In The Promised Neverland, the children believe they are orphans and adore Isabella, the orphanage's mother, as if she were their real mother. They spend their time happily dreaming of the outside world until they are adopted by foster parents. However, they learn the truth that the GF House they thought was an orphanage is actually a farm, and that they are being cultivated as high-quality food for demons. In this article, we will introduce Isabella, the mother and overseer of the GF Farm.
Who is Isabella, everyone's mother?
Source: The Promised Neverland © Kaiu Shirai/Posuka Demizu/Shueisha/CloverWorks
Isabella, a mother who pretends to love the children of GF Farm as if they were her own children. In fact, she is also from GF Farm. She has the mark 73584 on her neck and is 31 years old at the beginning of the story. She is a very cunning person and does not seem to trust anyone in reality. She takes pride in shipping the highest quality feed from her farm, and is dedicated to raising her children in a healthy way. Isabella was originally an elite farmer. Even Norman, Emma, and Ray could not beat her at chess when they were young. Mama was probably called a genius back when she worked at the farm. She knows the personalities and weaknesses of all the children at GF Farm, and keeps them all in a record. The farm's guidelines are to raise them in a healthy way, promote brain development, and keep secrets strictly confidential. Isabella is only interested in making the children's brains, which are her precious food, taste delicious.
How did Isabella become a mother?
Source: The Promised Neverland © Kaiu Shirai/Posuka Demizu/Shueisha/CloverWorks
The owner of the GF Farm during Isabella's time there was an old woman called Grandma. She seems to trust her quite a bit, as she is her student. This is probably due to Isabella's track record so far. During her childhood, growing up on the GF farm, Isabella gave up on all of her absurd idealism, childish sense of justice, impossible escapes, and resistance to an unmanageable reality. Although there are not many actual depictions, she realized the truth about the farm after seeing a boy she loved named Leslie being taken in by foster parents. She probably tried to escape. Feeling despair at the cliff that stretched out before her, Isabella was persuaded by her mother at the time to choose to become a mother herself. She beat the other children, gave birth to a child through artificial insemination, and worked as a mother on the GF farm.
What Isabella can and cannot do after becoming a mother
Source: The Promised Neverland © Kaiu Shirai/Posuka Demizu/Shueisha/CloverWorks
After becoming a mother, Isabella is unable to leave the farm. This is because a chip is implanted in her heart, and if she goes outside the farm, she will be electrocuted and die. However, once she becomes a mother, she can obtain books, cameras, and other human-made items from the outside world. It seems that this was arranged by Isabella as a reward when Ray worked as a spy. However, it is not known whether this is a privilege for Isabella, or for all mothers. Furthermore, when you become a mother, you give birth to a child. This is for food. And above all, the greatest benefit of being a mother is that you don't have to die. However, it seems that there is a minimum amount of work that must be done, such as regular contact and harvest meetings.
Isabella, Ray's real mother
Source: The Promised Neverland © Kaiu Shirai/Posuka Demizu/Shueisha/CloverWorks
Ray was Mama's informant and kept everyone informed of their movements. He was actually Isabella's real son. We don't know who the father is, but judging from the depiction, it must have been artificial insemination. Isabella sang the song that her beloved Leslie used to hum as a lullaby. The story then jumps forward to Ray humming the song inside the GF plantation. Ray is a boy who has memories from the time he was born. Now that he fully understands his own situation, Ray negotiates with Mama and works as an informant in order to survive, and one day escape. Isabella knows this, but lets him go, thinking she can control him herself. However, when Emma and Norman go to scout the area, she abandons Ray and decides to control everything by herself.
Why Isabella, the mother, checks the ears
Source: The Promised Neverland © Kaiu Shirai/Posuka Demizu/Shueisha/CloverWorks
Isabella often brushes the hair that is hanging over everyone's right ear. This is to casually check for transmitters. The transmitters that were implanted in their ears as children. If there is anything abnormal, it will notify the parent unit in their hand. This transmitter helps tell them where everyone is, but it doesn't tell them where anyone is. Therefore, if someone goes missing, they gather everyone in one place and search for any children who are in a different location from the signal. When Isabella realized that someone had discovered the truth about the plantation, she purposely showed the transmitter to the children to demonstrate that escape was impossible.
Escape with Mama Isabella
Source: The Promised Neverland ©Shirai Kaiu/Demizu Posuka/Shueisha/CloverWorks
After Norman is shipped out, Emma and Ray lead the escape of all the children over the age of 5. Isabella chases after the others, but when she realizes that they have crossed the cliff using a rope hanging from the wall, she gives up on everything and changes to a motherly expression. In her own time, Isabella had given up everything and simply wanted to live as a mother, but in the end, she just hopes that her children will survive safely in the outside world. So Isabella holds the remaining children under the age of four in her arms and sings to them the song that Leslie used to sing to them. It was a touching scene in which Isabella finally becomes everyone's real mother.
Mama Isabella in the end
Source: The Promised Neverland © Kaiu Shirai/Posuka Demizu/Shueisha/CloverWorks
Everyone's mommy Isabella was very talented and controlled everyone with precision. In the midst of all this, the children, led by Emma, Norman, and Ray, made a spectacular escape. What happened to Isabella after that? There is a depiction of the sisters being killed, but that was not the case with Isabella. Maybe he's still alive and we'll have contact again somewhere.
