Five Worst Fathers in Australian Fantasy

Father's Day is come and gone, and I've decided to incorporate this into my next article; the five worst father or father figures in Australian fantasy. Why the worst? Because whinging about things is easier than praising them, obviously.

To be fair, what's happening here is
only partly due to StarDrifter's
absentee parenting...

Remember, these are not the King Magnuses or StarDrifters of the world. These are not fathers who tried their best, but made mistakes or bad judgement calls. These are the fathers that either didn't give a damn or went out of their way to make their kid's life hell.

Remember,*SPOILERS BELOW*. 

***

5. Galen Flint from The Last Stormlord
He's a minor character who only appears in the first book, but I argue he is indirectly responsible for every bad thing that happens in that series. His solution to abject poverty is to drink until he forgets about it and his reaction to his son's god-like power is to terrify him into hiding it. If this guy had been even remotely supportive, Shale would have showed his abilities to the Rainlords, the Rainlords would have taken him to the Cloudlord in time to learn rain summoning properly, and Taquar would never have got his greasy mitts on the throne. There's a lesson here; good parenting can save the world.

A naive, lonely sorcerer
with god- like power and
daddy issues..just what every
demon wants!

4. Michael from Mage Heart
How to mess up a kid; buy her from her desperate mother, lie to her about the circumstances, teach her to fear and despise her own gender, isolate her within her own culture, then die leaving her alone in the world. Small wonder Dion keeps playing around with demons; she is so deeply confused about her own sexuality I'm surprised she doesn't have a breakdown every time a man stops to ask her the time.

3. Longfield from Tender Morsels
Honestly, this guy doesn't even merit the title of father. Abusive rapist jerkass that deserves to be eaten by a bear is closer. You know what, on second thought, I'm taking Longfield off this list and saving him for that 'most contemptible characters you'd like to bury in a swamp' list I'm working on.

3. Battu from Prophecy's Ruin
Another text-book demonstration on how to screw up a child. Granted, we can't quite put the blame for Losara and Bel's severing on Battu; he wasn't even in the same country when that happened. But we can blame him for stealing a child from loving parents, raising him in an atmosphere that's by turns neglectful and oppressive, grooming him for a battle quite literally against his own self, and attempting to manipulate his affections for Battu's own selfish agenda. Luckily Losara doesn't have any pesky 'feelings' and manipulates him right back. Happy Father's day, Battu. You deserve everything that comes to you.

Not only did Gayed raise a
fanatically loyal psychic
assassin, he was genre
savvy enough to die before
she inevitably turned on him.

2. General Gayed from the Mirage Makers
This guy is clearly taking notes from Battu and Michael. He also steals a child from loving parents, brainwashes her to serve his own agenda and turns her against her own identity in fundamentally damaging ways.
The difference is he's actually good at it. Considering Ligea is psychic, the fact that he has her so twisted round she believes he loves her is kind of impressive... in a sick, horrifying, you-bastard kind of way.

1. Everyone from Evil Genius
And for the winner we have a group nomination; Cadel's adoptive father, his secret imprisoned father, and his psychologist father-figure. All of them work together to manipulate Cadel in deliberate, callous ways and screw him up severely. Really it's mostly luck that he didn't turn out a raving psychopath like they were hoping. Fortunately he has the sense to go find himself a healthy father-figure elsewhere or we'd have a lot more to worry about than a toddler playing god with the Sydney public transport system.

So there you have it - the five worst of the worst fathers in Australian fantasy. This will either destroy your faith in fatherhood or make you appreciate the one you have. One of the two.