Well Written Female Characters - in your opinion, what/who is a well written female character?

[Bani]

Sarah Kerrigan from StarCraft.

She was second-in-command in for a terrorist group called the Sons of Korhal. The group's corrupt leader leaves her on a planet overrun by the Zerg, a race of aliens in the game. Everyone thinks she's going to get eaten, herself included. Turns out, her impressive psionic abilities lead them to choose her as an aid to the Overmind, the giant pulsating brain that serves as the leader of the Zerg. However, as a result of some plot shit that's too complex to get into here, the Overmind dies, stripping the Zerg of a leader and causing Kerrigan to regain her autonomy. Despite no longer being under the control of the Overmind, Kerrigan nonetheless chooses to lead the Zerg instead of returning to the humans. After that, she ostensibly becomes one of the most powerful characters in the story's universe.

Even after she's eventually stripped of Zerg DNA by her former colleague and friend James Raynor, she chooses to return to the Swarm and reintegrate Zerg DNA into her own, slowly regaining her place as the leader of the Zerg. I would explain what happens after that (it's pretty fucking awesome), but that's where we get into serious spoiler territory for the newest game.

What makes her an effective character, particularly in the sequels, is that she's motivated by her own aspirations and choices, and accomplishes what she does as a result of her skills and cunning. Raynor is part of her motivation, but he isn't the entirety of it; this is a good example of including a love interest in a female character's motivation without allowing it to eclipse her characterization.

 

[Hatoful Dandy]

Anna Liebert/Nina Fortner from Naoki Urasawa's "Monster". Despite all the shit that happens to her, she still manages to be one of the kindest, most well rounded characters in the whole story.

 

[Muttnik]

Anna Liebert/Nina Fortner from Naoki Urasawa's "Monster". Despite all the shit that happens to her, she still manages to be one of the kindest, most well rounded characters in the whole story.

Thanks for reminding me. Anna/Nina's great and I forgot how badass she was.

 

[ADN_VIII]

On tv: I'd have to say Azula from ATLA would be the epitome of character development. You can see that here's this hyper ambitious girl with near god like abilities in firebending, no real rules or limitations on what she can do, and almost unlimited authority to carry out her mission.You would think someone in that position would be on top the world, but beneath it all is this broken shell of a girl who felt abandoned by her mother and was ruthlessly groomed by her father to be the weapon he needed. It left her scarred, broken, and incredibly fragile to a point that psychotic breakdowns were a shown end result.

In terms of gaming, one that stuck with me was Lieutenant Mira from Space Marine. The average human, when faced with an Ork invasion, would probably either shit their long johns or commit suicide. Mira, despite being a lowly lieutenant, took it upon herself to keep her regiment alive and fighting no matter the cost to buy the Imperium that little bit of time it needed to mobilize a liberation fleet. Even at the end of the game, when she's facing the Inquisition and the Black Templars, she advocates for Titus giving them the finger and continuing to fight the Orks. It takes real toughness to stare down a man who can order the death of planets and four space marines from one of the most capable chapters in the Imperium.

 

[UnclePhil]

Marge Gunderson from Fargo. Here is a genius with Sherlock-level detective skills who should be working as a Special Agent in D.C. Instead she's content to be a down-to-earth midwest accented mom type, totally out of her element in Frozen Bumfuck Nowhere, U.S.A. After dragging her huge pregosaur belly out of bed, eating a plate of her simple-minded husband's eggs and dealing with a dead battery, she correctly pieces together a triple homicide in moments.

There's also her no-nonsense attitude, the way she's able to deal with the multitude of dumbfucks she keeps running into with an almost straight face. Catches Peter Stormare, delivers a somber soliloquy about human greed, goes home and goes to bed, all in a day's work. I love Marge Gunderson.

 

[OneDaySon]

The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3. I think whats so great about her is that she's not just a well written character but her femininity comes into play with the whole theme of motherhood surrounding her too.

 

[ES 148]

alien isolation was a pretty cool girl, esh kill alien and didnt scared of any

 

[friedshrimp]

I dunno man, Lindsay Ellis is an example of a strong female character.

 

[QB 290]

Jennifer Blood from the comic of the same name. A tired housewife by day and a sociopathic vigilante by night. It can't be argued that she's a strong and multi-layered woman, but you'd have to argue really hard that she's even the hero of her own story

Spoiler: Issue 1 cover

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

alien isolation was a pretty cool girl, esh kill alien and didnt scared of any

Isn't she literally Ripley Jr?

 

[tumblrkek]

I found the girls in the anime K-On to be incredibly well written. I can't exactly put my finger on why, but as I was watching the show these cute anime girls that seemed so generic felt alive. The talent of the voice actors, the environment they were in that looked so lived in because there was so much attention put into them, these subtle details in the conversations they had, all of it played into that feeling.
It's the entire appeal of the show, to project you into this cast of teenage girls and live with them their first concert and some other cool experiences, but there's also a subtle and very realistic sense of progression and development to this entire cast of female characters, and I can only attribute this to good writing.

 

[CharlesBarkley]

Jarjar Binks is a very good female hero

 

[hotcheetospuffs]

I enjoyed the female characters in Mad Men. Joan was sexy, powerful, and good at her job. There were many facets to Peggy who started off weak and learned how to be powerful, Betty Draper was so much darker on the inside than she let on, and even Don's daughter was interesting as she grew to hate her father's womanizing ways.

The men are also well written. Maybe I'm just biased because I love this show so much.

 

[Permuto]

Seras Victoria and Integra Hellsing from Hellsing come to mind. I especially enjoyed Seras' development and her realistic set up and design. She had the training of a police officer and a sincere reason for becoming one, it helped set up her believability for how she worked in the Hellsing organization. Her physical fitness and physique also came across as naturalistic to me, especially when you compare her to characters like all the girls in Highschool of the Dead, which look like they weighed little to nothing, but could shoot high powered assault rifles like toy guns.
I like my characters (regardless of gender) to be able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the plot.
Having a trained grown police officer being able to handle high powered rifles after they turned into a supernatural being is believable to me, having 80 lbs 15 year olds with bullet dodging breasts doing the same is not believable and it ruins any type of empathy or enjoyment I would have had for the characters. Though Highschool of the Dead is shit for believability and just a cheap harem anime so it's not the best example.

 

[Adamska]

Rather shocked no one mentions Rachel from the Animorphs books. She's described as a bit of a mall rat early on and has a thing for fashion, but brooks no shit from people at all. She's also the group's main source of courage, the demolitions expert and combat beast given her penchant for big strong animals, and is willing to be their monster at times given what happens later on in the books.

Hilariously she's still less bloodthirsty than the author's pet character. Seriously, Cassie is basically Visser 3 if he didn't go insane given her tendency to lose her shit and eat things in morph. Also a cold motherfucker in her own right.

 

[sperginity]

Protagonist in Diary of the Unnamed Midwife. Christ, that book was good. You never learn her real name. She has a rich inner life and genuine seeming relationships to others. That's all it takes to be good imo.

 

[X-Shaped Weeaboo]

Rather shocked no one mentions Rachel from the Animorphs books. She's described as a bit of a mall rat early on and has a thing for fashion, but brooks no shit from people at all. She's also the group's main source of courage, the demolitions expert and combat beast given her penchant for big strong animals, and is willing to be their monster at times given what happens later on in the books.

Hilariously she's still less bloodthirsty than the author's pet character. Seriously, Cassie is basically Visser 3 if he didn't go insane given her tendency to lose her shit and eat things in morph. Also a cold motherfucker in her own right.

Ah yes, the girls in Animorphs were some seriously rough individuals.

Those books were massively fucked up, though. I can't believe some of the shit that's in them, especially how such a long series of books ends. How the fuck did they make it into school libraries?

 

[Irwin M. Felcher]

Modesty Blaise.

 

[TheClorax]

 

[A Welsh Cake]

Tomo Yamanobe from Seikon no Qwaser.
It’s very obvious why.