Who Are the Best FEMALE Game Characters?

[IMPress Polly]

The host of PBS Game/Show recently opted to share a list of his favorite female video game characters and why they're his faves. I find this a worthwhile subject only because, quite frankly, there aren't many female characters in the world of video games, relatively speaking. Here are his favorites:



...All in all, I'd call that list very unoriginal, to say the least. Who could've predicted that Samus Aran (of the Metroid games), Lara Croft (of the Tomb Raider games), and Princess Peach (of Mario fame of course) would all make the list? Oh wait, EVERYBODY!! One could observe that he doesn't really even manage to apply his own criteria consistently. These types do indeed seem to be guys' favorite female characters.

You know, on this subject, I was recently reading an old back-issue of Nintendo Power from late 2001 where their readers wrote in as to who their favorite female game characters were. (Same subject, in other words.) It strikes me how little has changed over the years. It also struck me, reading over these letters, that guys and girls looked for different things in girl characters. Here's a sampling of those 2001 letters that got printed:

LETTERS FROM THE GUYS

LETTER ONE:
"I think my favorite female hero is Samus Aran, who boldy saves the galaxies from the dreaded Mother Brain. She is a righteous babe and a tough cookie all in one!"

That was from Grant Devero.

LETTER TWO:
"My favorite female character? That would be Joanna Dark. She rocks! That British accent can't be beat, and she takes no nonsense from evil aliens!"

That was from Geoff.

LETTER THREE:
"PEACH PEACH PEACH PEACH PEACH *gasp* PEACH PEACH PEACH PEACH!"

That was from cheez mastah.

LETTER FOUR:
"Joanna Dark and Samus Aran are cool female characters. It's natural that there aren't many games with female heroes, and it will continue to be that way, so all those girl gamers should just live with it."

There were a lot more (most of which mentioned Samus and/or Joanna Dark or Claire Redfield from Resident Evil 2), but I think that gives you a general flavor for the male responses. The rule here was that guys preferred female characters from shooting games because those are the games they preferred to play, and some form of sex appeal was often listed as part of the criteria for what made them good characters. (Not that Joanna Dark is a bad character, mind you.)

LETTERS FROM THE GIRLS

LETTER ONE:
"I would say that the female hero from Pokemon Crystal is my favorite! Finally, I can stop giving the poor male hero a girl's name and hoping no one notices!"

That was from Emily Frank.

LETTER TWO:
"Tiny Kong is by far the most coolerific video game girl. She can fight, she's fast, and she can actually wear overalls and still look cute!"

That was from Amanda.

LETTER THREE:
"My favorite female hero is me! I'm female and I fight bad guys in video games. Hey, I'm not actually in a video game, but so what?"

That was from Kim.

Those were just a few examples of course. I think what you see is that the girls looked for somewhat different things. Mostly not characters from shooting games. But I think that reflected the difference in the genres that the different sexes played the most. And the girls preferred "cute" over "hot".

QUESTION: WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Who are your favorite female game characters? I'll even give the inquiry a liberal interpretation and let you pick characters from table top games too if you want.

[The Xl]

Yuffie from FF7, Dahlia Hawthorn from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations, Lyn from Fire Emblem.

My 3 fav of the top of my head.

[IMPress Polly]

Okay, here are my top favorites:

1) JADE (FROM BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL)

She's my overall favorite because she's basically a real young woman, I mean minus the fiction world in which she lives. She's not a trope and that's my point. She has her own adventures, they don't revolve around gun play, and they're very anti-establishment adventures: the kind I like the most.

Jade.jpg

2) AMATERASU (FROM OKAMI)

The Shinto Sun Goddess incarnated in the form of a white wolf. Who DOESN'T want to be a deity?? She dedicates herself to restoring both the Earth and the people's lost faith. It's just...I dunno, it's a very romantic thing to me!

Attachment 8586


3) LUCCA (FROM CHRONO TRIGGER)

I agree with the Game/Show host on this selection. Lucca's got both magic AND technology going for her at the same time, making her one of the cooler characters to play as in any RPG!

Lucca.jpg

4) ROSALINA (FROM THE MARIO GAMES)

I picked her mostly because I relate to her backstory. She's searching the stars for her mom. That reminds me so much of my childhood, being separated from my mom and wanting to go home.

Attachment 8588

5) JOSETTE (FROM WONDER PROJECT J2)

She's the daughter I wish I had.

Josette.jpg

[IMPress Polly]

6) IZUNA (FROM IZUNA: LEGEND OF THE UNEMPLOYED NINJA...AND SEQUEL)

In Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja, this young, smart-alecky ninja finds herself stuck in a small town with nothing to do. Out of sheer boredom, she steals a sacred relic and angers the nearby gods, who in turn put a curse on everyone in the village. Due to her unpleasant demeanor though, Izuna is somehow immune to the curse and decides to wage war against the gods such as to lift the curse, thus saving the village from a fate that would not have befallen it in the first place were it not for her own actions. Yes, this is a funny game, and the star character, Izuna, is positively oozing personality. That's as it should be. I don't think these anti-hero characters should be taken too seriously and the Izuna franchise treats its anti-hero with the appropriate levity. She's a very entertaining character as a result!

Attachment 8590 Izuna 2.jpg

[Alyosha]

1. Morrigan from the Dragon Age series
2. Blaze the Cat tied with Amy Rose
3. My Grey Warden from Dragon Age
4. Rouge the Bat

[Alyosha]

I forgot Midna.

[IMPress Polly]

Midna's cute.

I think I've mentioned this before, but she's actually going to be a playable character in the upcoming Wii U game Hyrule Warriors due out next month, along with quite a long list of other normally non-playable characters from the Zelda franchise, including Zelda herself (in two forms), Impa, Darunia, Ruto, Fi (from Skyward Sword), and others as well. (In fact, interestingly, this will be one of the rare games in which most playable characters will be female, incidentally, just to relate this back to the topic of the thread.)



...Ah, the never-ending Cuccos joke.

I'm totally forward to Hyrule Warriors! We haven't had a Zelda hack n' slash since Zelda II for the NES and what better way to finally do another one than this? In a franchise that pretty much never lets you play as anyone but Link, finally, with a hack n' slash, we get the opportunity to experiment with a whole RANGE of other characters!

[Green Arrow]

I had to think about this one for a minute. I don't really play non-MMOs, so that made it that much harder But this is what I came up with (only doing a top 5):

1) Jaina Proudmoore - World of Warcraft



Jaina Proudmoore is the current leader of the organization of mages known as the Kirin Tor, ruling from their magic city of Dalaran. She is the most powerful human sorceress alive, personally trained by legendary mage Antonidas. During the Third War, Antonidas sent her to investigate the movements of the undead plague in northern Lordaeron, accompanied by Prince Arthas Menethil, her childhood friend. Over the course of this journey, they fell in love. Unfortunately, Arthas was slowly corrupted by the demon Mal'ganis, to the point where he ordered his soldiers to murder his own people in the city of Stratholme for nothing more than suspicion that the people were infected with the plague.

This ultimately led to the moment that cemented her as a great character in my mind. As I was reading the lore book (and later watching it unfold in a dungeon) Arthas by Christie Golden, I was rolling my eyes at this point because I knew from popular tropes that this was the part where she totally ignored everything she believed in and helped Arthas because LOVE and SHINY THINGS, but was surprised when she refused to join him and actually turned her back on him and walked away. After that, she stopped being "the Lich King's former girlfriend" (did I mention Arthas becomes the Lich King? ) and was her own complicated character.

Anyway, after that, she saw Lordaeron fall apart as Arthas went crazy and eventually became a Death Knight, murdering his own father and utterly destroying his kingdom of Lordaeron (as well as the High Elf kingdom of Quel'Thalas) and, guided by a mysterious prophet (the spirit of Medivh), led a remnant of the people of Lordaeron across the sea to the western continent of Kalimdor, primarily a Horde continent, where she established a colony called Theramore. She saved everyone that went with her. After Deathwing was killed, however, Warchief Garrosh Hellscream of the Horde dropped a mana bomb on Theramore, destroying the colony and most of the people that lived there. Jaina survived, but the experience forever altered her, including her physical appearance, turning her blonde hair mostly white save for one streak, and hardened her personality. After the previous leader of the Kirin Tor, Rhonin, was killed trying to contain the mana bomb, Jaina took over the Kirin Tor.

2) Grand Master Satele Shan - Star Wars: The Old Republic



Seriously, look up the trailers for SWTOR on YouTube. The girl (at first, later woman) fighting in them is Satele Shan. She's one of the most powerful Jedi in history, and served as the Grand Master of the Jedi Order during the Cold War and Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire during the days of the Old Republic, some thousand years or so before the events of the Star Wars movies. She is a descendant of legendary Jedi/Sith Revan. She was on the planet Korriban learning from a zabrak battle master when the Sith retook the planet, and if wasn't for her warning the Republic about it, the Republic may have been even more unprepared for the return of the Sith than they were.

She became a hero to the Republic during the Galactic War, attaining the rank of Jedi Knight and leading Republic and Jedi forces to battle against the Sith. Her prowess in battle was unmatched and every time she faced off against Darth Malgus, one of the mightiest Sith in the Empire, she came out on top. She is another character that you can't help but love for her unique personality and skill (not just in fighting, mind you. She's also very Force-sensitive). Plus, she's not one of those female characters that you feel like the Devs only put out there to look sexy or serve as the real hero's love interest. Her character's backstory in particular is sweet.

3) Maiev Shadowsong - World of Warcraft



First off, her armor is $#@!ing sweet. I've always wanted to get a transmog version of it.

Second, story. Maiev was a major character in the Burning Crusade expansion, and may yet be a major character in a future demon-oriented expansion. During the War of the Ancients, Maiev was a young Priestess of the Night Elf Goddess Elune. When Night Elf leader and druid Malfurion Stormrage's brother, Illidan Stormrage, became corrupted by demons, Maiev became his jailer. She and Illidan have a very Batman-Joker relationship. Without the Joker, Batman would not be Batman, and likewise, without Batman, the Joker would not be the Joker. It's the same with Maiev and Illidan. She has spent ten thousand years guarding Illidan's prison, driven by fierce anger for his vile actions against their people. This anger morphs into blind hatred after Illidan kills her fellow Watchers and her sister.

High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind, wife of Malfurion Stormrage, later stormed the Barrows where Maiev was keeping Illidan and broke him free, believing she needed him to stop a demonic threat and save Malfurion. Maiev chased Illidan, never ceasing, culminating in her capture by the leader of the Blood Elves, Kael'thas Sunstrider, and the Queen of the Naga, Lady Vash'j. Vash'j and Kael'thas imprison her in the Black Temple, which is now Illidan's main stronghold where he mobilizes his demonic, Naga, Broken, and Blood Elf forces. Rather than waiting for a man to come save her (*cough*Princess Peach*cough*) like your typical video game female, she gets herself out and allies with a Broken named Akama, working her way through the Black Temple until she reaches Illidan's sanctum. Realizing that keeping him jailed will no longer work, as he has grown in power, she puts an end to his threat once and for all, killing him.

As Illidan died, he said, "You have won... Maiev... But the huntress... is nothing... without the hunted... You... are nothing... without... me..." With her ten thousand year quest for vengeance over, she realizes that she really is nothing, or at the very least, has nothing left. Her quest for vengeance against Illidan had so consumed her for over ten thousand years that she literally felt like nothing once it was over. She walked into the shadows of the Temple, and nobody has seen her since.

She is a very deep character, and that's what I like. I like deep, philosophical characters.

4) Empress Sela - Star Trek Online



Sela is the current Empress of the Romulan Star Empire. She is the daughter of former Starfleet Security Officer (serving on the Enterprise under Captain Jean-Luc Picard) Tasha Yar and a Romulan general. Lt. Tasha Yar travels back in time with an alternate reality Enterprise to defend a Klingon outpost from an attack by the Romulans, which is a historical catalyst that leads to decades of peace between the United Federation of Planets (Starfleet) and the Klingon Empire. Instead of dying in the attack like she expected, however, she is captured by the Romulans and made a consort to a Romulan general. Sela was born about a year after that.

When Sela was four years old, Lt. Yar tried to escape Romulus with her, but Sela cried out, alerting the guards. Lt. Yar was executed, and Sela abandoned her human heritage and fully embraced her Romulan heritage. She fights her way through the Romulan military all on her own merit and effort, all the way up to the position of Commander. As Commander, she unsuccessfully attempts to destabilize the Klingon Empire by disrupting the Khitomer Accords, that made peace between the UFP and Klingon Empire. In the year 2384, she becomes Proconsul of the Romulan Republic. Three years later, she loses a power struggle against the military arm of the Romulan republic, the Tal Shiar, and is exiled. Through sheer cunning and wit, she makes contact with Hirogen forces about four years later and convinces them to lend her their might against the Tal Shiar in exchange for hunting rights. By the year 2403, just two years later, she successfully overthrows Praetor Taris and becomes the new Praetor. In 2408, she dissolves the Republic and turns it into a monarchy, declaring herself Empress.

When the planet of Romulus is destroyed by the Hobus system going supernova, she is forced to find new planets to colonize. Now, she makes war on the Klingons and on Starfleet, utilizing Borg technology and a mysterious alien race known as the Elachi to gain the upper hand. In the midst of this, Romulan survivors scattered to the stars form a new Romulan Republic, seeking to escape her persecution.

5) Sylvanas Windrunner - World of Warcraft



Also known as the "Dark Lady" and the "Banshee Queen," Sylvanas Windrunner is the leader of the undead Forsaken, making their home in the underbelly of the ruins of Lordaeron, called "Undercity." Before her death and subsequent transformation into a banshee at the hands of Death Knight Arthas, Sylvanas was the Ranger-General of Silvermoon, capital of the High Elf kingdom of Quel'Thalas. Her leadership skills and marksmanship were unequaled. During the Third War, she fought bravely to hold back the undead Scourge, led by Arthas, even when she was the only defender remaining. She fought until her last breath, but rather than let her die an honorable death, Arthas ripped her soul from her body and tortured her, turning her into a banshee, a cunning servant of the Lich King powered by pure hatred.

Arthas' power began to wane, however, and Sylvanas took her chance and broke free from his control and reclaimed her body. Vowing revenge on Arthas, she gathered other Scourge allies into the Forsaken and declared war on the Scourge. She and her forces later joined the Horde and pledged allegiance to Warchief Thrall. Sylvanas personally joined the combined Horde and Alliance assault on Northrend with her Forsaken armies, aiding in the ultimate defeat of Arthas. With Arthas gone, Sylvanas makes a pact to his former Val'kyr servants, that as long as they live, she lives, in hopes of staving off the eternal torture that awaits her. She has recently begun attempting to conquer the rest of the Alliance-held continent of the Eastern Kingdoms, to give her people a proper kingdom.

[kilgram]

I have the same problem as @Green Arrow. I basically only play MMORPG so I don't know who pick up as best female game character, but I agree with green arrow with Satele. She is great.

[GrassrootsConservative]

Heather (Silent Hill 3)