What's Happening


All these examples make it seem like the trope's a four-aspects-of-femininity archetype: maiden, seductress, mother, crone. Yet one's excluded or two're combined. Anyone else noticed these roles/faces fit the life-cycle of a woman in relation to a man. She starts off as a child. She becomes a woman with sexual appetite. She's impregnated and so becomes a mother. Finally she's an old lady much the wiser. A guy could have all three of these in relation to himself: daughter=maiden, wife=mother, mother=crone, and the seductress would be the chick he bangs on the side.

Bob!: One question:

  • The classic final confrontation in Aliens pits the hideous Alien queen against Mama Bear Ellen Ripley, protecting the young girl Newt.

How is this an example of The Three Faces Of Eve?

Guessing it's Queen - crone, Ripley - mother, Newt - child.

fleb: Well, yeah. (Not sure if that's an anonymouse doing the guessing or still Bob.) Adding it back, now.

Wanders Nowhere: Would anyone object to making a separate subtrope for RPG female leads and moving my Final Fantasy examples there? This is a VERY common trope in RPGs, including all of the FF games and many others, but it doesn't quite fit the Maiden/Whore Or Crone Or Whatnot mythos, because the Staff Chick usually embodies the 'maiden' as strongly as the 'child' and the third girl is usually a Tough Chick, with few or no comparitible traits to 'whore' (she's usually strong and independent rather than flirty or sexually aggressive, and often LESS so than the others) or 'crone' (usually the same age as the other characters or a Cool Big Sis at the oldest).

Thoughts? Should this go to YKTTW?

Nornagest: It's not just an RPG thing. "Warrior" seems to be an increasingly popular choice for the third member of a Three Faces of Eve style triad; this is especially true in Japanese media but shows up occasionally in Western contexts as well.
Daibhid C: Reading the description, it seems like the difference between The Three Faces of Eve and The Hecate Sisters is that Eve is maiden/mother/whore and Hecate is maiden/mother/crone. But there's a lot of maiden/mother/crone examples here.

fleb: Descriptions are a bit vague; the difference is The Hecate Sisters are supernatural, and form a single being, inseparable, like the Fates, and often but not necessarily in a The Three Faces of Eve trio.
Wascally Wabbit: I have watched that series, and I still don't see it.