Favorite Fantasy FMCs
There are so many wonderful leading ladies in fantasy that it can be hard to choose who are your favorites. I have found that I love a girl’s girl with a healthy dose of feminine rage and it seems that I also love a female who is a fitness queen. I also clearly love Throne of Glass as a series, as half of my favorite FMCs come from it. There are many others I also love but these are just top tier ladies for me! Numbers 1-3 could honestly be interchangeable.
Aelin Ashryver Galathynius will forever be a favorite. I didn’t truly appreciate her depth until I read The Assassin’s Blade and then Heir of Fire. This poor girl has truly had every trauma you can think of but persevered. Her journey for The Assassin’s Blade to Kingdom of Ash had emotional impact on me that no other series has. She is them most resilient character I’ve ever come across.
Lara Veliant is a complicated woman and deeply interesting. Her perseverance knows no bounds. She is also hilarious with her dry sense of humor. She loves fiercely and is an all around badass. Reading about her made me want to workout because she is so impressive. She also has a lot of depth that made me understand her choices, even when they were not good ones. A big thing I love about Lara is when she does make mistakes, she fully owns up to them and will stop at nothing to make it right.
Manon Blackbeak is technically a side character in Throne of Glass but she’s such a standout. Manon is strong and lovable but also flawed. She is ruthless, cunning, wild, brave, and also fiercely loyal to those she loves. Her character development from Heir of Fire to Kingdom of Ash is beautiful. We watch her go from being ruthless to basically everyone to finding compassion when she learns some hard truths. We first saw her softer side when she picked Abraxos as her dragon, when he was just a sweet lil guy and not a gruff giant beast and then that softer side became a big part of who she is when she learns that her grandmother wasn’t the person she thought she was, learning more about Asterin and, of course, getting closer to Dorian. Manon was a huge part of Aelin’s success. So was the Thirteen, which, wow- will never recover from that emotional damage.
Lysandra Ennar Ashryver is the absolute best friend anyone could have. I loved her friendship with Aelin. She did anything for her but not in a toxic way! She’s just not afraid of a challenge and is set in her morals. She is also wise, funny, and uniquely powerful. And was truly the MVP of Queen of Shadows onward. Aelin is also a badass but she wouldn’t have made it to the end of Lysandra didn’t save them time after time before she got to Terrasen. I also love her relationship with Evangeline!
Tissanah Vytezic is the most compassionate heroine I’ve ever read. She is equal parts badass and kind and criminally underrated.
Hermione Granger is just always right, but not in a smug or annoying way. She is a way better friend to Harry and Ron than they are to her so I sort of wish she had a bigger group of friends to lean on when they were being a twosome but respect how supportive she was of them.
