Tropescilloscope: Parental Abandonment

The character's parents aren't shown, or they're dead. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Destination Defenestration Department of Redundancy Department Large Ham Card-Carrying Villain Politically Incorrect Villain Enemy Mine Bloodless Carnage Due to the Dead Redemption Equals Death Nothing Is Scarier Manchild Sealed Evil in a Can Spared by the Adaptation Fanservice May–December Romance Japanese Films Red Oni, Blue Oni Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Danny Peary Cult Movies List Every Car Is a Pinto Chekhov's Gun Insistent Terminology Manipulative Bastard Ax-Crazy No OSHA Compliance Sequel Hook Jerkass Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Casting Gag Ascended Extra Those Two Guys Dark Action Girl Big Applesauce Mooks Badass Longcoat Badass Normal Historical Hero Upgrade Index of Film Westerns Death of a Child Sci-Fi Horror Hidden Depths Intrepid Reporter Death Glare The Mafia Unwitting Instigator of Doom Dark Is Not Evil Black Best Friend Evil Is Petty Soundtrack Dissonance Maybe Ever After Action Survivor Stealth Hi/Bye Heterosexual Life-Partners Captain Ersatz Bond One-Liner Would Hit a Girl Central Theme Shout-Out Pimped-Out Dress Tranquil Fury Throwing Your Sword Always Works No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Not So Stoic Shipper on Deck Creative Closing Credits Ambiguous Disorder Super Strength Smoking Is Cool Animated Credits Opening Match Cut The Quiet One Break the Haughty Corrupt Corporate Executive Together in Death Canon Foreigner Genre Shift As Long as It Sounds Foreign Imagine Spot Daddy's Girl Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Peek-a-Boo Corpse Offscreen Teleportation Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Well-Intentioned Extremist Hero of Another Story Adapted Out Dutch Angle Chase Scene Bad Boss The Cameo Face Death with Dignity Hope Spot Faux Affably Evil Shower Scene Hong Kong Films Kill It with Fire Friend to All Children As Himself Five-Man Band Contrived Coincidence Science Fiction Films Alpha Bitch Race Lift Dark and Troubled Past Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Pyrrhic Victory Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun O.O.C. Is Serious Business Say My Name Black Comedy Rape The Great Depression Pay Evil unto Evil All Just a Dream Dark Reprise Hate Sink Brother–Sister Incest Book-Ends Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Dropped a Bridge on Him Adaptational Attractiveness Jerk with a Heart of Gold Darkest Hour Shirtless Scene Crapsack World Men Are the Expendable Gender Nice Guy Only Known by Their Nickname My God, What Have I Done? In Medias Res The Dragon Pretty Little Headshots Bond Villain Stupidity An Aesop Badass Bookworm My Beloved Smother Overprotective Dad Bottomless Magazines The Musical Animal Motifs This Is Gonna Suck Armor-Piercing Question The Hero Dies Better to Die than Be Killed Smug Snake What the Hell, Hero? Death by Adaptation Country Matters Villain Opening Scene Tempting Fate Title Drop Film Noir Fanservice Extra German Films Closed Circle Big Brother Instinct Toplessness from the Back Depraved Bisexual Alas, Poor Villain Aside Glance Video Credits Badass in a Nice Suit Mystery and Detective Films Police are Useless No-Sell All Girls Want Bad Boys Even Evil Has Standards Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Defiant to the End A God Am I Demoted to Extra Meet Cute Drugs Are Bad Shell-Shocked Veteran Adaptation Name Change Manly Tears Pragmatic Adaptation The Sociopath Jitter Cam Fire-Forged Friends Empathic Environment Brick Joke Mythology Gag Zombie Stories Freeze-Frame Bonus Mundane Made Awesome Only Sane Man Gender Flip Same Language Dub Cat Scare Damsel in Distress Fiery Redhead Posthumous Character Does Not Like Shoes The Film of the Book Documentary Artistic License – Military Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Punny Name Cain and Abel Pretty in Mink Thriller Parental Substitute Love Triangle Coming-of-Age Story Heroic BSoD I Need a Freaking Drink Disappeared Dad Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies A Minor Kidroduction Fatal Family Photo Very Loosely Based on a True Story The Casanova The Voiceless Driven to Suicide Eye Scream Star-Crossed Lovers Death by Irony Mr. Exposition Broken Bird Stock Footage Jerkass Has a Point The Stinger Getting Crap Past the Radar Big Bad Instant Death Bullet Artistic License – History Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy The Stoic Interrupted Suicide folderlabel Visual Pun Wounded Gazelle Gambit Jump Scare Cool Guns Works Set in World War II Improvised Weapon Dwindling Party Take That! Blackmail Reality Is Unrealistic Famous Last Words Unusual Euphemism My Greatest Failure Up to Eleven A.I. Is a Crapshoot The Ghost Comically Missing the Point It Can Think Older Than They Look Easily Forgiven Failed a Spot Check Hollywood Law Diabolus ex Machina Idiot Ball A Father to His Men Russian Films Bland-Name Product The '60s Slashed Throat The '80s Beauty Is Never Tarnished Taking You with Me Retirony Air-Vent Passageway Broken Aesop Slap-Slap-Kiss Composite Character Sequel Escalation Rasputinian Death "The Reason You Suck" Speech He Who Fights Monsters Determinator Made of Explodium Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Flashback Funny Background Event Curb-Stomp Battle Pre-Mortem One-Liner Your Head A-Splode One Steve Limit Badass Boast Asshole Victim Bar Brawl Taking the Bullet Accidental Misnaming Random Events Plot Outrun the Fireball Blood from the Mouth Kids Are Cruel Combat Pragmatist Not So Above It All Dirty Old Man Faking the Dead Product Placement Missing Mom Cloudcuckoolander Bloody Hilarious Recycled IN SPACE! Here We Go Again! Shut Up, Hannibal! All There in the Manual Deal with the Devil Romantic Comedy Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Artistic License – Law Villain Ball Evil vs. Evil Anguished Declaration of Love Victoria's Secret Compartment Hollywood Darkness Epic Movie Motor Mouth It's Personal Big Fancy House No Ending Badass Grandpa Foregone Conclusion Affectionate Parody Drives Like Crazy Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Properly Paranoid Unreliable Narrator Children Are Innocent Dogged Nice Guy Let's Get Dangerous! Novelization Rated M for Manly You Have Failed Me Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Black and Gray Morality Time Skip Dirty Cop The Remake Actor Allusion Fatal Flaw Unresolved Sexual Tension Kill 'em All Bullying a Dragon Ass Shove Neck Lift The Stoner Crazy Jealous Guy Tap on the Head Adaptation Expansion Humiliation Conga Fat Bastard Anachronic Order Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Off-into-the-Distance Ending Black Dude Dies First No Antagonist Never My Fault Freudian Excuse The Smurfette Principle Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Blonde, Brunette, Redhead The '70s Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Evil Plan Meaningful Background Event You Killed My Father Did Not Get the Girl No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Adaptation Distillation Evil Counterpart Bait-and-Switch Christmas Movies Index Revenge Big Damn Heroes Plot Hole Dramatic Irony Gilligan Cut La Résistance Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Accidental Murder The Reveal Becoming the Mask Market-Based Title She Cleans Up Nicely Skewed Priorities Slasher Movie Scary Black Man Mugging the Monster Arranged Marriage Advertised Extra Gratuitous English Running Gag Genre Throwback Evil-Detecting Dog Belligerent Sexual Tension Improbable Aiming Skills Lighter and Softer Naïve Newcomer Guile Hero Alliterative Name Jerk Jock Married to the Job Put on a Bus Cool Shades Precision F-Strike Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Fun with Acronyms Berserk Button Deus ex Machina Adaptation Dye-Job One-Word Title Romantic False Lead Breaking the Fourth Wall Parental Abandonment Does This Remind You of Anything? Bound and Gagged Babies Ever After Silent Movie '80s Hair Oh, Crap! Authority Equals Asskicking Not So Different Slasher Smile Dramedy Amoral Attorney Bald of Evil Stylistic Suck Noodle Incident The Mole Exact Words Hoist by His Own Petard Last-Name Basis Abusive Parents Black Comedy Rousing Speech Television Movie Index Evil Laugh Disney Villain Death Crucified Hero Shot Protagonist Title Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Artistic License – Gun Safety Chekhov's Skill Eureka Moment Auto Erotica Laser-Guided Karma Author Avatar Honor Before Reason Meaningful Name The End... Or Is It? Sanity Slippage Rape as Drama Whole Plot Reference Never Found the Body Butt-Monkey Insult Backfire I Have Your Wife Film Noir Index Creator Cameo Biopic BFG Nice Hat Gone Horribly Right Cool Old Guy Names to Run Away from Really Fast Deconstruction Adults Are Useless Car Fu The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Stuff Blowing Up Never Trust a Trailer Overly Long Gag Arch-Enemy Flipping the Bird Refuge in Audacity Music Stories The Hero "Awesome McCool" Name Big-Bad Ensemble Stealth Pun Italian Films Man on Fire He Knows Too Much Ms. Fanservice Dull Surprise Anti-Hero Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Your Cheating Heart Daylight Horror The Lost Lenore I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Intergenerational Friendship Pet the Dog In the Back Final Girl Scare Chord Setting Update Ambiguously Gay Too Dumb to Live Gory Discretion Shot Rewatch Bonus Get Out! Really Gets Around Double Entendre From Bad to Worse B-Movie Demonic Possession She's Got Legs Male Gaze Hell Is That Noise Stalker with a Crush Brutal Honesty Decoy Protagonist Spanner in the Works Martial Arts Movie Cool Car Ship Tease Psycho for Hire Aluminum Christmas Trees Spell My Name with an "S" Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Stepford Smiler Framing Device Leaning on the Fourth Wall Early-Bird Cameo Soft Glass Room Full of Crazy The Bad Guy Wins Retired Badass Sacrificial Lion Informed Ability Action Prologue Anti-Villain Anyone Can Die Fourth Date Marriage Would Hurt a Child Deliberately Monochrome Corpsing Eldritch Abomination Handicapped Badass Beware the Nice Ones Eagleland The Oner Action Genre Reasonable Authority Figure Pragmatic Villainy Domestic Abuse Be Careful What You Wish For Chiaroscuro Psychological Thriller Red Shirt French Films Dual Wielding Canadian Movies Celebrity Paradox Vomit Discretion Shot Vomit Indiscretion Shot There Is No Kill Like Overkill Continuity Nod Poor Communication Kills Leitmotif Straight Gay Obfuscating Stupidity Superhero Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Riddle for the Ages The Vamp Sassy Black Woman Genre Savvy Foreshadowing Knife Nut Fan Disservice Captain Obvious Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Vacation Films The Alleged Car Greater-Scope Villain Gainax Ending Trailers Always Spoil Everyone Has Standards Unspoken Plan Guarantee MacGuffin Historical In-Joke Dirty Coward Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Beta Couple The Starscream Sexy Discretion Shot Apocalypse How Arc Words Back from the Dead Homage A Date with Rosie Palms You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Malevolent Masked Men Roaring Rampage of Revenge Hypocritical Humor After the End Cowboy Cop Reality Has No Subtitles Bloodier and Gorier Take a Third Option Sports Stories Not What It Looks Like Police Brutality Scenery Porn Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Actually Pretty Funny NO INDOOR VOICE Retcon Big "NO!" Major Injury Underreaction Playing Gertrude Catch-Phrase Body Horror Heel Realization Drill Sergeant Nasty Wham Line Defrosting Ice Queen Rule of Funny Horror Films The Load Re-Cut Ungrateful Bastard Big Bad Duumvirate Parental Neglect The '50s Big Eater Needs Wiki Magic Love Creepy Child World of Ham "Shaggy Dog" Story Undying Loyalty Affably Evil Didn't Think This Through Animal Title Index Anachronism Stew For the Evulz Attempted Rape Not Using the "Z" Word Training Montage Off with His Head! Translation Convention You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Fantastic Racism Sir Swears-a-Lot Awesome, but Impractical Dressing as the Enemy Fainting Adaptational Villainy Self-Deprecation Meaningful Echo Gorn Punctuated! For! Emphasis! The Faceless How We Got Here Establishing Character Moment Action Girl Grey and Gray Morality Truth in Television Heel–Face Turn Conspicuous CG Groin Attack And I Must Scream Kubrick Stare Deliberate Values Dissonance Those Wacky Nazis Paper-Thin Disguise Bury Your Gays Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Spiteful Spit Token Minority Ghost Fiction Happily Married Morality Pet Monumental Damage Red Eyes, Take Warning All Men Are Perverts Guns Akimbo Kick the Son of a Bitch Ambiguous Ending Mr. Fanservice All for Nothing Rule of Symbolism Age Lift Immune to Bullets Determinator aka: The Determinator Bunny-Ears Lawyer Credits Gag Distracted by the Sexy The Smart Guy Villain Protagonist Earn Your Happy Ending Punch-Clock Villain Obstructive Bureaucrat Exactly What It Says on the Tin Heroes Want Redheads Make It Look Like an Accident Bowdlerise Unusually Uninteresting Sight The Big Guy Word of God Rule of Three Race Against the Clock Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Woman Scorned Vitriolic Best Buds Yandere Non-Indicative Name Hair-Trigger Temper Dramatic Gun Cock Double-Meaning Title I Did What I Had to Do Antagonist Title Redshirt Army Line-of-Sight Name Early Installment Weirdness And Starring Bad "Bad Acting" Evil Sounds Deep Adaptational Heroism Only in It for the Money Killed Mid-Sentence Beard of Evil Dumb Blonde The Alcoholic Call-Forward Totally Radical Four-Temperament Ensemble Our Zombies Are Different Annoying Younger Sibling Adult Fear Vampire Fiction Cruel and Unusual Death Lampshade Hanging Film Series Took a Level in Jerkass Eyepatch of Power Blood Knight Expository Hairstyle Change Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Sole Survivor Tagline Improbable Weapon User Foil Boom, Headshot! Offscreen Moment of Awesome Catapult Nightmare Henpecked Husband Good Is Not Nice Narrator Developing Doomed Characters Insane Troll Logic Left the Background Music On Hooker with a Heart of Gold What You Are in the Dark Bilingual Bonus Made of Iron Character Development Disproportionate Retribution It's All About Me Cluster F-Bomb Scenery Gorn Extreme Doormat Obviously Evil Knight Templar The Chick Only One Name Male Frontal Nudity Show Within a Show Moment Killer The Cavalry The Power of Love Ripped from the Headlines From Nobody to Nightmare Eiffel Tower Effect Shown Their Work Cassandra Truth Historical-Domain Character Humans Are Bastards The Atoner Ironic Echo Red Right Hand Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil The Brute Once More, with Clarity! Femme Fatale The Bully The X of Y The Place Parental Incest Death by Sex Laughing Mad Disney Death Cat Fight Only a Flesh Wound Fingore Grievous Bottley Harm Twist Ending Spiritual Successor Military and Warfare Films Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality "Well Done, Son!" Guy Extremely Short Timespan The Dreaded True Companions Artistic License – Physics Mercy Kill Real Life More Dakka N-Word Privileges No Celebrities Were Harmed Evil Brit Wrong Genre Savvy Have a Gay Old Time All There in the Script As the Good Book Says... Neck Snap What Happened to the Mouse? Woman in White I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Calling the Old Man Out Death Seeker Call-Back Bi the Way Half the Man He Used to Be Abhorrent Admirer Shoot the Shaggy Dog Downer Ending Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Facial Horror Chewing the Scenery Adaptational Badass Those Two Bad Guys Hypocrite Reckless Gun Usage Suddenly SHOUTING! Almost Kiss Not Quite Dead Villain Song Darker and Edgier Light Is Not Good Despair Event Horizon Chekhov's Gunman Suspiciously Similar Substitute Fantasy Films Costume Porn Blatant Lies Amusing Injuries Covers Always Lie Heroic Sacrifice Drowning My Sorrows Red Herring timeperiod Plucky Comic Relief Broken Pedestal Dies Wide Open Fake Shemp Epic Fail Not Even Bothering with the Accent Our Vampires Are Different Mad Scientist Agony of the Feet Horror Comedy Irony Madness Mantra The Dog Bites Back Brainless Beauty Important Haircut Evil Is Hammy Silence Is Golden Author Appeal Historical Villain Upgrade It Will Never Catch On "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Even Evil Has Loved Ones Based on a True Story Curse Cut Short Expy Artistic License – Geography Bring My Brown Pants Love at First Sight Loophole Abuse Bavarian Fire Drill Worthy Opponent Frame-Up Deadpan Snarker The Ace Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Betty and Veronica An Axe to Grind Mexican Standoff Cold-Blooded Torture Mighty Whitey Adorkable Artistic License – Biology Fate Worse than Death Leave the Camera Running The Ditz Rich Bitch Storming the Castle Wretched Hive Gold Digger Break the Cutie Hero Antagonist Mood Whiplash Took a Level in Badass Mind Screw Real Life Writes the Plot Logo Joke I'm a Humanitarian Dissonant Serenity Camera Abuse Karmic Death Bolivian Army Ending Naked People Are Funny The Chessmaster Lock and Load Montage Implacable Man And the Adventure Continues Wham Shot The '90s Mama Bear Dying Moment of Awesome Manic Pixie Dream Girl Psychopathic Manchild No Name Given War Is Hell Rule of Cool Sinister Minister Funny Foreigner Wicked Cultured The Un-Reveal Karma Houdini Camp Gay Mistaken for Gay Kick the Dog Serial Killer British Films As You Know Crazy-Prepared Cool Old Lady Face–Heel Turn An Arm and a Leg Bittersweet Ending Bare Your Midriff Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Sadistic Choice Villain with Good Publicity Villainous Breakdown Public Domain Feature Films Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Disguised in Drag Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Papa Wolf Suspiciously Specific Denial Australian Movies Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! One-Man Army Reality Ensues In Name Only Small Name, Big Ego 20 Minutes into the Future Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Serious Business Loads and Loads of Characters For Want of a Nail Batman Gambit Green-Eyed Monster Fish out of Water The Lancer Ominous Latin Chanting Award-Bait Song