Joyce Price (Life Is Strange)
First up is Joyce Price, an absolute no-brainer. She is mother to stubborn teen outcast Chloe Price, widow to the late-William Price, and long-time waitress at Arcadia Bay’s Two Whales Diner. Joyce is known for her kindness, so much so that many of the town’s locals refer to her as “our mother.”
Even after the sudden loss of her husband and the misery that comes with her daughter’s string of rebellious exploits, she still manages to find the strength to smile and find that ever elusive silver lining in life.
Her unwavering ability to remain calm, empathetic and positive is unrivaled, and she is often the foundation that keeps her family together.
But don’t for a minute think she is a pushover. With all the blows life has dealt her, she has been honed into a sharp and witty heroine that can turn any trouble into a poignant life-lesson.
Ever since her first appearance in Life is Strange, she has warmed the hearts of all who have encountered her.
This post was originally written by Wiehahn Diederichs.
Naru (Ori and the Blind Forest)
Naru might not be the biological mother of Ori, the eponymous protagonist of Ori and the Blind Forest, but blood doesn’t necessarily make a good mother.
Naru only features in the first ten minutes of the game but, in this small amount of time, she more than proves her worthiness as a true care-giver.
After finding Ori abandoned in the woods, she takes the young woodland spirit into her care without so much as a second thought and raises it as her own child, giving Ori all the unconditional love and attention she could possibly offer.
In the final moments of her life, after the woods they call home suddenly starts rapidly decaying, Naru gives the last bit of food she manages to scavenge to Ori, not holding back even a crumb for herself.
Long story short, Ori lives and Naru dies, leading to one of the most heartbreaking scenes I’ve ever witnessed.
A mother that selflessly sacrifices her life so that her child can live. If this doesn’t make you a good mother, then I don’t know what does.
Candy Borowski (Night in the Woods)
Patience. If there was one virtue that you could use to describe Candy Borowski, it would undoubtedly be patience. As mother to Mae Borowski, the infamously unruly protagonist of Night in the Woods, it is truly a miracle that it’s a virtue she has managed to retain.
Where most parents would have regressed into fits of raging fury, Mrs. Borowski remains calm and collected. She also knows her daughter’s heart inside out, using her motherly instincts to play Mae like a fiddle, masterfully guiding her to the right answer rather than shoving it down her throat.
While some might mistake her soft and timid nature as weakness, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Acting on your anger is easy.
But setting it aside so that you can reach past your inexplicably withdrawn daughter’s emotional armor? Now that’s a skill that not many of us can claim to have mastered.
Zofia Blazkowicz (Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus)
Zofia Blazkowicz is mother to Wolfenstein’s iconic hero, William “B.J.” Blazkowicz, and one of the strongest women you’ll ever encounter in gaming. She is the Jewish wife of an abusive husband who sympathizes with the very Nazi elite that wants her dead.
She is also an extremely protective mother that would defend her child from any harm.
When William falls in love with a black girl as a young boy, a travesty in a world ruled by white supremacists, she refused to let her husband near him, willingly putting herself in harm’s way so that William remained safe.
Even after enduring all the hardships Wolfenstein’s brutal Nazi empire had inflicted upon her, she still somehow manages to conjure up love for her only boy, teaching him about compassion and surviving in a world that seems devoid of all hope.
Whenever William’s father becomes violent for whatever delusional reason has possessed him that day, she is always there to take the brunt of it, afterwards consoling him with a black eye and a smile on her face.
Few can hold a candle to Zofia’s sheer willpower and unshakable sense of hope, two traits that turned B.J. Blazkowicz into the celebrated hero he eventually becomes.
The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)
The Boss is a mother of a different breed; a woman who doesn’t fit the traditional mould of motherhood.
But considering that she is a legendary war hero and leader of the world’s deadliest group of trained killers, you would expect her to be a bit more… unconventional.
While most mothers on this list are known for their endurance of adversity, The Boss is the one causing it, striking her prey with swift and deadly fury.
Her feats include training and raising Big Boss, one of the iconic heroes of the Metal Gear series, developing her own hand-to-hand combat style, fighting in the Battle of Normandy while nine-months pregnant, and giving birth on that very battlefield… and that’s barely scratching the surface of her seemingly endless lists of notable deeds.
Also known as ‘The Mother of the Special Forces’, her compassion and loyalty to her comrades are rarely matched. She would do anything and everything to protect them, even if that means becoming their sworn enemy.
Edith Finch (What Remains of Edith Finch)
Edith Finch, the titular character of What Remains of Edith Finch, is by far the youngest mother on this list. In the game, she explores her old family home to unearth the stories behind her late family members and the potential curse on the Finch bloodline.
While she does this partly out of curiosity, a trait she has shamelessly exhibited since her childhood, her main reason for exploring her past family tree is so that she is able to tell her son about his family.
See, at the point at which we play as Edith in the game, she is twenty two weeks pregnant.
As the last surviving member of the Finch family, since her mother’s death when Edith was only sixteen years old, she feels it is her duty to uncover her family’s secrets so that her son can truly know who the Finch family was and where he comes from.
This dedication to her unborn child and late-family’s history unquestionably earns her a spot on this list.
Yohn (Suikoden Tactics)
Yohn is an other-dimensional being who unwillingly got pulled into the world of Suikoden Tactics, a strange world that left her mute and unable to communicate with the people around her.
Following this ordeal, she aimlessly wandered around the world until she met Walter, an imperial guard, with whom she formed a romantic relationship, which eventually lead to the birth of Kyril, the hero of Suikoden Tactics.
Unfortunately, as Walter and Yohn’s relationship was secret, Kyril never learned that Yohn was his birth mother and even regarded her as Walter’s “pet”.
But even after all the ridicule and disrespect Kyril directed at her, Yohn’s love for him never waned once. From secretly taking care of him when he was injured, to constantly aiding him on his various quests, Yohn never left Kyril’s side once.
This dedication to her son’s safety and well-being, even in the face of contemptuous mockery, makes her a mother we can all be proud of.
Mad Moxxi (Borderlands series)
Ah, what would Borderlands be without Mad ol’ Moxxi, proprietor of the Underdome fighting arena and ex-member of the violent Hodunk clan.
While she might be known as a dangerous and sneaky temptress to most, when it comes to her children, Ellie and Scooter (among other speculative candidates), Moxxi is one the most dedicated, protective, and caring mothers you’ll find in the world of gaming.
Just to put her motherly love into perspective: to save her daughter from becoming the Hodunk “clan wife”, she set aside her loyalty to the clan and murdered their leader in cold blood without as much as flinching, and took off with Ellie and Scooter to start a new life in the Pandoran wastelands.
Any mother that is willing to kill and severely anger members of an infamously dangerous and remorseless clan so that her children can have a better life deserves some recognition in my books.
Ana Amari (Overwatch)
Ana is one of the founding members of the Overwatch, the titular global peacekeeping organisation tasked with protecting the world from dangerous threats.
She is mother to the explosive Pharah and an elite ex-sniper who came out of retirement to protect her loved ones. But her love stretches beyond her own blood.
As a member of the Overwatch, her abilities are tailored to assisting her teammates and keeping them in the fight, boasting an arsenal of healing gadgets such as her Biotic Grenades and Biotic Rifle.
Even her offensive weaponry are mostly non-lethal, rather impairing or tranquilizing her targets than killing them.
This love and compassion for life makes her a mother and carer of true note.
Kangaskhan (Pokemon Series)
While others praise the Pokemon moms for allowing their children to roam free in a world overrun with wild and dangerous creatures, we thought we’d rather focus on a more reasonable contender, namely Kangaskhan.
Appropriately classified as a ‘Parent Pokemon’, every one of her Pokedex entries across the various Pokemon games describe her as a particularly protective and caring mother.
She will fight to the death to save her offspring, which is almost always safely snuggled in her pouch, and quickly becomes aggressive at the slightest hint of danger, making her one of the most unapproachable Pokemon in the Pokeverse.
She is so dedicated to her young that she even sleeps standing up to avoid crushing her little baby in the pouch. If there’s a mother in Pokemon that needs be praised then look no further than the loving, albeit temperamental, Kangaskhan.
Published: May 10, 2018 10:00 am