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Action Moms in Literature:

  • 1632: Gretchen takes a leadership role in defending Grantville, particularly the school, while pregnant with her second child. Julie and Rebecca are also major parts of that defense, despite each being in her first pregnancy. Rebecca even takes out several men who try to attack her directly, at around eight months along.
  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: Amina was a legendary pirate captain in her youth. Ten years later in the time of the book, she has a ten-year-old daughter Marjana, the expertise of a seasoned adventurer, and the drive to keep her family safe from harm.
  • Alterien: Both Helena and Titania fit this category well, as they continued to occasionally kick ass as the mothers of many children.
  • Amelia Peabody:
    • Amelia Peabody Emerson is an Action Mom who carries a steel tipped parasol, a gun and a knife — and still is unequal to her son Ramses.
    • Ramses' wife, Nefret Emerson, seems to be carrying on her mother-in-law's legacy quite well, being the mother of twins and still keeping up with her husband in the dangerous games of disguise and espionage that he plays with his bloodbrother, David Todros.
  • Animorphs: It's only seen in a single scene, but Action Fashionista Rachel's mother was fully prepared to take on a grizzly bear with a spice rack (fortunately, Rachel was the bear).
  • Armada: Debbie aka AtomicMom is a good example. She has three sons and is the eighth best pilot in the world in Armada.
  • Astral Dawn: If one counts the many children Ixchel has had in previous lives, then she too could be considered an "action mom". The same is true of other goddesses in the series as well.
  • Breaking the Wall: While a few main characters are old enough to have children, and grandchildren, the standout action mom is Nissa Nita, who's raising her two year old daughter while learning the magic necessary to perform her role as one of the Thirteen Orphans.
  • Catherine Ling from the Iris Johansen novel trilogy of same name is a CIA operative with a teenage son (the father was a fellow agent and is now dead), and spends much of the first book trying to keep the Big Bad from using him to get to her.
  • The Chronicles of Dorsa: Tasia, after becoming pregnant, still takes personal command of her troops on the campaign against the mountain men, despite warnings from her advisors not to. Sadly, it ends in her baby being killed by an assassin trying to murder Tasia.
  • Codex Alera:
    • The resident Mama Bear, Isana, doesn't do much action-wise at first, but as the books go on she gets more and more involved and in the second half of the series participates in breaking a prisoner out of The Alcatraz, challenges a noble to single combat, and single handedly takes down a half-dozen Vord warriors.
    • Lady Placida, being a thinly-veiled version of Cordelia Vorkosigan, also counts.
  • Deeplight: Dotta Rigg leads a band of smugglers, many of which are her children, and rescues her daughter Selphin, Hark, and Quest from a wrecked submarine.
  • Discworld: Magrat Garlick, who became a far more competent and dangerous witch when she upgraded from Maiden to Mother. This is not entirely unexpected by witches. Nanny Ogg is still technically the Mother in a coven by reason of having a lot of (grown) children, not being young.
  • Divergent:
    • Tris' mother, Natalie, is revealed to be a Dauntless before her Aptitude Test. In the climax of the first book, she saves Tris from being condemned to death by drowning and fights alongside her in the race towards the Abnegation safe zone, culminating in her sacrificing herself to get Tris to safety.
    • Four's mother, Evelyn, is the leader of the factionless. In Insurgent, she leads the coup to take over Chicago and dismantle the faction system, and is a key player in the subsequent war between the factionless and the former faction members.
  • Domain: Dominique Vazquez gains this status in the second book after a more supporting role in the first one. Lilith Mabus also counts.
  • The Dresden Files: Charity Carpenter has seven kids, but that doesn't stop her from kicking ass. We learn in Death Masks that she makes all of her Holy Knight husband's armor, and in Proven Guilty, she joins Harry in storming a faerie queen's stronghold to rescue her kidnapped daughter, armed with swords and mail she herself forged.
    • She's also her husband Michael's training partner. She can definitely wield a sword.
  • Gentleman Bastard: Zamira Drakasha, in Red Seas Under Red Skies, is a pirate captain, and the loving mother of two toddlers who are at sea with Mommy.
  • The Golgotha Series: Maude spent years training as a spy, thief, and assassin for a secret order called Lilith's Load. She retired for a time to become a wife and mother; but she is still capable of using her skills when necessary, and is passing down the same training to her daughter Constance.
  • Harry Potter: Molly Weasley became one in the later books. In the seventh book she kills Bellatrix Lestrange with a cry of "Not my daughter, you bitch!"
    • Nymphadora Tonks in Deathly Hallows as well. Unfortunately, it doesn't end well.
  • As noted on the Lady of War page, this is what David Weber's idea of an empowered woman looks like. So it's a no-brainer that his series — mostly Honor Harrington, but others as well — are chock full of them. If you see an Action Girl there, who also happened to discover the joys of motherhood, you can safely bet on her being an Action Mom too.
  • Inheritance Cycle: Bridget, mom of one teenager, is the sole female from Carvahall to join the Varden army. She does this to protect one of the main characters so she can have revenge on him for the death of her husband. She is also the sole female fighter in the entire human army aside from the Herbalist Angela and the leader of the Varden, Nasuada.
  • Jennifer Government: The eponymous Jennifer is a single mother and a government agent. Also, badass.
  • Lensman: Clarissa Kinnison, Red Lensman and mother to five children. True, all are adults by the time her Action Mom status is earned, but she is their mother and in Children of the Lens she comes out of retirement to kick arse on a level most Lensmen (even her fellow Second-Stage Lensmen) can only dream of doing.
  • Loyal Enemies:
    • Liara, when she is introduced, is already pregnant with her second child and still a working battle mage. Her husband occasionally tries to beg her to stop and think of herself, but gets shut down quickly, and Liara actively takes part in the final battle by wading in and sniping fireballs left, right and centre.
    • The follow-up novella A Trap for a Necromancer reveals that protagonist Shelena, while perfectly fine with a peaceful life revolving mostly around doting on her baby son Roim, is and remains an Action Girl when the situation asks for it. As long as she knows Roim to be safe, she's ready to go out and hunt for thieves and renegade necromancers.
  • Mars Evacuees by Sophia MacDougall: Stephanie Dare is a bank teller and mother when the war against the Morrors starts. She turns into a hotshot fighter pilot.
  • Gaia Marinos from Natural Law goes straight into the gladiatorial games after giving birth to her son.
  • The New Heroes: Caroline Wagner continued to fight as her superhero alterego Energy for three years after her son was born. Even after she lost her powers she continued to be an action Mum, teaching her son how to fight, outwitting mecha-armored baddies and making sure everyone in Sakkara gets their homework done.
  • No Need for a Core?: Turns out that Kazue's mother was one of these all along. She just wanted to see her child safely raised before adventuring again.
  • Old Kingdom: From some time after the end of "Sabriel" to the end of "Abhorsen," having children doesn't stop Sabriel from fighting great battles against necromancers, the undead and Free Magic creatures all across the Kingdom.
  • Le Pacte des Marchombres: Having a son didn't stop Ellana from staying the badass Action Girl she already was, and she even went alone against the entire order of the Mercenaries of Chaos to save him. And succeeded.
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sally Jackson in The Last Olympian. When faced with an army of some of mythology's deadliest monsters, she grabs a shotgun from the nearest police car and joins the fight, despite having apparently never fired a shotgun before in her life and being a (for the most part) normal, mortal mother.
  • Petaybee: Yanaba Maddock in the Twins of Petaybee books. Though her children are supposedly the heroes, she's the one to watch out for, especially if you hurt them.
  • Race to the Sun: Nizhoni's mom is a monster-fighter and once she is released from Lost and Found, she gets into action, wielding a lightning sword.
  • Remnants: Tamara Hoyle, a former Marine who fought off countless aliens with her Enfant Terrible strapped to her hip.
  • Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett: Being a mother doesn't get in the way of Sally's ferocity at all. While watching the homestead and her firstborn on her own, she thrashes a huge number of troublesome gators.
  • Samhain Island: Josey Boppel, Tremaine's mother, whips out a gun when she finds out that Skyler broke into Tremaine's room.
  • The Shadowhunter Chronicles has quite a bit of action moms, including Maryse Lightwood, Charlotte Fairchild (while she is not officially a mother to the teens at the London Institute, she is one for what it's worth), and Jia Penhallow. Jocelyn Fray zigzags this; she quit Shadowhunting years ago to give her daughter a normal life, but reenters the action once the masquerade breaks.
  • Sholan Alliance: Carrie Hamilton-Aldatan. She finally gives birth at the end of the third book, but continues on her merry butt-kicking way.
  • Son of the Shadows: Liadan fights her way through Side Dubh to save Bran with her infant son strapped to her back.
  • Special Circumstances: The hero of Princess of Wands is one of these, although not really known by most of the rest of her family since she keeps those activities separate from her housewife life.
  • The Stainless Steel Rat: Angelina. Keeps an assortment of deadly weapons in with the diapers in the baby carriage.
  • Star Wars Expanded Universe:
    • Star Wars Legends: Multiple:
      • Mara Jade Skywalker, New Jedi Order-era onward, who arguably kicks a lot more ass as an Action Mom than as an Action Girl or assassin. Also a Mama Bear when you piss her off enough.
      • Leia counts as well, though the "action" part doesn't suit her in the traditional sense (what with getting caught up in politics and all). Not at first, anyway; she eventually goes full-time action-y in the Dark Nest series (she got sick of politics).
      • Tenel Ka, Dark Nest onward. While we don't see her fight much (queen and all), she's proven herself more than capable of defending herself and her daughter, who just happens to be Leia and Han's granddaughter, from all sorts of threats, including two assassination attempts.
      • In Han Solo at Stars' End we have Atuarre the catfolk "Trianii Ranger." Her husband and son were captured by the evil Corporate Sector MegaCorp, but she rescued the kid herself. He had been tortured and the trauma left him mute. Now, with the cub in tow as a sidekick, she will join Han Solo and whatever to face overwhelming odds, defy the bad guys and make hubby proud—if he's still alive. She probably went Mama Bear to save the son, but that was off-screen.
    • Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy: Norra Wexley is a semi-retired Ace Pilot who flew a y-wing during the Battle of Endor and later went on to lead a team of elite New Republic agents to assist in hunting Imperial war criminals. She's also the mother of Temmin Wexley, who would later follow in her footsteps as a pilot for the Resistance.
  • Stories of Nypre: Wonik and Meni are the guardians of wind and water magic respectively.
  • Strength & Justice: Yoshiko Itsubishi. She may not like confrontation, but when pushed she reveals lethal martial arts skills and great reflexes to boot.
  • Temeraire: There are several action girls and action moms despite the era (Napoleonic wars), because of a quirk of dragon biology: one breed, the Longwing, will almost never accept a male captain. Jane Roland is a fine example of a rare Action Mom who is not a total Mama Bear as well. For that matter, any female dragons that have had eggs that hatched would probably count.
  • Thursday Next, in the later books has a regular habit of dashing back from her action exploits to look after her child.
  • Time Scout: Ann Vinn Mullhaney is Time Terminal 86's second/third most deadly individual (it's a toss-up). She also happens to be happily married and a mother.
  • Tortall Universe: Having three kids hasn't slowed Alanna the Lioness down at all; she's continued to be the King's Champion and one of the most notable knights of the realm for over two decades.
    • Daine appears to be doing fine with two kids. And Aly has triplets, according to Pierce, and shows no signs of slowing down. This technically makes Alanna an Action Grandma. Observe the entirely unsurprised fandom.
  • Warlock of Gramarye: Gwen Gallowglass is a devoted wife and a loving mother to her four children. She is also a ridiculously high-powered psychic, and God help you if you lay a finger on her or her family.
  • Warrior Cats: Though she-cats take a break from their warrior duties when they have kits, they still have to be ready to protect their kits if the camp is attacked. One gift that new leaders are often given as part of their nine lives is the love a mother has for her kits, in order to help them protect the Clan; this life is often expected to feel gentle, and the new leader is often shocked by how painfully fierce it is - mothers are willing to face any amount of enemies or even die for their kits. One particular Action Mom is Leafstar: leaders normally are not allowed to have kits because it conflicts with their duties, but Leafstar decided to have kits anyway.

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