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Strong Female characters in the Star Wars universe — Page 2

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how many female members are on this site ? If you are lurking out there , please feel free to join and comment . Though I can’t speak for everyone here ,I would very much welcome your feedback .See, this is now the 21st century, and the boys club is over and the no girls allowed signs have been removed from the treehouse …

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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screams in the void said:
As for Leia being a damsel in distress , She turned that trope on it’s head and actually ended up taking charge ,“into the garbage shoot flyboy !” and during the swing across the chasm , she blasted her fair share of stormtroopers.plus, she is the best shot out of all of them …she never misses throughout the OT.

Not denying or playing down any of these things, I’m fully aware of them and am just pointing out the few that I think fit the stereotype and at times feel out of character (such as the kiss) which I was attributing to the type of movie that wouldn’t normally have any lead females in a story (at least outside of stereotyped roles). Star Wars was obviously written from a male perspective of what other males would probably enjoy and want to relate to and in that sense it was a massive success. And from that perspective while discussing this I think it is odd (but great) that we got such an awesome character in Leia.

So I’m basically saying, don’t feel bad because there aren’t more female leads in the OT. Instead relish in the fact that we got Leia in that era of movies and that it paved the way for showing how a great character can be in such a movie when played by a capable actress. That a majority of the mostly male fandom love the character despite being female and many female fans love Luke’s character despite being male which shows that great characters transcend the need to see characters in your own sex and ultimately make for the most compelling and enjoyable story telling experience.

Val

PS. Sorry if it seems like a mega delayed reply. I had it mostly written the other night but had to leave and come back to it.

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Leia, Mon Mothma, Rey, Jyn Erso, Rose Tico, Holdo, Ahsoka Tano, Captain Phasma, Asajj Ventress, Hera Syndulla, and Sabine Wren.

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rodneyfaile said:

Leia, Mon Mothma, Rey, Jyn Erso, Rose Tico, Holdo, Ahsoka Tano, Captain Phasma, Asajj Ventress, Hera Syndulla, and Sabine Wren.

While all are definitely representing women and most portray strong individuals (though I’m not familiar with any Clone Wars or novel characters outside of the Heir to the Empire novel trilogy), personally I wouldn’t classify Rey, Holdo, Rose or Phasma as strong characters per se.

Both Rey and Holdo are riddled with issues and their purpose is often pretty muddled and unclear. They are both also highly unrelatable, Rey being good to excellent at pretty much anything she does and who would actually act like Holdo, especially in a military sense and after everything that happens between her and Poe, she suddenly does an about face to proclaim to Leia that she likes him? (Yeah, unconscious LOL)

Rose feels tacked on and just so Finn has a companion to go do something with that ultimately is pointless. She is often also used as a pure exposition tool for communicating to audiences the messaging apparent in the unnecessary Canto Bight romp.

Captain Phasma is in both movies for all of something like a couple of minutes total at best and while initially seeming important and imposing (so you could point to her being similar to Mon Mothma in these matters), the story itself ultimately makes her pretty basic in the scheme of things. Essentially she just parades about in her chrome armour, confronts Finn and is beaten by him in both movies and that’s almost the extent of her character - to be the token baddie for Finn to fight and overcome.

Anyway, this thread is meant to be discussing strong characters but when weak and highly flawed characters (IMHO) are added to the list, discussion is needed to demonstrate why they shouldn’t be included. Unless you think differently of course, in which case - discuss away 😉

Val

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Valheru_84 said:
I wouldn’t classify Rey, Holdo, Rose or Phasma as strong characters per se.

Rey-
She is an exceptionally strong person. Her life on Jakku has been hard, but she is still kind to others. She believes in doing what’s right. I attribute her success using the Force to her character. She has demonstrated a strong will and determination. Where we’ve seen others profess that it cannot be done or complain that life isn’t fair, she always believes in herself and her ability to overcome the challenges. Just because she perseveres through adversity, doesn’t mean she hasn’t experienced it. From her abandonment on Jakku and hard life of a scavenger, being pursued and captured by Kylo, seeing Han killed and Finn badly injured, the unwillingness of Luke to train her, further rejection from Kylo. She just keeps going. She is like the star QB. It doesn’t matter if the previous play went poorly. There’s no time to dwell on that. Just line up and execute this play. Just play this down, and then the next. She makes the people around her better.

Holdo-
I have no problem with her not wanting to sit down and explain every decision to a recently demoted Poe. You think an Admiral feels obligated to hold everyone’s hand and walk them through everything just to get their approval?

Phasma-
She is a villain, but is a very strong character. She commands the respect of those around her and is an intimidating foe. She makes a lot out of the limited screen time we get to see her.

Rose-
Here is a post I made previously regarding Rose:
Rose Tico holds the entire movie together.

At the end of The Force Awakens, Finn had made some progress, but this arc was far from over. He cared about Rey enough to overcome his fears and accompany Han and Chewie to Starkiller in an effort to rescue her. But he wasn’t honest about his reasons for going. He exaggerated his knowledge of Starkiller because as he told Han, he was just there for Rey. He didn’t care about the Resistance, or their cause.

Finn meets two people in The Last Jedi who have a profound effect on him. Rose is in agony over the loss of her sister, yet is still holding to her ideals and devoted to the Resistance. She has lost everything but will simply not quit. Then in stark contrast he meets DJ who has no convictions at all. Finally the light bulb comes on and Finn takes a side. He faces off with the embodiment of his greatest fear in Phasma and pronounces himself “Rebel” scum. He is fully on board now and is a different person by the time they reach Crait.

Finn is so gung-ho, in a display reminiscent of Poe’s previous unwillingness to follow orders, he tries to take on the First Order all by himself. Rose saves him because she believes the way to win is not by throwing your life away, but by living to fight another day, obviously informed by the loss of her sister.

Poe learns to respect authority before he can be in a position of authority and a true leader. Rey goes from seeking to identify herself through others to being comfortable with who she is and understands her place in the galaxy. There is just so much character development and wonderful storytelling. The Last Jedi is a great movie.

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rodneyfaile said:

Phasma-
She is a villain, but is a very strong character. She commands the respect of those around her and is an intimidating foe. She makes a lot out of the limited screen time we get to see her.

I agree with the rest of your post, but this right here … did we watch the same movies?

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Phasma is most certainly not a “strong character,” female or otherwise.

I don’t see why she has to be though.

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rodneyfaile said:

Rose-
Here is a post I made previously regarding Rose:
Rose Tico holds the entire movie together.

I really love how you stand by this opinion even though it is not a very popular one right now.
I think the message her character represents, and how that affects Finn, is going to play a big part in the conclusion of Episode IX, if JJ and Terrio carry that theme over at least. I certainly hope they do, because honestly I think it is fundamental to ending this saga appropriately.

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rodneyfaile said:

Valheru_84 said:
I wouldn’t classify Rey, Holdo, Rose or Phasma as strong characters per se.

Rey-
She is an exceptionally strong person. Her life on Jakku has been hard, but she is still kind to others. She believes in doing what’s right. I attribute her success using the Force to her character. She has demonstrated a strong will and determination. Where we’ve seen others profess that it cannot be done or complain that life isn’t fair, she always believes in herself and her ability to overcome the challenges. Just because she perseveres through adversity, doesn’t mean she hasn’t experienced it. From her abandonment on Jakku and hard life of a scavenger, being pursued and captured by Kylo, seeing Han killed and Finn badly injured, the unwillingness of Luke to train her, further rejection from Kylo. She just keeps going. She is like the star QB. It doesn’t matter if the previous play went poorly. There’s no time to dwell on that. Just line up and execute this play. Just play this down, and then the next. She makes the people around her better.

Holdo-
I have no problem with her not wanting to sit down and explain every decision to a recently demoted Poe. You think an Admiral feels obligated to hold everyone’s hand and walk them through everything just to get their approval?

Phasma-
She is a villain, but is a very strong character. She commands the respect of those around her and is an intimidating foe. She makes a lot out of the limited screen time we get to see her.

Rose-
Here is a post I made previously regarding Rose:
Rose Tico holds the entire movie together.

At the end of The Force Awakens, Finn had made some progress, but this arc was far from over. He cared about Rey enough to overcome his fears and accompany Han and Chewie to Starkiller in an effort to rescue her. But he wasn’t honest about his reasons for going. He exaggerated his knowledge of Starkiller because as he told Han, he was just there for Rey. He didn’t care about the Resistance, or their cause.

Finn meets two people in The Last Jedi who have a profound effect on him. Rose is in agony over the loss of her sister, yet is still holding to her ideals and devoted to the Resistance. She has lost everything but will simply not quit. Then in stark contrast he meets DJ who has no convictions at all. Finally the light bulb comes on and Finn takes a side. He faces off with the embodiment of his greatest fear in Phasma and pronounces himself “Rebel” scum. He is fully on board now and is a different person by the time they reach Crait.

Finn is so gung-ho, in a display reminiscent of Poe’s previous unwillingness to follow orders, he tries to take on the First Order all by himself. Rose saves him because she believes the way to win is not by throwing your life away, but by living to fight another day, obviously informed by the loss of her sister.

Poe learns to respect authority before he can be in a position of authority and a true leader. Rey goes from seeking to identify herself through others to being comfortable with who she is and understands her place in the galaxy. There is just so much character development and wonderful storytelling. The Last Jedi is a great movie.

^Very well articulated and I especially like your take on Rose being informed by the loss of her sister . That is something I did not consider until now , but it makes a lot of sense to me .

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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Mara Jade. As written by Zahn.
Jyn. Perfect as handled by Ms Jones. I need to see about any EU if it exists.
Leia. Star Wars, Empire, Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye, NPR Star Wars, some Zahn.
Enfys Nest. Really sorry we won’t see more. Wish Zahn would pen a novel about her.
Rose. Excellent so far, largely because of Ms Tran. Hoping for a deeper turn.
Shada D’ukal and Karoly D’ulin. As written by Zahn. If there are other novels, I’m unaware.
Mon Mothma. Only in Rogue One. I don’t remember Return enough to say.

No doubt, there are others. These came to mind when I read the question.

Forum Moderator
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As good a place as any for this… Happy International Women’s Day:-

^ from https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsCantina/comments/ayuimq/happy_international_womens_day/
 

Edit: Part 2:-

^ from https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsCantina/comments/az47xh/happy_international_womens_day_part_2_still/
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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Thanks you so much - I love this thread and also reading through your ‘Taking A Stand Agaisnt Toxicity’ thread too.

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For me there’s Mara and Leia and everyone else. There’s a lot of really nice strong characters scattered throughout the EU come to think of it, even in some of the short stories but Mara is just the badass of the galaxy. I’m still peeved over what happened to her in the Legacy series which to be honest I stopped after that.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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This may be of some interest…
 

The ‘365 Star Wars’ website has a category dedicated to women in Star Wars:-

http://365starwars.com/category/365-star-wars-women

^ Not just for the Original Trilogy films - but for all the GFFA movies, tv series, animated series and EU content too.

 

The blurb…

'365 Star Wars started out at the beginning of 2018 as 365 Star Wars Women. In this project I highlighted a new female character, actress, writer, producer, or artist from Star Wars films, TV shows, books, comics, and more every day.

At the end of the year I had (as promised) 365 posts including 42 new interviews. You can click here to see highlights of all 365 posts. I also wrote about what I learned while doing the 365 Project on Medium – you can read that here.

For 2019 I wanted to both continue to update the 365 Star Wars Women project as well as write about all aspects of the Star Wars Universe. This new site – 365 Star Wars – will include articles about 365 Star Wars Women, analysis articles, reference posts about Star Wars characters, droids, planets, and creatures, and issues of the Dantooine Digest.

The Dantooine Digest will highlight a variety of Star Wars content that caught my eye in the last week or month as well as some fun odds and ends. Think of it as more of a “What I saw and loved this week” than a collection of Star Wars news articles. Other sites cover news so well already.

If you’re looking to for a monthly overview of my writing on this site as well as the official Star Wars site (plus other projects) please subscribe to the 365 monthly newsletter.

You can also follow 365 Star Wars on Twitter (@365_StarWars), or on Instagram (@365StarWars).’
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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^ Great idea and execution for a site, and really lifting to see a positive addition to the Star Wars websites out there of late.

Tighten Up and then turn it all the way up to 11!

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oojason said:

This may be of some interest…
 

The ‘365 Star Wars’ website has a category dedicated to women in Star Wars:-

http://365starwars.com/category/365-star-wars-women

^ Not just for the Original Trilogy films - but for all the GFFA movies, tv series, animated series and EU content too.

 

The blurb…

'365 Star Wars started out at the beginning of 2018 as 365 Star Wars Women. In this project I highlighted a new female character, actress, writer, producer, or artist from Star Wars films, TV shows, books, comics, and more every day.

At the end of the year I had (as promised) 365 posts including 42 new interviews. You can click here to see highlights of all 365 posts. I also wrote about what I learned while doing the 365 Project on Medium – you can read that here.

For 2019 I wanted to both continue to update the 365 Star Wars Women project as well as write about all aspects of the Star Wars Universe. This new site – 365 Star Wars – will include articles about 365 Star Wars Women, analysis articles, reference posts about Star Wars characters, droids, planets, and creatures, and issues of the Dantooine Digest.

The Dantooine Digest will highlight a variety of Star Wars content that caught my eye in the last week or month as well as some fun odds and ends. Think of it as more of a “What I saw and loved this week” than a collection of Star Wars news articles. Other sites cover news so well already.

If you’re looking to for a monthly overview of my writing on this site as well as the official Star Wars site (plus other projects) please subscribe to the 365 monthly newsletter.

You can also follow 365 Star Wars on Twitter (@365_StarWars), or on Instagram (@365StarWars).’
 

^ very cool !

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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Mira from the videogame KOTOR 2. From slave to Bounty Hunter to Jedi. And the coolest Jedi - The Gunslinger

“It is only through interaction, through decision and choice, through confrontation, physical or mental, that the Force can grow within you.”
-Kreia, Jedi Master and Sith Lord

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theprequelsrule said:

Mira from the videogame KOTOR 2.

I forgot her. And Bastila was great, too. I really enjoyed them as characters when playing the games.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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For anyone interested in some deeper analysis of Rey as a strong female character, I’d really recommend ‘wit and folly’ which is a Youtube channel that does quite a few Star Wars video essays.

https://youtu.be/f9mv2Ad8nzI

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Let’s not forget how Leia took the time to comfort Luke over the loss of Kenobi, when she literally had just experienced the destruction of her home planet along with the death of her adoptive parents. That’s probably one of the most admirable things any character has done in a Star Wars film.

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Spottyfriend said:

For anyone interested in some deeper analysis of Rey as a strong female character, I’d really recommend ‘wit and folly’ which is a Youtube channel that does quite a few Star Wars video essays.

https://youtu.be/f9mv2Ad8nzI

Aye - ‘Wit & Folly’ is a really good channel that is a little different from much of the usual Star Wars youtube output out there.

 

 

Happy International Women’s Day - https://www.internationalwomensday.com : https://twitter.com/womensday

 

 

Edit: Issues that some fans had with female characters back in the Original Trilogy era - with Leia, of course…

https://fanlore.org/wiki/Princess_Leia:_Should_She_Ever_Have_Been_Liberated?
https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_AtS_Virtue-Chart_of_Heroic_Characters
https://twitter.com/rwmead/status/1625177340027322373
https://twitter.com/jere7my/status/1625186864113106947
https://twitter.com/pabl0hidalgo/status/1624894907617017856
https://www.popmatters.com/star-wars-princess-leia-feminist-2513910076.html

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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Time

The EU had this weird idea to present Leia as the worlds greatest diplomat. I never cared for that. Movie Leia is a bad ass field commander blaster firing military leader.

TAFKA TheBoost