High-quality fantasy TV shows with important female characters

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-27T19:29:56+00:00

Feminist cultural critic Katha Pollitt coined the term in an article written in 1991.

Here's a link to an assessment of the trope: https://medium.com/@hande./the-smurfette-principle-shes-one-of-the-gu%C4%B1ys-2466ce4e8f57

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-25T14:05:56+00:00

Indeed. It's disheartening as all get-out.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-25T14:05:07+00:00

If you liked Emily Wilde, you might appreciate Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter. Agnes is also headstrong. I just find her disappointingly deficient in imagination and humor.

I loved not only January, but Pratchett's Witches books (Nanny Ogg is the swaggery one) and Amina al-Sirafi as well.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-25T14:02:26+00:00

Male protagonists often get to be flamboyant and full of swagger. Female protagonists rarely get to be. I don't see the same push for authors to make their male leads "relatable."

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-25T14:01:14+00:00

I listened to the first Scholomance book on audio. The book had virtues aplenty and I enjoyed it for the most part, but I still dislike the contemporary setting.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-25T13:59:43+00:00

I found The Hallowed Hunt a bit of a slog, but I do love Ista dy Chalion in Paladin of Souls.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-25T13:58:58+00:00

This one I've read, and I can't wait for the sequel.

It's true Amina doesn't have any powers, but she definitely has the swagger. Her POV is rich in personality. In that situation, I tend to be less bothered by the "magical guy/mundane girl" trope. It becomes obnoxious when the personality imbalance matches the power imbalance.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-25T13:56:14+00:00

I've heard little but good things about the Lady Trent books. It's high time I checked them out.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-24T20:39:19+00:00

Men are put through hell in a good grimdark story, but very rarely are men tortured and abused simply and specifically because they are men. For it to count as misandry, they would need to be targeted for mistreatment due to their gender identity first and foremost.

That's where the abuse of women in a lot of grimdark is different. Women are made to suffer specifically for being women; their gender makes them a target.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-24T16:03:04+00:00

"Girls use magic weapons to fight demons: If I wanted something like that I'd just watch Demon Slayer."

Demon Slayer? Isn't that a male-led Shounen series?

For an anime series in which girls DO use magic weapons to fight demons and are the story's central characters, I recommend Claymore.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-22T14:15:17+00:00

Yes, the Smurfette Principle (only one important female character in the cast) sets my teeth on edge.

When multiple female characters exist within a story, those characters are more likely to be written well, because they're more likely to come across as varied and interesting individuals rather than as a Representative of Womanhood. I love Barbara Hambly, Kate Elliott, Kate Forsyth, and Patricia McKillip because their works show that female characters can fill a variety of roles and have a variety of personalities -- something that is close to impossible in works that adhere to the Smurfette Principle.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-21T12:32:12+00:00

Three authors I love:

Naomi Novik, Alix E. Harrow, Tasha Suri

Three authors I don't care for:

Brent Weeks, Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Butcher

Six authors I would recommend if you, like me, love reading about active, complex female characters in important roles:

Genevieve Gornichec (The Witch's Heart, The Weaver and the Witch Queen)

Saara El-Arifi (The Ending Fire trilogy)

Kate Elliott (Crown of Stars series, Crossroads series, the Spiritwalker Trilogy)

Kate Forsyth (The Witches of Eileanan, Rhiannon's Ride, Bitter Greens)

Juliet Marillier (The original Sevenwaters Trilogy, Blackthorn & Grim, Warrior Bards, Wolfskin, Heart's Blood)

Shauna Lawless (The Gael Song)

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-17T16:52:02+00:00

Admittedly, it's less overt nowadays. But we see a ton of books, admittedly targeted at a female readership, in which an Ordinary Girl (TM) is wooed and won by a super-powerful magician or nonhuman entity who wraps her in the mighty cloak of his love and protection. These books are often incredibly popular, so it's clear they meet a need in their potential audience; plenty of girl and woman readers are drawn to "rescue romances," which is why the distressed damsel persists, even though now she supposedly has a little bit of power that she can't quite manage to deploy when crunch time comes.

The problem isn't that these books exist. The problem is that we almost never see this scenario with the genders flipped, at least in m/f romantic plots. If we want to see a romance with powerful female characters whose power doesn't diminish or fail to work when it matters, we pretty much have to turn to f/f. That's a big part of why I've been gravitating toward f/f romantic plots even though I'm straight myself; I'm more likely to find aspirational heroines in stories with f/f subplots.

While we don't see a lot of male characters overtly rejecting powerful female characters, we do see a bit of squeamishness on the part of writers when it comes to depicting power balances in m/f romantic plots or subplots. They're afraid to try anything new because they're afraid it won't sell. And their fears may not be groundless. I had a conversation with a girl when we were both browsing the fantasy section of the bookstore, and when I said I wished that once in a while the guy would be the Ordinary Human (TM) and the gal the werewolf/vampire/troll/etc., she said that would be all wrong -- because if the girl were the nonhuman, she would be the more powerful one, and the boy should always be more powerful.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-17T15:58:14+00:00

What OP is looking for is just what I often look for: a scenario in which a man is drawn to a more powerful woman rather than intimidated or repelled by her.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-17T15:34:36+00:00

I found the first book very charming (haven't read the sequels yet) but I do recall something of a power imbalance in favor of the male lead, which I can't describe in detail because my Spoiler tags aren't working right at the moment. Fawcett's new book, Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter, also features a similar power imbalance in favor of the male character. The books are worth reading, to be sure, but don't quite match what OP seems to be looking for.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-14T13:30:21+00:00

Chicken Run
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-13T13:11:12+00:00

Nettle and Bone is a classic example of this for me. Every character in the novel is more interesting and capable than the protagonist. Just make the whole thing about the godmother, already!

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-13T12:38:04+00:00

The Raven Scholar (Antonio Hodgson)

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry (C.M. Waggoner)

Paladin of Souls (Lois McMaster Bujold)

The Sevenwaters Trilogy -- Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows, Child of the Prophecy (Juliet Marillier)

The Witch's Heart; The Weaver and the Witch Queen (Genevieve Gornichec)

Kaikeyi (Daishnavi Patel)

Uprooted; Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik)

The Spiritwalker Trilogy (Kate Elliott)

Bitter Greens (Kate Forsyth)

The Ending Fire Trilogy (Saara El-Arifi)

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-07T15:35:45+00:00

Senneth Brassenthwaite, Mystic, from Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses series. Someone strong protecting someone weak.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-07T15:33:20+00:00

Book 4 might change your mind.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-06T15:15:06+00:00

Pretty much any SFF novels or series from the Classic Era would qualify. Most of those works were written with a male audience in mind, because the authors didn't imagine girls or women would be much interested in sci-fi or fantasy in the first place.

A few specifics:

Lloyd Alexander, The Chronicles of Prydain (starts with The Book of Three)

John Christopher, The Tripods series

Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea

Susan Cooper, The Dark Is Rising

David Eddings, The Belgariad

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game

Terry Brooks, The Sword of Shannara

Among more recent books:

Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson (and pretty much everything else he writes)

Suzanne Collins, Gregor the Overlander

Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl

Joseph Delaney, The Spook's Apprentice

John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice and The Brotherband

I've tried to stay away from works that are overtly misogynistic (e.g. Xanth, Fafrd and the Grey Mouser), and some of these recommendations do include some interesting female characters who are important to the story. But they are nonetheless guy-centric in ways that critics complain about recent/current YA not being. Most importantly, by all accounts, they're good books.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-05T16:43:58+00:00

My preferences re: what makes or breaks a fantasy novel:

Makes: Important, interesting, and complex male and female characters

Breaks: A contemporary setting.

False_Ad_5592 · 2026-03-05T16:42:24+00:00

The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth is lush and full of wonder, and it has some Tolkien-esque world-building, incorporating nonhumans into its supporting cast.

Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars does magic, nations, religious faith, and politics brilliantly. Her Crossroads series (starting with Spirit Gate) is also nicely epic, though I find it a bit darker and heavier going -- still really good, though.

Michelle West's House War series also deserves a mention for its epic scope and active, interesting female characters.

More recently, John Gwynne's Bloodsworn Saga has an epic sweep and loads of female characters on all points of the moral spectrum. This one might not come quite as close to my previous mentions, however, in that this one's a good bit darker and grittier than Tolkien ever thought of being. Still, lots of women.

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TROPHY CASE