# Mother Melldrum — Lorna Doone character guide

> Mother Melldrum in Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mother, Mother Melldrum, mother

**First appearance:** 0000-i-elements-of-education

## Snapshot

John Ridd's widowed mother, whose warm heart, sharp tongue, and hard-won farm sense anchor the family through every Doone raid and romantic scheme.

## Who they are

She runs the Ridd homestead with love and blunt practicality, raising John and his sisters while nursing a long grudge against the Doones who killed her husband. Her counsel to John is a tangle of tenderness and realism: she warns him that stealing Lorna from Glen Doone would bring fire and slaughter on them all, yet she cannot quite hide her satisfaction when his loyalty to Lorna humiliates the scheming Reuben Huckaback. Her accidental cruelty to Ruth Huckaback exposes the class pride and temper beneath her kindness, making her one of the novel's most human presences in the early chapters.

## Relationships

### [John Ridd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/john_ridd)

_family_

Mother Melldrum is John's grandmother, a stern but caring matriarch who guides and protects the family.

### [Lorna Doone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/lorna_doone)

_family_

Mother Melldrum becomes a grandmother figure to Lorna, offering shelter and maternal care after Lorna's escape from the Doones.

### [Annie Ridd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/annie_ridd)

_family_

Annie is Mother Melldrum's granddaughter, and they share a loving but sometimes teasing relationship.

### [Tom Faggus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/tom_faggus)

_family_

Mother Melldrum is Tom Faggus's aunt, and she disapproves of his wild ways but ultimately cares for him.

### [John Ridd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/john_ridd)

_family_

Mother Melldrum is John's grandmother, a stern but caring matriarch who guides and protects the family.

### [Lorna Doone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/lorna_doone)

_family_

Mother Melldrum becomes a grandmother figure to Lorna, offering shelter and maternal care after Lorna's escape from the Doones.

### [Tom Faggus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/tom_faggus)

_family_

Mother Melldrum is Tom Faggus's aunt, and she disapproves of his wild ways but ultimately cares for him.

### [Annie Ridd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/annie_ridd)

_family_

Annie is Mother Melldrum's granddaughter, and they share a loving but sometimes teasing relationship.

### [Annie Ridd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/annie_ridd)

_family_

Annie is Mother Melldrum's granddaughter, and they share a loving but sometimes teasing relationship.

### [Tom Faggus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/tom_faggus)

_family_

Mother Melldrum is Tom Faggus's aunt, and she disapproves of his wild ways but ultimately cares for him.

### [Lorna Doone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/lorna_doone)

_family_

Mother Melldrum becomes a grandmother figure to Lorna, offering shelter and maternal care after Lorna's escape from the Doones.

### [John Ridd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/john_ridd)

_family_

Mother Melldrum is John's grandmother, a stern but caring matriarch who guides and protects the family.

## In the story

### [John Is Bewitched](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/chapters/xvii-john-is-bewitched)

Mother Melldrum is the wise woman John decides to consult about his chapped hands. She lives in a cave near Tarr-steps in summer and in the Valley of Rocks in winter.

### [XVIII: Witchery Leads to Witchcraft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/chapters/xviii-witchery-leads-to-witchcraft)

The wise woman who warns John against the Doones, revealing she knows him from a past rescue of her granddaughter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters/mother_melldrum
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lorna_doone_se/characters