How Many Times Has A Disney Hero Lost Their Parents?

Disney movies are often regarded as family affairs, but not for the characters in them. Rarely do you see the protagonists with a wholesome, complete family. Usually, their parents either die or are already dead before the film begins.

How Many Disney Movies Are There?

Disney has made a lot of movies.

This typically adds an extra layer of drama to the experience, as it tasks the hero with embarking on an adventure without the safety nets that good parents provide. While it can add to the story, Disney has perhaps lent on this particular trope a bit too often. Here's how many times a protagonist in one of their movies either starts or becomes an orphan.

There Are 84 Disney Heroes Who Have Lost Their Parents

This is only referring to Disney characters from movies, not TV shows, books, or video games.

Overall, there have been 84 heroes in Disney movies who have lost their parents. This doesn't necessarily mean their parents died, though. Some of their parents have given them up, ran away, or disappeared, so it includes anyone whose parents aren't around anymore.

Also, the number is only referring to characters who have lost both parents. Therefore, those who have only lost one don't count.

Minor and secondary characters don't count either, nor do villains. This number only includes protagonists, deuteragonists, and tritagonists from Disney movies.

While Disney does own Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar, characters from those don't count, nor do the orphans in the Studio Ghibli films Disney produced.

As for characters that feature in remakes, they only count as one unless it's a very different take on the character. For instance, both Oliver from Oliver and Company and Oliver Twist count towards the number.

There Are 7 Disney Princesses Who Have Lost A Parent

Officially, there are 13 Disney Princesses, and seven of them have lost at least one parent. This number includes Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Tiana.

Elsa and Anna from Frozen aren't technically part of the Disney Princess brand, so they haven't been counted here.

Snow White and Cinderella are the only princesses who have lost both parents. Out of the five who only lost one, four lost their mother. Tiana from The Princess And The Frog is the only one to lose her father and still have a mother.

Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon doesn't count towards the number. This is because the status of her mother is unknown. She isn't featured, nor is she mentioned in the movie. Therefore, it isn't clear that Raya has lost her.

None of the Princesses' parents left or gave up their kids. Instead, they all died.

Seven of the parents perished before the events of the film. Only Cinderella's father and Tiana's father are seen on screen before dying. Interestingly, though, neither of their deaths are shown. So, you never actually see any of the Disney Princesses' parents perish.

This is only counting the animated versions of the characters and films.

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