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The Gardening Mothers

The Vuvalini

The Vuvalini or The Many Mothers is the tribe from which Furiosa descends. They appear in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Background

The Vuvalini once lived in The Green Place, the location of Furiosa's origin. Due to the increasing toxicity of The Wasteland, the soil eventually turned "sour" and the group was unable to grow crops. The land became a swampy and inhospitable bog.

The Vuvalini appear to at least partially raise their children in a sort of communal setting, young members having both immediate family parents and "initiating mothers."[1] No male members of the Vuvalini are known. When Max Rockatansky, Nux, the Five Wives and Imperator Furiosa meet the Vuvalini, there are seven representatives present: The Valkyrie, Keeper of the Seeds and five unnamed Vuvalini.

Matriarchal system & Crow Fishers

According to production designer - Colin Gibson, the Vuvalini displayed a broken matriarchal system. It manifested itself in banishing all boy-children to the outer swamps of The Green Place and when they reached puberty they would be visited by the Vuvalini for sperm milking and the odd ritual of family. As such, those banished men would learn to survive by stilt-walking the ooze and fishing for crows on the muddy mangroves between The Green Place and the desert.[2]

Original concept

According to story co-creator Brendan McCarthy, the Vuvalini were originally envisioned as "Rotoraiders" - a 'flying tribe' with helicopter and gyrocopter contraptions.[3]

So there was an aerial battle we messed around with where Immortan Joe, the Warlord, takes them down with harpoons. They were meant to be like the Harpies, from Greek mythology, vengeful females. Again, it didn’t fit the flow of the story, so it got the elbow.

– Brendan McCarthy

According to Colin Gibson, however, The Roto-Raiders were not specifically Vuvalini.

List of Known Members

Known Clans

Gallery

References

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