Fannish 5: the five most loving fictional moms
Wow, this is a hard one. I can name a bunch of good (and not so good) fathers and father figures, but mothers seem strangely lacking on TV. Or perhaps not so strangely lacking - it's hard to get right, after all.
1. Gossip Girl, Lily van der Woodsen
Or, to be more accurate, Lily Bass. I didn't have a lot of patience for Lily to start off with, as she seemed to be very concerned with herself and her image. As the character developed, however, the parts where she is absolutely amazing come through. She really does care about her children, and that's all of her children. Not every woman would open her doors so readily to a problem child like Chuck Bass, or would be able to bring him into her family so easily. After the Chuck/Blair relationship (which I love because I am shallow like that), Lily's interactions with her children is the most interesting dynamic on the show for me. She gives up her chance at true love (several times) to put her children first. (Also, the way she outwits Jack Bass: awesome!)
2. Harry Potter, Narcissa Malfoy
It was a toss-up between Narcissa and Molly. I opted for Narcissa because she chooses to betray her Lord - who is by all accounts her only hope for victory - in order to protect her son... And thereby is instrumental in bringing about Voldemort's downfall. She plays for big stakes, and there is never any question that she does it for her family.
3. Buffy, Joyce Summers
Joyce doesn't have an easy time of it, raising a Slayer and a Key. I love how invested she is in them as people, as opposed to their functions, which is partly why Buffy retains such a strong sense of self (as opposed to a strong sense of purpose, I guess, which is what we see in Kendra). Put simply, Joyce's close links and love for her daughter are part of what makes Buffy different from the other Slayers we encounter. We see the impact of Joyce's loss in S6 and S7, where Buffy suddenly, abruptly grows up, and realises just how much she relied on the love and support of her mother.
4. ST:TNG, Lwaxana Troi
Another formidable woman! My impressions of Lwaxana are coloured by Peter David's Imzadi, especially her opposition to Riker. She gets it wrong a lot of the time, but she does that because she loves Deanna so fiercely and protectively. It must been terrifying to wave your only child off to the military (especially after having having suffered the loss of another child so early on), and to be helpless to protect them. For a woman as used to control as Lwaxana, of course she tries to figure out ways to make her daughter happy!
5. Fables, Snow White
Snow and Bigby make me melt helplessly. They make me so happy. And Snow's love for her cubs fairly radiates from her. She accepts near-exile to the Farm to raise them, and is separated from Bigby, and even covers up some murders one if them accidentally commits... She lives them fiercely and unconditionally, and of COURSE she would choose to wage a war that might result in millions of casualties and "throw a thousand worlds into chaos" - the Adversary threatened her world and, by extension, her children. Given the choice, for Snow White, there was no choice at all.
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