The Women of Middle-earth

This item contains Edit Points (EPs). EPs are the red numbers (~#~) that you see within this item. The Author has placed these at various points in order to gain detailed feedback. Readers may click any EP to leave comments about that particular point in the item.

Abstract

It is a generally ignored fact that some of the most influential, powerful, and meaningful characters in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings are female. Most critics of his work make no mention of them, or treat them without discussing their femininity. Yet while some claim Tolkien’s women are presentations of a sexist mind, there is much more evidence that the idealism he shows through them is one of the integral themes of the book. Elvish women like Galadriel or Arwen are examples of perfection, grace, beauty, wisdom, and motherly guidance. These gifts allow them to drive the trilogy, inspiring great achievements and actions. Éowyn, a mortal woman, shows traits that are contrary to the previously mentioned ideals when she attempts to live as a warrior, but she achieves true happiness when she accepts her feminine role. Shelob, a monster who attacks Frodo at an important point, is presented as the antithesis of these ideals. Through her evil, Tolkien further proves the necessity of his ideal traits. The outstanding characteristics of these female characters show what is worth saving in Middle-earth, but they also show Middle-earth’s values. The greater question is whether or not Tolkien’s intent was for us to take these values as our own.

~0~

What role do female characters play in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings?

Introduction

It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon. When the first Lord of the Rings movie came out, one of my friends saw it and became obsessed. Within two weeks she’d read all three of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and seen the movie several times. Like many others, she willingly joined the hobbit hysteria that swept the world.

~1~

It’s the true nerds, however, that deserve the credit. My dad is one. He (at my suggestion) took his entire company, forty or so computer geeks, to see the movie on the day it opened. He wasn’t even the geekiest fan in the room.

~2~

I, on the other hand, might have been.

~3~

I have loved Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy since I first read it about nine years ago. So I was thrilled when I got to see the movie opening day with non-bandwagon-joining, true nerds like me. Later I got into a debate with one of these “true nerds” about the role of women in Tolkien’s work. My favorite character is a woman; he’d dismissed her as unimportant. As I debated with him I realized something critical: women make up some of the most important and interesting people (and elves and others) in Middle-earth.

~4~

Tolkien and the Critics

After a little research, I had almost concluded that I was alone in this opinion. Quite a few critics of this masterpiece do not mention the women in Tolkien’s work: of these Tom Shippey is a fine example. Most often, the critic will address the issues of female characters but not as a product of their femininity. For example, a book detailing Tolkien’s works might go on for ten pages about Galadriel without once mentioning the importance of a queen being dominant over her husband and king. Yet there are those who do address the role of women, both specifically and in general, in Middle-earth. Even here opinion is not undivided, however. One school of thought claims that Tolkien as well as his group of writing friends known as the Inklings “were most certainly sexist” (Fredrick 159). But another, and in my opinion more rational, belief is that women hold a special place in Middle-earth. Arwen, Galadriel, and the rest serve as ideals for men to cherish and revere. These women, Tolkien’s idealized women, thereby affect much of the story with their near-perfect characteristics.

~5~

Being idealized is not always seen as a bonus, but Anwyn, a Lord of the Rings commentator from theonering.net, believes that it is a high honor. “Writing as a woman,” she says, “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” (Anwyn). In her mind, being viewed as an ideal is a positive thing, not some sexist derogatory statement. But she makes no denial of woman’s presentation as an ideal.

~6~

Candice Fredrick and Sam McBride, however, strongly disagree and believe that Tolkien paints women in a negative light. Their major claim is that Tolkien is sexist and that “although Tolkien provides what, at first glance, appear to be strong female characters” they “lack the necessary detail” or “embrace traditional female roles rather than asserting [themselves]” (Fredrick 114). Yet this is a weak claim when considered from all angles. The women in Tolkien are fully developed, with histories and personalities and choices to be made. As Anwyn states it, “Tolkien paints women with different desires, different paths of life, different callings and duties!! And THIS is our cold, medieval misogynist?” (Anwyn).

~7~

The rest of the critics, for the most part, do not mention women at all, even if they discuss female characters. Randle Helms, Jane Chance, Robley Evans, and Paul Kocher all talk about female characters, sometimes at length. However, none of these critics tackle what being a woman means in Middle-earth or how femininity and Tolkien intertwine. Evans does make one claim, that if Galadriel had power it “would lie in sexual dominance,” but he never backs up or explains this claim and readers are left to wonder on what basis he even mentions such a notion (Evans 119). It is certainly never referenced in Tolkien, where love is pure and without sexual overtones except in one case. Wormtounge has pledged allegiance to Saruman hoping that when Rohan is captured he will be able to take Éowyn as a prize. But Wormtounge is evil and this casts an evil tone over all things based on sexuality, and Galadriel is certainly not a character that is meant to inspire evil.

~8~

One final critic, Michael Stanton, raises an interesting point. He spends much of his 172-page analysis Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards discussing characters and plot, but he takes several pages to mention what Tolkien thought of women. What he noticed that many critics do not pay attention to is the fact that humanity is referred to as the race of Men (Stanton 121). Women have no place in this reference of the collective. Stanton, however, does not see this negatively as Fredrick and McBride seem to. He feels that it is due to the period of time in which Tolkien lived, the early twentieth century. The ideals that were placed on women in this trilogy, Stanton believes, are not based on misogyny but on the beliefs about women common to Tolkien’s time and Tolkien’s life. Most importantly, Stanton can agree that Tolkien has a specific attitude about how women are treated in The Lord of the Rings, which is more than many critics deign to claim.

~9~

Idealized Women

There is plenty of support of the view of Tolkien’s women as idealized. Galadriel, Lúthien, Arwen, Rosie Cotton, Goldberry, and even to some extent Éowyn are all idealized, sharing the traits common to Tolkien’s concept of femininity and analogous with Tolkien’s presentation of perfection. These women are all beautiful and kind. They are all leaders in some form or another and take on leadership positions in their respective cultures. They are all wise and use their knowledge for the betterment of Middle-earth. They are mother figures and wife figures. And each one of them performs the ideal role in the society Tolkien has developed.

~10~

Tolkien’s society thrives on roles. Princes and kings must live out their destinies, elves have their duties, and in the same way women have a specific function in Middle-earth. Mostly this role is domestic and passive, while men are allowed an action-packed lifestyle. Their duties are to care for the household and the men of the household, listen to the wisdom of their dominant male figure, be wise and beautiful and inspiring to men, and lead if called upon. It is important to note that women are only mentioned in the tale when they are legendary, either for their beauty or their wisdom or something surrounding them. Romance is legendary, and several women are mentioned on the basis of their romantic involvement with male characters, but the actual contact with romance is slim.

~11~

To see how these characteristics apply to Tolkien’s female characters, it is best to take them one character at a time. I shall begin with Arwen.

~12~

Arwen Evenstar

If any woman in The Lord of the Rings is at all idealized, it is Arwen Evenstar. She is an elf, immortal and beautiful and wise, and like all elven women described in Tolken’s writings, she fits perfectly into Tolkien’s ideals. Her beauty is incredible, as Tolkien tells us in detail:

~13~

         Young she was and yet not so. The braids of her dark hair
         were touched by no frost; her white arms and clear face were
         flawless and smooth, and the light of stars was in her bright
         eyes, grey as a cloudless night; yet queenly she looked, and
         thought and knowledge were in her glance… (Tolkien I:274)

~14~

Arwen lives in Rivendell with her father Elrond, and her main purpose there is to wait on his needs. She waits quietly and meekly at home while her betrothed Aragorn is out proving his manhood, and she listens to the men in her life.

~15~

But most importantly, Arwen is Aragorn’s motivation. Yes, he wants to rid the world of Sauron, and yes, he wants to claim his throne, but Arwen is the reason he wants to do this things. As a recent article points out, “she symbolizes for Aragorn all that he’s fighting for” (“Arwen’s”). Her ideal nature, her beauty, her grace, her wisdom – these are the traits of the Middle-earth that Aragorn is hoping to preserve in battle. Another important aspect of Arwen’s motivation of Aragorn is that they are betrothed and not allowed to marry until Aragorn has reclaimed his throne. He loves her more than anything and in order to be with her he must succeed in his quest. Therefore he sacrifices all that he has toward this goal.

~16~

Arwen and Aragorn’s love story is especially important because of Arwen’s choice to forgo immortality and live her life with Aragorn but separated from her father. This sacrifice of hers points out a major portion of what Tolkien’s ideal women were capable of: she has a free will and an important choice to make. She is a leader, at least of herself. She listens to men and serves men but she is not controlled by men. She even can go against the men in her life. Her father at first does not approve of her desire to marry Aragorn, though he regards Aragorn highly. But she does not back down from this request simply because her father is opposed. Able to voice her own opinions and express her own viewpoints, she does not rely on males to make her choices for her. This choice and accepted opposition to what her father desires for her do not mesh well with a view of a “sexist” Tolkien writing to further his misogynist beliefs.

~17~

Her beauty and wisdom make Arwen idealized and her romantic life with Aragorn makes her legendary. Because of these traits, Arwen is an extraordinarily idealized character, as are many women in Middle-earth.

~18~

Galadriel, Lady of Lothlórien

Perhaps it was Tolkien’s fascination with elves, but another strongly idealized character comes to us from that race. Her name is Galadriel, and she is arguably one of the most powerful and influential characters, male or female, to appear in the trilogy. The Elvish queen of Lothlórien, Galadriel is the keeper of Nenya, one of the three rings that were gifted to the elves at the time the One Ring was made. There are many powerful male elves that could keep this ring: Elrond’s sons, for example, or the rulers of Mirkwood. But instead, the ring rests in Galadriel’s care, testament to her wisdom and power.

~19~

Galadriel bears many of the traits that link Tolkien’s idealized women. For one thing, she is beautiful, ageless and ancient. Her beauty is so great that Gimli asks for one strand of her hair to cherish higher than gold, a meaningful statement from a dwarf. She is wise, struggling in her mind with Sauron and advising the Fellowship, mostly by telling them that she cannot guide them. One outstanding demonstration of her wisdom is her refusal of the ring, even when Frodo offers it to her. She recognizes how tempting this offer is, saying, “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…” (Tolkien I:431). But she knows what she must do. “I pass the test,” she says. “I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel” (Tolkien I:432). She is also a maternal figure in Middle-earth. She is married, but to the barely influential Celeborn. Her children are among the greatest in Middle-earth, and Arwen is her granddaughter. But she leads and protects her forest kingdom with a maternal love and queenly dignity, very appropriate for her position in the trilogy. And she guides and protects Frodo, too, advising him and seeming to him as a mother would.

~20~

What make Galadriel so important to The Lord of the Rings, however, are the ways in which she differs from many idealized traits. She does not have to defer to Celeborn. In fact, she in many ways proves herself the wiser and more powerful of the two. Lothlórien’s reputation as terrifyingly powerful stems from its Lady, not its Lord. It is she who looks into the minds and hearts of the travelers, she who leads Frodo to the Mirror, she who gives the gifts as the Company leaves her forest, and she who holds the elven ring. Also, perhaps because of her social status, she does not serve the men. She does not wait on Celeborn or in any way place herself subservient to him. Yet this in no way undercuts her subservient status. In fact, it acts almost like Arwen’s choice of mortality. It proves that Galadriel has her own free will regardless of her womanhood and that idealized women do not have to depend upon men.

~21~

Galadriel is only in the books briefly, but she impacts their entirety through the gifts she gives and the friendships she inspires. As the company leaves Lothlórien, she gives them certain gifts. To Frodo she gives the Phial of Galadriel that saves Frodo and Sam from many tight situations later on. To Sam she gives a small box containing soil and the seed of a mallorn tree. This gift makes the rebuilding of the Shire at the end of the trilogy possible. The cloaks that she gives to each member are used countless times as disguise and assistance in sticky situations. And the hair that she gives to Gimli is a symbol of his love for her. Dwarves and elves have long hated each other, but this all changes when Gimli enters Lothlórien. Eventually he and Legolas the elf become unlikely but inseparable friends. This friendship is among the Company’s most important accomplishments, and it is all due to the perfection of Galadriel.

~22~

Éowyn, Lady of Rohan

While idealized women of the like of Arwen and Galadriel make up nearly every female character in Tolkien’s work, there are exceptions to this rule. The most important exception is Éowyn. She is not as idealized as these other examples of Middle-earth femininity. For one thing, she is a human woman. Other idealized women are elvish or hobbits like Rosie or mythical like Goldberry. Éowyn is of the race of men, not any race Tolkien had the luxury of creating from scratch. While many idealized women are associated with joy and possibly a little tragedy, it is mostly all tragic in the history of Éowyn. She loves Aragorn, but he is in love with Arwen and refuses her advances. She feels trapped by the cage of servitude she perceives her life as a woman to be. She waits on Théoden but feels that as a princess of a warrior nation she should be allowed to ride into battle instead of waiting around at home with the women and children and old men of Rohan. With all of these pressures weighing on her, she chooses to seek honorable death in battle and disguises herself as a man, something no idealized woman feels the need to do. She is rash, she is young, and she is discontented. She resists the urge to lead and she resists her role as a woman in society. In these ways she is completely unidealized.

~23~

Yet for all of that Éowyn is one of the most important characters in the trilogy. Once she adopts her disguise as Dernhelm and rides into battle with the riders of Rohan, with Merry the hobbit tucked away next to her, she plays a part both pivotal and unforeseen. It has been foretold that no man may kill the chief Nazgul, that dreadful Black Rider. But Éowyn is not a man. She is a woman and therefore may kill the right hand man of Sauron, as she expresses in the following speech:

~24~

         But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn am I,
         Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and
         kin. Be gone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead,
         I will smite you, if you touch him” (Tolkien III:127).

~25~

This stirring declaration frightens the Nazgul King, as it should, for Éowyn soon slays his winged horse and she and Merry together end his “life”. This is another reason for her importance to the story. Without her to bear him, Merry would have never arrived at the battle of Pelenor Field where he played such a vital part. The success of the battle and the protection of Gondor owe a lot to this small princess with her strong will to defy what is told her by the men in her life.

~26~

Éowyn’s character is not idealized as she serves her main purpose, but perhaps she becomes idealized by the end of the trilogy. She ceases loving Aragorn in tragic fashion and she and Faramir, Steward of Gondor, fall in love and wed. She leaves off being a shield-maiden to become a healer, beautiful, benevolent, and wise. These traits sound familiar because they are the ones that the idealized women in the books all share. The important thing to note is that Éowyn is not happy when she refuses to accept her role as a woman in Middle-earth. When she does, serving Faramir lovingly and giving up thought of battle and death, she becomes happy and wise and beautiful and idealized (Fredrick 113).

~27~

Shelob, She-Devil

The other unidealized character in The Lord of the Rings bears one obvious difference to any of the other women in the work: she is evil, destructive, and has no concern for the fate of the world as long as her belly is full. Shelob is a huge spider living in Cirith Ungol who we meet when Frodo, Sam, and Gollom must pass there to enter Mordor. She lurks in shadow and darkness, destroying all she comes into contact with. Tolkien describes her evil vividly:

~28~

         There agelong she had dwelt, an evil thing in spider-form… How
         Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tale tells, for out of the
         Dark Years few tales have come. But still she was there, who was
         there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dûr; and
         she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men,
         bloating and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts,
         weaving webs of shadow… Little she knew of or cared for towers,
         or rings, or anything devised by mind or hand, who only desired
         death for all others, mind and body, and for herself a glut of life...
         (Tolkien II:393).

~29~

Shelob is utterly evil, destroying life and light and living off of her brutal kills. She mates with her own children and then consumes them in the manner of a black widow. In her evil, she attacks Frodo and Sam, the epitome of good. She is in league with Gollum, who is, in his dealings with her, thoroughly evil. In short, there is no denying her complete wickedness.

~30~

Naturally, along with her malice comes the obvious assumption that she is the opposite of the idealized female characters that have thus far populated the trilogy. She is the opposite of someone like Galadriel who symbolizes maternal caring. Destroying one’s own children in one’s pursuit of destruction will earn one that label. She is not the beautiful, flawless image of femininity we have come to expect from Tolkien; rather, she is a hulking, dark, ugly, grotesque beast. She has a thirst for blood, an appetite for demolition, and a rage against any who defy her in her goals, such as Sam. But most importantly, she is evil. Every other woman who we meet in this work is working on the part of good to free Middle-earth from Sauron’s reign. Shelob does not care who is ruling Middle-earth as long as she is allowed to slowly destroy it by consuming all life. But it is important to remember that she is intended as an evil character. By providing a counterexample to his strong idealistic women, Tolkien further proves the necessity of the traits he gives his idealized female characters by showing what woman is like without them.

~31~

Interestingly, perhaps Shelob is this way because she has no strong male to balance her. Every other woman of consequence mentioned in the novel has a male to help her, guide her, and be a counterpoint for her strong will. Galadriel has a husband in Celeborn and peers in Elrond and Gandalf, all men. Arwen has Aragorn, who fights all his battles for her. Éowyn has many balancing men: her husband Faramir, her brother Éomer, her uncle and king Théoden, and even Aragorn, the man she loves in vain. Shelob has no man to lean on; in fact, she destroys all men she comes into contact with. She does have a relationship with Sauron, who is always described as male, but it is not a relationship of balance as the other idealized relationships are. It is instead a symbiotic system. Shelob gets prisoners of Mordor and those that try to pass through Cirith Ungol, and Sauron gets protection at his border and a way to dispose of his prisoners. In this tidbit, Tolkien seems trying to prove that women need men to provide the balance that is essential to them living up to their potential for perfection.

~32~

Are Tolkien’s Women Idealized?

The critics may tend to ignore Tolkien’s images of women, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important to the work. With each example of his female characters, it becomes easier and easier to prove that Tolkien’s women are idealized. He provides many examples of idealized women in his trilogy: Galadriel, Arwen, Éowyn, Rosie, and Goldberry, simply to name a few. They all share traits of beauty, wisdom, and kind leadership, along with a strong will to do what they please regardless of what a man tells them. When they lack these traits, they become unhappy, as Éowyn, or evil, as Shelob. The idealized traits that they all have in common seem to be values that Middle-earth stresses for women.

~33~

To the contrary, however, the idealized traits that they all have in common seem to be values that Middle-earth stresses for women. It is possible for women to have a free will and be independent of men even in the “sexist” world Tolkien has devised for them, which is the other point that brings up a larger issue. Is Tolkien’s whole society idealized? In short, it is easy to believe that it is. After all, Tolkien created it, and he gets to define its values and its traits. The heroics that men perform are an ideal to him, just as the perfect qualities that women attain are. In fact, his whole society is an ideal, a model for a society of tolerance and strong moral values. It seems natural that women should play an idealized role in this idealized society. However, this is not to say that women in Tolkien’s real life would be expected to play the same kinds of roles. Tolkien probably did not expect unselfish heroism from all men, and he probably did not expect unselfish perfection from all women either.

~34~

In conclusion, women do play an idealized role in Middle-earth society. Yet that society itself is idealized, so the point no longer matters. Tolkien’s roles for women in Middle-earth are commentaries on feminism no more than Tolkien’s roles for men are commentaries on manliness. Yes, it is a factor of it, but not the important factor. Yes, Tolkien’s ideal society includes an ideal for women that he portrays strongly through his works. But in some ways the more interesting question is whether or not he expected us in this age to follow the ideals of the Third Age. While my feeling is that no, he understood the differences in the modern world and his mythological one, it is hard to know for sure.

~35~

Bibliography

Anwyn. “Men Are From Gondor, Women Are From Lothlórien,” Anwyn’s Counterpoint
         November 10, 1999. June 3, 2002.
         http://greenbooks.theonering.net/anwyn/files/111099.html

“Arwen’s Defense,” Special Guest June 3, 2002.
         http://greenbooks.theonering.net/guest/files/030101.html

Chance, Jane. The Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of Power, New York: Twayne
         Publishers, 1992

Evans, Robley. Writer’s for the 70’s: J.R.R. Tolkien, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell
         Company, 1972

Gardner, Kara. “Macho Men and Warrior Princesses,” Special Guest June 11, 2002.
         http://greenbooks.theonering.net/guest/files/050101_02.html

Helms, Randel. Tolkien’s World, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974

Kocher, Paul H. Master of Middle-earth, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972

Shippey, Tom. J.R.R. Tolkien, Author of the Century, New York: Houghton Mifflin
         Company, 2001

Stanton, Michael N. Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards, New York: Palgrave, 2001

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings: Part One: The Fellowship of the Ring, New
         York: Ballantine Books, 1965

---. The Lord of the Rings: Part Two: The Two Towers, New York: Ballantine Books,
         1965

---. The Lord of the Rings: Part Three: The Return of the King, New York: Ballantine
         Books, 1965


*Note: In citing Tolkien’s work I have adhered to custom and placed the Roman numeral of the volume in front of the page number.