Mother’s Day is a time for celebrating the kindness of mothers and the selfless things they’ve done for us. Or we could just have fun listing off a bunch of fictional mothers, throwing them into a “Mumderdome” death match to determine who is truly the strongest. Moms are tough, after all. This dumb list contains spoilers for a bunch of random RPGs so scroll with caution!

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#10 Nora – Final Fantasy XIII

Let’s just get the obvious pick out of the way first.

#9 Macha – Chrono Cross

Macha’s character is about as well-defined as most of Chrono Cross’ cast (so not very) but this gutsy mother of two from Guldove makes for one interesting party member. After nursing Serge back to health and lending him a boat, Macha can fight alongside the crew with cooking utensils and her butt. Her special moves somehow draw from her aptitude at household chores, like summoning dirty dishes and transforming enemies into laundry. Don’tCHA wish your mother could do that? That said, even with her unique abilities, it’s tough to find a spot for Macha on your team when you already have a cursed voodoo doll, a cute bogan thief and David Bowie.

#8 Kisara – Suikoden V

With 108 characters in every game, of course at least one of Suikoden’s Stars of Destiny needed to be a cool mom. Kisara from Suikoden V eventually takes command of the town of Raftfleet, but right from the beginning she’s the one ordering her family around. In battle she fights with a mooring rope, supports the party with magic from her water rune and teams up to attack alongside her husband and daughter. I had no idea this character existed prior to writing this article and now I really want to play Suikoden V for some reason.

#7 Lusamine – Pokémon Sun & Moon

Since the protagonists usually only have one parent around, the Pokémon series has a good track record with kind, helpful mothers. There’s your mom from back in Gold and Silver who’ll save money for you, or the cool mom in X and Y who races on a Rhyhorn. Lusamine is not a good mother. This middle-aged mother (yes, really) is the head of the Aether Foundation, a group all about conserving Pokémon. And by conserving I mean preserving in ice within a creepy artificial island. In her pursuit of capturing the elusive, dimension-crossing Ultra Beasts, Lusamine abandons her kids, creates a wormhole and merges with a Pokémon to transform into a giant jellyfish. Man, Sun and Moon went to some weird places. Despite her powerful form and a team of tough level 50 critters, Lusamine was still beaten by a preteen in true Pokémon style.

#6 Brigid – Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

Long before Fire Emblem Awakening let your characters give birth to unstoppable killing machines, we had Brigid – this badass bow-wielding former pirate. Despite her rough upbringing, Brigid has holy blood coursing through her veins, allowing her to use the powerful Yewfelle bow to take down enemies from a distance. Brigid can pass this strength down to her children but even if she is never paired up with anyone, she serves as a surrogate mother in the game’s sequel, Thracia 776. After suffering from amnesia and assuming the name of Eyvel, she trades her bow for a blade. She’s quite adept with this new weapon, but similar to the likes of Jagen and Marcus, she’s really just a crutch in the early stages of the game. Eyvel leaves her kids early on and with her poor stat growths she’s not as useful once she shows up in the story again. But she’s still a great mom!

#5 Miranda – Grandia III

You know how some JRPGs have that token childhood friend who tags along with the protagonist on their adventure? Well Yuki from Grandia III is so lame that his mother comes along for the ride. Thankfully Miranda is a lot cooler than her wannabe pilot son, cracking jokes and destroying everything with knives and spells. What a shame then that she doesn’t stick around for Disc 2. Miranda is a strong character, but not strong enough to save Grandia III from mediocrity. She deserves a spinoff RPG where she goes on adventures with Lilly from the original Grandia. I promise to give it Game of the Year every year.

#4 Cherie – Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure

The mother of Rhapsody’s protagonist, Cornet, at first doesn’t seem like she’s plays a large role in this quirky RPG, but a flashback late in the game reveals her big secret. Cherie is shown as loving and caring mother who holds the power of an ancient winged civilisation. It’s not enough to stop her from being murdered by ancient death lasers, but Cherie is so strong that her soul leaves her body and possesses a doll. In fact, Cherie actually sticks around for the whole game as Cornet’s puppet buddy Kururu. Though Kururu is one of the weaker puppets in your party, she always hands out useful life advice, sometimes in the form of a song since this is Rhapsody. It’s worth noting that Cherie gets one of the better musical numbers, too.

#3 Mother Harlot – Shin Megami Tensei series

Since they draw from so many myths, it makes sense that the Shin Megami Tensei games let you fight and recruit a bunch of fertility goddesses. But the likes of Freya and Brigid can’t compare to Mother Harlot – this version of the “Whore of Babylon” appears riding a seven-headed beast and being metal as hell. She first appears in Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (after the Book of Revelation, I suppose) as one of the spooky scary skeletons of the Fiend race. The Demi-Fiend needs to fight her to claim the Candelabrum of Beauty, but it won’t be easy since her beast has seven heads to unleash seven strikes. Nocturne was far from Mother Harlot’s last appearance; she also appears in the Persona games, although I’m not sure what having the mother of all prostitutes as a Persona says about you. Whether she’s fighting as a demon or a Persona, this mother always shows up at a high level ready to waste everything with bolts of lightning.

#2 Mother Brain – Phantasy Star II

No, not the one from Metroid. In Phantasy Star II, Mother Brain is a supercomputer designed to support life on the newly-settled planet of Algo. Mother Brain terraforms the planet, controlling the environment to the point that people become completely dependent on her existence. The system becomes corrupt, causing Algo to decline and a band of hunters to rise up to stop her. Mother Brain’s grip on the planet is so strong that even defeating her leads to the Great Collapse, causing 90% of the population to die and the loss of their futuristic technology. But it did lead to Phantasy Star IV, so that’s good! What other parent has the potential to destroy planets? Well actually…

#1 Jenova – Final Fantasy VII

Fangirls might still flip out over Sephiroth, but the true villain in Final Fantasy VII is Jenova – the cosmic horror that spawned him from her cells. Not only does Jenova get the best battle music in the game, but this alien creature is responsible for all of the awful things that go down throughout the game. Wiping out a whole civilisation? That was Jenova. Creating a new breed of messed up super SOLDIERs? Jenova. Killing that one notable character who dies horribly? Eh, it was sort of Jenova. Jenova is so powerful that even after fighting it several times throughout the game, the Jenova cells stick around in the lifestream, infecting everyone with cancer or whatever went down in Advent Children. It’s likely that Jenova will live on for as long as its own mother does. Square-Enix just can’t stop milking Final Fantasy VII, after all!