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Only Child Syndrome: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
People procreate. [[Massive
Yet, in fiction, people only procreate if it's relevant to the plot, and that includes [[Backstory]]. Some characters just don't seem to have siblings, and authors use this for every reason between heightening the angst of [[Parental Abandonment]] to excusing romance [[Genre Blind|Genre Blindness]]. This applies even moreso in adoptive families-- parents rarely adopt more than one child in fictionland, nor have both adopted and biological children unless the plot calls for it.
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** Peter Parker ([[Spider-Man]]) is an only child and an orphan to boot.
** All the [[Runaways]] are only children, but this is justified because each set of parents agreed to give their designated place in paradise to their offspring. Because there were only six places, the six couples had one child apiece. [[The Sixth Ranger|Victor]] is also an only child for obvious reasons. The same can't be said for Xavin and Klara, but then again, it's never been explicitly stated that they didn't have siblings back on Tarnax VII or in 1907.
** Notably averted with [[X-Men (Comic Book)|the Guthries]]. [[Massive
** Also averted by half of the [[Young Avengers]]: Hawkeye has an older sister, Wiccan has two younger brothers, and it's implied that Patriot comes from a large family. Speed might also have siblings; at this point we know next to nothing about his private life.
** Averted once more by The Fantastic Four; Reed Richards is the only member to be an only child. Jonny and Sue are siblings and Ben had an older brother who died when they were teens. Reed and Sue also have two children.
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* [[Terry Pratchett]] and just about all of his protagonists. Though, considering how [[Discworld|the Disc]] runs on narrativium, this may just be because the universe is aware of the trope. Meanwhile, Esme Weatherwax has an [[Evil Twin]], and Tiffany Aching has about six older sisters and an [[Annoying Younger Sibling]]. Oh, and Mustrum Ridcully has a brother too.
** Technically all of the wizards are an eighth child of an eighth child, but Ridcully's brother is the only sibling who really comes up.
* In the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' universe out of the three main characters there is Harry, whose parents died when he was a year old, Hermione, who has no siblings and the Weasleys who are easily a case of [[Massive
** Interestingly, Hermione was supposed to have a younger sister, but [[Word of God|Rowling wasn't able to fit her in.]]
** Death Eaters only have one child if any--just enough to satisfy plot needs: Nott, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Rosier, Mulciber, and Avery all have only one son. And these lines never go into three generations like real life would suggest. None of the original Death Eaters (Tom's era) have grandchildren in Harry's era, while none of the younger Death Eaters (Lily's era) have confirmed fathers who were Death Eaters (although there are some surnames that appear in both eras as Death Eater names).
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== Western Animation ==
* Almost all of the [[Disney Princess|Disney Princesses]] are only children. However, in the original poem 'The Ballad of Hua Mulan', Mulan has a Younger Sister, an Elder Sister and a Little Brother ([[Mythology Gag|which is who they named they dog after]]) who is not old enough to join the army, but old enough to kill pigs by the time she comes home. Also, the real Pocahontas probably had many brothers and sisters as Powhatan had quite a few wives. Belle is given an unwanted suitor instead of the two jealous sisters from the original tale. Cinderella still has her mean stepsisters, though. Ariel is an exception, having [[Massive
* Curiously, every child who had a prominent appearance in ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' is shown as being an only child. The only one who isn't is Danny himself. He has an older sister and if you wanna stretch it, an [[Opposite Sex Clone]] whom he treats like [[Big Brother Instinct|a little sister]].
{{quote|'''Sam:''' If you don't mind, we'll be over there doing the "glad-I'm-an-only-child" dance."}}
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* Aside from the [[Simpsons]] family, The Flanders', Apu and Manjula, the Hibberts and Sherrie and Terri's family the rest of the couples have one child only. With the exception of the above, most of the kids from the elementary school are only child.
** This is justified in an issue of ''Simpsons Comics'' that ends with all the adults in Springfield becoming sterile.
* Apparently [[Averted Trope|averted]] on ''[[Total Drama]]''--of the twenty-four contestants, half are stated to have at least one sibling either in dialogue or [[All There in the Manual|online material]], while only [[Dogged Nice Guy|Cody]] and [[Geek|Beth]] are explicitly only children. Bonus points to [[Insufferable Genius|Noah]] for being [[Massive
* In ''[[Metalocalypse]]'', Pickles is the only member of Dethklok with a sibling.
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' seem to play this halfway--there's the title characters and their sister [[Unknown Rival|Candace]], [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|Jeremy]]/[[Enfant Terrible|Susie]] and [[Loony Fan|Irving]]/[[Aloof Big Brother|Albert]] as siblings, but [[The Chick|Isabella]], [[Bollywood Nerd|Baljeet]], [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Buford]], [[Asian Airhead|Stacy]] and [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|Vanessa]] all get lots of screen time and give no indication of having a sibling. Adults having siblings seems to be more common--Lawrence presumably has at least one (since Ferb has a Scottish cousin), Linda has Tiana and [[Mad Scientist|Doofenshmirtz]] has Roger.
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