Q: Are There Women Warriors in Tolkien’s Literature?
ANSWER: Here is nearly the full comment/question I received from a reader:
… I know that Eowyn takes up a sword, and that there are moments where a female presence is on a battlefield but was there any group or kingdom that allowed women into their armies? Is there any precedence for a woman to be in the army as a valid career choice for herself, or was that something that just didn’t happen? I suppose what I really want to know is if it’s completely out of the realm of possibility for a woman to be a full time warrior without having to hide her gender, or being seen as an absolute anomaly…
The short answer to your question is that, yes, there are professional full-time female warriors in Tolkien’s literature. But everything is a bit fuzzy, so let’s begin with Eowyn.
Eowyn was not just some woman who took up arms at the last moment. She was trained to wear armor and use weapons. She states that in the book, The Lord of the Rings. When Tolkien first imagined Eowyn’s character she was introduced with her cousin Hild, Theoden’s daughter (Tolkien subsequently removed her from the story and the published genealogies so she is not considered to be canonical). Both Hild and Eowyn were described as shield-maidens and they appear to have been Theoden’s personal guards.
In the published story when Theoden leaves Edoras to reinforce the West-mark he leaves Eowyn in charge of the people, bestowing arms and armor upon her, making her a full Rider of the Mark. She was in every way from that moment onward a professional full-time soldier (let us leave aside any debate concerning how many there may have been in Rohan). As Theoden’s designated representative, Eowyn was responsible for the defense of the people he left behind and she commanded any and all Riders who responded to the King’s summons (remember, at Gandalf’s advice Theoden mustered all the Riders for war — and according to Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth there were at that time about 12,000 of them, less those who had died in battle).
So now that we know Eowyn was trained as a warrior and had been inducted into the Muster of Rohan by Theoden himself, why did she ride in disguise to Gondor? That is because she deserted her post, an act probably punishable by death. But as some readers have argued, Eowyn may not have tried to disguise herself very much. She took the name Dernhelm after Merry asked her who she was; the story seems to indicate she was surprised he did not recognize her.
‘Then you shall go with me,’ said the Rider. ‘I will bear you before me, under my cloak until we are far afield, and this darkness is yet darker. Such good will should not be denied. Say no more to any man, but come!’
‘Thank you indeed!’ said Merry. ‘Thank you, sir, though I do not know your name.’
‘Do you not?’ said the Rider softly. ‘Then call me Dernhelm.’
And yet, later on, she is clearly known to Elfhelm, who commanded the company she and Merry rode with. There is no way that he, a career officer in the Muster of Edoras (according to Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth), could NOT have know who Eowyn was:
Tired as he was Merry could not sleep. He had ridden now for four days on end, and the ever-deepening gloom had slowly weighed down his heart. He began to wonder why he had been so eager to come, when he had been given every excuse, even his lord’s command, to stay behind. He wondered, too, if the old King knew that he had been disobeyed and was angry. Perhaps not. There seemed to be some understanding between Dernhelm and Elfhelm, the Marshal who commanded the éored in which they were riding. He and all his men ignored Merry and pretended not to hear if he spoke. He might have been just another bag that Dernhelm was carrying. Dernhelm was no comfort: he never spoke to anyone….
When the Rohirrim rode out to the attack on the Pelennor Fields, Dernhelm slipped away from Elfhelm’s company and joined Theoden’s household guards. Elfhelm would have known all his Riders; he might not have paid attention to one peeling off to join the King’s household guards but he obviously knew about Merry (having had at least one conversation with him) and thus was already defying Theoden’s will by not revealing Merry’s presence to the king. Why would Elfhelm disobey his king for the hobbit? He was a just man, most likely, but he clearly had an understanding with Dernhelm and there could have been no such understanding if Elfhelm didn’t know who Dernhelm was.
So much exposition is necessary, I think, to dispel as best I can any doubt about whether Eowyn was trying to deceive Elfhelm in any way. That dog won’t hunt. If Eowyn were really incapable of holding her own in a fight she should have been carted off toward the rearguard, if not all the way back to Rohan, don’t you think?
Be that as it may, in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, in the section devoted to the House of Eorl, Tolkien notes that “‘Many lords and warriors, and many fair and valiant women, are named in the songs of Rohan that still remember the North….'” The word valiant is associated with courage in the face of great peril, and to possess strength and great power. These qualities are associated with people who go adventuring and fight wars. Perhaps the ancestors of the Rohirrim were often attacked in their homes and the women had to defend them valiantly, but coupled with Tolkien’s occasional use of “shieldmaiden” it should seem obvious that he was leaving open to the reader’s imagination the possibility that there were some warrior women among the Rohirrim.
But if you feel that’s not a very convincing argument, let’s look at the first paragraph from the section on “Druedain” in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth:
The Folk of Haleth were strangers to the other Atani, speaking an alien language; and though united with them in alliance with the Eldar, they remained a people apart. Among themselves they adhered to their own language, and though of necessity they learned Sindarin for communication with the Eldar and the other Atani, many spoke it haltingly, and some of those who seldom went beyond the borders of their own woods did not use it at all. They did not willingly adopt new things or customs, and retained many practices that seemed strange to the Eldar and the other Atani, with whom they had few dealings except in war. Nonetheless they were esteemed as loyal allies and re¬doubtable warriors, though the companies that they sent to battle beyond their borders were small. For they were and remained to their end a small people, chiefly concerned to pro¬tect their own woodlands, and they excelled in forest warfare. Indeed for long even those Orcs specially trained for this dared not set foot near their borders. One of the strange practices spoken of was that many of their warriors were women, though few of these went abroad to fight in the great battles. This custom was evidently ancient; for their chieftainess Haleth was a renowned Amazon with a picked bodyguard of women.
Although there is no evidence of this tradition of warrior women in The Silmarillion, the story of Haleth (in The Silmarillion) does suggest that Tolkien thought of her as a woman capable of bearing arms. Most likely her amazon bodyguards were an afterthought, an extrapolation that emerged with the composition of the essay on the “Druedain”.
But is that all? Are there no more examples of “warrior women” in Tolkien’s stories? Well, we also have the tale of Beren’s mother:
…At last so desperate was the case of Barahir that Emeldir the Manhearted his wife (whose mind was rather to fight beside her son and her husband than to flee) gathered together all the women and children that were left, and gave arms to those that would bear them; and she led them into the mountains that lay behind, and so by perilous paths, until they came at last with loss and misery to Brethil…
Although these women are not said to have been full-time fighters, they took up arms when necessary and made a very dangerous journey.
And some people like to point to Galadriel as well, who not only went with Boromir’s army against Dol Guldur but (in one of Tolkien’s last conception of her) may have fought against the rebellious Noldor on behalf of the Teleri of Alqualonde.
So, while we cannot point to any lengthy stories of warrior-women bearing arms and facing great monsters like Hurin, Turin, Aragorn, et. al. we can definitely show there were valiant women in Tolkien’s stories who fought in various wars. And many people also point to Luthien Tinuviel, who though not a warrior nonetheless went into great peril for the sake of her love, Beren, and she used her power against both Sauron and Morgoth.
# # #
Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
We can also mention Easterling women of the Wainriders though whether they wee ‘official’ warriors or simply home militia we do not know. 🙂 The words used by Eowyn who said she is ,,one of the shieldmaidens” implies that there were more of them either in the past or currently, maybe daughters of noble houses were trained to fight, possibly also many commoner Rohirrim women too could defend themselves, in the half a thousand years of history of kindom of Rohan and centuries earlier of their ancestors Eotheod there probably were other renowned shieldmaidens. Also though in Gondor women were working mostly in Houses of Healing some women possibly could have been supportive staff in the armies when marching abroad, as field medics so possibly they had fighting skills, well all armies even in Middle Earth needed other people whose purpose was not fighting but other tasks but that doesn’t necessarily mean that those were incapable of defending themselves.
By the way, hey Michael, I think I found a proof that dwarves can swim, well sort of, at least that they do not fear water 🙂 ,,Then they took off their clothes and bathed in the river, which was shallow and clear and stony at the ford. When they had dried in the sun, which was now strong and warm, they were refreshed, if still sore and a little hungry. Soon they crossed the ford (carrying the hobbit), and then began to march through the long green grass and down the lines of the wide-armed oaks and the tall elms.” Well there was a post concerning this mystery hehe so it seem that they at least feel comfortable in water to bath in the river without fear :).
Love how the women aren’t damsels in distress all the time. Yes, we can carry weapons. Yes, we can wear armor. Yes, we can kill people. Some of the women in his tales always have important roles and help the fellowship, such as Galadriel.