Why their were no women in the fellowship

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Get thee to a Willowery!

And as for making this post topical, well, I want to raise another issue. It is not why were there no women in the Fellowship, but why was there no woman at the Council of Elrond? Was Arwen relegated to a back room sweatshop where she toiled at her banner-works? Or was she in fact present? Did her presence distract Aragorn and make it too difficult to write a heroic role for him? Is it possible that heroic narrative must deny Truth and Reality by omitting various historical facts? Is Arwen's absence a most notorious example of the silenced woman?

This nefarious slight suggests rank conspiracy at the deepest levels. Why do you think Bilbo refused to acknowledge she was present? Or is the Translator at fault for being unable to decipher the scribbled script? Or is the omission a failure of authorship? Do we have here evidence that, after Arwen's pure and noble rejection of the Ring, Galadriel's near-temptation would have been shown in, er, poor light? Do we have an Author playing favourites with his female characters?

The possibilities boggle the mind, even those not dependent upon pills.

The idea of author playing favourites with his female characters has given me an evil idea - I know I am inclined to Arwen-bash because of the Xena-Arwen PJ fiasco, and I know the dull, prosaic expalnation is that Arwen was a late arrival to the plot who could have been better integrated (not that I think she would ever have been written into the quest).

However, prompted by memories of two of my dearest novelists who played this game - Jane Austen who "punished" Louisa Musgrove for falling for the hero when she wasn't the heroine by making her slightly soft in the head after her fall at Lyme, and Anthony Trollope who defied genetic probability by making the child of the magnificent Dr and Mrs Grantly into the original dumb blonde [Griselda, Lady Hartletop and Dumbello] - this thought occurred: What evidence is there that Arwen was intelligent?

Much as I hate to admit it - not all women have been held back from the higher echelons of power by male hegemony, Some are held back by their lack of ability. It is possible that Arwen did not take after her father and grandmother, that she was no Condeleeza Rice (nb this example is not made with political intent, but because she is probably the most powerful woman in the world who hasn't been born or married into a high position).

Imagine then Arwen at the Council, unhampered by a tendancy to over intellectualize, "Daddy, can't you just give me the ring - but get the smiths to set a nice big diamond in it like Granny's - you never stop grumpling about my haberdasher's bill and now you want to throw away jewellery!...." It might be the Middle Earth equivalent of giving Paris Hilton a seat at the UN....