Your Daily Tolkien Ping! Coming from many sources, these articles cover many aspects of Tolkien and his literary works. If anyone would like for me to ping them directly when I post articles such as this let me know. Enjoy!
Posted on 11/21/2002 10:02:34 AM PST by JameRetief
If the notion that men and women act as though they’re from different planets bothers you, you might want to jump over to Fan Art or some place, because I’d hate to be offensive. At the same time, I’ve decided to follow Quickbeam’s lead by jumping into a sticky topic this time around: Tolkien’s handling and alleged neglect/abuse of female characters in The Lord of the Rings.
‘Why are there so few girls in LOTR?? Why do only MEN get to go on the Quest and be in the Fellowship?? Why do only MEN get to do all the heroic things?? Tolkien must be a misogynist …’ Let’s give it up, ladies. Writing as a woman, I am taking the stance that Tolkien was far from a misogynist, that the female characters in his masterpiece collectively represent everything that is great about being a woman, and that less representation does not equal lesser importance.
Why does Tolkien get such a bad rap? That, at least, is obvious. Counting the Nine Walkers, the Nine Riders, Sauron Himself, Denethor, Theoden, Saruman, Wormtongue, Beregond, Tom Bombadil, Gollum, Farmer Cotton, Bergil, Faramir, Boromir, Éomer, Imrahil, Elrond, Celeborn, Glorfindel, Galdor, Haldir, Háma, Halbarad, Ingold, Hirgon, Mablung, Éothain, Glóin, Bilbo, Farmer Maggot, Barliman Butturbur, Bill Ferny, Treebeard . . . well, girls can’t count that high, but you get my point, and that’s without even opening a book to check. I’m sure I’ve forgotten at least one. On the other hand, there’s Arwen, Galadriel, Éowyn, Rosie Cotton, Ioreth, Mrs. Maggot and Mrs. Cotton, and that’s it, unless you want to count Shelob. Personally, I don’t. If you’re a real nit-picker you can throw in Finduilas and Lothiriel of Dol Amroth, but they’re just padding with names. We are terribly under-represented! Whine, moan, complain… sue… oh, wait, I’m working for the other side here. The point is, it’s easy to see why Tolkien could come across as having a dislike of women. Why does he go so heavy on the testosterone?
Tolkien’s personal life is often called into service defending the view that he was a misogynist. His was a predominantly male environment, capped by his regular ‘guys-to-hang- out-with’ group, meeting in a bar and gabbing about their jobs, no women allowed, primarily because I imagine that female Oxford dons were in short supply. To me, this has nothing to do with the question of whether or not Tolkien liked or respected women. It says more about the times he was living in and the job he performed (What this says about Oxford’s attitude towards female scholars is completely beside the point). It can’t be doubted that Tolkien was used to this system, having grown up in all-male schools, but none of this means he disliked women on principle. It simply means his circumstances did not lend themselves to a view of women as companions. To me, the facet of his life (and of any married man’s life!) that tells how he truly viewed women can be found in his marriage. Tolkien met his wife when they were both rather young, in their teens if I remember correctly. Once they fell in love, he remained true to her for many years, while the stubborn (and to me, incomprehensible) attitude of his guardian prevented them from marrying. When he finally was allowed to see her, she had seemingly moved on, and was engaged to another. His fidelity went to work for him and won her back. Talk about your true romantic! She supported him emotionally and nurtured his abilities and creativity. She moved with him from university to university, bore and helped raise his children, kept his world together. He described her as "my Lúthien. " Could there be any higher praise? Here’s the point, supported by this brief glimpse into his marriage: Tolkien looked upon women as the inspiration for the heroic deeds of men. Since personal creation comes from personal experience and circumstances, it’s only natural that Tolkien would paint women into his mythos as he saw them (or really, her, his wife, Edith) in his own world: to be placed on a pedestal, to be drawn on for support in times of trial, to be looked up to as a cherished ideal, to receive their wisdom in times of confusion, to be treasured once their love had been won (No small feat, either in his own life or in the lives of his heroes).
Let’s look at his female creations. Arwen, beloved of The Man Who Would Be King. What did she do? Sat around in the valley, embroidered a flag, sent an emerald tie-tack. What a gal. But we know Our Hero kept her as the sustaining flame in his heart, perhaps more even than the thought of the throne and the downfall of the Shadow. Her love came riding with the Rangers through the night to bring hope to Aragorn and his followers. We know she was willing to give up the entire way of life that she knew in order to be with him (Don’t complain to me about how she gave up everything and he gave up nothing, either …he couldn’t become immortal to be with her. She had the choice, and she made it). Now, maybe you don’t want that kind of relationship, but that’s the way it fell out for Our Hero and his Lady Fair. On him was the doom of his ancestry; the saving of the West was his duty, and he looked to Arwen, his love, for the inspiration to get the job done.
Galadriel. Does anybody else get a slight feeling of the creeps when we talk about this lady? To me, she is one of the single most powerful characters in the book. It is never overtly stated, but I always get the impression that she is much more of a bad dude than Celeborn could ever have hoped to be. Perhaps it’s the phrasing when Tolkien states that she "dwelt" with Celeborn, not that she was married to him. Also, when the Company first arrives in Caras Galadon and are having their audience with the Lord and Lady, Galadriel always speaks after Celeborn, and always seems to have something to say that upstages him. She always comes off as just a small jump ahead of him in figuring things out.
The Lord looked at them again. ‘Here there are eight,’ he said. ‘Nine were to set out: so said the messages. But maybe there has been some change of counsel that we have not heard…’
‘Nay, there was no change of counsel,’ said the Lady Galadriel, speaking for the first time. …‘Gandalf the Grey set out with the Company, but he did not pass the borders of this land…’
‘And if it were possible, one would say that at the last Gandalf fell from wisdom into folly, going needlessly into the net of Moria.’
‘He would be rash indeed that said that thing,’ said Galadriel gravely. ‘ Needless were none of the deeds of Gandalf in life. Those that followed him knew not his mind and cannot report his full purpose. But however it may be with the guide, the followers are blameless. Do not repent of your welcome to the Dwarf. If our folk had been exiled long and far from Lothlórien, who of the Galadrim, even Celeborn the Wise, would pass nigh and would not wish to look upon their ancient home, though it had become an abode of dragons?’
Throughout the Company’s stay in Lórien, she dispenses wisdom like glasses of water to the thirsty, though we see that she has her weaknesses also, like any Child of Iluvatar:
‘You are wise and fearless and fair, Lady Galadriel,’ said Frodo. ‘I will give you the One Ring, if you ask for it. It is too great a matter for me.’
Galadriel laughed with a sudden clear laugh. ‘Wise the Lady Galadriel may be,’ she said, ‘yet here she has met her match in courtesy. …I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer… in place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible …all shall love me and despair! …I pass the test,’ she said. ‘I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.’
Wise, powerful, great, sometimes terrible, stern and fair. Yet even in her regal bearing she still takes on some of the same role we saw in Arwen: she is an inspiration, especially to Legolas, her kindred, and Gimli, to whom she becomes almost a mystical mother. He is downcast when it appears she has sent him no message, later in the book, and it is not until he receives her words that he takes new heart for the adventure.
Rose Cotton and Mrs. Cotton, Mrs. Maggot, and Ioreth the healing-woman of Gondor. I can hear the feminists putting on their scoffing-expressions right this instant. But just because these ladies play the "traditional" female roles of healing, nurturing, and homemaking, is not a reason to either write them off or to start beating on Tolkien. They play their own parts, nothing more, and the other women in the book are not lessened or changed by the fact that these stout-hearted women were anything but in the front lines, not whackin’ off Nazgûl heads, but healing those who came back the worse for wear, filling up stomachs after a hungry night’s work of driving off "ruffians," handing out mushrooms, and being the devoted "girl next door" when Sam returns from "chasing Black Men up mountains."
Éowyn of the Rohirrim. Doesn’t everybody’s heart, male or female, skip a beat when we talk about this girl? Slender and fair as a lily, sterner than steel, I believe, is one of her descriptions. She also had a duty to perform, and it wasn’t to stay behind until the men came back looking for their supper. Those roles are important, and the women mentioned above filled them admirably. But Éowyn has another calling. She has some of the most stirring and defiant speeches in the length and breadth of the whole book.
‘But am I not of the House of Eorl, a shieldmaiden and not a dry-nurse?… Shall I always be chosen?’ she said bitterly. ‘Shall I always be left behind when the Riders depart, to mind the house while they win renown, and find food and beds when they return?… All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death.’
Wow, she’s groovy, eh? The contrast between Éowyn and somebody like Rosie Cotton is crystal clear to me in this one point: It’s all in what you choose. Rosie is content to make a home, to be a nurturing and supporting influence, but Éowyn is not. Tolkien paints women with different desires, different paths of life, different callings and duties!! And THIS is our cold, medieval misogynist? That’s just barking up the wrong tree. It is Aragorn, Éomer, and Theoden who try to push Éowyn into a mold that is not her own, and she does every feminist in the world proud when she breaks it. My all-time favorite passage, kind of like when Luke throws down his lightsaber and declares "I-am-a-Jedi-like-my-father-before-me," is when Dernhelm is revealed:
‘Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me.’
Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. ‘But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.’
Every time I read this I want to stand up and cheer and holler! It is a triumph for a woman, but to me, the triumph is not in the fact that she is doing what a man would normally do; it is in the fact that she has followed her path despite the attempts to push her into another one, and I have just as much respect for Rosie, Arwen, Galadriel, and Ioreth, for following their paths, whatever those roles may be, repugnant to some feminists as they may be.
The bottom line is that it’s all in what you choose. Men and women are different from one another, but so are individual women (And men, but that’s another column). My best friend, a sworn-in attorney and avowed feminist who, when telling her husband to wash the dishes, reminds him, "I cooked tonight, so you clean up," (I think she would wash dishes and make him cook, were it not for the fact that she likes to eat actual food), will still, when we’re confronted with shoveling snow or killing bugs, hold me back and say, "This is what we have guys for." That’s because she doesn’t like to shovel snow or kill bugs. Me, I give her my cross-eyed look and go right on shovelling the snow or killing the bug. It’s all in what you choose, and Tolkien knew this. His women are as varied in their paths of destiny as they are in their looks and height. The fact that there are so few of them is a result of how Tolkien himself views women: as special. Each had a different, chosen path, with its own responsibilities and rewards, and in the end, Tolkien didn’t need a passel of women because a surplus would have lessened the individuality of each one. Can you even remember which Elf Haldir is without looking it up? Or whether Ingold worked for Denethor or for Theoden? How about Hirgon? But nobody I know has ever mixed up Galadriel with Arwen or Éowyn (Well, nobody who really cares). Perhaps the men should be hollering about how Tolkien stereotyped them into the roles of wall-building and gate-guarding. All I can say for sure is that Tolkien cherished "his Lúthien" and put that perspective into his portrayal of females in The Lord of the Rings. Maybe you wouldn’t like to be any of the women in the book, ladies, and men, maybe you wouldn’t like your girlfriends to take on some of those roles, but in the end, it’s a matter of personal perspective, not sex perspective, and really, aren’t there enough perspectives to go around? Let’s let Tolkien have his cherished vision of womanhood without being beaten up for it. I, for one, would be proud if a man came to view me as a Lúthien. Or as a Galadriel, an Arwen, a Rosie, an Éowyn… I could go on… and on…
UPDATED!
DOH! An alert reader has written to point out how I completely forgot about both Goldberry and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. !!! Well, a friend pointed out Lobelia a few days ago, but to tell the truth, I didn't mind forgetting her, the old bat. ;) But Goldberry is another matter, and I just wanted to forestall the deluge of emails sure to come if I don't admit that I forgot her. So sorry! In a shortened version of what I would have said of her, she is like a version of Galadriel with a smaller responsibility. She has the mystic and imaginary qualities of Galadriel, the unknown origins of a water spirit or a dryad, and the nurturing qualities of Arwen & Rosie Cotton combined. Anyway, thanks for keeping me on the track, because Heaven knows I'll be the first to admit how totally imperfect I am! Thanks, all.
Author: Anwyn
Published on: November 10, 1999
Your Daily Tolkien Ping! Coming from many sources, these articles cover many aspects of Tolkien and his literary works. If anyone would like for me to ping them directly when I post articles such as this let me know. Enjoy!
1) Who was Tom Bombodil? by Gene Hargrove
2) Celeborn Unplugged by Michael Martinez
3) Speaking of Legolas... by Michael Martinez
4) A Bit of Light: Visions and Transformations of the Ring Quest by Cara J. Loup
5) Them Dwarves, Them Dwarves! - Part One and Two by Michael Martinez
6) Something wicked this way comes by Michael Martinez
7) Men Are From Gondor, Women Are From Lothlórien by Anwyn
Darlin', I spend my life surrounded by Orcs. I don't need to go actively hunting them out.
And besides, I'm too busy at home shaving my feet ;-)
Happygal (of Hobbiton)
The point is, it’s easy to see why Tolkien could come across as having a dislike of women.
Her statement there is pure bull pucky. The women in the story are either beautiful, powerful, or both, and all have virtue and grace. LoTR is a lot of things, but it spends much of it time being a grand war epic. That is the realm of the male. Chicks in the 40's when Tolkien was writing, did not go to war. And yet, in his story he creates one who bravely did just that.
Only a very shallow person could find dislike of women in this story.
Miss HairOfTheDog....
May I suggest shaving a little higher there?
Oh boy, now I've torn it...
Your friend,
Orc, er, I mean, Argh
Hi, Hair!
LOL, yeah, way too soon. The author went on to say great things about Tolkien's views on women. An example:
It’s all in what you choose, and Tolkien knew this. His women are as varied in their paths of destiny as they are in their looks and height. The fact that there are so few of them is a result of how Tolkien himself views women: as special.
 Ring Ping!! |
My wife is having no such problem with the Lothlorien part though.
A Day in the Life of the Dark Lordess
Updates coming after Thanksgiving!
Have also been trying to finish up my fanfiction, which centers on Pippin and Aragorn (no its not slash!!!). I am still about two chapters away from finishing, but Im close!
The Falling of Small Stones At FanFiction.net (for now)
Excerpt:Perhaps it was the shadows of the hall that had made him seem so glum, Aragorn thought, as they finally settled on a bench in the kitchen of what was to be his home.
“Do you know, it does my heart good to know that the fellowship we had remains in the city,” Aragorn ventured, speaking around a mouthful of fresh baked bread. “If I had seen an elf take gardening advice from a hobbit anywhere else, I would have thought I had crossed the seas into a different world.”
Pippin forsook table manners as well, leaning back in the large chair to prop his feet upon the seat of another, gaining full advantage of the moment of leisure.
“What surprises me,” the hobbit rejoined, “is that we are together at all. I feel as a small pebble that had bounced just the right way into the right path, knocking just the right boulder into motion.”
And setting off an avalance, Aragorn finished to himself.
“Well, you must remember what Galadriel spoke to us, how perilously close we were to falling to the wayside,” Aragorn replied, not at all taken aback by the directness with which Pippin faced the conversation.
Pippin’s gaze turned sharp, almost rueful.
“Do you think it was mere circumstance then?”
Aragorn took a deep breath. What was bothering this otherwise unquenchable hobbit?
“I mean,” the hobbit stammered, taking the puzzled look on the King’s face for amusement at his expense. Reflex. “I mean, all of this. That you became king, that we defended Gondor, that Frodo made it to the Crack of Doom, that Gollum, that horrid creature, actually fell in…”
Ah.
“Was it prophecy? Or was it chance? Only the Valar know,” Aragorn cast out the most obvious reply, mind racing to discover which way the hobbit’s thoughts were flowing.
Oh I dunno! *L* I can be bought. But I don't come cheap ;-) *LOL*
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