Females – Missing in Action!

[Estelyn Telcontar]

How is LotR - well, all of Middle-earth for that matter - affected by the females who are not there? (I was inspired to this topic by Fordim's thread on women in LotR but decided that it would not fit into that discussion well, so here’s a new thread for it.) Aside from the dead mothers mentioned on Birdland’s legendary Matricide thread, there are whole races which are missing all or many of their females.

Ents – no females

The most notable example is that of the Ents. The Entwives are lost to them, presumably all dead or so far away that they are no longer available. What happens as a result? First of all, of course, the race is dying out. Only the longevity of the Ents ensures that there are still some of them existing. This robs them of a future, so that I would add that the loss of their females causes loss of hope. Hope is an important part of the female role in the LotR! (Arwen giving Aragorn hope is the most notable example.)

Another effect is the loss of the Entwives’ domesticating influence. The race loses balance without the female factor. We see the Ents getting lonesome, depending on their trees for the companionship that they should have found in their wives. (The comparison to shepherds is given by Tolkien himself, quite appropriately.) They are growing wilder, some of them losing their mobility and becoming tree-like. In that process, they are also losing sentience, falling asleep - and losing the gift of speech, communication!.

Dwarves – few females

Another race is shown to have only a minority of females – the Dwarves. This is not evident so much in LotR itself, but information is given in Appendix A. Besides their diminishing as a race (a logical choice of Tolkien’s, since the story was supposedly set in our pre-history, and dwarves no longer exist today), what else did that cause? There are very few facts given, but we do read that they are “engrossed in their crafts” and that their one great weakness is for gold and other precious metals and gems. The emphasis on their work is one reason many of them do not marry and suggests to me that they have concentrated on material possessions instead of relationships – which could be considered a masculine trait, though it is not limited to males nor typical of all of them. Was the influence of their women ignored, or were those so tuned into the material set of mind that they no longer had that more feminine priority of personal relationships? We can only speculate (which often makes for the most interesting discussions here! ).

Orcs – unknown females

We’ve speculated on the topic of orc reproduction; Tolkien does say that it is comparable to human reproduction, which presupposes the presence of female orcs. However, there is not one mention, not even a hint of them in any of Tolkien’s works. It seems to me that the type of society the orcs have is exclusively concentrated on fighting. Would they have been a different race if their females had had a more prominent role? Or would those have been corrupted versions of women, little Shelobs, egging their men on to even worse deeds?

City Dwellers/Soldiers – temporary loss of females

In both Rohan and Gondor, the women (and children) are sent away for a time while battle is made. (Except in Peter Jackson’s movies, where it is necessary to have them near so that two cute kids can have their cameo appearance! ) This is for their protection, of course, and to ensure the future of their people, so it’s a positive phenomenon. The men were able to fight better without the nagging worry about the survival of their families. Having them in the city might have made them more susceptible to give up and in, just to attempt to save their people’s lives.

However, I remember reading about the history of Minas Tirith, though I can’t find the reference right now, that the kings were more concerned with the glory of their kingdom and remained childless (wifeless too?) – another case of concentration on abstract ‘things’ rather than relationships, which caused the downfall of the Kings of Gondor.

Individuals

Bilbo, Frodo, Boromir – these are a few examples of numerous bachelors in LotR. We’ve discussed some of those on old threads, including my all-time favorite, The One Ring?, but it might be interesting to post our thoughts on them here as well. Where was female influence missing in their lives? What might have been different had they been married? Could a woman have balanced gaps in their characters?


It may not have been a conscious authorial intention, but I think that Tolkien shows us the necessity of both genders, both in society and personally. Where one or the other is lacking, persons and peoples are missing important aspects.