Awesome female characters, Y/Y

[salinea]

So apparently there was a post about your favourite female characters day somewhere, sometime. I'm not sure when, the post I saw said it was already late for it. But here you go, never not a time for talking about awesome female characters.


Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace (BSG)



Oh, Kara, she's a mess at times, like utterly messed up and brittle; and yet she never stops being awesome. And she never stops fighting. And she's brash and cocky; and funny, and she's sexy because she's awesome rather than the opposite. She messes up horribly at times; and then she succeeds wonderfully.

Toph (Avatar)



Much like Kara, Toph is very brash and cocky and hides all her fragility behind that 'tude and she's THE GREATEST EARTHBENDER EVER! Better believe it. And she's like this blind tiny twelve year old girl made of punchy awesomeness who looooves fighting. And she's got the best sense of humour on this show (sorry Sokka). And I wish we saw more of her.

Anthy (Revolutionary Girl Utena)



There's nothing simple about Anthy. She plays damsel in distress for most of Shoujo Kakumei Utena, and when everything is told, she's revealed as this queen of passive agressiveness, occasionnally deeply malicious mess. And she's still a victim, but she's a complicit victim (to her own abuse and to that of others), but she's also that brave little girl who wanted her brother to stop hurting and who was punished for it beyond the scope of human suffering. And she's also this oddball girl with a quirky sense of humour, a love for all kinds of animals, the most hideous cute mascot ever, whose cooking is prone to causing explosion and weird secondary effects. Anthy's not really good, but Anthy's very much like us, and I love her for that. And I lover her story because in the end Anthy isn't the girl who's saved. She's the girl who walks away - who just walks away - from her abuser and goes to find her friend.
And how is that not awesome?

Bellatrix, Narcissa, Andromeda (Harry Potter)

The Black sisters. The thing I love most about them is how intensely passionate they are. They love and hate with all their heart, they're utterly committed to it. Bellatrix is a psychopathic bloodthirsty fighting wreck, but she's such an enjoyable one. Narcissa's vicious protectiveness, snobbish class and amorality. Andromeda's dignified love and quirkiness. They all made their decisions with passion, for what and who they loved, and each of them stood by it awesomely. They all lost a lot to their choices and kept going.

Sansa, Arya, Brienne, Daenarys (ASOIAF)



I can't pick just one, OKAY? The Westeros girls, how I love 'em. Arya's tough-as-nails 11-year-old psychopathic worm-biting revenge-bent blood-thirsty ways. Do you know what wolves do to dogs? Oh, yes. That's awesome.
Sansa's compassion and kindness, love for stories, miswired memories and curtersies-as-armor. Lighting candles and praying for Tyrion and Sandor at Blackwater's Battle, even. Utterly alone in the midst of ennemies and still finding ways to care for others. Smarter than she knows or trusts herself to be. Building castles of snow that looks like Winterfell. She's a survivor alright.
Daenarys sold out by her brother at 14 for an army, Daenarys on her Silver, Daenarys riding Drogo, Daenarys in the fire, Daenarys freeing the slaves, Daenarys fearing betrayal, Daenarys trying to be a queen, a good queen. So young, and finding the strength.
Brienne's stubborn, her honour, her courage, her awkwardness, her crush on Renly, her heartbreaking distrust and trust in others, and beyond everything her stubborness.

Hokuto (Tokyo Babylon / X)



Hokuto's like the bravest girl ever. She's a seriously awesome 16 year old girl. She loves cool clothes and designing them, she's got a perverted mind and likes joking about it. She threatened Seishirou with a knife out of nowhere, made a threat and backed it. She has absolutly no shame in the most awesomes ways. She helped random strangers just because. She made magic ritual with her lipsticks! And she didn't even hate the man who killed her, because she wanted both him and her brother to be happy - and that was an utterly selfish wish of her. She didn't sacrifice herself. She said, this is what I want, and I'll get it, and if I have to die for it, so be it.

Jenseny (Coldfire Trilogy)

Jenseny is another little girl whose courage puts to shame most grown up heroes. She's got a magical power which is usually more a curse than a blessing, plaguing her with visions of violence and pain, making the sunlight often too loud to withstand, and being generally confusing and seldom controllable. She's also pretty smart in all the decisions she makes, despite the suckiness of the situations she's left. And she - she loves so much the groups of random people she's stuck with, Hessieth and Damien. And then she's got a death scene which is another awesome take that fucker. Did I mention she was incredibly brave and smart?

Ekaterin (Vorkosigan series)

I love Ekaterin because there's this sense of quiet, polite strength about her. In a way that's very still, dignified and elegant. There's a lot of fragility about her, but she's got a trick about wearing them on her sleeves in a way that strengthens her instead of weakening her. Also she's got guts, lots, lots of guts.

Elisabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean)



I love Elisabeth because she starts out as damself in distress, if the smart & spirited kind, and ends up being Pirate fucking King; and I love her because beyond the freedom loving, pirate dreaming girl, she's this utterly ruthless and badass heroine. I love her because kiss-of-death-betrayal are one of my biggest kink. She's also smart, cunning, bold and can double deal like the best o' em. And ruthless. Did I mention she was ruthless and how hot that is?

Lina Inverse (Slayers)



You know, I'm seldom very fond of the main character of any ensemble cast. Usually I'm happy enough when I can kinda like 'em. Lina's better than that, and though she's not quite my favourite character of Slayers it's because every character is all kind of awesome in Slayers, but Lina - she's seriously awesome. It's not just the trigger-happy temper and tendancy to overuse overkill destructive spells. It's not just the fact she's one of the most powerful sorceress of the world, and doesn't seem to be scared of anything but her older sister. It's not just the mercenary and food loving leaning, and the utterly crazy pace she generally sets on Slayers. It's also the fact that Lina never, ever gives up. Demons kings, Cosmic Horrors, beings from another dimension, whathaveyou, if you mess up with her, she'll fight you back.
Okay maybe actually it is the trigger happy temper and tendancy to overuse overkill spells. You know, she's such a Player Characters XD

Haruhi (Ouran high Host Club)



Deadpan gender-unconscious intelligent awesome. Y/Y? Very deadpan. How I love the deadpan!

Faith (BtVS)



So I was reading the second volume ofthe Season 8 TPB comics, and overall, I found it a bit wearisome, the wittiness forced and awkward and the storyline pretty boring, but it had Faith a lot in it, and it totally reminded me why I love her character so much. Just. Faith being cocky and unsure of herself, messed up but going on, vulnerable and strong, skirtling the lines of darkness, being funny. Being a fighter. And with an awesome chemistry/history/heartbreaking yearning for Buffy. Oh, yeah.

Cameron (House)



Cameron was actually my favourite House character for the first two seasons (third season's Chase, no idea for the 4th... Kutner maybe?). She's hot, compassionate, tender, occasionnaly self-righteous, often very direct (especially when it comes to sex), sassy and very intelligent. And I kinda adore her. And I keep away from that fandom because I got the impresssion there was a lot of Cameron bashing in it, and isn't that sad? :-(

And so many more...

Comments

[werthead.livejournal.com]

Faith FTW :-)

Not sure who I'd put up there. Somewhat surprisingly, I think Nynaeve al'Meara from Wheel of Time has to go on there. Whilst most WoT characters started off great and then descended into lamedon over the course of the series, Nynaeve started off really annoying but matured, grew up and somewhere around Book 6 or 7 became extremely awesome. What she did in Book 11 for Lan nearly made up for the sheer awfulness of Books 8-10. But not quite.

Andromache in Dsvid Gemmell's Troy Trilogy is some other kind of awesome. Strong, tough, hopelessly in love with Helikaon/Aeneas (but never soppily so), flawed but with a decent heart and an ability to kill absolutely every mofo in the room. Great stuff.

Susan Sto Helit in the Discworld novels. Just extremely cool and funny, one of those characters with a strong streak of common sense that actually behaves logically and rationally. Nanny Ogg as well, for just being unbelievably funny (and the owner of the evillest cat in the world).

Probably Mara of the Acoma in Feist and Wurts' Empire Trilogy. Quite believable character development as she matures from a neophyte priestess to being the regent of a vast empire.

Jeanne-Antoinette, Marquise de Pompadour, as portrayed by Sophia Myles in the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace". Awesome performance and a fantastic character (no wonder the Doctor falls for her!). No idea if it was historically accurate though.

Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5. Awesome performance by Claudia Christian and great character development over the four seasons she was in the show, building to a somewhat tragic end.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Nynaeve's the only one of your list I actually know of!! I did like her in WoT. She was fun. I never reached Book 11 though... I like her fight against, whatshername, Moghe-something? Spider themed Forsaken or something.

Maybe I need to read some Gemmell. Lots of Greek mythology women are awesome of course. I love Andromache in Racine's eponymous play for example. And there's Antigone and Electre too. And Clytemnestre who's all Cersei's like. And Helen's from Gireaudoux's La Guerre de Troie N'aura pas Lieu... I'm straying.

I think someday I need to watch Babylon 5...

[werthead.livejournal.com]

Moghedien in Book 4? Yeah, that was pretty cool. Finding out that the Forsaken aren't as powerful as was advertised was a nice moment of misdirection in the series ("Oh, the Forsaken are MUCH more powerful than any channellers around today...erm, okay, maybe not so much").

I need to find a good fictional representation of Eleanor of Aquitaine. The history stuff is great but the few times I've encountered her in books she's kind of lame (although I wonder if the Queen of Thorns is a vague echo of her). It's awesome that she berated her son (Richard the Lionheart!) for not giving the kingdom an heir in front of his entire army.

I think you'd quite like the Discworld books. Soul Music is the first one with Susan in. Corporal Angua of the City Watch, who first appears in Men at Arms, is also quite cool: she's a policewoman and a werewolf, which is an interesting combination.

B5 is excellent but starts off a bit on the rough side. If you think it of as an enthusiastic amateur dramatics production with a lame lead actor whom they boot out later on, you can get through the first season and into the second, whereupon it immediately becomes awesome.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I remember reading one book about Alienor d'Aquitaine (:p) when I was a little kid, but I don't really remember if it was good or how cool Alienor was in it. I remember the Plantagenet were hot in a bad boy way though :D she's definitly an interesting woman of History. Ought to learn more about her in general. Not that she was the only one.

Oh, I actually read a fair amount of Discworld. Err, did read Soul Music, but I don't remember Susan #^_^# Pratchet's characters tend to not make a very big imprint on me I'm afraid, and the Witches book in general are my least favourite. I kinda stopped reading the series a while ago, (stopped in the middle of the Phantom of the Opera themed one) because I got too bored with its sense of humour after a while, I guess.

... okay. Will rememeber for B5.

[curtana.livejournal.com]

Re: Eleanor, you must see The Lion in Winter if you haven't already. A great, great movie, with amazing performances all around :)

[hamsterwoman]

I think someday I need to watch Babylon 5...

You do! Not only is there Ivanova, but my also Delenn, who is my favorite female character on the show, and a couple of other strong females.

[curtana.livejournal.com]

It's funny, in the small amount of House fandom that I've delved into, I've always noticed a lot of Cameron-love, to the point of massive complaining when she wasn't in the show as much (like this season...) As I'm more of a Cuddy fan, I rather tend to notice the huge amount of Cuddy-bashing that goes on. I think it's pretty sad that some fans can't seem to tolerate having more than one strong female character in a show, as if they're in competition with each other. I mean, I may think Cuddy's more interesting, but I don't despise Cameron because of it :p

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I only delved a bit into it, myself of course, and I think most of the places I went in was deep with the House/Wilsom love (and I dislike Wilson... >_>;;). They seemed to like Cuddy though O_o;
I rather like her as well ^^ She's cool, sexy, sassy, well acted. It's too bad the show underexploits her IMO. And I really dislike how the show's formula means she always ends up being the butt of joke, losing to House's mindgames... it's something I find very frustrating about the character even though I like her (if that makes any sense)

[hamsterwoman]

Totally agree with you and all points about Cuddy, especially that she always loses in the formula (I guess it's part of the Sherlock Holmes model, with Cuddy representing "establishment" -- i.e. hapless Scotland Yard -- but it's still a waste of an awesome character...)

[curtana.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I don't find that bothers me - it's the formula of the show, yes, but I think that within that formula, she holds her own really well. It would be easy for a character who's basically compelled to be 'the bad guy' on a regular basis to come off as bitchy or stupid or unpleasant, and I think the fact that she manages to come across as smart and competent and good-hearted despite being "opposed" to the "hero" is a credit to her (and the writers, no doubt). And I think most of the characters apart from House are under-exploited, really ;) I loved the Cuddy-trying-to-have-a-baby plotline, and wish/hope that would come back at some point in the future.

Re. the fandom, yes, the House/Wilson love sort of overshadows everything else, but apart from that, it seems as though one has to either ship House/Cameron or House/Cuddy, and consequently hate the other one. I don't get it, but then, I don't really get 'ships in general. I have characters that I find interesting together, but it doesn't mean that I only find them interesting with that character and no others ever OMG!!! I guess I'm generally more keen to read an interesting story featuring whoever than to read about particular characters to the exclusion of all others.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Well, that's the thing. While she does come across as good hearted and even smart, the formula makes it so she ends up looking uncompetent most of the time. It's entirely due to House being so outrageous yet un-firable, but to me it makes the character suffers.

And I think most of the characters apart from House are under-exploited, really ;)
Hahahaha! Yes, fair enough.

it seems as though one has to either ship House/Cameron or House/Cuddy, and consequently hate the other one
How weird. Nah, I like both Cameron and Cuddy :D even though I kinda like House/Cameron

But it doesn't mean that I only find them interesting with that character and no others ever OMG!!!
Huh, word. Don't get that either. Always happy to break an OTP :d

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

They all made their decisions with passion
Oh, yes. For all their differences, that's something they all have in common.

Also, it's wonderful to see someone else who likes Elizabeth! I'm tired of seeing people call her a Sue simply because she dared to be just as awesome as the guys. She rules. :D

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Oy, I decided to stop listening to people when they call characters Sue. Unless we're talking about a male character maybe. It became such an overused word to mean "strong female character which I dislike because..." well, the because escapes me, but whatever.

Elisabeth's my favourite PotC character, I think, simply because of her overall story. I love Jack too, but he ends up where he started. But Elisabeth! Yeah, definitly rules :D

[mithrigil.livejournal.com]

So much agreement--Anthy, Hokuto, Haruhi and Brienne in particular.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

♥

they're all kinds of awesome!

[hamsterwoman]

Neat Brienne picture! I know I've seen it before, but can't remember where.

So, you like Ekaterin more than Cordelia? I do like Ekaterin quite a lot, and, lord knows, it's a brave woman that would actually marry Miles, given his propensity for getting himself into trouble, and I agree with everything you say about what makes her neat. But Cordelia is still my favorite female in Vorkosiverse -- but I think the "mother lioness" thing is a character kink of mine, so that might be why. Ekaterin is definitely the more unusual kind of kickass female character.

From what little I've seen (I kind of stay away from House fandom, too), fandom seems to be split between Cameron love + House/Cameron squeeing and Cameron bashing. I find her a frustrating character because she seems so inconsistently written... it's almost certainly the fault of the writers and "too many cooks, etc.", but if you take it at face value, she comes across as a much less compelling character than she could've veen if they'd picked a direction/personality and stuck with it. (I originally started watching in mid-late-season 2, so I might have missed the best parts of Cameron development upon initial exposure, and it's hard to pick up on that sort of thing retroactively.) But I'm definitely with you on season 3 Chase and season 4 probably-Kutner.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Neat Brienne picture! I know I've seen it before, but can't remember where.
You know what's ridiculous? I just hunted this picture today to make this post, and I already don't remember where it was from x_x; I do remember it was from an old thread over at Ran's board, and recced by the user Lady Bracknell, so if you track her down on the board you might ask her if she remembers where it's from >_>;;

So, you like Ekaterin more than Cordelia?
Well, I'm kind of in love with Ekaterin, which I'm not with Cordelia, that may influence. And, at the risk of sounding like the biggest hypocrite after what I said on a threat above, while I do love Cordelia, she sometimes feels a bit Sue-ish and unbelievable as a character? Like she's just a bit too much bigger than life. OKay, that's ridiculous as well as hypocritical. Lots of characters are bigger than life in Vorkosigan, starting with Miles. Perhaps it's a character kink thing, yes. I'm not that hot for mothers, usually (couple of exceptions like Narcissa apart), while Ekaterin fills my still water runs deep female character kink (aka most likely female character for me to fall in love with)
Wow, that was rambly.

fandom seems to be split between Cameron love + House/Cameron squeeing and Cameron bashing
Aah; yes! That makes sense!
Agreeing with you on inconsistency (true of other characters on the show, but I think she's the worst there).
Kutner's so adorable! He's so sweet and optimistic in the middle of all these sarcastic, miserable, dramatic and generally pessimistic cast of characters, it's all kind of wonderful :)
S3 was really Chase's season ^^

[hamsterwoman]

while I do love Cordelia, she sometimes feels a bit Sue-ish and unbelievable as a character?

No, I think that's fair... she hasn't got many (any?) faults, and she kind of takes Barrayar by storm, so I can definitely see the argument for her being Sue-ish. It probably does come down to a character kink. But also I think -- and this is totally the wrong reason to like a female character, I'll be the first to admit, but for some reason it really works in this case -- I might like her in part as a reflection of Aral's love for her. Not that this in itself is sufficient, but I think it gives her a little extra push, if that makes any sense.

And Ekaterin is an *excellent* example of the "still waters" thing, I agree. (I read A Civil Campaign before I read Komarr, which probably means I didn't get the whole revelatory experience, but it was still a very effective revelation of her character. Although the early parts of Komarr really make me cringe -- in a good way, but eep, the domestic situation.

true of other characters on the show, but I think she's the worst there

Yeah, there's definitely inconsistency with the others, too, but it really seems like Cameron gets the worst of it. I'm usually pretty forgiving of that sort of thing in a character, but it was kind of glaring even for me. Which is too bad, because there were definitely episodes where I really liked her, before her personality morphed into something else for the next ep.

I kind of want to adopt Kutner. :D Well, no, but he is really the only person in that whole show that I would like to hang out with extensively in real life, I think. He is such a dork, but such a HAPPY dork. I adore people like that.

[solesakuma]

Hokuto!!! Such an awesome awesome character.
And Toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooph!!!
And Elizabeth! She ended up being my favourite character in POTC, fandom be damned.
Oooh, Lina. I adore Lina. Mostly because the world is very lucky that I don't know any destructive spells.
And Haruhi! *hugs Haruhi*

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

^_^

hahaha, on Lina's spell!

bah, fandom!

[rebbe]

FUCK YEAH TOPH! She's the only one of the above that I know, but damn if she isn't awesome~

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

YOU NEED TO GET OUT AND WATCH MORE ANIME, READ MORE BOOKS, WATCH MORE MOVIES Y/Y

Toph is an awesome cake with an awesome cherry on the top.

[twhitesakura.livejournal.com]

Yay, Hokuto! ♥ I liked Anthy and Faith too. ^_~

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

they're all great ♥

[ontogenesis.livejournal.com]

Mmm, strong women. Not sure if you're into urban fantasy, but if you are, Patricia Briggs' books about her VW mechanic (who also happens to be half Native American and a coyote shapeshifter) are great.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Never heard of it, but I'm interested, what kind of urban fantasy is it?

[ontogenesis.livejournal.com]

http://www.patriciabriggs.com/books.shtml

You can read sample chapters here (the cover art of Mercy - although quite hot - is a bit deceptive. Mercy doesn't actually trot around like that. She's practical. ^^;; )

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

looks like fun, I'll have to look for those books :) Thanks for the rec!