Warrior Women
A gallery of S&S, swashbuckling, and high-fantasy heroines

C. L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry (right, depicted by Alicia Austin) –a yellow-eyed redhead for whom the supernatural holds no terror, who unflinchingly walks into a haunted castle, across the shifting realm of an evil sorceress, and into Hell itself! – paved the way for many other S&S heroines…

These ranged from empowered feminists to (maybe too often!) male wish-fulfilling dominatrices – heroines like Richard Kirk’s Raven (Raven, Swordsmistress of Chaos, 1978, et seq.) and R.F. Rivkin’s Corson brenn Torisk (Silverglass, 1986, et seq.).

Convincing woman warriors – in fantasy art at least – are still too few.

Agnes de Chastillion

In January 1935, Robert E. Howard received a letter from C. L. Moore enthusing about his latest character ―

My blessings! I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed “Sword-Woman”. It seemed such a pity to leave her just at the threshold of higher adventures. Your favorite trick of slamming the door on a burst of bugles! And leaving one to wonder what happened next and wanting so badly to know. Aren’t there any more stories about Agnes?

Moore’s Jirel of Joiry was S&S’s first female protagonist (first appearing in Wierd Tales in October 1934): REH’s Agnes de Chastillion – perhaps better known as Dark Agnes de la Fere – could have been the second… OK, I’m stretching a point here: Agnes does wield a sword, but there is little sorcery in 16th-century Europe; like Red Sonya, she’s more of a swashbuckling heroine.

In any case, none of the stories were published until the 1970s. But this may have been timely: as Salmonson says, “Agnes is a feminist warrior, capable of being a good comrade-in-arms to any man, but just as capable of cutting him to ribbons if he forgets she’s a comrade.”

Bêlit

Bêlit was Conan’s greatest love and their story the greatest tragedy of the Conan saga.

Bêlit was a Shemite, who in Howard’s story claimed that her fathers were kings of Asgalun (a seaport in Shem).

The pastiches and comics are not always consistent with this: while some fill out this history, others propose alternatives, such as that she was the daughter of a Shemite trader.

At some point, she became captain to a band of pirates from the Southern Isles on board the Tigress. The black corsairs considered her to be a goddess and followed her with unswerving loyalty.

It was then she met Conan, in the midst of a melée when the Tigress rammed Conan's ship, the Argus. Bêlit was immediately consumed with a passion that grew into devotion.

“Were I still in death and you fighting for life, I would come back from the abyss to aid you — aye, whether my spirit floated from the purple sails on the crystal sea of paradise, or writhed in the molten flames of Hell! I am yours, and all the gods and their eternities shall not sever us!”

― “Queen of the Black Coast” by Robert E. Howard

She is regarded as Conan's first and greatest love. For a thousand days Bêlit and Conan plundered the Black Coast, until her untimely, tragic death. But she fulfilled her prophecy, when her ghost intervened to save Conan from the deadly attack of a winged one.

Corson brenn Torisk

Her height alone drew stares, since people so tall were rare in the north—but no one had ever found her ungainly. She moved with an athlete’s grace and power, and her beauty was not hidden by her travel-worn tunic and breeches. She had large blue eyes, and skin of a warm, rich gold. After her release from the army, she had let her chestnut hair grow long as a mark of her independence. She usually kept it plaited in a braid and bound like a crown around her brow, but when she let it down, it fell over her broad shoulders and straight, tapered back in a rippling tawny wave.

Corson brenn Torisk is the heroine of a series of novels by J. F. Rivkin. John Clute (Encyclopedia of Fantasy) describes Corson as, “a female mercenary in sword-and-sorcery adventures in a brightly drawn fantasyland as she guards the female wizard [Lady Nyctasia] who has hired her.”

J. F. Rivkin is a pseudonym of two otherwise unidentified women authors, sometimes joint and sometimes solo. They have even appeared in person as “J. F. Rivkin (A)” and “J. F. Rivkin (B)”!

Luis Royo provided the covers for the first books. Royo’s Corson is little different from Raven, but only the cover of the Web of Wind reflects the “swimwear” school of fantasy-heroine fashion.

Éowyn

Éowyn is a heroine of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

We first met Éowyn, a daughter of the House of Eorl and the niece of King Théoden of Rohan, in his palace in Meduseld. She was the daughter of Théodwyn (sister to Théoden) and Éomund, and the sister of Éomer. Frustrated by unrequited love for Aragorn and longing for the glory of battle, she disguised herself as a man, and under the alias of Dernhelm, traveled with the Riders of Rohan, carrying with her the hobbit Merry, who was also ordered to remain.

During the battle of Pelennor Fields, she fought by King Théoden; when he was injured when combating the Witch-king of Angmar, lord of the Nazgûl, she and Merry scrambled to help him. Confronting the Witch-king, who boasted, “No living man may hinder me!” she removed her helmet, exposing her long blond hair, and declared, “No living man am I! You look upon a woman.”

Éowyn slew the Witch-king after Merry stabbed him behind the knee. She was granted the title “Lady of the Shield-Arm” after the Battle in recognition of her triumph over the Witch-king.

Guinevere

The Guinevere of Arthurian legend is not normally regarded as a “warrior woman” but she became one in Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (2004)… which was otherwise disappointing. Guinevere is one of the heavily tattooed guerrilla fighters known as the Woads (some conflation of Picts and Celts) led by the mysterious shaman Merlin, who join forces with Roman officer Lucius Artorius Castus (Arthur) and his men against the invading Saxons.

Ilian of Garathorm

The only female avatar of Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion.

Istar

Istar is the heroine of Valery Leith’s Everien series:

• The Company of Glass
• The Riddled Night
• The Way of the Rose

Leith is a pseudonym of sf-author Tricia Sullivan, who says this about the series:

…they were supposed to be light and fluffy, and also they were meant to finance the new SF novel, but in practical terms, they have eaten up all my time and energy, and they are not as light and fluffy as I’d planned. …

The stories are set in a world where the remnants of an ancient and highly advanced civilization cause all manner of trouble for a group of iron-age equivalent warring tribes. There are strange and inscrutable technologies, unconventional monsters, and warped layers of reality; but there are also swords and quests and magical horses.

Raven, Swordsmistress of Chaos

From out of the bonds of slavery there arose a warrior… a warrior feared all across the lands, a warrior whose blade was stained with the blood of thousands – man and beast – who smiled as she killed, with hair as gold as summer sun, eyes as blue as heavens, and a body which invited only love yet dealt bloody, merciless death to her enemies.

Raven, Swordsmistress of Chaos!

The Raven series was written by Richard Kirk, a pseudonym of Robert Holdstock (Mythago Wood, etc.) and Angus Wells (Exile’s Children, etc.). The series was plotted by both authors; they collaborated on the first book, and took turns on the later ones.

• Raven, Swordsmistress of Chaos • Holdstock & Wells
• A Time of Ghosts • Holdstock
• The Frozen God • Wells
• Lords of the Shadows • Holdstock
• A Time of Dying • Wells

Mike Ashley (Encyclopedia of Fantasy) says, “The books are sword and sorcery with more sex and violence than previously common in that genre.”

Chris Achilleos provided the covers for the original Corgi edition, in his typical “bums and boobs” style, giving Raven a fetishistic dress sense in keeping with the illustrations he was doing for Paul Raymond’s girlie magazine Men Only at this time! (Given Ashley’s comment, this seems highly appropriate…)

Luis Royo provided the covers for the Ace editions. Royo’s conception of Raven is more “accurate” and consistent than Achilleos’s, although she does still subscribe to the “swimwear” school of fantasy-heroine fashion… At least she has trousers on in The Frozen God, even if they do look to be made of spandex!

Redfox

Prettier than Conan ― Funnier than Elric ― Shorter than Red Sonja: Redfox ― Another kind of heroine

Redfox debuted in 1984 in a self-published, Xeroxed, A5 comic. She later “went pro”, with a comic series from Harrier Publishing and later from Valkyrie Press – (at least) two collections were published.

Sif

Can a Norse goddess be an S&S heroine? Almost certainly yes — when she’s one of the protagonists in Akira Yoshida’s Thor: Son of Asgard comic series!

The original series follows Thor and his godly companions, Balder and Sif, as they travel the mystical land of Asgard on a quest to gather four mystical elements that Odin will use to craft a powerful new weapon. In the second series, Thor, Balder and Sif are training to be warriors, but their lives take an interesting turn when Amora the Enchantress enters the picture.

Notice that in these tales Sif has dark hair — this is before Loki cut it off and the dwarves (or black elves) fashioned her living hair of real gold (as depicted in Glen Angus’s picture).

In (Advanced) Dungeons & Dragons, Sif is characterised as the goddess of “excellence and skill in battle” — as which she’d certainly an appropriate patron deity for S&S heroines… but this is rather different from her traditional rôle as a goddess of grain and of fertility!

Red Sonya

Many years before Red Sonja… “The Shadow of the Vulture” (The Magic Carpet Magazine; January 1934) introduced this red-haired Russian hellcat, as beautiful as she is deadly, who stands sword-to-sword with her comrade Gottfried von Kalmbach to beat back the Ottoman beseigers of Vienna in 1525.

“Eh, she’s a devil, that one! She drinks the strongest head under the table and outswears a Spaniard. She’s no man’s light o’ love. Cut – slash – death to you, dog-soul! That’s her way.”

“Who is she, in the Devil’s name?” growled von Kalmbach

“Red Sonya from Rogatino – that’s all we know. Marches and fights like a man – God knows why.”

Valeria

A tall, stunning blonde of Aquilonian descent, Valeria is also one of the most feared pirates ever to sail the Western Sea .

After killing a pirate captain who tried to take her against her will, Valeria fled the brotherhood and eventually crosses paths with Conan of Cimmeria, with whom she shares a checkered past.

But when the lost city of Xuchotl tempts her with wealth and plunder beyond her wildest imaginings, events are set in motion that will reverberate unto the deepest pits of hell.

And as Conan and Valeria confront the dangers and intrigues of the lost city, Valeria will find herself starring into the grinning skullface of certain death. She will be forced to place her life, her faith, her very soul into Conan's strong hands for protection.

Yet Conan of Cimmeria is the one man she refuses to trust.

― Conan: Red Nails

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