: I was obviously talking about common soldiers, the ones
: that most of us are common with in the past two games.
: Besides, I wouldn't call Ravanna a soldier. She's a
: warrior.
: The main difference between warriors and soldiers is that
: warriors are just to combat (hand-to-hand) while
: soldiers are called upon for many different tasks
: which aid in warefare. For instance, the Roman army
: had soldiers for building bridges with their great
: engineering, changing the terrain and setting up war
: engines to prepare for battle, as well as fighting.
: The Roman Gladiators were warriors, only fighting hand
: to hand, not a part of the greater picture of war (in
: fact, they were just an extracted piece of war: the
: hand-to-hand combat part).
: I don't think Ravanna was a part of what would be a body
: of soldiers. Soldiers tend to be like ants, working on
: projects together, and are never on top. Ravanna,
: however, is very close to Xena; she works as a very
: high-ranking official. I doubt she ever worked in a
: body of soldiers (basically minions doing the bidding
: of others), and she is more than prominent enough to
: simply be the directress of soldiers, not one of many
: of her equals working for a greater cause.
: Ravanna only fights and leads others. She is litterally a
: Warrior Princess™.
Considering that the previous post was simply saying that there are a reasanable number of female soldiers in the Myth universe, rather than specifically typecasting Ravanna as a soldier, I hardly think this tirade was justified. However, now that it's here, I feel compelled to answer it.
Firstly, I must disagree with your idea that what separates a warrior from a soldier is that a warrior only fights hand-to-hand. This is clearly inaccurate, since we can see from the various Classical barbarian cultures (Gauls, Anchient Britons, Franks, Picts, Goths, various Germanic tribes, etc.) that their warriors used such weapons as bows, slings and javelins on a large scale. Rather, what separates soldiers from warriors is that soldiers are trained to operate as a team, something which the Myrmidons seem to have been extremely capable of (they certainly use formations far more effectively than most other Dark units in TFL). However, while a warrior will never be described as a soldier, the reverse does not seem to be true: certainly, it didn't prevent Bungie from naming those highly trained rank-and-file Legionairres "Warriors".
As for why we don't see that many female fighters in Myth, take a close look at some of the Warrior names: Esme, Alyce, Sloan, Vasya... plus, it could be quite hard to tell under all that chainmail. :)
As to whether Ravanna ever fought as one Myrmidon among the ranks, considering their proud warrior culture and Berserk connections, my guess would be that they're led and commanded by their Thanes and Jarls (or their equivalent)- but such commanders almost certainly wouldn't recieve much respect until their troops had seen that he or she could cleave as many skulls as the next man, and, even once this respect had been achieved, they would still lead from the front, among the body of troops: so, while Ravanna would have been a commander, she would at the same time have been a sister-in-arms, working towards a common cause up close and personal.
