Strong Female Characters in Fantasy Literature

Heir of Sea and Fire, the second book of the trilogy, opens with Raederle being informed that the mystical land-rule of Hed has passed from Morgon to his brother Eliard. Distraught to learn that while everyone thought Morgon was fulfilling a quest to the High One to find the answer to the riddle of the stars on his face, in fact he was being tortured apparently to death, Raederle sets out to find the High One herself, and discover what happened.

In order to do this, she must first shake off her brother Rood, Morgon's best friend, who would certainly not allow her to make such a dangerous quest. Using her own minor magical powers, she befuddles Rood so that he misses their rendevous at the boat, and with the help of Lyra, a warrior-maiden who also met Morgon on his journeys and is angered at his death, she takes over her father's ship and sails north for Erlenstar Mountain, rather than south to home and safety.

A third courageous girl joins the trio questing to discover Morgon's fate: his very young sister, Tristan, who stows away on Raederle's ship. As she is thirteen and now the land-heir of Hed, Raederle and Lyra attempt to ensure that she returns safely home, but she tricks them all and manages to stay on board the ship to find out what happened to her brother.

The third book in the series wraps up the story of Morgon and Raederle, and her destiny turns out to be far more than simply being the wife to a man of destiny. The final step on their quest become finding a means to be together while embracing and fulfilling their separate powerful heritages, each as dangerous and overwhelming as the other.

Never having had the slightest cause to doubt her life's work until now, yet Tenar is wise enough to be able to listen with an open mind and to see the truth of Ged's words. When she must make the most crucial decision of her young life, she makes it with fervor, freeing Ged and herself from the Nameless Ones who would crush them both, and escaping to make a new life for herself as the White Lady of Gont, bearer of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe.

Perhaps most remarkable of all, Tenar is not paired off with a love interest at any point in the story. Ged is instrumental in Tenar gaining her freedom, but what he really does is educate her so that she can help him, and together they enable each other to escape. At no point is there a hint of love interest between Ged and Tenar.

The second book of the Earthsea Saga, The Tombs of Atuan, is Tenar's story. She does not appear in A Wizard of Earthsea (book one) or The Farthest Shore (book three), which are both about Ged, who is a rather minor character in The Tombs of Atuan. She does reappear in the fourth book, Tehanu, as a widow.

Cimorene escapes her castle home, and sets out to find a dragon. After all, as she explains to the bewildered dragons, "Being a dragon's princess is a perfectly respectable thing to do, so my parents couldn't complain. And it would be much more interesting than embroidery and dancing lessons."

So begins Cimorene's career as a dragon's princess. One of her duties is to meet the knights who come to free her, to explain to them (with remarkably little success) that she does not wish to be rescued. Along the way she makes friends with the witch Morwen and makes enemies of several wizards who keep trying to steal secrets from her dragon.

Eventually she has a quest to fulfill, and goes on it, accompanied by Mendanbar, the king of the Enchanted Forest. Naturally they fall in love and get married, but not too long after the marriage, the wizards trick their way into the castle and entomb Mendanbar for several years. Cimorene now must raise their young son, the heir to the Enchanted Forest and the only one who can manipulate the castle's magic to free his father, on her own - which she does with aplomb and no self-pity whatsoever. Eventually Mendanbar is rescued by his wife and son and happily reunited with them.

All of this takes up four delightfully light-hearted books that never hesitate to skewer any fairy tale tradition they stumble against. You will have a hard time putting them down!

No ship that has attempted the journey in the past hundred years has returned, but there is always one ready to make the journey since anyone who returns with a hold full of leaves from the lansip tree (which will not grow anywhere else) will be rich beyond imagining. Against all advice, Lanen follows the yearning of her heart and sails, not for riches from lansip, but to speak with a real dragon.

She finds in Akhor, King of the Dragons, a kindred spirit who longs for community between their two peoples as much as she. Against all odds and advice and even the laws of both their peoples, these two forge an unlikely friendship that deepens into something even more. Naturally Akhor, as a dragon, is the stronger and the natural protector of Lanen, but being the strongest physically is not what makes a strong female character. Lanen and Akhor form an alliance in which she, surprisingly to them both, has as much to offer in the way of wisdom, advice, and even ability as her beloved.

Unknown to herself, Lanen is a child of prophecy and will become a queen of legend. The story turns on her and though Akhor is the strong protector throughout, Lanen is the centerpiece of the story and her will is the driving force behind everything that happens.