History Main / VillainousMotherSonDuo

* ''Film/{{Searching}}'': [[spoiler:Downplayed. Detective Rosemary Vick's son stalked, catfished, attacked, and -- they thought -- killed Margot. When he told her, Vick volunteered for the investigation and manipulated an ex-con into falsely confessing, then [[NeverSuicide probably killed him]] so that David might never know the truth about his daughter's murder. However, Vick is shown to feel genuinely remorseful, completely TrappedInVillainy and to only want to protect her son, while Robert -- [[UnreliableNarrator if we can trust Vick]] -- apparently feels the same.]]

* ''Film/{{Sleepwalkers}}''. Mary Brady and her son Charles Brady are VoluntaryShapeshifting monsters who perform VampiricDraining of LifeEnergy from female human virgins. They work together to obtain victims so they can feed.

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->'''Morathi:''' And with these ashes my son, we have our revenge.
->'''Malekith:''' No. I've only begun.
-->-- '''Dark Elves Trailer''', ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII''

This is a case when a villainous case of MyBelovedSmother uses her son as a pawn and an accomplice to further her own ambitions. Maybe he's a ManchurianAgent whom she aims to get into a position of power so that [[MotherMakesYouKing she can wield power with him as her puppet]] or maybe she just treats him as a standard {{Mook}} in her criminal plans. Or maybe he's her [[TheDragon Dragon]]. The son himself may be a weak-willed and not particularly evil individual who goes along with his mother's twisted machinations out of a sense of loyalty to her, combined with [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas love]] and fear, or maybe he's a willing participant. In some cases, he's a DragonWithAnAgenda whose [[ServileSnarker snarkiness]] towards his mother indicates that he's planning on becoming TheStarscream and maybe even a SelfMadeOrphan! Or he may pull a HeelFaceTurn. As for the mother, domineering as she is, she may absolutely dote over her son or [[YouFool verbally abuse him]] and [[AbusiveParents put him down at every turn]]. Or a mixture of both. In any case, VillainousIncest is all too frequently a [[IncestSubtext subtext]] here. It also commonly overlaps with ExtremelyProtectiveChild, when the son will do ''anything'' to protect his mother.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', there's the thug J. Geil and his mother, Enya Geil. Both are under employ of BigBad DIO, and Enya is especially angry at the heroes for defeating her son.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* In the ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeries'', [[spoiler: villains [[WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}} Nerissa]] and [[WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures Drago]] are mother-and-son CrossoverRelatives]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'', CorruptCorporateExecutive Ratchet at first appears to be the BigBad but it turns out that he's just a puppet of his mother, Madame Gasket. She makes the plans and he carries them out. She's harsh on her son but seems to genuinely love him and he reciprocates it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', the Fairy Godmother is the BigBad and intends for her son, [[SissyVillain Prince Charming]] to marry Princess Fiona and become king so that she can rule the Land of Far-Far-Away with him as her stooge. While she's a doting mother and he's a SpoiledBrat, they're a rare mutually respectful example of this trope.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'' has Zira as the BigBad, aided by her three children, including her sons Nuka and Kovu. Zira [[ParentalFavoritism blatantly favors]] Kovu and claims he was chosen to be Scar's heir, grooming him to kill Simba and take over the Pride Lands. Nuka tends to be an [[TheUnfavourite overlooked]] WellDoneSonGuy. Ironically, Kovu – who was never that evil in the first place – ends up having a change of heart and [[HeelFaceTurn switches sides]], while Nuka remains loyal to Zira, to the point of [[spoiler:getting himself killed trying to fulfil her wishes]]. Zira is [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely distraught]] over [[spoiler:Nuka's death]], though she immediately lashes out at Kovu and [[NeverMyFault claims it was his fault]]. [[spoiler:Kovu later tries to persuade his mother to stand down and make peace with Simba, [[RedemptionRejection but she refuses]]]].

* ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'' featured Abigail and Gordon Craven, a mother and son team of grifters, loan sharks and scam artists, who seek to defraud the Addamses and steal their vast fortune by passing Gordon off as long lost family member Fester, who Gordon happens to bear a very strong resemblance to. Gordon mostly acts as Abigail's enforcer, and she is very controlling and even abusive to him at times, but despite him starting to identify with and even genuinely love the Addams clan, he stays loyal to his mother, up until the point Abigail orders the ColdBloodedTorture of family matriarch Morticia. Gordon then pulls a HeelFaceTurn, helping free Morticia and putting a stop to Abigail's schemes. It is later revealed that Gordon [[spoiler:isn't even Abigail's real son -- he's actually Fester Addams, whom Abigail discovered years ago shipwrecked in the Bermuda Triangle, suffering from amnesia]].
* ''Film/{{Psycho}}'': UnbuiltTrope. It appears that Norman Bates and his ([[TheGhost unseen]]) mother are running a HellHotel together, although Norman is horrified when he finds that his mother murdered Marion Crane and covers up her crime by disposing of Marion's body. In the climax it's revealed that "mother" is actually an evil SplitPersonality of Norman, created after [[{{Matricide}} killing his mother]] many years ago and suppressing the guilt by fooling his psyche to think she is still alive and not just a preserved skeleton. The real woman actually encouraged Norman to be more independent. However, later sequels {{retcon}} this, showing that although Norman and Norma were not actively in league together, she *did* play a large part in his FreudianExcuse.
* ''Film/{{Searching}}'': [[spoiler:Downplayed. Detective Rosemary Vick's son stalked, catfished, attacked, and - they thought - killed Margot. When he told her, Vick volunteered for the investigation and manipulated an ex-con into falsely confessing, then [[NeverSuicide probably killed him]] so that David might never know the truth about his daughter's murder. However, Vick is shown to feel genuinely remorseful, completely TrappedInVillainy and to only want to protect her son, while Robert -- [[UnreliableNarrator if we can trust Vick]] -- apparently feels the same.]]
* ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'': Zenobia is an evil sorceress who is the main villain of the movie. Her son Rafi assists her in her evil plots, including trying to assassinate Sinbad at the beginning of the film and attempting to kill the sage Malanthius near the end. It's made clear that both Zenobia and Rafi love each other as mother and son.
* ''Film/{{Sleepwalkers}}''. Mary Brady and her son Charles Brady are VoluntaryShapeshifter monsters who perform VampiricDraining of LifeEnergy from female human virgins. They work together to obtain victims so they can feed.

--> '''Mike:''' Do you think Slugworth would pay extra to know about this?
--> '''Mrs. Teavee:''' Just keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.

* In ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'', a rather old example of the trope would be the monstrous man-eating Grendel and his even more monstrous mother. Fitting enough, Grendel's mother is (somewhat understandably) furious when she discovers that her son has been slain and seeks to avenge him by continuing where he left off and later trying to kill his killer, Beowulf.

* Perhaps the most iconic and horrifying example of this is ''Literature/TheManchurianCandidate'' in which ManipulativeBitch extraordinaire, Senator Eleanor Iselin has her son brainwashed into becoming an assassin by Chinese Communists so that she can use him to kill all of her husband's rivals for the presidency. Her husband's of the [[HenpeckedHusband henpecked variety]] so if he were President, she'd still presumably be the one wearing the trousers and therefore President in all but name, making Eleanor an example of LadyMacbeth as well. Fortunately her son, Raymond Shaw is ultimately able to break free of her mind-control. There's a definite IncestSubtext between them which is made very obvious in the films and outright confirmed in the book. Eleanor was sexually abused by her own father, making her an arguable WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
* ''Literature/TeenPowerInc'': In "Green for Danger", it turned out that the criminal who was after the precious emeralds was just a pawn in the hands of his mother, [[spoiler:a local flower lady who pretended to be a kind and harmless CloudCuckoolander]].
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Cersei Lannister]] is a very ambitious and cunning woman [[MamaBear who holds her children very dearly]] particularly with her eldest son, Joffrey, who has shown signs of being a narcissist and sociopath. After [[TheCaligula Joffrey]] becomes King of Westeros, Cersei doesn't care about the abuses that her son made during his reign as long as he holds in the Iron Throne regardless what their opponents say about his parentage and her incestuous affair with her twin brother, Jaime. [[spoiler:When Joffrey was poisoned during his wedding, she becomes very paranoid of the people around her to the point of attempting to control her youngest son, Tommen, after he becomes king only to be very disappointed that he's nothing like his abusive older brother]].
* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': In ''Taggerung'', Antigra is obsessed with the idea of her son Gruven being the titular Taggerung (a prophesied warrior meant to be TheAce). Unfortunately, Gruven is an utter dumbass lacking the wit, strength and skill to be even a competent vermin leader (and would have no drive at all if it wasn't for his mother's ambitions).

* ''Literature/WhiteIndian'': the witch Melisande and her adopted son Othon Hugues.

* In the ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' episode "Alien Hunter," Creator/KathyBates plays a vicious alien hunter named Charlotte. She's assisted by her [[TheIgor Igor]]-like son Ned.

* ''Series/BloodTies2007'': [[EvilSorceress Lavena O'Connor]] the main antagonist of "Deadly Departed". When her son Magnus was in his teens, Lavena used black magic to corrupt him into a "[[PsychoForHire killing machine]]", renting him out to perform brutal assassinations to pay for her lifestyle and business. Following Magnus being arrested, Lavena forced him to perform a ritual that would bar his soul from the afterlife, and then used his spirit to carry on killing those who took him away from her. Magnus is even thankful to Vicki at the end for freeing him from his evil mother.

* Rosanna Calvieri and her son Francesco in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice Vampires of Venice]]''.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' and its spinoffs have many examples:
** The ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Venom", is about a pair of mother-son con artists, and murderers, who married wealthy people for their money and then killed each other's spouses in order to inherit the money. [[spoiler:The son's wife forgives him and still intends to defend him, but he refuses to turn against his mother, even after it turns out she abused him. (This is a theme with the Law And Orders.)]]

** In the ''Series/LawandOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Pique" there's a variant. Mother and son Grace and Jason Mayberry don't kill or commit crime together, but Grace raped Jason from the age of six...to [[{{Squick}} present day]], which drove him to rape and kill other women he was attracted to. Grace covers up for him, but only, it seems, out of concern for what might happen to her or her reputation.

* The NightmareFuel-packed 1998 TV series of ''Literature/OliverTwist'' makes posthumous character in the book, Agnes Leeford, a case of GreaterScopeVillain who was determined to murder her husband and claim his vast fortune. She was reluctantly assisted in her plans by her sniveling son, Edward, better known as Monks, whom she treated with utter contempt. After she died of alcoholism, Edward, under the pseudonym of Monks tried to finish what she started by trying to get his stepfather's fortune. Ultimately he does a HeelFaceTurn.

* ''Series/ResurrectionErtugrul'': Downplayed with Mahperi Hatun and Giyaseddin. While the former certainly holds a grudge against Ertugrul and has her own agenda for dethroning Sultan Alaeddin, the latter only acts hostile toward Ertugrul [[spoiler: after his father dies, not knowing that Sadettin was the one who administered the murder]] or that his mother had conspired against the sultan. Not only that, [[spoiler: but both of them reform after being offered shelter in the Kayi grounds]].
* ''Series/MagnificentCenturyKosem'': Played with Halime and her children. Nominally, her goal is to [[MotherMakesYouKing make her son Mustafa a sultan]], however, he is unable to help her in any way because of his mental illness and even when he becomes a ruler, he's basically her puppet. Halime is instead helped by her daughter princess Dilruba and Dilruba's husband Davud pasha.

* [[EvilOverlord Malekith the Witch-King]] and his mother [[VainSorceress Morathi the Hag Sorceress]] from ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' epitomize this trope. After Malekith was [[PassedOverPromotion passed over]] for the position of [[TheHighKing Phoenix King]], Morathi fostered the hatred and jealousy in her son and founded multiple insidious cults to sow corruption among the High Elves in order to further their agenda. This resulted in a full-scale civil war which saw them and the Dark Elves being exiled from their homeland. Their manipulations would not stop there, seeing as they also played a hand in causing the War of the Beard that shattered the alliance between the High Elves and the Dwarfs. Due to Dark Magic, they are both still around to the present as rulers of the Dark Elves, and while they might collaborate from time to time, Malekith is pragmatic enough to give his mother's intentions a wide berth when they conflict with his. In older editions, they were also known to engage in [[VillainousIncest Villanous]] ParentalIncest.
** They are both still at it in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'', except now they are both [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Elven Gods]] and are the [[TokenEvilTeammate Token Evil Teammates]] of the Grand Alliance of Order (due to pulling an EnemyMine with the forces of Order during the End Times). Following the Broken Realms Saga, in which Morathi turned on the rest of Order by forcibly annexing the city of Anvilgard, they are back to a more villainous relationship as they had in the World that Was.

* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder,'' Enkidu consistently refers to Tiamat as his "mother", alluding to the fact that he's actually Kingu, Tiamat's son and consort, using the hero's body. [[spoiler:She ultimately discards him once she's freed and replaced with the Lahmu, prompting him to rebel in the finale by turning into the Chains of Heaven to temporarily bind her, buying the heroes valuable time.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/SablesGrimoire: Man and Elf'', the dark elf Meave and her son Hagan are partners in crime. Hagan is just a child and doesn't want to do bad things or hurt anybody, but he goes along with his mother's schemes out of a desire to please her. Meave doesn't care what Hagan wants and will MindControl him if he objects to her commands even slightly.
* ''VideoGame/WildArms1'' takes this to a rather disturbing level. Zeikfried revives Mother out of a sense of loyalty and duty towards her but [[spoiler: quickly rethinks this decision when she reveals she intends to destroy him as well the world. Zeikfried then betrays her by helping the heroes get the Tear Drop back and urging them to destroy her as soon as possible. But then the game brings in the [[NightmareFuel Nightmare Fuel]] by having Mother [[DevourTheDragon eat him alive and take over his body]]. The penultimate boss is the two of them fused as one entity.]]
** ''VideoGame/WildArmsMillionMemories'' does the same but greatly tones it down. [[spoiler: This time Zeikfried openly betrays Mother with the final chapter opening with him and Rudy fighting to take her down, and a ''huge'' argument between mother and son.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': In "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E21TheEggbaby The Eggbaby]]", Terry contends with a family of thieves, Ma Mayhem and her two sons, Carl and Slim, as they commit a series of robberies involving valuable jewels that Ma Mayhem claims were originally hers before her former husband left her and their sons. Ma also claims at one point that she does love her sons, but [[AbusiveParent will often berate and slap them for their stupidity and/or incompetence]] throughout the episode. Which makes for a somewhat amusing contrast to Terry, and ostensibly Bruce, as Terry was forced to [[EggSitting act like a father to the titular Eggbaby for a class assignment]] (and ultimately proves him to be a pretty good parent at that) that he had to carry with him throughout the entire episode. While Bruce, the stern hardass he can be, not only serves as Terry's father figure and mentor, he will go to incredible lengths to protect Terry, even at the potential cost of his own life.

-->"Who do ya think taught me how in the first place?"
* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'', CorruptCorporateExecutive Mom is almost always accompanied by her three sons Walt, Larry, and Igner. She's also one hell of an AbusiveParent, constantly slapping her sons for every mistake they make, and treating them more like her personal EvilMinions rather than being her own children most of the time.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2SimbasPride'' has Zira as the BigBad, aided by her three children, including her sons Nuka and Kovu. Zira [[ParentalFavoritism blatantly favors]] Kovu and claims he was chosen to be Scar's heir, grooming him to kill Simba and take over the Pride Lands. Nuka tends to be an [[TheUnfavourite overlooked]] WellDoneSonGuy. Ironically, Kovu – who was never that evil in the first place – ends up having a change of heart and [[HeelFaceTurn switches sides]], while Nuka remains loyal to Zira, to the point of [[spoiler:getting himself killed trying to fulfil her wishes]]. Zira is [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely distraught]] over [[spoiler:Nuka's death]], though she immediately lashes out at Kovu and [[NeverMyFault claims it was his fault]]. [[spoiler:Kovu later tries to persuade his mother to stand down and make peace with Simba, [[RedemptionRejection but she refuses]]]].