Mrs. Brisby

Mrs. Brisby
	; Lead character
Vital statistics
Title
Gender	Female
Race	Field Mouse
Faction	Auntie Shrew
Health	Alive & Well
Level	Homemaker & Heiress
Status	Married To Jonathan Brisby (recently widowed) With Four Children, Two Sons, Two Daughters.
Location	The Stone.

Mrs. Brisby (first name unknown, maiden name unknown, also called Mrs. Johnathan Brisby after her husband, and Mrs. Briz, based off of Mrs. Jonathan Frisby from the books, and Elizabeth from her voice actress Elizabeth Hartman) is the main protagonist of The Secret of NIMH and a supporting character in the sequel. She is voiced by the late Elizabeth Hartman in the first film and by Debi Mae West in the sequel.

Allies: Jonathan Brisby, Teresa Brisby, Martin Brisby, Timothy Brisby, Cynthia Brisby, Mr. Ages, Justin, Nicodemus, and Jeremy The Crow

Enemies: Jenner, Sullivan (formerly), and Dragon the cat.

Fate: Alive

Personality[]

She is a very gentle wife and mother that prefers to speak very softly lest Dragon hears her. During the film, she has to learn courage as her life was kept secret from her husband. Now that he is dead from one too many suicide missions, Mrs. Jonathan Brisby herself has to take charge of not only the home but also help lead The Rats to Thorn Valley. ... and if that is not enough on her plate, to teach Jeremy how to treat a lady properly.

The Secret of NIMH[]

Mrs. Brisby is first seen visiting Mr. Ages and telling him about Timothy's condition; Ages diagnoses that Timothy has pneumonia and must not be moved for three weeks, and to be fed a medicine in a broth. She journeys home and helps a crow named Jeremy escape from Dragon the cat but lost Timothy's medicine in the process. She is later cheered up when Jeremy says he found the medicine; she is then followed home by Jeremy who is asking for tips on how to impress a female crow. Afterwards, in the Brisby home, all of the children are home alone until Auntie Shrew visits to tell Mrs. Brisby that she needs to move her family. Mrs. Brisby is not at home so the field's team leader decides to wait until her return. Auntie Shrew has an argument with Martin and she decides to leave, commenting: "Cast not pearls before swine, I always say. And that includes insolent piglets!", referring to mostly Teresa and Martin. At that moment, Mrs. Brisby arrives and is told that " The frost is off the ground and moving day is at hand." Mrs. Brisby is then told to move her "very odd family". Afterwards, Timothy is given the medicine by his mother who tells everyone to go to bed and eventually does so herself.

In the next scene, she disables the tractor with the help of Auntie Shrew. All other options exhausted, Shrew tells her to have courage regarding The Great Owl. Jeremy tags along and flies her to see him. He waits outside. Eventually, Mrs. Jonathan Brisby introduces herself to The Great Owl who has the same curious glowing eyes yet does not say how that came to be, tells her that her late husband is far from unknown. He also mentions The Rats from The Rose Bush, and does not want to say much else.

Ultimately, she finds Mr. Ages and Justin who tells her that The Rats take them selves too seriously. jenner calms the situation regarding Mrs. Brisby's induction, and feigns an alliance with her in order to calm the rebellious rats that want "Freedom At Any Cost". He also tries to calm Sullivan. Mrs. Brisby is taken to see Nicodemus by herself while Ages and Justin attempt to take charge of the situation.

Nicodemus gently guides Mrs. Jonathan Brisby whose life was kept secret until now. He painfully says it is Jonathan's final wish to guide Mrs. Jonathan Brisby without experimenting on her. Thus, it is highly likely that Jonathan would easily outlive her, and continued to take suicide missions until finally being eaten by Dragon. Nicodemus also says that Mr. Ages is a supernatural, and is the last of his kind. The remaining Mice died as they overwhelmed the same rope; They were too light weight to escape the H.V.A.C. System's intake; It is fortunate that Mr. Ages and Jonathan escaped; It is unknown when the other animals escaped but they did not go with The Rats. Nicodemus also continues to guide Mrs. Jonathan Brisby by saying she is the heiress to a very Mystical Amulet. She is also given assignments to assist The Rats (and Mr. Ages) in exchange for saving the Winter home.

Since there are no other able bodied mice, she volunteers to drug the cat Dragon so the plan will not be foiled but is captured and placed in the farmers house as a pet. Whilst in the cage, she overhears a phone call between the farmer and NIMH, saying that the rats will be exterminated the next day. He grants permission so long as he is not charged. It is highly likely that he was paid. Mrs. Brisby escapes to inform Justin and the rats of their impending doom but upon arriving at her home she finds that Nicodemus is dead, her house is not moved, and that the plan has failed, that ever body is going to die, and Jenner wants to go out with a bang. Nevertheless, she attempts to do her best to warn the rats about NIMH but Jenner claims she is lying and attacks her. Justin throws himself in between the two but Jenner sees that amulet, wounds Justin and tries to forcibly remove the amulet from Mrs. Brisby's neck, strangling her. He is stopped when Justin stabs him and is finished off by Sullivan who throws a dagger in his back. (Sullivan was slashed in the neck by Jenner earlier in the scene). Mrs. Brisby then saves her house from sinking in the mud by using the amulet given to her by Nicodemus, she is last seen with her family during the final minutes of the movie. She tells everybody that The Amulet is safe with Justin, and knows where they are.

Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to The Rescue[]

Mrs. Brisby does not have a major role In the second movie but appears comforting Timothy before he journeys to Thorn Valley. She is seen at the end of the movie celebrating with the rest of the family.

Memorable Quotes[]

"Oh, thank goodness. I'm so glad you're home!"

"You keep making all that noise and Dragon will hear you. If he hasn't already."

"If you're going to feather a nest, you've got a lot to learn about how to treat a lady!"

"I'm Mrs. Brisby."

"I don't know how I let you talk me into this!"

(reading the inscription of the amulet) "You can unlock any door, if you only have the key."

"Thank you. I must be crazy. Goodbye. I must be crazy."

"Get Out Now!!"

"Well, you're not getting up."

"Now, son, you listen to your teachers, Justin, and Mr. Ages, okay? And what do you do if you're really in trouble?"

"That's my boy." (Kisses Timmy)

"Goodbye, Timmy. Be good."

"Watch over our son, Jonathan."

Name Change[]

Because the movie was adapted from a book, it has some differences; one major difference being Mrs. Brisby's name. In the original, she is named Mrs. Frisby instead of Brisby. Producer Don Bluth wanted a name change in fear of Wham-O Toys suing Sullivan Bluth Studios. But the change was put into action after all voice actors had recorded their lines, so through careful sound editing, Don Bluth changed the F to a B.

She is never given a name in the movies, only referred to as "Mrs. (Jonathan) Brisby". But after the passing of her voice actress, Elizabeth Hartman, who committed suicide in 1987, many fans gave the character the honorary name 'Elizabeth' as this was the actress's final role in film before retirement.

Trivia[]

Some fans show disappointment of how downplayed Mrs. Brisby's role is in the sequel. The first movie gives her the role of a desperate widowed mother who ends up saving the rats of NIMH from being killed, and uses the power or the amulet Nicodemus gave her in order to save her children from drowning in mud. In the sequel, she is downplayed to a very minor supporting role of being mother to a Chosen Son, not having a lot of dialogue, and is only mentioned a few times in the movie-but not for her saving of the rats.
- Some fans also point out how Jonathan (and later Timmy) has a golden statue in the center of Thorn Valley and is hailed as a hero, when Mrs. Brisby successfully drugged Dragon the Cat, warned the rats to leave the rosebush, and unlocked the powers of the amulet with her bravery to move her home and save her family-but her heroics are never mentioned and she has no statue of her own.

Mrs. Brisby mentions to Nicodemus that she was never made aware of NIMH, the rats, or how her husband died until she reads the journal. However, she and Jonathan were most likely already married when he was captured by NIMH, and she was somehow made aware of his death even though only the rats knew what happened.
- Its possible Mr. Ages told her what happened, but he only mentions to her 'sorry to hear about your husband's death'; which means Brisby already knew Jonathan had died, but its never explained who told her.
- Auntie Shrew may have been the one to tell her, as she is said to be 'in charge' of all the critters on the farmland, and knows of the rats in the thorn bush, and was given the news to pass on to Brisby.
- The Great Owl probably told Auntie Shrew, as she says she knows him, despite being affiliated with "Those Awful Rats".

Since Mrs. Brisby was spared the torture from N.I.M.H., she did not gain any supernatural abilities. However, she hints that her children do have these abilities.
- For example, they can read much better than she can. When she reads the two pages from the book, she skips over more than half the words.
- Another example is that by the second film she has aged considerably like a normal mouse while the rats and mice retained the same appearance they had from the first film, such as Mr. Ages and Justin.