(no subject)

[esmenet]

A lot of the 'heroes' -- the ones who truly are heroes, and not anti-heroes or just characters I like -- that I love are the ones who will not give up, no matter what. Zuko in Vathara's Embers is a good example, as is Battler from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. They will do anything to save their people. Anything, from breaking their strong, unbending pride to denying the truth of the world itself.

It's a little unsettling that I can't think of a female character like that.

Oh, I sort of can -- heroines who will do anything -- but the choices they are forced to make are generally more . . . passive ones. More of the lying and hiding and staying safe themselves (which is not a bad thing, of course) and less of the confronting a great figure and saying to their face I will not back down. Less . . . determination. Or at least positions in which that determination can be tested.

The only real exception I can think of to this is (of course) Major General Olivia Armstrong. She doesn't say so in as many words, but she is the Northern Wall of Briggs, and no matter what you will not get past her.


I'm not sure I worded this post quite right, but I think you get the point anyway.

Comments

[branchandroot]

*thinks* Yeah, it isn't easy to come up with them. Utena, I'd say. Sailor Moon, curiously enough; it's one of the things I like about the anime especially. It's still somewhat the princess of heart deal, but she's the one with the power and it's her determination and grit that saves the world every season; I always especially approved of the Season One ending, which features her actually beating up on her beloved prince in order to un-brainwash him.

[strina]

Katsa, from Kristin Cashore's novel Graceling, does it and that's why she is my faaavorite. (Also, Embers, eeeeee, I cannot wait for the next chapter!)

[skygiants]

I can think of a couple! Eowyn, of course, is one of the gold standards - I am no man! - but I would also class Duck of Princess Tutu under this as well. She may not be beating people up to do it, but within the framework of her story there is that same kind of determination - I refuse to vanish. (And she's the one going out and saving the day, at the end, while the dude sits home and provides moral support, which is just one of many, many reasons that I love Princess Tutu.) And then of course there's the spit-in-your-face stab-you-in-the-gut determination of the ladies of Capital Scandal . . .