History MamaBear / Literature

* In ''Batman Can't Fly'' by David Hines, David, the narrator, has a nasty experience at a swimming pool with a paedophilic attendant who sees him having an erection and orders him into the changing room, threatening to call the police on him and insisting on measuring his penis. David agonises over it and eventually confides in his mother. Her response is to drag him to the pool and make him point out the attendant, before going into a side room with the attendant and completely terrorising him. It's not known what she said to him or the manager, but afterwards she warns the attendant that if he ever lays a finger on her or anyone else's child, she'll "speak to someone, and it won't be your balls they'll cut". She ends by throwing the broken ruler at him.

* Sherrilyn Kenyon's ''Dark-Hunter'': Particularly in any of the books that mention the Peltiers -- a family of Katagari (animals who can turn into humans) bears. You do not mess with Nicolette 'Mama Lo' Peltier or her family. She will beat ten types of crap out of you before you have time to rethink your decision or write out your will.

* In the ''Literature/DearAmerica'' book ''A Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska'', Anetka and her family were having rocks thrown at them. She tried to ignore it until one hit her step-daughter at which point she says she became a mad woman like a mother cat and ran after the culprits.

* Creator/RudyardKipling's poem "The Female of the Species" spells out this whole trope.

* In M.T. Anderson's novel ''He Laughed with His Other Mouths'', Dolores Dash battles an evil alien who has her son under mind-control. [[spoiler:She causes a building to collapse on the alien.]]

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Katniss, towards Prim and Rue.

* In ''The Man in the Queue'' by Creator/JosephineTey, the murderer finds out that her daughter's jealous ex-boyfriend is planning an IfICantHaveYou murder, and kills him before he gets the chance.
* Averted in ''Masked Dog'' by Raymond Obstfeld. The sociopathic FemmeFataleSpy witnesses her daughter held captive by a serial rapist and murderer of adolescent girls, and is relieved that [[TheSociopath she doesn't feel outraged and driven to extremes to save her child]] like she heard mothers are in those circumstances.

* The cover blurb from Creator/HollyLisle's novel ''Literature/MinervaWakes'' notes: "Three rules govern life: Never give up on your dreams. Always do what is right. And NEVER mess with the Mommy."

* Creator/JodiPicoult's novel ''Perfect Match'' is about a woman who shoots and kills a man who she believes molested her five-year-old son. [[spoiler:Tragically, he turns out to have been innocent.]]
* [[ActionGirl Yanaba Maddock]], the protagonist of the ''Literature/{{Petaybee}}'' books, becomes this in the spinoff series ''The Twins of Petaybee''.

* Creator/SidneySheldon's ''Rage of Angels'' reveals lawyer Jennifer Parker to be a version of this, though she has to work indirectly. When her son is kidnapped, she knows time is of the essence, so she calls on the Mafia prince who's been lusting after her -- whom she knows to be very bad news from personal experience -- and asks him to do whatever he can to bring the child back alive, and when asked what to do with the kidnapper, she says "''Kill him!''" He mobilizes his forces to track them down, the child is rescued, and he kills the man himself. The two adults become lovers after this, setting up the remainder of the book.

* What Mikey's mother from ''Literature/TheRestOfUsJustLiveHere'' tries to be.

* Amelia Smudge in Jennifer Trafton's novel ''The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic''. She seems tough and unsympathetic to her daughters, but when they're endangered, look out.
* In the Creator/DaleBrown book ''Rogue Forces'', former Kurdish separatist Zilar Azzawi retakes her sword after a Turkish airstrike kills her husband and children.

* ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'': A fourteen-year-old Ruth, sometimes even to girls her own age.

* Meg in ''Stork Raving Mad''. Think that because she's in labor ''with twins'' she can't defend her about-to-be-born children? Guess again. [[spoiler: She's got a hat rack.]]

* ''Sweetheart'': Bliss, Susan's hippie mother, takes someone out with a statue of Buddha to protect her full grown daughter.

* Rachel O'Neal, in ''Teetoncey'' by Theodore Taylor, is this to a young shipwreck victim whom she nicknames "Teetoncey". Do not start with Rachel O'Neal. You will not win. That includes you, Atlantic Ocean.

* An ''extreme'' example is found in ''Literature/{{Beloved}}'' when Sethe, the main character, [[spoiler:attempts to kill her children in order to protect them from having to go back into slavery. She only succeeds with the titular Beloved]].
* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': When the creature Grendel is killed by the hero, his mother attacks and makes her anger known.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheBible'' when Athaliah, queen mother of Ahaziah, responds to the killing of her son the king not by going after the killer... but by killing her grandchildren [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen and taking over the throne]].

* In ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'', Wallenburg's Croatian mercenaries quickly learn that it is a ''very'' bad idea to attack a town whose defenses include two very formidable female fighters and a female tactical expert, all of whom are currently pregnant (one with her second child, her first also being in town). Right, Gretchen, Julie, and Rebecca? For bonus TooDumbToLive points, they go after the school, where most of the town's kids are being protected.
* The mothers of the titular ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' show ferocious protectiveness towards the end of the series. Some examples:

** Having found the man she believed to have kidnapped her son, Ce'nedra went psycho in his direction. She had to be ''restrained''.

* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' has among the earliest Mama Bears of literature. When the creature Grendel is killed by the hero, his mother attacks and makes her anger known.
** In John Gardener's satire-novel ''Literature/{{Grendel}}'', told from Grendel's point of view, he recalls a time when he was separated from his 'mama' as a child (he actually calls her that sometimes!), [[spoiler: with his ankle trapped between two trees, unable to free himself. After a while of screaming for his mama - so loudly the ground rumbles - that a bull comes and attacks him. Why? Because Grendel was going after a newborn calf that he smelled, distracting him from getting home before dawn. After the bull gives up on trying to knock him out of the tree and gore him, Grendel encounters humans for the first time. Who eventually attack him. Just as Hrotgar's ax hits him across the shoulder, Mama comes in with such a fireball of fury, scaring off the humans...and maybe even Grendel himself. And she tears down the trees to make him fall out.]]

* Literature/CassandraKresnov discovers that she's this after she befriends a trio of war orphans in ''Operation Shield''. Considering that she's an ArtificialHuman supersoldier who makes the Terminator look about as threatening as a Robosapien doll, any threat to her kids quickly becomes a MookHorrorShow.
* Cecily in ''Literature/TheChemicalGardenTrilogy'', who [[spoiler:shoots Vaughn, partly to protect her baby from him]].

* A big, quite literal example can be found in Sherrilyn Kenyon's ''Dark-Hunter'' series. Particularly in any of the books that mention the Peltiers -- a family of Katagari (animals who can turn into humans) bears. You do not mess with Nicolette 'Mama Lo' Peltier or her family. She will beat ten types of crap out of you before you have time to rethink your decision or write out your will.

--->'That's a Sugarbean woman for you, Drumknott, little domestic slaves until they think someone has been wronged and then they go to war like Queen Ynci of Lancre, with chariot wheels spinning and arms and legs all over the place.'

* Ayla in ''Literature/EarthsChildren'' is fiercely protective of her children or those she perceives as her children.
** When her newborn son Durc is considered deformed - meaning he must be left to die - Ayla runs away with him to a small cave she had lived in when she was cursed with death a year or so earlier, intending to return after seven days, as if a baby lives that long it must be accepted by the clan's leader. This is despite the fact she is still torn, heavily bleeding and quite weak from her traumatic birth, which almost ''killed'' her. She later stands up to Broud in front of everyone and calls him out when he tries to separate her from her son, and vehemently defends Durc and his [[HalfBreedDiscrimination half-Clan heritage]] from her own people.
** She's very protective of her animals, some of whom she regards as her children (especially as she raised them from babies). When her cave lion Baby appears at the Mamutoi Summer Meeting, she flings herself between him and some spear-wielding hunters to protect him despite the dangers. She risks her life to rescue her horse Whinney when she gets caught up in stampede near a cliff. She also freaks out on Jondalar when he (reluctantly) suggests they MercyKill her horses because they can't make it over a glacier (the ice is so sharp it cuts open their hooves) and instead comes up with another solution (leather booties to protect their feet).

* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'':
** Don't mess with ma Costa. When a man accused the missing Billy of leaving, he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before he had to run from her physical and verbal attacks.
** Mrs. Coulter may be a horrible and mostly absent mother and loves watching children become separated from their souls (most died quickly), but leave her own daughter alone! In the end, she ultimately [[spoiler:sacrificed herself and her afterlife to take down the ultimate angel who wanted her daughter's death]].
* In the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, hurt anyone under the titular heroine's [[AFatherToHisMen authority]] or [[{{Protectorate}} protection]],[[TooDumbToLive and your life is forfeit.]]
* Sophie Pendragon (née Hatter) in ''Literature/HouseOfManyWays''. ''Do not touch Morgan Pendragon or SHE WILL KILL YOU.''

* Mother Wolf in ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', whose very first scene involves standing down Shere Khan the tiger over Mowgli's life, and who is named "Raksha the Demon" for a very good reason.
%%* Liz Pennykettle from ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles''.
%%** Grella for [[spoiler:Gwilanna]]. Yeah. [[ManipulativeBastard That one]].

** In ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'': Charlotte Branwell hovers somewhere between this and [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sister Instinct]] for the younger inhabitants of the London Institute.

* A fourteen-year-old Ruth in ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'', sometimes even to girls her own age.

* Bliss, Susan's hippie mother, takes someone out with a statue of Buddha to protect her full grown daughter in ''Sweetheart''.

** ''Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth'': In ''The Book of Lost Tales'''s version of the Fall of Gondolin, Idril is described as fighting 'like a tigress' to protect her son Eärendil from Maeglin. She fails, but when PapaWolf Tuor turns up...
* Jason Porath of Website/RejectedPrincesses fame is about to come out with a second book called ''Tough Mothers'' that will focus on tough mothers from history. [[http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/blog/book-2-preorders-are-up The cover]] features a bear on her hind legs with a cub hiding behind her.
* Lady Svetlana in ''Literature/{{Tranquilium}}'' is very much this after giving birth in the beginning of Part Two. She goes out of her way to protect her little boy from revolutionary terror, war and a scarily ruthless conspiracy based in another dimension, though she got help along the way; for all her [[{{Wangst}} other issues]] [[IWillWaitForYou and]] [[ParentalAbandonment whatnot]], the safety of her child clearly becomes an overriding concern for her for the rest of the book. This status of hers is also helped somewhat by the fact that she is actually pretty good at fist-fighting thanks to the training she underwent with her father's men (her father was a captain).

* ''Literature/TheShadowhunterChronicles'':
** In ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'':
*** Inquisitor Imogen Herondale hates Jace because she resents the fact that Valentine's son survived the Uprising while her own son, Stephen, was killed.[[spoiler: This ends up backfiring on her in her final moments, when she realizes that Jace ''isn't'' Valentine's biological son, he's Stephen's, making him her grandson. Too bad she ends up dying before she can explain the truth.]]
*** Special mention goes to Jocelyn as well. She betrayed her husband, faked her death, and left her entire world behind at nineteen because she refused to let Valentine do to her daughter what he did to her son.
** In ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'': Charlotte Branwell hovers somewhere between this and [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sister Instinct]] for the younger inhabitants of the London Institute.
** [[spoiler:Lilith considers Jonathan her "son" due to him being tainted by her blood, and takes measures to protect him throughout the second trilogy]].

* ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'':
** Despite her hatred for children, Imogen Herondale in ''City of Ashes'' acknowledges this trope, coming to the conclusion that Valentine would do anything for his son like she would.

* Creator/RaymondObstfeld's ''Literature/MaskedDog'' : {{The sociopath}}ic FemmeFatale witnesses her daughter held captive by the villain (a rapist and murderer of adolescent girls) and is relieved that she doesn't feel outraged and driven to extremes like she heard mothers are in those circumstances.

* In ''Penny from Heaven'', Penny relates an incident in which her grandmother threatened Bobby the neighborhood bully with a meat cleaver after he hit Frankie.

* Keturah in ''Literature/CounselorsAndKings''
* Elizabeth Bathory toward her young daughter Orsolya in ''Literature/CountAndCountess''.

* In ''{{Literature/Armada}}'', the hero Zack's mom Pamela goes to defend her son with a baseball bat against alien drones before getting a laser weapon instead.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/FirstLaw": Emma Two abandoned a human in danger, violating [[ThreeLawsCompliant the First Law of Robotics]], because otherwise the human would've killed their child. No, how Emma was [[TrulySingleParent able to give birth]] is ''not'' explained.
* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf Spine Tinglers'': [[spoiler: It's made ''very'' clear that the gigantic monster at the end of ''Grendel'' is going to get revenge on the scientists and photographers who have been running rampant on her baby's corpse.]]
* In Creator/CharlesDickens's ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'', Miss Pross, although she is technically not Lucie Manette's mother, loves Lucie like a daughter. In order to protect Lucie and those she cares about (but mostly Lucie) she ends up killing Madame Defarge.
* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's novel ''Literature/{{Barrayar}}'':
** Cordelia Vorkosigan is an off-worlder who is mostly bored by the Byzantine politics of her husband's home planet Barrayar. Until a civil war puts her baby (in a high-tech incubator) in danger. Then she single-handedly defeats a usurping ruler and ends the war. And [[OffWithHisHead brings back the usurper's head in a shopping bag]] to make her point clear.
** Princess Kareen Vorbarra makes a very credible attempt to kill her unwanted lover when she realizes the man is a threat to the life of her five-year-old son, Gregor. She fails, but not for lack of trying.
* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's later novel ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' the controlled, undemonstrative half-haut Baronne Cordonah reveals her inner MamaBear pinning the treacherous ally who has endangered three of her children to the wall.

* In John Varley's story ''The Bellman'', Anna Louise Bach. Think that because she's in labor she can't defend her about-to-be-born child? Guess again. [[spoiler: She's got a power drill.]]
* An ''extreme'' example is found in Toni Morrison's ''Literature/{{Beloved}}'', where Sethe, the main character [[spoiler:attempts to kill her children in order to protect them from having to go back into slavery. She only succeeds with the titular Beloved.]]

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheBible'', where Athaliah, queen mother of Ahaziah, responds to the killing of her son the king not by going after the killer...but killing her grandchildren [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen and taking over the throne]].

* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'', while Echidna is never exactly safe, it is the death of her son that inspires her to come and slaughter every human being she finds.

* A big, quite literal example can be found in Sherrilyn Kenyon's ''Dark-Hunter'' series. Particularly in any of the books that mention the Peltiers - A family of Katagari (animals who can turn into humans) bears. You do not mess with Nicolette 'Mama Lo' Peltier or her family. She will beat ten types of crap out of you before you have time to rethink your decision or write out your will.

* Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne''. She puts up with years of physical and mental abuse from her husband, because her main focus is giving her kids the best life she can by saving for each of them to go to college. But when she finds out that he's hurting the kids, he has to die. She's very methodical about it, arranging to make it look like an accident and ensuring that none of her children are home at the time it happens.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''

* Eleven-year-old black belt Candy beats a grown man to death in ''Literature/{{Emergence}}'', by David Palmer, when he makes the fatal error in judgement of launching a potentially deadly attack with a frying pan on her lifelong pet/sibling Terry (a hyacinth macaw), who is referred to as her "child substitute".
** In the same book, a would-be rapist finds out about MamaBear the hard way when Kim catches him with six-year-old daughter Lisa. Kim's biggest distress over this incident is how long it took to get the mess out of the carpet.
* [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Star Wars Expanded Universe]]:
** Leia becomes one with the birth of the twins Jaina and Jacen, and later Anakin. She does not look kindly upon threats to her children.
** ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'' details Han in his youth and early years as a smuggler, and the first book, ''Paradise Snare'', shows that Chewbacca wasn't the first Wookiee that he developed a close bond with. Serving as a cook aboard the outlaw [[TheFagin Garris Shrike's]] vessel, she came to see the orphan Han Solo as a son, and he reciprocated the feeling. At 16 years of age, Han attempted to strike out on his own, knowing that Shrike would use his abilities as a pilot and scam artist until Han either got caught or was no longer useful. After stealing some supplies, Han met with Dewlanna to say goodbye, but was met by Shrike and his men, and [[AbusiveParents past experience]] made it clear [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown what was coming]]. Dewlanna rose to Han's defense and beat up Shrike's men, viciously shattering his brother's arm, [[HeroicSacrifice before being gunned down by the outlaw]]. Her sacrifice allowed Han to escape and grow into the man that everyone knows him as.
** Tash Arranda in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' is sometimes an odd example. She starts the series at thirteen years old, with a brother a year younger. Feeling PromotedToParent, she does what she can to help him with their OrphansOrdeal, but has understandable separation anxiety and abandonment issues. When her brother disappears, Tash believes a Hutt gang lord who threatened both of them before may have abducted him, and goes to beard him in his lair without hesitation. In many other books they're more of a BrotherSisterTeam with each helping out the other.
** Kirney Slane [[spoiler: AKA Lara Notsil]] finds out in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Mercy Kill]]'' that the new Wraith Squadron contains an alarming number of children or descendants of the original members. She makes [[TheSmartGuy Voort]] state that he will not recruit her children. ''Four times''.
** Do ''not'' threaten Ben Skywalker. Not unless you want to face the wrath of Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand and Jedi Knight. Just because she's firmly under the Light Side of the Force doesn't mean she won't utterly destroy you should you endanger her son.
* In ''Literature/TheFightForHome'' Arianna goes out on her own to engage an approaching enemy fleet. Said fleet wishes to kill her son and his crew and she will only accept either the commander being dead or the fleet going through her dead body to get to her son.

* Another Creator/StephenKing instance: In "[[Literature/FullDarkNoStars A Good Marriage]]", Darcy discovers that her husband [[spoiler:is a SerialKiller]]. She realizes that her children will run into serious problems with careers and personal lives if this becomes public knowledge, so she solves the problem herself [[spoiler:by killing her husband in a way that looks accidental, to keep his activities secret while putting a stop to same]].
* ''Literature/HankTheCowdog''

* This happens in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''; when resident DarkActionGirl Bellatrix Lestrange nearly kills [[CuteWitch Ginny Weasley]], Ginny's HouseWife mother Molly [[BewareTheNiceOnes goes ballistic and kills her in a matter of seconds]] with a well-placed curse at the chest. "NOT MY DAUGHTER, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch YOU BITCH!]]" quickly became the most-quoted line from the book. This is a double example: Bellatrix showed her "TooDumbToLive" credentials by mocking Molly's recent loss of one of her sons, Fred, which only got the ActionMom ''even more pissed off'' than she already was. According to WordOfGod, Molly comes from a family of aurors, and her ''brothers'' Fabian and Gideon Prewett had been killed by Voldemort and his followers years earlier. Twin brothers F and G? Not likely a coincidence. The reaction could have been skill or sheer instinct -- remember Molly's boggart, alias her biggest fear? ''[[ChekhovsGun Losing her family and friends]]''. And, at the time, Molly (and everyone else) still thought Harry was dead, [[LikeaSonToMe whom she viewed as a son]]. This was just one more reason for her to want to kick the Death Eaters' asses. Just how powerful does Molly turn out to be? Earlier, Professor [=McGonagall=] was ambushed by four Aurors firing Stunners at her chest, which knocks her out. Molly fires a Stunner at Bellatrix that causes ''immediate cardiac arrest''. It's turned up even more in the film, in which the spell squeezes Bellatrix's chest for a moment, then ''disintegrates her''.
** This is the reason Harry survived his first encounter with Voldemort. His mother Lily was given the chance to flee but she chose to protect baby Harry with her life, which granted Harry magical protection. Notice that this was a young woman in her 20's without her only weapon and in front of one of the most powerful mages ''ever'' -- and she chose death over handing her baby to the Death Eaters.

** [=McGonagall=] has shades of this when it comes to her students, as shown when she defends Harry from Snape. Also, in a castle controlled by Death Eaters, she, despite being noted as old, continues to stand up to people who are known for their hobby of torturing and killing people they don't like, all for the sake of her students. And in the final book when she learns Hogwarts is about to be attacked by Voldemort's forces, she takes charge to protect her students.
** Even [[NotSoPhonyPsychic Professor Trelawney]] gets a moment of this: the last we see of her in the books is when she fights off [[FullyEmbracedFiend Fenrir Greyback]] to defend [[DumbBlonde Lavender Brown]], one of her favorite students.

* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': Don't mess with ma Costa. When a man accused the missing Billy of leaving, he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before he had to run from her physical and verbal attacks.
** Mrs Coulter may be a horrible and mostly absent mother and loves watching children become separated from their souls (most died quickly), but leave her own daughter alone! In the end, she ultimately [[spoiler: sacrificed herself and her afterlife to take down the ultimate angel who wanted her daughter's death]].

* Sophie Pendragon (née Hatter) in ''Literature/HouseOfManyWays'' by Creator/DianaWynneJones. ''Do not touch Morgan Pendragon or SHE WILL KILL YOU.''
** In another Creator/DianaWynneJones novel, ''Literature/BlackMaria'', Mig's mother becomes very angry when she finds out that Aunt Maria had turned her son into a wolf and tried to get the town to shoot him. Later, when Mig is being held captive in the orphanage (which is essentially used to brainwash the town's children), her mother storms in and demands that the people in charge tell her where her daughter is. All we see is the mother dragging the head of the orphanage and shaking her for locking Mig up, but it's implied that she did more. The children in the orphanage are delighted and cheer her on.

* ''Literature/InDeath'': [[spoiler: Areena Mansfield]] murdered Richard Draco in ''Witness In Death''. Why? [[spoiler: Because he was having sex with their daughter Carley. She had told him that she was their daughter because she thought it would turn off his interest in her. Instead, he went and did it, knowing that he was committing incest. He bragged about it to her and wanted to have a threesome composed of him, Areena, and Carley]]. If you do not consider this a good enough reason for her to go MamaBear, then you clearly have no soul!

* Creator/RudyardKipling:
** ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', Mother Wolf, whose very first scene involves standing down Shere Khan the tiger over Mowgli's life, and who is named "Raksha the Demon" for a very good reason.
** There's also the poem "The Female of the Species" which spells out this whole trope (in less than half the space).

* Inverted in Creator/EEDocSmith's ''[[Literature/{{Lensman}} Children of the Lens]]'', in which the heroine's ''daughter'' wreaks havoc with the mind of an enemy agent in order to force that agent's co-operation with her mother. In fact the trope plays almost straight ''in-universe'' because the agent views the mother as automatically more capable than the daughter (not knowing that the inverse is true here) and alters her perceptions and behaviour accordingly.
* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Cersei Lannister's main motivation, and her only good trait, is her love for her children. Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella are the world to her, and to protect them from a prophecy she has interpreted as saying that they'll be crowned and die before she kicks the bucket, she will do ''anything''. Including arranging the death of her husband's bastards any time she finds one, baby or not.
** Catelyn Stark also turns into one of these, going so far as to free Jaime "the Kingslayer" Lannister in exchange for her daughters Sansa and Arya, and later she goes on a KnightTemplar-like vendetta against the Freys because, among other things, they brutally killed her eldest son Robb.
** Catelyn's sister, Lysa, who is so protective of her only son that she immediately packed up and headed back to the Vale the moment her husband died, so no one could take Robert away from her. Definitely crosses over into MyBelovedSmother, as she still breastfeeds him even though he is ''six years old''.
** Note to anybody trying to attack Bear Island: the women of the place live up to the name, be they of [[BadassFamily House Mormont]] or not. What with regular Ironborn raids and their husbands, fathers and brothers often away at sea for long periods either fishing or trying to settle scores, the women and girls have [[HadToBeSharp carefully cultivated the instinct to protect their own]] by becoming [[ActionGirl Action Girls]], [[ActionMom Action Moms]] and NeverMessWithGranny-types. Touch their kids with malice aforethought; get a face full of axe.
** Rhaenyra Targaryen also qualifies, the mother of five sons and a stillborn daughter during the Dance of the Dragons, she becomes more and more vengeful as her sons die, stopping at nothing to try and avenge them. She outright forbade her younger children from participating and was also quite protective of her step-daughters, Baela and Rhaena.
** Daenerys Targaryen [[SilkHidingSteel doesn't lift a finger]] to save her brother Viserys from being murdered by Khal Drogo after he drunkenly threatens to kill her unborn baby. She has put up with her brother's abusive behavior for years, she has lobbied the Dothraki from punishing Viserys before for mistreating her, but the moment he threatens her baby, she will gladly show who is the real dragon of the relationship.

* Creator/RaymondObstfeld's ''Literature/MaskedDog'' : {{The sociopath}}ic FemmeFatale witnesses her daughter held captive by the villain (a rapist and murderer of adolescent girls) and is relieved that she doesn't feel outraged and driven to extremes like she heard mothers are in those circumstances.

* Erienne in spades. Most of the book [[{{Literature/ChroniclesOfTheRaven}} Nightchild]] is devoted to her role as this. Friend or foe, warrior or mage, nothing will prevent her from protecting her and Denser's daughter.
* Extreme side character Trinny, leader of [[BewareTheNiceOnes touchy-feely Darling House]] (the story takes place at a boarding school) in Melina Marchetta's ''Literature/OnTheJellicoeRoad''.
--> ''If those cadets come near my Year Sevens again,'' I will maim them.

* In ''Penny from Heaven,'' Penny relates an incident in which her grandmother threatened Bobby the neighborhood bully with a meat cleaver after he hit Frankie.

* Sidney Sheldon's ''Rage of Angels'' reveals lawyer Jennifer Parker to be a version of this, though she has to work indirectly. When her son is kidnapped, she knows time is of the essence, so she calls on the Mafia prince who's been lusting after her -- whom she knows to be very bad news from personal experience -- and asks him to do whatever he can to bring the child back alive, and when asked what to do with the kidnapper, she says "''Kill him!''" He mobilizes his forces to track them down, the child is rescued, and he kills the man himself. The two adults become lovers after this, setting up the remainder of the book.

** Redwall, Constance is calm and peaceful...then Cluny threatens Redwall and she lifts A GIANT TABLE AND THREATENS TO CRUSH HIM WITH IT!

* What Mikey's mother from [[TheRestOfUsJustLiveHere The Rest Of Us Just Live Here]] tries to be.

* In Creator/RafaelSabatini's ''Literature/TheSeaHawk'', Fenzileh will do ANYTHING to advance her son's future.

* Done to absolutely ''terrifying'' effect in Creator/AgathaChristie's short story "The Last Seance." In the story, a young woman named Simone who is genuinely gifted with the [[PsychicPowers psychic ability]] to [[ISeeDeadPeople channel the dead]] plans on finally retiring, as her [[BlessedWithSuck power exhausts her mentally and physically]]. However, she agrees to perform one [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin last seance]] for a woman named Madame Exe, who lost her only daughter Amelie and still mourns her. When Madame Exe shows up, she is reminded that she must not touch whatever manifestation appears for fear of harming Simone. But when the young woman ''does'' manage to physically channel Amelie's ghost, Madame Exe goes absolutely ballistic and grabs the child, despite Simone's screams. This ends up killing the psychic (she manifested the spirit from her own body, and breaking the link essentially ripped her in half), but Madame Exe doesn't care. All she wants is Amelie, and she is willing to defy death itself if it means getting her back.
* Inverted in ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant: Death Bringer'' when Valkyrie hears her mother was attacked by a mugger and breaks into his cell to beat him up.
* In ''Literature/TheSecretOfPlatform13,'' [[RichBitch Larina Trottle]] is a villainous example, using her vast resources to move heaven and earth to protect her son from kidnappers. (Despite having [[{{Hypocrite}} kidnapped a child herself]] to ''get'' a son; these new kidnappers, in fact, are trying to restore him to his rightful family.) She also plots to destroy the life of her servant boy, Ben, for the simple crime of being smarter and more generally likeable than her little darling. (For added hypocrisy, [[spoiler:Ben was the kid she kidnapped and planned to raise as her son, until she got pregnant and tossed him aside]].)

* A fourteen-year-old Ruth in ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'', sometimes even to girls her own age.
* In ''Literature/TheShining'' Wendy Torrance treasures her son Daniel and will fiercely protect him from harm, even if it's ghosts or own [[DemonicPossession possessed]] husband Jack who’s threatening Danny. At one point there's a moment where it seems like she has injured her son, but Jack immediately dismisses the idea knowingly full well that Wendy would sooner pour gasoline on herself and strike a match than hurt Danny.
* ''Literature/ShoshanYLaDamaOscura''

* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''Literature/SpiralArm'' novel ''On the Razor's Edge'', Bridget calls in the Hounds to get aid: they are going after her daughter into enemy territory. Later, one Shadow is surprise at how many Hounds followed; another is not, because she had stolen the cub from the Mama Bear.
* A rarely discussed, but still notable, example would be Mara Jade Skywalker, from the ''Franchise/StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse. Probably most notable in ''Sacrifice'', where her worry for her son (Ben) convinces her to go hunt and attempt to kill the two Sith Lords whom she thinks are plotting to kill him. She's partially right in that respect, and this leads to a VERY nasty brawl. Do not mess with a MamaBear who's also a trained assassin. It will ''not'' end well for you. [[spoiler: [[TearJerker Unless you're Darth Caedus]], and even then, he barely escaped.]]

* John Wyndham's short story ''Survival'', in which one of the stranded passengers resorts to extreme measures to make sure her baby doesn't starve.

* ''Tales for the Midnight Hour'' plays maternal protectiveness for horror. A bored and disrespectful night guard, pulling himself out of staring at a princess' sarcophagus, sticks his gum to the back of a mummy's head. It crosses his mind afterwards that the mummy was said princess' son. Her spirit punishes him for desecrating her son's body by using the sarcophagus' painted eyes to hypnotize him into [[BuriedAlive shutting himself inside it]].

--> '''Isanella''': ''Don't.''

* Jason Porath of Website/RejectedPrincesses fame is about to come out with a second book called ''Tough Mothers'' that will focus on tough mothers from history. [[http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/blog/book-2-preorders-are-up The cover]] features a bear on her hind legs with a cub hiding behind her.
* In ''[[Literature/TheBridgeKingdomArchives Traitor Queen]]'' [[RoyalHarem harem]] wives are ''very'' protective of harem children, both their own and born of other wives. Which is why they particularly hate the king's spymaster Serin and have given him the nickname "Magpie". It's not only that his voice is so grating--magpies are known to kill young songbirds.
* Lady Svetlana in ''Literature/{{Tranquilium}}'' is very much this after giving birth in the beginning of Part Two. She goes out of her way to protect her little boy from revolutionary terror, war and a scarily ruthless conspiracy based in another dimension, though she got help along the way; for all her [[{{Wangst}} other issues]] [[IWillWaitForYou and]] [[ParentalAbandonment whatnot]], the safety of her child clearly becomes an overriding concern for her for the rest of the book. This status of hers is also helped somewhat by the fact that she is actually pretty good at fist-fighting thanks to the training she underwent with her father's men (her father was a captain).

** ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'': Christopher Tolkien describes a WorthyOpponent version of this trope. In the wars between Gondor and the Wainriders, a revolt is arranged among some of the Wainriders slaves while the men are away on campaign:

** ''Literature/TheBookOfLostTales'': In the book's version of the Fall of Gondolin, Idril is described as fighting 'like a tigress' to protect her son Eärendil from Maeglin. She fails, but when PapaWolf Tuor turns up...
* ''Literature/VampireAcademy'': Janine Hathaway is very protective of her daughter, and deeply cares about her safety and well-being. She is very intimidating to Rose's would-be boyfriends.

* In Creator/JamesHSchmitz's ''Literature/TheWitchesOfKarres'', Toll is the mother of one of the main characters--and the resident GreatGazoo is afraid of tangling with her.

** In ''High Wizardry'', Dairine Callahan becomes the "mother" to a race of sentient silicon lifeforms, and a threat to them (as well as Nita and Kit) prompts her to tell the Devil-equivalent, "Touch them and you're dead meat." Shortly after, when a powerful ally appears to help out, the ally's gender turns out to be female, surprising the protagonists, said ally then comments "Men will fight bravely and be heroes, but for last-ditch defense against any odds . . .get a Mother."

** [[BadassInCharge Daniar]] will break her ThouShallNotKill rule if you kill her son

* In ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'', Christopher Tolkien describes a WorthyOpponent version of this trope. In the wars between Gondor and the Wainriders, a revolt is arranged among some of the Wainriders slaves while the men are away on campaign:
-->''"But most of them perished in the attempt; for they were ill-armed, and the enemy had not left their homes undefended: their youths and old men were aided by the younger women, who in that people were also trained in arms and fought fiercely in defence of their homes and their children."''
** Also, in the ''Literature/BookOfLostTales'' version of the Fall of Gondolin, Idril is described as fighting 'like a tigress' to protect her son Eärendil from Maeglin. She fails, but when PapaWolf Tuor turns up...
* Janine Hathaway from ''Literature/VampireAcademy'' is very protective of her daughter, and deeply cares about her safety and well-being. She is very intimidating to Rose's would-be boyfriends.
* Many queens in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' behave like this whenever their kits are in danger or bullied. Several examples include [[spoiler:Yellowfang]], [[spoiler:Leafpool]], Sasha, and Sandstorm.
** Averted with Rainflower, the mother of Crookedstar and Oakheart, who cruelly neglects Crookedstar all because he broke his jaw. Thus, it's Shellheart who brings out his PapaWolf roll.
*** It is arguable why she does this, it is quite possible she does it out of tough love care, thinking that if she goes soft on him, he would not become a stronger individual. While she seems cold from his perspective, it could be much more than what is not described.

* Darcy in ''Literature/QuicksandHouse'' is a pre-teen, deranged, [[KnifeNut stab-happy]] version of this trope. She doesn't care much about most people, but she's extremely protective of her adopted little brother / son Drool, and even dotes on Leech despite Leech being so young that she should still register as unbearably ugly to adult humans (ItMakesSenseInContext). The nannies are also all like that - threaten a nanny's charges, and she'll [[spoiler: pull off her own leg and hit you with it]] in their defense.