History Main / OedipusComplex

OedipusRex is the TropeNamer and Sigmund Freud is the TropeCodifier. Oedipus, however, is not a true example of the trope because he does not discover until long after the fact that he has killed his father, or that he has married his mother, and is horrified on both counts, although Freud could explain it by arguing that the Oedipal archetype is mostly "unconscious".

** [[ItWasHisSled Subverted at the end, though.]] Oh, and he was never diggin' on his mother, because she was dead. Now, the sister...
*** He was clearly squicked when he found out she was his sister though.
*** Um, no, he wasn't squicked at all. Because, for everyone who's clearly never actually seen the movie, he never ''was'' in love with her. All he had was the most innocent of casual attractions, the kind any normal young man could have on a young woman who he was friendly with, and which had completely evaporated by the middle of Episode V. Why does everyone keep saying the two of them were embroiled in constant incestuous coupling all through the series?
*** Because Han Solo saw him as a rival. Because she kissed him as OperationJealousy. And some works like ''Splinter's of the mind's eye'' or leaks for the nine-episodes Star Wars saga project show that Luke and Leia ending together was still an option after the second film.

*** In the version this myth buff remembers, Hippolytus is killed in a chariot crash and Phaedra hangs herself. Of course, it also has Artemis saving Hippolytus' life, making him a minor deity, and transporting him to another country, all of which is just plain weird.

* Oh, surely that's not the best you can come up with? {{Persona2}} had a FiveManBand, and their fathers... [[spoiler:TheLancer's disapproves of him wearing makeup and starting a VisualKei, TheSmartGuy's died and was impersonated by Nyarlathotep, TheBigGuy's tried to raise her as a traditional Japanese girl, and acted "Japanese", TheHero's was forced to resign from the police force, and TheChick's was a war correspondent who died during a conflict. Not to mention Yukino, Tatsuya Sudou...]]

** Update: It did. Nero wanted that nun bad.
*** Well, as it turns out Nero and Kyrie were actually raised together (she's the same age as him), it doesn't quite fit the trope here. Even if they do get together in the end.
*** Dante/Trish was averted according to [[DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries the anime]]; Dante stopped working with Trish exclusively between ''1'' and ''4'' ''because'' he was so creeped out with how she looked like his mother, but wasn't.
*** Actually, Trish decided to strike out on her own after the first game (Dante told her that she was welcome to return to Devil May Cry at any time). ''4'' toned down the [[UnresolvedSexualTension UST]] to the point that Dante and Trish come across more as brother and sister than lovers. Regardless, ShipToShipCombat ensues to this very day and it is ''not'' pretty.

** That's no surprise actually, since he's never even seen her face before, thus no reverse sexual imprinting. He knows she's his mother, but subconciously she is just another woman, a stranger, if you may.

* The {{Monk}} episode Mr. Monk and the Three Julies had the RedHerring suspect, a schizophrenic man named Matthew Teeger, being almost completely obsessed with his mother, almost to [[{{Film/Psycho}} Norman Bates]] levels, once even severely injuring his stepdad under the belief that the stepdad was hurting her, and even taxyderming his mother after she died in order to keep people thinking that she was still alive, including himself apparently. However, despite these facts, it turns out that he's completely harmless, or at least not the person targeting the various Julie Teegers.

* The {{Monk}} episode Mr. Monk and the Three Julies had the RedHerring suspect, a schizophrenic man named Matthew Teeger, being almost completely obsessed with his mother, almost to {{Film/Psycho Norman Bates}} levels, once even severely injuring his stepdad under the belief that the stepdad was hurting her, and even taxyderming his mother after she died in order to keep people thinking that she was still alive, including himself apparently. However, despite these facts, it turns out that he's completely harmless, or at least not the person targeting the various Julie Teegers.

* The {{Monk}} episode Mr. Monk and the Three Julies had the RedHerring suspect, a schizophrenic man named Matthew Teeger, being almost completely obsessed with his mother, almost to {{Film/Psycho Norman Bates]] levels, once even severely injuring his stepdad under the belief that the stepdad was hurting her, and even taxyderming his mother after she died in order to keep people thinking that she was still alive, including himself apparently. However, despite these facts, it turns out that he's completely harmless, or at least not the person targeting the various Julie Teegers.

* The {{Series/Monk}} episode Mr. Monk and the Three Julies had the RedHerring suspect, a schizophrenic man named Matthew Teeger, being almost completely obsessed with his mother, almost to {{Film/Psycho Norman Bates]] levels, once even severely injuring his stepdad under the belief that the stepdad was hurting her, and even taxyderming his mother after she died in order to keep people thinking that she was still alive, including himself apparently. However, despite these facts, it turns out that he's completely harmless, or at least not the person targeting the various Julie Teegers.

* The {{Series.Monk}} episode Mr. Monk and the Three Julies had the RedHerring suspect, a schizophrenic man named Matthew Teeger, being almost completely obsessed with his mother, almost to {{Film/Psycho Norman Bates]] levels, once even severely injuring his stepdad under the belief that the stepdad was hurting her, and even taxyderming his mother after she died in order to keep people thinking that she was still alive, including himself apparently. However, despite these facts, it turns out that he's completely harmless, or at least not the person targeting the various Julie Teegers.

* Inverted with Francis in ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'', he absolutely hates his mother, yet doesn't seem to mind his dad too much. He does, however, end up dating and marrying an Eskimo lady who had a very similar demeanor as his mother, though.
* The {{Series.Monk}} episode Mr. Monk and the Three Julies had the RedHerring suspect, a schizophrenic man named Matthew Teeger, being almost completely obsessed with his mother, almost to {{Film/Psycho Norman Bates]] levels, once even severely injuring his stepdad under the belief that the stepdad was hurting her, and even taxyderming his mother after she died in order to keep people thinking that she was still alive, including himself apparently. However, despite these facts, it turns out that he's completely harmless, or at least not the person targeting the various Julie Teegers.

* Slowbeef pointed this out in {{Retsupurae}}'s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TttcEFhFYdk A Son's Revenge Retsuflash]]
-->'''[[{{Retsupurae}} Slowbeef]]:''' Oedipus would be like, "This kid is fucking creepy".

** RebuildOfEvangelion pretty much brings Shinji's Oedipal complex to the next, [[spoiler: seeing how Shinji falls in love with Rei Ayanami, who is a clone of his mother.]]

*** Dante/Trish was Averted according to the Anime, Dante stopped working with Trish exclusively between 1 and 4 ''because'' he was so creeped out with how she looked like his mother, but wasn't.

* In JohnCWright's ''The Golden Age'', the amnesiac Phaethon learns that he is suing to have his father Helion declared dead. Later he offers Helion the information he needs to restore a lost hour to his memory and so be the same person -- at a price. Only in ''The Golden Transcedence'' does Daphne reveal to Helion that in that hour, he had [[IGaveMyWord promised]] Phaethon the price that Phaethon had set for the memory.

* Laharl wanting to step out of his old man's shadow in ''{{Disgaea}}''. Let's just say it gets ''much'' weirder from there.
** Mao spends almost all of ''Disgaea 3'' training to '''kill''' his father, although the player never really gets much information on his mother.

* Hare of [[JungleWaItsumoHaleNochiGuu Hare+Guu]] has a huge crush on his mom. His father isn't likely to be on the best terms with him either.

* Hare of HareGuu has a huge crush on his mom. His father isn't likely to be on the best terms with him either.

** That's no surprise actually, since he's never even seen her face before, thus no no reverse sexual imprinting. He knows she's his mother, but subconciously she is just another woman, a stranger, if you may.

** RebuildOfEvangelion pretty much brings Shinji's Oedipal complex to the next, [spoiler: seeing how Shinji falls in love with Rei Ayanami, who is a clone of his mother.]

** And in RebuildOfEvangelion, Shinji falls in love with Rei Ayanami, who unknown to Shinji, is somewhat of a clone of his mother. So now his Oedipal complex ''has'' gone romantic.

** The line "Her boyfriend's like her dad, just like her dad" in "Alejandro";