Line #59 Main/UnpleasantParentReveal


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7	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 the BigBad or [[LukeIAmYourFather some other villain the hero knew all along]], 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.
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9	This trope also covers a character just finding out that their parent died horribly, was found living in some place undesirable, or simply, anything unpleasant.
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11	If the dad or mom is dead and the character finds out posthumously he/she was a bad guy, then they can come up with all kinds of theories to justify their parent's actions ''in absentia''. Only if they're alive can those be shot down.
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13	See RefusedReunion if the dad or mom, after being discovered and confronted by their offspring, denies parentage to save the child the shame of knowing the truth.
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15	See ArchnemesisDad. If this involves an entire family or cultural group instead of just a parent, see DisappointingHeritageReveal. This may also result in a BrokenPedestal. Compare VisitByDivorcedDad and AnticlimacticParent; contrast GoodParents. See also LukeIAmYourFather, for a specific form of this trope.
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17	!Examples:
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19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22	* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Late in the story, 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.]]
23	* ''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.
24	* ''Manga/EdensZero'': Homura Kōgetsu's mother left her when she was a little girl to raise money with the promise of coming back, leaving the girl to fend on her own until Valkeryie found her and became her teacher and ParentalSubstitute. After coming to believe that Homura can only be happy with her actual mother, Valkeryie left to find and bring her back. [[spoiler:It's then revealed that Homura's mother, Kurenai, was really a [[BitchInSheepsClothing deceptive]] ManipulativeBitch, tricking Valkeryie to take her spot in the labor camp of Sun Jewel while she killed the current crime lord and took his place as a more ruthless tyrant. She would even send out the Stone monsters out of the cave onto the various miners, forcing Valkeryie to perform a LastStand to save them at the cost of her life. After recovering from both the truth of her teacher's death and her mother's true nature, Homura came to realize that Kurenai didn't care for her when she failed to recognize a stuffed animal she gave Homura as a promise to her return. Homura declares that she doesn't feel anything for her mother besides thanks for bringing her into the world, and tells her to leave Sun Jewel and never cross her path again]].
25	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
26	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': 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 TheDon 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 newfound 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.]]
27	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'': With his amnesia, Josuke's investigation to find out who he is leads him to meeting his mother, Holly, who is a patient at the hospital, having lost some of her memory and mental functions as a result of a large portion of her brain, along with a number of other organs, have been surgically removed.
28	* ''Anime/KillLaKill'': The first time that [[spoiler:protagonist Ryuko]] meets her mother [[BigBad Ragyo]] involves 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 twelve years and plans on [[TranshumanTreachery turning the human race into food for an alien parasite]].
29	* ''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 in debt 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.
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32	[[folder:Comic Books]]
33	* ''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.
34	* ''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.
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36
37	[[folder:Fan Works]]
38	* ''Fanfic/AlternateTKOSeries'': ''The Choice'' has Professor Venomous reveal that he was Terbio's father, Laserblast. This only serves to make Terbio resent him even more for how he abandoned their mother to raise him and his older brother by herself.
39	* ''Fanfic/CellarSecrets'': 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.
40	* ''Fanfic/CodeGeassPaladinsOfVoltron'': Rai spends most of the story with no memory of where his family is. 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.]]
41	* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': Throughout most of the first half of ''R1'', Rai has no memory of his family, and joins the Black Knight/Autobot alliance in the hopes that he can learn about his past. In the chapter "Isle of Gods and Monsters", Rai gets stuck with Nonnette, and she reveals to him that he's [[spoiler:Charles zi Britannia's illegitimate son, and that she's his former knight]]. Rai at first goes into denial, but when the Thought Elevator activates [[spoiler:Rai's memories are restored, and he realizes that Nonnette was telling him the truth. While the revelation horrifies Rai at first, he nonetheless becomes glad to know that he's related to Lelouch.]]
42	* ''Fanfic/CrimsonAndEmerald'': After seeing Inko's wedding photos, Toshinori identifies her husband Hisashi as being none other than ''[[BigBad All for One]]''. Inko is naturally ''horrified''.
43	* ''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.
44	* ''Fanfic/{{Incarnate}}'': Sunset Shimmer is RelatedInTheAdaptation here to none other than Princess Celestia herself, with [[spoiler:Mirror Sombra]] as her sire. All of this was [[LockedOutOfTheLoop kept from her]] until circumstances ''force'' the truth out into the open; to make matters worse, the latter half of her heritage spurs Starswirl to [[ItIsDehumanizing refer to her as "it"]], much to Celestia's utter outrage.
45	* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBoilingPoint'': Skara's father is initially believed to be Warden Wrath, but eventually, we find out the truth: [[spoiler:Warden Wrath's her ''adoptive'' father, while her biological father is ''Alador Blight'', '''''Amity's father''''']].
46	* ''Fanfic/JonathanJoestarTheFirstJoJo'':
47	** [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Giorno Giovanna]] is horrified when he learns that his "father", [[BigBad 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/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Jonathan 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.
48	** When [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Josuke Higashikata]] finds out that the old man from ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'' 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 [[TeamDad Jonathan]] didn't step in and calm him down.
49	* ''Moving Forward'', a ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' fanfiction: 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.
50	* ''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]].
51	* ''Fanfic/SuperKoopalings'': In ''A Jasper in the Rough'', the koopalings learn that their biological father [[spoiler:threw their eggs into a river]].
52	* ''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.]]
53	* ''[[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.
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55
56	[[folder:Film — Animation]]
57	* ''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]].
58	* ''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.]]
59	* ''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]].
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61
62	[[folder:Film — Live Action]]
63	* ''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.
64	* ''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.]]
65	* ''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.
66	* ''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.
67	* ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'': After yelling at Frankie for saying unkind words about her trailer-trash family, Maggie is forced to realize that he's right- after she ends up tetraplegic, her family do come visit her in Los Angeles... after spending the day at Disneyland.
68	* ''Film/ReturnToSeoul'': Freddie is not pleased to learn that her reappearance in her biological father's life has caused him to be a soused, needy wreck.
69	* ''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 of 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.
70	* ''Film/{{Sorceress}}'': Mira is deeply dismayed when Traigon, who killed her mother and foster father, reveals that he's in fact her birth father.
71	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
72	** ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'': Luke Skywalker [[LukeIAmYourFather 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.
73	** ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' has an example of Unpleasant ''Grand''parent Reveal when [[spoiler:Rey learns that she's [[TheEmperor Palpatine's]] granddaughter]].
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76	[[folder:Literature]]
77	* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
78	** A variant. Just before the two-year anniversary of his mother's "[[NeverFoundTheBody death]]," Marco discovers that his mother is actually the [[GrandTheftMe host body]] of 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]].
79	** {{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.
80	* ''Literature/BurnOurBodiesDown'': 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.]]
81	* ''Literature/{{Dogman}}'':
82	** Petey’s Dad, Lil Petey’s Grampa is an evil, selfish, arrogant, careless, abusive, and irresponsible father, by having no love for Petey whatsoever and had abandoned him when Petey’s mom was sick, when he came back all he did was being mean to his son, then when Petey left to help Dogman from the villains, Grampa stole all of valuable stuffs. In his next parents from the book, he went to jail for stealing all of his son valuables then put skeeping gas a him when he and his grandson come to visit him Not long after, he disguises himself as Petey, making Petey look like himself. By the next book Petey confront his father say he is done hating him but it doesn’t mean he will love him either, all he can do is to forgive his father even though Grampa didn’t want his forgiveness and was very mad on why would Petey ever forgive him when he was never there for Petey that was last time they ever talk to each other.He is also shown to be incredibly rude to his grandson Lil Petey.
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84	* ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' is a cross between this and AntiClimacticParent. [[TokenEvilTeammate Senna]] sees her MissingMom as a potential enemy, fully expecting a powerful witch who could easily put the smackdown on her uppity daughter. While Senna's mom ''does'' have powers that Senna doesn't, plus the ear of the Amazon queen, she's otherwise a pretty sad individual who spends her days praying to [[TheGodsMustBeLazy an utterly apathetic goddess]] and desperately [[WellDoneDadGuy wants to get Senna to like her]]. Since Senna's a NietzscheWannabe, she probably would have preferred the expected smackdown.
85	* ''Literature/GodsAndWarriors'': Hylas, the protagonist, 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]].
86	* ''Literature/TheGreatGillyHopkins'': In the final chapter, Gilly finally meets her long-lost mother... 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, although her former foster mother convinces her to give her grandmother -- who really does love her -- a chance anyway.
87	* ''Literature/{{Geekomancy}}'': 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.
88	* ''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.
89	* ''Literature/TheHeirChronicles'': In ''Literature/TheWizardHeir'', Seph finds out that, while his parents are not evil as such, [[spoiler:his mother gave him to a foster mother instead of raising him herself, in order to keep him safe, and that she never told his father that he has a son.]] Less than stellar, one might say.
90	* ''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 an overall bad person. As it turns out, however, while his mother ''was'' Morzan's wife, his father is actually [[spoiler: [[MentorArchetype Brom]]]].
91	* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': In ''Outcast of 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).
92	* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': Leia Organa took a lot longer than her brother Luke Skywalker to come to terms with her biological father being Anakin "Darth Vader" Skywalker -- and understandably so, considering that in ''Film/ANewHope'' he personally tortured her for information and then watched mutely as her home planet was blown up. In ''Literature/TheTruceAtBakura'', Anakin appears to her in a vision asking her forgiveness, and she essentially tells him to pound sand and [[YoureNotMyFather that her real father was Bail Organa, Prince Consort of Alderaan]] (who had adopted her with his wife Queen Breha). She eventually settles on the attitude of agreeing that Anakin had been a good man once, but it doesn't excuse his crimes as Vader.
93	* ''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]].
94	* ''Literature/WingsOfFire'': The protagonists of the first arc' 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, although 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]].
95	[[/folder]]
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97	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
98	* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': In Brennan's BackStory, her parents disappeared when she was fourteen 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]].
99	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': In "[[Recap/CheersS4E10TheBarStoolie 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.
100	* ''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]].
101	* ''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.
102	* ''Series/{{House}}'': In "[[Recap/HouseS5E04Birthmarks Birthmarks]]", the patient of the week is a Chinese-American adoptee who travels to China to meet her birth parents. They are ''frightened'' to see her and [[IHaveNoSon deny having a daughter]]. Her birth had been a violation of the Chinese one-child policy, and her parents had tried to [[OffingTheOffspring kill her by inserting pins in her skull]].
103	* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': In season 2, Poppy is on a quest to find her and Jerome's DisappearedDad. As the result of a private investigator rummaging through their mother's trash, she and Mara find an envelope from their dad to their mother with a court address on it. They assume this means her dad is a judge and get excited. After writing him, Jerome gets the letter first and tries to hide it from Poppy because he doesn't want her to know the truth -- their dad isn't a judge, he's a prisoner.
104	* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': Murdoch 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.
105	* ''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'']].
106	* ''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.
107	* ''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.
108	* ''Series/PeakyBlinders'': Arthur Shelby discovers that his DisappearedDad 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.
109	* ''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.
110	* ''Series/{{Soap}}'': In order to get out of the mafia Danny has to kill someone, so the mafia will have something on him. The good news is that he gets to kill the person who killed his own father - which is news to Danny, he thought his father died of natural causes. It turns out that his father was also in the mafia, and had been killed by [[spoiler:Danny's stepfather Burt]] when Danny's father tried to muscle in on his construction business.
111	* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'': In "[[Recap/TheSuiteLifeOnDeckS2E6FamilyThais Family Thais]]", [[RichBitch London]] goes to meet her grandmother when the ship docks in Thailand, and she's horrified to find out that she's actually a lowly rice farmer.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Music]]
115	* 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.
116	-->Hey Momma,\
117	I heard Papa called himself a jack of all trades\
118	Tell me is that what sent Papa to an early grave\
119	Folks say Papa would beg, borrow, steal\
120	To pay his bills.
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Video Games]]
124	* ''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".]]
125	* ''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-existing 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.
126	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'': At the climax of the main story, 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]].
127	* ''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]].
128	* ''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 Albert]] [[MadScientist Wesker]]]]. Jake is disgusted by his father's actions and hates the idea of becoming like him.
129	* ''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 about 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.
130	* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': The Sniper finds out that he's really from the Atlantis-like lost nation of New Zealand. He finds his birth parents there... only to have his dad mooch money off of him and be abandoned for dead by both, and find out his survival was an accident while his parents fought over the escape rocket.
131	* ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'': [[spoiler:Silver discovers that he's the biological son of the Knight of Dawn, who lead an invading human army that tried to take over fairy territory and who eventually killed Malleus's mother. Finding out he's the direct offspring of his foster family's worst enemy briefly sends Silver into HeroicBSOD.]]
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Web Comics]]
135	* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
136	** Agatha gets a fairly huge one when she realizes that her mother Lucrezia Mongfish is actually [[spoiler:[[BigBad the Other]], who was the cause of years of warfare and the [[{{Brainwashing}} 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 [[spoiler:her mother's mind [[GrandTheftMe implanted into hers and has her body taken over]]]]. Not a fun family reunion.
137	** 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 Teufel, 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.]]
138	* ''Webcomic/NothingSpecial'':
139	** 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]].
140	** 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.
141	* ''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.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Western Animation]]
145	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
146	** Finn's father is initially a complete mystery, but, when it's revealed that he's alive in "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS6E2EscapeFromTheCitadel Escape from the Citadel]]", Finn is very eager to meet him. He 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. However, it turns out that he's 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 that his father doesn't seem to care about him at all. Granted, most of his dad's jerkish behavior ''does'' come from brain damage, but still.
147	** His mother zig-zags this. On one hand, she is 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.
148	* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In "[[Recap/AmericanDadS2E4ConHeir 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.
149	* ''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}}.
150	* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'': In [[Recap/TheGhostAndMollyMcgeeS2E17LikeFatherLikeLibby "Like Father Like Libby"]], after six whole years of not being able to see him, Libby finally reunites with her father Matias, only for her to quickly learn that he's more interested in his writing career than his family.
151	* ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'': In the series finale, "The End and the Beginning", 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]].
152	* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': The identity of K.O.'s dad is shown in "[[Recap/OKKOLetsBeHeroesS3E11BigReveal 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. is ecstatic to learn who his father was, but not who he ''became''.]]
153	* ''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 Quartz 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]].
154	* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': In the pilot of season 3, Cassandra is shown learning that her biological mother is [[spoiler:Mother Gothel]]. PlayingWith the trope, Rapunzel is more shocked by the revelation, and Cassandra [[WrongAssumption wrongly believes]] that [[spoiler:Gothel was a wonderful mother whom Rapunzel stole away from her]]. Eventually, she learns the full truth of the matter, getting solid proof that [[spoiler:Gothel never loved her, willingly abandoning her daughter after kidnapping Rapunzel, as all she wanted was the power of the sun flower]].
155	* ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'': In "Forget the Alamo", Tuddrussel is floored when he sees that Jeremiah is absolutely nothing like he had envisioned in his mind.
156	* ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'': [[RebelLeader Caleb]] is not pleased to learn in season two that his MissingMom is also the season's BigBad, Nerissa.
157	* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': Omi was raised by warrior monks, with his upbringing and own arrogance instilling the belief that his parents were also gifted martial artists. In "[[Recap/XiaolinShowdownOmiTown Omi Town]]", Omi's search for his parents leads him to a small farm, where an old couple identifies him as the son they accidentally sold away due to mistaking him for a grapefruit. They turn out to be horribly abusive, treating Omi more as a servant than a son, up to forcing him to sleep in the chicken coop. [[spoiler:This is subverted when it's later revealed that they were actually robots, programmed by Jack to lure Omi away from the Xiaolin temple and break his spirit]].
158	[[/folder]]

Context Main / UnpleasantParentReveal