History Main / WorldOfNoGrandparents

-->--'''[[{{Batman}} Damian Wayne]]''' on this trope, '''''{{Shortpacked}}'''''

--> ''"But my dad had no grandparents. Not a single cousin. I've never met another Wayne in Gotham ever. Are we dealing with generations of only childs marrying other only childs, with grandparent suicide pacts?"''
-->-'''[[{{Batman}} Damian Wayne]]''' on this trope, ''{{Shortpacked}}''

This trope is often just the most obvious symptom of a world where the main character apparently has absolutely no relatives other than his or her parents, sort of the exact opposite of a SummersFamilyTree. While it's possible that the hero might not have had aunts, uncles, cousins and so on, his or her parents had to come from ''some''where. But these are not only never seen, but they're never ''mentioned''; if ancestors beyond their parents are brought up, it's usually either ancient ones or at least a great-grandparent. This can also be a side effect of the CompetenceZone, grandparents are seen has providing little of interest for the main characters.

** There's also Daniel's "insane" (his words) maternal grandfather Nicholas Ballard in the episode "Crystal Skull".

**** This troper always assumed that "Uncle Ben" and "Aunt Faye" were actually Peter's great-uncle & great-aunt.

* The page quote comes from the dystopian novel ''TheGiver'', which uses this quite literally.

** This is most likely based on [[LordOfTheRings Hobbits]] from LordOfTheRings who put huge emphasis on family and will often refer to each other by how they are related. Most famously, Bilbo is Frodo's uncle, but also his cousin on his mother's side.
*** Not uncle and cousin, but first and second cousin, once removed either way, iirc.

-->-[[{{Batman}} Damian Wayne]] on this trope, {{Shortpacked}}

--> ''"Grand parents?"''
--> ''"Grandparents. It meant parents-of-the-parents, long ago."''
--> ''"Back and back and back?" Jonas began to laugh. "So actually, there could be parents-of-the-parents-of-the-parents-of-the-parents?"''
-->-Lois Lowry, '''TheGiver'''

--> ''But my dad had no grandparents. Not a single cousin. I've never met another Wayne in Gotham ever. Are we dealing with generations of only childs marrying other only childs, with grandparent suicide pacts?''

-->'''But my dad had no grandparents. Not a single cousin. I've never met another Wayne in Gotham ever. Are we dealing with generations of only childs marrying other only childs, with grandparent suicide pacts?'''

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Examples:

* As to be expected with their KillEmAll fetish, ''{{Supernatural}}'' has left the boys with no family whatsoever. It's been revealed that, somehow, all of their mother's family and friends were killed. TimeTravel lets the boys' mother's parents show up, and we learn about their personalities and lives. However, [[spoiler: we also get to see them die]].
* After both of {{Naruto}}'s parents die on the day of his birth, no one steps up to raise him, including members of either parent's family. Not only is neither family ever mentioned, but [[spoiler:Jiraiya doesn't recall that he is Naruto's godfather until the moments before his death]]! There are minor characters RaisedByGrandparents, even when it is illogical or unconvenient, but this seems to be because of OnlyChildSyndrome. Strange. You'd think a group of quasi-Spartan villages would be more reproductive.
** ...well, given that the Spartans died out ''because'' they weren't that good at 'offspring living long enough to have offspring,' what with things like tossing any imperfectly-formed infants and rather letting foxes eat a hole into a boy's stomach than let them admit they had stolen the fox to eat...
*** Considering that the example in question involves a giant demon fox attacking, that Spartan reference is made [[UnfunnyAneurysmMoment all the more disturbing in context.]] Speaking of which, the lack more distant relations and even siblings in some cases can be explained by the fact that in the last two decades, Konoha has endured two major wars, a giant demon attacking it, two invasions, and several minor conflicts, including the genocide of an entire clan. Mass casualty events seem common enough that they put a major dent into the population. It's suggested that one reason nigh everybody in the village treated Naruto as though he were the Nine Tailed Fox was that everybody in the village knew someone who was killed in the attack.
* Apparently Trucy Wright-nee-Gramarye has no known relatives on either side of her family, which allows her to be taken in by a disbarred bachelor.
** Same for Miles Edgeworth, which allows him to be taken in by an AmoralAttorney from Germany.
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Kay Faraday]], who goes to live with her mother's family after her father is killed.

* Especially bad in ArtemisFowl, where fairies live for ''hundreds of years'' (usually over 1000) and Holly Short is stated in the first book to be somewhere in her eighties. So not only should her grandparents be alive, but her great-grandparents, her great-great-grandparents, and possibly her ''great-great-great-grandparents''.

* ''FinalFantasyX''. All but one of the main party members is an orphan (Rikku is the only one with a parent still alive, and she's still missing a mother) and none of them mention any grandparents. A JustifiedTrope with Sin kicking around.
** [[spoiler: All but ''two'' of the party members, that is.]]
** [[spoiler:But do you count as an orphan if you are * also* dead?]]
* ''DarkwingDuck'': Gosalyn's grandfather was murdered shortly after her parents died, getting her sent to an orphanage until the DiabolicalMastermind who ordered the hit on said grandfather came looking for her. Hence how she ended up adopted by TheHero.
* All the parents of the cast of ''DannyPhantom'' are present and accounted for, but only one grandparent has ever shown in the series: Sam's [[CoolOldLady grandma]]. Danny did mention his "Grandpa Fenton" in one episode.
* Justified in TalesOfTheQuestor. In spite of the fact that WordOfGod (and extra material published in the archival [=CDs=]) indicate that Racconans have an average lifespan of 250 years, we never see Quentyn's grandparents, great grandparents, etc. However it has been revealed that a rather lethal plague had swept through Antillia about 100 years ago, killing off many of the very young and very old, as well as savagely pruning the otherwise large family trees one would expect from such a long-lived species.
* Averted in TheLandBeforeTime. After Littlefoot's mother dies, his grandparents raise him from that point onwards. Although there is no mention of his paternal grandparents, or the grandparents of any of his friends.
* Completely averted with halflings in ''DungeonsAndDragons'', who are mentioned to, when meeting another of their species, trace their respective family trees back as far as they can remember, hoping to see if they're related.
** This is most likely based on [[LordOfTheRings Hobbits]] from LordOfTheRings who put huge emphasis on family and will often refer to each other by how they are related. Most famously, Bilbo is Frodo's uncle, but also his cousin on his mother's side.

* Averted in StargateSG1 by Col. Cameron Mitchell. He was raised (in part if not in whole) by his Bible-thumping grandmother, whom he often quotes.

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* Justified in TalesOfTheQuestor. In spite of the fact that WordOfGod (and extra material published in the archival CDs) indicate that Racconans have an average lifespan of 250 years, we never see Quentyn's grandparents, great grandparents, etc. However it has been revealed that a rather lethal plague had swept through Antillia about 100 years ago, killing off many of the very young and very old, as well as savagely pruning the otherwise large family trees one would expect from such a long-lived species.

** There is the Mirror of Erised scene in Book 1, but who knows if that's his real family or just what he imagines his family would have been like?

* The page quote comes from the systopian novel ''TheGiver'', which uses this quite literally.

*** I always thought Aunt May was Peter's Great Aunt (Grandparent's sister) who was his godparent.

** This is most likely based on [[LordOfTheRings Merry a]][[HeterosexualLifePartners nd Pippin]] being commonly mistaken for brothers, despite "only" being first cousins.