History Main / EvilMatriarch

* Helena Cassadine from ''General Hospital''. Head of a Greco-Russian almost royal family, after the death of her not-so-loved husband Mikos, decided to get revenge and started killing for sport. Her unforgettable rivalry with GH's most famous super couple Luke and Laura, began when she cursed them at their wedding in the 80's. She reappeared again in 1996, with all the intentions to make life miserable to evreyone in her family,especially her much hated son Stefan and her bastard step-daughter Alexis. Usually, when something evil happens in Port Charles, it's her fault.She stole,lied,cheated,killed,swapped DNA results and even ibernated her beloved son Stavros (who everyone had thought had died, and thanks to her, appeared very much alive in 2001). Mortal enemy to Luke Spencer who tried to kill her more than once.

* ''GirlGenius'' has [[spoiler: Lucrezia Mongfish, aka the Other, who is both the heroine Agatha's mother and the comic's BigBad]].

* In JKRowling's ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Walburga Black, Sirius Black's mother, is heavily implied to have been an Evil Matriarch. Sirius is known to exaggerate however her [[{{Pun}} portrayal through her portrait doesn't paint a very good picture of her]].

The first variety, usually used in the DomCom, is usually the mother of one of the two parents on the show who comes to visit every so often, and someone on the cast dreads it. Usually (though not always) this variety of Evil Matriarch is a {{meddling parent|s}}, often to an [[KnightTemplarParent irrational extreme]]. Classically, this is [[ObnoxiousInLaws a Mother-in-Law situation]], but from time to time, [[MommyIssues the kids themselves, or even the child of the mother is the one that dreads it]]. In some cases, everyone hates the Evil Matriarch, like in ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'' where everyone dreads Lois's mother coming to visit. In other cases, her visit is appreciated by everyone but the daughter or son of the Evil Matriarch, like in ''FamilyTies'', where the matriarch is evil because her daughter feels [[StepfordSmiler she can't live up to mom's perfection]]. Expect this variety of Evil Matriarch to have PowerHair and other FashionableEvil.

The second variety of Evil Matriarch, which shows up in more dramatic media, is even worse: she is truly evil in a traditional sense, and is one of the worst villains one can face, especially if one of {{the Hero}}es or LoveInterests is one of her children (or if she's married into his or her family as a [[WickedStepmother stepmother]]). Many such Evil Matriarchs are completely convinced that they, and ''only'' they, know what's best for their children, and can be very [[MyBelovedSmother controlling]], {{manipulative|Bastard}}, and perfectly willing to do anything they deem necessary for their children's sake, no matter how evil or destructive it may be. The most vicious examples of this variety of Evil Matriarch ''despise'' their children (or at least the one they've singled out as TheUnfavorite) and are often [[AbusiveParents physically or emotionally abusive]] towards them, and many of them are not above OffingTheOffspring.

*** Until she learns that [[spoiler:she was only born for the sole purpose of being sacrificed as the primary component of a magic ritual that extends Flemths lifetime by another couple of decades. Just like every other of Flemeths daughters before her.]]

* Variation with Benezia in ''Franchise//MassEffect'', as she is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:indoctrinated by [[EldritchAbomination Sovereign]].]]

* Variation with Benezia in ''MassEffect'', as she is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:indoctrinated by [[EldritchAbomination Sovereign]].]]
** Benezia actually earns triple points for this: Not only is she an evil (alright, [[spoiler:convincingly mind-controlled]]) matriarch, but she is actually called ''Matriarch'' Benezia (it's her official title); is a literal mother to one of the main characters (who she tries to kill, [[spoiler:still not of her free will]]); and is even caught conducting mind control and breeding experiments on an insectoid race (which, if successful, would have made her a literal HiveQueen).
** However, [[spoiler:her final words to her daughter Liara after having her mind cleared subverts this, saying that [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments she's always been proud of her]].]]

* As mentioned in Literature, Livia Drusilla, [[MagnificentBastard magnificently]] played by Sian Phillips in the miniseries ''Series/IClaudius''.

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'': Precia Testarossa is the definitive Evil Matriarch. Look at what she does to and how she feels towards her daughter Fate.

* [[spoiler:The witch, Adria]], from ''VideoGame/DiabloIII''. Despite being [[spoiler:the secondary protagonist's birth mother and a traditional aid to the player character]], she [[spoiler:allows them to destroy two Demon Lords and their armies before betraying the player, killing several allies and using her own daughter as the vessel for her dark master to be reborn as the embodiment of all evil]]. She performs a double-bluff in some respects, as she [[spoiler:is openly a harsh and unpleasant individual, and is not depicted as particularly charismatic or powerful - a average spellcaster at best. She is, however, a cruel liar, and uses her record of trauma and tragedy to draw suspicion away from her agenda]].

* The witch, Adria, from ''VideoGame/DiabloIII''. Despite being the secondary protagonist's birth mother and a traditional aid to the player character, she allows them to destroy two Demon Lords and their armies before betraying the player, killing several allies and using her own daughter as a ritual sacrifice for her own dark master and threatening all of Creation with it. She performs a double-bluff in some respects, as she is openly a harsh and unpleasant individual, and is not depicted as particularly charismatic or powerful - a average spellcaster at best. She is, however, a cruel liar, and uses her record of trauma and tragedy to draw suspicion away from her agenda.

* ''DesperateHousewives'' has several examples of bad parenting, but Gloria Hodge and Barbara Orlofsky really tie for the first place. The former went to awful lenghts to make her son remarry his ex-wife, even planning his rape and attempting to kill Bree. The latter's alcoholism and cruel behavior turned her son Eddie into [[spoiler: a serial killer.]]

* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse has Ta'a Chume, the queen of the Hapes Cluster, who assassinates her own sons so that Isolder would take the throne. Then she plans to seduce her future daughter-in-law's [[MarkHamill brother]] and kill him. ''Then'' after her son finds another woman and [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Leia marries Han]], she tries to kill granddaughter and great-granddaughter because the former and her boyfriend (a.k.a. the latter's father) are Jedi. [[hottip:*:An aside: Technically, Tenel Ka lets Jacen use her fleet in exchange for an heir. But male prostitution for females is common in myth, and these are [[AuthorAppeal Troy Denning]] books.]] Jacen {{Mind Rape}}s her, ending her tyranny. [[{{Foreshadowing}} Guess who becomes a Sith in a few years?]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Disney loves these, and plays them straight, usually as stepmothers. [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs The Evil Queen]], [[Disney/{{Cinderella}} The Wicked Stepmother (Lady Tremaine)]], [[Disney/TheLionKing Zira]], [[{{Enchanted}} Queen Narissa]], [[Disney/{{Tangled}} Mother Gothel]]...and these are just the animated ones.

* Eleanor Iselin in ''TheManchurianCandidate''.

* Zira, from ''Disney/TheLionKing 2'', raises Kovu to exact revenge for Scar, in addition to she herself leading a pride against Simba's.

* Pops a lot in Hispanic {{Soap Opera}}s as the typical [[MyBelovedSmother castrating mother]] of the male lead, but the best and [[MagnificentBastard biggest one]] in malevolence is Catalina Creel de Larios in ''CunaDeLobos''. For her, "Family Name" comes before everything (including fortune and love), and because of that she is not shy in committing murder, lying barefaced and manipulating everything and everyone around her. She even has an EyepatchOfPower who makes her look more sinister (and the patch is a plot point in itself)!

* From ''WandabaStyle'', Furoku Tsutsumo, mother of TeenGenius Susumu, will go to any length to make her son admit that she is right and he wrong when it comes to space travel (she believes in [[ForScience furthering scientific achievement at any cost]] while he would rather try to find a way to launch a rocket that's environmentally friendly). Over the course of the series, she fakes a moon landing and makes it look like Susumu did it, blackmails [[GirlGroup his pilots]] into coming to the moon with her while neglecting to mention that there isn't a return trip, and nearly refuses to accept her sons truce when he comes to rescue them.
* Gyokumen Koushu from ''{{Saiyuki}}'' took her biological daughter Lirin and gave her up to scientific experimentation in order to try and revive her locked away lover Gyumaoh. She also took her stepson and experimented on him to make him BrainwashedAndCrazy. Also Gojyo's half-mother abused and tried to kill him as a child, forcing his own older brother to kill her.

* Olivia Foxworth, the terrifying grandmother from VC Andrews's ''FlowersInTheAttic''. She convinces her daughter to hide her four children in the attic of the family mansion in order to avoid being erased from the family line of inheritance. The children are starved, beaten and terrorized by the grandmother, and eventually neglected. It later emerges that Grandmother, in combination with her daughter [[spoiler:schemed to kill the children by poisoning their food with arsenic]]. She is somewhat redeemed in one of the sequels, although this may be partial CanonDiscontinuity because it was completed by the ghostwriter who succeeded Andrews after her death.

* Damian Wayne's mother Talia al Ghul has fallen here lately, taking control of her son's nervous system to kill his older brother/mentor Dick Grayson and then revealing to Damian that she had begun cloning him when it became clear to her that he was no longer doing what she wanted him to do. When Damian asked her why she couldn't love him for who he was (showing a rare hint of Woobie-ism), Talia replied "No. I'm too much of a perfectionist" and declared him an enemy of the House of al Ghul, where he spent at least the first three quarters of his life. Oh, and he's ten. She told her ten year old son that along with "I'm cloning you" in the span of about five minutes in ''ComicBook/{{Batman}} & Robin'' issue 12. [[spoiler:Culminates in OffingTheOffspring when she allows the clone, Heretic, to brutally kill Damian.]]

* Played with in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. The main antagonist, Sephiroth, is carrying out of the will of his 'mother', the frozen remains of a woman who belonged to the dead Cetra civilization. Sephy's info is a little out of date: The doctors who discovered the body ''assumed'' it was Cetra, as it was found frozen at the site of their old home. The Shinra Power Company hoped to clone "her" and make the Cetra live again, but quickly realized that Jenova wasn't human at all: it's a mimetic monster who took on the guise of the Cetra to prey on them. Undeterred, Shinra sampled Jenova's cells to create a line of super-soldiers, the most successful of which was Sephiroth.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}''}, Nanna Egbert and Grandpa Harley were raised by Betty Crocker after Grandpa accidentally killed her husband. This sort of thing is exactly why babies should not be allowed to dual-wield flintlock pistols. She apparently wasn't very kind to either of them, and was even harsher on Nanna when Grandpa ran away to explore the world. [[spoiler: It turns out that she was the former empress of Alternia.]]

* Male example: Peter Griffin's step-father in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''

* Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha: Precia Testarossa is the definitive Evil Matriarch. Look at what she does to and how she feels towards her daughter Fate.

* Jane in a certain anime version of ''Tarzan'', ''Jungle King Tar-chan''. I vaguely remember her description and attitude: Jane is a former model who turned into a bloated cow after marrying Tarzan. She is lazy, gluttonous, and brutal. Fully willing to unleash hell on Tarzan's groin when he steps out of line. One unconfirmed rumor is where she kills and eats a woman who showed interest in Tarzan.

* Damian Wayne's mother Talia al Ghul has fallen here lately, taking control of her son's nervous system to kill his older brother/mentor Dick Grayson and then revealing to Damian that she had begun cloning him when it became clear to her that he was no longer doing what she wanted him to do. When Damian asked her why she couldn't love him for who he was (showing a rare hint of Woobie-ism), Talia replied "No. I'm too much of a perfectionist" and declared him an enemy of the House of al Ghul, where he spent at least the first three quarters of his life. Oh, and he's ten. She told her ten year old son that along with "I'm cloning you" in the span of about five minutes in ''Batman & Robin'' issue 12. [[spoiler:Culminates in OffingTheOffspring when she allows the clone, Heretic, to brutally kill Damian.]]

* In the 2004 movie adaptation of ''ThePunisher'', the BigBad's wife is this. When one of her sons dies at Castle's hand, she is the first who insists on bloody revenge on Castle's family, to which her husband asks if she's sure before issuing the order. This was Frank Castle the cop, and the son was accidentally killed during a shootout. In the movie-verse, this is actually what turned Frank into The Punisher.
* Madea of Film/AntwoneFisher to her foster children, to a terrifying degree.

* Series/{{CSI}} is fond of this trope, from an episode in the first season where a mother drowns her daughter on a carnival ride, and in the episode 'Forever', where a mother convinces her daughter and boyfriend to commit suicide.

* Mags Bennett in season two of Series/{{Justified}} controls all the marijuana operations in Harlan County and while she seems like a nice woman she is actually AffablyEvil

* SHODAN from the VideoGame/SystemShock franchise obsesses over power. She plans to rule the whole planet in the worst dictatorship possible: The extermination of all human life.

* SilentHill seems to have a thing for this trope. Dahlia Gillespie and [[spoiler: Margaret Holloway]] could very well be friends with [[VideoGame/BioShock2 Sofia Lamb]], considering their willingless to torture, abuse and sacrifice their own daughters in ways that makes the devil shiver. By far, the least worst mother in the series is [[spoiler: Walter Sullivan's mother]], who had the decency of just abandoning him in an apartment, rather than sacrificing him to some GodOfEvil, EldritchAbomination, TheDevil or [[EpilepticTrees Whatever the Order worships]].

* Destania and Cyra, Dan's mother and grandmother from DanAndMabsFurryAdventures. They do however, care for their family.
* In Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}, Nanna Egbert and Grandpa Harley were raised by Betty Crocker after Grandpa accidentally killed her husband. This sort of thing is exactly why babies should not be allowed to dual-wield flintlock pistols. She apparently wasn't very kind to either of them, and was even harsher on Nanna when Grandpa ran away to explore the world. [[spoiler: It turns out that she was the former empress of Alternia.]]

* In Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance, Omaroch's mother is the demonic Grand Duchess who wishes to unite the bickering demon hordes under one banner and use the demons' combined strength to enslave other races. The two clash as Omaroch wishes to keep his non-demonic friends safe even if it means opposing his mother.

* Another male example: The Warden's father in ''Superjail!'' It should be a good thing he died long before the events of the series and is only shown in flashbacks. Combined with JerkAss.