mortwatcher
Explorer
This ended better than expected. My 2 writers I wanted to see in the finals were Cook and Pratchett. One made it, the other made it pretty far.
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lowkey13
Guest
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L
lowkey13
Guest
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Ralif Redhammer
Legend
LeGuin’s victory is a solid one, though Sir Terry would’ve also been a good one. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sharn drew influence from Ankh-Morpork.
But LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea is a deeply wise tale. I didn’t read it until my mid-to-late twenties, and I so wish I had come to it earlier in life. I think we could all learn from the lessons of Ged.
5e Undead-only would be cool for the next Survivor Thread. I certainly have my favorites. I’m tempted to suggest Ravenloft domains as an option, but I think it likely that Barovia would be a dead cert (har) anyway.
But LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea is a deeply wise tale. I didn’t read it until my mid-to-late twenties, and I so wish I had come to it earlier in life. I think we could all learn from the lessons of Ged.
5e Undead-only would be cool for the next Survivor Thread. I certainly have my favorites. I’m tempted to suggest Ravenloft domains as an option, but I think it likely that Barovia would be a dead cert (har) anyway.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Give me a list of strong iconic female heroes in fantasy literature over the past couple hundred years, leading up the 60s when the book was written.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
Let's see, off the top of my head:
20s and Prior:
Alice (Alice in Wonderland)
Dorothy Gale (Wizard of Oz)
30s:
Jirel of Joiry
Mary Poppins
Belit
Red Sonya
40s:
Pippi Longstocking
50s:
Eowyn, Galadriel (Lord of the Rings)
Lucy and Susan Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia)
60s:
Lessa (Dragonriders of Pern)
Meg (A Wrinkle in Time)
If you include folklore and comics, the list grows exponentially.
20s and Prior:
Alice (Alice in Wonderland)
Dorothy Gale (Wizard of Oz)
30s:
Jirel of Joiry
Mary Poppins
Belit
Red Sonya
40s:
Pippi Longstocking
50s:
Eowyn, Galadriel (Lord of the Rings)
Lucy and Susan Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia)
60s:
Lessa (Dragonriders of Pern)
Meg (A Wrinkle in Time)
If you include folklore and comics, the list grows exponentially.
Sacrosanct
Legend
You seem to be confusing "strong tough take no crap independent beat any man heroine" with "protagonist" in many of your examples. Just because a female character was a protagonist, doesn't mean they were the former. Many of your examples were just main characters or secondary bit characters who only had a plot twist role to fill (like Eoywn). About the only ones were Chronicles of Narna and Red Sonja. How many fantasy stories are there with a male protagonist as the big tough independent didn't need anyone else hero by comparison?
so yeah, I stand by my statement that he was ahead of his time, having a main character be female, and also be the toughest and smartest of the all the characters. That doesn't mean he was the only one, it means that if he's part of the 0.1% that did something that now is much more common, then by definition he was ahead of his time when writing those stories.
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Ralif Redhammer
Legend
No, I don’t think I’m confusing anything. You specifically asked for “strong iconic female heroes in fantasy literature,” in chronological order. This is a list of characters that are, strong, female, mostly heroic (admittedly, Belit doesn’t count as heroic, being a pirate), and exist within fantasy literature. And in chronological order.
I stand by this list.
Not saying Eilonwy isn’t awesome, though. Because, undoubtedly, she is.
I stand by this list.
Not saying Eilonwy isn’t awesome, though. Because, undoubtedly, she is.
BookBarbarian
Expert Long Rester
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