Milie-pede's Topics (150)

You’re right. I love these types of stories they just rarely get female warriors right. I’d love at least one introduced in but I’ll take none if I have to deal with one I’m literally cringing at every time she pops up. There’s this one mercenary story on here where the mc relives battles till he wins. The elf general in that one is legit. Skilled, funny, serious, and proper armor forgot the title tho.

Eternally Regressing Knight!!! My favorite!!!

lolllolo literally tho that's my basis for well written strong female characters, they lwk make me salivate too

We're talking about martial masters. So no, unless there is some extraordinary reason for the woman to be equal or superior (special constitution, extreme investment by a patriarch, etc) there really isn't a reason to believe in any kind of gender equality here. I never even noticed it until you mentioned it.

Fact is, so called "strong female characters" that aren't some kind of love prospect for a character are just male characters depicted as females because cartoons.

This story has magic, people fight through multiple stab wounds, and bare chested weapon forging with no burns and a female warrior is beyond thinkable???? Like not one woman would think to practice martial arts. He’s picking up farm hands as recruits and making them human weapons… but a woman joining is cartoonish? Do you go outside? Have you never scene the Olympics, ufc, boxing matches, or shit even WWE. I think atleast one decent female fighter isn’t fucking beyond belief. Unless you know you’re one of those. And just because he’s the main character why every women gotta be in love with him. Do preferences, and established connections not matter in manhwa world. Stupid and unrealistic always just comes off as the writers wet dreams.

Correct

I guess you didn't read the second paragraph of the post. Like you said, plenty of supernatural stuff. Nothing out of hand with a hypothetical female warrior here. But the point of my second paragraph stands. Combat gender equality is a ridiculous myth, and most female action characters are just men cast or drawn as women without actually being women in any meaningful sense.

I've never had a problem with the girl knight in my fiction. I just also never cared if it wasn't there.

And my point still stands it’s not a ridiculous myth. When I did my coed sport I saw plenty of men knocked flat on their back by women because they weren’t as fast, they weren’t as flexible, or they just weren’t as skilled. So a story that’s had large scale battles not having one woman in the fight is strange if we’re being realistic since you’re talking about myths. Many modern countries allow women into combat roles in their military and they do enlist VOLUNTARILY. Even in history women have snuck into fight disguised as men or banded together to stage revolts. With all the real world references to not be able to create one just feels like a lack of imagination. One woman who can fight and isn’t in love with the mc. We already have our OP main cast she doesn’t have to be that. Just hold her own in a fight. So much you can do with that.

My point is they are all exceptions to the rule, not the rule. Which is why when they do pop up in stories, it usually is forced, or they're male-coded. Which is why I don't miss them when they're not there. It's extremely rare to see it pulled off well. Even the ones I do enjoy, if I'm being honest, were not actually done well, or ended up only not being male-coded through a love interest.

It would be quite interesting and nice to see an actual woman, not a love interest, not male-coded, as a martial character. But to do it right requires a level of particular skill that most author's just don't have. A rare treat usually done poorly.

This entire universe is already an exception… these people are doing impossible tasks that none of us can do. So a woman being born with strong aura is not only a possibility, but a likelihood. How else is strong aura being decided at birth? Just say you don’t consider women if you don’t. It’s not more complicated than that.

It's not about "hurr durr women are weak." I only brought it up due to a previous point made. The OP made the point that the story was somehow lacking for not having a non-love-interest female fighter. I say otherwise. Hence my point about male-coded characterizing.

The usual example is Ripley from the first Alien movie. The quintessential actual female action character. The mother/nurture theme between Ripley, the MUTHUR AI computer, and the alien is an essential part of the narrative. If Ripley were a man, the movie takes on a completely different dynamic, and actually loses artistic value.

That's the litmus test. Would there be a meaningful impact if the character were a man instead of a woman? If that answer is no, then the story isn't lacking for not having the character be a woman, or the character being there at all.

You do see all the men training, right? If training is at all needed, women will always fall short, Mana or not. If physical base capacity is irrelevant, no training should ever be necessary, and no man should have muscles. Therefore, I actually appreciate the exemption of completely stupid "I'm just as strong as them mens" type of characters. I find it rather upsetting that, in order to be perceived as "strong", women need to be lifted into positions they have no business being in. I accept their holy queen, for her mostly using her holy powers, which is slightly different in use.

lol I know woman is biologically has lower strength, but that doesn't mean they can't excel at fighting?? women can have different styles to compete to men, it's similar to changing fighting style to fight someone bigger, it's just basic fighting 101. Fighting isn't really about sword clashing or fist exchanging, it's also strategic, so depending on your strategy a woman can win against a big Man. But anyway, lol this turned into a whole discussion- my main point really is that all the women except ex-fiancee wants to marry him because his powerful and popular. They are all tossed around and becomes a candidate for arranged marriage. I just want to see a powerful woman not in terms of strength but will and like motivation, cause as this stands all the women are just damsels in distress except one fiancee, like you're telling me not one women became a leader for soldiers or a rebel

Well, I will agree everyone being a prospective harem member is also dull writing. Give the other men a chance at least lol

They aren't. In fact, I'd say, tragically, Flora is being portrayed as a forced "strong female lead", shoved down everyone's throat whenever the author remembers that she exists. Her introduction was flawed. Due to that, her character was build in the way that makes the outcome incomprehensible. Had the author just taken a small step back and considered, there would have been a perfectly reasonable way in portraying her capabilities and a strong, resolute personality, while still being able to go the way the story was set to go. It's truly sad, because now I just really hate her, when she's in a scene.
Anyway, the fact that woman are weaker does, in fact, mean, they canno excel at fighting. Thinking that's not the case would be very shallow thinking. You can't expect opponents to be weak. From the get go, in this series, the protagonist challenged strong individuals. Why would people who are only strong among themselves, like women, be among them? A woman has to train a lot more in order to get where a men is, while being unable to train as long as a man could, because her stamina is lower. Could there still be a man who would be able to lose against a fully trained woman? Sure. But it won't be one who had the same training as her. Expecting that all the men she will fight are lazy and untalented is just ridiculous. Your opponent will have gotten ready for the fight just as much as you have, don't forget that. Comparing as female fighter to a lesser trained man would be futile, as those aren't the ones you would face.
And please, don't pretend I said that a woman hitting a man wouldn't hurt. The human body is made of solid matter, so you will obviously feel it. But try hitting a woman full force in the jaw with your fist after she hit yours and see the tiny-but-ever-so-slightly-noticeable difference.
There's a reason for your average female pro athlete knowing why they aren't competing against men - and the few who didn't get the memo have suffered a very rude awakening.

The high school soccer team beating the Olympic womens team still cracks me up every time. As do the "women" swimming champions

Yeah, absolutely. And I wanted to bring up the tennis woman, losing to some dude who ranked 100-something in the rankings. But those soccer ladies lingered on my mind.
But saying these women just didn't give it their all, as someone who simply can't stand reality, is an insult toward their hard work and determination. It has nothing to do with "not working hard enough".