fuck you george lucas.

[BarackTheVote]

110. Superman, parents killed in planetary explosion

Batman, parents killed by mugger; Spider-Man, raised by aunt and uncle, parents nowhere in evidence, uncle murdered in front of his eyes by mugging; King Arthur, either an orphan or given up by his parents for his own protection, depending on the version of the story, either way, never knew them; Citizen Kane, sent away by his mother to be raised basically by the bank; Frodo Baggins, orphan, raised by his uncle; Hamlet, father dead, mother likely helped kill him, in any case, married she married the murderer; Jane Eyre, orphan raised by evil aunt; all of Zeus' children in Greek mythology had a deadbeat dad by default, usually a product of rape. Going more recent, in George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice & Fire cycle," the Stark children have no mother by the time we join the story, and they see their father betrayed and executed; Daenerys Stormborn was also orphaned when her father was overthrown as king; The Hunger Games, Katnis loses her father in a mining "accident" and her mother goes catatonic for years. And once again, Star Wars is populated by orphans.

According to Joseph Campbell in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces":

The folktales commonly support or supplant [the] theme of the exile with that of the despised one, or the handicapped: the abused youngest son or daughter, the orphan, stepchild, ugly duckling, or the squire of low degree […] In sum: the child of destiny has to face a long period of obscurity. This is a time of extreme danger, impediment, or disgrace. He is thrown inward to his own depths or outward to the unknown […] The myths agree that an extraordinary capacity is required to face and survive such experience.”