They take her victory away in the sequels. Twice. Three times if you count cloning Ripley with xeno DNA in Resurrection as a lose. Cat lady perpetually be fighting against that shit.

Aliens, at its core, is a movie about motherhood. Newt is the surrogate for Ripley’s daughter that she lost. When Newt’s in danger, it’s not the badass space marines who save her. It’s the mother who will move heaven and earth to protect her child.

Ripley canonically had a daughter named Amanda who died while Ripley was in stasis between Alien and Aliens. Amanda Ripley is the player character in Alien: Isolation.