. was ecstatic to learn who his father was, but not who he ''became'']].
* 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, the "youngest" of the four rulers of the Gem empire, who took on another identity to lead a rebellion against herself 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]].

* [[RebelLeader Caleb]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' is not pleased to learn in season two that his MissingMom is also the season's BigBad, Nerissa.

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* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'', fifteen-years-old Trish Una had only heard stories about her father from her mother, and after her mother died she learned that her father is the Boss of the criminal organization Passione. While initially acting like a MafiaPrincess, she reveals to Bucciarati (who was tasked with delivering her to the boss) that she's terrified at the new found danger of being the Boss's daughter. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the Boss is a raging paranoiac who is obsessed with his anonymity. He only ordered Bucciarati and his team to deliver Trish so he can kill her himself, because he sees the fact he has a daughter as a threat to his identity]].

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* 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.
* ''FanFic/FireEmblemFatesAftermath'': Once Corrin is told that Anankos was his father, he's naturally shocked that he's the son of the insane dragon god that tried to destroy humanity. Even after it's explained that it was Anankos' good half that married Mikoto and sired him, Corrin cannot visualize his father as anything but evil.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Recoil}}'' [[spoiler:Aster]] was adopted by a Jewish family and grew up knowing only that [[spoiler:Miss Militia]] called her mother a hero. She was horrified when Taylor revealed her parents were [[spoiler:the neo-Nazi villains Kaiser and Purity]].

* ''Fanfic/JonathanJoestarTheFirstJoJo''

* ''Fanfic/TheresMoreMagicOutThere'': Juleka's father had left before she was born, with the only thing she knew of him was that he was a vampire. [[spoiler:After discovering his amnesiac self in a haunted house, she finds out that not only was his obsessed with immortality and had conceived her as a means of prolonging his life, he was also the monster that killed Rose's parents and indirectly caused her to be BuriedAlive and become a Grim Dog]].

* 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, stating that she needs it far more than he does, and goes back to the foster home.

* ''{{Film/Sorceress}}'': Mira is deeply dismayed when Traigon, who killed her mother and foster father, reveals that he's in fact her birth father.
* ''Film/ThreeGenerations'': Ray is quite upset to learn that "Uncle Matthew" is his birth father. Not only that, but his family had all kept this from him.
* ''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 than be a parent (as well as keep her from getting an inheritance). Estella unsurprisingly doesn't take this well.]]

* Hylas, the protagonist of ''Literature/GodsAndWarriors'', is aghast to learn that his father was [[spoiler:a member of the same Mountain Clan that refused to help the High Chieftain of Mycenae fight the House of Koronos when the latter took over. Thinking his father was a coward, Hylas becomes determined to wipe out the stain of that cowardice, which he also believes to be the reason his mother ended up dying while trying to find a safe place for her children after Hylas' father refused to heed her warnings about the Crows finding them. Before the final battle, Akastos, [[RightfulKingReturns the returned High Chieftain]], tries to improve Hylas' opinion on his father by telling him that as the Mountain Clan's leader, his father was just doing what he thought was best for his clan by refusing to fight and fought bravely to the end when the Crows eventually hunted him down. This isn't much of an improvement to Hylas because his father didn't help Akastos – whom he has come to admire as a father figure – in the latter's time of need]].

* In ''Series/TheMysticKnightsOfTirNaNog'', Rohan was found abandoned as a baby by the druid Cathbad. Cathbad recognized a birthmark on Rohan as the Mark of Destiny, a sign that he would play an important role in things to come. In the final story arc of the first and only season, Rohan is horrified when he discovers [[spoiler:that the Mark of Destiny is actually a birthmark shared by his biological family: his half-brother Lugad and their mother ''Queen Maeve''.]]

* At the climax of the main story of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'', Rean finds out that his father is [[spoiler:the chancellor of [[TheEmpire Erebonia]] and the one who is behind the annexation of small towns, cities, and even countries to be absorbed by the Erebonian empire, Giliath Osborne.]]
* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': While cleaning the café kitchen, Amelia discovers that her mother, who went missing on the night of the café arson and whom she believes is innocent of it, [[spoiler:[[NotoriousParent is the infamous thief known as The Purple Fox.]] Amelia theorizes that while Freya is still innocent despite this, the culprit set her café on fire as revenge on her for robbing them.]]
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'': Jake never knew his father, but his mother had told him "I'm sure he loves you and is thinking about you." During the game, Jake finds out that his father was actually [[spoiler: [[BigBad Al]][[AGodAmI bert]] [[MadScientist Wes]][[DiabolicalMastermind ker]]]]. Jake is disgusted by his father's actions and hates the idea of becoming like him.

* ''Webcomic/NothingSpecial''
** Callie finds out in the first arc her mother is a wood nymph who full-on murders 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.

* [[RebelLeader Caleb]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' is not pleased to learn in season two that his MissingMom is also the season's BigBad, Nerissa.

* A variant occurs in ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes''. We finally learn the identity of K.O.'s dad in "Big Reveal". At first, K.O. is excited that [[spoiler:he's the son of Laserblast, one of the greatest heroes ever...until he finds out that one of his foes, Professor Venomous, ''was'' Laserblast. K.O. was ecstatic to learn who his father was, but not who he ''became.'']]
* 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, the "youngest" of the four rulers of the Gem empire, who took on another identity to lead a rebellion against herself 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]].

* ''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 whose attenton Rapunzel stole away from her. Leading her to turn on Rapunzel and her friends through the season despite Rapunzel trying to tell her 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. After the detour that led Gothel to the hidden tower, she never even bothered to go back and look for Cassandra since the sun flower's power within Rapunzel was what she really wanted.]]

* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': While cleaning the café kitchen, Amelia discovers that her mother, who went missing on the night of the café arson and whom she believes is innocent of it, [[spoiler:is the infamous thief known as The Purple Fox. Amelia theorizes that while Freya is still innocent despite this, the culprit set her café on fire as revenge on her for robbing them.]]

* [[RebelLeader Caleb]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' is not pleased to learn in season two that his MissingMom is also the season's BigBad.

* ''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 led 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.]]

* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': While cleaning the café kitchen, Amelia discovers that her mother, who went missing on the night of the arson and whom she believes is innocent of it, [[spoiler:is the infamous thief known as The Purple Fox. Amelia theorizes that while Freya is still innocent despite this, the culprit set her café on fire as revenge on her for robbing them.]]

* ''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 the 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.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'': Champion gladiator Agronak gro-Malog knows that he's the illegitimate son of a western Lord whom he's never met. When he hires the PlayerCharacter to investigate his heritage, he's devastated to learn that his father [[spoiler:is also a vampire]]. [[spoiler:He tries to get killed in his next fight, unable to bear being the "spawn of evil".]]

* In the final chapter of ''TheGreatGillyHopkins'', the eponymous protagonist finally meets her long-lost mother in the final chapter... only to learn that her mother doesn't care about her ''at all'', and only came to visit her at all because Gilly's grandmother basically bribed her to. This leads Gilly to a near breakdown, though her former foster mother convinces her to give her grandmother -- who really does love her -- a chance anyway.

* In the final chapter of ''The Great Gilly Hopkins'', the eponymous protagonist finally meets her long-lost mother in the final chapter... only to learn that her mother doesn't care about her ''at all'', and only came to visit her at all because Gilly's grandmother basically begged her to. This leads Gilly to a near breakdown, though her former foster mother convinces her to give her grandmother -- who really does love her -- a chance anyway.

* ''Fanfic/TheresMoreMagicOutThere'': Juleka's father had left before she was born, with the only thing she knew of him was that she was a vampire. [[spoiler:After discovering his amnesiac self in a haunted house, she finds out that not only was his obsessed with immortality and had conceived her as a means of prolonging his life, he was also the monster that killed Rose's parents and indirectly caused her to be BuriedAlive and become a Grim Dog]].

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'', fifteen-years-old Trish Una had only heard stories about her father from her mother, and after her mother died she learned that her father is the Boss of the criminal organization Passione. While initially acting like a MafiaPrincess, she reveals to Bucciarati(who was tasked with delivering her to the bosss) that she's terrified at the new found danger of being the Boss's daughter. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the Boss is a raging paranoiac who is obsessed with his anonymity. He only ordered Bucciarati and his team to deliver Trish so he can kill her himself, because he sees the fact he has a daughter as a treat to his identity]].

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', Agatha gets a fairly huge one when she realizes that her mother, Lucrezia Mongfish, is [[BigBad the Other]], who was the cause of years of warfare and the [[MindRape mental enslavement]] of huge swathes of the population. The fact that this revelation comes at the same time as she is being hailed by worshippers of Lucrezia as the Holy Child, and then gets her [[GrandTheftMe mother's mind implanted into hers and has her body taken over]], just takes everything UpToEleven.

In some works, a mother or a father is simply missing and it'll get chalked up as DisappearedDad or MissingMom, no problem. The character might not care that their parent is gone and is happy without them. Or, finding out who their parents are might just be the character's whole reason for being. One day, said dad or mom might just show up, and reveal themselves to be something unpleasant. Whether it be a bad guy, a criminal, thief, or even a combination of the three, their reveal is usually the exact opposite of how they imagined their parent to be. All their dreams of a happy family upon reuniting with their DisappearedDad or MissingMom are brutally dashed. It's the aversion of the fairy tale ending where all is made right when the character is reunited with their parents.

** When [[Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable Josuke Higashikata]] finds out that the old man from the Manga/StardustCrusaders team is Joseph Joestar, his biological father, he becomes enraged since for Joseph it would have only been a few years since he left Josuke's mother heartbroken and alone. He nearly kills Joseph if Jonathan didn't stopped and calm him down.

** [[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 carries]]. 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 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 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''.

* Hylas, the protagonist of ''Literature/GodsAndWarriors'', is aghast to learn that his father was [[spoiler:a member of the same Mountain Clan that refused to help the High Chieftain of Mycenae fight the House of Koronos when the latter took over. Thinking his father was a coward, Hylas becomes determined to wipe out the stain of that cowardice, which he also believes to be the reason his mother ended up dying while trying to find a safe place for her children after Hylas' father refused to heed her warnings about the Crows finding them. Before the final battle, Akastos, [[RightfulKingReturns the returned High Chieftain]], tries to improve Hylas' opinion on his father by telling him that as the Mountain Clan's leader, his father was just doing what he thought was best for his clan by refusing to fight and fought bravely to the end when the Crows eventually hunted him down. This isn't much of an improvement to Hylas because his father didn't help Akastos -- whom he has come to admire as a father figure -- in the latter's time of need]].