Taarna

Zoe, Inara, Kaylee, and River. Mic drop.

Ellen Ripley. Under pressure she steps up and does what needs doing. Whether that means operating a loader, comforting a child or making monsters extinct.

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Tiffany Aching.

About half the cast of Fullmetal Alchemist (Olivier Mira Armstrong, Izumi Curtis, Riza Hawkeye, Winry and Pinako Rockbell, Lan Fan, Mai Chang, Chris Mustang... and I'm sure I'm missing some).

Oh, and friggin' Chell, of course. Makes you almost feel sorry for GLaDOS.

Leela from Futurama

Xena Warrior Princess

Hermione Granger because I read so little fiction that this is the first woman (?) that comes to mind.

Korra and Toph from Avatar, Tsunade and Sakura from Naruto

The Boss, MGS

Not Big Boss, the man with the eye patch and is a bad guy, the woman who taught him and the mother of Ocelot

She was such a badass woman that she inspired basically everyone around her to try to mold the world in the way they thought she saw it. Shes a great example of a woman/mother who's a badass directly because of the skills normally associated with those roles. Yeah, she can fight and kick your main characters ass, but that's mostly because she's spent time nurturing him and caring for him to the point where he emotionally cannot fight her. She regularly disarms strong, imposing men (some with superpowers like lightning channeling) by just looking at them sternly and implying she's about to call them by all 3 of their names in a disapproving tone

Time and again she does badass things while she's alive, and her death is technically the catalyst for the rest of the series as those who loved and admired her try to shape the world as she saw it, which isn't even something she herself did because of her loyalty to her country.

Oh and she's voiced by the same woman who does Pearl from SpongeBob, which is wild

Samus came to mind immediately

Roberta "Bobbie" Draper from The Expanse was the first to jump into my head.

Ripley

Garnet (Steven Universe)

Ellen Ripley from the Alien series.

Mirko!

Margot is also amazing, but she's not independent IMO. She's very emotionally hooked. Not in a bad way, mind you. She's like a shounen protagonist who screams for 5 episodes because her friend was threatened and somehow a nation collapses as a result.

Major Matoko Kusanagi from the Ghost in the Shell series.

Linda Hamilton - Terminator

I had to say something different, because I would have said Ripley first.

Appsros character in Abberation

Hyacinth Bucket (ITS BOUQUET)

Adding my vote for Ellen Ripley.

There are others that come to mind from more obscure movies I've watched more recently, like the women in Grandma (2015), Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), and even Men (2022), also non-fictional women like those in Kokomo City (2023). There are so many more I can picture in my mind but can't put my finger on the movie and or am just shit with names so I can't think of them right now, but might come back to update.

Not the first that comes to mind, but I have to add Nausicaa into the mix. She shows her strength through nothing but kindness and determination, without the need for violence or cold cruelty. A frightened critter bites her, and she endures the pain to keep soothing it without interruption. Ripley's a badass, but she'd never be able to do that.

Metroid/Samus Aran

She’s almost always on her own dealing with a horde of alien enemies but does it well.

Though, she does have a bad habit of losing her suit’s features and abilities on nearly every mission she’s on lol

Captain Janeway from Voyager ❤️

Trillian from hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. People see the book as satire but she really knew where her towel was.

Pippi Longstocking

Zoe from Firefly, Tiffany Aching from Discworld are two that come to mind

Samantha Carter from Stargate SG1

High King Margot is a great answer

For me, I thought of Linda Carter’s Wonder Woman and then Captain Rachel Garrett, commander of the USS Enterprise, 1701-C

For me, I respect female characters who are written strong but not mean or "buff". Your character doesn't need to be a dick or on steroids to be strong. A strong person can be kind and compassionate, just not capitulate under pressure. I also don't believe being "independent" means you can't love someone and lean on them in times of need, it just means you aren't defined by the relationship.

• Bastila Shan from KOTOR
• Mustang from Red Rising
• Rita from Groundhog Day
• Hermione from Harry Potter (if only JK respected ALL women)
• Dottie from A League of Their Own
• Mulan from Mulan
• Ellie from The Last of Us Part 2
• Freya from God of War

Lieutenant Ellen Ripley.

Captain/Admiral Kathryn Janeway

Kim Wexler from Better Call Saul 😍

Ripley

No love for the bad bitch Agent Dana Scully?

Lara Croft