Grieving Mother

Grieving Mother is a female Cipher. She is one of the possible companions in Pillars of Eternity. She can be found and recruited in the southeast corner of Dyrford Village.

Background
"Grieving Mother" is a seemingly middle-aged woman with brown hair. Beyond that, little information is immediately given to the player. Additional insight into her backstory is provided through her companion quest and dialog as the story progresses.

Identity
Upon first meeting Grieving Mother, she remarks that the Watcher is the first to truly see her as she is. Using her skills as a powerful cipher, she is able to hide her identity from others. She refers to this as creating a caul for herself, a cloak that allows her to appear as an easily forgettable peasant. None of the Watcher's other companions see though this illusion.

Her true name is never revealed. "Grieving Mother" is a title the Watcher unconsciously gives her.

Much of her own history is initially forgotten to her. Sometime prior to arriving in Dyrford she acted as a midwife to a small village located in Dyrwood Forest. She would assist expectant and birthing mothers at "the birthing bell", a plateau of adra with a bell cradled in an arm of stone. The structure had once been abandoned by the Glanfathan and Grieving Mother took it as her own.

Even though she was not one, she became known as a Watcher due to her "tellings" of children's souls. In truth, Grieving Mother would shape the minds of the children and their mothers through her cipher abilities. She based her tellings on the thoughts of the mother and continued to shape their expectations and the child's mind over time.

Hollowborn Crisis
Grieving Mother's village was isolated and word of Waidwen's Legacy was slow to reach them. Fearing that she was at fault, or would be blamed for the hollowborn births or that the parents would kill the children, Grieving Mother used her cipher abilities to make parents believe their children were healthy.

Eventually, Grieving Mother focused too greatly on maintaining the lies and succumbed to the power of her own illusions. One morning a mother was found dead, "her mind so focused on the care of her Hollowborn child that she'd neglected even to feed herself". This broke the illusion she held over the town and caused her to flee.

Companion

 * Grieving Mother can be recruited in Dyrford Village.
 * She is a powerful Cipher who can provide crowd control.
 * As a result of her hidden identity, she has almost no banter with other companions.
 * She will leave your party if you do any of the following:
 * Sacrifice Saeda to Aldhelm during Undying Heritage.
 * Sacrifice Vela during Sacrificial Bloodlines.
 * Fail to save her during the end of Dream and Memory.

Companion quest

 * Dream and Memory: Grieving Mother is in a state of deep mourning from Waidwen's Legacy. Her quest starts when you meet her. It is entirely resolved through dialogue, some of which is only available after later acts.

Endings
Grieving Mother's ending slides are dependent on two events:
 * Successfully guiding her through Dream and Memory.
 * Choosing to either wipe her memory or not. She will request this after completing her quest and resting at least 2 times.

Behind the scenes

 * Grieving Mother was written by Chris Avellone.
 * Before PoE 1.03, Grieving Mother had the following Attributes: Mig: 11 Con: 12 Dex: 16 Per: 17 Int: 12 Res: 10.
 * Durance and Grieving Mother originally had intersecting backstories, but it didn't make it to the final game.