This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
-Z-: somebody ought to come up with a better witty quip about signum; she didn't choose her own barrier jacket design.
Working Title: Steel Magnolia: From YKTTW
Sunder The Gold: Probably need to mention in here how Ladies of War typically don't resort to She-Fu, as all those acrobatics aren't dignified. Cool and impressive, but not dignified. Probably also need to mention Not So Above It All, when circumstances conspire to marr the Lady of War's air of dignity and grace, because a vital part of Lady of War is appearing "above it all."
Sunder The Gold: Removing Natter:
- Although it's somewhat obscured in the final cut, Inara in Serenity also fits the trope.
- Inara knows fencing and archery as aristocratic artforms, which she applies in actual combat only in an absolute crisis, but she would never consider herself a fighter the way Zoe is.
- Although it's somewhat obscured in the final cut, Inara in Serenity also fits the trope.
The non-combatant version of a Cute Bruiser is a Short Tank or Bokukko. Inara sounds like the non-combatant version of the Lady of War. An Ivory Queen, perhaps. If it interests you, you should suggest it in YKTTW.
Amplt0: Ninian is most definitely not a lady of war. She's a support unit. Also added Marisa.
added: 2008-02-11 10:22:48 by Shiny Rocks I think it might be worth taking out the personality aspect and just focusing on the fact that girls are pretty much obliged to use light weapons. It's related to the fact that the Fragile Speedster is almost always female in fighting games - I think I called it Dainty Damage Dealer before, and I think it stands as a trope. In the Soul Calibur games, for example, you've got Seung Mina with her halberd-type weapon, but the rest of the female characters with short swords and bucklers; twin daggers; a light sword with a tassle on the end and so on.
Unknown Troper This ignores female fighting game characters like Dizzy and the cute pirate girl, doesn't it?
Cromage: It might be worth its own trope, but I think the "dainty weapons" thing is part and parcel of more than just this trope (see the tendency for females in fantasy to be magic users ala Staff Chick) A Lady of War is mostly just an elegant, cool-headed chick with the talents of an Action Girl (even though she doesn't show it off as often).
KiTA: There was one more anime that had a parody of this, some ultra-violent anime revolving around a magical girl who turns out to be utterly evil to the core. Her sister summons a demon god who takes one look at her and runs screaming and crying for the hills. Anyone know what anime I'm thinking of?
Servbot: Lyrical Tokarev! Kill them all!
K: Removed the Animorphs girls from the list, as there's nothing "removed" or "elegant" about Rachel's fighting style. Her favorite battle morphs are an elephant and a grizzly bear, and she's used her severed limbs as weapons before. Cassie, I can kind of see, but her battle morph is still a wolf. She tends to rely on ripping people's throats out with her teeth.
Karellen: Removed Inanna/Ishtar. While she was indeed a war goddess, often represented in the guise of a warrior, Lady of War is not just any woman who fights wars. About the closest you'll get to her having anything to do with grace or strategy was her late Assyrian variant as Ishtar of Arbela, who was relied on to deliver ecstatic oracles on the outcomes of battles. Meanwhile, since the earliest Sumerian times, Ishtar's warrior aspect was pronouncedly based on rage and unstoppable destructive power - she is very much a Cute Bruiser. Hell, her whole personality is built around Tsundere and Genki Girl, with some Femme Fatale thrown in for good measure.
Ekron Dye: I want to know if it's okay to put the Signum pic back up.
Barano: The current one fits the trope much better. (Now, if only I had that beautiful screenshot of Farangis who is pretty much the embodiment of this trope...)
