This has been bothering me for some time:
Why is it that none of the major characters in the story have mothers that are alive or even mentioned by name?
1) Dycedarg and Zalbag are sons of Balbanes by his unnamed first wife.
2) Ramza and Alma are children of Balbanes by his also unnamed second wife.
It's reasonable to assume that Balbanes' remarried after his first wife's death. But if his second wife was still alive when he dies, why wasn't she there?
3) Meliadoul and Izlude are children of Vormav. No mention of their mother.
4) Mustadio is the son of Besrodio. Ditto.
5) Olan is the son-in-law of T.G. Cid. No mention of his mother or mother-in-law.
6) Rafa and Malak are orphans. No mention if they had an adoptive mother though.
7) It's reasonable to assume that Teta and Delita are also orphans.
8) Ditto with Weigraf and Miluda.
EDIT:
9) Queen Ruvelia is mentioned by name, but she never appears in person.
The other characters are hard to say either way but the parents aren't mentioned at all for them.
My own theory is that mothers are a stabilizing influence on family structure. Their children wouldn't then be free to go on globe-trotting quests to save the world. So they have to be out of the way.
I have no idea why they wouldn't be mentioned by name though.
What do you guys think?