Diego Brando's Mother

Diego Brando's mother (ディオの母) is a minor character featured in Steel Ball Run.

Repentant for abandoning her infant son, she dived into a flooding river to save him. Until her death, she taught Diego pride.

Appearance
Diego's mother was a young woman who had long dark hair, save for two locks of blonde hair at the front.

Personality
Despite burying her infant son alive, Diego's mother quickly changed her mind and dedicated herself entirely to his well-being afterward. Despite living in poverty, she made it a point to teach her son pride and sought to keep her dignity, and made any sacrifices to raise Diego, going as far as burning her own hands with hot soup on a daily basis when they didn't have cups.

Steel Ball Run
Diego's mother lived in an impoverished region on the island of Britain with her husband,. At some point in time, they had Diego, but felt forced to dispose of him due to their poverty-stricken lives. In the cover of night, the two went up into the mountains and dug a hole with the intent of burying the child. After wrapping the infant Diego in a white cloth, they placed him in the hole and left, having buried him alive. Soon after, a storm occurred and the water in the river increased and started to flood. The flood caused some type of erosion, and the baby was submerged from the ground and forced downstream. Diego's mother had a change of heart and bravely dove into the river after her baby, even after Dario hit her for "scorning her husband".

After the rain had stopped, she was found unconscious by a man who was employed at a farm. Diego's mother began working on the farm and changed her surname to Brando. She raised Diego on that same farm, and after he was old enough, the two worked from dusk to dawn and were given a place to sleep, and a small amount of food. Five years later, Diego's mother was sexually harassed by the same farmer who saved her, claiming it was recompense for her life. She declined, but in return the farmer punctured two holes in both Diego and her mother's soup bowls, rendering them useless. Diego's mother responded to the attack by receiving their portions on her hands, despite the soup being scalding hot.

A year later, Diego's mother became infected with and died at the young age of 23. Before taking her last breath, she said to Diego that it was not his fault and that he should use his talent with horses to become a jockey. Diego believed that the germs that came in through his mother's burns were the cause of her disease and intuitively knew that the farmer was the cause of her death. It was revenge towards the farmer and the other people on the farm who looked down on them that fueled Diego's goal of rising to the top of society and entering the Steel Ball Run to gain complete influence over all, including the Royal Family of England.