MOTHER/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Shigesato Itoi's cult RPG trilogy has a cast as large as it is whimsical and charming.

MOTHER

Ninten

A twelve-year-old American boy, who lives with his parents and twin younger sisters outside the town of Podunk (Mother's Day). He sets out to find the Eight Melodies and possibly uncover secrets about his mysterious great-grandparents. Not much information is given about his personality, but he seems to be a kind, brave kid, if with a bit of a temper. He loves prime ribs, penguins, and baseball, and occasionally suffers from asthma.

  • The All-American Boy: He's a bat-wielding Every Man boy from a small American town.
  • Badass Adorable: Much like his fellow MOTHER-series playable characters, his adorableness hides the fact that he's skilled with bats and can beat you to death with them.
  • Batter Up: Uses baseball bats as weapons.
  • Berserk Button: Lying about his mother calling him is not a smart move, hippies.
  • Combat Medic: He has a very powerful physical attack, but all of his PSI is assist and healing. He doesn't even get a signature move like Ness's PSI Rockin or Lucas's PK Love. Even so, he is the strongest permanent party member.
  • Fountain of Expies: His appearance (especially his trademark striped shirt) set the standard for MOTHER series protagonists.
    • Ness is the most obvious example, as he is almost an exact copy of him. As Ness is more well-known, this sometimes leads to confusion, as they share the same outfit. Fans often draw Ninten wearing a red neckerchief and with a slightly different shirt stripe pattern to differentiate them, based on a live-action Japanese commercial for MOTHER.
  • The Hero: Naturally, he's the series' very first.
  • Heroic Mime: Until the ending, at least in the English prototype.
  • Jack of All Stats: Unlike Ness and Lucas in the sequels, Ninten isn't held back by a horrible Speed stat, and actually only gives the illusion of being a tank due to spending most of the game next to Lloyd and Ana, who both lean more towards the lightweight, fragile side. Ninten himself is as balanced as the game's engine allows for; aside from HP and PP, his base stats are all 5 across the board, with identical level-up growth rates to match. On the flipside, his PSI movelist is less well-rounded than Ness' or Lucas', being comprised exclusively of healing and supportive PSI, with no damaging techniques in sight.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The novelization written by Saori Kumi portrays him as this.
  • Magic Knight: Has healing and shield PSI, with strong attack and good defense.
  • Nice Hat: The baseball cap that he convinced his dad to buy for him.
  • Official Couple: Ninten X Ana is the only true relationship between the playable characters in the series.
  • Psychic Powers
  • Support Party Member: Has only support/healing PSI, but is capable of powerful normal attacks.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Prime ribs.

Lloyd

The eleven-year-old boy genius from Merrysville (Thanksgiving). Lloyd is brilliant, but is often bullied by his classmates for being a nerd and a weakling. He developed a tendency to hide in trash cans to avoid confrontation. Despite this, he has a great deal of determination, even when it comes to the dreaded gym class. Bullying has left him very shy and cowardly when he joins Ninten, but over time he becomes stronger and more confident in himself. He likes rockets, science, computers and Superman.

  • Badass Adorable
  • Big Damn Heroes: He saves Ninten, Ana and Teddy from being slaughtered by the R7038, but he is too late to save the critically-wounded Teddy. He still manages to destroy the R7038, however.
  • Butt Monkey: He gets bullied a lot at school, and everyone calls him a weakling.
  • Child Prodigy: According to MOTHER Encyclopedia, he made his first invention, the "Bathroom TV", when he was just four years old. He built a time machine for a science fair when he was eight (though no one knew it was him because he was hiding from bullies in a trash can). He also demonstrated an astounding memory, which allowed him to win first place at the Pan-American Concentration Convention, a contest that tested a person's intelligence.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Was able to fix up the boat on Mt. Itoi. Also, see Child Prodigy above.
  • Heroic Albino: Never explicitly stated to be albino; however, fans like to portray him as this, given his white hair and poor eyesight.
    • Lloyd could be leucistic, as albinos are intolerant to the ultraviolet radiation of sunlight.
  • Lovable Coward: Ninten meets Lloyd hiding from bullies in a garbage can. He later gets over his cowardice through Character Development.
  • Meaningful Name: Lloyd's name comes from his Japanese name "Roido", coming from the word "roidomegane", meaning "round glasses with thick plastic rims."
  • Nerd Glasses
  • The Smart Guy: In Ninten's party. Besides being a Gadgeteer Genius, he is stated to be very intelligent.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Earthbound Zero translates his name as "Loid", but his sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl calls him "Lloyd".
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Or at least the white-haired part, anyway.

Ana

The only permanent female member of the group, Ana is a twelve-year-old from Snowman. A sweet, but timid girl, Ana has never ventured out of Snowman alone. She is described as kind at heart, with a great sense of direction. Before the start of the adventure, Ana was unable to sleep due to odd dreams, and sets out with Ninten in hopes of finding her abducted mother. She is deeply religious (one of her favorite possessions being a Bible), is a skilled piano player, and also collects stamps and envelopes.

Teddy

Unlike the other members of the party, Teddy is not a kid; rather, he is a young man in his late teens to twenties. Leader of the B.B. (Black Blood Gang), he is the kingpin of the town of Ellay (Valentine) until some kids came in and started messing with his crew. After he is beaten by Ninten, he joins the party as to avenge the death of his parents. He likes smoking, leather jackets and rock and roll.

  • The Big Guy: He's in his late teens/early twenties, so it's only natural he looks like this in comparison to the cast of kids you play as. Encyclopedia MOTHER says he's 188 cm (or about 6'2") tall. Also has the single highest Strength and Speed stat growth of all the characters in the game, and can easily one shot a lot of enemies in Mt. Itoi should you spend some time leveling him up.
  • Cool Shades/Triangle Shades: He was doing Kamina's shades over a decade before Kamina (or Squirtle).
  • Delinquents: Seems to be based more on the Japanese variety than the American ones seen in EarthBound though, with shades of Greaser Delinquents thrown in.
  • Guest Star Party Member: If you play through the game the intended way, at least.
  • Killed Off for Real: Only in the original Japanese version. In the translated prototype and the MOTHER 1 + 2 GBA port, he is shown recovering in a hospital.
  • Smoking Is Cool: It is said that teddy smokes "Horse Shit" brand cigarettes in the MOTHER Encyclopedia.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A NPC will tell you that, before his parents' deaths, he was very nice boy.
  • You Killed My Father: His parents were supposedly killed by wild animals, and he joined Ninten in order to avenge them. The MOTHER Encyclopedia says that it was actually a car accident, but he refused to pay attention to this finding.

Pippi

A pigtailed young girl whom Ninten must save from zombies.

Queen Mary

The ethereal, beautiful queen of the mysterious land of Magicant. She has fallen gravely ill, and the only thing that will restore her to her former self are the Eight Melodies. She is Ninten's great-grandmother, and was the deeply-beloved foster mother of Giygas.

Giegue/Gyiyg/Giygas

The grim leader of the invading alien forces. He leads the invasion to take revenge for the human theft of his race's PSI technology, but his resolve crumbles when confronted with the memory of his beloved foster mother, and swears to come back to finish the job later.


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