History MamaBear / Literature

* 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 whose 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.

* The ''Literature/HankTheCowdog'' series brings us Sally May, mother of Little Alfred and Baby Molly. Unfortunately, Hank is quite often the target of her scorn for "corrupting" her children. Still, more than once she's stood up to some pretty serious dangers to keep her kids safe.

* 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 [=McGonicall=] 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''.

** Cersei Lannister's main motivation, and her only good trait, is her lover 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.

* The mothers of the titular ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' show this trope in spades towards the end of the series. Some examples:

--> '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.’

* InCreator/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 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.

* Liz Pennykettle from ''[[Literature/{{Dragons}} The Last Dragon Chronicles]]''.
** Grella for [[spoiler:Gwilanna]]. Yeah. [[ManipulativeBastard That one]].

* In the ''Literature/DearAmerica'' book ''A Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska'' Americans were throwing rocks at Anetka and her family. 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.

* 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]] [[YourCheatingHeart 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).

%%
%%
%%
%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%

* This is Cersei Lannister's main motivation in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', and her only good trait. 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.
** 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.

* Lampshaded and averted by {{the sociopath}}ic FemmeFatale of ''Masked Dog'' by Raymond Obstfeld. She 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.

* 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.

* [[Franchise/StarWars Leia]] becomes one in the [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Expanded Universe]]. She does not look kindly upon threats to her children.

** Magrat in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' who disposed of Countess Magpyr in a cold-hearted Mama Bear showdown. While she had a BewareTheNiceOnes moment in every book prior to her daughter's birth, it was always a one-off thing triggered by a BerserkButton. In this book, though, her determination to protect baby Esme makes her possibly the most in-control of the witches (at least in Granny Weatherwax's absence). As Agnes thinks, mothers aren't wet, they're only slightly damp.
** [[spoiler:Sergeant Jackrum]] in ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' cares deeply for those under her protection. She will fight many foes and blackmail the top brass of the army to keep them safe.
** Also invoked and deconstructed by Granny Aching in ''Discworld/TheWeeFreeMen'', where she teaches a valuable lesson with the aid of a Mama Sheep.
** In ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'' there's mention of a sacrificial goat that gave birth to twins just before the fatal part of the ceremony, and chased all the priests out of the Temple of Blind Io in defense of her kids.

** Before meeting Sam Vimes, the only thing Sybil Ramkin really cared about was looking after her swamp dragons. In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', upon learning that the dwarf who just got incinerated by said swamp dragons was the fourth member of a team of assassins sent into their home to be killed or captured and the number remaining is unknown, she hands Sam one of the dragons and says "Coal him up."
** Glenda in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', towards pretty much everyone in her sphere. According to Vetinari [[note]]who should certainly know -- her grandmother was the cook at the Assassins' Guild when he was at school there, and had a standing rule about '''never''' using her food to poison anyone[[/note]], it's a family trait:

* 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.

* 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.
* InCreator/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.

* Averted in ''Literature/FrostflowerAndThorn'' because [[spoiler:while Thorn mounts a daring rescue for her biological son Starwind she's doing it for Frost's sake, not his, and while Frostflower would give her life for her son she would not take a life for him, especially since she knows he [[HappilyAdopted won't be harmed]] by the priests.]]
* Mere Lessard of ''Literature/SacreBleu'' nearly brains the titular muse with a crepe pan when she believes that Bleu is endangering her son. She earlier gives a few gruesome examples of what she will do to "Juliette" if Lucien comes to any harm whatsoever.
* 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.]]
* 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.]]
* 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.
* ''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.
** [[spoiler:Lilith considers Jonathan her "son" due to him being tainted by her blood, and takes measures to protect him throughout the second trilogy]].
* 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.
* 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.
* ''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]].
* Cecily in ''Literature/TheChemicalGardenTrilogy'', who [[spoiler:shoots Vaughn, partly to protect her baby from him]].
* 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.
* 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/JourneyToChaos'': When Sathel caught her daughter's kidnapper, the only reason she didn't kill him then and there was because he was about to turn himself in to a Justice Station. Instead, [[MurderArsonAndJaywalking she subjected him to years of poison-induced illness, nightmarish hallucinations, and horrible itching]].
* In ''Literature/RatmansNotebooks'', the title character's relationship with the SwarmOfRats starts when his mother orders him to drown the rodents that have infested her garden, but he's too impressed by the mother rat's determined efforts to rescue her babies to go through with it.
* 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.
* 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.
* Lampshaded and averted by {{the sociopath}}ic FemmeFatale of ''Masked Dog'' by Raymond Obstfeld. She 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.

* 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.

* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': When Sathel caught her daughter's kidnapper, the only reason she didn't kill him then and there was because he was about to turn himself in to a Justice Station. Instead, she subjected him to years of poison-induced illness, nightmarish hallucinations, and horrible itching.

* 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 whose threatening Danny. At one point there's 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.

* 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 whose threatening Danny. At one point there's moment where it seems like she has injured her son, but Jack immediately dismisses the idea knowingly full well that Wendy would sooner pull gasoline on herself and strike a match than hurt Danny.

* In ''Literature/TheShining'' Wendy Torrance treasures her son Daniel and will do fiercely protect him from harm even if it's ghosts or own [[DemonicPossession possessed]] husband Jack whose threatening Danny. At one point there's moment where it seems like she has injured her son, but Jack immediately dismisses the idea knowingly full well that Wendy would sooner pull gasoline on herself and strike a match than hurt Danny.

* 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 in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

* 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 [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome 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 [=McGonicall=] 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''.

** [[spoiler:Sergeant Jackrum]] in ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' cares deeply for those under her protection. She will fight many foes and blackmail the top brass of the army to keep them safe.

** There's [[spoiler: Susan Rodriguez]], who performs a HeroicSacrifice for her daughter from being sacrificed by vampires. [[spoiler:During this sacrifice, she had killed a man and drank his blood, changing her into a full vampire and losing her soul, but she held onto the last fragments of her humanity to allow Harry Dresden to kill her and destroy the whole Red Court, all for the love of her daughter]].

** Magrat in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' who disposed of Countess Magpyr in a cold-hearted Mama Bear showdown. While she had a BewareTheNiceOnes moment in every book prior to her daughter's birth, it was always a one-off thing triggered by a BerserkButton. In CJ, though, her determination to protect baby Esme makes her possibly the most in-control of the witches (at least in Granny Weatherwax's absence). As Agnes thinks, mothers aren't wet, they're only slightly damp.
** [[spoiler:Sergeant Jackrum]] in ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment''.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' has Charity Carpenter, who is not only a badass with a sword, but fiercely protective of her kids, to the point where she scares even Harry.
** [[spoiler: There's Susan Rodriguez, who performs a HeroicSacrifice for her daughter Maggie.]]