Tolkien testosterone

[bluesqueak]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "lupinesque" <lupinesque at y...> wrote:
Amy Z wrote
> 
> Again 
> I point toward the bizarrely female-free world of Tolkien, where 
> there are a whopping three female characters and one of them 
> exists solely as Aragorn's love interest

> And replied to herself:

> Whoops, that's in LOTR/The Hobbit.  The Silmarillion is a different 
> matter.  (But I can't get into it except as a soporific--it's been 
> helping me get to sleep for months now.)
> 

I don't think the lack of female characters ever bothered me in 
either The Hobbit or LOTR - I identified with Bilbo in the Hobbit, 
and Sam Gamgee/Eowyn in LOTR. The two major female characters in LOTR 
especially were SO major, I just didn't notice the relative lack of 
minor females.

LOTR especially, was a 'going off to war' story, and I just happily 
assumed that in the times it was set in, women didn't 'go off to 
war'. Which is why I liked Eowyn so much, I thought Tolkein was 
actually very good at portraying a warrior by nature who'd been born 
a girl. 

And I remember I saw her decision to not be a sheild maiden anymore 
as a maturing - she'd fought in a battle, won a victory that was 
beyond the ability of any man, and could now concentrate on giving 
life, not dealing out death.

Pip