Tropescilloscope: Missing Mom

A character's mother is absent. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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