This is my entry for the zine Devilblood Symphony. Please check out the zine, it's full of other stories by extremely talented folk!! It can be downloaded for free here
Valve fact, Valve has a tendency to rehire voice actors for multiple games but Ellen McLain is the only one to appear in every game besides Counter-Strike.
Ellen McLain voices eleven (11) characters.
Five (5) in Portal with GLaDOS, Caroline, the turrets, Curiosity Core, and the Intelligence Core.
Two (2) in DotA with Broodmother and Death Prophet.
Two (2) in Left4Dead with the Witches and Amanda Slater.
One (1) in Half-Life with the Combine Overwatch
And finally one (1) in Team Fortress as the Administrator
The contrast between Broodmother, and the fertility to produce an army of soldiers forced against her will, vs the anvil, and the inability to create any manmade life, so it must be stolen. Both are being used for such a twisted purpose, war, slavery, and the exploitation of women and men. The act of creation itself corrupted and done through force, while he true act of creation being based in love and motherhood.
"No mere smith, however skilled, has the power to create life"
Not to mention, Broodmother is entirely organic, as it is, opposite the anvil. The anvil can claim creation, but it is really transmutation. Broodmother can claim creation, but even Hespith calls it the darkspawn *remaking Laryn in their image*
Its just such a good trope that I've never seen in horror, and they make such good foils of each other one immediately after the other, how both darkspawn and greed corrupt even the most holy and well-intentioned acts. It makes sense when you consider the darkspawn are the Golden City's reflection of man's sins.
Confession: Look all I’m saying is that if bioware doesn’t want me to get horny for the broodmothers, they should get some other tentacle monsters in thedas PRONTO
No, the eggs are not all mine.
<Dracasia scoffs.>
But I do tend to all of them--and to the whelps.
Do you think it easy to corral dozens of tiny, nipping, fire-breathing scamps for even a single day?
Being a broodmother is never easy!
(You're asking me about my theories? I've waited YEARS for someone to ask me about my theories!!)
When parents cant watch their whelps or just want a break then a Broodmother is who to go to. Broodmothers watch and care for all the whelps put under their protection. She'll feed, groom and keeps them stimulated, often times setting up puzzles and teaching them how to hunt/fight. The whelps stay with her until their parents come back to pick them up.
being a Broodmother isnt a gender thing either :) there are Broodfathers and Broodparents!
AS Urban Dictionary says:
broodmother
That one bitch that looks after all the people, even if they ain't hers. Will smack upside the head when needed, but also will nurture when required.
Thank you for the ask Bby (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)
Titamor dogpiled in a swarm of whelps
(This goes hand in hand with Hylaeotyrannus lore! I'll eventually make a post about them o(〃^▽^〃)o)