Ellen Bruder

"*Maybe he expects Mrs. Bruder to come to NYC with him to cook his food and look after his laundry. She might even do it—she's that kind of mother.*"
—Description of Ellen Bruder by Hector Amani, *Masterminds*

## Ellen Bruder

### Aliases

Mrs. Bruder
Mom (by Malik Bruder)

### Affiliation

Project Osiris (previously)
Malik Bruder (previously)
Serenity, New Mexico (previously)
Henry Bruder

## Physical description

### Gender

Female

**Ellen Bruder** was Malik Bruder's surrogate mother for Project Osiris, a social experiment designed by Felix Hammerstrom and Tamara Dunleavy to test whether a person is born evil or becomes evil through a course of events. She was married to Henry Bruder and said to be the comptroller in charge of all the finances in the Plastics Works, Project Osiris's headquarters, but that turned out to be untrue. Mrs. Bruder was also the only ballet teacher of Serenity, New Mexico, but she only had one student: Amber Laska, whom she held a recital for every now and then in her living room. It's likely that she taught Amber piano as well.

Mrs. Bruder is an excellent baker and cook. Her peanut butter cookies and chocolate brownies were said to be the best in town, and they were loved by Malik and his best friend Hector Amani.

## Biography

Sometime before the trilogy took place, Ellen met and married Henry Bruder. They moved to Serenity together after being recruited for Project Osiris and became surrogate parents to Malik.

After Eli Frieden was said to have a relapse of his recent illness in the middle of the night, Mrs. Bruder wrapped her arms around Malik and attempted to reassure him. In return, Malik retorted that Eli isn't even his friend; however, Mrs. Bruder only hugged him tighter.

When the Bruders' kitchen faucet malfunctioned one night, hitting Dr. Bruder in the chest with a jet of water and knocking him over, Mrs. Bruder panicked, having a reaction that Malik thought was more suitable if the house were burning down. She ordered her surrogate son to bring Peter Amani and made her husband shut the water off immediately. After it was successfully fixed, both Mr. and Mrs. Bruder were fast asleep within twenty minutes of falling in bed.

## Personality and traits

Mrs. Bruder was a caring mother to Malik, despite the fact that she only did it for Project Osiris. Hector believed that she's the type of mother that would come to NYC with Malik just to take care of him. However, she can be strict, as Mrs. Bruder often nagged her surrogate son. She could also be dramatic, which was seen when she acted as if the house were burning down after the faucet malfunctioned and flooded the kitchen in *Masterminds*.

It's likely that Mrs. Bruder is knowledgeable in ballet and possibly piano, as she taught Amber for years.

## Relationships

### Malik Bruder

Mrs. Bruder constantly nagged at her surrogate son, and in return, he was constantly yelling at her. However, cared a lot about each other and were said to be closer than close. Malik once stated that she would be the most annoying even out of a city with millions of mothers, but still accepted her tight embrace. According to Hector, the two of them were codependent.

After temporarily returning to Serenity in *Criminal Destiny,* Malik found a pastry box of Mrs. Bruder's peanut butter cookies and spoke of them nostalgically. When Project Osiris was finally declared to be over, he was relieved, but wasn't ready to forgive either of his parents for lying to him for his entire life.

### Amber Laska

Mrs. Bruder was said to be Amber Laska's number one fan. Amber was her only ballet student, and every now and then, Mrs. Bruder held a recital in her living room just for her. About twenty people attended each time, and Malik dreaded them. Mrs. Bruder always referred to Amber as "such a lovely girl", and had an extremely high opinion of her.