FANTASY GIRLS: TOP 10

(SPECIAL MENTION: LITERATURE)

 

I found enough Fantasy Girls in fantasy itself – literary fantasy & SF – for a top ten.

But wait – there’s more! There’s enough for my usual set of twenty special mentions. Indeed, two sets of twenty special mentions – this one for girls of fantasy & SF literature, and the other for girls of fantasy & SF from film or TV.

That doesn’t preclude these special mentions for girls of fantasy & SF from literature also being adapted by other media – which, as for my top ten, is where I get the visual representations in art or cosplay that are a large part of my selection of entries for special mention.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

But first a note on the visual images used in this top ten. Given the copyright in such images, I only use a visual image as fair use for the purposes of comment and review in each entry – an iconic feature image to identify the character, either in general or in their most iconic version as I review it to be (or both), typically excerpted from their adaptations on screen or in comics.

As usual I include a special section in each entry under the subtitle of art and cosplay – not for any actual art and cosplay as such but instead where I nominate my favorite artists and cosplay models depicting the character, which you can look up for yourself.

As for the feature image I chose for the list itself, I went with Freya Nakamichi-47, the robot protagonist of Charles Stross’ Saturn’s Children as depicted on the cover of the 2009 Ace edition – reclining in a common SF female pose matching that of the still image I used for my Top 10 Girls of Fantasy & SF (Special Mentions: Film & TV)

 

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(1) GIRLS OF FAIRY TALES

 

Few fantasy female characters are so iconic, narratively and visually on a worldwide scale, as the female characters and particularly the protagonists of (European) fairy tales – as I said in my first place entry in my Top 10 Girls of Fantasy & SF.

I ultimately awarded that entry to the Snow Queen, winning top spot for both my girls of fairy tales and my girls of fantasy in general, but it was a close call with the big three or holy trinity of fairy tale girls – Cinderella, Snow White, and my former top spot as one of my personal favorite fairy tale girls, Red Riding Hood, all of which will also feature here.

And by feature here, I mean that not only are the female characters of fairy tales so iconic, but they are also so prolific that the girls of Fairy Tales get their own top ten (in which I also feature the art and cosplay for individual entries).

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

Let’s face it – there are two predominant sources for my favorite art (or iconic feature images) for the girls of fairy tales, both of which are comics or adjacent to comics. The first is the art by comics artist J. Scott Campbell for his Fairytale Fantasies calendar series. The second is the cover or pinup art for comics by Zenescope Entertainment adapted from fairy tales, particularly their Grimm Fairy Tales series or spinoffs.

The latter is the source of the iconic feature image I used for this entry – the Keith Garvey Red Carpet Silver Variant of the 2024 Grimm Universe Custom Showcase #1, featuring (from left to right) Snow White, Belle, and Red Riding Hood. I believe the art was also published as a ‘metal’ collector card.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

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(2) GIRLS OF WONDERLAND (1865) –

QUEEN OF HEARTS / RED QUEEN & WHITE QUEEN

 

As I observed in her second-place entry in my Top 10 Girls of Fantasy & SF, few fantasy females are as iconic as Alice, the protagonist of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass (although the two books are often merged in popular culture).

Although Alice so predominates her two books as to almost totally eclipse other female characters in Wonderland (or through the Looking Glass), it remains that there are other female characters in the two books which have also lent themselves to adaptation and popular imagination.

Apart from Alice herself (or variations of her), the most iconic would have to be her primary antagonist in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts – even if she is ultimately dismissed by Alice as just part of “nothing but a pack of cards”. Arguably that implies three other queens somewhere else in Wonderland but we don’t see them.

Her suit alone – hearts – invokes fantasy girl quality, albeit admittedly not so much in Tenniel’s original illustrations to Carroll’s novel or the Disney animated adaptation which largely followed in Tenniel’s footsteps.

She also tends to be conflated in adaptation or popular imagination with the Red Queen from Through The Looking Glass, though the latter is a separate character – even more so as that character is drawn from the primary conceit of chess in the sequel as opposed to playing cards from the first novel.

Talking of the Red Queen prompts to mind her opposing counterpart the White Queen – made more memorable by Anne Hathaway’s depiction in the Tim Burton film adaptations.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For my iconic feature image, I went with the art of the Queen of Hearts by Martin Abel for the variant cover C of issue 49 of Zenescope Entertainment’s Wonderland series, although it was a close call between that and the pinup art of her by J. Scott Campbell in his Fairytale Fantasies calendar series (specifically his 2012 calendar).

Once again, Zenescope and J. Scott Campbell are essentially the two sources for my favorite adaptations of the Girls of Wonderland in art – like Alice herself, albeit nowhere near as prolific (and without cosplay).

 

RATING:

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(3) GIRLS OF OZ (1900) –

WICKED WITCH & GLINDA

 

As I observed in her third place entry in my Top 10 Girls of Fantasy & SF, Dorothy Gale is one of the most iconic fantasy females, even if more from the 1939 cinematic adaptation than the original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, exceeded in iconic status only by Alice or the girls of fairy tales.

Unlike Alice, Dorothy does not so predominate her book (or its prolific sequels) as to totally eclipse other female characters in Oz. Indeed, her primary antagonist in the book, the Wicked Witch, is arguably matched with Dorothy in iconic status, perhaps even exceeding it with the success of the revisionist Wicked franchise.

Although overshadowed by the central duo of Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, Glinda the Good Witch is almost as iconic.

The book series features other female characters, most notably Princess Ozma of Oz, but none have the iconic status of the central female trio from the first book and 1939 cinematic adaptation.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For my iconic feature image, I went with the variant cover art by Billy Tucci and Ula Mos of the Wicked Witch seemingly getting the upper hand on Dorothy for issue 2 of the Zenescope Entertainment 6-issue series Oz: Reign of the Witch Queen.  I can’t help but be prompted by this art to think of Mila Kunis as the Wicked Witch in the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful.

Once again, Zenescope and J. Scott Campbell are essentially the two sources for my favorite adaptations of the Girls of Oz in art.

 

RATING:

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(4) GIRLS OF NEVERLAND (1904) –

TINKER BELL & TIGER LILY

 

Neverland is of course the setting of JM Barrie’s eponymous trickster hero Peter Pan in his original play and novels, as well as a source of subsequent adaptations, allusions and inversions in popular culture.

I have already featured my top girl of Neverland, Peter’s Edwardian English companion Wendy Darling (or Wendy Moira Angela Darling), in fourth place in my Top 10 Girls of Fantasy & SF as one of the icons of fantasy (and arguably the true protagonist of the stories).

Unlike Alice for Wonderland, Wendy does not so predominate her book at to eclipse the other girls of Neverland, and indeed it was a very close call for that fourth place between Wendy and Tinker Bell, Peter’s fairy or pixie companion. Arguably, Tinker Bell has lent herself even more than Wendy to adaptation and popular imagation, particularly through her animated Disney adaptation – which has subsequently become the unofficial mascot of Disney, exceeded only by the official mascot Mickey Mouse. Not bad for a character that originated as a stage lighting effect, mute in speech and communicating by musical effect (or the language of the fairies).

Tinker Bell may have iconic status to rival or even exceed that of Wendy but there’s a further prominent female character – Tiger Lily, effectively a Pocahontas-like princess of a native American tribe in Neverland, albeit such a character has become problematic or controversial subsequently to when Barrie wrote her.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For my iconic feature image, I went with Tinker Bell and Tiger Lily as depicted in the cover art by Andrew Magnum for issue 4 of Zenescope Entertainment’s Neverland series – obviously with Zenescope Entertainment adapting darker and edgier versions of the characters.

Yet again, Zenescope and J. Scott Campbell are essentially the two sources for my favorite adaptations of the Girls of Neverland in art.

 

RATING:

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(5) GIRLS OF CONAN (1932) 

 

Conan girls – the fantasy equivalent of Bond girls.

No, seriously. Before Bond girls, there were Conan girls – and they played a similar role in the original stories as the Bond girls did in the Bond films, including the “girl of the week” episodic format in which individual episodes (Conan stories or Bond films) featured its own girl or girls with little or no carry over or continuity to other episodes.

If anything, Conan girls were far more tied to the individual stories in which they appeared than Bond girls in the Bond films. Whereas I can think of a handful of Bond girls who appeared or at least had some enduring presence across films, I can’t think of any corresponding Conan girls who featured in more than one story, even only by mention or reference – and that includes someone with the same impact or profile as Belit, seventh place entry in my Top 10 Girls of Fantasy & SF. Of course, that’s not helped by her dying in the same story as that in which she appeared – in this she resembles the high level of episodic mortality among Bond girls – but she also returned from death in spirit form to aid Conan and one would have thought that merited at least some mention in another story.

Like Bond girls, Conan girls tended to be damsels in distress to be saved but they also appeared in other roles, some very far from damsels in distress. For example, Belit was a pirate queen and a fierce combatant (and lover) to rival Conan himself –  “the wildest she-devil unhanged…she is called the queen of the black coast” – and of course, she returns from death to save him. On occasion, again like Bond girls, Conan girls could even be formidable antagonists, albeit typically by use of magic than force of arms.

One problem as a starting point is that due to Bond being a high profile media franchise with many movies – in which the Bond girls are a core element – the Bond girls are far better known than their Conan counterparts. I anticipate most people could name at least one Bond girl, but sadly the Conan girls do not have the same profile – although they are prolific enough for their own top ten.

The most well known Conan girl would be Red Sonja…except that she’s only a Conan girl in the comics, proving so popular as to earn an enduring title in her own name. She was adapted from one of Robert E Howard’s stories, but not from his Conan stories – instead, she was Red Sonya of Rigatino, a sixteenth century Polish-Ukrainian warrior-woman with a grudge against the Ottoman sultan, well after Conan’s legendary ‘prehistoric’ setting (“before the oceans drank Atlantis”). As these special mentions are for girls of literary fantasy or SF, I don’t feature her here – although of course I do feature her in my Top 10 Girls of Comics, in third place (and goddess-tier) no less.

Probably the next best known would be Valeria, Conan’s lover and fellow adventurer in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian, who was so awesome that she even helped Conan in spirit form after her death – “Do you want to live forever?”. Unlike Red Sonja, Valeria was adapted from her namesake Conan girl in the story “Red Nails”, but was somewhat different from her literary character – indeed, borrowing elements from none other than Belit, so much so that some thought she was Belit as she was not named onscreen as Valeria until the sequel.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For my iconic feature image, I’ve chosen the cover art of the top two literary Conan girls, Belit and Valeria, by John Royle for the fifth (and final) issue of the comic series in their own name published by Ablaze.

For that matter, Belit and Valeria are the only Conan girls with any adaptations in art – and that’s in comics like this one.

 

RATING:

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(6) GIRLS OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1954)

 

One girl to rule them all!

Yeah, that would be Galadriel – my top girl of The Lord of the Rings and eighth place entry in my Top 10 Girls of Fantasy & SF. As I quipped in that entry, when the Fellowship of the Ring see Galadriel in her elven queendom of Lothlorien, they all collectively exclaim “phwoar!” Well, not quite, but they do talk a lot about her afterwards.

Galadriel herself needs little introduction to fans of the literary or cinematic trilogy – the predominant female character in Lord of the Rings, the elven Lady of Lothlorien. Galadriel is probably the most powerful of the elves in Middle Earth in Lord of the Rings – and wields the most powerful elven artifacts, one of the three elven Rings of Power (Nenya, the Ring of Water) as well as her Mirror.

However, she is one of three major female characters of The Lord of the Rings, with the other two in this trinity of course being Arwen and Eowyn. In both the book and film trilogy, Arwen is similarly elven – Elrond’s daughter who is Aragorn’s love interest and ultimately his queen but plays a more active role in the film trilogy (as played by Liv Tyler). By contrast, noble shieldmaiden of Rohan, Eowyn, plays an active role in both the book and film trilogy – on the battlefield punching out Cthulhu in the form of the Witch-King of Angmar or Lord of the Nazgul.

There are slim pickings for, say, a top ten girls of Lord of the Rings beyond that trinity – unless of course one opens it up to the appendices or Tolkien’s wider legendarium. However, there’s at least a fourth female character in the book trilogy that almost ranks as high as the core trio, although she is absent from the film trilogy just the same as her husband – and that’s Goldberry, Tom Bombadil’s literal nymph wife, who’s so hot that Tom spontaneously bursts into song about how hot she is.

I’d add a fifth entry to what I’d call Dark Galadriel – Galadriel in her moment of temptation or if she had indeed taken the Ring for herself when Frodo had offered it to her:

“In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen! And I shall not be dark, but beautiful as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me and despair!”

Ah – did anyone else in the audience other than me think that would have been AWESOME! Or was as excited by the prospect of this elven goddess as Dark Lady. Only me? Surely not! Long live the Dark Queen!

Beyond that however, who else from the main body of The Lord of the Rings – that is, not counting the appendices or wider legendarium?

Well, there’s Ioreth, wise-woman of Gondor and the House of Healing in Minas Tirith, again absent from the film trilogy. By contrast, Rosie Cotton is in both book and film trilogy, as well as playing a key role as Sam Gamgee’s inspiration and love interest, albeit it feels a bit weird featuring female hobbits. Although if we are, there’s Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, an enduring nuisance to Bilbo and Frodo with her designs on Bag End but redeeming herself in the Scouring of the Shire. Technically Sam and Rose’s daughter Elanor does feature right at the end of the book (and film) trilogy as a child – named for an elven flower, she grows up to resemble a golden-haired elven beauty (and custodian of the Red Book, the book within the book that is The Lord of the Rings).

Also technically, Shelob is female but there’s no way I’m counting her in any top ten girls of The Lord of the Rings. Incredibly, the video game Middle Earth: Shadow of War adapted Shelob to be able to shapeshift into an attractive woman, perhaps drawing on Lloth, Spider-Queen of the drow or dark elves from Dungeons and Dragons. I suppose you could throw the Entwives into a similar category, although they are missing in action from The Lord of the Rings itself.

And yet again technically, I seem to recall female characters from the appendices or wider legendarium being referred to within the main text, at least in song – most notably Luthien. Arguably at least two other elven women, Melian and Celebrian, are present in spirit or inspiration in The Lord of the Rings, although both had left Middle-Earth by the time of the events in the novel (and in the former’s case, by the age or Third Age).

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For my iconic feature image, I compiled a collage of Arwen (played by Liv Tyler) and Eowyn (played by Miranda Otto) as they appeared in the film trilogy.

Otherwise, there’s no art or cosplay from my favorite artists or models, even for Galadriel – with the exception of art of Arwen by Neoartcore.

 

RATING:

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(7) GIRLS OF A SONG OF ICE & FIRE / GAME OF THRONES (1996)

 

Which girl wins the Iron Throne?

Well obviously that’s Daenerys Targaryen – she still rules the Iron Throne of my ninth-place entry in my Top 10 Girls of Fantasy & SF.

However, unlike The Lord of the Rings in my previous entry, there’s no shortage of candidates for my top ten girls of A Song of Ice and Fire, even more so when you include its adaptation in the Game of Thrones TV series which has its own original characters. And so the girls of A Song of Ice and Fire (and Game of Thrones) get their own special mention and top ten.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For my iconic feature image, I chose the only other female character to actually sit on the Iron Throne. Now that I think of it, she’s the only female character to sit on the Iron Throne, unless Daenerys snuck in a quick selfie pose on the Iron Throne offscreen or something because otherwise we never see her sit on it after winning Kings Landing and before her good boy Drogon melts it. And that is of course Cersei Lannister, as played by Lena Headey.

 

RATING:

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(8) BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1818)

 

Essentially Frankenstein’s monster as a girl.

Some may quibble with my inclusion of her in my special mentions for fantasy literature as opposed to film and TV – to which I say not so, as she does indeed originate in the original novel by Mary Shelley, arguably in two guises.

Firstly, there’s her guise for those pedantic people who like to point out that Frankenstein was the doctor Victor Frankenstein while his creation was Frankenstein’s Monster. And although she is and has been often overlooked, Victor Frankenstein does have his bride, Elizabeth, albeit briefly as the Monster carries out his threat to kill her on their wedding night.

However, I suspect most Frankenstein fans would say that’s a cop-out, as the whole concept of the Bride of Frankenstein is not Victor’s all too human fiancée or bride but rather a female version of the Monster – in which case I say fear not!

Because secondly there is indeed the female version of the Monster in the original novel – the Bride for the Monster that Victor briefly begins to create under duress from the Monster, only to completely destroy later because he fears they will have children.

However, it was cinematic adaptation that gave us an alternative version of the original novel which saw Victor’s creation of the Bride through to fruition – commencing with the 1935 film, Bride of Frankenstein, that also gave us the iconic Bride in popular culture and imagination, and her distinctive “conical hairdo with white lightning-trace streaks on each side”.

Interestingly, while cinematic or screen adaptation rarely departs from a monstrous appearance for the male Frankenstein monster, it has often tended towards a more aesthetic appearance for the Bride or versions of her, arguably from the outset with the original Bride of Frankenstein film. Heck, the 1973 TV film Frankenstein: The True Story’s version of the Bride was played by Jane Seymour – and it doesn’t get much hotter than that, except perhaps for the Penthouse Comics parody version of the Bride, Sweet Chastity.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

And then there’s the DC Comics version of the character, the source of my iconic feature image for the character

 

RATING:

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(9) BRIDES OF DRACULA (1897)

 

Technically, they’re never referred to as Brides or the Brides of Dracula in the novel itself – that came later in other media and popular culture – but instead are referred to as the sisters. Nor are they portrayed as married to him or in any other relationship to him – their names as well as “the origin and identity of the Sisters, as well as the true nature of their relationship with Count Dracula, is never revealed”.

They were, however, written as hot, and they have been portrayed that way ever since in imitations or adaptations, something they use to bewitch their victims such as Jonathan Harker or those who seek to stake them such as Abraham van Helsing, albeit both narrowly survive or resist their bewitchment.

One wonders why Dracula even leaves his castle at all, let alone for England, when he could just hang with the Brides – although in fairness it seems that his grand plan in England was to replicate the Brides. It amuses me that Dracula’s supernatural invasion of England ultimately involved nothing more than picking up girls because that’s just the way he swings.

Which is of course the way Harker’s fiancée Wilhemina “Mina” Murray and her friend Lucy Westenra come into the novel – and this entry – as prospective Brides of Dracula, but for the intervention of van Helsing and his anti-vampire posse. The original Brides even call to Mina to join them as their sister when she and van Helsing hunt Dracula back to Dracula’s castle, which she barely resists with the help of van Helsing.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For my iconic feature image, I chose one of my favorite cinematic adaptations of the Brides – the 2004 Van Helsing film. Terrible film but its Brides rocked.

 

RATING:

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(10) GIRLS OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS – DROW & DRAENEI

 

It’s the girls of role-playing games. D20? More like DD20, amirite?

Yes, yes – I know draenei are from World of Warcraft and that WoW is a (multiplayer online) video role-playing game as opposed to ‘tabletop’ role-playing game like Dungeons and Dragons.

Firstly, I like the alliteration of drow and draenei mirroring that of Dungeons and Dragons. I’d add the alliteration of tau and twi’lek in parenthesis even though the latter are from Star Wars. It’s not just the alliteration – drow and draenei resemble each other as the exotic pinup ‘races’ designed for their respective games, particularly in fan art which tends to emphasize the pinup quality.

Secondly, this special mention entry is for the girls of role-playing games in general, although the big guns of such girls or those I count for entries in my top ten girls of role-playing games boil down to girls from one of three games – Dungeons and Dragons (including 3.5 edition spinoff game Pathfinder), World of Warcraft, and Warhammer 40K.

That may prompt some people to query this entry as one of my special mentions for fantasy & SF literature but I take a broad view of “literature” for these special mentions, essentially equating it with printed media.

And I stand by tabletop games as literature, particularly Dungeons and Dragons with its prolific printed rule books – prolific both in number and the volume of individual books. Beyond the rule books, Dungeons and Dragons is a multi-media franchise, including spin-off books or comics.

Of course, World of Warcraft is a video game rather than tabletop game but I count it in this entry because it, like most other tabletop or video fantasy or even SF role-playing games, shows the obvious influence of Dungeons and Dragons. It is also a multi-media franchise, albeit more in comics than books.

Warhammer 40k is also tabletop game with rulebooks, albeit played through models, as well as an extensive multi-media franchise, including books – particularly an author I liked for his work in 2000AD, Dan Abnett.

Anyway, the girls of role-playing games get their own top ten but by way of brief overview…

For Dungeons and Dragons, there’s the dark elves or drow – but also its (and Pathfinder’s) so-called iconic characters as well as characters from its Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms settings.

For World of Warcraft, there’s the draenei – but also the elves and characters such as Jaina Proudmore.

For Warhammer40k, there’s the tau – and the Sisters of Battle or Adepta Sororitas.

 

RATING:

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(11) GIRLS OF ARABIAN NIGHTS –
SCHEHERAZADE / SHAHRAZAD & BADROULBADOUR / JASMINE

 

Perhaps one of the most tongue-twisting names (and most mind-boggling to spell), at least for those from Anglophone nations, which is why I prefer the Persian variant of Shahrazad. You may know her as simply the most famous and significant female character of the Arabian Nights, indeed without whom they wouldn’t exist according to their own narrative – the plucky heroine and narrator in the frame story, who told all one thousand tales in the titular one thousand and one nights.

As the story goes, the monarch Shahryar discovered his first wife was unfaithful to him and resolved upon the monstrously misogynistic plan to marry a new virgin every day and behead her the following day to avoid betrayal or dishonour. Betrayal or dishonour by her to him, that is – I’m not too sure that executing your wife the next day is quite in the spirit of marriage, and certainly had the bride gagging in her wedding vows for death to do them part.

Anyway, the vizier ran out of virgins of noble blood and so Shahrazad, the vizier’s own daughter, volunteered to be the next bride, against her father’s wishes. Fortunately, Shahrazad had a plan – which was to tell the monarch a story on that first night, but leaving it on a cliffhanger at dawn, so the monarch postponed her execution until the next day for her to finish that story – which she did the next night, but started an even more exciting story, leaving that one too on a cliffhanger. And so on for a thousand nights or about three years, until she finally ran out of stories but the monarch had genuinely fallen in love with her, decreeing her to be his wife for life rather than execution the next day – although it might be noted that she had borne him three sons as well in this time. And so they lived happily ever after.

Or not, because I have difficulty imagining that Shahrazad did not have post-traumatic stress disorder after that – or why the monarch Shahryar deserved to live happily ever after executing so many innocent women. Indeed, one woman each day for three years, or approximately 1,100 women – at least according to British adventurer Sir Richard Burton in his translation, which makes Shahrazad’s heroism a little less impressive, given she sat on her plan for that time. Also the similarity of her name with that of the monarch suggests it was an honorific, either named as such after she was married to him – or named for him by her father, the monarch’s vizier.

But I prefer to overlook these things, as what’s not to love about her? Beautiful, intelligent, heroic and she tells a good story.

As for the tales of Arabian Nights she told, they too feature girls of fantasy – perhaps foremost among them being the sultan’s daughter or princess that is the romantic interest of Aladdin. The story of Aladdin itself is somewhat anomalous in the Arabian Nights – as the archetypal tale associated with the Arabian Nights despite not being part of the original text and added by French translator Antoine Galland from an Arab folk tale he had heard (from a Syrian storyteller). The original story also purports to be set in China but that is usually seen as a literary device for exoticism and adaptations tend to place it in a more Arabic setting.

The sultan’s daughter or princess is named Badroulbadour in the story but I prefer, like most other people, to her name (and character) as Princess Jasmine from her Disney adaptation, ad Badroulbadour doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For my iconic feature image, I’ve chosen the cover art of Shahrazad by J. Scott Campbell as the titular protagonist of the comic published by Big Dog Ink – in the archetypal ‘harem girl’ style, at least in the Western popular imagination. And apart from this comic, there’s not any art of her by my favorite artists, let alone cosplay.

Jasmine fares much better in art and cosplay as a Disney princess, including in art by Neoartcore.

 

RATING: 4 STARS**
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(12) GIRLS OF NARNIA (1950)

 

No, not the Pevensies, Lucy and Susan – well, not initially anyway because we do see them as queens of Narnia, with Susan in particular as a legendary beauty or even the most beautiful woman in Narnia. “In at least two books, Susan is said to be beautiful and her looks drive a couple of subplots”.

Somewhat surprisingly for children’s fantasy books with Christian allegories, there’s enough candidates for a top ten girls of Narnia – something which has not carried over so much to their film or television adaptations in the same way as, say, A Song of Ice and Fire.

However, one girl towers over the others, literally in height and figuratively in iconic status – she’s in the title of the first book after all – and that’s the White Witch, Jadis of Charn (and the Deplorable Word) and the usurper Queen of Narnia, freezing it in the Hundred Years Winter.

I’d try her Turkish delight…I mean, that is a euphemism, isn’t it?

In the books, she is described in appearance very similar to Snow White – with snow-white skin, jet black hair and red lips, albeit the first is unnatural pallor after eating forbidden fruit in Narnia. Hence I preferred as my iconic feature image the cover of an illustrated version of the Narnia Chronicles with illustrations by Deborah Maze as closer to her book description than the version portrayed by Tilda Swinton in the 2005 film.

 

RATING:

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(13) GIRLS OF DUNE (1963) –
BENE GESSERIT

 

I could hardly have literary special mentions for the Girls of Fantasy & SF without featuring Dune, the cult classic novel of that name and series of sequels by Frank Herbert, which has recently found new prominence in the ongoing film series directed by Denis Villeneuve.

The basic plot has become iconic – and influential, not least on the Star Wars franchise (and Warhammer 40K). The Galactic Empire of the far future simmers with the rivalry of the noble Houses that dominate it and otherwise wouldn’t care about the desert planet of Arrakis, with its native Fremen and giant sandworms, but for the planet’s precious Spice. Spice allows for the faster-than-light travel that holds the Empire together (after the Butlerian Jihad against artificial intelligence that previously computed the faster-than-light travel) – and quite a few other things as well. The House Altreides has just gained control over Arrakis, but this proved to be a ploy by the Emperor and the rival House Harkonnen to betray and destroy House Altreides. And it almost works – but for the heir Paul Altreides and his mother Jessica escaping to join causes with the native Fremen. And that’s where things really get started…

It has an array of female characters, but all the best ones except for Paul’s Fremen consort Chani are connected to the Bene Gesserit – the conspiratorial religious sisterhood that has effectively infiltrated the imperial aristocracy through their mystical powers and seduction, as well as implanted themselves within every religion in the Empire and its subject planets.

There’s Paul’s mother and member of the Bene Gesserit, the Lady Jessica – and through her his sister Alia, Spiced-up in utero (and voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy in the film), albeit the Bene Gesserit are not a fan of the latter to say the least. There’s the Imperial Princess Irulan – not a member of the Bene Gesserit as such but she did receive some training.

I’ve represented the Bene Gesserit here by Lady Margot Fenring, as portrayed by Lea Seydoux in Dune: Part 2. Even if she did seduce Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen to conceive his child.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(14) GIRLS OF HARRY POTTER (1997)

 

Yeah, we’re talking about the grown-up art or cosplay version of the girls of Harry Potter here. It helps that the costume and character designs are so visually iconic, particularly from the film adaptations – with the Houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin as the standout versions of art or cosplay I’ve seen.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(15) CARMILLA (1872)

 

Before Dracula, there was Carmilla.

And before the character of that name in the video game and animated series Castlevania, Carmilla was the titular lesbian vampire of the 1872 novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu – hence the trope maker of the surprisingly prevalent recurring trope of the (s€xy) lesbian vampire, including in the surprisingly numerous adaptations of Carmilla, both itself (for the novel) and herself (for the character). And I am here for it!

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

 

(16) WEENA – THE TIME MACHINE (1895)

 

Definitely an entry some may quibble with among my special mentions for fantasy literature as opposed to film and TV – and with some justice.

Yes – the character originates from the novel by H.G. Wells, hence the entry here, but she and the Eloi, one of the two races descended from humanity in the far future with the other being the Morlocks, are like smaller humans in the novel, reminiscent of children or hobbits. Even so, Weena is more endearing than the other Eloi, as she alone among them seems to show any presence of mind in gratitude to the Time Traveller saving her from drowning (as the other Eloi looked on in indifference).

My entry here owes more to the Eloi in the 1960 George Pal film – identical to modern humans but as blond and blue-eyed “beautiful people”, particularly Weena as played by Yvette Mimieux.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

(17) NOVA – PLANET OF THE APES (1963)

 

Yes – it was a book before it was a film (or franchise) even if the latter has utterly eclipsed the former in popular imagination.

Hence, another entry that might some quibble with among my literary special mentions rather than those for film and TV, but I just like to keep her in something of a matched pair with Weena in my preceding entry, as the two resemble each other in my eyes – each paired with the protagonist and standing out from a future humanity that has effectively devolved in intelligence.

Well, one thing you can’t complain about the Planet of the Apes is that it seemingly turned the female part of the human population into hot (and apparently mute) scantily clad jungle girls or cavewomen, at least if Linda Harrison’s Nova in the 1968 film is anything to go by.

You maniacs, indeed.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

(18) STEPFORD WIVES (1972)

 

The plot premise of Ira Levin’s novel – the titular wives of the town of Stepford in Connecticut are impossibly beautiful…and inhumanly submissive.

Naturally the novel has seen numerous film adaptations, albeit usually not as dark in their ending.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

 

(19) MOLLY MILLIONS – JOHNNY MNEMONIC / NEUROMANCER (1981)

 

Okay, probably my special mention entry with the least name recognition of all my special mentions, a recurring character in the works of William Gibson.

She first appeared in his short story Johnny Mnemonic but was more notable in his novel Neuromancer, part of his Sprawl trilogy – albeit without a surname in Neuromancer.

Why the special mention? Because she was the archetypal cyberpunk girl, which others followed.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

(20) GIRLS OF GOR

 

Dear God (or Gor) – there’s 38 of these things?!

Wrapping up special mentions for my girls of literary fantasy & SF with this twentieth entry. Although “literary” is pushing it. I’ve never read any of them nor intend to but they have become iconic of fantasy art in general – such as here in the cover art by Boris Vallejo for the first novel

Typically of course they feature girls in the poses of submissive slavery that increasingly predominated the books – written by a philosophy professor?! – as they went on, not that they seem to have started from too high a bar

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)