La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman") is a Hispanic-American mythical Vengeful Ghost said to roam waterfront areas, mourning her children whom she drowned. Her legend is traditionally told throughout Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, though it has found its way into the United States courtesy of immigrants. La Llorona is often conflated with La Malinche.
Depending on which version of the myth you hear, La Llorona's murderous rage was caused by her husband either cheating on or abandoning her.
La Llorona is often used as a story for their children, who are told that she will come and take them away if they don't behave themselves.
The myth of La Llorona has been adapted into multiple films, most of which have been poorly received. They include, but are not limited to, The Curse of La Llorona and La Llorona.
This myth contains the following tropes:
- Barred from the Afterlife: In some versions, La Llorona is this after not only killing her children, but also breaking the ultimate sin by killing herself.
- Driven to Suicide: Stricken with grief after drowning her children, La Llorona took her own life.
- Fate Worse than Death: In some versions, La Llorona has been Barred from the Afterlife and forced to walk the Earth until she finds her lost children.
- Offing the Offspring: La Llorona murdered her children in a fit of rage after she discovered that her husband cheated on her, before killing herself.
- Tragic Villain: La Llorona is the villain of the myth, but her actions are at least understandable. In some versions, she has been Barred from the Afterlife and forced to walk the Earth until she finds her lost children.
- Woman Scorned: In some versions of the myth, La Llorona murdered her children and herself after seeing her husband with another woman.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: La Llorona killed her children in a blind rage after her husband either cheated on or abandoned her. She was so horrified by her actions that she took her own life, and you'd be forgiven for feeling sympathy for her.
- Would Hurt a Child: La Llorona murdered her own children in blind rage and, in some versions of the myth, is said to kill any other child she comes across when she realizes that they aren't her own.
