Ok, but can we talk about the most overlooked female characters from ABD's "betrayer"?
I get why y'all love Lotara - don't get me wrong, I'm obsessed with her. She's my blorbo and poor little meow meow, after all. But what's sad is that other female characters are completely overlooked by the fandom, although they deserve as much attention as Lotara and Cyrene have.
Note that it's not a Cyrene and Lotara hate post and I don't encourage anyone to hate them - in fact, it's the opposite. Warhammer fans, especially the female ones, should simp over women harder.
The first woman I'd like to talk about is Keeda Bly, moderati secundus of the Syrgalah. Honestly, I love everything about her. She's got a short background story which makes her way deeper. On a surface level, she's just a silly girl, but the fact that she's a former enslaved child soldier makes it look like a coping mechanism. As if she must have this light attitude, otherwise, if she'll take the situation with all seriousness, she'd be mentally unwell. Her relationship with Toth Kol looks interesting too. It truly doesn't matter whether they're friends or lovers, it works either way and that's the reason I love them so much. Whatever is between them, it's not spoiled by heteronormativity. They're equal: both are silly, both are good pilots. Toth doesn't treat her differently only because she's a woman (for a comparison, both Lotara and Cyrene were called wh*res by Delvarus and Angron), she's never a damsel in distress - in fact, it's the other way around and she's the one who saved Toth. Keeda is an empowered woman, but not a power fantasy - sometimes, she acts unwise, worries about her comrade, grieves the princeps and experiences fear of her own death. Perhaps, she's the most relatable character of the entire book. Besides that, I adore how her relationship with Toth has "yes, life is rough, war is horrible and the reasons why it's happening are beyond our comprehension, but it's not that bad as long as we're by each other's side" vibe. Note, btw, that they both declined Audun's promotion so they can stay on Syrgalah together. Isn't that adorable?
The other female character is Lehralla, the scrymistress of the Conqueror. Not gonna lie, I have mixed feelings about her. It feels like she's there only to provide shock value and be a named woman who talks with Lotara about something other than men, so they can pass the Bechdel test. On top of that, she's definitely not a good disability rep. But there's something about her that stuck in my head. Undeniably, Lehralla is cute. But the position she stuck in isn't cute. She's surgically bounded to the console, which means no freedom of movement, no privacy and no body autonomy. I wish the psychological aspect of her condition was elaborated in the book, but unfortunately there was so little about her and she doesn't appear in any other book. Yet, I wonder how she felt. Did she ever regret anything? Did she want to be free? Lehralla is a mysterious woman and I love it about her. Also, consider this: there's a huge yuri potential between Lotara and Lehralla.
