Death Stranding: Why Did Mama Die?
Hideo Kojima’s landmark title Death Stranding features plenty of shocking moments and dramatic reveals. Throughout the game, we’re introduced to many characters played by popular actors, including Mama, a UCA scientist portrayed by actress Margaret Qualley. Throughout the course of the game’s fourth chapter, we learn about Mama’s life and how they have been affected by the titular Death Stranding.
Related: Two Years Later, Death Stranding Is Still A Misunderstood Masterpiece
At the end of this chapter focused on her, Mama dies in abrupt and mysterious circumstances. Although this event is telegraphed by narrative details, these moments can be easy to miss and require a comprehensive understanding of the game’s lore to fully understand, leaving many players to wonder why exactly Mama died.
To answer this question in the most direct way, the reason Mama dies at this point in the game is that they were already ‘dead’ before this moment and have been even long before the player encounters the character.
Before the events of the game, Mama, whose real name is Malingen, was crushed underneath rubble during a terrorist attack incited by the Homo Demens, one of the game’s factions of terrorists led by antagonist Higgs.
Mama was in hospital carrying a baby at the time, and due to the circumstances of the Death Stranding - which has blended the world of the living with the afterlife known as The Beach - Mama’s baby was born ‘on the other side,’ transforming into a Beached Thing. A Beached Thing, as you may already know, is a soul attempting to reunite with their body in the living world, which manifests as a kind of semi-visible ghost.
As explained in Mama’s own recollection of their backstory, after being crushed under rubble as
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