this one's for the girls
Fannish Friday: Who are your five favourite female characters of colour?
This isn't really fair for me, since I could probably fill this thing up with characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I guess I'll put my personal favorite female character from that show down and continue from there!
1) Katara of the Water Tribe, from ATLA
Smart, determined, strong, and compassionate, Katara is everything I wish I had as a kid rolemodel when I was little. She's definitely my favorite character in Western animation, recently and past. I love that she is strong-willed and makes decisions, that she doesn't get shoved into 'the girl' stereotypes, that she's a healer and a warrior both...pretty much everything about this girl I like. You go, Katara!
2) Nyota Uhura, Star Trek NU-verse
Badass linguist played by fierce Zoe Saldana coming through. Uhura's lots of fun- sensible, intellectual, and knows how to put her foot down and get what she wants. Also, clearly the best at her field, which is actually valued and used in the new movie, where it wasn't really in the series.
3) Oree Shoth, The Broken Kingdoms
I don't know why I like her so much. She has a certain dry, defeated sense of humor that I like, and her abilities are cool as well. (Blind unless she's 'seeing' magic.) She is stuck in a plot full of gods, but doesn't actually seem all that impressed with the gods themselves, more upset to swept up in the tides of the plot. And then her lover dies and she decides justice must be done and strongarms Itempas into helping her with the use of logic. Ah, Oree. The book wasn't good to you, though, and I hate that.
4) Miyax, from Julie of the Wolves
Another childhood favorite, Miyax is an Inuit girl who is caught between cultures and runs from an arranged marriage that turns problematic...straight into the open tundra. To save herself, she befriends a pack of wolves and gets herself accepted as honorary pack. (The wolves are never portrayed as superintelligent talking animal sidekicks.) I love her quiet bravery, her insight, and her resourcefulness.
5) Scheherazade, from One Thousand and One Nights
This woman should be a favorite of every storyteller. Saves her life and the lives of countless other women by being so clever and so good at telling stories that the Sultan can't bear to have her killed. Brilliant! The pen is clearly mightier than the sword.
Edit: It occurs to me that I forget Cassie from Animorphs and Zoe from Firefly. Rest assured that they are also in my thoughts.
This isn't really fair for me, since I could probably fill this thing up with characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I guess I'll put my personal favorite female character from that show down and continue from there!
1) Katara of the Water Tribe, from ATLA
Smart, determined, strong, and compassionate, Katara is everything I wish I had as a kid rolemodel when I was little. She's definitely my favorite character in Western animation, recently and past. I love that she is strong-willed and makes decisions, that she doesn't get shoved into 'the girl' stereotypes, that she's a healer and a warrior both...pretty much everything about this girl I like. You go, Katara!
2) Nyota Uhura, Star Trek NU-verse
Badass linguist played by fierce Zoe Saldana coming through. Uhura's lots of fun- sensible, intellectual, and knows how to put her foot down and get what she wants. Also, clearly the best at her field, which is actually valued and used in the new movie, where it wasn't really in the series.
3) Oree Shoth, The Broken Kingdoms
I don't know why I like her so much. She has a certain dry, defeated sense of humor that I like, and her abilities are cool as well. (Blind unless she's 'seeing' magic.) She is stuck in a plot full of gods, but doesn't actually seem all that impressed with the gods themselves, more upset to swept up in the tides of the plot. And then her lover dies and she decides justice must be done and strongarms Itempas into helping her with the use of logic. Ah, Oree. The book wasn't good to you, though, and I hate that.
4) Miyax, from Julie of the Wolves
Another childhood favorite, Miyax is an Inuit girl who is caught between cultures and runs from an arranged marriage that turns problematic...straight into the open tundra. To save herself, she befriends a pack of wolves and gets herself accepted as honorary pack. (The wolves are never portrayed as superintelligent talking animal sidekicks.) I love her quiet bravery, her insight, and her resourcefulness.
5) Scheherazade, from One Thousand and One Nights
This woman should be a favorite of every storyteller. Saves her life and the lives of countless other women by being so clever and so good at telling stories that the Sultan can't bear to have her killed. Brilliant! The pen is clearly mightier than the sword.
Edit: It occurs to me that I forget Cassie from Animorphs and Zoe from Firefly. Rest assured that they are also in my thoughts.