Metroid/Samus Aran

She’s almost always on her own dealing with a horde of alien enemies but does it well.

Though, she does have a bad habit of losing her suit’s features and abilities on nearly every mission she’s on lol

Ron Swanson

Someone already said Susannah Dean so I'm gonna go with Roz from Frasier

First who popped into my mind was Friday Jones from Robert A. Heinlein's Friday.

For me, I respect female characters who are written strong but not mean or "buff". Your character doesn't need to be a dick or on steroids to be strong. A strong person can be kind and compassionate, just not capitulate under pressure. I also don't believe being "independent" means you can't love someone and lean on them in times of need, it just means you aren't defined by the relationship.

• Bastila Shan from KOTOR
• Mustang from Red Rising
• Rita from Groundhog Day
• Hermione from Harry Potter (if only JK respected ALL women)
• Dottie from A League of Their Own
• Mulan from Mulan
• Ellie from The Last of Us Part 2
• Freya from God of War

Princess Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles

The first one I thought of was Mara Jade.

Fuck you Disney!

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Tiffany Aching.

About half the cast of Fullmetal Alchemist (Olivier Mira Armstrong, Izumi Curtis, Riza Hawkeye, Winry and Pinako Rockbell, Lan Fan, Mai Chang, Chris Mustang... and I'm sure I'm missing some).

Oh, and friggin' Chell, of course. Makes you almost feel sorry for GLaDOS.

Tina Fey. And I don’t care that she’s not fictional. She’s a badass and needs to be recognized. But if I had to play by the rules…

Liz Lemon.

Because shes played by someone I admire.

Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist

Hyacinth Bucket (ITS BOUQUET)

Only Brits or BBC International viewers will know this character but Catherine Cawood from Happy Valley.

And obviously Ellen Ripley, Dana Scully and Sarah Connor.

Elastigirl

Susan Sto Helit Aka the lady Susan Death.

Garnet (Steven Universe)

Mirko!

Margot is also amazing, but she's not independent IMO. She's very emotionally hooked. Not in a bad way, mind you. She's like a shounen protagonist who screams for 5 episodes because her friend was threatened and somehow a nation collapses as a result.

High King Margot is a great answer

For me, I thought of Linda Carter’s Wonder Woman and then Captain Rachel Garrett, commander of the USS Enterprise, 1701-C

1. No one has mentioned Princess Leia. Does she qualify? She later became a general but I haven't seen that episode.

2. All the characters I recognize in this thread are primarily written by men. That can't be good. I haven't seen Barbie though.

Off the top of my head - all of Lady Parts, Lydia West as Jill Baxter in It's a Sin, Toni Collette as Muriel and Rachel Griffiths as Rhonda in Muriel's Wedding, Parminder Nagra as Jess in Bend It Like Beckham, Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in The Fifth Element, Natalie Portman as Evey in V for Vendetta

Margot was so awesome. Really loved that show.

Edit: Well, I loved the first three seasons, anyway. 😑

Cate Blanchett's portrail of Elizabeth I (who I know was real, but I'm sure there was some creative license with the character).

Mirko from the popular My Hero Academia anime/manga series.

She doesn't take crap from anyone and fearlessly goes into battle.

Taarna

The Boss, MGS

Not Big Boss, the man with the eye patch and is a bad guy, the woman who taught him and the mother of Ocelot

She was such a badass woman that she inspired basically everyone around her to try to mold the world in the way they thought she saw it. Shes a great example of a woman/mother who's a badass directly because of the skills normally associated with those roles. Yeah, she can fight and kick your main characters ass, but that's mostly because she's spent time nurturing him and caring for him to the point where he emotionally cannot fight her. She regularly disarms strong, imposing men (some with superpowers like lightning channeling) by just looking at them sternly and implying she's about to call them by all 3 of their names in a disapproving tone

Time and again she does badass things while she's alive, and her death is technically the catalyst for the rest of the series as those who loved and admired her try to shape the world as she saw it, which isn't even something she herself did because of her loyalty to her country.

Oh and she's voiced by the same woman who does Pearl from SpongeBob, which is wild

Agatha Heterodyne from Girl Genius.

And a lot of her friends too.

Ignoring the shit show that is Rings of Power, Galadriel, Luthien, Arwen, Eowyn, and Nienna.