So I was thinking about how female fantasy writers connect the girl-hero with violence. I was seeking a quote to start this blog entry, but I came up short.

Both are a mis-reading of a post-war Pres. Roosevelt speech. I guess everybody borrows.

I like that we have chosen to empower women by giving the girl-hero choices and weapons and treasure and magic and the ability to talk to horses. These are exciting additions to her personal power, and I wish the stories had existed when I was young. (My comfort was A Wrinkle in Time where one of the travelers was a girl.)

I recently read a couple of trilogies in fantasy where the girl-hero wields a sword, leads an army, and grown men twice her age follow her.  How is that possible?

In history, there was a queen named Matilda (we need a biopic here!!) who put Henry Plantagenet on the throne of England. But Matilda was a grown woman who took advantage in a fractured system where the heir apparent was weak, and the King of France had died leaving Eleanor (Henry’s wife) with a larger kingdom.  Matilda’s victories on the battlefield were few.

Mostly these examples from history acted through diplomacy and deceit when the monarchy was weak. So where is the precedent for all the violence for girl-heroes in fantasy stories?

What girl kills without remorse?  What 14-year-old kills a man who outweighs her by 80 pounds? And using a sword for which she has no training? So sometimes the girl-hero has more magic than the opponent’s magic. Sometimes she was trained in the use of poison to level the contest.

But that still leaves the kill stroke – the coup de gras.

Why are we turning girl-heroes, first offered as liberating role models for our younger generation, into killing machines?  When did this trend start?

Types of Female Characters for Women Writers to Choose From:

So the three possibilities for female roles in fantasy are still warrior, princess/victim, or harlot – right? We have no better/different roles for women? Really? I can think of a few, but they depend on adding additional characters to the story. Listed are a few examples of character types:

Why do we never see these structures in fantasy stories? In real life, older women teach younger women. It seems that when a woman reaches age 40, she suddenly goes mute and the girls she mentored erase her name from history.

And another thing – I’m warmed up to it now!! A woman as the bad guy gets the short shrift. The male opponents are often deftly drawn with a back story for how they started down a dark road.  But the female bad guys are usually stuck in the “Mirror, mirror, on the wall” musky old motif. 

A bad guy thinks he is doing what’s best for the future, and he offers every justification for why he is right.  A female bad guy never gets that speechifying moment to justify her choices before somebody throws a bucket of water on her.

Come on, ladies…  We can do better than this.

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The post Girl Heroes in Fantasy and Violence first appeared on Stella Atrium.