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Portrayal of female action hero characters

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laureanna
Post subject: Portrayal of female action hero characters
Posted: Sun 12 Jun , 2005 7:14 am
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I'm reading the third book in Stephen Lawhead's Celtic Crusades series and this one is by far the best of the books of his I've read. It has a female protagonist and he portrays her very believably. She can be strong and outspoken - and listened to - as long as she has faithful male guards around her, and enough silver to buy what she needs. It is still slightly fantasy - no gals had it that good back then - but it's a fantasy I can more easily buy into and immerse myself in. I like her character better than the female characters in Guy Gavriel Kay's Sailing to Sarantium and other books. Anyone else read Lawhead?


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halplm
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Posted: Mon 13 Jun , 2005 11:19 pm
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I read (and loved) Lawhead's "Song of Albion" and his original Arthur Trilogy. I haven't been able to get into any of his others.

I don't remember thinking about the female characters specifically.

EDIT: woops, clicked submit too early...

My favorite for female characters has most often been Anne McCaffrey. The Crystal Singer Trilogy has Killishandra Ree, who is my favorite female character in sci-fi/fantasy.

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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
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Posted: Mon 13 Jun , 2005 11:35 pm
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I've never heard of this, but I'll have to look for it. :) It sounds interesting.

There are very few female characters that I like. I especially dislike "strong" female characters, who(m) I generally find to be annoying and unbelievable. The few that I have liked are generally in Tolkien--Éowyn, Luthien. The only other one whom I can think of (off hand, I'm sure there must be others) is Terry Pratchett's Angua, who used to really bother me as well, but I' starting to like her more. [/i]

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Frelga
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Posted: Wed 15 Jun , 2005 2:24 am
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Oh, is this the thread I was supposed to start? :oops: I kept thinking about it, but there were so many ways to approach it that I just couldn't pick one.

Haven't read Lawhead, but if Laureanna likes it, it's probably good. ;)

In general, I'm with Maiden. I dislike books where "strong" = "violent", for men and women. And I dislike books where the female protagonist acts and thinks like a man, as if the less feminine a character the stronger she is. The choice for females seems to be: meek, subservient and empty-headed, or wild, heavily armed and rebellious.

That said, I've no problem with a female character who defend themselves with violence when they have to.

In another thread I've mentioned Cynthia Voigt for handling strong (no quotes required) females especially well. In Jackaroo, Gwyn is an innkeeper's daughter, and she is locked into woman's tasks and responsibilities. But she is strong physically, she knows what she wants; she makes her choices and she pays the price for them; she can survive on her own and yes, she has to fight at one point and fight she does.

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Lily Rose
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Posted: Tue 21 Jun , 2005 5:51 am
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I am in agreement with Maiden and Frelga. I don't like female characters that behave like men. On the other hand, I don't like simpering wimpy females, either.

My favorite female character is probably Polgara from the Belgariad and the Mallorean, by David Eddings. She is a sorceress, but for the most part, uses her brain to get what she wants.
My least favorite female character comes from the same two series. Ce'nedra is whiny, spoiled, manipulative, selfish and just down right annoying.

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sh_wulff
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Posted: Thu 01 Sep , 2005 5:17 am
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Garnny Weatherwax is one of my fave female caharcters


I like her no-nonsense approach to life

as for Tolkien.. well Eowyn is intersting, but find Arwen too ethereal and Gladdy downright spooky

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Niamh
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Posted: Thu 01 Sep , 2005 3:58 pm
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laureanna, I haven't read the celtic crusades, but if it's in celtic times, yes, women had it that good. Women were entirely equal to men, they were chieftains or queens, they could go to war if they so wished, rape was heavily punished, and divorce existed. We barely are coming back to the status women had back then.

Anyway: Female action heroes are annoying indeed as a rule. I do know a few that are well portrayed, but they escape me right now.
I thought Brienne in "a song of ice and fire" was very good (but she's obviously a tomboy, and a misfit).
David Gemmell portrayed a lot of healer/witch/priestesses women with great success. But then again he managed to put black and asian men in his fantasy tales without a hitch. The man is gifted :D



sh_wulff: IMO, Granny Weatherwax is the only redeeming feature in the whole of Terry Pratchett nonsense ;)


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Dindraug
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Posted: Fri 02 Sep , 2005 7:36 am
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Yes, I have to back up Niamh on this. The 'Celts', well many indo-european cultures, were strongly matriarcial, and women often had a better time of it than the men. I should also point out who is the deity of wisdom and learing in Celtic cultures etc.

Won't go into the Goddess as a figure, but they were strong.

However, as most modern tales are written for modern audiences, you don't get feminine strong charictors in fantasy.

Well apart from Morgaine in 'The Mists of Avalon', she was quite tough. ;)

Really don't get on with Gemmel though. He tries to write heroic era and just misses it a bit. It was a bit like the film 'Troy', looked good on the surface, but not really getting the point :roll:


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