Evil Matriarch

Basic Information

The Evil Matriarch is a character who generally is the oldest female member of an extended family. She will meddle in the affairs of her descendants, and often outright dominate and terrorize them.

See Also

• Abusive Parents
• Always Female
• Hive Queen
• Knight Templar Parent
• Meddling Parents
• Offing The Offspring
• Parental Issues
• Stock Characters
• The Parent Trope
• The Un-Favourite
• Villain
• Wicked Stepmother

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki entry

2. Books: see I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves for examples of some nasty matriarchs.

3. Arguably Cersei Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire aspires to this trope - even if she may not be quite capable of fulfilling it, wheras Oleanna Tyrell appears sympathetic, but may turn out to be anything but. She's almost certainly not known as 'The Queen of Thorns' for nothing.

4. Graphic novel: Preacher Marie D'Angelle, Grandmother to Jesse Custer.

5. Film: Leatherface's Mama, she of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Game and Story Use

• In most cases, an Evil Matriarch will present a social, rather than physical threat - and thus, harder for many player characters to deal with. The PCs may have to deal with her family members who might be otherwise sympathetic characters, but too afraid of the Evil Matriarch to act against her. Destroying her power and influence without killing her (which would generally be considered "murdering a defenseless old woman") will be quite a challenge.
• If she's Matriarch of a standard royal court she will have a lot of power, and teams of minions to back her plays.
• This is the default social model for drow society in "that RPG".