Why can てもらいたい mean "someone else wants me to do something for them"?


> 逢桜「元々、才華学園入学前に持ってあと３年だろうって言われてたんだ」
>
> 逢桜「野球を辞めた理由も怪我じゃなくて、この病気が原因だよ」
>
> 逢桜「徐々に体が動かなくなっていく難病で、最終的には呼吸も出来なくなって亡くなるんだって」
>
> 逢桜「 **両親はね** 、わたしに少しでも長く生きて欲しいから、クリエイターとしての **活動は止めてもらいたかった** 」
>
> 逢桜「でも、無理をいってここまで伸ばしてもらってた」
>
> 逢桜「だけだ、去年の12月ごろに大きな発作があった」
>
> 逢桜「その時にさ両親に強く創作活動を辞めて欲しいと告げられたんだ」

I understand that the meaning of the bold part is that "My parents wanted me
to quit the creator's activities". But usually てもらいたい means "I want someone
else to do something for me", not "someone else wants me to do something for
them". So why can てもらいたい be used like that in the quotation?




両親は(私に)クリエイター活動を止めてもらいたかった can naturally be used in this situation because her
parents' desire is a _past known fact_ that doesn't require any assumption of
the speaker. The speaker clearly and directly knew her parents wanted her to
quit at this time point in the past.

In [Can たい and たがる be used for a 1st/2nd/3rd person's
desire?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/23860/5010)

> たい expresses a desire. た-がる literally expresses giving off the impression of
> having a desire. たい can be used if one does not need to assume that they
> know about a specific desire of a specific person, and たがる can be used if
> one is making assumptions on another person's wishes.
>
> * * *
>
> たい, situations that do not involve making assumptions about a person's
> desires:
>
>   * **it turned to be a fact** that another person did desire it
>

両親は(私に)クリエイター活動を止めてもらいたがっていた is also perfectly natural, though.

**EDIT** : Of course 両親は(私に)クリエイター活動を止めて欲しかった and 両親は(私に)クリエイター活動を止めて欲しがっていた
are also perfectly correct in this context. She used もらう because she knew her
quitting was a beneficial action to her parents even if it was undesirable to
the speaker herself.

