Fictional Characters #9 - Chicks in the Thick of It

[This post contains big fat spoilers for Robin McKinley’s Outlaws of Sherwood, and Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment.  If you care, skip those entries]

Eowyn (played by Miranda Otto in the Lord of the Rings films)

I love the Lord of the Rings movies, but after the first one I couldn’t help wishing there were more women in it (preferably human).  Then, in the second film, along comes Eowyn.  There are a number of reasons I love this character, but I think the most important one is that she pulls off being both tenderhearted and tough-as-nails, and somehow keeps both firmly in place while falling in love with a man she can’t have.  It’s pretty brilliant in my opinion.

Princess Leia (played by Carrie Fisher in the Star Wars films)

Ok, so there are some hair and fashion choices we could live without (Cinnamon roll hair and metal bikinis? Please.)  Still this blaster toting, rebellion leading, Hutt strangling, scoundrel kissing woman is not your average pop culture princess.  Thank goodness!

Hari (from The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley)

I love the Twilight books (as earlier entries in this list will attest), but what sometimes drives me nutty is that they can be so wildly popular and get made into films while a book like The Blue Sword, and a cinema ready and fabulous character like Hari stays so far out of the mainstream.  If Elizabeth Bennet and Aragorn had a literary child it would be Hari, half proper Englishwoman, half sword-swinging hero.

The women of Monstrous Regiment  (by Terry Pratchett)

I found it hard to believe this book was written by a man.  I mean that as a compliment.  The absolute empathy and sheer awesomeness of the bevy of women in this book is amazing.  In one bit they are women masquerading as men masquerading as women, and it’s beyond hilarious.  Oh, and if you’ve ever wondered how trolls flirt, this book will teach you. 

Cecily (from The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley)

Just putting her name on a list is a big fat spoiler since she starts out as “Cecil.”  I think it’s interesting that it’s the character of Cecily, not the character of Marian that makes this list.  Not that Marian isn’t spectacular, she is, but my favorite part of this book is the relationship between Cecily and Little John, and the way that Cecily (uh, like Eowyn and the Monstrous Regiment, what is it with these girls?) pulls off the big gutsy move in the end. 

And there it is, the list is done.  I thought this series of blog posts was going to bore the crap out of people, but I’ve got more comments on these posts than anything I’ve done.  Thanks everybody for being so nice to me!