#dead mum

[raphaella-spwife]

The best part of having a dead mum is I’m pretty 110% sure she like haunts my house. Not haunts as in like scary stuff but if my sister and me are arguing, our downstairs lamp will flicker like crazyyyyy. It never ever flickers any other time

It’s also pretty chill because I’ll sometimes hear someone say my name and I’ll go “yes, mum?” and I get this warm feeling

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

One thing I love about The Hunger Games, that I just noticed, is that Katniss Everdeen's Dad is essentially a rare male example of the typical 'dead mum' trope.

No, listen, it makes sense.

Katniss's Dad dies tragically when she's eleven. His death serves as an explanation for why Katniss is so capable— she had to toughen up and learn how to hunt wfter unexpectedly becoming the main breadwinner in her family— and why she has such a distant relationship with her mother— her mother essentially checked out after the death and Katniss still hasn't forgiven her.

Otherwise, however, he has no real impact on the plot.

He doesn't leave Katniss anything that later turns out to be majorly important to the plot (I mean, a few bows and arrows, but nothing she couldn't have made herself if necessary); he doesn't turn up as a ghost or a vision or reveal himself to have secretly been alive all along; he doesn't turn out to have had some sort of secret past involving the rebellion that Katniss now has to uncover after his death; Katniss doesn't even spend the entire trilogy desperately searching for a replacement father figure.

(Katniss's mother, interestingly enough, has a past with Peeta's Dad and was best friends with a tribute that died during Haymitch's Hunger Games.)

Katniss's Dad was, by all accounts, just a nice guy, and that while he was around, things were nicer. He gave Katniss skills that come in useful in the arena, and provided her with some happy memories of when he was alive and things were better, but that's it.

That's a dead mum, not a dead dad.

Look at James and Lily Potter, as an example where both parents are dead.

James gets multiple artifacts linked back to him, several close friends who pop out of the woodwork to help Harry, Harry himself constantly drawing attention to his absence by trying to replace him with a variety of other father-figures, a backstory in which he's revealed to have been an asshole, and posthumous credit for Harry's appearance, flying skills and patronus.

Lily gets credit for continuing to protect Harry through the magic of her Heroic Sacrifice, and a backstory that reveals that she was also important for the development of Snape's character. (Yes, I know that James's backstory reveal appears in a chapter literally titled 'Snape's Worst Memory', but the fallout from that is all about Harry's reaction to finding out his Dad was a bellend. The focus is on James's personality and Harry's changing view of it, whereas the Lily thing is purely How It Affected Snape, with little comment from Harry.)

Dead dads tend to influence the plot through revelations about their pasts, while dead mums tend to be limited to influencing the hero through how sad it is that they're dead now.

Just check out the TV Tropes page for 'Missing Mom':

Katniss Everdeen's father is a dead mum. Case closed.

[ghost-tree744]

OK OK OK OK

I thought it was sweet when Sam buried Johns dog tags in Mums grave. It was just a nice gesture brining them together (sort of) again. 

[youngmoviemaker]

Hehe.

[distinguished-rave-moth]

Actual fucking conversation I had at my autism appointment today.

Dr: do you have any old school reports so we can see your behaviour back then?

Me: no my mum had all my reports and I don't know where she put them.

Dr: why don't you ask her?

Me: she's dead.

Dr: but why don't you ask her?

Me:...... Because she's dead.....

[fillertumblername]

My inheritance I care the most about:))

These have been through sickness and fire ,,

[saturn-77]

imagine having two parents, embarrassing

[pink-cloud-of-death-blog]

Dear Mum My job as a professional is paying quite well, so I will send you an envelope with some money to help you out. Tell Dad that I'm making more than a Lawer. Actually, just tell him that I am a Lawer. Anyways, the past week has been exhausting with some point capturing, especially because of one bloke that likes to light things on fire. I mean, he doused a dump of debris with petrol then set it on fire! It exploded and everybody flew away. Got a few burns from it, but we ended up just laughing it all off. I hope you're doing well, Mum. Lots of love, Rich