Gabriela Robin Is My Favorite Star Knight Character

Countess Gabriela Robin, as seen on the cover. (Reavers of the Void © 2019 Bradford C. Walker)

A while back, I read friend of the blog Bradford C. Walker’s mecha space opera Reavers of the Void. I enjoyed the plot of the book as a whole, but my absolute favorite character was Countess Gabriela Robin, the songbird of Second Salisbury.

But why did this character stad out so much for me? Her protector Lord Roland breaks more heads, and the young page Creton is courageous, if a bit unskilled. What gives?

In short, you don’t see this kind of female lead in big media anymore — certainly not in action stories.

Gabriela Robin is a space princess with a ladylike personality and a very gentle demeanor, avoiding any and all snarkiness. She does not treat her position as Countess, and all that it implies, as a burden. She isn’t some subversive joke; her feminine qualities are neither ridiculed nor exaggerated. She is absolutely enamored of Lord Roland right from the start, rather than trying to one-up him or cut him down. She’s just so sweet all around.

This exchange near the beginning of the book was what did it for me. When Lord Roland (also called Sir Ramsey Hennepin) comes to visit Gabriela in the Dire March, she spots Creton carrying some food. Gabriela convinces Creton to give the food to her, then this happens:

[Gabriela] snatched the bag off [Creton’s] shoulder in a smooth motion. Before he could object, she bounded out the doorway and entered Ramsey’s quarters without so much as a word to announce her.

Not that Ramsey needed it. “It’s been a while since a girl thought herself so clever as to play highwayman to my page.”

Gabriela stood across the table from him as she spread the satchel’s bounty upon it. “When was my lord’s last time taking a meal with a woman?”

Ramsey laughed. “Before leaving Earth. Sibley’s wife cooked a fine dinner at Christmas.”

“My lord’s sergeant-at-arms is blessed with a good wife”, Gabriela said as she cut the bread, “but he himself is not.”

“My lady is well-acquainted with what is said in coffee houses and salons throughout Christendom, but I am curious to hear who among her entourage wants to retire by marrying me. I cannot believe that my lady would want to surrender this life of travel for the daily duties of hearth and home.”

Creton then shows up and apologizes for “losing” the package to Gabriela. Lord Roland, or Ramsey, invites Creton to take some food for himself and the previously-mentioned Sibley, Creton’s father. Gabriela remarks on Roland’s paternal qualities, leading Gabriela to ask what would happen once Creton became a full-fledged knight.

“Does my lady fear for my soul, that I might die of loneliness?” [Ramsey asked.]

“I fear that my lord would sin by shunning love willingly offered when he needed not.” [Gabriela answered.]

“My lady calls ‘love’ something less reliable than my arms and vessel,” Ramsey said. “I would not shun it if it were so reliable.”

Gabriela took his arm. “At least I can rely on my lord to speak the truth to me.”

“But do you hear it?” Ramsey said, smiling.

Gabriela smiled back. “Better than my lord may think.”

This exchange is excellent. Gabriela is absolutely lovestruck, and she flirts in a classy way, speaking properly and politely while making her intention quite clear. Lord Roland responds by deflecting her requests without turning her down outright; this is important because as the above picture shows, Gabriela is quite attractive. Gabriela, presumably not used to being dismissed in this way, has to turn up the heat while still maintaining a noble demeanor; it’s easy to imagine that she is usually the one doing the rejecting. The “shunning love” part is as direct as she can get without crossing any lines, but Ramsey makes it clear that Gabriela has to do much more than look hot and say the right words to have his hand in marriage.

In short, Gabriela has to prove herself to Ramsey.

It’s not just Gabriela’s own behavior that makes her endearing; it’s the fact that she is in love with a brave hero, and the story does not treat it like it’s a problem. Falling for Ramsey brings out the best in her, and she dreams of being wife to him.

This flies right in the face of how the modern entertainment industry typically writes lead women, especially in action stories. No screenwriter, director, or producer today would tolerate a situation where a female lead has to prove herself worthy of the male lead’s love.

And if this trend is any indication, they’re not about to change that mindset:

Recently, [Austin, Texas-based company StoryFit] used the software to analyze gender in some 2,000 film scripts and 25,000 characters from between 1930 and 2018. It looked at things like what the characters talked about, who they talked to, and what emotions and personality attributes they displayed.

The results give a nuanced picture of the inequality issues that have plagued Hollywood since the dawn of the industry. Female characters are much more likely to be agreeable than male ones – 80 percent of female characters have agreeableness scores of 85 percent or higher, compared to only 27 percent of male characters. Female characters are also less open (a measure of curiosity and receptiveness to new experiences) – only 6 percent of female characters have openness scores of 60 percent or higher, compared with 54 percent of male characters.

Needless to say, no Hollywood adaptation of Reavers will happen, and no character like Gabriela Robin is likely to survive the politically-correct AI meatgrinder. Characters like her would be excellent onscreen, but such things just aren’t allowed anymore. So the best answer is to do stuff ourselves.

All the more reason to support Bradford C. Walker and get yourself a copy of his novel.