LF "Unifier hero" stories with a female protagonist.

[Prezombie]

One of my favorite types of heroic protagonist is the one that focuses on being the unifier and diplomat, helping several different factions and/or supporting characters get over their differences for the greater good.

It's a fun way to mix big picture diplomacy with street level action.

Thing is, this figurehead is nearly always male, with only a few exceptions coming to mind, like in reincarnated as a slime, Rimuru explicitly decides on an agendered identity, and some video game protagonists like Shepard in mass effect, have a similar ethos and can be customized to be masculine or feminine without any major differences to the overall story.

Heck, some harem fantasy stories used the trope to drive both the plot and give narrative agency to the love interests, which was pretty cool.

Not really into the FMM+ reverse harem setup, but any other flavor of romance is cool.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

So you want a female to take upon the role of diplomat, because her femininity may cause a new blend in events?

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

Considering how feminist affected my view upon female politicians....I guess I have mostly second thoughts first and foremost.

Also, in every novel, politics are seen to be evil and dangerous that most writers don't try to write, mainly to chinese authors due to how it might affect them in RL. In most cases, we seen politics as scummy yet realistic and we often portray them to be boring to talk about.

There are elements in a story where we add politics to our novels but most readers aren't into the process or how it works and mostly come from the outcome and the strategy of how it affects their environment. Adding female into politics are mostly just fanservice and thats basically it. Nothing really changes other than a politician being female which in this case, you can add gender equalist to females and ended up basically writing a RL politics in a fantasy story where we AVOID adding those people into the story.

 

[TotallyHuman]

I have exactly what you are looking for, but the novel in question isn't translated so if you are okay with it...

悪役令嬢にTS転生したけど俺だけ百合ゲーをする

 

[CupcakeNinja]

One of my favorite types of heroic protagonist is the one that focuses on being the unifier and diplomat, helping several different factions and/or supporting characters get over their differences for the greater good.

It's a fun way to mix big picture diplomacy with street level action.

Thing is, this figurehead is nearly always male, with only a few exceptions coming to mind, like in reincarnated as a slime, Rimuru explicitly decides on an agendered identity, and some video game protagonists like Shepard in mass effect, have a similar ethos and can be customized to be masculine or feminine without any major differences to the overall story.

Heck, some harem fantasy stories used the trope to drive both the plot and give narrative agency to the love interests, which was pretty cool.

Not really into the FMM+ reverse harem setup, but any other flavor of romance is cool.

No, these kind of stories with that kind of protag are common as fuck, you're just reading the wrong kind of stories Why are you looking for those kinds of protags in Asian works? You do realize how conservative they are when it comes to making females protags, right?

 

[NotaNuffian]

...I hate unifiers because they are always so unrealistic, no matter how much of a saint you are, you will always be a villain in someone's eyes.

Also, why did you bring gender into the issue when it is competency we are looking for?

Ps. You can argue about gender roles in the novel, though it is definitely an uphill battle. Let's not lie about the issue of gender discrimination, be it for male or female.

 

[Reyezwriting]

...I hate unifiers because they are always so unrealistic, no matter how much of a saint you are, you will always be a villain in someone's eyes.

Also, why did you bring gender into the issue when it is competency we are looking for?

Ps. You can argue about gender roles in the novel, though it is definitely an uphill battle. Let's not lie about the issue of gender discrimination, be it for male or female.

I like you

 

[CupcakeNinja]

...I hate unifiers because they are always so unrealistic, no matter how much of a saint you are, you will always be a villain in someone's eyes.

Also, why did you bring gender into the issue when it is competency we are looking for?

Ps. You can argue about gender roles in the novel, though it is definitely an uphill battle. Let's not lie about the issue of gender discrimination, be it for male or female.

Competency and relatability have nothing to do with each other. objectively, gender doesn't matter a single fuck when it comes to stories. But on a subjective level, they can decide how much a person reading the story can relate to the protagonist. Personality aside, there's many people who just cant get into reading stories with protagonists that don't match their own gender.

As for the unifiers thing, that's because many of the MCs are Mary Sue characters and the stories are very simple. Go read a Western hardcover with a similar premise and you'd find it written much different. There will be dissidents, but the MC is more likely to actually be charismatic rather than unifying people through sheer forced plot

 

[Cipiteca396]

I just played Genshin Impact's Sangonomiya story chapter. She and her counterpart in the Tenryou commission should qualify. Sadly, it's only a single chapter in a game, not what you're looking for. It's a nice example for anyone who's confused, though.

I have seen the premise three or four times though. A guy and a girl on different sides of a conflict trying to work together to end the fighting. Usually the girl just ends up in the guy's harem though...

Does Ilea from Azarinth Healer qualify? Surely not... I think?

Maybe Seventh Demon Lord. Although not really. Still worth reading, though.

I don't normally read war stories, I guess. And the ones I do read usually don't offer peace as an option. The story ends when the protagonist stomps the enemy to the point where resistance is no longer possible. Kind of annoying, really. Though when it's a story where the character unifies the allied armies and then stomps the enemy to the point of no resistance... Well, that happens often enough, I suppose.

 

[Silc]

Actually, a female diplomat as an unifier hero could be interesting. If the story is on a medieval type of story, the gender can lead to some interesting discussion. Maybe a female lead who to prove than she can be useful in the political world without being married. We can find some good example of female political powerhouse in history. Even during the "lumière", we have letters of exchange between Voltaire and Rousseau exchanging with female intellectuals. Some queens were just controlling their country by Proxy.
I really thing a female unifier hero could be a very interesting story, but only if the story is made with some realism. So no commoner mary sue with some prince falling in love with her. This type of story hardly lead to a good outcome for the commoner.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Competency and relatability have nothing to do with each other. objectively, gender doesn't matter a single fuck when it comes to stories. But on a subjective level, they can decide how much a person reading the story can relate to the protagonist. Personality aside, there's many people who just cant get into reading stories with protagonists that don't match their own gender.

As for the unifiers thing, that's because many of the MCs are Mary Sue characters and the stories are very simple. Go read a Western hardcover with a similar premise and you'd find it written much different. There will be dissidents, but the MC is more likely to actually be charismatic rather than unifying people through sheer forced plot

I am guilty to be one of those people these days.

I have also not been on those hardcover books for so long so I can't really understand how talk no jutsu works at all IRL other than under the table deals and stuff like that. I need a Hitler in the bar for some motivation.

 

[owotrucked]

Mediators work easily when the premise of conflicts are rooted in emotions and irrationality.

By bringing new points of view and with time, they can open up the mind of the opposing parties to cooperation or cease fire if the narrative can be spun for everyone's good.

They can't magically remove greed, competition for scarce resources or coveted positions. If negotiation fails, conflict is unavoidable.

Rimuru is an introverted version that will reluctantly work out people's differences to create a haven safe of conflict. The extraverted version is more actively inspiring and willing to lead people.

The inverse of mediation is political manipulation where the goal is to entice people's greed according to protagonist's agenda. It doesn't necessarily match the mediator's skillset to craft 200 iq plans where you need to manipulate a chain of events.

I dont read a lot of books so I can only suggest some stuff:

The manga or manhwa: "this time I will be the matriarch" may fit what you ask
"When the villainess loves" has kinda an introverted mediator fmc type.
stories about Joan D'Arc too?
Mary Poppins kinda does her work as diplomat between the children and the father?
Padme from Star Wars?
Emma from Promised Neverland as she mediated for demons

(Some male unifiers/leaders examples are Morpheus from Matrix and Xavier from Xmen.)

Ps: I write a rimuru type of story but it's a sweaty smut