Guest Post by Jessica O’Neal: 5 Women Who Can Kick Some Ass

We have the immense pleasure of welcoming Jessica O’Neal into our midst today! On Wednesday I told you who my top five favorite villainesses are. Jess is here to tell us her favorite heroines. Let’s see how they match up.

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Hello everyone! I am so thrilled to be hanging out with you here at Karen’s fabulous blog. When she came to me and asked if I would be interested in writing a piece on kick ass fictional women as a companion to her female villainesses I jumped at the opportunity. After much thought and deliberation I have finally come up with a list that I think is pretty rad. I certainly wouldn’t want to be found standing on the opposite side of any of these women.

5. Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one tough cookie. Whether you read the books or only saw the movie, you got to see Lisbeth in action. She faces some of the worst torments and abuses that I have ever encountered in a work of fiction, yet she never plays the victim. She takes charge and, literally, knocks those who try to take advantage of her on their asses. She may appear weak and frail, but she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. And she does.

Best Line: [tattooing Bjurman] “Lie still. I’ve never done this before…and there will be blood.”

4. The Harry Potter series is full of strong female characters and, being a huge fan of the series, I knew I had to include one of them. When I was thinking about who it should be my first thought was Hermione, but then my husband suggested Professor McGonagall and I knew he was right. Minerva McGonagall is one of the most powerful witches in the wizarding world. She is paramount in arranging the defense of Hogwarts when it is under attack and is seen dueling the biggest badies of the series, including He Who Must Not Be Named. Not only is she powerful, she is also a no nonsense woman who does not tolerate insolence. One of my favorite scenes with her is in Order of the Phoenix when she goes toe to toe with the horrendous toad, Umbridge. Minerva McGonagall knows what is right and is confident enough to stand up for it no matter who she has to face.

Best Line: “That doesn’t mean we can’t delay him. And his name is Voldemort, so you might as well use it, he’s going to try and kill you either way.”

3. I think it is pretty safe to say that Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games deserves to be on this list. At the age of sixteen she has to enter an arena where she has to either kill or be killed. Thanks to years of illicit hunting to ensure her family didn’t starve to death she is able to shoot a bow with deadly accuracy. What really makes Katniss an impressive character, though, is that, even though she is able and willing to do what must be done, she still holds on to her humanity and her sense of justice.

Best Line: “And if we burn, you burn with us!”

2. This list would not be complete without Buffy Summers. I mean, come on, she is the Vampire Slayer. Vampires, demons, creepy praying mantis teachers – no matter what crazy monster is thrown her way she is able to face it head on and slay it (yeah, I went there). And, what’s more, she does all of this while still maintaining her sense of fashion. That is a true talent that only a woman could possess.

Best Line: “If the apocalypse comes, beep me.”

1. Beatrix Kiddo, also known as The Bride, is hands down the most bad ass female I have ever encountered in fiction. She spends the better part of both Kill Bill movies fighting and brutally killing…everyone. And it’s not like she was fighting one poor fighter at a time; she was going up against groups of highly trained fighters all at once. Even in the moments where she was just waking up from a four year coma she was able to recognize that she was being taken advantage of and kill those who were responsible. Yet, in the midst of her extreme bloodlust she still holds on to her moral center, however skewed it may be, and seeks to protect innocents from the carnage surrounding her.

Best Line: “I’ve killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point, but I have only one more. The last one. The one I’m driving to right now. The only one left. And when I arrive at my destination, I am gonna kill Bill.”

Well, there you have it. That is my list of 5 kick ass women in fiction. There were so many women that could have been on this list and a variety of reasons for why I left them off, but in the end I am happy with the five I landed on.

What about you? Who would be included on your list? Let us know in the comments.

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Thank you again, Jess! I love how we happened to pull from some of the same movies. 😉

So, what do you guys think? She’s got a tough list here, but how do these women stack up against my picks? We already know how some of these turns out, but what about some of the stranger combinations? Regardless of the outcome, I know I wouldn’t want to face off with any of them!