This is something that's been bugging me for quite a while, and not only the absent parents but also how the hero has a family that hates him. I recently found a poem that inverts all that though: The Clouds Brother, by J. L. Runeberg. It is part of a cycle about the Napoleonic Wars and was writen 1848, four years after The Three Musketeers pretty much created modern adventure fiction. And the whole cycle continually subverts most troops that I've grown tired of.
The story is told by a proud but poor stepfather and of how he learns of his son's heroic deeds. This is the first interesting point; the hero is young orphan that appeared as a begger, but was taken in by a poor farmer. The farmer and his daugther loves the youth above all else. The old man then walks into town after a victorious Russian army has ravaged the countryside and hears of how his' stepson led the people to victory. He then finds the youth dead by the town church, surrounded by people, and his dughter appears behind him and utters:
Sweeter far than life I found that love was
Sweeter far than love to die as he did
