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

[Interchanger]

Film; gold standard here for me is Ellen Ripley or Princess Leia. A side note within star wars original EU Keria and Mara Jade are also really strong female characters.

Games; I really like Cortana from the Original Halo Trilogy as she is the brains behind all the plans Chief and Her pull off. Another good character is Veronica from New Vegas as she's just really quirky and adds a level of brevity to the more serious tone of Vegas. Plus her companion quest is very solid.

Finally I think Tali from mass effect 2 onwards is just excellently written. You understand her fear and mistrust of Legion, her need to protect her father and she's allow weak moments, she isn't stripped of her feminity, which is what often happens with bad female characters.

Finally in anime I think a couple good ones are; Re-l Mayor from Ergo Proxy, Saber from Fate Zero, Nina from Monster and Blue from Wolf's Rain.

Those were just a few I could think off, so long as the character is well written, as flaws and when we're talking about female characters isn't stripped of feminine qualities (without good reason).

 

[Meat Target]

Vin from Mistborn. She turns into a badass, but has to go through a lot to get to that stage.

 

[Solid Snek]

Diana Moon Glampers.

Before Current Year, I thought she was just a fun cartoon. Turns out she's one of the most prescient and believable female characters in all of literature.

 

[PaleTay]

Emma Duval, good final girl who faces consequences and has character growth.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Emily from Schooled in Magic

 

[Cuck Shack]

Finally I think Tali from mass effect 2 onwards is just excellently written. You understand her fear and mistrust of Legion, her need to protect her father and she's allow weak moments, she isn't stripped of her feminity, which is what often happens with bad female characters.

I thought all of the female characters in the Mass Effect series were well written except for Liara, due to being a Mary Sue and the writer's pet. Even she wasn't that bad and had some depth to her if you looked closely. Ashley's personality is grating to some but that adds to the realism. Everyone expects Miranda to be perfect because she was genetically engineered but she's a flawed person like everyone else. Some claim Jack is the troubled chick you fix with your dick but that isn't true. Her massive character development from 2 to 3 happens whether you screw her or not. Aria is the rare "bad bitch" who actually pulls it off. It's too bad Drew K (not spelling that shit) jumped ship. His writing was great and it shined in the Dragon Age series as well.

 

[Anus Lemonade]

Might be late, but The Boss from MGS 3 is still my gold standard.

For movies though it's the usual Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley.

 

[SalmaoneSlaamper]

FNV: Dead money DLC: Christine
Christine was the counterpart to Veronica (BOS member) who you meet in the dead money dlc for fnv, she is a flawed character that I think was really important for the overall story of the insanity that consumed father Elijah before he left for the Sierra Madre Casino.

Spoiler: Spoilers for Dead Money ending

Christine either chooses to let go of her anger for father Elijah and the courier or not let go and let that drive her insane, if she doesn’t let go than before the final vault scene with you and father Elijah she tries to kill you, this all really depends on how you speak with her but she’s still good in my own eyes.

 

[skjora]

The lawyer chick from Better Call Saul
Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
Annie Wilkes from Misery (film)
Eponymous character from Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (book)
Lenie Clarke from Starfish

Well written doesn't necessarily mean "likeable".

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

In games; probably The Boss from MGS 3 and Veronica from Fallout: New Vegas are my first choices.
In cartoons, probably Azula from ATLA & Lin from TLOK are my first choices.
Shit, i can't remember more.