Parental relationships are commonplace in all fiction, including video games. They're an easy way to build a deep and understandable (possibly even relatable) relationship between two characters, with massive potential for an emotional payoff – be it heartwarming, tragic, or downright nightmarish. While many video game parents are excellent and supportive, or at the very least non-malicious, there are plenty who are quite the opposite.

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An effective way to heighten the emotional stakes of a game is to include a fraught, unhealthy, or abusive parental relationship, and a great many games feature parents as villains. Some of these evil parents, however, go above and beyond, into the realm of the truly wretched.

Multiple mentions of abuse ahead.

10 Zachary Comstock Kidnaps And Exploits His Daughter

Zachary Comstock grabbing Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite

Elizabeth is the most prominent NPC of Bioshock: Infinite, and arguably the game's protagonist, even over the player's character Booker DeWitt. Elizabeth is the daughter of Zachary Comstock, the megalomaniacal and fascist religious and governmental leader of the flying city of Columbia.

Comstock's negative qualities extend to his parenting. He became Elizabeth's father by kidnapping her from Booker after a deal gone wrong, exploiting her ability to create Tears, and keeping her isolated with only the monstrous Songbird serving as her companion. To complicate matters, Comstock is an alternate version of Booker, who eventually proves to be a somewhat better father.

9 Gwyn, Lord Of Sunlight Fails As A Father So Many Times

Gwyn Lord of Sunlight and his silver knights in Dark Souls

Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, is the central figure of the gods of Anor Londo in the Dark Souls series, one of the Four Lords to receive power from the First Flame. Overall, both in-universe and out-of-universe opinion of Gwyn tends to be mixed. He rules well during the Age of Fire but in a way in which his major flaws lay the groundwork for the dark events of the series.

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Gwyn's most clear failings are as a father. Of his many children, Gwynevere appears to be the only one not mistreated. Other than her, Gwyn disowns one son and has him written out of history, forcibly raises another son, Gwyndolin, as a daughter purely because of his affinity for moon magic, and gives his daughter Filianore as a "gift" to the Pygmies, which renders her permanently comatose.

8 Mom Is The Binding Of Isaac's Biggest Antagonist

Isaac fighting Mom's Heart in the Binding of Isaac video game

The Binding of Isaac's opening cutscene describes how young Isaac flees into the monster-infested basement in order to escape the religious persecution of his mother. Throughout, she appears as the game's most overt antagonist and ultimately serves as the boss of the "Depths" level.

The game's story and items hint at the abuse, including starvation, physical punishment, and Isaac being locked in a chest. The vague nature of the story makes it unclear how much of it is actually "real" within the game's world, but on some level, Isaac has suffered quite terrible abuse.

7 King Desmond Makes A Villain Out Of His Son

King Desmond of Bern Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword

In a rare case, one of Fire Emblem's worst abusive parents is actually the father of an antagonist, rather than being of any relation to the protagonist. Zephiel is the villain of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, an unstable misanthrope with devastating genocidal ambitions. How he became this way is hinted at in the prequel, The Blazing Sword.

King Desmond is one of the many kings of Elibe, with Zephiel as his charismatic, effective, beloved heir. However, due to not truly loving Zephiel's mother, Desmond spends his time abusing, ignoring, and tormenting Zephiel. This culminates in the level "Battle Before Dawn," in which Desmond hires the Black Fang to kill his son, setting in motion Zephiel's instability for his own game.

6 Henry Lawson Sees His Daughters As Extensions Of Himself

Henry Lawson, father of Miranda Lawson Mass Effect

Parental issues are commonplace in the Mass Effect series, with crew members Garus, Wrex, Tali, Jacob, Liara, and more all needing Shepard's help to resolve their issues with their parents. The most despicable of all in-game bad parenting cases is Henry Lawson, father of Mass Effect 2's Miranda Lawson.

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Henry Lawson is an incredibly rich man who wants nothing more than to create a dynasty. As such, he has daughters cloned from his DNA with slight modifications, hoping to create perfection and erase any sign of "genetic flaws." From there, he doesn't treat either Miranda or her sister, Oriana, as people, willing to go to great lengths to control them. Henry even goes as far as killing Miranda in some outcomes in Mass Effect 3, confirming his awfulness as a father.

5 Rip Blazkowicz Is A Contemptible Father To A Great Hero

Rip Blazkowicz, father of B. J. Blazkowicz, in Wolfenstein II

In the Wolfenstein series, B. J. Blazkowicz is a legendary slayer of Nazis, dedicated to resisting them at all costs. His father, Rip Blazkowicz, however, vehemently disagrees, to the point of selling out his Jewish wife to the Nazi regime purely because he was tired of being married to her. And in the game's present, he runs a slave ranch.

Rip Blazkowicz's contemptible behavior is nothing new, however. When B. J. was a child, Rip beat and punished him for making friends with a young girl of color, even forcing B. J. to kill his dog as a punishment. When they meet again in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, B. J. takes his revenge, making quick work of his old man.

4 Mother Miranda Forsakes Four Children In Favor Of One

Mother Miranda conducting a resurrectoin ritual on Rosemary Winters in Resident Evil: Village game

Parenthood is a strong theme of Resident Evil: Village, with both its protagonist and main antagonist being devoted, desperate parents. Ethan fights through the village and its Four Lords to rescue and revive his daughter, Rosemary, while everything Mother Miranda does is to resurrect her daughter, Eva.

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However, there is a darker side to Miranda's motherhood. As part of her experiments, she creates four superpowered beings who look up to her as a mother – the Four Lords. Despite the adoration most of them have for her, she considers them failures and cares nothing for them – to the extent that her son Heisenberg prepares to launch a coup against her in vengeance for planning their deaths.

3 Flemeth Wants To Literally Live Through Her Daughters

Flemeth, the mother of Morrigan, as she appears in Dragon Age 2

Morrigan is one of the Grey Warden's companions in Dragon Age and is considered by many to be the one with the saddest backstory. She is a daughter of Flemeth, an immortal witch of great power and very few ethics. Aside from more sinister plans, she had an extremely abusive childhood, even saying that she tried to love Flemeth, but couldn't due to how lovelessly she was treated.

However, the true levels of Flemeth's awful parenting become clear later in the game. It is revealed that her immortality is not innate to her, but comes from using magic to possess her daughters and live in their younger bodies, repeating the cycle ad nauseam.

2 Queen Marika The Eternal Has Mistreated Several Children

Queen Marika the Eternal in Elden Ring.

Queen Marika the Eternal is the central figure of Elden Ring's pantheon, the Matriarch of a family designed to serve the Golden Order and the Greater Will. Between her split guises as Marika and Radagon, she is the parent of 8 children. However, it isn't a happy family, with many of the problems in the Lands Between caused by the interfamilial strife.

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Marika is implied to have tried to force her children to follow set destinies by the Greater Will, to the point that Ranni the Witch risks death to try and change her fate. Marika has also willfully discarded two of her children for being Omens. Her worst act, however, is in having her son, Godwyn, killed in the Night of the Black Knives, sparking all of the strife of the Shattering.

1 Zeus Perpetrates A Cycle Of Abuse

Zeus in God of War

The God of War series has always featured parenthood as a central theme, particularly the relationships between fathers and sons. There are several poorly suited parents in the series, including Freya and even Kratos himself, but none are quite as damaging as Zeus.

Kratos is late to learn that he is Zeus' son – discovering so during his one-man war against the god – but Zeus knows all along. Despite helping Kratos in the first game, he eventually becomes Kratos' most hated foe, even slaying the latter at one point. The damage done by Zeus's parenting to Kratos extends well into the future, affecting Kratos' own poor parenting.