List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.

Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

This list of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture offers figures studied in fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, film studies, mass communication, cultural studies, and women's studies.

Contents 1 Folklore 1.1 American Old West 1.2 Aztec mythology 1.3 Britons and Roman Britain 1.4 Celtic mythology and Irish mythology 1.5 Historical China 1.6 Historical Czech 1.7 Ancient Egypt and Egyptian mythology 1.8 Historical France 1.9 Greek mythology 1.10 Indian mythology 1.11 Japanese mythology and historical Japan 1.12 Kerala martial arts 1.13 Mesopotamian mythology 1.14 Native Americans 1.15 Scandinavian folklore and Germanic paganism 1.16 Historical Vietnam 1.17 Old Testament 1.18 Yoruba mythology 2 Literature or general iconic images 3 Popular culture 3.1 Children's culture 3.2 Computer and video games 3.3 Films and live shows 3.3.1 General 3.3.2 Historical fiction and folklore 3.3.3 Hong Kong action cinema 3.3.4 Horror 3.3.5 Parody and homage 3.3.6 Science fiction and cyberpunk 3.3.7 Sports 3.3.8 Superheroines 3.3.9 The Western 3.4 Spy fiction, police drama, and femmes fatales 3.4.1 Blaxploitation 3.4.2 General 3.4.3 Parodies and homage 3.5 Television 3.5.1 Historical fiction and folklore 3.5.2 Horror 3.5.3 Parodies 3.5.4 Science fiction and cyberpunk 3.5.5 Superheroines 4 See also 5 Notes 6 Further reading 7 External links

Folklore

American Old West

• Calamity Jane was a frontierswoman and professional scout best known for her claim of being a close friend of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans.
• Annie Oakley was a sharpshooter and performer.

Aztec mythology

• Itzpapalotl is a fearsome skeletal warrior goddess who ruled over the paradise world of Tamoanchan.

Britons and Roman Britain

• Boudica was a queen of the Brythonic Celtic Iceni people of Norfolk in Eastern Britain who led a major uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
• Queen Cordelia (on whom the character in Shakespeare's King Lear is based), battled her nephews for control of her kingdom. ^[1]
• Queen Gwendolen fights her husband Locrinus in battle for the throne of Britain. She defeats him and becomes queen.^[2]

Celtic mythology and Irish mythology

• Andraste is a Celtic war goddess invoked ^[3] by Boudica while fighting against the Roman occupation of Britain in AD 61. ^[4]
• Medb (also: Medhbh, Meadhbh, Meab°, Meabh, Maeve, Maev) is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. As recounted in The Cattle Raid of Cooley, she started war with Ulster.^[5]
• Scathach is a legendary Scottish woman warrior who appears in the Ulster Cycle. She trains Cuchulainn.
• Aife is Scathach's rival in war; she becomes the lover of Cuchulainn and gives birth to his son Connla.
• Triple warrior goddess: Morrígan, Badb, and Macha (could also include Nemain and Anann)

Historical China

• Hua Mulan a mytho-historical woman who went to war disguised as a man.
• Yim Wing-chun a historical character, often cited in Wing Chun legends as the first Wing Chun master.

Historical Czech

• The story of Šárka and Vlasta is a legend dealing with events in the "Maidens' War" in seventh-century Bohemia.

Ancient Egypt and Egyptian mythology

• Ankt may have originated in Asia Minor. Within Egypt she was later assimilated into their mythology as Neith (who by that time had developed aspects of a war goddess).
• Cleopatra VII was a Hellenistic co-ruler of Egypt with her father (Ptolemy XII Auletes) and later with her brothers/husbands Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. Her patron goddess was Isis, and thus during her reign, it was believed that she was the re-incarnation and embodiment of the goddess of wisdom.
• Sekhmet is a warrior goddess depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians.

Historical France

• Jeanne Hachette (1456 - ?) was a French heroine known as Jeanne Fourquet and nicknamed Jeanne Hachette ('Jean the Hatchet').
• Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc in French) asserted that she had visions from God which told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege at Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days. She was tried and executed for heresy when she was only 19 years old. The judgment was broken by the Pope and she was declared innocent and a martyr 24 years later.

Greek mythology

• The Amazons (in Greek, Αμαζόνες) are a mythical ancient nation of all-female warriors. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia. The histories and legends in Greek mythology may be inspired by warrior women among the Sarmatians.
• Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. She is usually depicted as the maiden goddess of the hunt, bearing a bow and arrows.
• Atalanta is a mythological female athlete
• Athena (Latin: Minerva) is the goddess of wisdom. Wearing a goatskin breastplate called the Aegis given to her by her father, Zeus^[6], she is often shown helmeted and with a shield bearing the Gorgon Medusa's head, the gorgoneion, a votive gift of Perseus. Athena is an armed warrior goddess, and appears in Greek mythology as a helper of many heroes, including Heracles, Jason, and Odysseus.

Indian mythology

• Durga (Sanskrit: "the inaccessible"^[7] or "the invincible"^[8], Bengali: দুর্গা) is a form of Devi, the supreme goddess of Hinduism. According to the narrative from the Devi Mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana, the form of Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight a demon. The nine-day holiday dedicated to Durga, The Durga Puja, is the biggest annual festival in Bengal and other parts of Eastern India and is celebrated by Hindus all over the world.
• Vishpala (in The Rigveda) is a warrior queen who, after having lost a leg in battle had an iron prosthesis made. Afterwards, she returned to fight.^[9]

Japanese mythology and historical Japan

• Hangaku Gozen was an onna bugeisha (woman warrior).
• Tomoe Gozen (1157?–1247?) was an onna bugeisha (woman warrior).
• Marisha-Ten the goddess of heaven who was adopted by the Samurai in the 8th century CE as a protector and patron. While devotions to Marishi-ten predate Zen, they appear to be geared towards a similar meditative mode in order to enable the warrior to achieve a more heightened spiritual level. He lost interest in the issues of victory or defeat (or life and death), thus transcending to a level where he became so empowered that he was freed from his own grasp on mortality. The end result was that he became a better warrior.

Kerala martial arts

• Unniyarcha: She was a chekava/Ezhava woman warrior from Kerala{India} famous for her valour and beauty.

Mesopotamian mythology

• Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte. Anunit, Atarsamain and Esther are alternative names for Ishtar. Ishtar is a goddess of fertility, sexual love, and war.^[10] In the Babylonian pantheon, she "was the divine personification of the planet Venus".^[11]

Native Americans

• Chief Earth Woman was a nineteenth century Ojibwa. She claimed that she had gained supernatural powers from a dream, and for this reason, accompanied the men on the warpath.^[12]
• Lozen was the sister of the Chihenne-Chiricahua Apache chief, Victorio (akas: Bidu-ya; Beduiat). She was born into the Chihenne band during the late 1840's. She was a skilled warrior and a prophet.
• Moving Robe Woman (Sioux name Tashna Mani), also known as Mary Crawler, Her Eagle Robe, She Walks With Her Shawl, and Walking Blanket Woman, was a Hunkpapa Sioux woman who fought against Custer during the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Scandinavian folklore and Germanic paganism

• Blenda is the heroine of a legend from Småland, who leads the women of Värend in an attack on a pillaging Danish army and annihilates it.
• Freyja is a fertility goddess, the sister of the fertility god Freyr and daughter of the sea god Njörðr. Freyja is also a goddess of war, battle, death, magic, prophecy, and wealth. Freyja is cited as receiving half of the dead lost in battle in her hall Fólkvangr, whereas Odin would receive the other half. Some scholars argue that Freyja, Frigg, and Gefion are avatars of each other. She is also sometimes associated with the Valkyries and disir.
• Shieldmaidens in Scandinavia were women who did not yet have the responsibility for raising a family could take up arms and live like warriors. Many of them figure in Norse mythology. One of the most famous shieldmaidens is Hervor and she figures in the cycle of the magic sword Tyrfing.
• The Valkyries in Norse mythology are female deities, who serve Odin. The name means choosers of the slain or "Chanters of the slain" .

Historical Vietnam

• The Trung Sisters, (c.AD 12 - 43), known in Vietnamese as Hai Bà Trưng ("the two Trưng ladies"'), and individually as Trưng Trắc (Traditional Chinese: 徵側; pinyin: Zhēng Cè) and Trưng Nhị (Traditional Chinese: 徵貳; pinyin: Zhēng Èr), were two 1st century women leaders who successfully repelled Chinese invasions for three years, winning several battles against considerable odds, and are regarded as national heroines of Vietnam.

Old Testament

• Deborah, a prophetess mentioned in the Book of Judges, was a poet who rendered her judgments beneath a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the land of Benjamin. After her victory over Sisera and the Canaanite army, there was peace in the land for forty years.
• Jael kills the fleeing Sisera after his army is defeated. (Judges 4:17-21)
• An unnamed woman from the town of Thebes is mentioned in the Book of Judges (9:50-57) as having killed the would-be king Abimelech , who was besieging her hometown, by dropping a mill-stone on his head.
• Judith was a widow in the Book of Judith who foils the attack of Assyrian general Holofernes against Bethulia by beheading him.

Yoruba mythology

• Oya is the Goddess of the Niger River. She is the warrior-goddess of the wind, lightning, fertility, fire and magic. She creates hurricanes and tornadoes and guards the underworld. ^[13].

Literature or general iconic images

• Aeneid: Camilla
• Beowulf: Grendel's mother. Some scholars argue that Grendel's mother was a female warrior, a Valkyrie, or a Norse goddess
• "Cleopatra VII": Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1609) by William Shakespeare and Caesar and Cleopatra (1901) by George Bernard Shaw
• Conan the Barbarian: Valeria
• The Faerie Queene: Belphoebe and Britomart (Britomartis) (Edmund Spenser)
• "Honey West"
• Jerusalem Delivered: Clorinda (Torquato Tasso)
• Kendra Pacelli from the novel Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson
• "Lady Justice" (a.k.a. Goddess of Justice)
• Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and its continuation Orlando furioso by Ariosto: Bradamante
• "Rosie the Riveter" is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the six million^[14] women who worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and material during World War II.
• Saint Joan:Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc in French) (George Bernard Shaw)
• Shahnama ("The Book of Kings" or "The Epic of Kings"): Gordafarid, (Persian: گردآفريد) (Ferdowsi)
• The Whale Rider: Paikea Apirana ("Pai") who was portrayed by Keisha Castle-Hughes in the 2002 film (Witi Ihimaera)
• The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts: Hua Mulan appears in the second chapter ("White Tigers") as an imagined form of the narrator (Maxine Hong Kingston)
• "Lessa", "Moretta" from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series
• Lilith's Brood: Lilith Iyapo (Octavia Butler)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Lucy and Susan Pevensie
• The Lord of the Rings: Éowyn
• Neuromancer: Molly Millions who also appeared in Johnny Mnemonic (William Gibson)^[15]
• Snow Crash: the Sumerian myth of Inanna (Ishtar) is central to the text.
• "Karen Murphy" from Jim Butcher's wizard series
• The Wheel of Time: Birgitte Silverbow

Popular culture

Children's culture

• Kim Possible and Shego, the Disney characters
• Trini Kwan and Kimberly Hart of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and other sequel characters

Computer and video games

• Celes and Terra of Final Fantasy VI
• Tifa Lockhart and Yuffie Kisaragi in Final Fantasy VII
• Quistis and Selphie in Final Fantasy VIII
• General Beatrix of Final Fantasy IX
• Lulu in Final Fantasy X
• Nariko and Kai in Heavenly Sword
• Meryl Silverburgh and Sniper Wolf in Metal Gear Solid
• The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
• Samus Aran in Metroid
• Sarah Kerrigan in Starcraft
• Cate Archer of No One Lives Forever
• Joanna Dark of Perfect Dark
• Lara Croft, the protagonist of Eidos' Tomb Raider series
• Alyx Vance in the Half-Life 2 series
• KOS-MOS in the Xenosaga series
• Elwen, Alicia and Ridley of Radiata Stories
• Rose and Meru of Legend of Dragoon
• Robina the Hood and Keelia in DragonFable
• Chun Li, Cammy, and Elena and others from the Street Fighter series
• Morrigan, Felicia, Hsien-Ko, and others from the Dark Stalkers series
• Kitana, Mileena, Sonya, and others from the "Mortal Kombat" series.
• Jaheira of the Baldur's Gate series
• Annah of Planescape: Torment
• The Amazon and Assassin from Diablo II
• Ada Wong, Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield from the Resident evil series.

Films and live shows

General

• Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) in G.I. Jane

Historical fiction and folklore

• Guinevere as interpreted in the 2004 film King Arthur
• Sophie Marceau as a musketeer in La Fille de d'Artagnan
• Fa Mulan in the Disney film Mulan, an adaptation of the myth of Hua Mulan

Hong Kong action cinema

• Yu Shu-lien and Yù Jiāolóng in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Moon and Flying Snow in Ying Xiong a.k.a. Hero
• Ching/San/Invisible Girl in The Heroic Trio
• Charlene Ching and Katherine, among others, in Chek law dak gung, a.k.a. Naked Weapon
• Inspector Jessica Yang in Supercop
• Yim Wing-chun in Wing Chun

Horror

• Kristy Cotton in the Hellraiser film series
• Nancy Thompson, Kristen Parker, and Alice Johnson in the Nightmare on Elm Street film Series
• Cherry Darling in Planet Terror
• Alice, Jill Valentine, and Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil film series
• Sidney Prescott in the Scream trilogy^[16]
• Anna Valerious in Van Helsing
• Selene in the Underworld film series
• Laurie Strode in the Halloween film series

Parody and homage

• Beatrix Kiddo, O-Ren Ishii, Vernita Green, and Elle Driver in Quentin Tarantino's homage to Hong Kong cinema, the Western, and comic book superheroes, Kill Bill (2003-2004)
• Princess Fiona in Shrek (with a satirical homage to The Matrix ^[17])
• Queen Lillian and parodies of Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty in Shrek the Third (with a satirical homage to Kill Bill^[18])

Science fiction and cyberpunk

• Alice, Jill Valentine, and Claire Redfield in the film Resident Evil
• Æon Flux in the animated series of the same name
• Ellen Ripley and Private First Class Jenette Vasquez in the Alien film series
• River Tam and Zoe Washburne in Firefly and Serenity
• Jaina Solo, Danni Quee, Mara Jade Skywalker and others in the Star Wars expanded universe New Jedi Order books
• Pris, a replicant in Blade Runner
• Trinity, Niobe, and minor characters in the Matrix film trilogy
• Sarah Connor in the Terminator film series
• Padmé Amidala portrayed by Natalie Portman in Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999 - 2005)
• Leia Organa portrayed by Carrie Fisher in Star Wars original trilogy (1977 - 1983)
• Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell

Sports

• Gracie Bowen in Gracie (2007)
• Jesminder 'Jess' Kaur Bhamra and Juliette 'Jules' Paxton in Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
• Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Superheroines

• Miho, the Guardian of Old Town in The Sin City comic books by Frank Miller
• Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
• Liz Sherman from Hellboy and BPRD
• Jenny Sparks in The Authority
• Storm (Marvel Comics), a prominent leader of the X-Men and the reigning queen of the fictional nation of Wakanda
• Supergirl
• Wonder Woman, a comic book character based on the Amazon legend

The Western

• Annie Oakley who toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show during the late 19th century
• Ellen aka "The Lady" (Sharon Stone) in The Quick and the Dead

Spy fiction, police drama, and femmes fatales

Blaxploitation

• Sydney in Black Belt Jones
• Tamara Dobson in Cleopatra Jones and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold
• Pam Grier in Coffy and Foxy Brown
• Teresa Graves in Get Christie Love!

General

• Sydney Bristow in Alias
• Cathy Gale and Emma Peel in The Avengers and its film remake
• Charlie's Angels in the films of the same name
• Cleopatra VII popularized as a femme fatale by Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, and Elizabeth Taylor
• Agent April Dancer in The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
• Honey West in the television series of the same name
• Rosie Carver in Live and Let Die
• Mata Hari, a real-life spy, portrayed in the film Mata Hari
• Modesty Blaise in various media
• Cinnamon Carter in Mission: Impossible
• Julie Barnes in the The Mod Squad
• Nikita in the television series of the same name
• Sgt. Leann "Pepper" Anderson in Police Woman
• Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies

Parodies and homage

• Mrs. Kensington in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
• Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember
• Agent 99 in Get Smart
• The title character in Jackie Brown
• Natasha Fatale in Rocky and Bullwinkle

Television

Historical fiction and folklore

• Xena, Gabrielle and Callisto in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Horror

• Buffy Summers^[19][20] and Faith Lehane or simply Faith^[21] in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
• Prue Halliwell, Phoebe Halliwell, Piper Halliwell, Paige Matthews in Charmed

Parodies

• The Powerpuff Girls
• Sabrina Spellman in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series)
• Samantha Stephens in Bewitched
• Miss Piggy the Muppet

Science fiction and cyberpunk

• Anya Major as the nameless woman warrior in Ridley Scott's 1984 Apple commercial which introduced the Apple Macintosh computer
• Delenn, Susan Ivanova, and Elizabeth Lochley in Babylon 5
• Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace, Number Eight and Number Six in Battlestar Galactica
• Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Woman and its 2007 remake
• Max Guevara, a genetically enhanced transgenic super-soldier in Dark Angel
• River Tam and Zoe Washburne in the television series Firefly
• Samantha Carter in Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and Teyla Emmagan in Stargate Atlantis
• Sarah Connor in the television seriesThe Sarah Connor Chronicles
• Star Trek Voyager (1995 - 2001) with Captain Kathryn Janeway, Lt.B'Elanna Torres, and Seven of Nine
• Star Trek Deep Space Nine (1993 - 9) with Kira Nerys and Jadzia Dax
• Star Trek The Next Generation (1987 - 1994) with Tasha Yar
• Star Trek: Enterprise (2001 - 5) with T'Pol
• Claire Bennet and Niki Sanders in Heroes (TV series)
• Turanga Leela and the Amazonian race from Futurama

Superheroines

• Batgirl, Huntress, and Black Canary in Birds of Prey
• Supergirl
• Wonder Woman, a comic book character based on the Amazon legend
• Witchblade (Sara Pezzini)
• Storm (Marvel Comics), a prominent leader of the X-Men and the reigning queen of the fictional nation of Wakanda
• Kitty Pryde

See also

• Female action heroes
• Feminist film theory
• History of women in the military
• History of women in sports
• Title IX

Notes

Further reading

• Alvarez, Maria. "Feminist icon in a catsuit (female lead character Emma Peel in defunct 1960s UK TV series The Avengers)", New Statesman, Aug 14, 1998.
• Au, Wagner James. "Supercop as Woman Warrior." Salon.com.
• Barr, Marleen S. Future Females, the Next Generation : New Voices and Velocities in Feminist Science Fiction Criticism. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
• Deuber-Mankowsky, Astrid and Dominic J. Bonfiglio (Translator). Lara Croft: Cyber Heroine. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 2005.
• Early, Frances and Kathleen Kennedy, Athena's Daughters: Television's New Women Warriors, Syracuse University Press, 2003.
• Garner, Jack. "Strong women can be heroes, too." Democrat and Chronicle. 15 June 2001.
• Heinecken, Dawn. Warrior Women of Television: A Feminist Cultural Analysis of the New Female Body in Popular Media, New York: P. Lang, 2003.
• Hopkins, Susan, Girl Heroes: the New Force in Popular Culture, Pluto Press Australia, 2002.
• Inness, Sherrie A. (ed.) Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
• ———. Tough Girls : Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
• Karlyn, Kathleen Rowe. "Scream, Popular Culture, and Feminism's Third Wave: 'I'm Not My Mother'. Genders: Presenting Innovative Work in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences No. 38 (2003).
• Karras, Irene. "The Third Wave's Final Girl: Buffy the Vampire Slayer." thirdspace 1:2 (March 2002).
• Kennedy, Helen W. "Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo?: On the Limits of Textual Analysis". Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research. 2:2 (December, 2002).
• Kim, L. S. "Making women warriors: a transnational reading of Asian female action heroes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. No. 48, Winter, 2006.
• Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York: Vintage, 1975.
• Magoulick, Mary. "Frustrating Female Heroism: Mixed Messages in Xena, Nikita, and Buffy." The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 39 Issue 5 (October 2006).
• Mainon, Dominique. The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen. Pompton Plains, N.J. : Limelight Editions, 2006.
• Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne Wells. Action TV : Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.
• Rowland, Robin. "Warrior queens and blind critics." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 July 2004.
• Spicuzza, Mary. "Butt-Kicking Babes." AlterNet. 27 March 2001.
• Tasker, Yvonne. Action and Adventure Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2004.
• ———.Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture. London: Routledge 1998
• ———.Spectacular Bodies : Gender, Genre, and the Action Cinema. London and New York: Routledge, 1993.
• Trickey, Helyn. "Girls with Gauntlets." Turner Network Television.
• Ventura, Michael. "Warrior Women." Psychology Today. Nov/Dec 1998. 31 (6).

External links

• Warrior Women On Screen