[Orual]

As I read this thread, my thoughts turned to my own fantasy, and to my surprise I realized that, almost without thinking, I had made all five of my main characters motherless. In one case it was to make my character grow up very quickly and become his sister's protector (both of their parents are dead, leaving them with not Monster Step-Mom, but Monster Step-Dad), in another case it was to give my character a real grudge against the villain, the third (who is also a full orphan) to free him up from any ties, and in the fourth case to give my character a real grudge against the villain. There are a lot of different reasons for having motherless characters, and I don't know why it's so common, but I just wanted to point out that I did it without even thinking about it, hardly noticing it, not for cheap emotional fodder but for characterization's sake.

To be sure, Frodo was an orphan because, for the sake of the story, it was necessary for him to live with Bilbo. Aragorn had to be without ties (other than Arwen, of course). I think in some of the other characters (ex. Sam, Boromir, Faramir) the lack of a mother was to emphasize the strong influence on them by their fathers, because in most cases (I think) it's your mother who has the most influence on you.

Interesting topic to think on, though...

~*~Orual~*~