*Ganga: takes human form to raise 8 temporarily-mortal gods;
strong-willed and consistently ensuring her own interests are served: "made each of the Vasus promise to confer an eighth part of his power on her son"; "she must needs at once depart from [King Shantanu] if he spoke harshly to her at any time or attempted to thwart her in doing as she willed" (negotiating with a king!)
Doesn't tell King about deal with Vasus, so he freaks out when she drowns 8 babies in a row; she leaves, but comes back long enough to bring the King his son, who has the power of Vasus
Devavrata AKA Bhishma: son of Ganga; has to promise not to take the throne so his dad can marry Vyasa's mom, Satyavati. Satyavati son #1 dies in battle pretty quickly. Satyavati son #2 is young, so Bhishma rules in regent. Has to find SS2 a wife, so he wins 3 princesses in a battle contest.
*Amba: Oldest princess, already in love with another king, who ends up being terrible. Blames Bhishma. Lives in a hermitage and fasts/prays until Shiva responds and says she will be reincarnated as a mighty warrior who will slay Bhishma.
"Beauty and charm became nothing in her eyes. Her hair became matted and she grew thinner and thinner. For hours and days she would stand in stillness and silence as if she had been made of stone." Kills herself on funeral pyre: "as she took her place upon the throne of flame she said over and over again, 'I do this for the destruction of Bhishma! To obtain a new body for the destruction of Bhishma do I enter this fire!'"
Amba as a shadow puppet, from PDE Mahabharata blog; CC
Story ideas:
Parallels in Ganga's and Amba's stories. Both are strong-willed women who go to great lengths to attain their desires. One gets what she wants, and one doesn't. One operates for her own well-being, the other lets bitterness consume her.
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