Nine of Video Gaming’s Greatest Moms
Nine of Video Gaming’s Greatest Moms
These incredible digital women stand out as paragons of love, support, and occasionally kicking butt.
By The LRG Team
Video games sure do love fatherhood! There’s an entire body of work about sad dads. Mothers, on the other hand, get short shrift. If they appear at all, they’re usually relegated to being background characters. Often, they’re downright cruel or evil—you can be sure that the mom in The Binding of Isaac won’t be getting flowers and a card this weekend. And moms are almost never central characters in games, let alone playable.
So, for this Mother Day, we want to celebrate the women who did make a difference. Not all of these virtual moms are primary figures or playable characters, though many of them are! What they do have in common is the way they have such a huge positive impact in the lives of others—and not always just on their children or adopted kids, but on their friends, families, and sometimes even the entire human race. So this year, as you remind your own mother how much she means to you, take a moment to acknowledge these heroic women as well.
Credit: https://forbiddensiren.fandom.com
Melissa Gale
Siren: Blood Curse
One of several playable characters in this expanded remake of the original Siren, Melissa was formerly married to Sam Munroe, another key figure in the game. Blood Curse takes place across multiple realities and interweaving timelines, and things don’t go especially well for anyone in most of those worlds... including Melissa. But regardless of the outcomes, she’s always a fighter, doing her best to survive Siren’s supernatural horrors and sometimes giving her own life for those of the people she cares about.
Crono’s Mom
Chrono Trigger
Crono’s mother doesn’t play a huge part in his adventure. But if she didn’t wake him up to enjoy the fresh morning air, Crono would have overslept, missed his meet-cute with Princess Nadia, and never fallen through time to become involved in a journey to save the world across millennia of history. Plus, she has boundless patience for his obsession with adopting cats. All of humanity thanks you, Crono’s Mom.
Jade
Sometimes motherhood is a role, not a blood link. And Jade is a great mom, being a young woman who cares for a group of orphans and supports them by working as a photojournalist. Chasing leads across a fantastic and slightly futuristic city? That’s about as cool as any parent could be.
Venba and Her Mother
Venba
You never actually interact with Venba’s mother, but her love and legacy inform every moment of this sweet little game. Even though main character Venba’s mother passed while Venba herself was still terribly young, she left behind a book of recipes that Venba lives by. Venba learns about her mother, and about motherhood, as she prepares those generational recipes for her own son.
Toriel
Undertale
Again, not a mother in the sense of “I brought you into this world.” Rather, Toriel is the kindly lady who adopts the stragglers who wander into the world of Undertale, taking them under her wing and helping them to embark on their adventure. Gentle and generous, Toriel isn’t simply the one who cares for you... she’s also the true test of your ruthless determination if you decide to be horrible and go the “genocide” route. That includes her, too, you absolute monster.
Koudelka Iasant
Koudelka
Technically, Koudelka is not a mother in her own game, but it’s in that adventure where she meets the presumed father of her son, Halley, and becomes a key figure in the backstory to the Shadow Hearts series. Koudelka is a tough, courageous woman with mysterious powers. Koudelka battles her way through a harrowing haunted adventure that combines Resident Evil and role-playing elements—a paragon of heroism that any child could be proud of.
Flora/Bianca/Deborah
Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest V’s nameless protagonist encounters many people during his journey as a child and a young man, including a pair of young women (or three women, in the DS remake): Bianca, Flora, and Deborah. Each has a different background and a very distinct personality. And at some point in the hero’s journey, he marries one of them, and one of their children turns out to be the legendary Hero who can wield the Zenithian sword and defeat the demonic Nimzo. Whichever of his traveling companions the protagonist ends up with, it’s ultimately on the kids to save the world... though both parents can still fight alongside them. Gaming’s premiere nuclear family!
Clementine
The Walking Dead
When we first meet Clementine, she’s just a kid herself, dependent on the assistance of the adults who take her in and help her navigate and survive a world overrun by the undead Walkers. In later episodes, however, we see (and play as) Clementine as a young woman who has become an adoptive mother figure herself, doing her best to stay alive and protect Alvin Jr.... up to and including sacrificing her own limbs to avoid degenerating into a Walker herself.
Nora Estheim
Final Fantasy XIII
We don’t see a lot of Nora, but she’s the one who sets the events of Final Fantasy XIII (and therefore its sequels) into motion. Nora impresses crucial lessons on her son, Hope, including the importance of standing up against fascism, even if the cost of resistance is your own life. Nora’s so inspiring that they even named an entire rebellion after her—NORA—and gave it the coolest backronym ever: “No Obligations, Rules, or Authority.” This Mother’s Day, may we all appreciate the lesson of freedom that Nora tried to impart to Hope. And remember: Moms are tough!