Alright fellow degens, get ready for a hit of some cringe from yours truly as I take an unapologetic and unabated effort to share and hopefully convince you of the greatness of these female characters. I’ll be imposing the only one character per series/franchise/game rule to keep the pool diversified (otherwise I could fill 1/2 the list with MHA character tbh). I’ll be doing this in a similar format to my last Top 10 where I cover three per post and then go on to discuss my #1 pick. Let me know some of your favorite waifu’s along the way, and how much you like (or hate) my choices! Some spoilers will inevitably come up with these characters, and a spoiler for the articles as well; expect to see a more unhinged and less sophisticated side of me here.
Before we get too started there is something I feel needs to be said to help understand the way I approach waifus in stories. I have two main ways of going about the way I view the desirability of a character. Firstly and most commonly I’ll put myself in the shoes of the main character we’re identifying with, be it the main character of a movie/show or the character we play in a video game. For me the act of immersing myself in the shoes of someone in the world helps make the story feel real and helps me decide what kind of characters I’d prefer. The other way I use it is if there isn’t an easy character for me to identify with/imagine myself as is to imagine myself in that setting/story or them in the real world. I rarely use this one as often times I find it easy to place myself into their stories. Why this matters? Well when I say a character is a waifu that doesn’t necessarily mean that real world Jonah wants to be with them, it means that I think in the context of the media they’re in they’re the best. In other words that whilst Jonah wouldn’t romance all these characters anymore, as the character of the story they’re in or putting myself in a similar situation I would. So… now that we’ve got all that squared, let’s get on with it with #10
#10- Ada Wong from the Resident Evil Series
Yes my inclusion of her here means I put her above the likes of Jill, Claire, Sheva and even Lady Dimitrescu. And to be honest it isn’t even remotely close for me. Funnily (and perhaps controversially) enough the runner up for me would have been Ashley from RE4, as I had a crush on her when I played through it the first time when I was in middle school. Yes I know she’s ‘annoying’ and ‘useless’ but can you really blame her in the stressful and dangerous situation she’s in? She isn’t a secret agent, she’s a normal girl that gets kidnapped, infected with a ticking time bomb, and is witness to horrifying monsters and acts. Honestly the fact she manages to be as useful as she is in the sections with her (like driving that giant demolition vehicle) is pretty impressive. As for the other ‘contenders, whilst I like many others fell in love with the design of Lady D from the trailers, when the game came out her personality ended up being absolutely dogwater and a massive ‘turn-off’. As for Jill and Claire, I didn’t play the games they were in until much later, and they were certainly less important and formative to me as RE4 was. Sheva was another close one for me, as RE5 was a massive part of my teen years and I really enjoy what they do with her character in the little time we have to know her, however the fact that we never see or hear from her after RE5 really hurts her appeal for me. So… Ada. How can she be your favorite? She’s a secret agent that manipulates Leon to get what she wants to do the mission and then leaves him to deal with the mess. She doesn’t care for him at all.
Well my answer to that comes down to a couple simple factors that I consider when thinking of her character. Firstly, I believe she legitimately does care about Leon, however her situation is extremely complicated to the point that she can’t simply drop everything and give it a shot. She’s a secret agent that will have her relationships used as ammunition against her, and even if she does somehow leave the whole life behind and deal with all the lose ends, she’d still then be gambling on the fact that her and Leon are actually compatible and able to hold down something steady. She’d be leaving behind her entire way of life on a chance, so I don’t blame her for not taking that dive. However I think we can clearly see her caring for him throughout the games, and Leon obviously shows interest in her. She helps him out many times during her missions in ways that often Jeopardize the success of her own. Even when she ends up betraying him at the end of RE2 and 4, she still leaves him with the tools he needs to survive and escape. Also she’s extremely attractive… can’t really ignore that fact either as a male. I love all her iterations, but personally my favorite look for her is the RE 6 look she has.
The last things I want to mention about her are the intrigue of her character, especially trying to figure her out from Leon’s perspective, and the sheer badassery she is capable of. We see her work for Wesker in RE4, yet when he gets the snot beat out of him in RE5 she doesn’t show up or have any sort of loyalty to him. As far as I know we never know what her true motives or goals are, she just works for various mysterious entities as a freelance in pursuit of her own ends. In RE4 she has her own separate campaign where we see what she was doing, and she is capable of taking on some really dangerous enemies. Many times in it she acts counter to her mission to help Leon out, to the point of killing Krauser and fighting Saddler whilst Leon and Ashley escape. In RE6 she gets her own campaign where she is the only character to not have a partner to help with the fighting, and we again see her doing tons of badass things like destroying a B.O.W. that has morphed to encompass an entire cruiser ship. On top of her badassery, we also get a ‘payoff’ scene in RE6 where Leon and Ada fight a monster together, and we see Leon protect and take some nasty hits for her, and as soon as she gets back on her feet Leon has a quippy one liner! We then get to kick Simmons’ ass together! Talk about a bonding moment!
#9- Lohse from Divinity Original Sin: 2
For those of you who read it, I discussed Lohse a bit in my article talking about romances in games and what makes them satisfying, using hers as an example for the main points I made. To be honest, I doubt I’ll have much more to add that I haven’t already said in that article, but either way I’m not gonna shut up! One trait that I find extremely endearing is the ability to smile and crack jokes through even the toughest of times. It’s a sign of an indomitable spirit that refuses to let the sorrow sink it.
Lohse’s journey throughout the game isn’t easy. Whilst you’re battling terrifying monsters, deranged Magisters that want to remove all free will from you, avatars of gods, and demi-gods seeking to remove any competition, Lohse is constantly fighting a battle on her own. She has been marked by an extremely powerful demon that wants to take her body and turn her into a puppet. You see, she always had a body/soul that was easy for sprites and spirits and ghosts to commune with her, and most of her life it was harmless. However a particularly deadly ‘passenger’ manifested one day when she was performing for a large group of people and caused her song to turn the fans rabid to the point they started ripping each other apart. And that’s only the beginning, throughout your journey it constantly breaks through her willpower and causes mayhem and attacks NPCs. As the game goes on, she begins to look ragged and run down, exhausted from all the effort she has to exert just to stay in control. And amidst this all, one of my favorite romances can spawn.
If you generally match her attitude and are cheerful and funny she’ll find a kindred spirit in you, and as time progresses you can even romance her. She’s extremely hesitant at first because she’s afraid the demon might take control and try to kill you, but eventually you can end up together. The whole time she’s cursed, she can’t sing at all as a side effect of the demon’s hold on her; whenever she starts her voice cracks up and she coughs. As a bard not being able to sing for her friends is yet another thing that weighs down on her. But when you finally seal the deal and defeat the demon for good, she can sing a song for you in the tavern. It’s still to this day one of my favorite quest rewards in any game ever. The journey can take you 80+ hours to get there, and it’s just such an earnest and genuine feeling reward. Lots of times games can break you out of the immersion when they give you quest rewards that don’t make sense, but nothing about this feels like ‘ah yes, I did a quest now I get a reward’. It just feels… right… idk how else to explain it.
#8- Xiao from Library of Ruina
Nope, not the Genshin Impact character! I’d be willing to bet that almost none of you know about this character I’m mentioning next. They’re from Library of Ruina, a game that made it into my Top 10 favorite games articles I wrote, and they live up to their nickname of ‘Lady of Iron’, though I call her queen. So to understand a bit about what makes her great you need to understand a bit about the strange setting of Library of Ruina. It takes place in ‘The City’, which is much more akin to a small country, and is the last known bastion of humanity in the world. Each district is run by groups known as ‘Wings’, which are typically companies, and the areas around these Wings are known as ‘nests’ where it is much safer and nicer to live. However most wings have some horrible flaw that makes them less than ideal, such as giving its recipients ‘prescripts’ that tell them to do completely random tasks that they are severely punished for if they don’t complete. Anywhere in the districts outside of these nests is known as the ‘backstreets’, and it’s a dangerous and lawless place full of violence and uncertainty. Lastly, there are ‘distortions’ and ‘abnormalities’ which end up creating lots of monsters and monstrous individuals capable of mass destruction. Xiao is the leader of ‘Liu Association’, which specializes specifically in direct combat and warfare, and as such is one of the strongest of the ‘normal’ individuals you encounter in the game.
Unlike most of the other branches, the Liu Association doesn’t have any skeletons in its closet (at least as of Library of Ruina), and is actively fighting ‘monsters’ to keep the peace. Xiao is known as the ‘Lady of Iron’ because of her stalwart nature and professionalism. She appears to be rational and uncaring but at her core is driven by emotions and cares immensely for her underlings and especially her love interest Lowell. Lowell is ordered to go to the ‘library’ where the protagonists reside, and dies fighting us. Xiao commands her forces quite calmly and tactically against terrifying foes, but once she finds out the fate of Lowell that all goes out the window. She goes to the Library of her own volition with no orders to avenge him. Her friends follow her and die, and an entity that’s main schtick is reaching out to people who are about to break mentally and coaxing them into signing contracts to grant them power reaches out to her. Those who sign his contracts unknowingly become powerful distortions. Even near death with all her comrades dead, she refuses his coaxing and because of her unrelenting resolve she is one of 2 individuals to develop a fully formed ‘E.G.O.’ E.G.O. is essentially like a ‘Super Saiyan’ grade power up except it’s actually rare and difficult to obtain, and hers is so badass.
So enough of the convoluted bullshit, let me break down in simple terms why she’s a Queen. Firstly she’s the a prime definition of “ride or die”; she was unwaveringly loyal to Lowell and when he was sent to his death she went after them and died herself. Secondly, she’s an absolutely beautiful badass in a multitude of ways. Yes she’s incredibly strong and difficult to fight, but her will was also completely unbreakable and that’s sexy as fuck. You know she’ll be faithful and support you through the roughest of waters. Thirdly, she’s just really freaking cool. In a world filled with evil, depravity and corruption, she remains a pure hearted individual. Her personality is stoic and badass, and her character is steeped with tons of symbolism (which I won’t dive into). Even outside of all her interactions in the game, the lyrics to her boss theme reveal even more tragic and fascinating info about her and help paint an even fuller picture. Her design is also one of my personal favorites from the game, which says a lot because that game is full of amazingly designed characters. Lastly, she has a heart of gold that cares deeply for those around. While she struggles to fully tell others just how much she cares, we see through her actions the degree to which she looks out for and loves those close to her. Some of the characters in my Top 10 will be questionable in their capacity to truly love others (even Ada already as an example), but there’s no doubt that Xiao would battle through hell alongside you and love you with her whole heart.
And… that’s a wrap! So far this list has been somewhat tame, but I doubt I’ll be able to keep myself in check as we go further. Next week we’ll discuss the next three, one of which comes from Attack on Titan! Who do you think it could be? I’d live to hear any predictions for my list and any best girls of your own! Until then, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this dive into degeneracy, and stay healthy!
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