| Posted by: fuscia | | Many feminists do not like Tolkiens works because they center around male characters and most of the characters are male. Do you think the works of Tolkien are sexist?
I do not. Look at Melian the Maia. She was the powerful one who lent her protection to her country, not her elf husband. 
Luthien is another example. She did not sit back and let Beren go into danger alone. She was brave, and one tough elf.  | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Shadow Stalker | | then of course there's the witch king's weakness for the ladies, *whereby weakness i mean they were the only being that could kill him*
sexist...nah..i don't think so. but female characters do seem to take a backseat, but to be frank, i've really yet to see a book where a female character was the actual leading character. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: White Tiger | | Tolkien was born in the late Victorian age, unless I have my facts wrong, he wrote the books before womens rights were given in the sixties. when he wrote the books women were considered inferior to men, that is why the books focus on the men more. Galadriel however is perhaps the greatest female in all fiction books. great thread by the way | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: fuscia | | I always thought the feminists took it too far, after all, men fight the wars. Tolkiens works deal with war.
Glad you like the thread. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Heatherhobbit | |
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fuscia said this in post #4 :
I always thought the feminists took it too far, after all, men fight the wars. Tolkiens works deal with war.
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I agree. He look a lot from his own experience in war. War is a man's game. And LOTR is about fellowship. It is not a romance. During the time it was written, having too many female characters would have made it necessary to include romances. Faramir, Aragorn, and Sam were involved in romances, and look how much time it took to address that. Imagine if all the guys had a girl. Ugh!
Galadriel was a great female character, as well as Melian and Luthien. And there are 14 of the Valar. 7 lords and 7 Queens. Females were included!
I actually think Tolkien was kind of a feminist himself. If you take into consideration the era LOTR was written in, it was unheard of for women to fight in battle. But he addressed this issue by having Eowyn concealing her identity so she could fight. She was a strong and brave character. He was ahead of his time there. I truly think that he thought women had just as much reason to fight for what they love as men do. Remember, she and Merry killed the Witch King, a very important move in the war.
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| Posted by: MistyRainWater6 | | I think Tiger had some great points, because of the era he lived in, women didnt have their rights yet. But as for my opinion I don't think they are sexist. And it's hard to find a book that doesnt have a major romance in it, thats what I like about the Lord of the Rings. Romance doenst take a major role. Of course he had to have some women in the book, I think he did a great job of adding some awesome female characters, as you guys have already mentioned Galadriel was one of my favorite female characters as well  | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: White Tiger | | I think that any one who calls Tolkien a sexist probably doesent have a life and just spends their time complaining about things.
Some of Tolkiens most influential and important characters are female, Luthien Tinuviel, Eowyen, Elbereth Gilthoniel and of course Galadriel who is Sourons greatest enemy. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: fuscia | |
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White Tiger said this in post #7 :
I think that any one who calls Tolkien a sexist probably doesent have a life and just spends their time complaining about things.
Some of Tolkiens most influential and important characters are female, Luthien Tinuviel, Eowyen, Elbereth Gilthoniel and of course Galadriel who is Sourons greatest enemy. |
Exactly. I also think that they never read his books.
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| Posted by: White Tiger | | That as well Fuscia, but you know these type of groups who have large number of followers who, even if they haven't read/seen something, go along with anything.
But I think we can safely brand Tolkiens books as 'equal opportunity', don't you? | | Reply To this Message
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J.R.R. Tolkien Forum: Sexism in the books?
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