Could Sarah Kerrigan Be the Female Lead Feminists Have Been Waiting For?
Many people might take this to the extreme, but there is certainly an issue within contemporary media, which is that we do not have many good powerful female leads. The closest thing we have to a powerful female is Sigourney Weaver in Alien, and even she falls prey to many male stereotypes giving her a more masculine, rather than feminine, persona. Similarly characters like The Bride from Kill Bill or Lara Croft in Tomb Raider are oversexualized and thus don’t fulfil the role of the “powerful female lead” that we have all ideally striven for.
The issue with this view, however, is that having a strong female lead is almost impossible as strength is generally a trait associated with males. If the character uses her sex appeal as a weapon, she is oversexualized and thus “invalid”. However, if the character is not attractive whatsoever, she is pretty much a man with female body parts, which, again, only makes her female by sex but not by gender. So, should we throw our arms up in the air and give up on this quest for equality? No, not quite, and the reason for this is Sarah Kerrigan.
You see, video games often have a bad reputation when it comes to female characters. Why? Well, honestly, it is simply a stigma associated with a medium, despite the fact that video games are much more respectful to females than movies, but hey, that’s an article for another day. Now, combine this bad reputation with the fact that Starcraft is a computer-only game and you get an amazing female character that goes completely under the radar (for any normal person that doesn’t play Starcraft), Sarah Kerrigan.
In case you do not know who Sarah Kerrigan is, allow me to explain. She is one of the main characters in the Starcarft universe and currently the commander of the Zerg, one of the three races at war within the universe. As a Zerg, she is often referred to under the pseudonym “Queen of Blades” due to those massive, scary, and very sharp wings that protrude from her back. This woman, however, started out as a Terran (human) ghost, which is essentially a Spec Ops soldier with psychic abilities, before being infested by the Zerg and being forced against her will to become one of them. Now that you know her story, let’s get into why she is so freaking amazing.
First, let’s start with her life as a Terran. She isn’t just any Terran, mind you, she is a gifted human being with the capability of using psychic abilities. She is also adept at using stealth and a variety of weapons. Moreover, as if her combat abilities weren’t enough, she is also a rebel soldier fighting against the all-mighty empire that currently rules over the Terran race. In other words, she is deadly and courageous. She isn’t necessarily strong (though she doesn’t seem weak) if we’re talking about raw strength, but is powerful regardless due to her psychic abilities, thus not becoming part of the stereotypical male gender role, while retaining her power. Moreover, the fact that she is courageous and (we assume) noble, makes her a very admirable and likable character, meaning that she is powerful without becoming what some would refer to as a “bitch.” In fact, sex pretty much transcends this woman if it weren’t for the fact that she is quite attractive.
This is a very important factor. Kerrigan is attractive, thus retaining her female sexuality, but it doesn’t overshadow the rest of her abilities. She isn’t incredibly voluptuous and doesn’t have a godly facial symmetry, but if you saw her on Tinder you’d swipe right, trust me. All in all, she has the body of a soldier, which is what she is supposed to have, but is covered head-to-toe in gear to make sure that this body is not her main defining feature. Moreover, whenever her beauty and sex appeal is commented on, she immediately swats it down with stern disapproval, once more showing her power and the fact that she is more than just a “piece of meat.”
Then comes the big turnaround for this woman (spoilers, I guess, but this game came out in 1997 so if you haven’t played it by now I don’t know what you’re doing) when she is betrayed by the rebels she is helping and is thus turned into a disgusting bug-like alien creature (a Zerg). First of all, let’s remind ourselves that she isn’t a dumb damsel in distress that makes a mistake, but gets saved by a knight in shining armor (which in this case would be good ol’ Jimmy Raynor). No, this is Starcraft, and women die in Starcraft. Her troops or allies are massacred by a bunch of hungry, ravenous aliens and she fights until she is finally captured and then transformed. Mind you, this is all because of an act of betrayal by her boss, friend, and comrade, Arturus Mengsk, so we really can’t start questioning Kerrigan’s tactical abilities because of this.
Anyways, Kerrigan becomes a Zerg and this is where things start getting really interesting. First of all, allow me to show you an image of her, just so we can compliment the magnificent design that Blizzard envisioned.
You see that? She seems to be wearing heels, has a well-defined female body, and an almost attractive human face, but is nonetheless not sexually appealing. I mean, unless you’re into bug-like humans or Zerg in general. Let’s just assume you’re not for the sake of my faith in humanity. The fact that she is so obviously a Zerg, while retaining some human features, allows for the conservation of her female traits while also erasing any sort of sexual thoughts from most players’ minds. This makes it so that Kerrigan can still be a powerful female, but is not sexualized like many others in the film industry.
On top of her appearance, she does gain a some powers and this is simply the cherry on top. Due to the fact that she is a Zerg, she gains certain abilities like the ability to channel lightning (don’t ask me how or why, it makes no sense), jump or move at high speeds, and also claws. Yeah I know, claws isn’t an ability but… claws. Seriously, this thing is terrifying and there is nothing about her, or her abilities, that can remotely be related to the male gender. She is something between female and Zerg, which allows her to be a powerful female, even if not human. The real kicker here is the fact that Zerg units don’t really have a defined sex. Sure, you can say that Zerglings seem like males, and Queens seem like females, but due to the lack of penis models in the Starcraft universe, there is no definite proof of either. Thus, you end up with a sexless race with a female leader. What, honestly, can be more powerful and admirable than this?
Moreover, as if her powerful combat abilities and the fact that she is the leader of a whole race of ravenous creatures weren’t enough, Kerrigan is also extremely intelligent and an interesting balance between good and evil. First of all, it is demonstrated in Starcraft II that she does things out of free will, to some extent. Yes, it is true that the infestation affected her mind, but she is not simply a puppet of the Overmind (the big bad boss among the Zerg) and as time goes on, she becomes the leader of the Zerg because she chooses to, rather than because she is forced to. The Overmind, by the way, has the ability to control every single Zerg unit except for, you know, Kerrigan. She is, in fact, so badass that she creates her very own race of Zerg units, beats both the Overmind and the Primigenios (more evolved and stronger version of the current Zerg) through intelligence and cunning, and, to top it all off, she is literally the reason why the Terran and the Protoss get to live to see another day. Yep, Kerrigan is the center of a prophecy, and without her the world will sink into complete darkness. If that is not a powerful female lead, I don’t know what is.
Before you go and start praising Kerrigan at your Zerg altar, let’s end with one of my favourite aspects of the Starcraft universe, the Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan relationship. Jim Raynor is a Terran that fought alongside Kerrigan and the rebels but who was lucky enough to make it out alive. He then vowed to destroy Mengsk for what he did to Kerrigan. In other words, this guy fell head over heels for her and has been chasing her ever since she became a Zerg. To this day, seeing Kerrigan as a Zerg is one of his most painful memories and he has such an undying love for her that he’ll pretty much wage war on a whole Empire just as revenge. However, though Kerrigan does seem to love him as well, her love is not nearly as strong (or her sense of duty is much stronger) as she abandons Raynor on various occasions and is even willing to fight against him as long as this serves her purpose. This ends up being pretty much straight out of As You Like It as the two characters completely switch gender roles (talking about video game gender roles) and Kerrigan becomes the strong, powerful person while Raynor submits to her awesome might and concentrates solely on being with her. Sure, he does some things along the way, and he is not a weak character by any means, but Kerrigan is so astronomically superior to him that it is weird they would even consider one another possible partners. She is the “Queen of Blades” and the saviour of the universe while he is just a simple outlaw. For once, the female gets the better end of the deal all while remaining female (after all, the guy is still the one chasing and she expects to be courted to some extent).
So, what have we learned today? First of all, Kerrigan is awesome, and anyone who says otherwise should burn at the stake. More importantly, though, we have understood that video games might be the great equalizer of all media. The ability to portray females however one pleases (because you are literally creating them) and the desire to create powerful characters (after all, nobody wants to play a dumb civilian in a video game) might drive this medium to creating the best female characters to date. Perhaps, we should stop accusing video games of sexism simply because GTA V exists, and start looking at those video games that are able to do things that no film has ever been able to do, like how Starcraft managed to create the first truly powerful and truly female character that is also admirable but relatable.