What are the Roles of Women in Tolkien?

Q: What are the Roles of Women in Tolkien?

ANSWER: J.R.R. Tolkien has been criticized for not assigning important roles in his stories to women. There are relatively few female characters who play significant parts in the unfolding dramas of J.R.R. Tolkien’s major stories. Although it is relatively easy to show that Tolkien assigned considerable importance to women characters in his histories, it is not so easy to show that he gave them equal consideration in his major stories.

It may be a good idea to identify the major stories for the sake of this discussion, as there are no definitive canonical references for Tolkien’s Legendarium.

The Hobbit — There are no active female roles in The Hobbit. Published in 1937, this children’s story was essentially composed for J.R.R. Tolkien’s sons and although he expanded the original tale for publication he did not add any speaking female roles to the story. Nor did he add female characters in the two subsequent major revisions of the story that were published in 1950 (the Second Edition, which incorporated theoretical changes Tolkien had suggested to his publisher in 1947) and 1965 (the Third Edition, which was rushed into publication to address a copyright dispute). That said, there are three four female characters who are mentioned in The Hobbit: Bilbo’s mother Belladonna Took (said to be 1 of 3 “remarkable” daughters of the Old Took), the unnamed mother of Fili and Kili, Gollum’s grandmother, and the unnamed wife of Girion of Dale.

Three of the four women serve a similar purpose in the story: their roles are to provide connections between major characters in the story and their predecessors. Through Belladonna Bilbo is connected to the Old Took, Gandalf’s friend; through their mother Fili and Kili are connected to Thorin, Thrain, and Thror; and through Girion’s wife Bard is connected to the ancient kings of Dale. Gollum’s grandmother appears in a narrative anecdote explaining how he knows the answer to a riddle. These references to women in The Hobbit unfortunately set a precedent in the publication history that is hard for Tolkien to overcome.

Farmer Giles of Ham — Giles has a wife, Agatha, who argues with him briefly about whether to believe their dog, Garm. She later becomes Giles’ queen. Agatha acts as a foil in the story. Her name is derived from a Greek word for “good”, so she is a “good wife”. In archaic usage, a goodwife was the mistress of a household but the term was only used of married women living in humble circumstances.

The Lord of the Rings — There are actually many female characters in The Lord of the Rings, but the most important female characters are Galadriel and Éowyn. However, neither character actually moves the story forward — they both have their own sub-plots. Galadriel’s role is to serve as a mover and shaker who makes things happen. Her first benefice for the protagonists of the story (Frodo and his companions) is to grant them safe passage through Lothlorien. She subsequently bestows gifts upon them which, in a few cases, help the characters in pivotal moments (especially her phial).

Éowyn’s role is not so clear. Tolkien uses her to explore some of his darker themes, especially the growing sense of despair experienced by people whose lives are directly affected by the evil powers that menace Middle-earth. But Éowyn also provides Merry with an opportunity to ride to Gondor with Théoden’s army despite the fact that Théoden doesn’t see any role for Merry in the battles to come. And, of course, Éowyn and Merry bring about the downfall of the Lord of the Nazgûl, who gradually takes on an increasingly important and powerful role among the villains of the story. Finally, Éowyn establishes a connection between Rohan and the princely house of the Stewards of Gondor — who were responsible for establishing the Mark in a former Gondorian province — by marrying Faramir. And through that marriage Éowyn helps to legitimize the diminishment of the Dunedain in Middle-earth. Faramir represents all that is high and noble and most like Numenor among Gondor’s people; his choice of spouse knocks down the last vestiges of prejudice in Gondor toward “lesser Men” even as Aragorn rekindles the ancient blood of Numenor by marrying Arwen.

Other significant female characters in The Lord of the Rings include Lobelia Sackville-Baggins (who symbolizes the conservative but indomitable nature of Hobbitry), Goldberry (who represents the changing of seasons and the renewal of hope amidst danger), Arwen (who represents the ancient promise that the Line of Lúthien Tinúviel will never fail), and Ioreth the wise-woman of Gondor whose recollection of ancient rhymes prompts Gandalf to bring Aragorn into Minas Tirith to perform a kingly function that seals his acceptance by the people of Gondor.

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil — The only significant female character in Tom’s adventures is Goldberry, who seems to be the calming influence in his life. Of course, Tolkien adapted these pre-LoTR poems to fill out some of Tom’s backstory within Middle-earth, so they don’t really accomplish much in the way of moving the larger saga forward.

The Silmarillion — There are several strong female characters in The Silmarillion, but this book is a compilation of stories that are spun together with a common theme; and the published version is an artificial construction that resembles in form if not detail the book that J.R.R. Tolkien might have published had he lived long enough and remained focused enough to complete the work he had begun. Of the many female characters in The Silmarillion, only a few have significant roles: Varda is one of the chief Valar and as such her actions and decisions plant seeds that bear fruit in many sub-plots; Melian serves as the chief counselor and ally of Thingol Greycloak, both protecting his realm, advising him to refrain from participating in the hopeless war of the Noldor against Morgoth, and bearing his child (Lúthien Tinúviel). Lúthien herself is one of the chief actors in the later years of the war, aiding Beren in his quest to retrieve a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth; and she is the mother of Dior, whose daughter Elwing was the mother of Elrond and Elros.

Another important female character, who appears only briefly in The Silmarillion, is Miriel, first wife of Finwë, King of the Noldor. Had Miriel not rejected his pleas to remain with him (or to return to life), Melkor would not have been able to arouse jealousy between Fëanor and his brothers — who would not have been born. The Noldor probably would not have returned to Middle-earth in exile. Miriel’s choice was so instrumental and pivotal that she may have been the single most important character in all of Tolkien’s stories. Everything can be traced back to her personal drama.

Additional female characters who play important roles in The Silmarillion include Morwen, mother of Turin, and his sister Nienor Nieniel. Morwen’s decision to send Turin to Doriath by himself proved to be disastrous because Turin’s longing for his family led him to make several bad decisions; and Nienor’s search for her brother exposed her to Glaurung’s machinations, which led to the final confrontation between Turin and the dragon, Turin’s death, Nienor’s death, and subsequently the death of Morwen. Nienor was the least active and self-determining of these female characters — she was an unfortunate victim of the choices made by others.

From these few examples, then, we can see that J.R.R. Tolkien used female characters sparingly — perhaps because he felt that women have a great impact and influence upon the men in their lives — and that they wield a power which can lead to sweeping changes through both subtle and direct actions. However, he was probably mostly struggling to find ways to portray strong female characters in what were essentially traditional story forms, forms which assigned the major roles and accomplishments to men.

Tolkien may have done more to push the envelope for female characters in classic adventure literature than any other author for many generations before him. But these are essentially subjective judgements: you have to decide for yourself how successful he may have been in expanding the role of women in fantasy adventure.

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