#afarid

We’ve got Queen Tahaminay: fully capable of holding her own stance in several instances (punishing Gieve because he tricked one of her handmaidens; helping Andragoras etc.) though seemingly cold towards her son Arslan and husband. Towards the end of her arc, however, we’re shown that she’s merely trying to survive in a world where men only wants her for her beauty, and she’s really a victim caught in between.  [I was internally crying so hard during the scene where she and Arslan finally confront each other about Arslan’s origin; she probably tried to love Arslan as her own child but at the same time, she’s so broken about the fact that she doesn’t even know the whereabouts of her own child. She does feel sorry that she’s never given Arslan the affection and care that he’s always wished for and that just fucking broke me.]

Next, we’ve got the crowd favourite Farangis: an aloof priestess, skilled with a bow and arrows, who has sworn to protect the crown prince Arslan. Man, where do I even start with her? She’s just too great of a woman; she’s a fucking goddess. Ahem. Gieve’s flirtatious, silver tongue doesn’t faze her at all; in fact, she either gives him the cold shoulder or even better, talks back to him with such cold, sharp wit that often times than not, Gieve is rendered speechless or impressed (or both). She was shown to be as capable in a battle as any other soldiers, and even more so, when she leads, none of the soldiers even dream of complaining because that is just how good she is. 

法蘭吉絲的英勇和美貌在亞爾斯蘭軍中已經無法遮掩光芒，所以，這五百名騎兵也不會因為受到女性的指揮而有任何羞恥的感覺。相反的，他們反而像是受到天上女神指揮般，分外精神百倍。

Translation:

Within the Parsian army, the light of Farangis’ beauty and gallantry cannot be concealed. Thus, these five hundred cavalrymen do not feel any sense of shame being commanded by a woman. Instead, it seems like they’re being subjected to the commands of the heaven’s goddess as they fight in high spirits.

And then we have Afarid (sp?): only daughter of Zott (sp?) clan's leader and a very energetic and cheerful young lady who’s also quite skilled at archery and horsemanship. Her father actually appointed her as the next leader after his death, but because she does what she wants (’cuz she’s cool like that, and doesn’t care about what others say), she’s decided that she wants to follow Narsus and aims to become his wife in the future. She often provides comic relief in the books when she argues with Elam, but in her own way, she’s also a very strong character: she knows what she wants in life and she’s not afraid to reach for it with her own power. I really admire her determination and single-mindedness in this regard.

We also have Etoile aka. Estelle: a Lusitanian knight who’s loyal to her country and king. Oh yeah, she’s a girl cross-dressed as a boy so that she can fight for her country. She was shown to be quite an extremist at the beginning who’s utterly devoted to her religion and believed that other non-believers are evil. But after her encounter with Arslan and his faction, who provided help for and showed kindness to her and a few other injured Lusitanian citizens, she realizes that not all non-believers are enemies. She’s a brave soul who fights for what she believes in, and not only does she have a compassionate heart for others, but even despite her initial attitude, she’s open-minded and willing to see issues from another perspective and embrace the changes that come along with it.  

In the 9th book of the series, I found another favourite - Parizad (sp?): a wandering dancer who becomes Zandeh’s lover after the two have became travel companions for awhile. It was mentioned in the book that Zandeh literally has no special skills other than his sword-fighting and strength, so he was actually depending on Parizad to earn money for their travel expenses all this time. She’s clever and observant; she’s the one who points out how suspicious the - later known as fake - Silver Mask / Hirmiz is, which causes Zandeh to snap out of his blind loyalty and actually take action, and she’s smart enough to gather intelligence on her own accord without raising any suspicions. Better yet: SHE FUCKING SURVIVED while Zandeh died during their escape. I hope she stays alive and well until the end, and maybe avenge Zandeh’s death along the way or something. She’s always arguing with him, so I’m not certain how deep her affection for him goes, but I think she cares, at least a little bit.  Yo, ok she’s even better than I imagined because this is what she said:

「查迪，你等著吧，我會痛宰密斯魯國王跟他的手下，為你雪恥，不然我會一直做惡夢，更不好意思一個人得到幸福。」

Translation:

“Zandeh, just you wait. I’ll pummel the King of Misr and his men to avenge you, or else I’ll continue to have nightmares, and I’d be ashamed to gain happiness for myself.” 

Instead of wanting to avenge his death because she is so in love with him, Parizad’s decided to do this partly for herself. In a way, she cares about him enough to avenge his death, but at the same time, she’s ALSO thinking about her own happiness, and I don’t know, it just makes me very happy to see that? That a woman doesn’t live or die for a man, or something like that? 

She’s also quite a forward-thinking lady. This is a scene from when she’s found to have stayed the night with Parahuda - one of Estelle’s companions - in the 11th book:

年輕的帕爾斯姑娘一點也沒有發怵，穿著睡衣從陽台走出來，用明朗和沉著的口氣發表著意見，沒有丈夫的女人和沒有妻子的男人，沒有被其他人強制，也沒有一方勉強另一方，出於自願因愛而交合應該沒什麼問題。

Translation:

The young Parsian girl was not timid as she strolled out from the balcony in her sleeping gown. With a clear and calm tone, she began to voice out her comment: it shouldn’t be a problem for an unmarried woman and an unmarried man - without being forced by others or by one side of the party -  to voluntarily have intercourse with each other out of love.

In the 10th book, there’s Layla - poor Layla: she’s a priestess-in-training and has a very honest heart, who helps defenceless women fight against rude men who try to take advantage of them. She’s a very bright and happy girl, very skilled in martial arts with a club/stick. This is a lovely description from Afarid’s point of view:

蕾拉露出開朗的笑容，肩上毫不費力的扛著裝滿洋蔥的籃子。

沒有多餘的動作，舉手投足之間充滿了柔軟、彈性與節奏感；一旦動起來就象一隻雌獅子，其爆發力足以扯斷髮條，亞爾佛莉德暗自表示欽佩，正因為亞爾佛莉德自己年紀雖輕卻也是身經百戰的強者，所以才看得出這一點。

Translation:

Layla let out a bright smile as she effortlessly carried a basket full of onions over her shoulders. 

There were no unnecessary movements, and in between her gestures were softness, flexibility, and rhythm; once she moved, she was like a lioness, her explosive force was enough to tear apart clockwork. Afarid secretly admired her form, and it was precisely because she was young yet experienced and strong herself that she was able to see that.  

Does Afarid have a crush on her or what? Anyway, something unfortunate happened to her, so I hope she’ll turn out okay in the end.

In the 11th book, I found another interesting lady - Fitna: a Parsian girl who’s spent most of her life in East Nabatae without knowing who her parents were. She was raised by foster parents, who are quite well-off from the business they run, and had a pretty easy life until their business goes bankrupt. She’s then sent to become Hossain III’s concubine, but not before she made a deal with Hirmiz, whom she’d promised to help take over the Misr throne, and if successful, Hirmiz will take her as wife/queen. Her relationship with Hirmiz is going to be very interesting, I think, but just herself as a character is pretty great, too. I really like her philosophy in life - she’s really ambitious and I applaud her for it:

「若是非得變成討厭的男人所擁有的東西，那就挑身份地位高的男人吧！可能的話最好是國王。如果只是找到街上的有錢人，我可不能忍受自己便宜地被賣掉啊！」

雖然費特娜是個美麗的女孩，但是在那巴達東王國里，應該也有好幾個人比她更美麗的吧？但是，像費特娜這種審慎思考自己的價值，然後決心把這個價值活用到最大限度的人，真的只有她一個。

Translation:

“If one is forced to become nasty men’s possessions, then one has to pick a man with high social stature! A king would be best. If it’s only some rich men on the street, I cannot bear to be sold cheaply to them!”

Even though Fitna was a beautiful girl, but in the kingdom of East Nabatae, there were possibly a few people whose beauty exceeded hers? However, Fitna was really the only one who’d carefully consider her own value, and then decided to utilize it to its maximum worth.

 You know what else about her is awesome? This:

「女人的幸福是由男人創造的。」

雖然養母這麼說，但是對費特娜來說，這句話是不對的。

「女人的幸福要由自己去掌握。與其說現實生活是由男人創造，不如說我所需要的是鑒別男人的眼光！」

Translation:

“Women’s happiness is created by men.” Even though her foster mother said that, but to Fitna, this statement is wrong. 

“Women’s happiness is within the grasp of their own hands. It’s not so much that real life is created by men, but rather that what I need is the vision to identify men!”

I think what she meant is that she doesn’t believe that a woman should be pushed around by the wants and wishes of men, but that women themselves should take matter into their own hands and fight for their own happiness. All good stuff though, all good stuff.