Dead Parents

[Spinder]

A extremely large number of protagonists in the world of fiction are lacking in the parent department. Either they are dead, or just not talked about and mysteriously absent. Almost every single one of them, all of them, has at least one of their parents who is missing from their life somehow.

Harry Potter. Cinderella. Snow White. Bambi. Aladdin. Belle from "Beauty and the Beast". Lilo from "Lilo and Stitch". Finding Nemo. Luke Skywalker. The Swan Princess. Blade. Will and Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean. Spider-Man. Batman. Superman. The Legend of Zelda. Sonic the Hedgehog. Pokemon. The list goes on... I could think of more but don't want to ramble.

But why? Why are the protagonist's parents always dead or missing? I know heroes always require some kind of a dark and troubled past that makes them special from everyone else, and for drama's sake, but why always in the form of deceased parents?

Also, I find it weird that if it's just Mother that's missing, she's almost always dead whereas a missing Father is usually alive but has just gone off somewhere to fight evil or something, and often ends up coming back or reuniting with the hero by some odd means.

[Magus]

There are quite a lot. Mostly both parents aren't dead. They have either their mother or father with them. But in some cases they are.

In games, it is quite the opposite. Serge from Chrono Cross have his mother and Toan from Dark Cloud also have his mother.

As, you have pointed it out. I cannot think of a protagonist with both parents alive. And even if alive, they will die in the course of the story. I think this is used to play a story and the plot about how the parents are dead and relates to the antagonist. Usually the antagonist kills the parents, and the protagonist have more than a motive to kill their enemy.

Also, adds to the drama of the story. If it is must to play the head of the receiver.

[georgiamay]

Also, adds to the drama of the story. If it is must to play the head of the receiver.

i don't think it does add to the drama anymore really, i mean, it used to, but i think they've over done it. now every story has a dead parent or missing parent, or a parent that gets killed or something, so when a story has this it isn't any different from any other one.

if every hero has a missing parent, then what makes them so special? everyone else has one too!

i think they should stop making this the case; they should have something else that is a bit more original to make the hero so unique and special.

[Spinder]

Oy vey

[Jess]

good point but I don't pay attention to that really

[Ryhanna]

Normally because they wouldn't play any role in the story. I mean, spidermans parents - Let's say they're still alive... what are they doing? Not much, just being boring characters like his AUnt and Uncle were.

[Sapphire]

In a number of cases, they don't really make a point out of it.
I mean, Pokemon was about the kid wanting to become a Pokemon Master - there was no real mention about the parents. In Beauty and the Beast, no mention is made as to Belle's mother. There is no mention of Elizabeth Swann's mother either. Will Turner's mother was only mentioned in passing to explain why he went looking for his father.

[Jess]

Normally because they wouldn't play any role in the story. I mean, spidermans parents - Let's say they're still alive... what are they doing? Not much, just being boring characters like his AUnt and Uncle were.

exactly. I agree with you on that.