In a set fist-fight, the person with more muscle mass generally wins. So, a smaller person who wants to win needs to use things like surprise, stealth, ranged weapons, quickness, and any physical advantage the person can muster. Women can have physical advantages over men, if pitting their strongest assets against their weaker ones. For example, the various martial arts, self-defense, and weight-lifting classes my kids and I have taken all emphasized that women’s legs are much stronger than people realize. This gif gives a quick visual illustration of this: Using legs to fight. Lady Raven’s fighting style is all about using ranged weapons as far as possible, using surprise as much as possible during close combat, avoiding any upper-body physical confrontation with male enemies, and using the environment to supply any advantages possible.

The military has the acronym “OODA,” which stands for “Observe,” “Orient,” “Decide,” and “Act.” Doing these things in this order (and keeping on doing them while the situation changes) helps a soldier make quick decisions while the emergency event is unfolding and before it’s too late to do anything but react. Lady Raven is constantly doing this during her trip to Medieval Ireland.