History Main / GruesomeGrandparent

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

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* ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'' ends with the [[spoiler: rapist and murderer]] billionaire grandfather, Noah Cross, taking in his granddaughter [[spoiler: (who is also [[VillainousIncest his daughter]])]] Katherine after her mother Evelyn's death, clearly planning to [[spoiler: rape her as he did her mother, resulting in Katherine's birth]].

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* ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'' ends with the [[spoiler: rapist and murderer]] billionaire grandfather, Noah Cross, taking his granddaughter [[spoiler: and also [[VillainousIncest his daughter]] ]] Katherine in after her mother Evelyn's death, clearly planning to [[spoiler: rape her as he did to her mother, resulting in Katherine's birth]].
* ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'': [[spoiler:[[BackFromTheDead Palpatine]], [[TheManBehindTheMan the mastermind behind Snoke and the First Order]], [[LukeIAmYourFather is revealed to be Rey's grandfather]][[note]]in the novelization her father was an "imperfect clone" of Palpatine, though that still counts as being her grandfather in a sense[[/note]]. [[OffingTheOffspring He had her parents killed]] and [[BaitTheDog tries to coax her into becoming the new emperor]], but in reality [[GrandTheftMe he merely wants to possess her]] [[CameBackWrong to escape his broken body]]. When he heals himself using her and Kylo Ren's dyad, he dispenses with this plan and just tries to kill her.]]

* ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'': The Dollanganger children are kept locked up in their grandparent's attic due to their grandmother, [[EvilMatriarch Olivia Foxworth]] an abusive religious fanatic who believed that their entire existence is an abomination against God. [[spoiler: Because their mom and dad believed that they were only LOOSELY related when they fell in love and eloped, they didn't understand why Olivia and Malcolm outright disowned them for it. But due to the BigScrewedUpFamily dynamics of the Foxworth clan, they were never told the truth that they were actually brother and sister.]] She would come up to the attic in order to deliver their food, and ultimately to try to catch them in the act of "sinning" just like their parents had done, leading to often starving and beating them when they would call her out for forcing them to be in such a close and confined space for years.

* ''Literature/OurOnlyMayAmelia'': May Amelia and her brothers can't stand their Grandmother Patience because she's so mean and spiteful to everyone- and likewise the Grandmother absolutely loathes her grandchildren, particularly May Amelia. When she moves into the house under the pretense that's she's getting too old to keep her own house by herself, Grandmother Patience can do nothing but make cruel, snide remarks towards May Amelia and her mother and demands everything from the twelve-year-old girl, using her as her personal servant under the guise of "turning her into a proper young lady" and beats her with a cane hard enough to cause some nasty bruising.

* ''Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}}'' has Mama Mabel, who lead an organized crime syndicate and forced her grandson Cornell to participate through verbal and mental abuse. When her granddaughter Mariah got pregnant from being raped [[spoiler: by her great-uncle]], Mabel forced her to go through a traumatizing pregnancy and birth instead of letting her have an abortion. [[AbusiveParents Her horrible parenting]] of Cornell and Mariah caused them both to be quite screwed up as adults.

** Grandpa Victor and Grandma Ida see Reese as their favorite grandson, while they hate Francis because of his criminal record (despite the fact that Reese creates almost as much mayhem Francis did before being sent to Military School), and look down upon Malcolm as a weakling because he does well in school. Dewey is mostly spared because they ignore him, though he apparently remembers them dropping him when he was a baby, and Victor nearly running him over when he was three years old.
** Victor only appeared in the introductory episode, as by the time Ida made her next appearance Victor had already died. Even by herself, Ida was still loathed by most of her family, still psychologically abusing Lois, getting into heated arguments with Francis, and looking down on Malcolm because of his studiousness. Because Ida is also a RacistGrandma, she'll occasionally mouth off an offensive comment aimed at Pyama, Francis' wife, a woman of Inuit descent.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': Grandfather, the GreaterScopeVillain and father to [[BigBad Father]], turns out to literally be the grandfather of Nigel Uno/Numbuh One; he was the ArchnemesisDad to Numbuh Zero, a.k.a. Nigel's father Monty Uno. For what it's worth he does seem to be fond of his son (in a WorthyOpponent manner), but has no compunctions trying to turn his grandson into a Senior Citizombie like everyone else.

* UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire: The Roman Emperor Elagabalus was assassinated alongside his mother after just four years of rule, and the main culprit behind their deaths was his maternal grandmother [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Maesa Julia Maesa]]. [[MotherMakesYouKing She made him emperor in the first place]], but proved to be a chaotic emperor due to his hedonism and zealotry towards the obscure El-Gabal over the Roman pantheon, and his mother was a bad influence on him; thus the motive was to prevent him being problematic by replacing him with his stabler cousin Alexander Severus. Unfortunately, Severus would end up being perceived as a weak MommasBoy that led to his own assassination and crises by the army.
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* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': While not her biological relative, [[ImmortalitySeeker Zouken Matou]] is the adoptive grandfather to Sakura Matou. [[AbusiveParents He's a horrible guardian]] who's "tests" are more "[[ColdBloodedTorture torture]]", and his abusive nature to his biological grandson Shinji [[FreudianExcuse are a large part of why]] he's such a {{Jerkass}}.

* The horror film ''Film/TheVisit'' is all about this. Two children named Becca and Tyler find their grandparents online and make arrangements to stay with them while their mother, who has long been estranged from the older couple, goes on a cruise with her boyfriend. Though Nana and Pop-Pop seem sweet at first, it soon becomes clear that something suspicious is going on, given that Nana vomits profusely and tries to lure the kids into the oven while Pop-Pop blithely dismisses all of the kids' fears. [[spoiler: It ultimately turns out to be something of a subversion, though--because Nana and Pop-Pop ''aren't the children's grandparents at all.'' Rather, the original couple worked in a mental hospital, and two elderly residents [[KillAndReplace killed them and stole their identities.]]]]

** Victor only appeared in the introductory episode, as by the time Ida made her next appearance Victor had already died. Even by herself, Ida was still loathed by most of her family, still psychologically abusing Lois, getting into heated arguments with Francis, and looking down on Malcolm because of his studiousness. Because Ida is also a RacistGrandma, she'll ocasionally mouth off an offensive comment aimed at Pyama, Francis' wife, a woman of Inuit descent.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarSeries'':

* ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'': Kubo's maternal grandfather, Raiden the Moon King, is a supreme deity who loathes humanity and is disgusted that his daughter married a human. When Kubo was born, the Moon King ripped out one of the infant's eyes in an attempt to "make him blind" to the scum of humankind, and transformed Kubo's father Hanzo into a giant beetle and stole his memories. For the next twelve years, Raiden tries to hunt down Kubo in order to steal his other eye, planning to make him blind and cold to the world so he can embrace his godly heritage and reject humanity.

** Perseus' grandfather Acrisius locked him up with his mother in a truck and sent them out to sea because he feared Perseus one day overthrowing him. [[YouCantFightFate Fate being]] [[SelfFufillingProphecy what it is]], this fails and Perseus accidentally kills him with a discus throw.

* ''Website/NotAlwaysWorking'': [[https://notalwaysright.com/taking-both-the-mourning-and-graveyard-shift/ This boss's]] grandmother was clearly not kind to him, as he admits that the last time he saw her, she sicced a pit bull on him and she convinced him that everyone else dislikes their grandparents just as much. This ends up making him look horrible when he yells at a coworker for missing work due to them visiting their grandmother's funeral, unaware that said coworker and their grandmother utterly adored each other)

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' mythos aren't quite as rife with these as abusive direct-parents, but they're certainly there:

!!Examples

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Films -- Animated]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/LukeCage2016'' has Mama Mabel, who lead an organized crime syndicate and forced her grandson Cornell to participate through verbal and mental abuse. When her granddaughter Mariah got pregnant from being raped [[spoiler: by her great-uncle]], Mabel forced her to go through a traumatizing pregnancy and birth instead of letting her have an abortion. [[AbusiveParents Her horrible parenting]] of Cornell and Mariah caused them both to be quite screwed up as adults.
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle''

[[folder: Mythology And Religion]]
* ''Myth/ClassicalMythology''

[[folder: Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarSeries''

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': Grandfather, the GreaterScopeVillain and father to [[BigBad Father]], turns out to literally be the grandfather of Nigel Uno/Numbah 1; he was the ArchnemesisDad to Numbah Zero, aka Nigel's father Monty Uno. For what it's worth he does seem to be fond of his son (in a WorthyOpponent manner), but has no compunctions trying to turn his grandson into a Senior Citizombie like everyone else.

[[folder: Real Life]]

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* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': [[spoiler:[[{{God}} Chuck Shurley]] ]], already [[AbusiveParent having questionable parenting skills]] with the archangels, tries to get his {{Nephilim}} grandson [[AntiAntiChrist Jack]] killed for being a threat to his power and eventually [[OffingTheOffspring does the job himself]]. Jack [[BackFromTheDead is eventually brought out of the Empty]] and becomes one of Sam and Dean's main allies [[spoiler:against [[GodIsEvil Chuck]].]]

** Granpa Victor and Granda Ida see Reese as their favorite grandson, while they hate Francis because of his criminal record (despite the fact that Reese creates almost as much mayhem Francis did before being sent to Military School), and look down upon Malcolm as a weakling because he does well in school. Dewey is mostly spared because they ignore him, though he apparently remembers them dropping him when he was a baby, and Victor nearly running him over when he was three years old.

* ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'': Kubo's maternal grandfather, Raiden the Moon King, a supreme deity who loathes humanity and is disgusted that his daughter married a human. When Kubo was born, the Moon King ripped out one of the infant's eyes in an attempt to "make him blind" to the scum of humankind, and transformed Kubo's father Hanzo into a giant beetle and stole his memories. For the next twelve years, Raiden tries to hunt down Kubo in order to steal his other eye, planning to make him blind and cold to the world so he can embrace his godly heritage and reject humanity.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': Murderface was raised by his grandparents instead of his parents, neither of whom are the most pleasant people to be around, especially his grandmother Stella.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodeNameKidsNextDoor'': Grandfather, the GreaterScopeVillain and father to [[BigBad Father]], turns out to literally be the grandfather of Nigel Uno/Numbah 1; he was the ArchnemesisDad to Numbah Zero, aka Nigel's father Monty Uno. For what it's worth he does seem to be fond of his son (in a WorthyOpponent manner), but has no compunctions trying to turn his grandson into a Senior Citizombie like everyone else.

* The horror film ''Film/TheVisit'' is all about this. Two children named Becca and Tyler find their grandparents online and make arrangements to stay with them while their mother, who has long been estranged from the older couple, goes on a cruise with her boyfriend. Though Nana and Pop-Pop seem sweet at first, it soon becomes clear that something suspicious is going on, given that Nana vomits profusely and tries to lure the kids into the oven while Pop-Pop blithely dismisses all of the kids' fears. [[spoiler: It ultimately turns out to be something of a subversion, though--because Nana and Pop-Pop ''aren't the children's grandparents at all.'' Rather, the original couple worked in a mental hospital, and two elderly residents [[KillAndReplace killed them and stole their identities.]]

** Humpty Dumpty of ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell'' was also raised by a physically abusive grandmother, until he [[SelfMadeOrphan "fixed"]] her with an axe and put her back together again with bootlaces. It's ambiguous whether Humpty consciously understood what he was doing the whole time, or if he's genuinely mentally-arrested enough to not realize.

If one's own parent is still abusive or antagonistic, [[FreudianExcuse this might be why]] [[TroubledAbuser they're not good parents]]. Or perhaps if the protagonist has GoodParents, it's in response to the grandparent. Compare WiseOldFolkFacade, an elderly character who acts like a kindly grandparent figure to someone, but is actually manipulating them for evil purposes.

The grandparent being nasty might be what spurns the parent or CoolUncle into BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting. If there's a BigScrewedUpFamily, expect this type of grandparent to be the start of it.

[[folder:Comic Books]]

** Humpty Dumpty of ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell'' was also raised by a physically abusive grandmother, until he [[SelfMadeOrphan "fixed"]] her with an axe and put her back together again with bootlace. It's ambiguous whether Humpty consciously understood what he was doing the whole time, or if he's genuinely mentally-arrested enough to not realize.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'' ends with the [[spoiler:rapist and murderer]] billionaire grandfather, Noah Cross, taking his granddaughter [[spoiler:and also [[VillainousIncest his daughter]] ]] Katherine in after her mother Evelyn's death, clearly planning to [[spoiler:rape her as he did to her mother, resulting in Katherine's birth]].

[[folder:Literature]]

* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': [[spoiler:Baron Harkonnen]] turns out to be this to Paul and Alia Atreides, alongside being an ArchnemesisDad to their mother. [[DepravedHomosexual Given his predilections]] [[LukeYouAreMyFather he was shocked to learn this from the latter]], [[spoiler:who ends up being haunted by his GeneticMemory]].
* ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'': The Dollanganger children are kept locked up in their grandparent's attic due to their grandmother, [[EvilMatriarch Olivia Foxworth]] an abusive religious fanatic who believed that their entire existence is an abomination against God. [[spoiler:Because their mom and dad believed that they were only LOOSELY related when they fell in love and eloped, they didn't understand why Olivia and Malcolm outright disowned them for it. But due to the BigScrewedUpFamily dynamics of the Foxworth clan, they were never told the truth that they were actually brother and sister.]] She would come up to the attic in order to deliver their food, and ultimately to try to catch them in the act of "sinning" just like their parents had done, leading to often starving and beating them when they would call her out for forcing them to being in such close, and confined space for years.
* In ''Literature/GeorgesMarvellousMedicine'', George's grandmother is very mean (not outright abusive, but still a nasty piece of work). She insults George for "growing too fast", claims he has a bad diet and the best thing to eat is bugs, and scares him by saying she has magical powers.
* ''Literature/{{Hereditary}}'': Peter and Charlie's grandmother Ellen was very abusive and manipulative to their mother Annie, but when Annie finally gave way and let Ellen "have" Charlie (after not letting her near Peter, who is the eldest), [[spoiler:Ellen used Charlie as a human host for the demon Paimon, and their cult caused Charlie's horrible beheading and drove Peter to suicide, so that Charlie could be reborn in Peter's body]]. Whether this is a positive ending for Charlie is left extremely ambiguous, but it definitely isn't for Peter or Annie.
* ''Literature/{{Holes}}'': Charles "Trout" Walker was an abusive asshole to both his children and grandchildren, forcing them to help him dig endlessly for Kate Barlow's treasure in the desert every day of their lives, not even letting them take breaks on Christmas or their birthdays. [[spoiler:This is what wound up turning the Warden (Trout's granddaughter) into the bitter and cynical woman she is in the present day.]]

* ''Literature/JaneOfLanternHill'': Jane's grandmother manipulated her own grown adult daughter into leaving her husband so she and Jane could live with her permanently. The Grandmother is so vindictive and jealous of anyone other than her getting attention from her daughter that she not only controls who her daughter talks to, but even emotionally abuses Jane for attempting to receive affection from her own mother.
* ''Literature/OurOnlyMayAmelia'': May Amelia and her brothers can't stand their Grandmother Patience because she's so mean and spiteful to everyone- and likewise the Grandmother absolutely loathes her grandchildren, particularly May Amelia. When she moves into the house under the pretense that's she's getting too old to keep her own house by herself, Grandmother Patience can do nothing but make cruel, snide remarks towards May Amelia and her mother and demands everything from the twelve year old girl, using her as her personal servant under the guise of "turning her into a proper young lady" and beats her with a cane hard enough to cause some nasty bruising .

** As revealed in "Kayda 8: The Best Days of Our Lives (Part 2)", [[spoiler:Pejuta's grandmother]] had a long-term plot to get [[spoiler:Pejuta]] to leave school, by having people harass her, and almost got her killed.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/LukeCage2016'' has Mama Mabel, who lead an organized crime syndicate and forced her grandson Cornell to participate through verbal and mental abuse. When her granddaughter Mariah got pregnant from being raped [[spoiler:by her great-uncle]], Mabel forced her to go through a traumatizing pregnancy and birth instead of letting her have an abortion. [[AbusiveParents Her horrible parenting]] of Cornell and Mariah caused them both to be quite screwed up as adults.

** Granpa Victor and Granda Ida see Reese as their favorite grandson, while they hate Francis because of his criminal record (despite the fact that Reese creates almost as much mayhem Francis did before being sent to Military School), and look down upon Malcolm as a weakling because he does well in school. Dewey is mostly spared because they ignore him, though apparently he remembers them dropping him when he was a baby, and Victor nearly running him over when he was three years old.

* ''Series/ThePolitician'': Infinity was raised by her grandmother Dusty after her mother's death. Dusty, who has Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, poisoned her and made her believe she was sick, having [[spoiler:killed her mother, too]].

[[folder:Mythology And Religion]]

[[folder:Video Games]]

** ''God of War 3'' has Kratos face off against [[OurTitansAreDifferent Cronus]], Zeus' father and thus his grandfather. Cronus' beef with Kratos is because due to opening Pandora's Box and infecting Zeus with fear, Zeus threw him into Tartarus. That, [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas and he believes Kratos killed Gaia]].

[[folder:Visual Novels]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire: The Roman Emperor Elagabalus was assassinated alongside his mother after just four years of rule, and the main culprit behind their deaths was his maternal grandmother [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Maesa Julia Maesa]]. [[MotherMakesYouKing She made him emperor in the first place]], but proved to be a chaotic emperor due to his hedonism and zealotry towards the obscure El-Gabal over the Roman pantheon, and his mother was a bad influence on him; thus the motive was to prevent him being problematic by replacing him with his stabler cousin Alexander Severus. Unfortunately Severus would end up being percieved as a weak MommasBoy that led to his own assassination and crises by the army.

* ''Literature/Whateley Universe''