Very often in fantasy and science fiction one of the key driving points of the plot has something to do with a missing parent or in some cases a parent that turns out to be the evil that our hero has been hunting. Our main character also usually has someone who takes the role of a father, raising our main character as their own or guiding them through difficult times. This post goes out to all of you dads who do right by your kids, and to my grandfather who after raising 5 kids of his own took on 2 more. Thanks PA, I love you!
So here are my top 5 picks for Bad and Good dads:
Bad Dad
Darth Vader. I thought I would get the most obvious one out of the way first. In the end of course Vader does indeed kinda redeem himself a little by sacrificing his own life to save Luke… But come on, what father cuts off his own sons hand???
Good Dad
This one is hard to pin down. Luke’s uncle Owen definitely deserves some credit for raising Luke all those years but I think the honor of the good dad title should go to Obi Wan and Yoda. Han was more like the uncle that slips you a sip of beer when no one is looking.
Bad Dad
I know I’m probably not going to be liked for this one, but James Potter wins the Bad Dad trophy in the Harry Potter series. James wasn’t really a bad father to Harry other than the fact that he went and got himself killed. But, we find out later in the series that James was in fact a giant bully. One of the “popular kids”, James acted as the stereotypical “jock” picking on the nerdy kids like Severus Snape. I can only help but think, what if Harry had been raised by James Potter? Would Harry have followed in his father’s foot steps?
Good Dad
Vernan Dursley! Hehe… Kidding. Another tough one here. Harry had so many different possitive father figures its tough to choose just one. Hagrid, Dumbledore, or maybe Sirius? Mother of the year award would go to Molly Weasley for sure, but what about Arthur? Arthur cared about nothing more than his family, and he welcomed Harry into it with open arms.
Bad Dad
Here comes more hate for me! Please keep this in mind while you read this and hate me. I LOVE Doctor Who. I have loved every incarnation of The Doctor. Just because you love someone doesn’t make them a good father. The Doctor ran away from his home planet, Gallifrey. He apparently took his granddaughter with him. So… where the hell were his kids? I’m pretty sure he supposedly had something like 13 kids! So, he destroys his home planet on purpose to stop the Time War right? Well, were his kids down there? Oh, and in the episode “The Doctor’s Daughter” there is a genetic insta-daughter created from his DNA. The Doctor doesn’t really act like a father should. He lets his “daughter” jump through laser-beams and seduce prison guards. So, The Doctor is one of my favorite characters in all of sci-fi and fantasy… but he is a horrible father.
Bad Dad(s)
Ramsay… Jaime…Stanis…Roose…Walder…Robert… GOD I CANT CHOOSE!!! Needless to say almost everyone in Game of Thrones is seriously messed up in one way or another… this leads to some interesting parenting skills… I would need an entire blog post for each of these “fathers”… but not all of the dads were bad…
Good Dad
The obvious good dad award goes to Ned Stark. Ned’s biggest flaw was that he cared. Raising his kids to grow up to be honorable and just. I think the only thing he cared about more than his family was doing what was right. This didnt really work out too well for him in the end. I’ll also mention Samwell Tarly for falling in love with Gilly and rescuing her and her child from Crastor(yet another bad dad).
Bad Dad
Jor-El for you non comic book nerds was Superman’s biological dad who gave Superman up for adoption by blasting him into space in a tiny spaceship bound for earth in hopes that his son would live. Yeah, I get it, He was just trying to save his son from the destruction of Krypton. blah blah blah… so Wouldn’t it have made more sense just to build a slightly larger ship? I’m not huge into comics, most of what I know about Superman has come from Smallville, but seriously? There had to be a better solution.
Good Dad
Johnathon Kent would have to be the good dad then ya? Of course he is! Let me ask you this, if you had a spaceship land and it had a child in it what would you do? Now I consider myself to be a pretty good dad, but there’s no freeking way I would go near the thing in the first place let alone take in space baby. nope… Johnathon Kent raises Clark with a strong sense of morals, and encourages Clark to use his powers for the betterment of humanity.
This was a fun one to write. I would love to hear what you think about this post. Let me know if you can think of worse father and who their replacements are. I’m interested in seeing if I left out anyone blatantly obvious. Comment below and Share this on social media if you enjoyed it!
