The Cupboard under the stairs is pretty much a JK Rowling twist on things. The idea of neglected children being hidden under the stairs is an old idea though, largely due to people having done things exactly like that. I think the earliest example of it becoming famous/pop culturery was when Wes Craven did the "People Under The Stairs" movie which took this to a horrorific extreme. I seem to remember it was based on a short story as well. "Flowers In The Attic" is also pretty famous but it switches the basement for, well, the attic, where the unwanted children are being kept, with routine attempts to poison/kill them. The old "Freddy's Nightmares" also did a take on this with a monster child being hidden in the basement, which apparently had shapeshifting/duplication powers and which swapped places with the girl who opened the door she wasn't supposed to.GonzoGamer said:
More information than you probably wanted. In Yahtzee's case the referance is pretty obviously a JK Rowling referance as the child in the cupboard is a good thing. With the exception of "Flowers" in most of these stories at least there is a "good" reason for it. The child(ren) being some kind of lovecraftian horror, heavily inbred, utterly insane, etc... It's almost always been a "thing", and there are many instances I haven't mentioned, as it is a stereotype. To be honest I don't think JK Rowling set out to "subvert the trope" however, given that it usually amounts to a sort of Aesopian fable where whatever is there belongs there (contrary to the historical counterpoint of this being done to bastards, mentally ill, inbred children, etc...). JK Rowling having started "Harry Potter" for her children before she knew it was going to take off, and she probably picked something that would be bad to a very long child, but not so bad as to be utterly horrific, while keeping up the somewhat silly/cutesy vibe the books possess (more so than the movies) with some occasional very dark/serious stuff coming up as a counterpoint.
