The Role of Women in The Lord of the Rings

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Here’s a surprising thing: if you do a search for “women” in thread titles you will only garner ten hits. What’s more, nine of those threads are from 2002-2003. There are a number of other threads addressing the issues raised around or by particular woman characters in Tolkien’s works – perhaps unsurprisingly, Éowyn has been pretty popular in this regard – but there has never been a thread devoted to exploring the function, role or nature of women in Middle-Earth.

Until now… (although I’m sure that several mods will be able to find threads that I did not and prove me wrong).

So just what is the role or view of women in Tolkien’s works? As I am most familiar with this question in relation to The Lord of the Rings I will attempt an initial answer (or series of answers) in relation to the important women characters of that book.

The first thing that strikes me about the women of LotR is their surprising variety: the four most significant women (or females) are, so far as I can see, Arwen, Galadriel, Éowyn and Shelob (not a woman, I know, but feminine in important ways). At first glance they may seem to have a lot in common: none of them are supposed to be out doing any fighting, none of the are admitted to the Fellowship, all of them end their stories in traditionally ‘feminine’ passivity (being either married, weakened or defeated). But this apparent similarity belies a surprising complexity that they explore in the roles of women in the story. Each one of them gives us a way to think about the nature of women, their role in the quest, their relation to men, their response to the desire for the Ring…the list goes on. In fact, the more you look at the women the more you realise that there isn’t anything in the book that can be examined fully without reference to the role of women.

So how are we to interpret these women? There’s a whole variety of ways to begin answering this question, so I’m going to attempt four answers by focusing on the four different women I list above.

Arwen & Traditional Domesticity

It’s pretty hard to read the story of Arwen and not come to the conclusion that Tolkien was a pretty conservative guy in relation to women. She hardly ever appears in the book even though she’s one of the most important people for the future of Middle-Earth. Most readers don’t even notice her the first time through. Not only is she a shadowy presence who lives her life in relation to her father and then her husband, but her entire existence seems to be defined by the fact that she is Elrond’s daughter and Aragorn’s wife – that is, her identity seems to depend almost entirely on the roles that she fulfils in the lives of powerful men. Her primary task is to wait and to weave for Aragorn (shades of Homer’s Penelope…?).

Arwen is extremely powerful in her own right, but again she’s powerful in an extremely traditionally feminine way. She is able to heal and give comfort, etc. One of her most significant acts is to renounce the West and remain in Middle-Earth; this willing acceptance of her own weakening and death is done for the sake of her husband and leaves the way open for Frodo to go into the West in her place. To be somewhat hyperbolic, she’s like the self-effacing mother who always insists on taking the most uncomfortable chair at Christmas so as not to interpose on anyone else.

Galadriel & the Goddess

Galadriel is a really powerful woman, but like Arwen her primary ‘task’ in the War is to be self-effacing (i.e. renounce the Ring) and to help the men with their quest. Unlike Arwen, however, Galadriel has real power: Lorien is protected by her as Doriath was by Melian (an actual goddess) and her identity is clearly defined by far more than her traditional female roles – her husband Celeborn is in LotR as shadowy and boring as Arwen, and there’s not much made of the fact that she is Arwen’s grandmother.

Still, when push comes to shove, her primary role is to forsake power and activity and to become passive. She doesn’t get to join the Quest or to have any say in it; her “magic” is not even like the counsel of Gandalf or the foresight of Elrond – those two men characters advise what action the heroes should undertake in the future, while Galadriel’s mirror merely shows what the future might hold. She explicitly states that she will not lend counsel or advice. (Interestingly, like Arwen she is also a weaver.)

The biggest difference between Galadriel and Arwen, however, is that while Arwen lives her life in reference to and under the protection of powerful men (she moves from Rivendel to Minas Tirith) Galadriel is the defining force of her world, and Lorien is a strikingly ‘feminine’ place. She really is a women in touch with her ‘inner goddess’ insofar as her femininity is what gives her power over the men she meets. Still, she is circumscribed within her realm and to that role.

Éowyn the ‘Feminist’

Hey, we all love Éowyn. She refuses to stay confined like Arwen, she does not renounce her ‘unnatural’ or ‘improper’ desires to engage in the world as an active agent rather than as a passive support to the men, like Galadriel. On top of which, she has some of the books greatest lines – in particular as it comes to her railing against the constraints placed upon her by a male-dominated society. What’s more, when she does go against the constraints of that society she is punished for the transgression neither by the men in her world – who honour her – nor by Tolkien – who lets her triumph over the Witch King.

But then, of course, in the end, she marries Faramir, renounces her warrior’s ways and becomes a healer. Like Arwen and Galadriel, she chooses passivity rather than action. She does manage, however, to chart a middle course between Arwen and Galadriel in a way. Like Arwen she becomes the wife of a Gondorian noble, and finds fulfilment in that role. Unlike Arwen, however, she is not simply moving in a passive way from father to husband. For one, her father is dead, and for another, she arrives in Minas Tirith very much under her own steam and ‘wins’ Faramir for herself rather than vice versa. In this regard she is able to become a kind of echo of Galadriel, insofar as she becomes “The White Lady” of Ithilien, even after “The Golden Lady” of Lorien has passed into the West.

That’s why I put the quotes around ‘Feminist’ for Éowyn – she has a lot of rousing things to say about the inequality and unfair position of women, but in the end she seems to go back on that.

Shelob and Monstrous Femininity

Shelob is an interesting figure in that she is the complete inversion of ‘good’ femininity, I think. Rather than passively supporting the male hero, she seeks actively to hinder him. Rather than giving food, she seeks to eat. Like Arwen and Galadriel, she is a weaver, but not of a standard which announces the arrival of the King, or of cloaks that will protect the hero, but of webs with which to enclose herself. She is the ultimate expression of male fears of female power – the terror of being consumed, trapped and overcome by the dark, voracious woman. In the end, the only response to this feminine monster is to destroy her with, appropriately, the light that Galadriel has given the male characters. Shelob is the dark inversion of Galadriel – feminine power that does not check itself, and must be checked by men.

Women in LotR?

The point of these notes is not to suggest a particular version or view of their role in the story, but to look at how Tolkien himself has provided us with a number of different versions of women and femininity in the tale. I think that in the end these four characters leave us with a number of options when thinking about the role of women in Middle-Earth. We can look at the women as being defined by their relationships with men – that is, they are dependent upon the male characters and defined by them (Arwen). Or we can look at the women as being partners with the male characters – as completing them and being completed by them (Galadriel/Shelob). Finally, we can look at them as being independent of the men and self-defining (Éowyn).

But here’s the interesting part: each one of these views only really works, I think, in relation to specific women characters – how are we to reconcile these different positions. In the end, what is the role of women in Middle-Earth?