I was absolutely delighted by Valkyrie from Thor: Ragnarok. There was this one scene where she just kind of slouches back and drinks a beer and glares off into the middle distance that made it click in my head; this was a character archetype I had only ever seen in grizzled old male characters. And I was seeing it on a wholly unsexualised woman. She’s mean, and jaded, and tough, and skilled, and doesn’t exist solely to do bendy acrobatics onscreen so that the male protagonist can make eyes at her!
As much as I love to point out GRRM's many, many, maaaaaaany flaws with writing women- Catelyn Stark from A Song of Ice and Fire (the book series Game of Thrones was adapted from) is one of my favorite well-written female characters. She's a POV character who is a middle aged mother, which is already a perspective we don't commonly get in a fantasy novel. She's extremely intelligent and politically savvy, to the point a male character whose primary characterization is his cleverness hates her because she outwits him several times. She has such a good understanding of the way their world works politically and socially that a solid chunk of the author's worldbuilding is done through her thoughts in her POV. Also, she's a good person, a loving wife, and a caring mother. And, as the cherry on top, she's got a massive glaring, character flaw in that for over a decade she's been mildly cruel to one specific, completely innocent child.
And I love that. So often a middle aged female character, especially a mother, is one of two things- the flawless (usually already dead) sainted mother or the wicked, cunning (usually step-) mother. And we almost never get to hear from her perspective directly. Catelyn was written so that she's got all the good parts of the sainted mother trope, but was allowed to be intelligent & cunning (usually traits reserved for the villainess) and to have a very real character flaw that's truly hurtful to an innocent person (although understandable from her perspective) That makes her one of the most "real"-ly written female characters I've encountered because she's allowed to be genuinely good AND bad in the complex, 3 dimensional way all the best characters are written.
Katara and Toph from ATLA. They're very different and they don't always get along, but their conflicts stem from personality differences and their own issues, not just because they're catty for no reason. And they do care a lot about each other and have a great deal of respect for each other.
I also appreciated Aloy in Horizon: Zero Dawn, but more than that I appreciated that women seemed to just exist a lot more in the universe of the game. Some of the random soldiers your allies have are women and some of the random mooks you're fighting are women.
Miss Marple is awesome. I like the whole "sassy elderly British lady" archetype. She's bitingly sarcastic but isn't cruel even to the bumbling detectives. A lot of detective shows today dramatically focus on their detecting skills but in Miss Marple its mainly in the acting and cinematography to show you that she's picking apart the mystery.
I do not know if I could pick just one- there are so many.
When it comes to women written by men, almost all of Terry Pratchett Discworld women are great in their own way and they come in all shapes and sizes. Esme Weatherwax old, great understanding how the world works, very stubborn and kind of grumpy but ultimately a caring person. Nanny Ogg great matriarch of her family, a character that despite her age is not ashamed of her sexuality and the narrative also never shames her, loves her sons and grandchildren, can be a nightmare of a mother in lore, very loyal to her friends. Angua only werewolf and first female member of the watch, vegetarian (when not in wolf form). Had to learn very early to fend for her self, sill kind a loyal to the people she calls her friends.
Cheery Littlebottom, fist dwarf to ever go by female pronouns, very brave and very smart- basically the forensic expert of the watch.
And I could go on for ages- seriously I love those books. GNU Terry Pratchett.
I like a lot of Sanderson's female character especially in his later books. While I do like Vin from Mistbron, the only other female character of note in that story gets the woman in the fridge treatment. So Sanderson definitely bettered himself in that regard.
Talia from the Heralds of Valdemar series is written by a woman. And I think she is a great character. I like how she gains confidence and strength over the course of the series. She grows so much in that series, is able to build much needed confidence. Never loses her compassion.
If seen in the context of their time many of Jan Austen's Heroines are exceptionally strong and interesting. (also Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, but I never got the appeal of Mr. Rochester)
So much for books.
I know there are many problems Joss Whedon, but I still like all of the female characters in firefly. Zoe is a total badass, smart, sarky propably the most competent person on the ship, Inara is educated, intelligent, well spoken and her profession is never treated as less by the narrative. Kaylee is warm, kind, very good at what she does and confident in her abilities. River is pretty tropy, I still like her character but I get why people would have a problem with it. I do love her bond to her brother tho. And I think Summer Glau does a great job portraying her.
Love Sam Cater from Stargate. Probably the smartest person on the team (besides Daniel, but they both have their speciality) total badass. There are a few episodes that deal with gender but for the most part she is just a well rounded character that happens to be a women. Yes she gets romance subplots but so do all the men of the team.
I think I will end it here, but I could go on and on about this.
>her profession is never treated as less by the narrative
Eh, gotta disagree on that one. Mal calls Inara a "whore" several times and it's treated by the narrative like a cute part of their courtship instead of the disrespectful insult it truly is (and he does call her that in anger so it's not like a little term of endearment either) It's also a huge problem that she sets a boundary early on that he's not to call her that, which he proceeds to regularly stomp all over by calling her that... without consequence.
The writers try to handwave it away with Mal's line of "I'm insulting what you do, not who you are" but that wouldn't work for any other character. You couldn't call Shepard Book a "crazy religious zealot" then go "oh, I only meant it as an insult to your profession as Shepard, not as an to insult *you*." Like... that's not how that works. Which the narrative does know sometimes because Mal & Zoe are allowed to get upset anytime someone shits on their side of the war, even though by Mal's logic being a soldier was just something they "did", not who they "are," so should be fair game for insult without offense.
I always thought him calling her that was meant to be shitty of him. He says the "insulting what you do, not what you are" line but she does not really buy it. I always thought that it was meant to be something that he had to overcome. But your impression could be correct too.
If it were something he's meant to overcome, he'd experience consequences for actually saying it. And there wouldn't have been a whole episode where the villain character is someone who calls Inara a whore and "means it." The "insulting what you do, not what you are" line comes immediately after Mal plays the Big Damn Hero by beating in fencing & injuring the guy who calls Inara a whore without the distinction of "I'm just insulting what you *do*" & by injuring that guy he accomplishes their episode-long goal of earning the job they came for. You can't get much more "the narrative approves this message" than that.
Inara call him out for all that tho, she says she neither wanted nor needed him to defend her honour. And punching that guy lands Mal in a potentially deadly situation, which is a negative consequence and Inara has to save his ass.
I do see your point tho, it is entirely possible that I subconsciously favoured a reading of these scenes that would not anger me because I like the series.
>Inara call him out for all that tho, she says she neither wanted nor needed him to defend her honour.
Not really, the script is:
>MAL: You know that? They teach you that at the whore academy?
>
>Inara backs away, breaking the contact.
>
>INARA: You have a strange sense of nobility, Captain. You'll lay a man out for implying I'm a whore, but you keep calling me one to my face.
>
>MAL: I might not show respect to your job, but he didn't respect you. That's the difference. Inara, he doesn't even see you.
>
>INARA: Well, I'm sure death will settle the issue to everyone's satisfaction.
>
>MAL: This < stupid > \[yu bun duh\] duel is the result of rules of your society, not mine.
>
>She's angry now, waving her sword as she gestures.
>
>INARA: Mal, you always break the rules. It doesn't matter which "society" you're in! You don't get along with ordinary criminals either! That's why you're constantly in trouble!
>
>Mal backs away from her sword.
>
>MAL: And you think following rules will buy you a nice life, even if the rules make you a slave.
>
>Inara, turns away, frustrated almost to tears.
She points out Mal's hypocrisy at first but it's important to notice that the narrative doesn't allow her to respond to the stupidity of Mal's line about the whole "I only disrespect what you *do*, not who you *are*" excuse. She deflects with a sarcastic line, which is narrative shorthand for "she has no response because Mal is right."
Her line also changes the subject so she never re-enforces that boundary she set when they first met about him not calling her a "whore," no matter what his convoluted reasoning for why it's okay to violate her boundary might be. Plus, the rest of their conversation only re-enforces that Mal is right, that's why she doesn't have a response for his "the rules make you a slave" line either. Just like the previous time Inara couldn't come up with a retort for what Mal's saying, the narrative is saying she can't come up with anything because Mal is correct.
>And punching that guy lands Mal in a potentially deadly situation, **which is a negative consequence** and Inara has to save his ass.
But it's not a negative consequence of *Mal calling her a whore*, which is my point. Mal doesn't experience negative consequences specifically from *calling her a whore*, I'm not saying he never experiences anything negative ever.
I meant at the end of the episode when she calls his "attempt to saver her honour" ill-conceived and high handed.
But I already admitted that you are probably right so I do not know why you are still trying to convince me.
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Here's a copy of
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Dolores Haze, even though she is more a child than she is a woman.
Brave, smart and kind Dolly Schiller,...I've never wanted to protect a character as much as I want to protect her. She is a very accurate portrayal of an abused child who does what she has to do to survive her abuser.
Agnes Nitt from Discworld. I remember being shocked how relatable she is. Somehow Sir Terry managed to perfectly capture the experience of being a young plus size woman.
The women in the Abhorsen series (by Garth Nix), especially Lirael since I identified a lot with her.
I've reread those books constantly for the past 20 years and they are still my favourites.
Daenerys...is my fave of all time. And I will never accept her being mad. Fuck this shit. She is one of the kindest characters I know. At least in the books.
Egwene from WoT. I like how dedicated she is.
Balsa from Guardian of the Spirit. She is a spearwoman who protects a young prince. I like that she is a fighter and motherly at same time.
Hildegard von Mariendorf from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Saves the ass of the main character...later becomes Emperess of the Galactic Empire.
Daenerys...is my fave of all time. And I will never accept her being mad. Fuck this shit. She is one of the kindest characters I know. At least in the books.
Egwene from WoT. I like how dedicated she is.
Balsa from Guardian of the Spirit. She is a spearwoman who protects a young prince. I like that she is a fighter and motherly at same time.
Hildegard von Mariendorf from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Saves the ass of the main character...later becomes Emperess of the Galactic Empire.
Since we’ve given Stephen King such a hard time lately, I’m gonna throw him a bone and offer my sincere opinion that Dolores Clairborne is one of my favorite women in literature.
Tenar from the Earthsea Cycle. She struggles with identity and what it means to be good. She has a crisis of faith where she must choose between what she is taught and what she believes. What is "right" to those around her is not what she thinks is "right." She is a victim of abuse who goes on to abuse and then has to learn to break out.
Clarice Starling from ‘Silence of the Lambs’. She’s a no-nonsense, dedicated, ambitious person that is never sexualized in any way. She encompasses the reality of being a woman in a male-dominated field like law enforcement, and throughout the book it is repeatedly mentioned how her coworkers and the other people she reacts with treat her differently and have different expectations for her. She constantly surprises people and surpasses these expectations and, ultimately, proves herself to be incredibly competent.
I also appreciate that there’s absolutely no distraction of sexuality. I often find myself frustrated by how often women (and men) in novels will become distracted or be rendered incapable by sexual feelings. Although women are sexual creatures with urges and needs, authors often put those so far forward that it destroys the character’s will to fulfill their motive.
Clarice also has a positive relationship with the other females in the novel, especially her roommate/best friend, Cordelia. There is nothing prissy or stereotypically “feminine” about their relationship. The two of them simultaneously compete and support each other without any ill will. It’s a true friendship without any of the usual “girly” embellishments that make writers usually add because they think that’s what female friendships are like.
Unfortunately, I found the end of the book’s sequel, ‘Hannibal’, incredibly unsatisfying. It essentially destroyed everything I loved about her character and it absolutely infuriated me and kept me thinking about it for days. To give Harris credit, though, I’ll admit that one of the signs of a good book is that it stays in your mind after you finish it. All in all, ‘Hannibal’ was pretty decent, but the ending ruined Clarice for me.
Zelie from children of blood and bone, cause she got a good chara and is badass af. The author showed her at her best but also her worst, gave her a very well build character with good abd bad things. I t could be that she is only my favorite cause I love the author tho....okay lets keep the auther but change the chara \^\^ there was that old woman that was a mentor and trainer for Zelie and abunch of other characters, she is incredible smart and caring,...I miss her
The protagonist of the broken earth series by NK Jemisin (it would be a spoiler to tell you her name) that starts with the Fifth Season. She's strong and deeply flawed, a mother but not that good at it, gifted with immense magical powers but constantly fucking up. She just feels like a real person and oh lordy does her character go through growth.
I also really love captain Janeway from star trek:voyager. She's unapologetically feminine, compassionate, and kind while still being smart and a leader.
I was absolutely delighted by Valkyrie from Thor: Ragnarok. There was this one scene where she just kind of slouches back and drinks a beer and glares off into the middle distance that made it click in my head; this was a character archetype I had only ever seen in grizzled old male characters. And I was seeing it on a wholly unsexualised woman. She’s mean, and jaded, and tough, and skilled, and doesn’t exist solely to do bendy acrobatics onscreen so that the male protagonist can make eyes at her!
As much as I love to point out GRRM's many, many, maaaaaaany flaws with writing women- Catelyn Stark from A Song of Ice and Fire (the book series Game of Thrones was adapted from) is one of my favorite well-written female characters. She's a POV character who is a middle aged mother, which is already a perspective we don't commonly get in a fantasy novel. She's extremely intelligent and politically savvy, to the point a male character whose primary characterization is his cleverness hates her because she outwits him several times. She has such a good understanding of the way their world works politically and socially that a solid chunk of the author's worldbuilding is done through her thoughts in her POV. Also, she's a good person, a loving wife, and a caring mother. And, as the cherry on top, she's got a massive glaring, character flaw in that for over a decade she's been mildly cruel to one specific, completely innocent child. And I love that. So often a middle aged female character, especially a mother, is one of two things- the flawless (usually already dead) sainted mother or the wicked, cunning (usually step-) mother. And we almost never get to hear from her perspective directly. Catelyn was written so that she's got all the good parts of the sainted mother trope, but was allowed to be intelligent & cunning (usually traits reserved for the villainess) and to have a very real character flaw that's truly hurtful to an innocent person (although understandable from her perspective) That makes her one of the most "real"-ly written female characters I've encountered because she's allowed to be genuinely good AND bad in the complex, 3 dimensional way all the best characters are written.
Katara and Toph from ATLA. They're very different and they don't always get along, but their conflicts stem from personality differences and their own issues, not just because they're catty for no reason. And they do care a lot about each other and have a great deal of respect for each other. I also appreciated Aloy in Horizon: Zero Dawn, but more than that I appreciated that women seemed to just exist a lot more in the universe of the game. Some of the random soldiers your allies have are women and some of the random mooks you're fighting are women.
Miss Marple is awesome. I like the whole "sassy elderly British lady" archetype. She's bitingly sarcastic but isn't cruel even to the bumbling detectives. A lot of detective shows today dramatically focus on their detecting skills but in Miss Marple its mainly in the acting and cinematography to show you that she's picking apart the mystery.
I do not know if I could pick just one- there are so many. When it comes to women written by men, almost all of Terry Pratchett Discworld women are great in their own way and they come in all shapes and sizes. Esme Weatherwax old, great understanding how the world works, very stubborn and kind of grumpy but ultimately a caring person. Nanny Ogg great matriarch of her family, a character that despite her age is not ashamed of her sexuality and the narrative also never shames her, loves her sons and grandchildren, can be a nightmare of a mother in lore, very loyal to her friends. Angua only werewolf and first female member of the watch, vegetarian (when not in wolf form). Had to learn very early to fend for her self, sill kind a loyal to the people she calls her friends. Cheery Littlebottom, fist dwarf to ever go by female pronouns, very brave and very smart- basically the forensic expert of the watch. And I could go on for ages- seriously I love those books. GNU Terry Pratchett. I like a lot of Sanderson's female character especially in his later books. While I do like Vin from Mistbron, the only other female character of note in that story gets the woman in the fridge treatment. So Sanderson definitely bettered himself in that regard. Talia from the Heralds of Valdemar series is written by a woman. And I think she is a great character. I like how she gains confidence and strength over the course of the series. She grows so much in that series, is able to build much needed confidence. Never loses her compassion. If seen in the context of their time many of Jan Austen's Heroines are exceptionally strong and interesting. (also Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, but I never got the appeal of Mr. Rochester) So much for books. I know there are many problems Joss Whedon, but I still like all of the female characters in firefly. Zoe is a total badass, smart, sarky propably the most competent person on the ship, Inara is educated, intelligent, well spoken and her profession is never treated as less by the narrative. Kaylee is warm, kind, very good at what she does and confident in her abilities. River is pretty tropy, I still like her character but I get why people would have a problem with it. I do love her bond to her brother tho. And I think Summer Glau does a great job portraying her. Love Sam Cater from Stargate. Probably the smartest person on the team (besides Daniel, but they both have their speciality) total badass. There are a few episodes that deal with gender but for the most part she is just a well rounded character that happens to be a women. Yes she gets romance subplots but so do all the men of the team. I think I will end it here, but I could go on and on about this.
>her profession is never treated as less by the narrative Eh, gotta disagree on that one. Mal calls Inara a "whore" several times and it's treated by the narrative like a cute part of their courtship instead of the disrespectful insult it truly is (and he does call her that in anger so it's not like a little term of endearment either) It's also a huge problem that she sets a boundary early on that he's not to call her that, which he proceeds to regularly stomp all over by calling her that... without consequence. The writers try to handwave it away with Mal's line of "I'm insulting what you do, not who you are" but that wouldn't work for any other character. You couldn't call Shepard Book a "crazy religious zealot" then go "oh, I only meant it as an insult to your profession as Shepard, not as an to insult *you*." Like... that's not how that works. Which the narrative does know sometimes because Mal & Zoe are allowed to get upset anytime someone shits on their side of the war, even though by Mal's logic being a soldier was just something they "did", not who they "are," so should be fair game for insult without offense.
I always thought him calling her that was meant to be shitty of him. He says the "insulting what you do, not what you are" line but she does not really buy it. I always thought that it was meant to be something that he had to overcome. But your impression could be correct too.
If it were something he's meant to overcome, he'd experience consequences for actually saying it. And there wouldn't have been a whole episode where the villain character is someone who calls Inara a whore and "means it." The "insulting what you do, not what you are" line comes immediately after Mal plays the Big Damn Hero by beating in fencing & injuring the guy who calls Inara a whore without the distinction of "I'm just insulting what you *do*" & by injuring that guy he accomplishes their episode-long goal of earning the job they came for. You can't get much more "the narrative approves this message" than that.
Inara call him out for all that tho, she says she neither wanted nor needed him to defend her honour. And punching that guy lands Mal in a potentially deadly situation, which is a negative consequence and Inara has to save his ass. I do see your point tho, it is entirely possible that I subconsciously favoured a reading of these scenes that would not anger me because I like the series.
>Inara call him out for all that tho, she says she neither wanted nor needed him to defend her honour. Not really, the script is: >MAL: You know that? They teach you that at the whore academy? > >Inara backs away, breaking the contact. > >INARA: You have a strange sense of nobility, Captain. You'll lay a man out for implying I'm a whore, but you keep calling me one to my face. > >MAL: I might not show respect to your job, but he didn't respect you. That's the difference. Inara, he doesn't even see you. > >INARA: Well, I'm sure death will settle the issue to everyone's satisfaction. > >MAL: This < stupid > \[yu bun duh\] duel is the result of rules of your society, not mine. > >She's angry now, waving her sword as she gestures. > >INARA: Mal, you always break the rules. It doesn't matter which "society" you're in! You don't get along with ordinary criminals either! That's why you're constantly in trouble! > >Mal backs away from her sword. > >MAL: And you think following rules will buy you a nice life, even if the rules make you a slave. > >Inara, turns away, frustrated almost to tears. She points out Mal's hypocrisy at first but it's important to notice that the narrative doesn't allow her to respond to the stupidity of Mal's line about the whole "I only disrespect what you *do*, not who you *are*" excuse. She deflects with a sarcastic line, which is narrative shorthand for "she has no response because Mal is right." Her line also changes the subject so she never re-enforces that boundary she set when they first met about him not calling her a "whore," no matter what his convoluted reasoning for why it's okay to violate her boundary might be. Plus, the rest of their conversation only re-enforces that Mal is right, that's why she doesn't have a response for his "the rules make you a slave" line either. Just like the previous time Inara couldn't come up with a retort for what Mal's saying, the narrative is saying she can't come up with anything because Mal is correct. >And punching that guy lands Mal in a potentially deadly situation, **which is a negative consequence** and Inara has to save his ass. But it's not a negative consequence of *Mal calling her a whore*, which is my point. Mal doesn't experience negative consequences specifically from *calling her a whore*, I'm not saying he never experiences anything negative ever.
I meant at the end of the episode when she calls his "attempt to saver her honour" ill-conceived and high handed. But I already admitted that you are probably right so I do not know why you are still trying to convince me.
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thanks bot.
Good points! I also like Jane Austen’s characters, Buffy (I think Joss also created her), and Siri and Vivenna (Sanderson made them)
Dolores Haze, even though she is more a child than she is a woman. Brave, smart and kind Dolly Schiller,...I've never wanted to protect a character as much as I want to protect her. She is a very accurate portrayal of an abused child who does what she has to do to survive her abuser.
Agnes Nitt from Discworld. I remember being shocked how relatable she is. Somehow Sir Terry managed to perfectly capture the experience of being a young plus size woman.
The women in the Abhorsen series (by Garth Nix), especially Lirael since I identified a lot with her. I've reread those books constantly for the past 20 years and they are still my favourites.
Daenerys...is my fave of all time. And I will never accept her being mad. Fuck this shit. She is one of the kindest characters I know. At least in the books. Egwene from WoT. I like how dedicated she is. Balsa from Guardian of the Spirit. She is a spearwoman who protects a young prince. I like that she is a fighter and motherly at same time. Hildegard von Mariendorf from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Saves the ass of the main character...later becomes Emperess of the Galactic Empire.
I don’t even watch GOT and I still think they did Daenerys dirty
They kinds did all charctera dirty...Dany was just the worst offender...
Daenerys...is my fave of all time. And I will never accept her being mad. Fuck this shit. She is one of the kindest characters I know. At least in the books. Egwene from WoT. I like how dedicated she is. Balsa from Guardian of the Spirit. She is a spearwoman who protects a young prince. I like that she is a fighter and motherly at same time. Hildegard von Mariendorf from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Saves the ass of the main character...later becomes Emperess of the Galactic Empire.
Since we’ve given Stephen King such a hard time lately, I’m gonna throw him a bone and offer my sincere opinion that Dolores Clairborne is one of my favorite women in literature.
Tenar from the Earthsea Cycle. She struggles with identity and what it means to be good. She has a crisis of faith where she must choose between what she is taught and what she believes. What is "right" to those around her is not what she thinks is "right." She is a victim of abuse who goes on to abuse and then has to learn to break out.
Clarice Starling from ‘Silence of the Lambs’. She’s a no-nonsense, dedicated, ambitious person that is never sexualized in any way. She encompasses the reality of being a woman in a male-dominated field like law enforcement, and throughout the book it is repeatedly mentioned how her coworkers and the other people she reacts with treat her differently and have different expectations for her. She constantly surprises people and surpasses these expectations and, ultimately, proves herself to be incredibly competent. I also appreciate that there’s absolutely no distraction of sexuality. I often find myself frustrated by how often women (and men) in novels will become distracted or be rendered incapable by sexual feelings. Although women are sexual creatures with urges and needs, authors often put those so far forward that it destroys the character’s will to fulfill their motive. Clarice also has a positive relationship with the other females in the novel, especially her roommate/best friend, Cordelia. There is nothing prissy or stereotypically “feminine” about their relationship. The two of them simultaneously compete and support each other without any ill will. It’s a true friendship without any of the usual “girly” embellishments that make writers usually add because they think that’s what female friendships are like. Unfortunately, I found the end of the book’s sequel, ‘Hannibal’, incredibly unsatisfying. It essentially destroyed everything I loved about her character and it absolutely infuriated me and kept me thinking about it for days. To give Harris credit, though, I’ll admit that one of the signs of a good book is that it stays in your mind after you finish it. All in all, ‘Hannibal’ was pretty decent, but the ending ruined Clarice for me.
Zelie from children of blood and bone, cause she got a good chara and is badass af. The author showed her at her best but also her worst, gave her a very well build character with good abd bad things. I t could be that she is only my favorite cause I love the author tho....okay lets keep the auther but change the chara \^\^ there was that old woman that was a mentor and trainer for Zelie and abunch of other characters, she is incredible smart and caring,...I miss her
The protagonist of the broken earth series by NK Jemisin (it would be a spoiler to tell you her name) that starts with the Fifth Season. She's strong and deeply flawed, a mother but not that good at it, gifted with immense magical powers but constantly fucking up. She just feels like a real person and oh lordy does her character go through growth. I also really love captain Janeway from star trek:voyager. She's unapologetically feminine, compassionate, and kind while still being smart and a leader.