WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Raised by Wolves Episode 8, "Mass" and Episode 9, "Umbilical," available now on HBO Max.
It's been a very turbulent ride on HBO's Raised by Wolves for the caretaker robot known as Mother (Amanda Collin); however, Episodes 8 and 9 changes the entire mythos associated with these kinds of robots. Mother's already been through a lot after losing the Gen-1 kids, suffering a breakdown that sees her kill and then reactivate Father. She subsequently scares the Ark children, as well as Campion.
Still, she's been right about the Mithraic legion on Kepler-22b and their bloodthirsty ways. Unfortunately, after a big betrayal, she's been forced to flee, leaving her Atheist colony to be co-opted. However, as she tries to recover and strike back against the religious zealots, the series makes a massive change which could make her more vulnerable than ever.
Mother's in a weakened state in the wilderness as Marcus has Paul steal her eyes, so she can't go into Necromancer mode anymore. Luckily, she survives the Mithraic attack, but her body's badly damaged, causing her to seek out the Ark's crash site to try to patch up. It's here she makes a stunning discovery while she hooks herself up in an attempt to heal using robotic fuel.
With the aid of a medical droid, Mother uses this "blood" to re-energize, but she realizes there's a tumor growing inside her. Strangely enough, it's bio-organic rather than synthetic, leaving Mother very confused.
It's kicking inside her, reacting to foreign substances and causing pain. Despite this, Mother and the droid think it's an abnormality due to her malfunctioning insides after Marcus' assault. Eventually, Mother makes her way to the memory pod she's been using to pry into her past and decipher what's wrong. There, it's confirmed that it's not an anomaly. Mother's actually pregnant. When she speaks to the original Campion, her creator, his hologram shows up as a mix of her and him, leaving her screaming about how she doesn't want what seems to be their kid in her.
Mother's frantic because the impossible is now real, and she doesn't know how it'll impact her or the child if she gives birth. However, Campion reassures her this child is the future of humanity. In fact, the colony she thinks she is grooming is part of a test to make her motherly and hone her instincts. Ironically, she urges Tempest not to abort her fetus in previous episodes, so now she's finally relating to the young girl on another level.
Mother's still processing the information, but it's known she and Campion made love in a digital hallucination, so she might have gotten pregnant there. It could also be a virgin birth, which could tie into the religious themes of the story. After all, there's a supernatural aspect of the narrative no one can explain.
It's worth noting that if Campion placed the baby in her back on Earth, then over 13 years have elapsed, so something must have triggered this. Either way, even if Mother gets her Necromancer eyes back, the war mode could kill her or the child.
She doesn't want to set a bad example for Tempest too, so Mother will have to become a bit more docile, which could see her in need of protection. She needs fuel as well, and she's eaten dead human flesh and alien meat before, which has made her more human. This makes her frail and exposed during this existential crisis, and it's sure to change her destiny as she grapples with being a literal mother to a human-machine hybrid.
Created by Aaron Guzikowski and produced by Ridley Scott, Raised by Wolves stars Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Niamh Algar, Jordan Loughran, Matias Varela, Felix Jamieson, Ethan Hazzard, Aasiya Shah, Ivy Wong and Travis Fimmel. New episodes arrive each Thursday on HBO Max.