Confession: I don’t like a lot of women characters in fiction. On the one hand, you’ve got the one-note damsels in distress, which we’ve largely moved away from as a society. On the other hand, we’ve overcorrected with the tough girlboss trope that largely masculinizes women. Neither extreme lends itself well to creating and presenting interesting, compelling, and/or relatable women in stories. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think all “damsels in distress” are poorly developed characters, nor am I against women warriors in stories. But what I do want are female characters who are realistic, complex, and feminine. And, thankfully, there are women characters who hit that mark for me. Here are nine of the female characters I find most compelling:

Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings: Admittedly, I used to give Eowyn a hard time and not like her very much. Part of that stems from her portrayal in the Peter Jackson films, which—much like her eventual husband Faramir’s character—removes some of the nuance and motivations of her character from the book. After I wrote an academic paper analyzing her character, though, I came around to really like her character. (A lot of time analyzing a text will do that to you, I suppose.) Instead of seeing just a woman who rides fatalistically into battle because she didn’t get the man she wanted, I recognized the deeper motivations behind Eowyn’s character. She’s looking for purpose in a chaotic world. She wants to be involved in changing that world, in fighting for what she loves, even if that desire to fight is misplaced. She makes mistakes, but then learns from it, eventually finding contentment with her station and recognizing joy in what she was made to do. Eowyn embodies, in many ways, Tolkien’s value for the virtue of humility, and that’s what makes her a rich and interesting character.

Shallan from The Stormlight Archive: Like Eowyn, I actually didn’t like Shallan too much at first, specifically in the later books of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, but on my most recent reread, I found deeper appreciation for her. Reading the whole series back-to-back helped me follow her journey a little bit better, and I think I’ve grown personally since my first read-through in ways that now makes Shallan’s own struggles relatable. Specifically, Shallan struggles with anxiety and identity, in a way that comes across to me as similar to how women in our society often struggle with the same issues. I also appreciate how Shallan’s combat is portrayed; she is realistic in her inexperience. Despite her magical abilities and Shardblade, she doesn’t insist on fighting, nor does she suddenly and inexplicitly become a gifted warrior. Rather, her main contributions are her practiced skill of art and her own cunning. I see Shallan as one of the best modern female characters of recent media, for sure.

Hermoine from Harry Potter: Hermoine is the epitome of female bookworm, and I’ve always found her relatable as a result. After all, I was kind of a Hermoine myself as a girl: a bit of a know-it-all who loves her books. I know many other female friends feel the same way about her as well. Like a lot of the female characters I adore, Hermoine demonstrates that knowledge is power and heroism doesn’t just involve physically fighting. While I’m a fan of her movie depiction, I do think her portrayal in the books is even more relatable: it highlights her awkwardness and insecurities, which I think a lot of young women (myself included) can relate to.

Mulan from Mulan: To clarify, I’m talking about the original Disney animate Mulan; I still have yet to even watch the live-action.And maybe you find it odd to find Mulan on this list at all, since she does, on the surface, seem to fall into that “warrior girlboss” trope. But I’m not convinced she does fit that mold, at least not very much. I’ve always liked Mulan as a character, in part because of her motivations. She’s driven into action by a desire to protect her family and because she doesn’t feel like she fits in with other girls. Both of these motivations resonate with me: I’m very close to my own family, and because of my own “nerdy” interests, I’ve struggled to connect with other women my age at different points in my life. Plus, I also like that Mulan’s femaleness is a weakness in the army. Not only does she stumble through trying to act masculine, which is not natural for her and creates tension in the movie, but she physically can’t keep up with the men as they train. To overcome both weaknesses, she falls back to her own wit and resourcefulness, which also contributes to how she saves the day. That realism and relatability behind Mulan’s character is why I find her an excellent example of the type of women I want to see more of in fiction.

Rapunzel from Tangled: Rapunzel is the perfect Disney Princess. She is extremely feminine and spunky, and an all-around likeable character. Rapunzel is also complex: she feels isolated, but wants to follow the rules and respect her “mother,” two desires that come into conflict with each other and make her a more interesting character to watch. She also takes a very active role in her own story, but is not the sole hero. Flynn Rider still swoops in to rescue her in the climax of the movie, though it is fair to say that Rapunzel shares that mantle of “hero” with him, as her sacrifice saves his life. Rapunzel, more than any other Disney Princess, strikes the perfect balance between the “traditional” princess in need of a hero and a more modern, relatable female protagonist young girls can look up to.

Isabella from Phineas and Ferb: I absolutely adore Isabella. In many ways, she is like Tangled’s Rapunzel: spirited, sweet, and feminine. She also plays a very important role in the series as a whole. Her crush on Phineas, which he’s completely oblivious to, adds to her relatability, as it’s an experience I and many other girls can certainly identify with. Though in a show like Phineas and Ferb, character development isn’t super present over the course of the series, Isabella nevertheless stands out as an important member of the show’s cast, and is another stellar female character many can admire.

Zelda from The Legend of Zelda: If you didn’t know, the Zelda of The Legend of Zelda series is not the same character, but different iterations of the same character across generations. Regardless, the Zeldas of the video game series all share similar traits, so it’s easy to group them all together. Specifically, though, I’ll shout out the Zelda of Breath of the Wild as one of my favorite portrayals of Princess Zelda, because she has to grapple with failure, which is where her relatability factor comes in. She’s also a scholar in that iteration, which is another source of personal identification for me. I also appreciate how Echoes of Wisdom, the most recent release in the series where Zelda herself is finally the playable character, makes her trait of wisdom as the central piece of the gameplay. Rather than just swinging a sword like Link, the game requires you to channel wisdom, relying on creativity and problem-solving, in order to progress. As a general note, I love that Zelda is the embodiment of wisdom, as it’s often an association I hear with femininity in the context of biblical teaching. Zelda is far from weak, but she does not need to be a warrior to prove it.

Melia from Xenoblade Chronicles: I actually like a lot of the female characters in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, but Melia definitely stands out as one of the best. She is elegant, poised, and graceful, and like Zelda, her combat abilities revolve around intelligence and strategy rather than physical strength. Melia’s gameplay is a little tricky to figure out, but is very fun to use once you get the hang of it. Beyond her gameplay, Melia has layers to her that make her extremely memorable and fascinating as a character. She struggles with some unrequited love for the game’s main protagonist, experiences painful loss, and goes onto wrestle with deep loneliness—aspects many others can relate to.

Sena from Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Out of the gaming list, Sena is very much a warrior, wielding a massive hammer bigger than she is, but she does it without compromising her own femininity. (It also helps that she’s a superhuman, basically.) Sena is cute, bubbly, and extremely kindhearted, which makes an interesting contrast to her combat prowess. Her struggle also strikes me as a commonly female one: she has a deep desire to be liked by those around her, and even tries to change pieces of her personality and bearing to try and earn that love. In the game’s story, Sena can go a little under the radar—she’s commonly seen as the most underdeveloped by fans—her portrayal is nonetheless strong, and it’s easy to see why she is so beloved.

There you have it—these nine women are the characters I see as strong, capable, relatable, and interesting. They are the ones I look to as models for my own female characters. And I love that these exemplars are not all the same: some are fighters, some show strength in wisdom, and some fall in-between those two. But all of them are relatable to me personally, and to many other fans—and that’s what matters most, I think, when writing characters.

Who are some of your favorite fictional women?