Let’s face it: television, particularly the Hollywood variety, hasn’t been the kindest to it’s female characters. From femme fatales like Lori from The Walking Dead to overly-analytical, nonsensical, uber girly Carrie Bradshaw of The Sex and the City franchise, television has a bleak history of having good, solid, strong female characters. Even the amazing (but outrageously unstable) Carrie Mathison of the hit series Homeland can’t seem to live down certain stereotypes and negative portrayals. This is why I was a bit surprised when I was introduced to some of the best female characters to grace the television.

Shows such as the international sensation Downton Abbey, which gave us the witty, and devilishly delightful Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham and The Walking Dead, which made up for the atrocious Lori by introducing the baddest female zombie slayer, Michonne, are highlighting more courageous, tough, and smart woman characters. Although these shows have their fair share of brilliant, strong, and fierce ladies, no other current show has as many as HBO’s top-ranking series Game of Thrones. Not only is this show a hit due to its creative plot lines and excellent writing, but it’s one of the few shows on television that has a cast full of so many powerful, intelligent, and tenacious females.

Girl Gladiator

From the moment we met Arya Stark, the youngest girl in the Stark clan, we fell for her spunk. Naturally a tomboy, little Miss Stark is not to be messed with. Not only does this young girl have the sword-wielding skills of a well-trained young male warrior, she has the ingenuity and acuteness needed to survive in an environment where she’s surrounded by kingdoms out to see her family’s demise.

(Un) Womanly Warrior

Although we were just introduced to her in the middle of season two, we are totally fixated on Brienne of Tarth. As a chick warrior of House Tarth who is also a member of Renly’s Kingsguard, Brienne can definitely play with the big boys. From her rugged, imposing stature to her short, masculine haircut, Brienne is like no other woman character on any of today’s series’. What makes Brienne even more awesome is that as soon as she’s dismissed as a mannish looking lesbian, we get a glimpse of her sexy side in season three, yet, surprisingly, she still maintains her tough exterior.

Survivor, Queen, Soldier, and Proud Dragon Owner

Gentlemen, don’t bother with candy or waste your money on jewellery, even a lovely bouquet from M&S wouldn’t satisfy this Dothraki queen whose signature phrase “Where are my dragons?” has become a pop culture sensation. All jokes aside, Khaleesi, formerly known as Daenerys Targaryen, may have started out as a delicate, fragile young girl made to a marry a beast of a man, but this sharp, sensible girl soon grew into the fiercest Queen the Dothrakis have ever seen. With her dragons by her side, this Khaleesi is doing fine without a khal as she slowly builds her own army to reclaim her family’s land. Now this lady is truly a boss.

The female characters of Game of Thrones are as important, if not more important in some case, as the male. It is refreshing to see such a sexually balanced epic where fighting and politics are not only done on the battlefield by men, but also women.