Celebrating Mothers in SFF Books

[owlmoose]

The dead mother is a common trope not just in SFF, but in all of literature, to the point that asking where all the mothers are sometimes feels like as much of cliche as the dead mothers themselves. And yet, I still feel like it's a question we need to ask ourselves from time to time (inspired in this instance by this recent-ish tweet from Aliette de Bodard). Why do we so often feel compelled to kill off a character's mother, either on screen or in backstory, to provide them motivation? Why are fathers more likely to be present, alive, or at the very least be given a name? Not every woman is a mother, and not every mother is a woman, but the erasure of moms from our stories certainly contributes to the erasure of women across the board. So rather than focusing on the missing moms, I want to take a moment to celebrate some of my favorite mothers in speculative fiction.

Cordelia Vorkosigan, by Lois McMaster Bujold: I mean, of course. I can't possibly talk about mothers in SFF without bringing up Cordelia. The main character or co-protagonist of three Vorkosigan Saga books (Shards of Honor, Barrayar, and Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen) and a steady background presence in many of the others, Cordelia is one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. She is sharp, no-nonsense, not afraid to get into trouble, and does the best job I can possibly imagine raising her son Miles, who has to have been a handful and a half. Important as she is to Miles, who is the protagonist for most of the series, she also gets her own complete story arc independent from him,

Jane Rowland, from the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik: Jane is hardly a traditional mother, and that's why I wanted to include her. As the captain of a dragon in the British Royal Air Corps, her first duty is to her dragon, Excidium, and part of that duty is bearing a daughter, Emily, who will serve as Excidium's next captain after Jane's death. Although we don't often see Jane interacting with Emily, her love and concern for Emily's well-being and future is clear. And I love that we see a woman and mother in such a position of power.

Zamira Drakasha from Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch: Speaking of mothers in positions of power. Drakasha is a black middle-aged pirate captain with two young children. I have a huge soft spot for lady pirates of all kinds, so it should be no surprise that Drakasha is one of my favorites. I wish she could have a whole book of her own. (May I also direct you to Lynch totally owning a "fan" who claims that female pirate captains are "unrealistic"?)

Catelyn Stark, from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin: Yes, really; especially if we're talking about book Catelyn rather than TV series Catelyn. Cat is a mother, a daughter, and a wife who does whatever it takes to protect her children and family in a patriarchal society conditioned to ignore her ideas and keep her on the sidelines. But unlike some of the other women in the series (Cersei and Arya being the most often cited examples), Cat works within the confines of her role as best she can -- and then uses the power of her grief when she becomes Lady Stoneheart. If we ever see the rest of the books, I hope that we learn what becomes of her.

Essun, from The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin: Essun is in a difficult position, and trying to do the best by her children, in the face of catastrophe and systemic oppression; it's fair to call her abusive, but in the ways that she herself was abused, and she never had the opportunity to learn better. The narrative never makes excuses for her, but it's also makes clear how much she loves her children and wants to protect them.

Isabella Camhearst from The Memoirs of Lady Trent: Like Jane Rowland and Zamira Drakasha, Isabella Camhearst is not primarily defined by her motherhood: she's a globe-trotting scientist, a naturalist who makes many groud-breaking discoveries about the dragons who inhabit her world. But being a mother is clearly an important part of her identity, too, especially in The Voyage of the Basilisk, when she brings her son, Jake, on one of her journeys. From the time Jake is born, the books don't shy away from the difficulties of balancing single motherhood with her demanding career in science. And her interactions with Jake, both as a boy and as he grows into a young man, are delightful.

Who are your favorite SFF moms? What kinds of moms would you like to see represented in fiction?

Comments

[heavenscalyx]

Nanny Ogg, of course, is the quintessential mother, being the Mother of the three Witches, sweepingly dominating her children and their spouses like whoa while cheerfully rocketing along in her own life. We don't get a lot of her as a younger mother with young children, but she's managed to keep all her kids alive and going to adulthood, as far as I can tell.

[owlmoose]

Great choice, from what I know of the series (Terry Pratchett is one of my larger SFF gaps; (I’ve read a couple of Discworkd books and bounced off a few others, sadly)!

[wendelah1]

Why do we so often feel compelled to kill off a character's mother, either on screen or in backstory, to provide them motivation? Why are fathers more likely to be present, alive, or at the very least be given a name? Not every woman is a mother, and not every mother is a woman, but the erasure of moms from our stories certainly contributes to the erasure of women across the board.

Maybe in part it's a throwback to a time when mothers often did die before fathers, due to complications of childbearing?

I love Cordelia, too; however, even Bujold killed off Gregor's mother, Kareen.

I have a soft spot for Mrs. Murry from A Wrinkle in Time. She's a biologist who cooks dinner for her family in her lab (it was the sixties!) and writes letters to her missing husband every night. She has four children with very different personalities. She manages to do a pretty good job of single parenting in an era when that was uncommon enough to provide grist for the gossip mill.

Mrs. Murry may have predisposed me to love another scientist-mother, Anna Quibler, a character in Kim Stanley Robinson's Green Earth trilogy. She's married with two children. Anna has a high-powered science job as an administrator at NSF; her husband Charlie stays home with the kids.

I'd like to see more mothers in fiction who are ordinary people, doing the best they can to cope with whatever circumstances they find themselves in, without neglecting their kids or turning to bank robbery and/or dealing drugs to make ends meet. Can't mothers be flawed human beings without turning into criminals or child-abusers or alcoholics?

[owlmoose]

I love Cordelia, too; however, even Bujold killed off Gregor's mother, Kareen.

Fair, but one of the great things about writing lots of women into your worlds, as Bujold does, is that no one character has to stand in for all women, or mothers. So Kareen's death doesn't bother me as much as some others.

Mrs. Murry! Excellent choice, though I wish she got more of her own story arc. I haven't read Green Earth but Anna sounds pretty great.

Definitely with you wanting on more fictional moms who are just ordinary people.

[sabotabby]

I'm going to second Essun and Zamira and add my all-time favourite SFF mom, Calamity Lambkin from Nalo Hopkinson's The New Moon's Arms, who subverts that fantasy trope of women who get magical powers at puberty by developing magic at menopause. A grandmother with complicated and oft dysfunctional family ties, she takes in a 4-year-old boy who may or may not be a mermaid.

Another one I love is Briar Wilkes from Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, whose difficult life gets worse when her dumbass teenage son runs away to a toxic city to exonerate his late father, and she has to rescue him.

[owlmoose]

I almost included Briar Wilkes, but it's been long enough since I've read Boneshaker that I didn't remember the details of her story very well. :)

I've read other Hopkinson but not that one; I will have to look it up! Thanks for the suggestion.

[dolorosa_12]

Kate Elliott writes fantastic stories about mothers - my favourites are probably Kiya from the Court of Fives series, and Mai from the Crossroads trilogy. Both these series make the ordinary, everyday work often dismissed and unacknowledged as 'women's work' heroic. Instead of valorising flashy, destructive acts of violence, these series show that the work of building, sustaining, bargaining, compromise and forging links and communities is vital, essential, and of much more lasting significance -- and it's women who are also mothers who are at the heart of this work.

Aliette de Bodard herself writes motherhood so well, especially in House of Binding Thorns, the second in her series set in a post-apocalyptic Paris. In it, she shows motherhood just existing amid the chaos of supernatural battles, political machinations and life-or-death struggles, as just another part of life that goes on even in the direst of circumstances.

I'm not sure it counts as SFF (although it has moments of magical realism and a kind of hyperreality) but I also love all the mothers in Jane the Virgin, especially the three Villanueva women. This is a show that is of course all about motherhood, and it's an absolute delight, and wonderful to see a show that puts motherhood at the heart of its story.

[owlmoose]

Definitely agree on Kate Elliott. I've only read the first book of Crossroads, but Kiya is an excellent inclusion and I probably should have added her to my list. She's a particularly good example because the dead mother trope is particularly ubiquitous in YA, and Elliott subverts it so beautifully with Kiya's story.

Jane the Virgin is so wonderful, and I agree with how it centers the story of the Villanueva women, both as mothers and as a family unit.

I read the first of that de Bodard series, but haven't picked up the second yet. Good to know that it includes a good depiction of motherhood!

Mrs. Weasley

[(Anonymous)]

"Not my daughter, you bitch."

Come on, how did she not make this list?