Mbombe is one of the great female figures of the Nsong'a Lianja epic, a woman of such strength that she throws every suitor in wrestling until Itonde-Ilele alone defeats and so wins her. Her pregnancy is a marvel: she brings forth in turn insects, birds, animals and entire human communities, and finally the hero Lianja, who emerges fully armed from her shin together with his twin sister Nsongo. Modern criticism reads her as a 'Lady of Wisdom' whose counsel against vengeance after her husband's murder sets the epic's ethic of peace, an ethic her children carry through their migration.