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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 7 | Because books have formidable females, too. |
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| 10 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 11 | |
| 12 | [[folder:Authors]] |
| 13 | * Novelist Creator/ChristopherBrookmyre's kung fu cop, Angelique de Xavia. She kills terrorists with her bare hands, and responds to the BigBad's expository speech by [[spoiler:shooting him in the spine and then cutting out his eye to use on a retinal scanner]]. She's also technically a ViolentGlaswegian, especially considering she's a Rangers fan, but since she's about five feet tall and of south Asian ancestry you might not realise it to look at her. Jane Fleming was no slouch either. |
| 14 | * Creator/WilliamGibson's works: |
| 15 | ** In ''Literature/BridgeTrilogy'', Zona Rosa, the leader of a girl gang in Mexico City, stands out. Chevette Washington is a borderline example. |
| 16 | ** Molly Millions/Sally Shears in the ''Literature/SprawlTrilogy''. |
| 17 | * Creator/RobertEHoward 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). And of course, Conan's first love, the pirate captain Belit. |
| 18 | * Creator/MercedesLackey examples: |
| 19 | ** ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'' novels: Georgina in ''Literature/OneGoodKnight''. |
| 20 | ** ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novels: Tarma (''Oathbound'' series), Elspeth (''Mage Winds'' trilogy), Kerowyn (''By the Sword'', appearances in ''Mage Winds'' and ''Mage Storms''), Silverblade (Silver Gryphon, though she's a bit iffy). |
| 21 | * Creator/TerryPratchett has outright stated that he "can't write 'soft' female characters." Thus, ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' contains Angua von Uberwald, werewolf cop; Susan Sto Helit, [[TheGrimReaper Death's]] granddaughter; Polly Perks, a [[GroinAttack dirty-fighting]] SweetPollyOliver [[spoiler: and one of [[AmazonBrigade a squad entirely composed of them]]]]; Granny Weatherwax, an ''old'' ActionGirl-ish witch; and even [[BewareTheNiceOnes normally bland female characters who have their moments]]. Magrat Garlick, generally rather useless, has taken down a pair of snake-ladies in ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'' and a few [[TheFairFolk evil elves]] in ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'', Agnes Nitt roughs up a few vampires in ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', and Saccharissa threatens a man with a crossbow near the end of ''Literature/TheTruth'' convincingly enough that he passes out. |
| 22 | ** Tiffany Aching overpowered the Queen of the Elves with only a frying pan on her home turf, and to whom Mistress Weatherwax took off her hat in respect, [[LittleMissBadass at the age of nine]]. That's just the start of her adventures. |
| 23 | ** Even Sybil has her moments. On two occasions, in ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld'' and ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', 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 ''Literature/TheFifthElephant''. |
| 24 | ** Adora Belle Dearheart (do NOT [[BerserkButton comment on the name]]) from ''Literature/GoingPostal'' 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. |
| 25 | ** Pratchett continues this in ''Literature/GoodOmens'' with ones conceived with Creator/NeilGaiman. 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. |
| 26 | * Creator/BrandonSanderson seems to like this trope. |
| 27 | ** The main character of ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'' is Vin, who is one of the biggest badasses in a trilogy full of them even before she [[spoiler: becomes a god]], and in the first book she has a DarkActionGirl nemesis, Lady Shan. |
| 28 | ** Princess Sarene from ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'' is more of a [[PoliticallyActivePrincess political]] [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] type, but she fences in her spare time and is good enough to hold her own against the BigBad, a magically enhanced warrior monk. |
| 29 | ** Literature/{{Warbreaker}} has no really solid example, though Vivenna seems to be becoming an ActionGirl in training by the end. |
| 30 | ** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': |
| 31 | *** The Parshendi fight in warpairs, one of the pair bearded and one beardless. The Alethi assume this is some sort of master/apprentice situation, until Dalinar takes a closer look at one of the "apprentices" and realizes they have feminine features. Furthermore, the last Parshendi Shardbearer is female. |
| 32 | *** These are extremely rare among the Alethi due to their [[StayInTheKitchen strict gender roles]]. Women are not allowed to fight (though they are supposed to work as clerks and scribes for the army, since their husbands aren't allowed to read). Being a scout is considered gender-neutral, however, making it the only known role where a woman is allowed to carry a weapon. Most women who want to fight become scouts. In ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'', the scout Lyn joins the burgeoning Windrunner order of Knights Radiant and brings a number of the other scouts with her. |
| 33 | *** Also in ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'', Kaladin meets Highmarshal Azure, a woman who has rallied the defense of Kholinar after all the other leaders were killed. Alethi gender roles are so strict that the men refer to Azure as male in an effort to keep her from getting in trouble. Azure herself finds the whole thing amusing. [[spoiler:She's also Vivenna from ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'', so clearly her training paid off.]] |
| 34 | ** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the case of Silence Montane, from ''Literature/ShadowsForSilenceInTheForestsOfHell''. According to the author's introduction, Sanderson specifically wrote her as a strong female character who did ''not'' fit the traditional ActionGirl trope, being neither sexy nor conventionally badass. She's still indisputably a strong female character. |
| 35 | * SF writer Creator/JamesHSchmitz was a big fan of this trope before it became popular. Most of his female protagonists (which is most of his protagonists) fit the mold: |
| 36 | ** The ''Literature/FederationOfTheHub'' series has multiple examples: |
| 37 | *** Literature/TriggerArgee is probably Schmitz's most straightforward example. Her name and her shooting skills are both a legacy of her gun-obsessed father. |
| 38 | *** Literature/TelzeyAmberdon, teen protagonist of the majority of stories in the series, relies more on her psychic powers, but isn't at all afraid of some rough-and-tumble when circumstances call for it. |
| 39 | *** Niles Etland of ''Literature/TheDemonBreed'' is a biologist, but when trouble arises, she proves she's a BadassBookworm. |
| 40 | *** Danestar Gems of the Kyth Detective Agency is always ready to mix it up with bad guys. |
| 41 | ** In ''Literature/TheWitchesOfKarres'', all three of the young witches lean this direction, but Goth, the middle witch, seems to be the most enthusiastic about it. Imperial agent Hulik do Eldel is no slouch either. |
| 42 | * Seemingly ''every'' original story by Creator/SMStirling has at least one stunningly gorgeous woman who [[TheLadette talks like a jock]], usually [[LipstickLesbian prefers the girls]], and [[GirlyBruiser absolutely destroys]] all male enemies. The odds are about equal that she will be TheLancer or TheDragon, or somewhat less often TheHeroine or the BigBad herself. Whether there is any explanation for her unusual competence varies. In some stories, she is a cyborg, vampire or has some other [[AWizardDidIt magic]] working for her; in others, she is [[TheAce just that good]]. |
| 43 | * Just like Creator/TerryPratchett, Creator/DavidWeber is unable to ever write a fragile, helpless girl. Even his [[DamselInDistress damsels in distress]] 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 IndyPloy or BavarianFireDrill. But more often than not they just start to kick asses and take names. |
| 44 | ** Literature/HonorHarrington from Creator/DavidWeber'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. |
| 45 | ** And then there's ''Literature/InFuryBorn'''s 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 [[TrainingFromHell Camp Mackenzie]], sets a new small arms record in the process, gets accepted for a [[BadassArmy Recon]] tour straight out of said basic training, then earns a Silver Star on that tour (by [[ColdSniper killing]] [[CurbStompBattle more than fifty GLF separatists]]) would count as a WishFulfillmentCharacter. 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. |
| 46 | ** ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'' has {{S|ilkHidingSteel}}harleyan, who provides cover fire for her bodyguards during an attempt on her life, and is noted to be a better shot then some of them, and in another instances after being shot, and breaking three ribs despite high-tech protective fabric, continues on with what she was doing for the rest of the day. Also the main protagonist might technically count, since he's the cybernetic avatar of a woman. |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Novels]] |
| 50 | * Action Girls were popular in classical literature. Examples include the goddesses Athena (LadyOfWar) and Artemis, Penthesilea the Amazon Queen who appeared in [[Literature/TheTrojanCycle ancient epic cycles]] (and later Kleist's play) and Camilla in Virgil's ''Literature/TheAeneid''. 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 ''Literature/OrlandoFurioso'', Clorinda in Tasso's ''Gerusalemme Liberata'', and Belphoebe, Britomart, and Palladine in Spenser's ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene''. 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). |
| 51 | * In the ''1632'' series, we have an energetic high school cheerleader, Julie Sims. She is in top notch physical shape, up to Army standards, is a master sharpshooter and has the cool calculating mind to handle killing enemies, a fact which she emphasizes to Mike Stearns in the first book. |
| 52 | * In Matthew Woodring Stover's ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine'' novels, there's Talaan in ''Heroes Die'' and Olga/Marade in ''Caine Black Knife''. |
| 53 | * ''Literature/TheAfterward'': The book has many female characters skilled in combat and action. |
| 54 | ** Branthear, Erris, Terriam and Ulewaya are all knights. Kalanthe is an apprentice knight. |
| 55 | ** Olsa is a skilled, nimble thief. The knights trained her too in unarmed combat. |
| 56 | * ''[[Literature/AhrimanTrilogy The Ahriman Trilogy]]'' has several. Zoe Durant, Simon's warden, fits this to a T. Detective Vicki Yang as well, though she could easily be called a Dark Action Girl toward the end. Erin Orsulich less so, but she has her moments. |
| 57 | * The eponymous Literature/AlexisCarew is a female naval officer in a fairly patriarchal society. Short and fairly scrawny even for a woman, when faced with hand-to-hand combat, she has repeatedly defeated much larger and stronger male opponents through agility, martial arts, and CombatPragmatism (having been taught by her doting plantation-owner grandfather that if a man ever laid an unwanted hand on her, she was to hurt him however badly she had to in order to get away, and later receiving additional training from {{Space Marine}}s). |
| 58 | * Kitty in the [[Literature/TheAlienSeries Alien Series]] has killed aliens with a pen, an iPod and hairspray. |
| 59 | * The ''{{Literature/Alterien}}'' series. |
| 60 | ** Oberon's partner in the ISA, Abigail Summers, fits this trope. She's a very capable agent by herself and proves to be a more than adequate partner for the superhuman. |
| 61 | ** Other "action girls" show up throughout the series, including three of Oberon's daughters, Kotone, Gloriana and Alice. They often find themselves in situations that require them to utilize their Alterien abilities. This is especially true of Kotone, who became an ISA agent. |
| 62 | * Rachel in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''; her signature battle morph is the [[BearsAreBadNews grizzly bear]]. She's a BloodKnight, TheBigGuy, and her other passions in life are gymnastics, her boyfriend, and ''shopping''. |
| 63 | ** Cassie as well, she doesn't have Rachel's BloodKnight tendencies, but she could more than hold her own in combat. |
| 64 | ** Loren in ''The Andalite Chronicles'' is especially impressive given that she has no special powers. |
| 65 | * Anita Blake from Laurell K. Hamilton's ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' series. She is the ultimate killing machine. |
| 66 | * All the combat-oriented women in ''Literature/AnOutcastInAnotherWorld'' qualify, but especially Keira. She’s very skilled due to her penchant for picking fights with monsters way more often than is safe, and because of her Rare Skill that essentially gives her Spider-Senses. She’s one of the strongest members in the core cast despite her young age, and she’s only getting stronger. |
| 67 | * ''Literature/AngiesFirstCase'': Kit is an athletic cop who Angie believes could beat up a whole gang of crooks on her own, and the climax proves Angie right. |
| 68 | * ''Literature/Area51'': |
| 69 | ** The female Airlia and The Ones Who Wait ([[ArtificialHuman artificially created]] people [[HalfHumanHybrid who appear mostly human but have partly Airlia DNA too]]) also bear arms, fighting with equal competence to males. |
| 70 | ** There are also some human women soldiers who show their skills in the books, though not as many. |
| 71 | * Captain Holly Short and Juliet Butler (on occasion) in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl''. Juliet is more of a CuteBruiser, Holly Short a FairCop, among other things. |
| 72 | * Generally averted in ''Literature/TheArtsOfDarkAndLight'', as most cultures in Selenoth are [[StayInTheKitchen "realistically" medieval]], at least on this matter. The major exception is the elvish kingdoms, which depend heavily on magic and allow female magic-users in their military. Individual examples include: |
| 73 | ** Bereth, one of the elvish sorceresses and an officer in their air corps, who is quite deadly by any human standard. |
| 74 | ** Caitlys, too, though she's not professional military and so fights less, but is competent with weapons and magic when she does. |
| 75 | ** For a human example, there is Isabel, a designated slave for [[TheEmpire Savondir's]] program to [[SuperBreedingProgram breed mages]]. Savondir does not allow women to study magic, but Isabel's potential is strong enough to manifest spontaneously when she suffers a very acute trauma, and she uses it to wreak havoc on her tormentors. |
| 76 | * ''Literature/AssholeYakuzaBoyfriend'' has Mina and kinda Rose. Linda is implied to be one as well, but we don't really see her in action. Reno Bangs is an extreme version, parachuting out of a jet to fight an assassin in her only scene. |
| 77 | * ''Literature/AstralDawn'' |
| 78 | ** Ixchel, the Mayan goddess of the moon, love and whupass definitely qualifies as this and considering her vicious skill with her twin daggers, it's hard to argue against it. |
| 79 | ** There are other badass goddesses and legends, including Queen Zenobia, Queen Boadicea, Oya, Pele, Hera and Tia. All these divine ladies serve as capable warriors throughout the Astral War. |
| 80 | * ''Literature/TheBadUnicornTrilogy'': Sarah may be a girl, but she can still kick butt just as well as the other characters. |
| 81 | * Kyri Vantage in ''Literature/TheBalancedSword''. Carries a greatsword that she uses to great effect, climbs mountains, and Guild Adventurer set on a vehement vector of vengeance (and justice). |
| 82 | * In ''Literature/BattleRoyale'', there is Takako Chigusa who [[spoiler:takes out Kazushi Niida, who plays football and is well built, by gouging out his eyes and thrusting an ice pick down his throat]]. There's also Mitsuko Souma, who acts like she is weak and helpless [[spoiler:but is actually participating in the game and has taken out quite a few of her classmates intentionally]], and Yukie Utsumi, who [[spoiler:was hiding out in a lighthouse for the majority of the game and could have survived had it not been for Yuko, who tried to poison Shuya's meal after witnessing him accidentally killing Tatsumichi Oki, only for it to backfire with devastating consequences]]. |
| 83 | ** Also Noriko Nakagawa. Even though she is pretty much sidelined from most of the action, she manages to take out, of all people, [[spoiler:[[BigBad Kazuo Kiriyama]]]]. |
| 84 | * ''Literature/BazilBroketail'' series features quite a few. |
| 85 | ** Main heroic faction, empire of Argonath, is a progressive and tolerant bunch where gender is no issue. Therefore, a lot of them actually serve in the military, both in excusively female women's brigade and individually in various units, including the fleet (however, they are usually stationed away from the frontlines -- not because somebody doubts their skill or bravery, but because it puts them at danger of [[FateWorseThanDeath getting captured and made a]] BreedingSlave). The main factor which makes Argonathi legions a BadassArmy, though, is the fact that they field ''battle dragons'', some of whom are also female -- and are no less ferocious nor deadly in combat than their male colleagues. |
| 86 | ** When it comes to individual characters, most of named heroines count. Examples include Lessis of Valmes and Ribela of Defwode -- powerful witches who at the same time are very skilled at melee combat; Lagdalen Tarcho -- a young noblewoman who, despite her upbringing, is surprisingly resourceful and capable of handling herself when needed; or Eilsa Ranardaughter -- daughter and heir of a militant highlander clan leader who is always ready to fight in the first line along with her kinsmen. |
| 87 | * Cirawyn in ''Literature/{{Below}}'' is only on the quest as a hostage, but as a farm girl she's strong enough to load a crossbow, and as a scion of her RetiredBadass dad (whose surname is [[MeaningfulName Bowman]]) she's a better shot than all of the men—''especially'' her beau. She quickly becomes vitally important to the party during ranged combat. |
| 88 | * Makala and Yvka in ''Literature/TheBladeOfTheFlame'' both unarguably qualify. |
| 89 | * Mearad of Pellinor from Allison Croggon's ''Literature/BooksOfPellinor'' series is a swordswoman and warrior. Sylvia of Innail could also be considered an action girl since she's seen battling the mountainmen in book four. |
| 90 | * ''Literature/BraveNewWorldUniverse'' contains many examples. Many of the main characters, such as Charlie, Sate, and Brenda, fall under this category. |
| 91 | * ''Literature/TheBurningKingdoms'': Priya has been trained from childhood to fight with a knife or her bare hands, and she's quite skillful. Later she also learns to use magic in combat. |
| 92 | * In ''Literature/CanYouSurviveTheZombieApocalypse'', 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|AreJustBetter}}, all while the hero [[ThisLoserIsYou struggles to kill a single zombie]]. |
| 93 | * ''Literature/CatwomanSoulstealer'': Selina is very skilled at martial arts, and was once a champion fighter in an underground ring. Nyssa Al-Ghul, who trains her to became a League of Shadows Assassin, is highly skilled as well, and very ruthless. Ivy and Harley, who Selina becomes criminal partners/friends with are also pretty good in a fight. |
| 94 | * ''Literature/ChicksInChainmail'', a genre anthology series focused on exploring the ActionGirl trope. |
| 95 | * ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfDorsa'': |
| 96 | ** Joslyn is a veteran infantry soldier who's very skilled with a sword. She's appointed as Princess Tasia's bodyguard as a result. After this she starts to train Tasia in self-defense as well. She reveals how her test for entering the Army was to have all the male recruits attacking her at once, with deadly intent. Joslyn had killed three, wounded two, and three yielded. Hearing this, Tasia is extremely impressed by her skills. Under her tutelage, Tasia grows into a good fighter herself. |
| 97 | ** Megs, a female sergeant in the Imperial Army, becomes a supporting character during the third book and she's very skilled. |
| 98 | ** Pirate captain Akella becomes a supporting character in the same book. She's a CombatPragmatist who's quite adept with a sword. |
| 99 | * ''Literature/ChroniclesOfMagic'' has quite a few of these, the two most prominent being Anri Adachi (a spy and assassin) and Skeeter Traps (a ten year-old girl trained to kill grown men). |
| 100 | * Susan, Lucy, and Jill are like this when they're in [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]]. Aravis too, and there's no reason to believe the Narnian army doesn't have women in their ranks. The movies even blatantly show as much. |
| 101 | * Nihal, the main heroine of the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheEmergedWorld'' is a badass Half-elf DragonRider. |
| 102 | * Jame of P.C. Hodgell's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath''--a martial arts expert, formerly a professional thief who pulled off some of the most impossible thefts, and in training to be a military officer. |
| 103 | * Princess Eilonwy from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' actively participated in several battles, and is just as badass as Taran. |
| 104 | * Melinda and Mary of ''Literature/ChronoHustle'' are a lot better in a fight than Jack, who tends to try talking his way out of combat. |
| 105 | * Par for the course in the Literature/CiaphasCain novels, given that a bulk of it takes place during the titular HERO OF THE IMPERIUM's time in a mixed-gender [[RedShirtArmy Imperial]] [[BadassNormal Guard]] regiment. Aside from commanding officer {{Colonel|Badass}} [[LadyOfWar Kasteen]], recurring characters include [[BoisterousBruiser cheerfully sociopathic]] Mari Magot, perpetually unlucky (but still perfectly competent) "Jinxie" Penlan, and future ''[[FourStarBadass Lady General]]'' Jenit Sulla. |
| 106 | ** Special note goes to said Hero's {{Love Interest|s}} [[HeroOfAnotherStory Inquisitor]] [[SilkHidingSteel Amberley]] [[BadassBookworm Vail]], who is described as being able to deck an ork. Without the golden PoweredArmor. |
| 107 | ** Then there was the [[WrenchWench Enginseer]] [[PluckyGirl Felicia Tayber]], who converted a power lifter into PoweredArmor. And proceeded to run circles around the orks that had originally kept her as a POW. Did I mention the [[KillItWithFire flamethrower]]? |
| 108 | * Dolores Veta Garza, aka Clockpunk in "Literature/ClockpunkAndTheVitalizer". She might have the hots for the villain, but she'll beat the hell out of him if she needs to. |
| 109 | * Jasmine Moreau in the third book (''Cobra Bargain'') of Timothy Zahn's ''Literature/TheCobraTrilogy''. Beautiful, intelligent, athletic... oh, did I mention that she's a COBRA? |
| 110 | * Any High Lady in ''Literature/CodexAlera'' is a potential PersonOfMassDestruction, but the key Action Girls throughout the series are the Cursor Amara and the Marat warrior Kitai. Both are also halves of {{Battle Couple}}s. |
| 111 | * ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses'': Feyre starts off with shades of this, being a huntress unafraid to stand up to Fae. CharacterDevelopment eventually causes her to develop into one proper, capable of wielding great power against armies. |
| 112 | * ''Literature/CrescentCity'': |
| 113 | ** Bryce is capable of it, but doesn't often show signs of it. On the night of Danika's murder, she was drunk as well as high but still managed to chase down a kristallos demon and save Micah's life. |
| 114 | ** Danika is a skilled fighter and leads the Pack of Devils. |
| 115 | * ''The Crest of Zabutur'' series has numerous examples, even from the first volume alone. |
| 116 | ** One of the best is Zerviah Foxx, a widowed queen who still goes head-to-head with her enemies. |
| 117 | ** also Medek Savage, a young healer who ignored her injuries so she can continue defending her friends. |
| 118 | * ''Literature/TheCrimsonShadow'': Katerin and Siobhan are both skilled women warriors. They show their stuff frequently throughtout the books. There are also minor female characters shown who also fight on the good guys' side. |
| 119 | * Lilja from ''Literature/DanceoftheButterfly'' is an action girl librarian who also teaches a self-defense class for women. |
| 120 | * ''Literature/DarkFuture'': Jessamyn Bonney and Chantal Juillerat. The former: a teenage cyborg who's {{h|eroicHost}}ost to a [[EldritchAbomination spirit]] ''[[EldritchAbomination thing]]'' and is [[MadeOfIron 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. |
| 121 | * The second half of ''Literature/DaughterOfFortune'' takes place in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Plenty of women employ themselves as bounty hunters, cowgirls, and many other traditionally male professions. Eliza observes that it's bold women like herself, not dainty ladies, who thrive in San Francisco. |
| 122 | * ''Literature/DawnOfSteam'' gives us Sam(antha) Bowe, a knife-fighter extraordinaire and general all round badass who regularly takes down groups of gun-totting foes single handedly. |
| 123 | * ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'' has Jasmine the JungleGirl [[spoiler: and future Queen]] who thanks to growing up in the Forest of Silence has become incredibly tough and even wins the [[TournamentArc Rithmere Games]] in fourth book. Notably Jasmine succeeds in taking down the villains and monsters more times than her male companions e.g in the third book ''The City Of Rats'' she uses Lief's sword to slit the giant [[SnakesAreSinister snake Reeah]]'s throat to save Lief and in the third series she kills one of the [[GiantFlyer Ak-Baba]]. Unfortunately in the [[Anime/DeltoraQuest anime adaption]] Jasmine gets hit with {{Chickification}} being decidedly less badass than her book counterpart. |
| 124 | * ''Literature/{{Deeplight}}'': Selphin, the musket-wielding smuggler girl who never shies from a fight and [[spoiler: slayed a god]]. She definitely takes after [[ActionMom her mother]]. |
| 125 | * From the ''Literature/DenOfShadows'' series, we get Sarah, Adia, [[ActionMom Dominique]], Turquoise, Fala, and Ravyn. Risika also TookALevelInBadass at the very end of book 1. |
| 126 | * Patricia Savage, Doc's pistol-toting cousin in the ''Literature/DocSavage'' novels who is quite capable of taking on several armed thugs at once. |
| 127 | * ''Literature/{{Doglands}}'': Dervla becomes an efficient killer after [[spoiler: being trained as a guard dog.]] There's also Tac, the brutal dog that guards Dedbone's greyhounds. Zinni can also be aggressive, though she's a [[MrMuffykins papillon.]] |
| 128 | * ''Literature/DominoLady'' was a pulp heroine who fought crime in an evening gown and domino mask while wielding a .45 automatic and a syringe full of knockout serum. |
| 129 | * [[TheLancer Shifra]], from N. R. Eccles-Smith's HighFantasy series, ''Literature/{{DragonCalling}}''--being born into a Clan famous for its warrior bloodline, and raised in a household of elite fighters and slayers--was destined to be honed as a living weapon herself. Trained in both martial arts and short-blade combat, with a cold and focused disposition, Shifra is a formidable opponent despite her smaller stature and youthful age. |
| 130 | * The ''{{Literature/Dragonlance}} Chronicles'' trilogy has three women - Laurana Kanan, Tika Waylan, and Goldmoon - as part of the Heroes of the Lance, the group of heroes the story follows. Laurana is the biggest one by far, becoming a badass military leader called the "Golden General" and winning several campaigns. Tika, while not on ''that'' level, is still a competent barmaid turned adventurer who can easily defend herself with a sword, shield, and frying pan. Goldmoon is primarily the WhiteMage, but even she has taken out enemy mooks and also defeated an evil dragon. |
| 131 | * Many of the female characters in Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' novels. Most notable are Lessa and Moreta, though others such as Brekke occasionally qualify. |
| 132 | * ''Literature/TheDragonslayingMaiden'' features the titular maiden: Dana the Strong, a young woman who [[GiantWoman outgrows home]] at the dawn of UsefulNotes/TheVikingAge and is thrust into a world of hardship and violence [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive no matter how much she wants to avoid it.]] Once she realizes that [[YouCantGoHomeAgain the quiet life isn't for her,]] she picks up a [[CoolSword magic sword]] and fights monsters [[Myth/NorseMythology all across Scandinavia.]] She has one [[{{Pun}} Hel]] of a body-count and legacy once she's through. [[spoiler:She wrestles a dragon to death and becomes a full-blown LadyOfWar by the end, [[FinalBattle leading an army into a rather epic battle]] against [[OurTrollsAreDifferent thousands of trolls,]] [[LadyOfBlackMagic their sorcerous overlord,]] and [[PhysicalGod their nigh-omnipotent champions]] without flinching.]] |
| 133 | * In ''Literature/TheDreamsideRoad'', Enoa Cloud wants to become one by learning [[FunctionalMagic Shaping]] like her aunt, [[MentorArchetype Sucora]]. Even without formal training, she keeps up with experienced adventurer, [[BadassNormal Orson Gregory]], and wins her first real fight against [[spoiler:Captain Maros.]] |
| 134 | * The ''Literature/DreamscapeVoyagerTrilogy'' has several: |
| 135 | ** [[TheCaptain Elyia Asier]], formerly the Empress' personal champion. Her reputation is enough to get hardened mercenaries to back down. |
| 136 | ** [[FieryRedhead Cassidy Durant]], Asier's First Mate, is a dirty fighter and hates losing. |
| 137 | ** Miria, an excellent fencer and quick study. During the climax, she [[spoiler: duels [[TheManBehindTheMan Dardan]] with a broken wrist while trying to escape]]. |
| 138 | * In Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': |
| 139 | ** Mab, the queen of the Winter Fae is terrifying, as is her Summer counterpart, and the Ladies of Summer and Winer respectively. |
| 140 | ** Harry's Fairy Godmother Leah took out several of the Lords of the Outer Night, each of whom is as strong as Odin. |
| 141 | ** Lash, although she is only a spirit in Harry's head also fits the trope, despite using guile rather then brute force. |
| 142 | ** Karrin Murphy with (particularly in early books) a bit of TheLancer thrown in. As she is the BadassNormal, she can have trouble with some of the things that she has to face, but after a while, she learns the rules for battling things, and kicks ass. |
| 143 | *** TheLancer disappeared in the recent books, as Murphy begins to out-badass everyone in every book. Including Harry. |
| 144 | ** [[spoiler: Susan Rodriguez]], after she [[spoiler: was turned demi-vamp in Grave Peril and joined the Brotherhood of St. Giles against the Red Court]]. |
| 145 | ** Miss Gard. A Valkyrie with a penchant for firearms. |
| 146 | ** Werewolf girl Andy is a red haired pin up girl with curves in all the right places, but she is able to fight even when she is NOT in the shape of a huge red haired wolf. |
| 147 | ** Lara Raith at all times. She's TheVamp [[{{Pun}} in every sense]], but she's also quick to kick ass when need be. She takes the lead and guards the rear in a super-ghoul attack, even if she does have to be badgered into it by Harry, and in a later book she arrives on the battlefield by jumping out of a helicopter, and [[spoiler:eats her cousin ''while on fire'']]. She is described as being just as strong as Thomas, but more agile, and faster. |
| 148 | ** Charity Carpenter. Spars with her husband (a master swordsman), makes his weapons and chainmail, and helped Harry assault Arctis Tor, Mab's personal fortress. |
| 149 | *** Badassery is inherited. Molly is noted to be an absolute terror with illusion magic. 'One Woman Rave' indeed. And she gets much stronger as the series progresses. |
| 150 | ** Although she is just a little girl, and more properly a LittleMissBadass, we have seen Ivy (i.e. the magical Archive of all human knowledge) take on and defeat SEVERAL fallen angels at once, in magical combat, while her magic supply was very limited. In fact, she has never been defeated magically. Of course, [[spoiler:she was captured by using knockout gas, a weakness of her little girl body]] |
| 151 | * Creator/JoClayton's recurring character Serroi, introduced in Literature/TheDuelOfSorceryTrilogy, is a [[WaifFu tiny]], [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation green-skinned]], utterly badass MagicKnight. |
| 152 | * ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' has quite a few, mostly either Bene Gesserit or Fremen: |
| 153 | ** ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' has Jessica and Chani |
| 154 | ** ''Literature/DuneMessiah'' has Chani and Alia |
| 155 | ** ''Literature/ChildrenOfDune'' has Ghanima |
| 156 | ** ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'' has Siona |
| 157 | ** ''Literature/HereticsOfDune'' has Sheeana |
| 158 | %%* Commander Sara Ramirez and Lieutenant Maggie Tycho of ''Literature/TheEchoCaseFiles''. |
| 159 | * Helene from ''Literature/AnEmberInTheAshes''. The only girl at the Blackcliff military academy, she's ranked third in class and is a contender to be the next Emperor (well, Empress). |
| 160 | * ''Literature/{{EndgameTrilogy}}'': Sarah, Aisling, Alice, Shari and Kala (basically all female players) are an example of this. |
| 161 | ** Stella Vyctory isn't a player, but not less badass |
| 162 | * ''Literature/{{Endling}}'': Khara was trained to fight from a young age and is skilled with a sword. Byx develops into one of these as the story continues. |
| 163 | * Gaia Moore from ''Literature/{{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. |
| 164 | * ''Fight Like a Girl'', edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall, is an anthology of fantasy and science fiction short stories featuring action girls. |
| 165 | * Diana from Aimee Regina Belle's "Literature/TheFinalCut". She outran a police officer in six-inch stilettos, fought back against her attacker with a high-heeled shoe and solves murders. And that isn't even her job. |
| 166 | * From Gail Carringer's Young Adult [[Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries Finishing School Series]] the protagonist Sophronia Temminnick becomes one after enrolling in a manners/espionage school. The overwhelming majority of the students there and all the female instructors are action girls as well. |
| 167 | * Blue Jade in the fifth ''Literature/FinneganZwake'' novel is a (modern-day) ''pirate'' ActionGirl. |
| 168 | * ''Literature/TheLotusWar'' has no shortage of Action Girls. The main character, Yukiko, kills oni with a tanto, and gets stronger and stronger throughout the trilogy, Michi is compitent with Chainsaw katanas, Kasumi is good at using a bo staff, Kaori is a skilled kunoichi, and even [[spoiler: Hana became a deadly Stormdancer just like Yukiko.]] |
| 169 | * Lydia in ''Literature/ForgingDivinity'' is a competent swordswoman, the StoneWall of the party, and starts out the story by rescuing the male protagonist. |
| 170 | * ''Literature/TheFourHorsemenUniverse'': A [[MiniMecha CASPer]] works equally well for either sex, so while it's not as common for human women to become mercs as men, they still appear widely. A woman is as effective commanding a spaceship as a man, too, as Alexis Cromwell, commander of the Winged Hussars, attests. |
| 171 | * ''Literature/MacdonaldHall'': Cathy loves charging out of the dorms to confront any threat to her friends, singlehandedly shoots dozens of other opponents with a paint gun during the war games in the fourth book, and becomes a star football player (while pretending to be a boy to the coaches) in the fifth book. |
| 172 | * The titular character in Robert Heinlein's ''Literature/{{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. |
| 173 | ** Deety in ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast'' is a 22 year old busty strawberry blonde who is a precocious super-genius polymath with a [=PhD=], a crack shot, and an expert martial artist. |
| 174 | * ''Literature/GalateaIn2D'': Penny. When TheHero struggles all out with her, she's still able to overpower him. |
| 175 | * Pretty much all the girls from the [[Literature/TheGallagherGirls Gallagher Girls]] series, except the civilians and Liz. |
| 176 | * The grandma from ''Literature/GangstaGranny'' can swim up a sewer pipe and abseil down a skyscraper. |
| 177 | %%* Hekat and Rhian in Karen Miller's ''Literature/GodspeakerTrilogy'' |
| 178 | * Lana, Dekka, Brianna, Taylor, Penny, Brittany in the ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' series...it would be easier to list the exceptions (Astrid, Mary, and Diana), though even they have their moments. As of Fear Astrid definitely counts as a full on ActionGirl. |
| 179 | * Sarah from ''Literature/GreystoneValley''...or at least she seems to be on her way as the story progresses. |
| 180 | * In the ''[[Literature/TheEyeOfArgon Grïgnyr of Ecordia: A Retelling of The Eye of Argon]]'' Carthena turns out to be a proficient fighter here, earning Grïgnyr's admiration. |
| 181 | * Andrea from [[Literature/GroomOfTheTyrannosaurQueen Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen]] is a badass with or without her scary cybernetic enhancements. |
| 182 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter'': |
| 183 | ** Hermione Granger is the wizarding world's resident BadassBookworm and Professor [=McGonnagal=] is its resident BadassTeacher. [[MagicalGirlWarrior Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood]] also have their moments, and so does Ginny's mom Molly. |
| 184 | ** Tonks is also implied to be a skilled witch (Auror training is difficult, and you'd have to be badass to have Alastor Moody as your mentor), though we never really see much of it. |
| 185 | ** On the villain's [[DarkActionGirl side]] there's Bellatrix Lestrange, a rampant HeroKiller whom even Harry acknowledges in his thoughts to be a highly skilled witch, when she takes the Snatchers in front of him. By the final book it's outright stated Bellatrix is indeed BigBad Voldermort's NumberTwo in both position and power. |
| 186 | * ''Literature/AHarvestOfWar'' is heavily populated with action girls. |
| 187 | * Nya from the ''Healing Wars'' trilogy faces off against guards, bounty hunters and soldiers to achieve her goals. |
| 188 | * ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': It's practically a WorldOfActionGirls given how many female victors and other female fighters we see in the series, but there are a few prominent examples: |
| 189 | ** If Katniss Everdeen herself wasn't this before the title event, she is by the end of them. She already is an excellent shot with a bow by the start of the series, and as a result of training in all three books, becomes more and more of an ActionHero as the series goes on, as well as an ActionGirlfriend to Peeta. |
| 190 | ** Johanna Mason, who won her Games by initially pretending to be so weak and helpless that everyone ignored her, only to prove near the end that she's deadly with an axe. |
| 191 | ** Also, any female Careers. |
| 192 | ** Jackson and the Leegs from Squad 451 in ''Mockingjay'' are quite experienced in combat, though sadly, they all die, with Leeg 2 blown up by a pod before she ever really gets to see combat. |
| 193 | * ''Literature/IBecomeShadow'': Ren is trained as a fighter for four years. She knows how to use a variety of weapons, [[FeelNoPain doesn't feel pain]], and often fights many people at once. |
| 194 | * Literature/InDeath series: Eve Dallas is very much this. Peabody tries to be one, even though she is nowhere near Eve's level. |
| 195 | * In ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'', we have Charlotte Branwell who doubles as the TeamMom, Tessa Gray, a BadassBookworm, Brigit Daly the BattleButler, and [[spoiler:Will's sister, Cecily]]. |
| 196 | * Abacaba of ''Literature/TheIngenue'', the Child of Nature's former Native girlfriend, was described as a great huntress, and the heroes first meet her when he gave her back hares stolen from her by robbers he fought. |
| 197 | * Arya of ''Literature/InheritanceCycle,'' who reminds Eragon of this whenever he expresses concern over a danger to her, and seems to disdain "helpless females" who aren't. Creator/ChristopherPaolini mentioned once that just about every good story has an Action Girl. |
| 198 | * ''Literature/{{Inkmistress}}'': Asra begins as a nonviolent healer, but grows into a fighter by necessity over the course of the book, effectively using her magic on opponents multiple times. |
| 199 | * ''Literature/USSCunninghamQuintet'': Captain Garrett might be at her most brilliant as a naval commander but she also has military training. This not only grants her nerves of steel but also the ability to kick ass. |
| 200 | * Madeline Zargosty of [[{{Literature/Voidskipper}} In Pursuit of Bark's Finest]] is fully capable of holding her own in a firefight, making use of lasers, coilguns, and explosives with great effectiveness. She's also highly maneuverable and resourceful, allowing her to mostly keep on top of situations. She does admittedly get taken out of the fight a few times, but usually only after completing the mission objective or racking up a serious body count. |
| 201 | * The original ''Literature/JamesBond'' novels by Creator/IanFleming contain several examples, which are relatively downplayed but often surprisingly competent compared to similar pulp novels of the genre. While Bond is the best at ''violence'' in any given book, the Bond Girls are often intelligent and display fortitude and courage. |
| 202 | ** Tiffany Case in ''Literature/DiamondsAreForever'' is a hardened diamond smuggler with a sarcastic sense of humor who arranges for Bond (disguised as a smuggler) to take diamonds across the Atlantic without getting caught and successfully tails him the whole time. When Bond is captured by Spang and beaten, she frees him and later carries him across the Mojave Desert to the highway for rescue. |
| 203 | ** Honey Ryder in ''Literature/DrNo'' murdered her rapist with a poisonous spider and now lives alone in an abandoned mansion collecting rare shells to sell. When captured by Dr. No, she recognizes that his method of execution-by-crab is laughably inept and simply feigns capture until she can escape; she's already on her way out when Bond runs into her. |
| 204 | ** In the ''Literature/ForYourEyesOnly'' short story collection, we get agent Mary Ann Russell (who saves Bond by shooting a Soviet spy when he leaves his safety on) and Judy Havelock (who goes after her parents' killers with a bow and arrow, threatens Bond at arrowpoint to make him work with her, and gets the actual killing hit on Von Hammerstein). |
| 205 | ** Domino in ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'' withstands torture from Largo as he tries to get her to give up information on Bond. When he leaves to initiate the plan to plant and detonate an atomic bomb, she grabs a spear gun, leaps from the porthole of his yacht, and shoots him in the back as he tries to kill Bond in an underwater battle. |
| 206 | ** Vivienne Michel in ''Literature/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' is completely untrained in any sort of violence, just a young girl on a road trip to find herself. When two mobsters arrive to rape and murder her and frame her for a hotel fire for insurance fraud, she nearly makes a successful escape and later comes within inches of a potentially fatal blow against one of them. During the final gunfight set against the burning motel with Bond's help, she climbs through a window into a burning building to get a first aid kit for Bond's wounds and empties his spare revolver at the thugs without flinching (though being an untrained shot, she misses). |
| 207 | * Llana of Gathol, from ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars''. For its time, this was an extremely daring thing to do. |
| 208 | ** Even more so Tavia, the heroine of ''A Fighting Man of Mars''. |
| 209 | ** Every female of many (though not all) of the Martian races is supposed to be an ActionGirl, [[FauxActionGirl but they're not very impressive at it]]. |
| 210 | * Literature/JudgeDee operates in Imperial China where Confucian ideals place women firmly in the home. Never-the-less he manages to encounter at least two Action Girls in Miss Violet Liang, a Mongolian woman-wrestler, and Blue-White, a skilled street fighter. |
| 211 | * Literature/KateDaniels has a CoolSword and throwing knives, and she is quick to use them. Her best friend Andrea is deadly with her guns. This is only to be expected in [[AfterTheEnd post-Shift Atlanta]], when monsters prowl the streets and nobody is completely safe. |
| 212 | * Private investigator Literature/KateShugak is 5 foot 1 inch tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat and owns a half-wolf, half-husky named Mutt. Orphaned at eight years old, Kate grew up to be resourceful, strong willed and defiant. She is tougher than your average heroine - and she needs to be to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her. |
| 213 | * ''Literature/KindlingAshes'': Giselle grew up in the streets and so she knows how to scrap, but against an older person with greater strength and experience, she escapes instead. |
| 214 | * ''Literature/KingsOfTheWyld'': Jain and her Silk Arrows, who casually get the drop on the heroes twice. Gabe's daughter Rose, as well; there's a reason she was fighting at Castia. [[spoiler:During the siege, she ended up in charge simply by virtue of being the most badass person still alive.]] |
| 215 | * ''Literature/KnavesOnWaves'' has Sheridan, a tattooed giantess who kicks more arse than the rest of the crew combined. All while wearing heels and a corset. |
| 216 | * Kris of the ''Literature/KrisLongknife'' series is a very badass SpaceNavy officer. |
| 217 | * [[spoiler:Lucy Pennykettle]] from ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles''. [[spoiler: Once the Shadow is taken out, she reverts back to Lucy while still retaining her knowledge on how to kick butt.]] |
| 218 | * Teotl, Shahmeran, and Blackthorn in the ''Literature/LeagueOfMagi'' stories are all bruisers in their organizations. |
| 219 | * ''Literature/TheLeagueOfSecretHeroes stars Josie O'Malley, Akiko Nkaano, and Mae Crumpler, three girls who gain superpowers and use them to help a secret organization called Room Twelve fight UsefulNotes/WorldWarII from the American homefront. |
| 220 | * Catti-Brie, of the ''[[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt]]'' novels, is a reasonably competent ActionGirl. This is helped by her truly badass equipment; her sword would be decent equipment on someone four times her official character level, and her bow is all but epic. She even beats Drizzt in sparring matches now and again, and he's fifty years her senior, still in his prime, and trained since his youth to fight. However, [[spoiler:a recent wound to the leg that didn't heal right lead her to taking up magic. After three books of this, she died in the Spellplague]]. |
| 221 | ** In game terms, though, it's noteworthy that she has the lowest character level of any of the Companions of the Hall -- Drizzt is 16, Bruenor is 12, Regis and Wulfgar are both 9, and Catti-Brie is (before her [[spoiler:magical training]] 4). She does, however, have the least overall combat experience, so this is justified. |
| 222 | ** Salvatore's other leading original ''Literature/ForgottenRealms'' female, Danica Maupoissant, is also a warrior. In her case, she's a fighting monk, trained from her youth both in unarmed combat and the use of some ''very'' fine knives, and by the second book of Literature/TheClericQuintet the foremost student of a long-dead grandmaster's teachings. She's skilled enough to fight alongside and impress centuries-old elven warriors before she's even thirty. She's skilled enough that she's capable of briefly holding her own against ''Artemis Entreri'', top it off with the fact that he had his weapons and she had none. |
| 223 | ** The Seven Sisters from the ''Forgotten Realms'' all fit the template to some degree. |
| 224 | * Huang Rong[[labelnote:*]]Lotus Huang in the English translation[[/labelnote]] and Mu Nianci[[labelnote:*]]Mercy Mu[[/labelnote]] from ''Literature/TheLegendOfTheCondorHeroes'' both classify as both are trained in various forms of martial arts. However, in the latter case, Mercy is presumed to be OvershadowedByAwesome as she lives in a WorldOfBadass where almost EverybodyWasKungFuFighting. |
| 225 | ** In the same novel as them, Han Xiaoying[[labelnote:*]]Jade Han[[/labelnote]] is the only female member of the Seven Freaks of the South, and is skilled enough in her field of martial arts to be known as the Maiden of the Yue Sword, after the techniques she has mastered. |
| 226 | * A few pop up in Creator/JRRTolkien's ''[[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Legendarium]]'': |
| 227 | ** Éowyn, of course, from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. A LadyOfWar who pulls a SweetPollyOliver and kills the leader of the Ringwraiths. [[WordOfGod 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 AuthorAvatar. Women of Rohan in general are described as essentially an entire race of Action Girls. |
| 228 | ** Galadriel came to Middle-earth out of the West ''precisely'' because she desired power and a realm of her own, and she ''got it'', and during the events of ''The Lord of the Rings'' Galadriel ''personally'' [[OffScreenMomentOfAwesome threw down the fortress of Dol Guldur]]. |
| 229 | ** Lúthien Tinúviel pulled off quite a bit of badassery during the [[Literature/TheSilmarillion Quest for the Silmaril]]. Not content to wait behind while Beren did all the heroing, after ''escaping a prison her father confined her to'' precisely to keep her from following him, she went ''alone'' to Tol-in-Gaurhoth, stronghold of ''Sauron'', to rescue Beren with only the hound Húan to aid her, and afterwards journeyed with him into ''Angband itself'' and stood before [[BigBad Morgoth]], enchanting him into sleep with her singing and dancing. It should be remembered that [[ThePowerOfRock music has great power in Middle-earth]]. |
| 230 | ** Haleth, daughter of Haldad, was elected Chieftain of the Second House of the Edain because she had valor to match the men, and led to this people being known as the House of Haleth. |
| 231 | * ''Literature/TheLegendsongSaga'': |
| 232 | ** Glynn. Martial Arts champion TrappedInAnotherWorld. Occasionally carries the IdiotBall, but never lets it slow her down. |
| 233 | ** In addition, and Myrmidon in the same series. Special mention to Feyt. |
| 234 | ** ''Triplanetary'' - Kinnexa of Atlantis is a badass agent and infiltrator who has spent a good deal of time behind enemy lines and managed to survive when many other agents did not. Many centuries later, Clio Marsden starts out as a civilian passenger on a spaceliner when it's hijacked. She starts out as a damsel in distress for this reason, but by the end of the book she's definitely pulling her own weight as part of a team. Considering everything she's gone through, she does very well indeed. |
| 235 | ** ''First Lensman'' has Virgilia Samms, daughter of the titular character. Although not a combat officer, 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). |
| 236 | ** Clarissa Kinnison (nee [=McDougall=]) and all four of her daughters. |
| 237 | *** In ''Galactic Patrol'', Clarissa starts out as merely a very good surgical nurse with experience in space rescue and casualty retrieval, but she keeps her head when she's briefly captured at the end of the book, and in the opening chapters of ''Grey Lensman'' it's hinted there's something special about her. She gets to prove her worth in ''Second Stage Lensmen'' when as the token woman in a corps of male combatants (appropriate for when the novels were written), she's the only one who can operate openly on Lyrane II, a planet of lethal telepathic matriarchs, to work out what's killing the inhabitants. |
| 238 | *** By the time of ''Children of the Lens'', she's sired four daughters (and their older brother) who turn out to be even more powerful than she is. That doesn't stop Clarissa from coming out of retirement, going back to Lyrane and kicking arse even more convincingly than she did the previous time, proving in the process that in terms of maximum sustained effort she's the most powerful of all the Second-Stage Lensmen. |
| 239 | *** By the time it's all over, her four daughters have either defeated or killed multiple powerful enemies and formed part of the central command staff for the largest space battle in history. And ''then'' they and their brother face off against the series' BigBad, the Eddorians, with unpleasant results for the villains. |
| 240 | ** In ''Masters of the Vortex'', there are several female members of central character Neal Cloud's crew who kick MAJOR arse, including one 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]]. |
| 241 | *** Vesta the Vegian kills the villain of the piece singlehandedly by lifting him out of his seat with her tail (the Vegians are cat-people) and breaking his neck. She's disgusted when she finds this out, as she had been hoping to break every bone in his body one by one, as revenge for her brother's murder. |
| 242 | *** Joan Janowick is a cyberneticist, retired chess Grandmaster and self-taught telepath. She teaches Cloud telepathy too, and in the end it's their combined power which resolves the crisis of the book. |
| 243 | * Shelena, Virra and Liara of ''Literature/LoyalEnemies''. Shelena is a werewolf, with super-strength and reflexes, and additionally master swordsman (swordswoman?). Virra may not be twelve yet, but she's great archer who belongs to elven caste of slayers [[spoiler:and has killing touch]]. Finally, Liara is one of the best battle wizards around and her [[PregnantBadass pregnancy]] doesn't slow her down even a bit. |
| 244 | ** One of the protagonists of the series, Aruula, is also a warriorness of the 13 islands. However, she is more of a heroic version of a [[DarkActionGirl Dark Action Girl]]. |
| 245 | * The German booklet series ''Maddrax'' has the women of the 13 islands. In a very patriarchal world they often fight against male fighters, and are also powerful enough to stand against huge, mutated animals. |
| 246 | * ''Literature/AMagesPower'': All the female members of the Dragon's Lair qualify because it is a mercenary company. |
| 247 | ** The most prominent of these is Tiza, the tank of Team Four. |
| 248 | ** The Captain of Squad One is Giji Mesh, a woman with four arms and just as many swords |
| 249 | ** Even Mia, the receptionist, did something [[TakeOurWordForIt frightful off-screen]] to a bunch of royal soldiers. |
| 250 | * ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'' has female demigods, who in their fighting skills do not stand behind the boys. The valkyries are even all female. |
| 251 | * ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' has them in spades. [[TheEmpress Empress]] [[ProfessionalKiller Laseen]], [[WaifFu Sorry]], heck, any female [[BadassArmy Imperial Marine or Crimson Guard]]. |
| 252 | * Velvet in Creator/DavidEddings's ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad The Malloreon]]''. She kills one enemy in ''Demon Lord of Karanda'' by ''throwing a viper in his face''. The viper is very annoyed. |
| 253 | * ''Literature/TheMarkOfTheDragonfly'': Piper is only 13, but is skilled with a crossbow and carries a knife. She also knows how to use a revolver, though she rarely uses one. |
| 254 | * ''Literature/AMasterOfDjinn'': Fatma is a female OccultDetective with a ministry which investigates the supernatural who shows keen skill with magic or mundane weapons. Siti, her lover, is a good fighter as well, along with Haida, a young woman who's partnered with her. |
| 255 | * ''Literature/MaxAndTheMidknights'': The titular Max is a little girl with dreams of being a knight, who often has to go on adventures to save the day. There's also her friend Millie, to a lesser extent, as Millie fights using magic. |
| 256 | * The ''Literature/MediochreQSethSeries'' has Dhampinella, a female {{Dhampyr}}, who is TheBigGuy... er... Girl... of the central FiveManBand. Also downplayed by Charlotte and Rowan, who both ''can'' fight but are notably worse at it than Dhampinella or [[BadassNormal Joseph]] (although probably ''better'' than [[NonActionSnarker Mediochre]] himself), and by Melz who can still win the odd fight (mostly through trickery) despite being [[NeverMessWithGranny ancient]] and [[HandicappedBadass disabled]]. |
| 257 | * Lisbeth Salander from the ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'' is an excellent example. Don't get on her bad side. Just don't. |
| 258 | * Fox from [[Literature/{{Reckless}} The Mirrorworld Series]], who holds her own on more than one occasion. |
| 259 | * From ''Literature/MissPrince'' there are the members of Rent-A-Legend, a team set up to perform potentially dangerous roles in folklore. |
| 260 | * Miya, from ''Literature/MiyaBlackPiratePrincess'' starts the book thinking she's this; by the end she's definitely proven it. |
| 261 | * Isabelle in ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'' is great Hunter who can keep up with her BadassFamily. Clary is also slowly growing into one as her Hunter training is continues. It's rather more practical training than she'd probably like it to be, but that only speeds up the process. |
| 262 | * Bernadette "Bernie" Skamperskey, 12-year-old protagonist of ''Literature/TheMouseWatch'', is an aspiring action girl. The first time we see her, she's using an improvised zip line while having a neighborhood kid film it because she thinks it'll be a way to get the tiutlar heroes to finally notice her. She proves her mettle when she's accepted, fearlessly rushing into danger (usually [[LeeroyJenkins without plans or preparation]]) and fighting the BigBad with UnstoppableRage because ItsPersonal. Other example include Alph and Major Flatpaw. |
| 263 | * Ferrari Delguessimo in ''Literature/MrHooksBigBlackBox''. In fact, of all the main characters (of which there's only one other girl), she's the one who does pretty much all of the fighting. She's trained in various forms of martial arts, including kendo. |
| 264 | * ''Literature/NerveZero'' features an entire monastic order of Action Girls: the Sekhinim. |
| 265 | * ''Literature/{{Nightfall|Series}}'': Many girls and women at the Resistance turn into one by necessity. Most notably Lydia and Alerie. |
| 266 | * Several in ''Literature/{{Nightrunner}}'', considering one of the major settings is a matriarchy with lots of women warriors. Most notably Beka, the princesses Klia and Phoria, and RetiredBadass Thryis. |
| 267 | * Literature/ElsabethSoesten of the fantasy novella ''No Good Deed...''. She's a skilled swordswoman in her own right, who infiltrates an abbey by spelunking its privy shaft, and can take out an assassin moments after awakening from a drunken daze. Crosses over with ActionSurvivor as she just as often escapes by pure luck or because someone is manipulating everything behind the scenes. |
| 268 | * ''Literature/OfFireAndStars'': |
| 269 | ** Tomboy Mare is a skilled equestrian and archer, including having enough ability to fire [[HorseArcher while riding]]. |
| 270 | ** Dennaleia slowly grows into one over the course of the story too as she gets better at her magic while getting more proactive, including [[spoiler:rescuing Mare from her kidnappers]]. |
| 271 | ** Some of the minor female characters are guards and soldiers too. |
| 272 | * Nearly all the women in Gail Dayton's ''Literature/OneRoseTrilogy''. Certainly all the women in the Varyl ilian. |
| 273 | * ''Literature/OldKingdom'': Sabriel, Lirael, Ellimere, Clariel and Elinor are all either Action Girls from the moment we meet them or become so over the course of their book. Wielding some combination of sword, necromantic bells, magic, knives and sheer berserker rage, most women in this series are Action Girls (aside from some of the Seers). |
| 274 | * ''Literature/OurBloodyPearl'' has Kian, a ruthless pirate captain, and Simone, a sarcastic first mate. |
| 275 | * Penryn from ''Literature/PenrynAndTheEndOfDays'', fullstop. Her mother signed her up for a lot of self-defense and martial arts courses and she damn well has memorized what she learned there. |
| 276 | * ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' series (and the rest of Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries) has several. |
| 277 | ** Annabeth, who [[DamselOutOfDistress even when she gets kidnapped or severely injured, is still awesome]]. |
| 278 | ** Clarisse, who is the daughter of the god of war. |
| 279 | ** Artemis and Athena, who are both goddesses. |
| 280 | ** The hunters of Artemis, which includes Thalia (daughter of Zeus) and Zoe Nightshade (daughter of [[spoiler:Atlas]]). |
| 281 | ** Also, from ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', all of the above plus Piper, daughter of [[LoveGoddess Aphrodite]], [[DeathIsNotPermanent Hazel]], daughter of Pluto (Hades), and [[LadyOfWar Reyna]] and [[AmazonianBeauty Hylla]], daughters of [[WarGoddess Bellona]]. |
| 282 | * Both parts of ''Literature/PhantomsReckoning'' give us two. In the first one, we have Alice Clair, a badass {{Tsundere}} with [[PlayingWithFire fire powers]], and Layla Thompson, who uses [[ShockAndAwe electric powers]] and upon her first appearance in the story tried to take on the Phantoms all by herself. The second part gives us Makoto Guererro, a {{Tomboy}} who lives on the streets along with Tatsuya, and also has electric powers, and Kaori, a CombatMedic with [[AnIcePerson ice powers]]. The first one had more standard warrior type action girls, while the second had more typical teenager figures who got the CallToAdventure. |
| 283 | * The title character from Creator/KerryGreenwood's ''Literature/PhryneFisher'' mysteries. Among her many talents, she is a champion racing pilot and wing-walker. |
| 284 | * Showing that the concept of an Action Girl is OlderThanTheyThink, both Christiana and Mercy from ''Literature/ThePilgrimsProgress'' (specifically the second part) were brave and valiant fighters, used by Bunyan to illustrate that virtue knows no gender. |
| 285 | * ''Literature/PrideWars'': Being a [[WorldOfBadass World of Badass]], there are many. The most prominent are Anjali and Zoya in Leo's quadron. There's also Leo's cousin Amara, Biku, Captain Sariah, and General Dagan. |
| 286 | * In the Omen Island Chain series' ''Literature/ThePurpleWidow'', the Purple Widow recruits a fencing-savvy prostitute named Sophia as an apprentice after she defeats him in a duel. She re-names herself [[MeaningfulName "Arachna"]]. |
| 287 | * Although they do come from a somewhat sexist society, Alyss and Cassandra of ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' are still pretty badass, though Alyss is more of an {{Ambadassador}} than a fighter. Cassandra's daughter Maddie in Book 12 also counts, as she's [[spoiler: the first female [[BadassNormal Ranger.]]]] Even Jenny gets an Series/IronChef moment. Generally speaking, if a woman appears for more than a few scenes, she's pretty dangerous. |
| 288 | * ''[[Literature/RedMoonRisingHolt Red Moon Rising]]'': Jo and Klara are fierce warriors. They train Rae and Temple to be this too. |
| 289 | * In ''Literature/ReturnOfTheReaper'' we have General Moira. |
| 290 | * ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'': Hirsent can kick some serious ass when necessary. In ''The Baron of Maleperduys'', Rukenaw becomes one in training. [[spoiler: By ''Defender of the Crown'', she's become a full blown DarkActionGirl.]] |
| 291 | * [[StraightMan Ramy Dusotes]] and [[BrawnHilda Sookaiya Venatosh]] in ''Literature/RieselTalesTwoHunters''. Ramy has shown herself to be quite competent in combat. Sookaiya takes it a step further by being a [[StoutStrength walking tank]] and using a [[{{BFG}} gun to match]]. |
| 292 | * In ''Literature/RiverOfTeeth'', which is set in the 1890s, Archie not only runs around in breeches and rides her albino hippo Rosa through the bayou, she is not afraid to fight feral hippos hands on using her [[EpicFlail 'meteor hammer']]. |
| 293 | * Jesse Sue Longley from Creator/RichardLaymon's ''Literature/{{Savage}}'' is only 16 or so, but manages to [[spoiler:kill Jack the Ripper himself]]. |
| 294 | * Savannah, the main character in ''Literature/TheSavannahReidMysteries''. She's a PrivateDetective with a black belt in karate, and carries her Beretta everywhere she goes. |
| 295 | * ''Literature/SchooledInMagic'': Most of the main female characters are magicians proficient in fighting with magic. Emily is trained in Combat Magic and over time becomes very skilled, to the point she's killed multiple necromancers on her own, an accomplishment which no one else had ever managed. |
| 296 | * Mary Evans in ''Secret Agents Four'' by Donald J. Sobol. She has a brown belt in judo and uses it to take out a villain. |
| 297 | * Michael Scott's ''Literature/TheSecretsOfTheImmortalNicholasFlamel'' series is full of them. Perenelle Flamel is a powerful sorceress, Scathach is an ancient Celtic warrior (and total badass) and Sophie takes a level in badass when she gets her magical powers activated. Then none other than Joan of Arc shows up in the second book. |
| 298 | * ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': Many women in the Septimus-verse qualify, including Marcia Overstrand for [[spoiler:fighting with [=DomDaniel=] about the Akhu Amulet in ''Magyk'']] and Jenna Heap for knocking down the Toll-man in ''Queste'', among others. |
| 299 | * Milla of the Far Raiders of ''Literature/TheSeventhTower'' is tougher and more physically competent than any fourteen year old should be... on the other hand, she is still a fourteen year old, and behaves like one, behaving in an [[{{Jerkass}} incredibly arrogant]] and at times [[MurderIsTheBestSolution almost homicidal]] way towards Tal in the early book. She grows up a lot as the series continues, like Tal, mostly due to common sense being drilled into them both by reality. |
| 300 | * ''Literature/ShadesChildren'': All of the girls in Shade's Children. Ninde and Ella are both the female main characters who we see in the story. Ella is especially shows she's very skilled with a sword and other weapons too. |
| 301 | * Because of [[HadToBeSharp the need]] for everyone to be prepared to fight the Shade in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' female duelists are almost as common as male ones. |
| 302 | * In "Literature/TheShadowOfTheVulture", Red Sonya of Rogatino is a skilled adventurer and musketeer who saves Gottfried's life several points during the story. |
| 303 | * ''Literature/ShamanOfTheUndead'' has the witch "Redhead" and demon huntress Lena, two workers of [[WhoYouGonnaCall WON]], an organization that fights demons and {{demonic possession}}s on daily basis. |
| 304 | * The ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' franchise has had a few. While the original trilogy was lacking in this department, ''Literature/TheHeritageOfShannara'' 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 [[HungryJungle Morrowindl]] using a knife and the Elfstones, while Matty is a WaifFu abusing, rapier-armed BrokenBird who can match the Federation's best, and cheerfully goes after [[TheHeartless The Shadowen]] using only her sword. ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara'' 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. |
| 305 | * In ''Literature/TheShatteredKingdoms'', Norlander culture seems to expect this of its women, and certainly produces a lot of them. However, even a strong cultural imperative isn't going to turn ''everyone'' into this trope — Kira is noted to be decidedly indifferent to martial skills, doing the bare minimum that her culture expects. (She's skilled in other respects, mind you.) |
| 306 | * ''Literature/ShatterTheSky'': Maren is competent with a knife or her bare hands. She uses [[GuileHero trickery]] and evasion however far more, or dragons [[BondCreatures she's bonded to]] fight on her behalf. |
| 307 | * ''Literature/SherlockHolmesAndDoctorWasNot'': Dr. Amelia Van Helsing in "The Locked Cell Murder" is a monster hunter who wields a pair of ''wakizashi'' and comes to Holmes' rescue by making a SuperWindowJump through the skylight of a warehouse. |
| 308 | * David Isaak's ''Shock and Awe'' features multiple examples of this, most notably the heroine, Carla, who is probably the most realistic, believable portrayal of an action girl ever seen. |
| 309 | * Katja from ''Literature/TheSilentWar''. Due to being a [[DemonSlaying Redcloak]] she was quite literally born with a need for battle and spent her youth learning how to fight without even really understanding why. She takes a self-admittedly deranged joy in winning brutal life-or-death fights, and gets twitchy if she goes a long time without a good battle. Her mentor Serdra is this to an even greater degree. One of Katja's long-term goals is to beat her in a sparring match, if only just once. |
| 310 | * ''Literature/TheSilerianTrilogy'': Mirabar is a fierce young woman with a hot temper who fights using her fire magic. |
| 311 | * In ''Literature/{{Simulated}}'' Gloria counts, she's the mansion's go to fighting instructor rather than the larger Winston. |
| 312 | * ''Literature/SixOfCrows'': Inej is an expert knife-fighter who features in multiple battle scenes. Then there's Nina, a former soldier who kills with her Heartrender powers. |
| 313 | * There's a fair amount of them in ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'', most notably Valkyrie Cain, the main protagonist; Tanith Low, agile swordfighter; and China Sorrows, information broker. |
| 314 | * In Creator/MelisaMichaels's ''Skyrider'' series, Melacha "Skyrider" Rendell is a taciturn, two-fisted hot-shot [[AsteroidMiners belter]] pilot who likes to get into fist-fights to perk herself up after a dull run. Or to relax after an overly exciting one. Or because it's Tuesday. Really, who needs an excuse? |
| 315 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': |
| 316 | ** Brienne of Tarth is arguably a mix of ActionGirl and FailureKnight. A talented warrior (in a fairly patriarchal fantasy society) who [[spoiler:watches the man she loves get murdered by a shadow]] and still tries to defend him. She also manages to defeat many skilled knights (often outnumbered) and is doing pretty damn well on her quest before [[spoiler:being hanged for a traitor]]. [[ButtMonkey Some people have no luck]]. |
| 317 | ** The series also contains [[HornyVikings Asha Greyjoy]], Meera Reed, Osha and [[FieryRedhead Ygritte]], all who play this trope fairly straight without Brienne's terrible luck. Though, poor Ygritte ''did'' have the misfortune of [[spoiler:getting sacrificed at the altar of Jon's Woobiedom]]. |
| 318 | ** Arya's journey of survival across Westeros cemented her Action Girl status before she turned eleven. |
| 319 | ** Played with in regards Daenarys Targaryen on one hand she's has no combat skill unlike the aforementioned ladies and has spent most of her life as a DamselInDistress, but on the other hand she's a DragonRider who has conquered entire cities which more than qualifies her for this trope. |
| 320 | ** There's also Oberyn Martell's bastard daughters, the "Sand Snakes," whom Oberyn has raised be strong and fend for themselves. At least one, Obara Sand, is a trained warrior, and her sister Tyene is an expert on poisons. Action Girls have something of a tradition in Dorne, since their legendary Queen Nymeria was said to be a great warrior. |
| 321 | ** House Mormont of Bear Isle also has a history of producing female warriors, since they needed to defend themselves from Iron Island raiders while the men were away fishing. Lady Maege Mormont and all five of her daughters are skilled fighters. |
| 322 | ** The Wildlings have Spearwives, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin who are pretty much what the title implies]]. Six of them accompany [[spoiler: Mance Rayder in his mission to rescue "Arya" from Ramsey Bolton]]. |
| 323 | ** When Aegon the Conqueror began his conquest of Westeros, he was accompanied by his sister-wives, Rhaenys and Visenya. Visenya would commonly [[BraidsOfAction braid her hair]] and dress as a warrior, wielding the [[AncestralWeapon Valyrian steel sword]] Dark Sister in battle and ride the dragon Vhagar. Rhaenys, the more feminine and playful sister, rode the dragon Meraxes in battle alongside her siblings. Rhaenys's descendant Daenarys has clearly followed her footsteps. |
| 324 | ** It's strongly implied the Knight of the Laughing Tree [[SamusIsAGirl was none other than Lyanna Stark]] (Eddard Stark's sister) who disappeared mysteriously shortly before the jousting tournament began. Also the aforementioned Ayra who is Lyanna's niece gets frequently compared to her aunt, which gives credence to the suggestion Lyanna was a Action Girl herself. |
| 325 | ** Since ASOFAI is in many ways built upon [[DeconstructedTrope/ASongofIceandfire Deconstruction]] of fantasy literature, Martin makes quick work of subverting this trope for all its worth, as it is now so much of an obligation for a fantasy series to include it. Some {{Action Girl}}s, like Asha, Brienne and Arya, have to fight their cultures to show their strength in battle... hitting WarIsHell hard and using so many {{Determinator}} points up that it leads them to near-trauma and de-humanization. Asha is particularly jaded, as she comes from a ''very'' chauvinist culture and has to work ''a lot'' to pull it off--and, still hasn't managed to cement her Ironborn cred, despite her record of battles and reaving. Other {{Action Girl}}s come from more permissive cultures, like Osha, the Mormont girls and the Sand Snakes, and thus are more natural about it and play the trope straighter, but can only do so ''because'' of their wider cultural background. Take them out of their home turf, and they can face issues: Osha and those Sand Snakes doing covert ops outside Dorne show this. |
| 326 | ** [[BazaarOfTheBizarre In the markets]] of Vaes Dothrak, Daenerys takes notice of warrior maids from Bayasabhad, Shamyriana, and Kayakayanaya, who wear iron nipple rings and rubies in their cheek. |
| 327 | ** Another action girl in the series with poor luck is Pretty Meris, a female mercenary belonging to the Windblown company. Supposedly she was raped by half the members of a different mercenary company. She has a severely scarred face and is described as being anything but pretty. |
| 328 | * ''Literature/SoThisIsEverAfter'': |
| 329 | ** Sionna is a skilled female fighter with a sword in Arek's party. |
| 330 | ** Lila is a thief who's good with a knife. |
| 331 | * Most of the main female characters in ''Literature/Spaceforce2012'' qualify. Jez because she's a bad-ass space cop, Ashlenn because she's a bad-ass [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race Gal]] and Mizal (even though she's dead) because she's a bad-ass secret agent. |
| 332 | * ''Literature/{{Spellster}}'': Authril is a female soldier whom Dylan connects with. They are joined by Marin, who's a very skilled archer. Other minor female characters are also soldiers and guards. |
| 333 | * ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': |
| 334 | ** In ''Literature/SpiderManSinisterSixTrilogy'', Pity is able to roll with the rest of the Sinister Six and go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man all by herself. |
| 335 | ** In ''Literature/SpiderManTheDarkestHours'', 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 epitome of Manliness ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, If that's not Action Girl, what is? |
| 336 | * In ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'', both LightningBruiser Nico and master Spiritualist Miranda have no trouble keeping up with their male companions. Then there's Adela, who's good enough to give even [[MasterSwordsman Josef]] a pause. |
| 337 | * Stuart Gibbs' ''Literature/SpySchool'' novels have quite a few, given that most of the female characters are secret agents. Erica, Catherine, and Zoe and Ashley can all beat up most of the male characters without trying and only seem to have difficultly dealing with against MadeOfIron villains like Dane Brammage and DarkActionGirl Ashley Sparks (and even then they usually beat those two in the end). |
| 338 | * Literature/StarshipsMage has Julia Amiri, ex-bounty hunter and current bodyguard for the main character PersonOfMassDestruction. |
| 339 | * Roberta Lincoln from ''Literature/StarTrekTheEugenicsWars'' does a lot of running around to save the world. Whether it's climbing a rocket to sabotage a weapon of mass destruction or taking on two genetically enhanced superhumans at once, Roberta is up to the challenge. |
| 340 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]: |
| 341 | ** Mara Jade switches back and forth between being an ActionGirl depending on who is writing her. |
| 342 | ** Then there's Jaina, who is at once badass enough to take down one of the most powerful and yet least impressive Sith Lords ever, [[spoiler:her twin brother nonetheless]], and yet despite being a fully-functioning Jedi Knight and part of the Skywalker line (which practically ''burns'' with Force potential), had to get additional training from Boba freaking Fett, a seventy-year-old cancer-survivor with bad knees, all because of Karen Traviss's desire to keep Fett and the Mandalorians relevant. In the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'', she took down [[TheDragon the Warmaster]] [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome single-handedly]]. |
| 343 | ** Tenel Ka took down a Nightsister [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome without any weapons!]] |
| 344 | ** ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': |
| 345 | *** All of Han's girlfriends over the course of the series. Salla Zend is a gunrunning smuggler, and Xaverri has a day job as an illusionist but also runs cons against Imperials with Han's help. When Han meets Bria Tharen, she is a slave addicted to the Ylesian priests' Exultation emanations, but in the course of breaking her addiction she discovers the cause of the Rebellion and later becomes a high-ranking commando and spy. |
| 346 | *** Mrrov is a female Togorian. On her rescue, she immediately operates the guns of the ship while Han flies off. Later, she goes on a commando raid alongside her mate Muuurgh to liberate Ylesia and is gravely wounded. |
| 347 | *** Additionally, Drea Renthal is a large, tough woman who's a pirate captain, whom Lando dates. |
| 348 | ** ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'': Leia gets up to less action in this book, but still briefly shows her stuff, kneeing Xizor in the groin at once after breaking free from the pheromone-caused lust toward him. |
| 349 | * ''Literature/SwansBraidAndOtherTalesOfTerizan'': |
| 350 | ** Swan is a tough female mercenary captain who leads other mercenaries in a group called the Wing. When introduced she's just coming back from killing a gang of bandits. |
| 351 | ** Terizan is a skilled female thief who gets accepted into the Oreen Thieves Guild by getting into the leaders' sanctum without being stopped. No one else had ever managed it before. |
| 352 | * ''Literature/SweetAndBitterMagic'': Tamsin proves herself capable of disabling two armed men when faced with their hostile intent, casting a spell and trapping both of them inside a pit. Later she also duels the dark witch, and nearly beats her on her own. |
| 353 | * Kahlan in Creator/TerryGoodkind's ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series and even more so in ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker''. Also Cara, and by extension the rest of the Mord-Sith. In the books series, [[spoiler: Nicci]] later becomes this as well. They're all highly skilled, ferocious fighters using ordinary weapons or magic (although nonetheless Kahlan in the books also [[DamselInDistress gets captured a lot]]). |
| 354 | * Sarah Jennings is in her own words "a bit of a badass" in the titular ''Literature/TalesOfAnMazingGirl'' though shes a bit more lackadaisical then most examples. |
| 355 | * ''Literature/TalesOfInthya'': |
| 356 | ** In ''Literature/TheQueenOfIeflaria'': |
| 357 | *** Esofi it turns out is quite skilled with magic, and [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation the sword that she makes with it]]. She easily beats Theodoar using it during their duel. |
| 358 | *** Lisette, Esofi's bodyguard, is a fierce petite woman whom no one doubts is extremely dangerous. |
| 359 | ** In ''Literature/DaughterOfTheSun'' the protagonist Orsina is a female knight. She's the titular character, which marks her as a {{paladin}} from the Order of the Sun. She's trained to fight with a sword, and has minor magical powers too. |
| 360 | * A great many in Fiona Patton's ''Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm'' series, set in an [[FantasyCounterpartCulture alternate medieval Britain]] where GenderIsNoObject. Starting with the legendary FounderOfTheKingdom who became the [[GodInHumanForm avatar of a god]] and then conquered the entire island -- men of her faith go clean-shaven to honor her. |
| 361 | * In the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series, there are female captains of dragons -- and they are almost exclusively captains of the light-heavyweight acid-spitting Longwing breed, critical to Britain's combat formations. There are even three variants presented; a [[ActionMom more matronly, heavyset, ladylike woman]], a shy young woman who in any other service would be the SweetPollyOliver, and the middle road of a woman approaching early middle age with a daughter in the service with a mannish stride and a penchant for smoking and drinking. |
| 362 | * ''Literature/TheTeresaKnightTrilogy'': Teresa knows martial arts, and is willing to use them when necessary (such as while fighting the villain at the climax of ''Strip Poker''). |
| 363 | * ''Literature/ThirdTimeLuckyAndOtherStoriesOfTheMostPowerfulWizardInTheWorld'': Magdelene prefers to avoid fighting (and indeed much activity in general). When faced with danger though, she's very capable, as the most powerful wizard in the world. Most enemies can't hope to face up against her, and she isn't bad at using her bare hands either in a pinch. |
| 364 | * ''Literature/TimeOutOfTime'' has Timothy's sister, Sarah. There's also AlphaBitch-turned-Ally Jessica, and Cerridwyn. |
| 365 | * Margo Smith of ''Literature/TimeScout'', 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. |
| 366 | * All of Creator/TamoraPierce's Literature/{{Tortall|Universe}} protagonists. |
| 367 | ** One possible exception is Aly, who's more of a Spy[=/=]{{T|heTrickster}}rickster, but can still hold her own in a fight). |
| 368 | ** Daine may be an exception as well; she's more of a certified nature girl who can shoot a bow and use a slingshot, but doesn't have any explicit powers of destruction unless you [[spoiler:tell her that you murdered her beloved teacher]]. Then she gets [[BerserkButton angry]]. Her prowess with a longbow against the Stormwings would certainly qualify her in the first book, though. |
| 369 | ** Creator/TamoraPierce says outright that she wanted to write stories for children featuring "girls who kick butt." |
| 370 | * Tasha of ''{{Literature/Touch 2017}}'' is a self-confident girl with a Batman complex and super strength, who uses her powers to mug drug dealers, break people's hands, and punch things. |
| 371 | * ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': The Female Mercenary is a very skilled soldier who can be utterly relied on whenever a fight breaks out. She will annoy the protagonists through dutifully cleaning her weapons and insisting a watch be kept, but they will come to admire her even so. |
| 372 | * ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'' |
| 373 | ** The Red Company has several female soldiers, and most of them have to be badass, because the social mores of the time don't exactly encourage warrior women. Most notable are Sauce, one of the first female knights, and Mag the Seamstress, a sorceress of an almost unprecedented power. |
| 374 | ** On the Wild side of things, the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Quethnethogs]] have Mogon, who leads them as a result of AsskickingLeadsToLeadership. |
| 375 | * Jenny from ''Literature/TheTruthOfRockAndRoll'': "I’d seen (Jenny) get in fights before, usually very short ones." |
| 376 | * Tally Youngblood in the third and fourth books of Creator/ScottWesterfeld's ''Literature/{{Uglies}}'' series since she's a special. Shay and the rest of the specials/cutters and the Sly Girls form book four also apply for this trope. |
| 377 | * Every female monster hunter in ''Literature/UncommonAnimals'' is one, but [[GirlyBruiser Mina's]] journey is unique. She starts the series as a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]] and kicks much demon ass as a wolf with a human brain. But as the stories go on, she ''also'' learns to fight as a human, usually while [[ImprovisedWeapon utilizing]] to the scenery to make up for her lack of height. |
| 378 | * ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles'': |
| 379 | ** Queen Luxa. Pretty much a requirement, with the humans nearly always at war with the rats. |
| 380 | ** Solovet. |
| 381 | ** Okay, pretty much all female characters save Nerissa, Boots, and Lizzie. |
| 382 | * Lara in the ''Untouchable'' superhero series by S. A. Starcevic cracks solid cement with a stomp, not to mention gets blasted out of the air and crashes down onto the hood of a car, buckling the metal without a scratch - on her, that is. |
| 383 | * ''Literature/TheUnwomanlyFaceOfWar'': The girls who served in the front line as pilots, snipers machine gunners, tank crew members and partisans, who were about an half of the women enlisted. |
| 384 | * Cutlass Cate and, to a lesser extent, Cheng Li, in ''Literature/{{Vampirates}}''. |
| 385 | * ''Literature/VampireAcademy'': |
| 386 | ** Rose Hathaway. Pretty much a prerequisite as a guardian, but still. Trained to fight against Strigoi and other threats. Skilled at killing. |
| 387 | ** Tasha Ozera. And a pretty badass one too. She was not granted guardians by the Moroi Court, so she trained herself in self-defense and offensive magic. She makes a living tutoring others as a defense instructor. |
| 388 | ** Any dhampir girl, really. They all tend to be more healthy and athletic than their human counterparts. Even those not fully trained can handle themselves well in fights. |
| 389 | ** Any female ''guardian''. They are trained since their school years in combat techniques, aimed at making them fighters against super-strong, super-fast Strigoi vampires. They can fall in battle but usually manage to hold their own. |
| 390 | ** Any of the female Keepers. Leaving in a society where Moroi, humans, and dhampirs co-exist, and fighting skills are praised above all. |
| 391 | * Elli Quinn and Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan from Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', although Cordelia seems to have retired after the events of ''Barrayar'', at least in terms of physical arse-kicking. |
| 392 | * ''Literature/{{Wander}}'' has the heroine, Wander; a teenaged girl who killed her first man when she was eight, and gets her name from her choice to spend her time WalkingTheEarth instead of finding a settlement. |
| 393 | * ''Literature/TheWanderingInn'': Ryoka punched a beautiful Silver ranked adventurer in the face and kicked a minotaur, that easily towers over her, so hard he vomits blood! |
| 394 | * As the basic function of ''everyone'' in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' 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. |
| 395 | * ''Literature/WarWithNoName'': The most prominent are Wawa, dog assassin and second in command of the Red Sphinx, and D'Arc, training for Hosanna law enforcement. There's also Grace Braga, warrior in the Sons of Adam. |
| 396 | * Just about every important female character in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', though Moiraine, Birgitte, and Aviendha are the ones that most embody the trope. Then there's Nynaeve and Egwene, two of the strongest magic-users in the series, and even Min and Elayne occasionally jump into the fray. |
| 397 | * Most female characters in ''Literature/TheWitchlands'' are fighters, warriors or sorceresses who don't shy away from combat. Safi and Iseult are witches who [[FightsLikeANormal fight like normals]] with blades and fists, Evraine is a female WarriorMonk, and both Vivia and Vaness are powerful witches using their powers to aid their soldiers. |
| 398 | * The imaginary prehistoric Britain of ''Literature/WhenWomenWereWarriors'' contains, as the title indicates, a plethora of women warriors (including generals); the main character is a warrior-in-training. |
| 399 | * ''Literature/TheWolfDenTrilogy'' has Britannica/Senovara, a Briton warrior turned gladiator. Once she is allowed to train up to her full strength, she proves tough enough to intimidate her former owner. |
| 400 | * Since combat is never purely in the cockpit, most of the women in the books of the ''Literature/XWingSeries'' count. Shalla Nelprin would probably have gotten along well with Plourr, above. |
| 401 | [[/folder]] |
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