In studies on Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and The Thousand and One Nights, the actions of Gordafarid and Shahrazad have most often been interpreted through the lenses of heroism, storytelling, or feminine cunning. As a result, the shared mechanism underlying their agency has received little comparative attention. This study examines the actions of these two female figures through the concept of metis—situational or practical intelligence—and explores its relationship to the tradition of heroic wisdom in Persian literature. Employing a descriptive-analytical method within a comparative framework, the study draws on Carl Gustav Jung’s theory of archetypes alongside the concept of metis as developed by Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant. The analysis focuses on Gordafarid’s encounter with Sohrab at the White Fortress in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and the opening frame narrative of The Thousand and One Nights. The findings demonstrate that, despite belonging to two different literary genres, Gordafarid and Shahrazad operate according to a common logic of agency grounded in reshaping the opponent’s perception, managing time, and employing indirect strategies. Gordafarid disrupts the balance of power on the battlefield through disguise, heroic prudence, and strategic deception, whereas Shahrazad postpones the cycle of violence through storytelling, narrative suspense, and the careful orchestration of narrative time. From this perspective, the difference between the two figures lies not in the nature of their agency but in the literary form through which metis is expressed. The study further shows that literary genre determines the mode of manifestation of this intelligence without altering its underlying logic. Accordingly, metis, understood as the practical expression of heroic wisdom, provides an effective analytical framework for interpreting female agency in classical Persian literature.