Which fictional character comes to your mind first when someone says strong, independent woman?

Adding my vote for Ellen Ripley.

There are others that come to mind from more obscure movies I've watched more recently, like the women in Grandma (2015), Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), and even Men (2022), also non-fictional women like those in Kokomo City (2023). There are so many more I can picture in my mind but can't put my finger on the movie and or am just shit with names so I can't think of them right now, but might come back to update.

Linda Hamilton - Terminator

I had to say something different, because I would have said Ripley first.

Captain Janeway from Voyager ❤️

Ellen Ripley. Under pressure she steps up and does what needs doing. Whether that means operating a loader, comforting a child or making monsters extinct.

Samantha Carter from Stargate SG1

Ellen Ripley from the Alien series.

Kim Wexler from Better Call Saul 😍

Ellen Ripley. She will wreck your shit and yeet you into space.

Lieutenant Ellen Ripley.

Trillian from hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. People see the book as satire but she really knew where her towel was.

Leela from Futurama

Roberta "Bobbie" Draper from The Expanse was the first to jump into my head.

Ripley

Captain/Admiral Kathryn Janeway

Sarah Connor

Major Matoko Kusanagi from the Ghost in the Shell series.

Buffy. I was the right age (or maybe a bit too young) when it aired and it was the first female-led show that I fell in love with.

Couldn't tell you why, but my mind went straight to Wonder Woman.

No love for the bad bitch Agent Dana Scully?

Ripley

First: Diana Prince

Best: Leslie Knope

Xena

Aloy from the Horizon games was my first thought.

Zoe from Firefly, Tiffany Aching from Discworld are two that come to mind

Pippi Longstocking

Can't believe princess Leia hasn't been mentioned yet.

"What the hell are you doing?" "Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute flyboy!"

Lol

Zoe, Inara, Kaylee, and River. Mic drop.

Korra and Toph from Avatar, Tsunade and Sakura from Naruto

Samus came to mind immediately

Agnes Nutter, Good Omens.

Alternatively, "The most powerful person in Discworld is Granny Weatherwax"

Chandler Bing

Captain Janeway

Hermione Granger because I read so little fiction that this is the first woman (?) that comes to mind.

Xena Warrior Princess

Susannah Dean and Naomi Nagata

Clobberella from Futurama.

But I rather prefer to read about real strong women. Like scientists, nobel prize winners, political figures and people of (contemporary) history. Or I just consume their content if they're an author, comedian or content creator.

Not the first that comes to mind, but I have to add Nausicaa into the mix. She shows her strength through nothing but kindness and determination, without the need for violence or cold cruelty. A frightened critter bites her, and she endures the pain to keep soothing it without interruption. Ripley's a badass, but she'd never be able to do that.

Lara Croft from the first "Tomb Raider" movie, played by Angelina Jolie.

My girlfriend ):

Lara Croft

Lana ″LANAAAAAAAAAA″ Kane from Archer

Metroid/Samus Aran

She’s almost always on her own dealing with a horde of alien enemies but does it well.

Though, she does have a bad habit of losing her suit’s features and abilities on nearly every mission she’s on lol

Ron Swanson

The bride from kill bill.

For me, I respect female characters who are written strong but not mean or "buff". Your character doesn't need to be a dick or on steroids to be strong. A strong person can be kind and compassionate, just not capitulate under pressure. I also don't believe being "independent" means you can't love someone and lean on them in times of need, it just means you aren't defined by the relationship.

• Bastila Shan from KOTOR
• Mustang from Red Rising
• Rita from Groundhog Day
• Hermione from Harry Potter (if only JK respected ALL women)
• Dottie from A League of Their Own
• Mulan from Mulan
• Ellie from The Last of Us Part 2
• Freya from God of War

Alt: Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Risa Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist

Nobody in particular stands out, but a thought I had a while back is that Game of Thrones was one of the rare pieces of modern cinema with a host of great female characters who, for the most part, actually had to put in effort to earn their status rather than just being born with it.

The first one I thought of was Mara Jade.

Fuck you Disney!

Only Brits or BBC International viewers will know this character but Catherine Cawood from Happy Valley.

And obviously Ellen Ripley, Dana Scully and Sarah Connor.

Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist

For me, Commander Ivanova from Babylon 5. Like the rest of the characters, she wasn't perfect, but she was so strong.

To me, this is one of the most fully realized female characters in science fiction (at least):

Hyacinth Bucket (ITS BOUQUET)

1. No one has mentioned Princess Leia. Does she qualify? She later became a general but I haven't seen that episode.

2. All the characters I recognize in this thread are primarily written by men. That can't be good. I haven't seen Barbie though.

Princess Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Tiffany Aching.

About half the cast of Fullmetal Alchemist (Olivier Mira Armstrong, Izumi Curtis, Riza Hawkeye, Winry and Pinako Rockbell, Lan Fan, Mai Chang, Chris Mustang... and I'm sure I'm missing some).

Oh, and friggin' Chell, of course. Makes you almost feel sorry for GLaDOS.

Granny Weatherwax

So the absolute first that comes to mind is a joke answer: Strong Woman, the vice Principal from South Park.

The actual answer is Phryne Fisher

Ignoring the shit show that is Rings of Power, Galadriel, Luthien, Arwen, Eowyn, and Nienna.

Mirko!

Margot is also amazing, but she's not independent IMO. She's very emotionally hooked. Not in a bad way, mind you. She's like a shounen protagonist who screams for 5 episodes because her friend was threatened and somehow a nation collapses as a result.

Off the top of my head - all of Lady Parts, Lydia West as Jill Baxter in It's a Sin, Toni Collette as Muriel and Rachel Griffiths as Rhonda in Muriel's Wedding, Parminder Nagra as Jess in Bend It Like Beckham, Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in The Fifth Element, Natalie Portman as Evey in V for Vendetta

Garnet (Steven Universe)

Cate Blanchett's portrail of Elizabeth I (who I know was real, but I'm sure there was some creative license with the character).

Mirko from the popular My Hero Academia anime/manga series.

She doesn't take crap from anyone and fearlessly goes into battle.

Margot was so awesome. Really loved that show.

Edit: Well, I loved the first three seasons, anyway. 😑

First who popped into my mind was Friday Jones from Robert A. Heinlein's Friday.

Someone already said Susannah Dean so I'm gonna go with Roz from Frasier

I'm really liking the evolution of Shallan Davar in the Stormlight Archives at the moment.

Diana Taverner from Slow Horses.

Veronica Palmer from Better Off Ted.

High King Margot is a great answer

For me, I thought of Linda Carter’s Wonder Woman and then Captain Rachel Garrett, commander of the USS Enterprise, 1701-C

Lauren Oya Olamina, from Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Strong, independent, and wise enough to know that there's strength in community.

Miss Marple.

Taarna

The Boss, MGS

Not Big Boss, the man with the eye patch and is a bad guy, the woman who taught him and the mother of Ocelot

She was such a badass woman that she inspired basically everyone around her to try to mold the world in the way they thought she saw it. Shes a great example of a woman/mother who's a badass directly because of the skills normally associated with those roles. Yeah, she can fight and kick your main characters ass, but that's mostly because she's spent time nurturing him and caring for him to the point where he emotionally cannot fight her. She regularly disarms strong, imposing men (some with superpowers like lightning channeling) by just looking at them sternly and implying she's about to call them by all 3 of their names in a disapproving tone

Time and again she does badass things while she's alive, and her death is technically the catalyst for the rest of the series as those who loved and admired her try to shape the world as she saw it, which isn't even something she herself did because of her loyalty to her country.

Oh and she's voiced by the same woman who does Pearl from SpongeBob, which is wild

Caska from Berserk

Joan Holloway from Mad Men- she at the very least has the evolution of a woman rising to independence while in a world built around suppression of women. A lot of characters from that show are badass ladies at different stages of independence though.

Elastigirl

Tina Fey. And I don’t care that she’s not fictional. She’s a badass and needs to be recognized. But if I had to play by the rules…

Liz Lemon.

Because shes played by someone I admire.

Appsros character in Abberation

Agatha Heterodyne from Girl Genius.

And a lot of her friends too.

Hetty Lange

Susan Sto Helit Aka the lady Susan Death.

Nest Freemark

Hachikuji Mayoi from monogatari series.

Senjougahara Hitagi from monogatari series.

Deishuu Kaik-- oops you didn't read that.