Munday Mother Nell

1. Is your character's mother alive, or deceased? If alive, what kind of health / shape is she in? If not, how did she die?
Eleanor "Nell" Van Dort is very much alive, and in decent health, though decidedly overweight. Not that Nell likes to acknowledge this fact. She sometimes gets caught in the carriage door because of it, but always insists it's the fault of her dress.

2. Was she married, or a single parent? A young or older woman when she gave birth to your character? How many children does she have?
She's married to William Van Dort, Victor's father -- she married him mostly because she wanted to be rich and important, and she saw he could provide at least the "rich" part. If you've read their bios on secundus_cast you'll know she basically just marched up to him one day and said "You'll do." She was on the older side when she had Victor, though that's really because it took her ten years to have him. She didn't get and/or stay pregnant easily, something which annoyed her since she wanted to have kids and get it over with.

Victor is her only living child. The original plan Nell had was to have two, ideally one boy and one girl. Unfortunately, the girl -- Anna -- ended up dying the same day she was born due to complications during the birth. Nell almost gave up completely on kids after Anna's death and a miscarriage after it, but William convinced her to try one more time. That's the pregnancy that resulted in Victor.

3. What sort of mother was she to your character when they were small? How did the relationship change as your char grew up?
Distant, to say the least. Nell basically feels like she was gypped out of the girl she should have rightfully had. She doesn't hate her son, but she has no interest in raising a boy. Her interactions with Victor, both young and old, basically consisted of yelling at him, and leaving most of the more tender stuff to the governesses. As Victor grew up, she started seeing the value in using him to marry up, but that dream was stifled when Victor was taken to Secundus.

4. Was there ever / could there ever be a time when your character and mom were more like friends than parent and child?
Oh hell no. Victor always sees his mother as a vague dark presence in his life, ready to punish him should he do wrong. And after he goes mad in the climax of "Secundus," he ends up getting disowned by his parents. They don't talk at all after that, despite a couple of attempts by Victor to reopen communications.

5. If your character has children (or plans to), how did their mother's parenting style influence the character's own? (can be positive or negative influence)
When he does have children, Victor basically vows to be the opposite of both his parents -- he wants to be the loving, involved parent he never got. He's also rather reluctant to be critical or to discipline sometimes, since he has bad memories of that sort of thing from Nell. This does put the occasional strain on Alice, who finds herself playing the role of "bad guy" more than not. Fortunately, experience with Chester and the twins does get Victor a little more active in those areas eventually.

6. Did mom have any sayings, quirks, or rules that still influence the character's thoughts or behavior? (you'll put your eye out with that crossbow!, don't wear white before labor day, etc.)
Well, you know how Victor sometimes seems to go through life certain that at any moment he's going to be yelled at?

Nell's fault. Basically, her overly-critical attitude toward her son is responsible for a lot of Victor's self-esteem issues. She's yelled at him more than once for being an embarrassment, and put down his opinions on things quite a bit. When she listens to him at all, of course. She really doesn't think highly of her introverted child. (And this is pretty much canonical -- in the movie, when Victor protests that he's never even spoken to Victoria, her response is, "At least we have that in our favor!")

7. What role (if any) does your character's mother play in his or her story?
They're kind of a background annoyance for most of the story -- basically something to provide extra stress on Victor and the others. Their main role is basically to facilitate the "Victor loves Alice" arc of the second act -- they're the ones that bring the Everglots to Secundus, which sparks off Victor's realization about Alice, and it's their visit to the shop that makes Victor confess his feelings. (Nell would be livid if she realized she's kind of responsible for them getting together.)

8. Does your relationship with your own mother influence how you write your character's relationship with his or her mother? Why or why not?
I can't say it does, simply because my mom's nothing like Nell. (And thank God for that.) Nope, everything Victor goes through with his mom is based off her character in Corpse Bride, and the way she treats him in that. Trust me, she doesn't get a lot of screen time, but she can be downright nasty in her assessment of Victor.