The Dad Collector: A List of the Greatest Fathers in Media

Falling in love with fictional characters is the hallmark of truly good writing. Well-written characters, who jump off the page fully formed, can feel as real to us as our friends and families. With some characters, we can feel connected to them for life if the impact they have on us is strong enough, and the love we might have for them dictates what kind of connection it will be — familial, platonic, even romantic.

As someone who’s consumed more than my fair share of media, I’ve built up my own collection of favoured characters over the years. There are those I’ve fallen in love with, like Éowyn from The Lord of the Rings, those I consider old friends, like Janis and Damian from Mean Girls, and those I saw parts of myself in, like Matilda Wormwood and Hermione Granger. As important as all of these characters are to me, however, the characters with which I hold a familial connection are the closest to my heart — specifically, the collection of fictional fathers I’ve spent most of my life acquiring.

And all of these connections are completely normal and common. It’s why fanfiction is such a prevalent genre, why we tend to like a book, film or television series at all. Sure, the plot might be riveting in its own right, but nothing beats a great character who you instantly take to. Let’s be real — I’m sure the majority of people who read Fifty Shades of Grey weren’t there for the brilliant pacing.

Often, what we latch onto or find ourselves craving from fiction lines up with what we lack in life. After all, fiction is an escape from life, a stimulant for the imagination. It makes sense that we’d turn to it in hard times. When I was 14, wounds fresh from my father leaving, I found myself searching for the kind of fatherly guidance I was missing in the characters I read about, or watched on TV. Fictional or not, I was hearing all the things I needed to hear, and some of those things got me through more than a few painful moments.

So, in honour of that, here are some of the best fictional fathers, or father figures, who helped raise me…and probably a few of you, too.

Daniel Hillard from Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
I know I’m starting out with a very obvious and cliché pick here, but there’s no denying the impact that Robin Williams had on the childhood of so many kids. His role as Daniel Hillard and thus, as the titular Mrs Doubtfire, is perhaps one of his most well-known and well-loved, and significantly, one where he plays a father.

Seeing the lengths that Daniel goes to to see his children probably stuck with all of us and is certainly the main reason why the film is so treasured. It’s a heart-warming story with a beautiful message about family, and fatherhood in particular. If nothing else, Daniel Hillard taught me what I should expect from a father, or father figure — someone who would go above and beyond (and then some) just to keep you in their life — even if that includes wearing prosthetics and a floral skirt.

Uncle Ben from Spider-Man (2002)
Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man is by far my favourite depiction of the Marvel superhero, not least because it was the one I grew up with. While Uncle Ben isn’t a major character in the original trilogy, and isn’t biologically a father, his character still left a lasting impression on me, and so he easily makes this list.

Uncle Ben is one of the first characters to spring to mind when I consider fictional fathers. He clearly cares deeply for Peter — taking him in, raising him as his own and ardently trying to keep him on the straight and narrow, most notably with that classic line: “with great power comes great responsibility”. There’s a soft kindness to Ben that endears him to all of us, and cuts like a knife when he’s inevitably killed.

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
Admittedly, I didn’t read To Kill a Mockingbird until my early twenties. However, as old as I was, the patriarch of the Finch family, Atticus, left a profound impression, so much so that he quickly became one of my favourite characters in all of fiction. As interesting as Scout and Jem’s antics in the story are, I’m sure most of us were completely drawn in by the powerful and all-too-real plotline involving Atticus, as he becomes entangled in the racial issues prevalent in the Deep South of the 1930s.

Atticus is wise, patient and just as devoted to his career as he is to his children. He’s widely considered a fictional moral hero for his progressive stance on the racial issues of the time, with many lawyers holding him up as a model of integrity for the legal profession. With his impeccable code of honour, nuggets of wisdom — such as the famous line from which the title of the novel is drawn — and the genuine love he shows towards his children, Atticus is the archetypal father figure, and possibly one of the most popular fathers to have ever been written.

Joshua in Adventure Time (2010–2018)
Joshua, father of Finn, Jake and Jermaine, may be a strange choice, and yet it makes sense that at least one entry from this list would be a character from my favourite show.

And why not? With his fedora and quirky, 1940s Mid-Atlantic accent, Joshua is a memorable character despite how little we see of him in the show, and he’s remembered just as fondly by his own sons once he presumably passes on. He’s dedicated to toughening his sons up in the dog-eat-dog world they live in, but he has his softer side too — after all, upon finding baby Finn abandoned in the woods, he and Margaret not only take him in but raise him as their own. He even keeps the uncomfortable truth of Jake’s birth a lifelong secret in order to protect him.

Lee Everett from The Walking Dead videogame (2012)
Lee isn’t actually a biological father to anyone, but his beautiful and endearing relationship with 8-year-old Clementine often means he’s held up as one of gaming’s greatest father figures.

And why not? Not only does he rescue Clementine from what would surely be a death sentence, he takes her miles across the country in a bid to reunite her with her parents. He teaches her how to protect herself, not only by showing her how to shoot a gun but by preparing her for life with plenty of sage advice and honesty (depending, of course, on the choices you make in-game). Clementine’s adoration of him, even years later when she becomes an adult herself, is testament to just how deeply Lee cared for her.

Ray Ferrier from War of the Worlds (2005)
This will probably be the most obscure entry on this list, and admittedly, it is one of the more personal choices. I watched this take on the sci-fi classic when it first came out and related well to the Ferrier kids — struggling to navigate the divorce of their parents and struggling even more to connect with their distant father.

At the beginning Ray is far from being father of the year, but the invasion of the Martians forces opportunities upon him whereby he proves himself as a parent. He goes to incredible lengths to protect his children from the chaos of the invasion, most notably his younger daughter, even killing a man who quickly becomes a threat to their safety. At the end, when he delivers them from danger to the arms of their mother, we’re under the impression that his relationship with his children is stronger for the perils that they’ve survived together.

Goofy from A Goofy Movie (1995) and An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000)
I know what you’re thinking — Goofy, on a list of the best fictional fathers? As weird as it might seem, I assure you that Goofy is canonically a father, and is more than worthy of being on this list.

Not only has Goofy always been portrayed as a single parent to his son, Max, he’s consistently been portrayed as a good parent. Sure, he can be a little overbearing at times — following Max to college to be close to him is a perfect example — but he truly loves his son, and has a genuine interest in sharing his hobbies with him. Despite their differences, Goofy always reconciles with Max and reminds him of the bottom line — that no matter how old he gets, he’ll always be his father.

John Marston from Red Dead Redemption (2010)
Another of gaming’s greats when it comes to parenting, John Marston is a traditional and dedicated father to his only son, Jack.

He’s so dedicated, in fact, that he endures all of the events of the game — taking out several members of his former gang, with plenty of blood, sweat and tears along the way — in order to ensure his family’s safe return to him. When they are eventually reunited, he makes up for as much lost time as he can with Jack by teaching him how to make an honest living on the ranch. At the end of the game, John’s final show of love is to sacrifice himself so his family can live — and when Jack avenges him as an adult, that show of love is paid back tenfold.

Homer Simpson from The Simpsons (1989 — present)
The Simpsons is the show to have impacted my life most profoundly, which probably has a lot to do with the fact that I watched it with my own dad from a young age. Even as a child the themes the show tackled hit hard. I appreciated its powerful, realistic portrayal of the average family — often struggling to get by with more than their fair share of hardships, but a family nonetheless. And at the heart of it all is Homer.

For all of his flaws, I have an unshakeable love for Homer Simpson. It’s worth noting that I’m mainly talking about Homer as he’s portrayed from seasons 1 to 10, after which I generally consider the quality of the show to drop off. Throughout these golden years, however, Homer is the clumsy, oafish, but lovable family man who consistently messes up while consistently striving to be better. The moments shared between Homer and his children are some of the most powerful in the show — when he helps Bart build a soapbox racer in Saturdays of Thunder, or when he decides to buy Lisa her saxophone over a new air conditioner in Lisa’s Sax. And when, in perhaps one of the most poignant episodes in the entire show, he gives up his dream job in favour of financial security when Maggie comes along, in Maggie Makes Three. What Simpsons fan doesn’t remember the ‘do it for her’ moment?