History Main / AmbiguouslyAbsentParent

** The king in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' is an important character in the movie. However, the Prince's mother is never seen or mentioned, nor is she seen in any of the paintings that serve as a timeline of her son's life, though her husband does. (The second sequel does mention her and hints that she's dead, however.)

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}}'': Where's Johnny's mother? He and his dad certainly aren't going to tell you. Meena's father is also never seen or mentioned.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManEnterTheSpiderVerse:'' The film focuses a lot on Gwen's strained relationship with her father, with the two living in a small apartment. Gwen's mother goes entirely unmentioned (in the comics, she's dead.)
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'': Odette's father King William is killed early on, but her mother is never seen or mentioned.

-->-- '''WebVideo/NostalgiaCritic''', ''Film/JemAndTheHolograms2015'' review

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': Despite later games' focus on [[BigScrewedUpFamily the Afton family]], there's no direct mention of a mother. {{Fanon}} generally dictates she divorced William, based off the idea that [[ShowWithinAShow "The Immortal and the Restless"]] from [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation the fifth game]] is meant to have parallels to Michael's home life. One of the minigames in ''VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'', Midnight Motorist, ''may'' feature her, and ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach'' hints at a connection between her and Ballora, as a vaguely Ballora-styled security bot is a stand-in for an Afton family recreation, but nothing more is known about her.

** Carly lives with her older brother, Spencer, acting as her legal guardian. While their dad is mentioned a lot on the show as being in the military, her mother is never mentioned, and Dan Schneider only said that she wasn't confirmed to be dead. [[Series/ICarly2021 The revival]] episode "iHave a Proposal" finally addresses the fate of Carly and Spencer's mother...sort of. [[spoiler:They both dance around the topic, but it's implied that their mom left their dad and practically abandoned the family. She even appears at the end of the episode (though she's not visible to viewers), setting up a cliffhanger.]]

** Abby in ''Videogame/TheLastOfUsPartII''is the daughter of Jerry Anderson [[spoiler:the Firefly surgeon that Joel killed in the previous game]]. Abby's mother is never mentioned at all.

Often a source of FanficFuel. Sub-trope of ParentalAbandonment and UnknownCharacter. Contrast with IMissMom and DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou (where the character acknowledges in-universe said parent), MysteriousParent (where the absent parent is an integral part of the story) and compare and contrast to InvisibleParents (where neither parents are seen but may be mentioned, and the audience has no reason to believe they are out of the picture). May be the result of NeverSayDie. May overlap with {{Nephewism}} and RaisedByGrandparents.

** Ellie's mother Anna died when Ellie was very young. Her father is never directly mentioned, but Ellie implies he's dead when Joel asks where her parents are. He likely either died before she was born or was never involved in her life.

* In the ComicBook/MonicasGang movie “The Princess and the Robot” Princess Mimi’s father the rabbit king is present throughout the movie, but her mother is never seen or mentioned.

** Ellie's mother Anna died when Ellie was very young. Her father is never directly mentioned, but Ellie implies he's dead when Joel asks where her parents are.

** Carly lives with her older brother, Spencer, acting as her legal guardian. While their dad is mentioned a lot on the show as being in the military, her mother is never mentioned, and Dan Schneider only said that she wasn't confirmed to be dead. [[Series/ICarly2021 The revival]] finally addresses the fate of Carly and Spencer's mother...sort of. [[spoiler:They both dance around the topic, but it's implied that their mom left their dad and practically abandoned the family.]]

** Carly lives with her older brother, Spencer, acting as her legal guardian. While their dad is mentioned a lot on the show as being in the military, her mother is never mentioned, and Dan Schneider only said that she wasn't confirmed to be dead.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'': Princess Peach's backstory establishes that she, like Mario, is not a native of the Mushroom Kingdom. She was transported there by a warp pipe as a baby and was raised by the Toads as one of their own. There are no more details beyond that, raising several questions as to how Peach ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom to begin with and what happened to her parents. Did her parents die? Was she abandoned? Did she somehow wander off and get sucked down the warp pipe by mistake?

** ''Anime/PokemonHorizons'' would introduce Roy, who lived with his grandfather on a small island but no sign of either his mother or father. Liko on the other hand does have both parents present in her life.

** Ambiguously absent parents are something of the norm for the protagonists for the anime. Ash's father was mentioned once in the second episode, which was infamously not elaborated on any further, but that's still more than many of his friend's parents. No mention of Dawn or Serena's fathers has been made. Clemont and Bonnie's mother isn't brought up. Misty, as well as Cilan and Iris, has neither parental figure ever mentioned. Mallow's mother [[SubvertedTrope was thought to be this as well]], until it was revealed much later on that she had died years earlier and Mallow didn't like talking about it. As for Brock's parents... let's just say the dub introduced a plot hole involving his mother, due to a line in an early episode being contradicted by a later episode. (Funnily enough, Max and May are a rare exception for companions: not only do we ''see'' both parents, one episode had as a plot their father being mistaken for cheating on their mother... more information than you get for the rest.)

* ''Film/Elysium'': Matilda's father is never seen or mentioned.

* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Emily's mother is never brought up despite the fact that her father is explicitly remarried. She is not shown at Emily and Ross's wedding, and the closest thing she gets to a mention is when Ross says the building he and Emily and getting married in is the same one Emily's parents were married in-- and even that could just be referring to her father and his current wife.

** Freddie Benson lives with his [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing and overprotective mother]], similar to how Sam is only confirmed to live with her mother; however, unlike Sam, who has outright stated that her father abandoned the family), Freddie's father has never been mentioned. All we get is a mention on iCarly.com that his name was "Leonard", and that he almost certainly isn't involved in his life, proven when his mother was dating and planning to marry Spencer in the Christmas special.

** Freddie Benson lives with his [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing and overprotective mother]], similar to how Sam is only confirmed to live with her mother; however, unlike Sam, Freddie's father has never been mentioned. All we get is a mention on iCarly.com that his name was "Leonard", and that he almost certainly isn't involved in his life, proven when his mother was dating and planning to marry Spencer in the Christmas special.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan'' portrays Film/CharlieChan as the father of [[MassiveNumberedSiblings ten children]]. Neither a mother nor adoption are ever mentioned.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'':
** Tina's father is shown several times, but her mother is unmentioned.
** Billy is usually seen with his mother Felicity, but the one mention of his father makes it unclear whether his parents live together or share custody and Felicity was just dropping Billy off.
** Carrie's father [[spoiler:turns out to be the MonsterOfTheWeek in "The Mirror"]], but her mother is rarely talked about; In "The Drama", her voice is heard from behind a grave in the cemetery.
** Hector's father was mentioned once but is never shown around the cave Hector and his mother live in. That one mention describes him as a [[OurGiantsAreBigger giant]] even larger than Hector; it's possible he's just too large to live anywhere nearby.
** Minor character example: An oval man is seen with his son in many episodes, but the mom is never seen. However, in "The Oracle," the dad is seen along with other dads waiting for their wives.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Sprig and Polly are [[RaisedByGrandparents looked after by their grandfather]], and their mother is eventually stated to have died when they were both young, but their father (and other grandparents) are unmentioned. Even a flashback to when Sprig was years younger (and Polly presumably not born yet) only shows him with Hop Pop. The season 2 episode "After the Rains" reveals [[spoiler: Sprig and Polly's parents were killed in a heron attack on Wartwood while Hop Pop was out of town.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': Numbuh 2's dad is never seen in the show. He shows up in the comic "Operation: T.R.I.K.E.", but said comic is explicitly set before Hoagie ever joined the KND. "Operation: C.A.K.E.D.-F.O.U.R." refers to him in the past-tense, suggesting that he might be dead.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'', LJ and Jedda are the respective children of Lothar and the Phantom, but the series never mentions what happened to their mothers, neither of whom appear onscreen. Averted with Flash's son, Rick, whose mother appears (and dies) in the opening episode, and Kshin, who is explicitly stated to be an orphan and has Mandrake as a ParentalSubstitute.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', the disappearance of the triplets' mother, Della Duck, is a major plot point, but their father is never mentioned even once in the show's entire run. WordOfGod confirms he will remain so for the time being, with co-creator Francisco Angones saying that they will be dealing with "one parental mystery at a time" and commenting that as far as he's concerned, [[HappilyAdopted Uncle Donald is their father]]. For the record, the triplets imply in an offhand mention early in the original comics that their father is a deadbeat.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'', Mateo has a mother, but his father is absent. WordOfGod is that he isn't important to the story and will never be brought up.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', Mac's father is absent and unmentioned[[note]]unless you count the time that Mac is described as "a boy without a father" in a [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within a Show]][[/note]]; [[AllThereInTheManual the official writers' bible]] confirms that his parents got divorced shortly before the events of the series.
* ''WesternAnimation/GetAce'': Besides Ace and Becky, any character (kid or adult) shown to have a parent only has the one with no other mentioned.
** This is most noticeable with the VillainousMotherSonDuo of Hilda and Ned Krinkle, since it's made clear from the start that Ned [[MamasBoy lives alone with his mother]].
** Tina [=DeVeer=]'s only parent being her AmbiguouslyGay father raises some questions about her parentage.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
** Wendy's father and three brothers are {{Recurring Extra}}s, but her mother is unmentioned in the show. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/1kgq85/i_am_alex_hirsch_creator_of_gravity_falls_ask_me/cbotzzv/?context=3 In an AMA]], the show's creator implied she was dead.
** Soos's maternal grandmother is implied to have raised him, and his father left him when he was four, only sending occasional postcards from that point on. The whereabouts of Soos's mother, however, are never brought up. Given that young Soos dreams of his father returning but not his mother, she's probably dead.
* ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'' only ever shows or mentions Piri Piri's mother Hanzi, who is evidently single. (She's one candidate proposed to date Princess' widower father.)
* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'' is explicitly the daughter of a single mother, but no mention is ever given to her father or his whereabouts.
* In ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim,'' [[HeroAntagonist Dib]] and [[CreepyChild Gaz]] live with their dad, [[BunnyEarsLawyer Professor Membrane]], but their mother is never mentioned. WordOfSaintPaul says that had the show continued, they might have revealed that Dib was actually an ArtificialHuman created by his father; theoretically, this would mean that he doesn't have a mother, but how does Gaz fit in with that?
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': Tohru's mother is a recurring character, but his father is never mentioned.
* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': While Johnny's mom, Bunny Bravo, is a recurring character, Johnny's dad was never shown or mentioned during the entire series.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KidVsKat,'' both Coop and Millie live with their single father but their mother is never mentioned.
* ''WesternAnimation/LegendsOfChima'': Laval is the son of King Lagravis, but there is no mention of his mother the queen.
* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'': In the episode "Fibber", Pleakley's mother Mrs. Pleakley, brother Bertley, and sister Pixley show up after being told that he is engaged to be married. His father Mr. Pleakley does not show up and is unmentioned. The anime ''Anime/{{Stitch}}'' shows that Mr. Pleakley is still alive and married to Mrs. Pleakley, but doesn't explain why he was not at his son's (fake) wedding.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'': Muhimu has a son named Hamu who was born in "The Mbali Fields Migration", but her mate is never shown. The same goes for Twiga, who has a daughter, Juhudi.
** Beshte is sometimes seen with his father, Basi, but his mother is never seen or even mentioned.
** Mtoto the elephant has a mother with him, but there is no mention of his father.
* ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'': There was no mention to whatever happened to Blythe Baxter's mother until Season 4, where it's implied she passed away years before the show.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLongLongHoliday'', Lily lives with her father and mentions him a lot, but her mother's whereabouts are unknown.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraRoyalDetective'': Only Mira's father Sahil is shown, and her mother is never seen aside from her picture in their room. She's also mentioned several times, and it's heavily implied she's passed away.
* Trini's mom in ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali''. We know she has a dad who runs the library and a grandma somewhere (probably in Texas) but her mom isn't mentioned. Later on averted in [[spoiler:"Molly and the Great One", where we find out that her mother is in the military]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** The season 8 episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E8TheParentMap The Parent Map]] is about Sunburst's mother Stellar Flare and Starlight's father Firelight. No mention is made of Sunburst's father or Starlight's mother. In fact, a few minor plot points and similarities with Sunburst/Firelight and Stellar Flare/Starlight has led to one persistent fan theory that Sunburst and Starlight are actually siblings following an amicable SolomonDivorce. Though there was a stallion who appeared briefly in a flashback who could have been Sunburst's father, there was never anything obvious.
** The Season 9 episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E6CommonGround Common Ground]] is a ParentWithNewParamour plot, but it's left ambiguous whether Wind Sprint's father separated with her mother or passed away. All we know is he's not around anymore and Wind Spring worries Quibble will "replace" him.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', Christopher Robin's mother occasionally appears, but his father is never seen or mentioned. Ironic, since the real Christopher Robin's [[Creator/AAMilne father]] was the creator of ''Literature/WinnieThePooh''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall,'' we know that [[SociallyAwkwardHero Wirt]] and [[CheerfulChild Greg]] are half-brothers and that their mom is currently married to Greg's dad. All three parents are [[InvisibleParents unseen]], but it's unknown if Wirt's father is deceased or simply divorced from Wirt's mother (and, in the latter case, how involved he is in Wirt's life). We actually hear Wirt's dad [[AllThereInTheManual in the "For Sara" tape]], interacting with a toddler Wirt, but his current status is still unknown.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': A family photo seen in "Yesterday's Lie" establishes that [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]]'s father was a part of her life when she was a child, but he is never seen in the present day and has yet to be mentioned by Luz or Camila at any point in the series. [[spoiler:It's eventually confirmed in "Reaching Out" that he's dead.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'': Ryder's parents have yet to be shown on screen or even mentioned. WordOfGod is that they are around, but they aren't relevant to the show. One has to wonder just how they feel about their ten-year old son being the leader of the island's only rescue squad.
* ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'': Suzie Sheep lives with her mother. However, her father is not present and hasn't been mentioned on-screen.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'' Flick Duck lives with just his mom Shirley, no mention of the dad ever coming up. Munchy Beaver similarly lives with his mom Betty Lou but his dad is at least implied to live far away and once sent his son a wooden boat as a present. The accidental sinking of the boat kicks off the plot in one episode.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PhantomInvestigators'', articles and press releases leading up to the show's premiere mention that Casey lives with his single dad; what happened to his mom was never stated.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', the two eponymous characters are stepbrothers, with Phineas and Candace's mother Linda being married to Ferb's father Lawrence. However, Phineas and Candace's biological father and Ferb's biological mother are never mentioned. All WordOfGod has said is that Phineas and Candace's father ''isn't'' Dr. Doofenshmirtz, [[{{Jossed}} which was a fairly popular fan theory]]. In any case, all three of the Flynn-Fletcher siblings appear to be HappilyAdopted, with Candace and Phineas happily calling their stepfather "Dad"[[note]]Ferb would presumably call Linda Mom or Mum if he ever talked enough for it to come up[[/note]]. This is {{Lampshaded}} in the ([[AlternateContinuity non-canon]]) two-part special ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars''. After years of being a stormtrooper, Candace reunites with Phineas, who introduces Ferb and explains their mother has remarried. Candace asks what happened to their father, and the Death Star blows up before Phineas can reply.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': The whereabouts of Beth’s mother have not been given a proper explanation. Rick has implied that his marriage to her was not stable and that they did separate before his disappearance. Beth sheds a tear in "Pilot" when Rick tells her that he wishes her mother was present to eat the family’s breakfast, but it is never confirmed if Beth’s mother is actually dead. In “The Rickshank Redemption”, Rick is shown a memory in which a woman named Diane is his wife as well as Beth’s mother, and she is killed in it; however, this specific memory was fabricated by Rick to fool his interrogator, so Diane may not even have existed. In the season 5 premiere, Rick's nemesis Mr. Nimbus asks what Diane would think of him if she were still alive, which Rick refers to as "establishing canonical backstory." [[spoiler:The Season 5 finale reveals that indeed is the case, at least for our Rick's original universe's Diane]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'':
** Prior to the episode "Mother's Day" (which revealed her to be deceased), Chuckie's mother was mentioned but never seen. One of the writers admitted that they couldn't decide between divorce or premature death because the Nickelodeon censors at the time wouldn't allow either topic to be explored in a show for as young a demographic as this one.
** Charlotte's parents are never seen in the show. Her mother is mentioned in "Angelica's Birthday", but her father's whereabouts are unconfirmed.
* In ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'', Fred was the only one out of the Gang whose parents were never seen by ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'', though other family members like uncles and cousins have been brought up. ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' introduces them in the ''[[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooPiratesAhoy Pirates Ahoy!]]'' movie, which shows them to be perfectly normal, if somewhat eccentric. On the other hand, the optional prequel shows ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' and ''WesternAnimation/BeCoolScoobyDoo'' have some fun with this, where Fred's parents [[spoiler:are presumably estranged from him when he leaves with the Gang at the end]] in the former and [[spoiler:Fred being implied to have been raised by his mother while his father was in jail]]. Nowadays, ''Scooby-Doo'' likes to use whoever was established as the Gang's parents first (such as Daphne's parents being the ones from the original shows instead of the newer ''Mystery Incorporated'' or Velma's parents being the ones from ''Mystery Incorporated'' because there was nothing to use about them in ''A Pup''), so the precedent of Fred having issues with his parents probably stems from them never appearing in the original shows.
* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'': No mention was ever made of Sofia's biological father and Amber and James' biological mother until the final season. Sofia's dad was a sailor who got lost at sea and never returned. In Amber and James' matter, Roland's wife didn't have children for years until he made a wish for her to do so at a wishing well, giving birth to them in return; however, her body wasn't stable enough to handle the birth, thus she fell gravelly ill and died.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': Mr. Krabs is Pearl's father, but no one ever mentioned her mother. They're also different species (a crab and a whale, respectively), so [[AmbiguouslyRelated it's unclear if Pearl is his biological or adopted daughter]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', several young residents of Beach City only have one parent accounted for.
** Peedee and Ronaldo Fryman live with their father, but their mother is never seen nor mentioned. [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E21JokingVictim "Joking Victim"]] had a DeletedScene where Mr. Fryman compared Peedee to his mother, but even that doesn't specify where she is now.
** Same applies to Jenny and Kiki Pizza, who live with their father and paternal grandmother.
** Sadie Miller's [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing mother]] Barb is a recurring character, but her father never appears or gets any kind of mention. Barb is once called "Miss Miller", suggesting she is a single mother.
** Buck Dewey's father is a recurring character, but his mother is unseen and unmentioned. Bill was somewhat open about having a crush on Pearl, suggesting he and Buck's mother are divorced at the least.
* ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'': Molly lives with her mother, Rebecca. Her father is never seen or mentioned during the course of the show. WordOfGod claims that Rebecca is divorced, while a comic states that Molly's father is dead.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', Buster Bunny is among the few who’s parents are never seen, he does mention his mother a few times in passing, implying she may be alive. One idea the writers had was Bugs Bunny was going to be his father, but it was never used.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': Spike Witwicky and his father Sparkplug work as construction workers together and Spike's mother is never seen or mentioned. The show's writer's bible states that Sparkplug is a widower.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Vampirina}}'': Poppy and Edgar Peepleson only have a mother present; their dad is never seen nor brought up once. Same goes for Bridget.
* In ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', Kimiko's father appears, but her mother was never seen or mentioned, not even in the episode where the boys visit her house.
* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010,'' Garfield Logan/Beast Boy's father is AdaptedOut of his origin story, and he lives with family friends after his mom dies. Possibly relevant is the fact that, according to the canonical tie-in comic, [[AdaptationalSexuality his mom is attracted to women]], but her exact sexuality and relationship to Gar's father is still undetermined.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''Franchise/DuckTales'':
** The absence of Huey, Dewey, and Louie's parents is never explained in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987''. Most viewers simply assume that the triplets are orphans.
** ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'':
*** Webby is known to have been raised by her grandmother for most of her life, possibly since she was hatched. However, it is unknown when or how she lost her parents. [[spoiler: Subverted in the finale, in which in turns out Beakley isn't her grandmother, and her "parents" were {{Invented Individual}}s. Webby was actually the clone-daughter of Scrooge all along.]]
*** Though the first episode gives names and shows photographs of Donald and Della's parents, all flashbacks show them living with their Uncle Scrooge. It's unclear if Scrooge raised them (or why), or just spent a lot of time with them.
* ''WesternAnimation/FireAndIce'': It's never said or shown what became Nekron or Raleil's son's fathers.
* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' never mentioned either of Frankie's parents. Her presence in the house photos even when she was a little girl led some fans to believe that she was [[RaisedByGrandparents raised by Madame Foster]], but WordOfGod says that that's not the case, and both parents were alive during the course of the show.
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'':
** Jackie was sent to America to live with Uncle when he was a boy, much like how Jade was sent to live with him. Unlike Jade, whose parents made a few appearances throughout the series, Jackie's parents were never seen and their fates were never revealed.
** Paco. He spends a lot of time with El Toro Fuerte, who may or may not be his legal guardian. Either way, his parents are never seen nor mentioned.
* ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'': It's never mentioned where any of the Muppet Babies' parents are or why they're all living with Nanny.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Applejack has a large extended family, but her parents are never shown except in flashbacks, unlike any other member of the Mane 6. She and Apple Bloom also tend to treat [[RaisedByGrandparents Granny Smith]] and [[PromotionToParent Big Macintosh]] as their parental figures. The show implies but never quite says that the Apple siblings are orphaned, though it's confirmed by WordOfGod.
** Scootaloo's situation is left ''extremely'' ambiguous for most of the series' run, with no indication of parental figures or even a ''home'' - leading many fans to assume she lived at the (never shown) Ponyville orphanage. She's eventaully shown to have a well-accomodated home, and cared for by her two aunts. It's ultimately revealed that she has loving parents, but their careers as wildlife researchers requires constant traveling, so they can't settle down.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'':
** Starfire's parents are never mentioned. As she was raised by a nanny, and her older sister was the one ruling once she returned to Tamaran, one presumes they died before Starfire got to know them.
** We know Robin's parents are dead, due to him being the apprentice of Batman, but why did he leave Batman to begin with? It's never shown in this version.
** Beast Boy's parents are never mentioned or seen, and he was apparently raised by the Doom Patrol.
** Cyborg's father isn't mentioned or seen, ever. His mother, however, is explicitly deceased.
* As official sources for ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' put Shiro’s age at 25, one would expect his parents not to be as important as the younger paladins’, but after eight seasons of the others missing their families, tracking down long lost relatives, and having tearful reunions, his family is becoming conspicuous by its complete and total absence. Even [[OldRetainer Coran]] gets a grandfather!
[[/folder]]