Image of Ravana and Sita from Wikimedia
Sita, Period: Sita, again and again, proves her strength throughout this portion of the epic. She's been cooped up with Ravana for ages as a prisoner while Rama's been hanging out in the forest. Women as well as Ravana come and torture her to give up information about Rama, or to sacrifice her purity, of which she does neither. Sita gets points because of that. After all of this, Rama (albeit somewhat guided by cultural expectations) has the gall to not immediately welcome her back into his arms. Sita, you deserve better.
The Battle: The entire battle is interesting, with each side taking wins and losses, though it's definitely more weighted towards Rama. Rama is constantly looking for ways to save Ravana, to not have to kill him, which is in Rama's nature. He's always trying to do the right thing, but often has to kill the enemy in order to complete his task. A scar on Ravana's back that Rama notices as he is dying worries Rama as to whether he did the noble thing--surely, fatally wounding an enemy from the back while he was running isn't noble. He's reassured that this is an old wound, and everyone's happy.
Maya: This is a fairly trivial point, but it was interesting that there were two sides of this brought out. Ravana fights with Maya, illusionary tactics, but after he does that, Rama fights back with wisdom, which could be said to be the exact opposite of Maya. Only a fool would be taken in by these illusions, but Rama is no fool. Just an interesting point I liked seeing.
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