[ SECRET POST #2293 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2293 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 105 secrets from Secret Submission Post #328.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

05. http://i.imgur.com/LJhRZkE.jpg

[feotakahari]

Hmm . . . I think Paksenarrion had short hair, but she might not be what you'd consider feminine.

Edit: Oh, I've got one! Alanna from Song of the Lioness! She initially represses her more feminine traits, but she develops into a more complex character over time, and I think I recall her keeping her hair short.

[drakontion]

Paksenarrion had long hair which she kept braided to wear inside her helmet, until it got removed for her.

Other than that, off the top of my head I can't remember any either.

[(Anonymous)]

Tamora Pierce does tend to have short hair on her warrior heroines, precisely because long hair is a hazard. She also goes out of the way to mention that Beka Cooper wears a spiked strap in her braid so no one grabs it.

[othellia]

Can't remember if it was in the actual story or just another case of Book Covers Lie, but I do recall that Alanna has long hair on the covers of Woman Who Rides Like a Man and Lioness Rampant (aka the two that take place after her identity's been revealed).

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, if for some reason you've never read Tamora Pierce - run, don't walk. Not only will most of her heroines hit this particular button of yours, but she's just that awesome.

[(Anonymous)]

The depiction of warrior characters (no matter the gender) with long, flowy hair in Fantasy has always bugged me.
I know it's called "fantasy" for a reason, but why do the enemies never go for the hair? Just like they never aim for the many unprotected bodyparts of a female warrior in "bikini armor", lol.

[(Anonymous)]

Simply because if you're using a bladed weapon, by the time "go for the hair" is a viable option, there are better things you could be doing with your hands.

People did have long flowing locks in many medieval places and fought with them, and it turned out ok.

[(Anonymous)]

Most of the female characters on Shingeki no Kyojin (aka Attack on Titan) have rather short hair and the ones who have them longer than shoulder length often tie them up.
And they're also all wonderful :)

[melannen]

Pretty much all of the heroines in Miyazaki films have short hair! (Which I never noticed until now, but is pretty cool.) And Miyazaki does good fantasy.

In books: Segnbora, the main female character in Diane Duane's "Tale of the Five" novels, has hair that's cut to shoulder-length because "she wants people to know she's a woman but she doesn't have the patience for braids." (A quote I have memorized because it stuck out to me! Short hair = feminine is indeed rare in standard fantasy.) She's a shieldmaid/warrior, but that's not considered unfeminine in her culture.

[(Anonymous)]

If their hair length is the only thing you can relate to in a character.. then I dunno.

[darkmanifest]

It is kind of annoying, isn't it? Though I have to say I find those impractical blond braids insanely cool. And at the very least it's a concession to the fact that all that hair can get in a fighter's face at the worst moment. Sad day when the wind will kill you faster than an actual opponent. Hair ties, goddamn you.

[(Anonymous)]

The Wheel of Time series has a whole set of female warriors who keep their hair short for practical purposes. When other female warriors start sprouting up in the series, it's noted that they tend to keep their hair pulled back if it's long. The downside is that the long hair *is* still regarded as more traditionally feminine in-universe.

[(Anonymous)]

I had really long hair in middle school, and had to cut it off when I started to get bullied because it was the first thing they went for if I ran- easiest way to grab someone and make it hurt quick. So anon, I can relate to this in terms of "warriors should have short hair" and "warrior shouldn't be all of their personality" if that's what you were going for.

[(Anonymous)]

I get you're talking about stereotypes with short and long hair, but warrior =/= masculine and gentle =/= feminine. It's my pet peeve when warrior women are called masculine, it really is. That said, we could have some variety in hair styles with fantasy women, but I personally don't have any problem with the trope that women in medieval inspired societies valued long hair.

[(Anonymous)]

Watch the movie Ladyhawk. The female lead has short hair.

[hateart]

I just watched a movie about Genghis Khan the other day and pretty much all the guys had very long hair. So, many warriors did fight with long hair.

[ariakas]

The, uh, lack of scissors and modern grooming facilities meant that most male warriors had what we would consider long hair back then, too. And beards. Though you're right in that it was generally shoulder-length and tied back or braided, as opposed to waist-length and loose.

When people are fighting with weapons, exposing an arm to a blade just for the chance to yank someone's hair is a lot less practical than you'd think. Physics being what they are, the tip of a lever moves a lot faster than your arm will.

But if you're desperate for short-haired feminine types, there's Min from the Wheel of Time series. (Jordan, I think, thinks he's writing a tomboyish/mascline character in her case, but he isn't even remotely, and drops all pretense the second she falls in love with the protagonist.)

[(Anonymous)]

Check out artemis fowl! It's fantasy, and the main girl (Holly) has short hair C:

[i_paint_the_sky]

I'm with you on the actual warriors one, since yeah, it definitely makes sense. But two of your examples have fighting skills yet aren't particularly meant to do any actual fighting with them, so for them I think long hair makes more sense, given the historical tendencies fantasy has. Almost all women had long hair.

I can think of one short haired female warrior off the top of my head though, which would be Kitiara from the Dragonlance series.

[iggy]

Actually I love that Merida is a tomboy character who has long hair.

[(Anonymous)]

Snow White/Mary Margaret from Once Upon A Time? Maybe not quite what you're looking for, but she's definitely a heroine with short hair. And Regina's hair isn't as short, but shoulder length and a far cry from the ~long flowing locks~ of many fantasy women. Both of them had longer hair in Fairy Tale Land, though.

Also, Sailor Mercury!

[kluify]

I don't get this. Are Arya and Brienne too masculine for you to relate to? I mean, I know within the world of the show their short hair is specifically meant to code them as unfeminine, but that doesn't stop me from thinking they are just as badass and awesome and womanly as, say, long, fabulously haired, short, impractically skirted and big boob-plated Xena. Who is the awesomest. Not to mention that most warrior men in fantasy (and a lot in history) are rockin' the locks too.

Maybe this is just my long hair privilege talking though. *Flips hair like a Pantene Pro-V commercial, preens, walks off like a model, no privilege was checked this day*

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe Amanda from HIghlander and Raven? She's aggressively feminine with a pixie cut and she's a great swordswoman, having survived hundreds of years when most women can't compete and die early. The short hair is modern but she does have medieval flashbacks (with swordplay) where she, unfortunately, has long hair to fit in. So maybe the combination will work for you. She is pretty awesome IMO.

[(Anonymous)]

Not medieval, but Maggie in the Walking Dead keeps her hair cut to her chin (if they go with the comics, she'll eventually cut it even shorter). And she can kick ass, but she's still a feminine girl. Mystique in the X-movies and Catwoman in most of the comics have short slicked-back hair, and though they're tough they're also super femme.

Granted, I don't know exactly why you feel the need to make this distinction, like you can't relate to characters with different hair than yours or who swing around farther on the masculine/feminine scale than you. But in any case there are examples