... but the character of Sentinel Sarah Lyons from Fallout 3 certainly stands out as an intereting example. She's down to earth, frank (in her own manner) and she's no slouch in a fight (though that full-body suit of T-45 power armour and her decade or so of training certainly helps). Heck, she's even in a position of power - commander of an elite strike force of the Brotherhood of Steel and the second-highest ranking person within her chapter.

Best of all, in my opinion - she may fight alongside you if you are of good heart, but SHE ISN'T A ROMANCE OPTION (sorry for the caps). This was one of the first occasions in my 10 or so years of video-gaming life when I found this cliche broken in a role-playing game.

I'm not sure whether I could cite any particular faults, but one that can stand out is her fool-hardyness - she's generally level-headed, but dangle a crisis in front of her and she'll be filing a request for an asignment instantly to her superiors. This, more often then not, causes her to have to speak with her father (the Eldar of the chapter, no less) and she usually is convinced to stand down.

...even though this is 2 years after the original post...
ANGUA ALL THE WAY!
Sybil too. But Angua is priceless. And Angua+Carrot, while just two rather minor characters in the Discworld scheme of things, beats every Twilight couple you can think of down and out of the door and plopping right into the sewer...
Eh, I got carried away with the metaphor there.

Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer.

Xena, Warrior Princess.

Samus, bounty hunter.

Susan Pevensie, formerly Queen of Narnia.

The PPC Agents on here.

I'd list more, but I've been typing some other stuff up. I really don't wanna get carpal tunnel syndrome.

Katara, from Avatar the Last Airbender. Admittedly, she goes around in some pretty aesthetically-pleasing costumes, but most of them are flexible so as to be functional when waterbending. She's beautiful, smart, a master of her element, and she managed to transcend some ugly gender stereotypes in her art. She also has a hot temper, but she doesn't get away with mouthing off by any means. She has made some horrible choices in men, resulting in a couple messy break-ups, but instead of laying around feeling angsty about her life, she learns from her mistakes and eventually ends up with one of the most decent guys on the show. All in all, she's awesome.

From the same show, there's Toph Bei Fong. She's also a pretty young woman, and she's overcome her blindness by developing an awesome method of echolocation, even managing to bend metal, previously unheard of in earthbending. She still makes little mistakes due to blindness (like pinning up posters backward), but when she realizes she makes them, she owns up to them and goes on with life. She possesses a cruel sense of humor, which her friends call her out on even though she's completely unrepentant, and she's very bull-headed, which leads to some justifiable tension in the group. But she doesn't make excuses for herself because she is blind or because she's a girl or because she has a very bad past with her parents...rather, she owns her issues, and grows as a person because of it.

Ooh, my newly-developed ATLA obsession is showing. But while I'm here...

Fujioka Haruhi of Ouran High School Host Club. At the beginning of the story, she is a commoner who is admitted into a very prestigious high school for rich kids, because she did the hard work and earned a scholarship to go there. She comes into a school with short hair and somewhat androgynous looks, and everybody thinks she's a boy. Then, she's found out by the local club of extremely gorgeous man-meat boys, and, since she owes them several thousand yen's worth of favors, she is compelled to work for them, disguising herself as a boy. Secretly, all the boys are in love with her, each in their own way, but they treat her like an equal instead of putting her on a pedestal (except for one, but he's a bit nuts). She's not a romantic at all, settles into the club like she would a job, and tries not to let her secret out...by which is meant that she doesn't go around matchmaking, but actually, genuinely, tries to avoid any unnecessary attention whatsoever. Eventually, the club needs her dry sense of humor and down-to-earth personality just to keep running. And she's awesome!

Because.

Dude.

Just.

Kill Bill.

And, well, Eowyn. Duh. And...um...pretty much everything everyone else said.

*pointless late post is pointless*

C.C, Kallen, Cornelia, Sayako and Anya from Code Geass are all strong warriors, in their different disciplines (ninja!Sayako FTW). Not to mention the fact that C.C seems to be completely frikin immortal and has the healing ability of Wolverine.

Relena, Noin, Sally, Hilde, Dorothy and Une from Gundam Wing are all strong women, even if they're not all warriors in the traditional sense. Relena especially, has the strength to try and change the world even while everything is falling apart around her.

Sumeragi, Nena and Soma from Gundam 00 are all strong as well. Again, not all of them are directly involved in the fighting, but they are capable of holding their own in what is definitely a man's world.

She packs the biggest hand cannon in the Firefly-verse and is badass to the nth degree. I agree with Leto's assessment that River isn't necessarily because of her mentally-damaged state, though.

How about, just putting a few randoms out there - Princess Fiona from the Shrek series (I mean, she kicks the arses of all of Robin Hood's merry men in the original, for one)? Hana Gitelman from Heroes (ex-Mossad with the ability to manipulate electric information etc.)? Ziva David from NCIS (just awesome)? Sydney Bristow from Alias? Fiona from Burn Notice? Lara Croft, Tomb Raider?

Kerowyn, Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. Mercenary captain (it took her an altogether appropriate length of time to train and work her way to that position), Herald of Valdemar, owner of a magic sword that's really inconvenient to its bearer. The pb cover annoys me (to the extent that I wrote a term paper on it), because the picture has her in a silly, silly suit of armor with long flowing hair, etc. that she would never wear.

Likewise her teacher, the Shin'a'in Tarma. Goddess-bonded warrior. Celibate, sarcastic swordswoman.

Mirax Terrik, Star Wars. She's primarily a smuggler, but her cleverness, resource, and common sense sometimes end up in a firefight, where she keeps her cool well.

Polly Perks, Discworld. She is a soldier. That's really all there is to it. She is a successful (i.e. passing) crossdresser, but doesn't turn into a bombshell when in girly clothes.


---
I would just like to put in a plug for a series of anthologies related to this. The first is called "Chicks in Chainmail" and they are edited by Esther Friesner. They deal with exactly this topic--how to write the warrior woman without turning her into a pinup girl or losing her sense of humor. They're hilarious, frankly, and well written.

Kylara Vatta (Vatta's War; Elizabeth Moon) attended Space Force Academy and then, sometime in her last semester, got kicked out for political reasons. She rejoins her family's space shipping business shortly before it is attacked and nearly destroyed by a coalition of pirates, whom she eventually manages to build up a force to defeat. Also, she often wears a spacesuit (really the only thing reasonable when you're in a spaceship that could get blown up).

Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter (The Deed of Paksenarrion; Elizabeth Moon) A shepherd's daughter fleeing an unwanted marriage joins a mercenary company. The books were written as a rebuttal to how the author was told paladins in role-playing games were often played, so Paks is unfailingly humble and, though she eventually succeds at most of her aims, goes through a lot of grief (including four straight days of torture).

Firekeeper (Firekeeper Saga; Jane Lindskold) A girl raised by (sentient) wolves is found by an expedition that set out to find the village founded by a disinherited prince (because his father is getting old, his siblings are dead, and his daughter is technically the next in succession). Her only posessions are a dagger and a set of flint and steel, both of which she is quite proficient at using. Although she is clever, she's also quite savage and has several opportunities to learn the value of armor. (Naturally, growing up in a forest had already taught her the value of short hair, and she did have that dagger to cut with.)

There was someone else, whom I will doubtless remember as soon as I post.

Aeryn Sun kicks butt. Actually, so do most of the women on that show. Chiana has her ways, Zhaan will take you down if you're really annoying, Sikozu (although Not Nice), Jool... eh, well, Jool. ^_^; Anyway, Aeryn is just particularly awesome in that regard.

~Neshomeh

I'd like to list both Kathryn Janeway and B'Ellana Torres of Star Trek Voyager. And Karrin Murphy of Dresden Files. I've only (nearly) read one of the books, but I think she would qualify.

All three women have in common that they are strong, but also have their weaknesses, which they try to cover up to prevent from being exploited. You know, like real women do.

There are warrior!Sues in the fandoms I read in, but since those fandoms are about 20th/21st century Earth based military (like) these Sues generally manage to wear something appropriate in battle.

But Samantha Carter from Star Gate. She is a genius and she can gun sling with the best of them.

L

I already mentioned Captain Unohana but there's also Yaone from Saiyuki and Meilin from Card Captor Sakura. Both of them tend to play second to their male teammate(s) in battle but they both have strong hearts and are perfectly capable of defending themselves. Though Yaone's outfit is some cause for concern it isn't nearly as bad as some Warrior Sue's. Meilin doesn't have any magic yet she still follows Syaoran to Japan to capture the Clow Cards and her martial art skills are very strong. But more than that she has a strong personality. She's very determined but also rather kind (even to Sakura, who she thinks it Syaoran's rival and there for an opponent). To me a strong female character isn't just defined by how good she is in battle. If we take battle ability out of the equation I'd like to throw another name into the pot: Yuuko Ichihara.

Oh, I just thought of a real Warrior Woman. Android 18 from DBZ. She beat Vegeta easily and she did it without being a 'Sue.

Éowyn (LotR), Mariel (Redwall), Leela (Doctor Who), Kale (DragonKeeper Chronicles), Mara Jade Skywalker (Star Wars), Colonel Kira (Star Trek), Firebird Caldwell (Firebird Series), Molly Weasley (Harry Potter), Orual (Till We Have Faces)

...from the Firefly-verse. You don't get much more warrior than that. (Of course, some of that is lost when River goes all kickass with any and all available weaponry. And no armor...)
Others...I agree Tamora Peirce's character often fit that category. Angua from the Discworld series is that way as well. (Pratchett is VERY careful to avoid the scantily-clad warrior woman, ahaha.)

...of Tamora Pierce!

Keladry of Mindelan, Rebeca Cooper, and Alanna the Lioness are my favorite Warrior Women. Neither are 'Sues in any way (except Alanna has more dei ex machina than I can count on both hands as well as the power of the Gods...). They are not especially beautiful or graceful, and they actually use ARMOR THAT COVERS THEIR ENTIRE BODIES. Whoa. And they actually had to LEARN how to use weapons. As in, it took YEARS for them to master them.

There are others that I'm not thinking of right now, and I'll probably post them later.

Rukia, Soifon, Yoruichi, Halibel and Matsumoto from Bleach are all good female warriors. They're strong, capable of holding their own against the men of the series and most of them hold quite high ranks. Armour isn't really an issue, since it's a rare thing for someone in Bleach canon to wear armour, but they do mostly cover up/wear the same uniforms as the males around them.

Sakura, Tsunade, Tenten, Temari and Hinata from Naruto can also hold their own against men that are considered as strong or stronger than them. They're not push overs, and woe betide anyone who thinks they are. Again, they don't wear the kind of skimpy clothes that you'd see a Sue wearing (except in bad fanfics where they're sleeping with every man in sight).

The Weyrwomen of the Pern series aren't warriors in the traditional sense of the word, but they do fight to protect their world from a deadly threat, so I'll count them here. Lessa, Moreta and Sorka especially stand out amongst them. They're level-headed and mentally strong enough to handle riding a queen dragon, with all the responsibility that entails.

I think there are more than enough "symbols of power and independance" for women around. Not to say that women don't deserve such thing, but quite frankly, we already have it, and I think a lot of women nowadays are throwing their victory into everyone else's faces. It seems like the pendulum has swung too far.

That said, I do like strong female characters. The one whom most fits your description is B'Elanna Torres from Star Trek: Voyager, but the one I most admire in terms of being a strong woman is Mara from Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts' Empire series - she makes her victories by being clever politically, and has no skill at all with weapons. I like that. On a similar note, I love Yvaine from Stardust - the movie adaptation more than the book, but still. She is a fiercely strong-willed character, but I like that she keeps her strength without ever picking up a weapon (though she does wield her 'Super Shine Powers' (thankfully not referred to as such) to defeat an enemy).

Hm, I ramble. And aside from B'Elanna, I don't think this is what you wanted. Still, I wanted to say it. I like warrior women - I'd call myself one - but I tend to avoid them because from what I see in society today, I think it's overkill. We know women can be strong; what's unexplored is how strength, how the ability to fight and win, doesn't require weapons or battle cries. There are many I would call warriors that don't fight.