Women in Fiction | Sansa Stark

Sansa Stark, as portrayed by Sophie Turner

There are many great female characters in the Game of Thrones / Song of Ice and Fire saga that I could have chosen to highlight here, but I chose to start with Sansa simply because she is the one many others would be quick to overlook. She began the series as an arguably meek, naive young girl; easy to dismiss and seemingly little more than the epitome of a damsel in distress. Watching, learning, and developing the skills she needs to survive, however, Sansa has gone through one of the series’ biggest developmental arcs, and has since stepped from the shadows of dragon-wielding Daenerys, warrior-woman Brienne, cunning orchestrator Cersei, and brutal vengeance seeker Arya, to emerge as every bit the interesting, complex, and valuable character – female or otherwise.

Sansa now embodies a quieter, more introspective kind of survivor; one who has overcome great trauma to form the strategic intelligence, emotional maturity, and hardened resolve that have proven necessary to save both herself and her people. Some survive by leading from the front, sword in hand (or dragons overhead), but Sansa has proven that there are different kinds of strength, and that there is more than one way to go the distance in the game of thrones.

Women in Fiction | Lindsay Denton

DI Lindsay Denton

I started this little ongoing feature on my blog a while back to highlight great female characters in fiction. It occurred to me recently that not all great female characters are necessarily great people. Enter: Lindsay Denton.

Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton appears in the crime drama, Line of Duty, which centres around an anti-corruption department of the UK police force. Denton becomes the subject of their investigations during the show’s second season, when she is the sole survivor of an ambushed convoy escorting someone in witness protection. The investigators are unsure how culpable she may or may not have been in the attack, and the genius of the show is that: neither are we.

A phenomenal example of an anti-heroine, Denton’s erratic behaviour and moral ambiguity mean we’re constantly wrestling with our sympathies (or lack thereof) for her. She’s damn good at her job, but she also does some undeniably bad things in her own quest for justice. Even so, she carries them out with such intelligence, cunning, conviction and resourcefulness that you can’t help but be impressed.

Played brilliantly by Keeley Hawes, the character is consistently able to catch the audience off guard and shift where our loyalties lie. By the end of her story arc, some viewers will love her; others will loathe her. That, alone, is testament to the fantastic realisation of her depth and complexity of character.

Women in Fiction | Leia Organa

Leia Organa

Everyone’s favourite Princess-turned-General, Star Wars’ Leia Organa was a force to be reckoned with from the moment she first appeared on screen, flipping stereotypes on their head from the off, and refusing to be the damsel in distress. In her first scenes, as her ship is breached and she’s taken prisoner, she doesn’t cower; instead, she fires her blaster gun at the bad guys, smuggles out a message to the good guys, and serves unadulterated sass to her captors. Thus, a legend was born.

Taking control of her own would-be rescue, and telling the men how it should be done, she was never forced to play second fiddle; she was truly the heroine of the saga. That said, and despite being a trailblazer for strong women when there were so very few in fiction, there’s no denying that Leia was sexualised (we all remember the metal bikini), but the true power of that scene isn’t how good Carrie Fisher looks, it’s the fact that Leia strangles her abductor with the very chains he used to try and bind her. She doesn’t need men to rescue her. Nor does she need a flashy lightsaber or even The Force. No, all she needs is her bare hands and a determination to survive.

Carrie said it best herself…

Though it’s Leia of the original trilogy that most of us think of with the most nostalgia, Leia of the later movies is just as inspiring – if not, more so. Having dedicated her life to fighting the good fight, Leia is still on the front lines some 40ish years later. Older, wiser, but still snarky as hell, she’s not only a member of the Resistance; she’s its founder and leading General. Leia is quite literally the boss; an inspirer of hope throughout the Galaxy.

Wary of avoiding specific spoilers for the most recent film, suffice it to say that The Last Jedi lets us see another side of Leia, tapping into whole new realms of strength in more ways than one; stoic in her measured yet maternal leadership, but also vulnerable and human in the wake of her years of loss. And speaking of that loss, let’s just take a moment to appreciate that by this point, Leia has lost pretty much everyone and everything she loves (her home planet and adoptive parents have been destroyed; Han is dead; her brother is missing; her son has gone to the Dark Side) and not only is she still leading with strength and conviction, but not once has she been so much as tempted by the Dark Side herself, despite her strong Force connections – putting those Skywalker men to shame, you might say.

With the untimely and tragic loss of Carrie Fisher, Leia’s ultimate fate remains to be seen. We can only hope they do a true screen icon the justice she deserves. Whatever the outcome, may The Force be with her, always.

“To me, she’s royalty.”

Women in Fiction | Faith Connors

Faith Connors

Faith Connors is the heroine of the Mirror’s Edge video game franchise. In a dystopian, futuristic world, Faith operates as a Runner; a member of a resistance group tasked with transporting messages and important documents throughout the city whilst avoiding government surveillance.

Faith is notable as a great example of a fictional female lead in that she’s an action star without being over-the-top, with the developers saying: “It was important to us that she felt human not superhuman, inspirational not unattainable, a real hero.” This, coupled with her non-sexualized design makes her a heroine worth celebrating. Strong and athletic, yet petite, her appearance is both practical and realistic given her role as a master of parkour and martial arts who must traverse the city as quickly and efficiently as possible.

As Faith, you must traverse the city and escape conflict as much as possible…

… but it doesn’t hurt that she’s more than capable of kicking some ass when she needs to.

Standing against the regime and fighting for what she believes in, whilst also being fiercely protective of those she cares about, there’s a lot to admire about Faith, not least the fact that she’s an Asian woman who is never once treated as ‘exotic’, an unfortunate rarity in the fictional world. Having led two games and a series of tie-in comics thus far, let’s hope she has a bright future as a leading lady of gaming yet to come.

Women in Fiction | Saga Norén

Saga Norén

Saga Norén is the protagonist of the Swedish/Danish TV show, The Bridge, in which she is brilliantly portrayed by Sofia Helin. A gifted police detective who is utterly devoted to her work, Saga approaches everything with cool logic and will stop at nothing to get the job done. The character is generally believed to have Asperger’s Syndrome, though it has never been officially stated outright within the show itself, with the writers saying they don’t want the character’s development or actions to feel hindered by labels, but also because the character would never willingly submit herself to hospital or medical tests to be formally diagnosed, which is addressed in the show for reasons I won’t spoil.

Because of her condition, Saga has little to no understanding of any social norms, with a complete lack of any filter when it comes to interacting with other people, landing her in many funny but equally awkward situations thanks to her blunt, no-nonsense manner. Beautifully realised however, Saga never becomes a stereotype, constantly fascinated by human nature and seeking to ‘improve’ herself, with viewers also getting to see more of Saga’s emotional side and delving into her past and the difficult relationships she has with her family as the show progresses, as she makes huge personal sacrifices in the pursuit of justice.

Women in Fiction | Beverly Katz

Beverly Katz

The latest post in my Women in Fiction series is in honour of Beverly Katz, the FBI Crime Scene Investigator from Thomas Harris’ Hannibal books and the TV adaptation of the same name, in which she was portrayed by Hettienne Park.

Smart, snarky, quick-witted and damn good at her job, Katz (particularly her screen iteration, given the casting of an Asian-American actress) managed to break stereotypes with regards to gender and ethnicity whilst also being a genuinely likable and relatable character. We so rarely see women of colour who are the intellectual and ass-kicking equals of their male counterparts without them ever needing to play the ‘sexy’ or ‘exotic’ card. Katz also bucks the trend by being in a powerful, influential and successful role without having had to become cold, detached and masculine.

Intuitive, empathetic and level-headed, she also regularly acted as a grounding force for the disturbed Will Graham, becoming one of his most trusted friends and colleagues, whilst also being one step ahead of the bad guys (and her team) on several occasions.

Park said it perfectly herself when describing the experience of bringing Katz to life:

“I got to play this amazing woman who didn’t have to sleep with anyone (not that I would have minded) or act dumb and girlie, or fawn all over some guy, or be a conniving bitch to get people to notice or respect me, and she didn’t speak broken English or karate chop anyone (not that I would have minded). Nobody called her “dragon lady” or “exotic.” She could shoot a gun and drive that FBI SUV like a champ. And all with the extra added bonus of being Jewish.”

What’s not to love?

Women in Fiction | Luna Lovegood

Luna Lovegood

The latest character to be featured in my ‘Women in Fiction’ series is Luna Lovegood from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, who is portrayed by Evanna Lynch in the movie adaptations. Having already featured her Potter contemporary, Hermione Granger, in part for her unwillingness to compromise who she truly is, I couldn’t fail to also mention Luna, who has a level of self-love, acceptance and comfort in her own skin that most of us can only aspire to.

Delightfully quirky, Luna is unashamedly herself and though it would have been easy for such an oddball to have been painted as a loner, she instead showed us that kindness and loyalty will always win out in the end by proving herself to be one of Harry’s most reliable companions who is not at all afraid to stand up for what is right. In doing so, she also proved that sensitivity and compassion need not be seen as signs of weakness.

Essentially, Luna taught us that being true to ourselves may not necessarily be the fastest way to make the most friends, but it’s the best way to make the right ones.

Women in Fiction | Jill Valentine

Resident Evil heroine, Jill Valentine

Jill Valentine is the original and longest-standing heroine of the Resident Evil franchise of video games, having also made appearances in various forms of spin-off media, including movies, novels and comics.

Jill begins the series as part of a special police unit that discovers a secret research facility conducting horrific experiments which have led to the development of a virus responsible for creating bio-organic weapons (BOWs) and capable of zombifying anyone who comes into contact with it. Exposing a vast conspiracy, Jill is betrayed by her team captain, Albert Wesker, but survives the ordeal, destroying the facility and setting out on a tireless mission to expose and shut-down those behind the incident and eradicate BOWs. Travelling the world to do so, and overcoming seemingly impossible odds, she eventually goes on to co-found an organisation dedicated to the cause, and thus becomes a leading and respected figure in the fight against bio-terror.

The first and perhaps most obvious reason to praise Jill is her physical prowess, proving herself time and again to be just as capable a fighter as any of her male counterparts. She’s not there to be the love interest, nor the token female presence. Instead, she brings her own distinct skills to the team, more than earning her place. With Resident Evil usually hailed as the game which coined and popularised the Survival Horror genre, she is also often considered the benchmark for female leads to live up to. The game’s developers have even talked about how they consciously designed the character to make her appealing to both male and female gamers alike; a rare example of female gamers’ interests being taken seriously.

Throughout the series, Jill shows herself to be brave, resilient, compassionate, and a fiercely loyal operative, even going as far as to seemingly sacrifice her own life to stop Wesker and rescue her long-standing friend and partner, Chris Redfield. She survives but is seized, enduring years of captivity and attempted brainwashing but ultimately resisting and fighting back, emerging all the more determined to stand for what is right.

Jill’s formidable skill and her obvious moral strength have combined to see her popularity remain strong for the 20 years since her debut. Here’s to the next 20.

Women in Fiction | Chloe O’Brian

Chloe O’Brian

Chloe O’Brian is an agent working with the Counter Terrorist Unit in the TV show, 24. Portrayed by Mary Lynn Rajskub, she is both immensely intelligent and wonderfully forthright, never once mincing her words or holding back when she has something to say.

Throughout the show, Chloe consistently proves herself to be protagonist Jack Bauer’s most invaluable and trusted ally, going above and beyond the call of duty time and time again to aid him in his mission – even if it means jeopardising her position at CTU or putting her own life in danger. What I love even more however is her willingness to also stand up to Jack and call him out if she feels he is in the wrong; proving her commitment to her morals and showing us that even her closest friend isn’t beyond the reach of her personal conviction to do the right thing.

Wonderfully sassy and sarcastic, she never suffers fools lightly and comes out with some fabulous one liners and truly epic put-downs, delivered with dead-pan brilliance. Using her technical prowess to outsmart the bad guys and save the day on plentiful occasions, she is also not afraid to enter the field when needed.

Despite her tough, no-nonsense exterior, Chloe is well developed throughout the series, showing moments of true compassion and empathy (*sniff* Edgar *sniff*) and going through a crisis of identity following personal tragedy later in the series, but throughout it all, she never loses her confidence in her own skills as an agent and a fighter for the common good.

Women in Fiction | Lara Croft

Lara Croft

Lara Croft is arguably the most recognisable character – male or female – to emerge from the world of gaming, having cemented her place as a true pop culture icon over the last two decades.

Though she was immediately hailed as a fantastic antithesis to the overwhelming number of male leads in video games and a fine action star in her own right, there was always some debate as to her status as a feminist figure, given the overt sexualisation of the character’s image in spite of her obvious physical and intellectual prowess. A few years ago however, the series was rebooted, essentially scrapping the previous continuity and going back to basics, re-imagining Lara’s story for a new generation.

This ‘new’ Lara is a far more rounded character, beginning the series as a wide-eyed young woman eager to find adventure on her first expedition, only to survive a shipwrecking. Washed up and stranded on a remote island, she is forced to quickly adapt to her extreme surroundings and learn new, invaluable skills that she will need to evolve into the hardened warrior and adventurer she is destined to become. With a much bigger emphasis on Lara’s emotional drive and motivations, a clearer developmental arc, and a much grittier, more realistic and no longer sexualised image, her position at the forefront of pro-feminist gaming is now secure.

Brave, smart, strong, determined and compassionate, the new and improved Miss Croft is a force to be reckoned with; only one we can now all relate to on a far more human level.