Greetings, Soledad. I have read the Trilogy and Hobbit, and am now in The Silmarilion. I have not yet read anything of The History of Middle Earth, or The Lost Tales, so I am sure that there is a lot of background and detail for these characters that I have not uncovered yet. But I have decided one thing about Tolkien and women. I believe he respected and loved women, but I believe his loss of his own mother affected him for the rest of his life. I definitely believe that it colored the way he wrote about women and especially mothers. Just look at the number of characters who have lost their mothers before we join the main action of their stories. Aragorn was grown up when Gilraen died, it is true, but she died before she could see the fullfillment of her hopes for him. Frodo loses both of his parents just on the brink of adulthood, much like Tolkein himself. Legolas and Gimli's mothers we do not see or hear about, but from what I have read of Tolkien Legolas's seems to have been gone a long time ago. And of course there is poor Celebrian. Actually Elwing reminds me a bit of her. She also did not die, but circumstances she could not control or handle caused her to think she could not remain with her children. I think Tolkien just felt the loss of his own mother so much, that everything he wrote about women has a biiter-sweet quality. I enjoyed reading this piece.
Author Reply: I think you're on something with what you said about Tolkien and women. This is an aspect in his writing that has always bothered me very much. |
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