Action Girl/Literature: Difference between revisions

* Action Girls were popular in classical literature. Examples include the goddesses Athena ([[Lady of War]]) and Artemis ([[The Archer]]), Penthesilea the Amazon Queen who appeared ancient epic cycles (and later Kleist's play) and Camilla in Virgil's ''[[The Aeneid (Literature)|The Aeneid]]''. The popularity of Amazon women waned in Middle Ages, but they were to make a comeback in Renaissance epic in the form of female knights such as Bradamante and Marfisa in Ariosto's ''Orlando Furioso'', Clorinda in Tasso's ''Gerusalemme Liberata'', and Belphoebe, Britomart, and Palladine in Spenser's ''[[The Faerie Queene]]''. In the latter poem, Spenser laments the scarcity of Action Girls in his own time and bids females to start kicking ass again as they did in the old days (because he knew Queen Elizabeth would appreciate it).

* Captain Holly Short and Juliet Butler (on occasion) in ''[[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|Artemis Fowl]]''. Juliet is more of a [[Cute Bruiser]], Holly Short a [[Fair Cop]], among other things.

* [[Robert E Howard|Robert E. Howard]] wrote some surprisingly strong female characters considering his time, genre and upbringing, including Valeria, Dark Agnes, Tarala, Helen Tavrel, Conchita and the '''''original''''' Red Sonya (totally different and far more realistic than the character better known from Marvel comics and the movie).

** The Wildlings have Spearwives, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|who are pretty much what the title implies]]. Six of them accompany {{spoiler|Mance Rayder in his mission to rescue "Arya" from Ramsey Bolton}}.

* [[Terry Pratchett]] has outright stated that he "can't write 'soft' female characters." Thus, ''[[Discworld]]'' contains Angua von Uberwald, werewolf cop; Susan Sto Helit, [[The Grim Reaper|Death]]'s granddaughter; Polly Perks, a [[Groin Attack|dirty-fighting]] [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] {{spoiler|and one of [[Amazon Brigade|a squad entirely composed of them]]}}; Granny Weatherwax, an ''old'' [[Action Girl]]-ish witch; and even [[Beware the Nice Ones|normally bland female characters who have their moments]]. Magrat Garlick, generally rather useless, has taken down a pair of snake-ladies in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'' and a few [[The Fair Folk|evil elves]] in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'', Agnes Nitt roughs up a few vampires in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Carpe Jugulum|Carpe Jugulum]]'', and Saccharissa threatens a man with a crossbow near the end of ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Truth|The Truth]]'' convincingly enough that he passes out.

** Even Sybil has her moments. On two occasions, in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' and ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Guards Guards|Guards! Guards!]]'', she responds to trespassers by getting down one of the ornamental swords from the wall. She even stops murderous dwarfs with a song from an opera in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]''.

** Don't forget Adora Belle Dearheart (do NOT''not'' [[Berserk Button|comment on the name]]) from ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]''. She chain smokes and threatens to put the heel of her stiletto through a man's foot, is a trained ballerina and can kick like a mule.

** And then there are the ''[[Good Omens (Literature)|Good Omens]]'' ones conceived with [[Neil Gaiman]]. War is the quintessential Amazon, and then there's of course Pepper. Arguments could be made for putting Anathema and Agnes Nutter into this category as well; they were certainly badass enough in their own ways.

** And let's not forget Conina, Cohen the Barbarian's daughter. She laments that she's quite literally an action girl to the core - she wants to be a hairdresser, but get anything that can be used even vaguely as a weapon in her hands...(even ''without'' one, she's not someone you want to mess with.)

* The titular character in Robert Heinlein's ''[[Friday (Literaturenovel)|Friday]]'' epitomizes this trope. She is stronger, faster, smarter, and hornier than everyone she meets. Most of Heinlein's heroines are larger-than-life, but Friday is literally superhuman.

* Rachel in ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]''; her signature battle morph is the [[EverythingsEverything's Worse Withwith Bears|grizzly bear]]. She's a [[Blood Knight]], [[The Big Guy]], and her other passions in life are gymnastics, her boyfriend, and ''shopping''.

* Cutlass Cate and, to a lesser extent, Cheng Li, in ''[[Vampirates (Literaturenovel)|Vampirates]]''.

* In the Omen Island Chain series' ''[[The Purple Widow (Literature)|The Purple Widow]]'', the Purple Widow recruits a fencing-savvy prostitute named Sophia as an apprentice after she defeats him in a duel. She re-names herself [[Meaningful Name|"Arachna"]].

* In Matthew Woodring Stover's ''[[The Acts of Caine (Literature)|The Acts of Caine]]'' novels, there's Talaan in ''Heroes Die'' and Olga/Marade in ''Caine Black Knife''.

* Just like [[Terry Pratchett]], [[David Weber]] is apparently physically unable to ever write a fragile, helpless girl<ref>Except for the one who's in a wheelchair, and even she's mentally formidable.</ref>. Even his [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|Distressed Damsels]] tend to be [[Badass]] in some way, and are usually able even if not to fight, then trick themselves out of trouble with some sort of [[Indy Ploy]] or [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]. But more often than not they just start to kick asses and take names.

** [[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]] from [[David Weber]]'s ''Honorverse'' novels not only commands starships (and later in the series, entire fleets), but on occasion takes part in various forms of hand-to-hand combat. She's an all round example of the action woman who's both smart and physically very capable.

** And then there's [[In Fury Born|Alicia Devries]]. In any other setting, a character who gets into university (the equivalent of Oxford or Cambridge, no less) at the age of fourteen, completes a five-year degree in three and a half, joins the Imperial Marines, graduates in second place from [[Training Fromfrom Hell|Camp Mackenzie]], sets a new small arms record in the process, gets accepted for a [[Badass Army|Recon]] tour straght out of said basic training, then earns a Silver Star on that tour (by [[Cold Sniper|killing]] [[Curb Stomp Battle|more than fifty GLF separatists]]) would count as a [[Mary Sue]]. In this case, it "merely" makes her a promising recruit for an entire organisation of people who are just as good if not better. And that describes the events of the first third of the book.

* In ''Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours'', during Spider-Man's fight with The Ancients, Mary Jane {{spoiler|beats the crap out of the last Ancient with a tire iron while quoting Macbeth.}} She's also saved Spidey more times than he's saved her, beaten up like a million stalkers, & was trained by the eptimone of Manliness [[Captain America (comics)]], If that's not Action Girl, what is?

*** And in [[Spider Girl]], she not only faced Normie Osborn aka the third Green Goblin, but actually shames the boy via a nice [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]. ("I used to change your diapers, what makes you think I'm scared of you!?")

* [[Brandon Sanderson]] seems to like this trope. The main character of ''[[Mistborn]]'' is Vin, who is one of the biggest [[Badass|Badasses]] in a trilogy full of them even before she {{spoiler|becomes a god}}, and in the first book she has a [[Dark Action Girl]] nemesis, Lady Shan. [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Princesses|Sarene]] from ''[[Elantris]]'' is more of a political [[Chessmaster]] type, but she fences in her spare time and is good enough to hold her own against the [[Big Bad]], a magically enhanced warrior monk. [[Warbreaker]] has no really solid example, though Vivenna seems to be becoming an [[Action Girl]] in training by the end. Also, all Parshendi females in ''[[The Stormlight Archive (Literature)|The Stormlight Archive]]'', assuming Dalinar's guess about their "[[Battle Couple|battle pairs]]" is right.

** [[Your Mileage May Vary]] VERY much where Brekke is concerned.

* Arya of ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]],'' who reminds Eragon of this whenever he expresses concern over a danger to her, and seems to disdain "helpless females" who aren't. [[Christopher Paolini (Creator)|Christopher Paolini]] mentioned once that just about every good story has an Action Girl.

* Clarissa Kinnison (nee McDougall) of [[EEE. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s ''[[Lensman]]'' novels, and all four of her daughters. Arguably Virgilia Samms from the same universe, in as much as she's an integral part of Triplanetary's senior operations planning and is as exposed to danger as any of the men (to the point where she's {{spoiler|captured and tortured}}, and barely escapes with her life). In ''Masters of the Vortex'', there are several female members of Neal Cloud's crew who kick MAJOR arse, including the epic scene where they {{spoiler|commandeer the weapons Cloud was issued for use as overclocked drilling and sampling lasers, and reduce the local gangster boss's fortress to a puddle of boiling rock along with everyone in it}}. The Lensman universe was pretty much Smith's redemption for making Dorothy Seaton such a shrinking violet for all but the very last part of the ''[[Skylark Series|Skylark]]'' quartet.

** Clio Marsden in ''Triplanetary'' doesn't fight anywhere near as effectively as her male compatriots; but given that she starts the story as a naive young civilian and is competing for camera time with two highly experienced military officers, she doesn't do too badly.

* As the basic function of ''everyone'' in ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'' is to fight or help the fighters, the females of the series are generally treated about the same as males. This means much ass-kicking in battle.

* The ''[[Percy Jackson]] and the Olympians'' series has several. Annabeth, who even when she gets [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|kidnapped]] or severely injured, is still awesome. Clarisse, who is the daughter of the god of war (so, duh). Artemis and Athena, who are both goddesses, so also duh. The hunters of Artemis, which includes Thalia (daughter of Zeus) and Zoe Nightshade (daughter of {{spoiler|Atlas}}).

* Many of [[James H. Schmitz]]'s characters were Action Girls before the trope was popular, most notably [[Little Miss Badass|Maleen, Goth, and the Leewit]] from ''[[The Witches of Karres]]''. Others, such as [[Trigger Argee]] and [[Telzey Amberdon]] could also hold their own. In terms of sheer Badassery, though, the prize has to go to [[Federation of the Hub|Nile Etland]], a research biologist who almost singlehandedly stonewalled an alien invasion of her planet.

* Gaia Moore from ''[[Fearless (Literaturenovel)|Fearless]]'' has extreme physical prowess, is heavily trained in martial arts, has an extremely high IQ, and a defective physiology because she ''can't feel fear''. ''And'' she routinely goes ''looking'' for asses to kick.

* The ''[[Shannara]]'' franchise has had a few. While the original trilogy was lacking in this department, ''[[The Heritage of Shannara (Literature)|The Heritage of Shannara]]'' featured Wren Ohmsford, and Matty Roh, both of whom were perfectly capable of looking out for themselves and kicking major ass. Wren fought her way in and out of [[Hungry Jungle|Morrowindl]] using a knife and the Elfstones, while Matty is a [[Waif Fu]] abusing, rapier-armed [[Broken Bird]] who can match the Federation's best, and cheerfully goes after [[The Heartless|The Shadowen]] using only her sword. ''[[The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara]]'' also has two, in Tamis (Elven Hunter, personally trained by the Captain of the Home Guard), and Rue Meridan, who at one point jacks an entire airship by herself.

* Eowyn, of course, from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. A [[Lady of War]] who pulls a [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] and kills the leader of the Ringwraiths. [[Word of God|Tolkien]] had actually initially planned to have her die in that battle, but his wife liked her so much that he had her survive to marry Faramir--who was his [[Author Avatar]].

* In'' [[Can YouYOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?]]'', Yakuma the stripper steps out onto a table, stabs a zombie in the face with a broken bottle, then again with her stiletto. She then proves herself able to easily dispatch several more with a pair of [[Katanas Are Just Better|katanas]], all while the hero [[This Loser Is You|struggles to kill a single zombie.]]

* Any heroine froma [[JTJ. T. Edson]] novel. Calamity Jane got her series.

* Margo Smith of [[Time Scout (Literature)|Time Scout]], once she takes her levels in badass. She can kick your ass unarmed or with a blade of her choice, or put a bullet in your eye with a pistol at fifty feet, or a rifle at fifty yards.

* ''[[Septimus Heap (Literature)|Septimus Heap]]'': Many women in the Septimus-verse qualify, including Marcia Overstrand for {{spoiler|1=fighting with DomDaniel about the Akhu Amulet in ''Magyk''}} and Jenna Heap for knocking down the Toll-man in ''Queste'', among others.

* Pity from the [[Sinister Six Trilogy (Literature)|Sinister Six Trilogy]] is able to roll with the rest of the Sinister Six and go toe-to-toe with Spider-man all by herself.

* [[Dark Future (Literaturenovel)|Jessamyn Bonney and Chantal Juillerat]]. The former; a teenage cyborg who's [[Heroic Host|host]] to a [[Eldritch Abomination|spirit ''thing'']] and is [[Made of Iron|virtually unkillable]]. The latter; a highly-skilled, superbly trained ninja nun and cyber-exorcist who doesn't need any help from the collection United States Road Cavalrymen she has following her around.

* Par for the course in the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novels, given that a bulk of it takes place during the titular HERO OF THE IMPERIUM's time in a mixed-gender [[Redshirt Army|Imperial]] [[Badass Normal|Guard]] regiment. Aside from commanding officer [[Colonel Badass|Colonel]] [[Lady of War|Kasteen]], recurring characters include [[Boisterous Bruiser|cheerfully sociopathic]] Mari Magot, perpetually unlucky (but still perfectly competent) "Jinxie" Penlan, and future ''[[Four -Star Badass|Lady General]]'' Jenit Sulla.

** Then there was the [[Wrench Wench|Enginseer]] [[Plucky Girl|Felicia Tayber]], who converted a power lifter into [[Power Armor]]. And proceeded to run circles around the orks that had originally kept her as a POW. Did I mention the [[Kill It Withwith Fire|flame thrower]]?