Since many RPG games are created with the target of teenagers in mind, many RPG heroes are also teenagers. And as a result we do quite often meet their parents.

These parents comes in many shapes and sizes. We have a few stereotypical parents in RPG games:

• The downright stupid parent, who does not understand anything and who does not even care.

• The parent who seems to be holding the heroes back, although when you really get to know their motives they are actually very supportive, but wanting you to keep your feet on the ground.

• Very very supportive parent who goes at great lengths to make your dream possible without question

• The parent you only have a feud with.

Of course, many of these stereotypes are based on how teenagers see parents or how they want their own parents to be.

Let's list out some parents who are pretty prominent in the game they act in.

Lilly The Skull - Grandia

Lilly is the mother of main protagonist Justin. She used to be a criminal... a pirate even, which you can hardly imagine by her cute looks now. After meeting the man who'd become her husband she settled down and began a restaurant.

Her treatments toward Justin are very very harsh and not a single day passes in which Justin doesn't get himself hit by her tray. Now Justin is as a result very secretive about the big adventure he's planning, but eventually he'll discover she knew it all along and even wrote a letter in secret to the president of the adventurer's society (although she couldn't know the president had passed away and was succeeded by a first rate idiot), meaning that in secret she already helped him making his dream come true.

Miranda - Granda III

Miranda is in Grandia III the mother of main protagonist Yuki. You may not know her as Grandia III flopped (I gotta say, the game is a but of an insult compared to the other Grandia installments). Still Miranda should be in this list, as she's not only prominent, she's also one of the few moms who is actually a playable character. She's depicted as a single woman, and no mention is made at all about Yuki's father. Miranda is a first rate tomboy and not afraid of anybody even daring to call a fully armed soldier a "pea-brain" (causing him to go berserk). The game creators tried to copy the success of the Grandia's first installment, so Miranda has in common with Lilly that she's quick to scold Yuki, making it appear she's holding him back, while in secret the opposite is true. When Alfina comes into the game we can even see Miranda trying to get her into a relationship with her son (something we don't see Lilly doing simply because Justin's love interest (Feena) only enters the story after Lilly doesn't appear in the story anymore).

Yuki appears to have an awkward relation with his mother as he always mentions her by name and not as "mother" or "mom". He appears to do so when she leaves the party and then she's shocked as it's the first time he called her that.

Ethelda Maverick - Wild Arms 4

Ethelda first appears as a very stereotypical mother scolding her son (main character Jude) for almost anything. Later in the story it's revealed she's actually a scientist living in a concealed world with her colleagues, due to her knowledge about some terrible powers they do want to fall into enemy hands.

Now Ethelda is one of the few mothers to die during the events of the game, causing the main hero to be devastated. It's because he learns of the horrible fate of his fellow party member Raquel Applegate that he comes to his senses... for a part, as Jude still had a long way to go to learn not to foster hatred due to this event.

Ethelda is actually the most prominent mother in the Wild Arms franchise. Nearly all other characters are either orphaned, or their parents play no important role, or are even not mentioned at all.

Well... there is one prominent parent... and that brings us to the first FATHER of this list.

Werner Maxwell - Wild Arms 3

Werner is the father of main protagonist Virginia Maxwell. His role is a bit obscure, as Virginina initially believes him to be dead, but at every time Viriginia is in trouble he comes to her aid and to disappear soon after, before she had the chance to talk to him.

Werner was a scientist, and member of the council of seven. He played a role in the demise of the world of Filgaia and wants to right his wrongs. He couldn't face his daughter anymore, but was not man enough to let her die whenever she's in danger, forcing him to make his presence known to her.

All meetings between father and daughter are very very awkward as neither Virginia nor Werner are really sure how to treat the other.

Of course, Werner did not want to confront Virginia with the horrible truth that Werner was in fact already dead, and that the Werner you see was nothing more but a digital copy of the man she once knew as her father. It is because Werner tries to hide this from Virginia that the bonds do not really work out so well... Who knows...

Alex' parents - Lunar Silver Star Story

Unfortunately I don't have a picture to show. Alex' parents are however prominent enough to mention here. They seem like model parents. Very supporting on the road Alex' has chosen, and also quite happy to see how the friendship between Alex and Luna is slowly changing into love. They also appear to know more than they reveal at the start of the game.

Jecht - Final Fantasy X

Well, Jecht is really a personality on his own, isn't he? Jecht is that father of main protagonist Tidus, and Tidus hates his old man with passion. In Tidus' defense I must say that Jecht is a bit of a self-centered arrogant jerk, and it's clear he does not know at all how to treat his son properly. We cannot really say that Jecht has no feeling for children. Yuna claims to have met Jecht when she was still a little girl and she speaks of him as a kind and gentle man. Of course, since Yuna is not his child, things turn out a little bit different, don't they? The fact that Yuna is a girl, may also have played a role as men are often treating girls with more delicacy than boys.

Tidus' Mother - Final Fantasy X

The role Tidus' mother played in the relationship between Tidus and Jecht was also not very good. In fact she neglected her son completely when Jecht was home. She appeared completely obsessed with her husband... A vital detail is that Jecht actually mentioned it to her that she should pay her son more attention, showing that Jecht understood Tidus more than Tidus could ever have imagined.

Lord Baska - Final Fantasy X

Now Braska is of course, the father of the deutagonist Yuna. He was a high summoner, meaning he once defeated the horrible monster Sin, and Yuna tries to follow in her father's footsteps. Although Braska is already dead during the events in the game, he's mentioned countless times, and his journey to defeat sin even gives many clues to the party on how to move on. Since Jecht was Braska's Guardian (a kind of bodyguard) the fathers of the two main characters (and eventually lovers) had a close bond together. Braska definitely had to be mentioned here.

Cid - Final Fantasy X

Couldn't leave him out! Cid! Father of playable character Rikku, and leader of the Al Bhed. Rikku's relationship with her old man is awkward at best, as her father is too pragmatic and also a bit simplistic in his way to find solutions. He's also too reckless in his planning. Still she does somehow respect him as a father, and as her leader, however that doesn't keep her from scolding him when he acts too rashly, and she seems to have some kind of authority over him when she really thinks he's being stupid.

Crono's mother - Chrono Trigger

Hey, I couldn't leave her out. Crono's mother is NEVER mentioned by name, and there is also no mention at all about Crono's father. She wakes Crono up at the start of the game when he wants to go to the festival. That this trip ends up into a journey through time and a battle of the all destructing monster Lavos, is something she never notices at all. She even scolds Ayla for dressing too suggestively, not realizing that Ayla is actually a real cavewoman from the pre-history, thinking she's merely a friend in costume Crono met at the festival. And when Crono is at the end the hero who saved the world, she is still as ignorant as ever.

And in one of the endings she chases a cat, unwittingly stepping into a time portal ending up in a different era, giving Crono, Marle and Lucca a nice excuse to go on another adventure.

Jack Sylvertin - The Secrets of Dyrt

Jack does not father one playable character, but two, since the playable characters Eric and Rebecca are siblings. Eric used to be an adventurer and has seen much of the world. He has a very open minded view on other cultures, which allowed him to be a good foster father to playable character Irravonia as well (who is a Fairy).

And later in the story it's revealed he's also the father of Brendor, which he had with a Dwarfish woman, hence Brendor being a half-Dwarf.

Tephondar - The Secrets of Dyrt

Tephondar is Irravonia's father, and he is very prejudiced against humans as he still remembers the big racial war. He is not very happy about Irravonia living among humans, but as she suffers from Agon's disease (giving her the same life span as humans) and knowing how headstrong Irravonia can be, he tolerates it. When Irravonia forms the magic love bond with Eric, he is a bit skeptic, but not surprised. Since he knows Eric by that time, perhaps that helps a bit, as any other human, might have been problematic.

Gandra Faldar - The Secrets of Dyrt

Gandra Faldar is the father of Seelah Gandra, and she hates her old man with passion. She loathes him completely actually. Gandra Faldar is extremely conservative, and holds very strictly to the rules stated in The Harmony, a kind of life philosophy (NOT a religion) most Elves live by. Seelah Gandra simply feels suffocated by these rules and wants more freedom, something her father never accepts. Due to her rejecting the teachings of the Harmony, and his conservative attitude about that, he's completely unable or unwilling to see that his daughter has more qualities than you could ever imagine. She's loving, caring, and can be very selfless when the situation asks for that. Her traumas partially caused by her old man, also made her aggressive and cynical and that covers her qualities up sometimes.

Chief Werrington - The Fairy Tale

Chief Werrington is a proud warrior, and is initially delighted to see his son, protagonist Jake Werrington, to pass his warrior exam with ease. However he's gets very hostile even towards his son, when the latter falls in love with the Fairy Marrilona. As a Fairy Marrilona is his sworn enemy, after all, and thus he deems his own son a traitor. Although he *is* aware that Fairies bond themselves magically to people of the opposite sex, and that there's no way to resist it when a Fairy bonds herself with you, he keeps insisting on Jake being a traitor, and for a long time he's not willing to listen to reason.

Fandalora - Son of Randarph - The Fairy Tale

Fandalora is Marrilona's father. He works as a curse expert and his job it to undo curses and other kinds of dark magic, and he's known as the best of the best in this field. Fandalora shows extremely much love to his daughters, and it even gets to the point that Marrilona is often annoyed by that, still she does return his love. Where Chief Werrington rejects his son and even deems him a traitor due to his relationship with Marrilona, Fandalora's reaction is completely the opposite. He immediately takes Jake for an honorable man and accepts him as the future husband for his daughter, even trying to get to his daughter's defense when the Fairy Elder deems Marrilona a traitor. Even when his daughter became an outlaw in the process he never rejected her and kept supporting her in any way he could.

Admiral John Lovejoy - Star Story

John Lovejoy is the father of Wendicka Lovejoy. Although he's not her biological father, as Wendicka is adopted. He is a very religious man, and Wendicka fancies herself an atheist. The relationship between John and Wendicka is a bit awkward, and Wendicka thinks it's because of his religious views, however, John never oppressed his religion to his daughter (he is against it that parents do so) and he always let her free to make her own decision to follow the Bible or not. John does appear a bit overprotected to Wendicka

That is because he knows a few things that endanger Wendicka's life that Wendicka herself is not aware of.

and she feels a bit suffocated by that. In the end Wendicka is still shown to have some feelings of love and care towards her (adoptive) father.