Samantha and Rachel in Business Proposal.

The FLs of The Princess' Man and Bossam
2FL of Chuno

Danoh in Extraordinary You> She decided to change what the writer had planned for her aka her death and she fought for her own destiny. And her energy was contagious!

Bong-Hee in Suspcious Partner> She was a normal young woman, not a genius, not a candy who suffers but always smiles, etc. She tried to be independant but her situation made things difficult so accepted a little bit of help.

Lee Hwi in the King's Affection> She had to learn to survive in the Palace but finally she can learn to be herself and to be a King!

Oh Hae-young in Another Miss Oh> She was completely chaotic but she has good reasons. I loved her energy and her fragility at the same time.

It doesn't have to be the protagonist heroine right...?

Mishil : Queen Seondeok

Easy Song Ji-won played by the wonderful Park Eun-bin in AGE OF YOUTH S1&2. I don’t think there’s been a character I’ve crushed on this much!

- FL of QUEEN INHYUN'S MAN. I know many Beanies wanted something entirely else from her character and story arc, but why? She was perfect for that story and that ML. Btw, I also cannot freaking stand LIVE UP TO YOUR NAME's FL whom likely the very same people consider a "fixed" version of her... Nope, just nope. Ugh. Lashing out on a man for accidentally triggering your trauma by DYING in front of you is a peak entitled brain-dead moronicy I firmly believe no budding romance could ever recover from.

- FL of IOTNBO. No, I'm not an edgy kid worshiping her as some dark feminist icon to look up to, ewww))) It was just wonderful for once to have a FL that combined epic unapologetic bitchiness, witch-from-a-dark-fairytale stylishness and blatant chaotic horniness, all that without looking like a caricature. Yes, I know she was a REAL menace, deeply twisted bio-hazard on designer heels and almost certainly danger to society. Those were her best traits, your honor!

- FL of MR QUEEN. I think everyone agrees that our boy Bonghwan made a fabulous woman after all... too bad drama retconned her back into boring ass peacock of a dude (but this time depressed instead of overly cocky).

Honorable mentions: Arang of AATM (before her noble idiocy arc), Saebom of HAPPINESS, damn-I-forgot-her-name FL of TUNNEL (the crime psychologist lady - such an amazing weirdo, this one!), ML's daughter in TWO WEEKS (she was the true FL there, I will kill on this hill).

While not an exhaustive list, some of my favourites are:

Jung Geum-ja - Hyena.

Cheon Song-yi - My Love From the star

Kim Bok Joo - Weightlifing Fairy Bok-joo

Kim Mi-Soo - Whats wrong with Secretary Kim

Cha Hyeon - Search WWW

Cheon Song-yi (Jun Ji-hyun) from You Who Came from the Stars
Go Ae-shin (Kim Tae-ri) from Mr. Sunshine

The FL I relate the most, to the point of seeing myself reflected in her, is Go Dok Mi (Park Shin Hye in Flower Boy Next Door). Introverted, homebody... but willing to go out when she thinks somebody (a dog, in her case) needs help or is in danger. She even works from home as a copy editor, which is something I studied too.

But my favorite heroines sometimes are quite different from me.
Like the brave, determined and clear minded Seung Wan (Lee Joo Myung) in 25-21, or the funny, bad-mouthed Sam Soon (Kim Sun Ah) or Go Se Ra (Nana) in Into the ring.

Mi Shil - Queen Seondeok Go Hyun Jung
Princess Deok Man - Queen Seondeok Nam Ji Hyun

Yoo Na -Yoona’s Street Kim Ok Bin
Seo Bom- Heard It Through the GrapevineGo Ah Sung
Yu Gwan Sun - A Resistance Go Ah Sung A film, but I included it anyways.

The one that popped in my mind for now -
Into the Ring’s Gu Sera
25-21 Na Hee Do

Excellent thread, too many great heroines to choose from which is a credit to kdrama! Yoon Eun-hye in Coffee Prince really defined the kdrama heroine for me for a while. I can't even pick just one for Kim Sun-a, I have to list her characters in My Lovely Sam-soon, City Hall, and Scent of a Lady. Go Hyun-jung has been rightly mentioned for her Queen Mishil, but I'm going to cite her in The Queen's Classroom just for that speech at the end. Kim Ji-won in Fight My Way personifies the show's title (also, best bad aegyo). Jung So-min in Because This Life Is My First. Seo Hyun-jin in Another Oh Hae-young. Park Min-Young played fun heroines in City Hunter and Healer, but my favorite is her character in Her Private Life. I have to mention two for Lee Bo-Young, God's Gift: 14 Days and Mother. One more and I'll stop, Bae Doona in Forest of Secrets.

To me, "heroine" is different than "female lead". The former requires being actually heroic. So the abovementioned Samantha & Rachel don't really qualify no matter how much I liked them.

And "favorite heroine" in different than "favorite show".

That leaves me with Park Bo-young / Do Bong-soon from the first Strong Woman.

Bae Doona - Stranger season 1
Go Eun-Chan - Coffee Prince
Kim Sam-Soon - My Name is Kim Sam Soon

Attorney Woo would definitely be considered heroic. The cases she solves, the doors she opens up to people who may be different, and the obstacles she herself must overcome

Haven’t seen much of this kind of character, but i like the 2FL of Imitation, La Mi Ra (?) played by Park Ji Yeon. Territorial at first, but knows when she’s defeated and can be helpful to others. Would like to see her in more shows, but haven’t found any yet.

This is a super interesting question and I didn’t have a clear answer of what kind of heroine I find the most compelling. So I went through my drama list and picked out the ones that I’ll never forget and then tried to think of things they had in common. I think they mostly fall into two categories for me:

1. Heroines who are overcoming impossible odds/tragedy and are still putting one foot in front of the other. (This is kind of a more interesting take on the Candy for me.) It’s not that they maintain sunny optimism all the time, but they are going to continue fighting for survival/loved ones/their country until they absolutely can’t anymore. There is something admirable and compelling about that to me, and it understandably happens in sageuks a lot. Examples are Ae-shin from Mr. Sunshine, Dam-i from The King’s Affection, Jae-i from Our Blooming Youth, and Jun-hee from A Time Called You.

2. Heroines who are a bit bitter and savage. (Let’s not think too hard about what it says about me that these are my favorites. 😅) I love their dark backstories, their scathing remarks, their relentlessness, all of it masking deep pain/heartbreak/trauma. Maybe they are a little ambiguous, maybe they aren’t quite likable at first, but in the end I’m always rewarded for sticking with them, and these characters are the ones I feel most loyal to. Examples are Se-ri from Crash Landing on You, Man-wol from Hotel del Luna, Ji-an from My Ajusshi, Cho Yeong/Naksu from Alchemy of Souls, Yeon-soo from Our Beloved Summer, and Woo-joo from Call it Love.

Special shoutouts: Soon-deok from The Matchmakers, who doesn’t really fit into these categories but I loved her anyway. Yeon-soo from Our Beloved Summer and Ha-neul from Doctor Slump who were two heroines that I found uncomfortably relatable.

Quite difficult, but I managed to reduce the list to 5:
- the heroine I'm most fond : Chae Yeong Shin (Park Min Young) in Healer
- the heroine I relate the most : Oh Hae Young (Seo Hyun Jin) in Another Miss Oh
- the heroine that amuse me the most: Mu Deok (Jung So Min) in Alchemy of souls
- the heroine I admire the most: Yoon Sae Bom (Han Hyo Joo) in Happiness
- the heroines I would like to be : Bae Ta Mi (Lim Soo Jung) and Cha Hyun (Lee Da Hee) in Search WWW.

They almost made the cut : Cha Ji Ahn (Jang Na Ra) in Hello Monster, Kang Shi Young (Lee Se Young) in Doctor John, Joo Ki Beum (Song Ha Yoon) in Devilish's Joy, Do Hyun Jin (Nana) in Kill it.

Han Yeo Jin in Stranger is the first one who comes to mind. She's smart and hyper-competent at her job, but she's also warm, funny and realistically vulnerable. I also appreciate how she's always a leader and partner in both seasons, not just a love interest.

An oldie but goodie- Dae Jang-geum comes to mind first. I love saeguks and she was the best at her game in a time that was not favorable to women.

Ki Jeong ! I'm probably the only person that had Ki Jeong as their favorite sibling, but I just loved that she was raw and imperfect but not villiainized in a way rarely seen in kdramaland before.

I don't like how kdramas try so hard to make FLs "good" and "perfect" or "special". And I love my badass girls too, but I also dislike how we've come to the conclusion that you're only cool if you can kick ass or if you wear suit pants or something.
If we can love jerk MLs, why not give FLs a break and let them be imperfect too?

I love girl crushes like Hee Do from 25-21 or Sae Beom from Happiness, but I feel like they make the standards too unrealistic for many struggling, chaotic, and just regular girls out there.

I love that Yu Mi from Yu Mi's Cells was a little messy and insecure but also a dreamer. And I liked that Yeon Joo from W was chaotic and couldn't fight but she was the one saving Kang Cheol all the time. I also love how Ji Ho from Because This Is My First Life just wanted to have a freaking house and peace of mind. Relatable queen. And I adore how Ki Jeong from My Liberating Notes just wanted to be loved. She had a haraboji's temper and no filter but she deserved to be loved like anyone else.

And, at the moment, I admire how Mi Rae from Romance in the House wants to give her mom a good life.

I like how she barely smiles but that doesn't mean she's rude or mean. And she isn't planning on healing or babysitting the ML, instead she just relates to him. And she doesn't need to talk about her past trauma 24/7 or give a speech about how much her mom did for her, but it's obvious that her mom sacrificed a lot to raise her and she wants to repay that.
She's the coolest FL at the moment in my book. She isn't saving the world, fighting bad guys, or becoming a big icon for the nation, but she's doing her best. I like that about her.

In conclusion, my favorite kdrama heroine is... All of them? But especially my relatable queens! 😂😆

Choi Seo-yoon (Lee Yo-won) in Empire of Gold. The university lit professor who wants to be free of the family power struggle and write a series of novels, but is tapped by her father to take over the family business because she's the only family member he can trust. She's deeply humane but learns to be a ruthless player in the family chess game. A great character written by Park Kyung-soo.

Kim Yu Ri of The Law Cafe. I love the way she stood up for herself and others. I liked how compassionate she was and how that was her driving force. Her sex contract still makes me chuckle when I think about it. (When I first saw that scene, I thought the guy (Jung Ho? I don't remember his name) was apologizing for being bad in bed haha)

Lee Hwi: M/b> (Park Eun Bin) The King's Affection hands down. She took down the baddie all by herself.
Min Jay Yi: (Jeon So Nee) Our Blooming Youth : Can I be your head eunuch? Indomitable.
Woo Young Woo: (Park Eun Bin again) Attorney Woo . Sublime, trailblazing.
Sae Bom: (Han Yoo Joo) Happiness. No one kicks ass better than her.
Gil-Chae: (Ahn Eun Jin) My Dearest ; No one broke rules like she did. Unapologetic survivor. That take it or leave it attitude cemented her as one of the best FLs I have ever seen.

Honourable mention: Kim So-yong (Shin Hye Sun) Mr Queen Only when she had Jang Bong Hwan's soul causing mayhem.

Another prompt that I can't resist. Man, Dramabeans writers really know how to stir up people's emotions ^^ To be honest, the kind to a fault heroine who carries everyone's burdens on their shoulders is the exact opposite of who I am in real life. In real life, I am probably more often like the adversary to said heroine - snarky, vindictive, etc ^^ But maybe that's why I'm drawn to these types of FL's, because they're who I want to be. In my friends circle, there is actually one that is almost completely this type, you know, like paying back parents' debt, losing their home, etc. Her life has been like a drama with ups and downs but the most amazing part is that there was actually a doting prince charming waiting for her at the end. She is living the happily ever after of dreams as I type. So I aspire to be more like her (even though I'd never admit it!) hoping that maybe trying to be a better person would help me land a dreamboat someday (ha) People like Eun Chan in Coffee Prince do exist in real life and guys really do fall in love with them. That's why I keep watching dramas with plucky kind heroines hoping some of that will rub off on me. As mentioned, the classic ones are Coffee Prince, Kim Sam Soon, Stranger, Attorney Woo, My Secret Terrius, Tunnel (forensic expert), Smile You, etc. I'd like to mention some that are less known but deserve to be appreciated in the same vein: Gangnam Scandal, The Promise, Want a Taste, Queen of Housewives, Wok of Love, Bulgasal. The FL's in Queen of Housewives and Smile You represents the type of heroine with more feisty and snarky sides but still incredibly lovable. In this way, they are the most realistic.