Tower Lord discussion

I'd like to take a moment of your time to draw your attention to a thought that has troubled me since finishing 'Tower Lord'...

There are only two types of strong female characters in fantasy novels.

Type 1: The brilliantly minded, scheming, beautiful, noblewoman trapped in a man's world.

This type of female character usually has no physical fighting ability to speak of but a keen mind that even the greatest scholars would envy, with a photographic memory and/or ability to master pretty much any skill she puts her mind to, whether it be foreign languages or local board games.
She's mostly likely a noblewoman or princess, meaning that because of her gender she will never rise to the things she's truly capable of, usually being forced to sit quietly while her older, but less intelligent brother is chosen to do the things that she should be doing (ruling, travelling, adventures etc.)However, her cunning and strategic ways means she will ALWAYS end up getting out of any situation with a sharp sardonic wit and even sharper tongue. This character also is usually quite ruthless when she wants to be and has little or no friends as her brilliance causes her to look down on other female characters and be shunned by them in turn.

Type 2: The goddess of war with no head for politics
This type of female character can tear any enemy she faces in half with nothing more than a wooden stick. She’s usually trained by the main male character and instantly earns respect from everyone as she dives head first into battle and cuts down enemy after enemy with an unspoken but thriving lust for battle. This character always begins life as a street urchin/abused or sheltered daughter/ low class insignificant person who is thrust into the world of battle and has an instant knack for it. This girl hates politics and the finer details of deception and instead simply smashes skulls in until her comrade’s respect her and her enemies fear her.

This is a brief description of the two types of strong female characters I have seen in SEVERAL fantasy series so far. But while these two types act as a spectrum with crossovers every now and then, I think you’ll agree that 90% of main female characters in fantasy books will fall into one of these categories.

I’m asking your opinion on whether or not you too have felt a running theme between the main female characters in your fantasy books, and more importantly, why do you think writers have so much trouble creating genuinely original strong female characters?

I mostly disagree with this. Firstly I'll admit that these are common archetypes. However I think that it's too far to say they're anything near 90%. It's like saying "Male fantasy protagonists are always unlikely heroes of humble origins that have a hidden destiny and surprise everyone with their incredible skill in (field relevant to the particular story: fighting/tactics/magic/etc)".

Secondly I'd argue that you've described a division of characters that generally applies to all genders/ages/cultures. Most male characters either fit into the scheming intelligent and overlooked type or the martially skilled and practical but not interested in politics type.

Just a minute looking over at my bookshelf I came up with this list below.

***Mild Spoilers***
Examples:
1. Arceth (Land fit for heroes). She's a general badass with brains and can fight. Advises for the emperor so clearly has a mind for politics.

2. Lady Catelyn (Song of Ice and Fire). Her strength derives from her tenacity and 'motherlyness', isn't motivated by power that she must connive her way to through men. So she is a strong female that lacks both the combat and political scheming qualities.

3. Leesha (Demon Cycle). Can hold her own in a fight using powders and potions and stuff, not big on high politics but very intelligent and seems able to lead a community. She is a strong female that isn't particularly good nor bad at either fighting and scheming/politics.

4. Susannah Dean (Dark Tower). Can fight, smart, but not a killing machine nor a schemer. One might argue that there isn't room in the story for a political schemer, but the old hag from Roland's past (forgot her name) and women from Gilead show that there is room in the story for the archetypes.

5. Mustang (Red Rising). Can fight, and is intelligent. Not a schemer, plans and advises in concert with others rather than having to be a puppeteer to get her way, which is actually what her brother must do.

6. Karris (Lightbringer Saga). Can fight and is intelligent. Gender is not an obstruction to her goals. Admittedly she isn't politically motivated at first but ends up in a position where she does get involved heavily in behind the scenes power politics.


There are surely others but I think that's enough of a list for now.

I think it depends on the type of fantasy you are reading alot of time. Epic fantasy has a tendency to be set up in a version of the middle ages where women had little to no power. More modern fantasy/urban fantasy shows a larger variety of sttong women (dresden files for example).

Perhaps 90% was stretching it a bit... I'll take it down to 70%.

The point I'm trying to make is that in its early days you could use the phrases 'fantasy genre' and 'book of archetypes' interchangeably. Back then you could apply your description of male fantasy protagonists to more or less any popular fantasy novel around.

Since those days fantasy has evolved; we're no longer happy with "the morally righteous good guys fight the evil for the sake of evil bad guys to save the world/damsel in distress". Now we want nuanced characters facing complex situations that will ultimately end up making them sacrificing something precious to them. But in this fantasy evolution I can't help but notice that some of the more popular and wider read fantasy books have female protagonists that are always getting pushed to one side or the other in my type 1 or 2 description whereas the males mostly end up getting aspects of both.

The list you gave is an obvious example that not ALL female protagonists will neatly fit into one type or the other. I agree with what Kyle said about it depending on what type of fantasy you read, for instance if I had a brief look at my reading list the type 2 characters seem to be everywhere:

* Vin (Mistborn trilogy) - lays waste to anything that threatens her or those she loves with spectacularly violent means -hates politics.

* Valkyrie Cain (Skulduggery Pleasant series) - with magic and fists she takes on criminals with a smile and is often described as violent – no patience with not a care for procedure.

* Reva (Tower Lord) - I presume you remember the incident with the bandits?

* Six (Lorien Legacies) - Mrs Badass

*Toph Bei fong (Avatar comics) - hard as a rock with as much interest in politics as she has for reading (this is hilarious if you're familiar with the series)

So in short, when authors want to write strong female characters these days, too often (in my opinion) do they always write the same strong character. I just want more variation, is that too much to ask?

Generally I'm with you there. Saying it's too frequent is something I can get behind and is (among other issues with common female characters) something that has bothered me for a time. I agree most classic fantasy is based on medieval Europe and thus the women sort of have to be in those positions or it wouldn't fit. I had a problem for a long time with books that had females as a main protagonists for similar reasons. I'd be like "why can't a female be the hero of a book and not be motivated by romance?" and so on. It seems as though more books are being written with this type of thing in mind. I think the 'evolution' of fantasy, as a genre, is just taking time to reach the complexity we desire.

I guess we'll have to settle for the cookie cutter stuff while searching for the few gems that get it right until more great books come out. I think they're making progress though.