{"id":41050,"date":"2023-05-15T06:30:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T18:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=41050"},"modified":"2023-05-07T20:59:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T08:59:11","slug":"mothers-as-main-characters-in-fantasy-scifi-reprised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2023\/05\/15\/mothers-as-main-characters-in-fantasy-scifi-reprised\/","title":{"rendered":"Mothers As Main Characters in Fantasy & SciFi (Reprised)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, May 14, being Mother\u2019s Day here in NZ, I thought I\u2019d repost a 2016 post featuring \u201cMothers as Main Characters\u201d in fantasy and science fiction literature.<\/p>\n

The post was sparked by a preceding post on Jessica, the mother of Paul Atreides in the science fiction classic, Dune<\/em><\/strong>, but also a main character in her own right:<\/p>\n

About Jessica in \u201cDune\u201d \u2013 and Why She\u2019s Still Kickass After 50 Years<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Francesca Annis as Jessica in the first Dune film<\/p><\/div>\n

As mentioned in that post, I still consider Jessica to be one of the most kickass female characters in SFF and \u201cstill one of the very few (I know: 50 years later!) where being a mother is central, not peripheral, to her part in the story.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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The follow up post was where I put on my thinking cap to come up with some other candidates \u2013 not unlike my current post on Supernatural Underground<\/strong><\/a> where I had to think long and hard to come up with some \u201cbands of sisters\u201d contenders. ICYMI, that post is here:<\/p>\n

Celebrating the \u201cBand of Sisters\u201d in Speculative Fiction<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Aes Sedai sisterhood — Wheel of Time<\/p><\/div>\n

Returning to Mother\u2019s Day, here\u2019s the gist of the Mothers As Main Characters<\/strong> post:<\/p>\n

“I have by no means read all the available fiction in SFF, but I still had to put on my thinking cap when it came to \u201cGreat Mums of SFF.” So although I am going to suggest a few more contenders now, I am hoping you may be able to help me out with a few more names and books.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jessica, 2021 Dune film<\/p><\/div>\n

Just to be clear, here are the criteria:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 the character doesn\u2019t have to be the main character in the book but does have to be a central character with major page time.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 being a mother has to be central in some way to the character\u2019s role in the story, rather than a background fact that otherwise doesn\u2019t really affect the character\u2019s arc. (For example, this would rule out Mara in the Empire series, where motherhood is not really a significant part of her arc: imho.)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 the character can appear in any form of SFF: from magic realism, through paranormal and steampunk to epic fantasy; from near future dystopia through space opera to hard Sci Fi. The book can also appear in Junior, YA, or adult SFF.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

OK, here\u2019s the rest of my little list, besides Jessica:<\/span><\/p>\n

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