I was thinking the other day about the lack of female characters in Hergé's Tintin books and, of course, it's much the same in Tolkien's writing too -- or at least, it is in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In Hergé's case, he reckoned that because he drew somewhat exaggerated caricatures he never wanted to draw women in that manner. He felt it was unchivalrous to do so. But I got to wondering what Tolkien's excuse was?




Of course, there were some female characters who played very important roles in Tolkien's works – Galadriel, Arwen, Éowyn and Luthien all come to mind. The actions of these women directly effected the plot of their respective books, and they are all depicted as strong and brave and powerful women in their own right. But, I think we have to be honest and admit that, regardless of how important they might have been to the story, these female characters were all supporting characters or co-stars, in modern movie-making parlance. There isn't a single female character who occupies a starring role in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings.

When thinking about this, the first thing that strikes me is that Tolkien's own close circle of friends (excepting his wife) was very much a male dominated environment. There were no female authors or poets in the Inklings, for example. Of course, we should keep in mind that back in early-to-mid 20th century Britain it was very much the norm for the "man of the house" to socialise with male friends without his wife...especially if he was going to the pub. In fact, as recently as the early 1980s, it was not uncommon for pubs in Britain to have a public bar and a lounge bar, the latter being a smaller, better decorated bar where it was socially acceptable for a respectable woman to be seen (usually in the company of a gentleman). If a woman was seen in the public bar – especially if she was alone – then it was seen as an indication of her low morals. However, we must also note that Tolkien's fellow Inkling and close friend C.S. Lewis had plenty of strong females in his Narnia books, such as the girls Lucy and Susan, and even the White Witch. So, I'm dubious about Tolkien's male-dominated social circle being an entirely valid reason for the lack of females in his books.

The other thing to bear in mind is that Tolkien was writing in a pre-civil rights/women's liberation era. It perhaps wouldn't have occurred to him to make sure that women were adequately represented (in the modern sense of the word) in his books. But it also seems to me to be a pretty deliberate decision on his part. I mean, there really are no female characters in The Hobbit at all! That can't just be a coincidence. That has to be a deliberate decision.

The situation is a bit better (from a feminist point of view) in the LOTRs, with Éowyn in particular being a proud, feisty female character, although she's still a supporting character. The other thing to bear in mind with Eowyn is that, while she might have marched out to war as a proud shieldmaiden alongside the men – and even though she is able to slay the the Witch-king of Angmar, when no male can – she eventually expresses a longing for a more traditionally feminine role. This leaves us to conclude that she is not entirely happy being a shieldmaiden and would rather be a housewife. So, is Tolkien's message here that while women can be strong and achieve things that men simply cannot, deep down they long for the true happiness that only comes from being a home-maker?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to paint Tolkien as a terrible misogynist here at all. I believe that he cared deeply for individual women and respected his female work colleagues immensely. But I am saying that the lack of female "stars" in his books was a deliberate omission and I'd like to understand a bit more about why that is.

A goofy thought that just occurred to me: Since dwarven women have beards, if somebody claimed that one or more of the 13 dwarves were women, who's to say?

Ha! Well I'm sure the text of The Hobbit specifically refers to them all as being male -- either collectively or by individually referring to each dwarf as "he" or perhaps using the masculine determiner "his" or by referring to them as sons/farthers perhaps?

If the above wasn't true it's inconceivable that we wouldn't have heard this as a fan theory before now. 😄

I probably haven't read enough post-Tolkien fantasy to come up with any observations. As far as his 19th century predecessors go, I think George McDonald and William Morris both had a more prominent female presence in their books, in general. Have't read enough Dunsany to say.

The treatment of the feminine in Tolkien is certainly problematic and interesting to speculate about. Obviously a lot of it comes from Tolkien's background and era, but when we compare him to other writers of a similar milieu it becomes apparent that that doesn't explain everything.

I forget whi it was exactly now, but I once read a quote from a well-known English female novelist to the effect that she found reading Tolkien very soothing because of the near-complete absence of sexual tension in his stories, and perhaps there's a clue there: perhaps it wasn't so much the feminine he was avoiding as sexuality, even in its sublimated form of romantic love, apart from a few highly-idealised exceptions that are so ethereal as to prove the point.

On the whole, I'd disagree about CS Lewis: I think he had a nasty, almost sneering attitude towards anything that snacked of progressivism (is that a word?) when it came to women's rights or their place in society beyond their traditional subordinate role. It comes out especially in the space trilogy, the last two books in particular, but I also believe it's no coincidence that his evil "Dark Lord" character in Narnia was a witch.

From this POV, I think it's to Tolkien's credit that he was able to create a Galadriel rather than a White Witch. Though equally traditional in his outlook, I think he leaned more towards the positive side of Victorian or Edwardian sexism, the sort of veneration of women, placing them on a pedestal as inherently more pure and virtuous than men, whereas Lewis saw them as a threat that had to be kept in their place.

Re Eowyn, it's been decades since I read LotR, but my recollection is that Tolkien dropped the ball with her a bit: specifically, her pining after Aragorn made her come across as weak and infatuated, forced into an unfeminine, warrior's role by frustration at her failure to achieve the romance she sought, all of which undermined what should have been her heroic status. But I read it as a young teenager so maybe I'll feel differently when I come to it again.

Always nice to hear Tolkien speak about his own creation. It was interesting to hear how often he brings up CS Lewis's Space Trilogy to compare and contrast to LotR. I also liked the part where he talks about the Valar, and the role of the divine in LotR, which then merges into one of the most interesting bits, the influence of the myth of Atlantis on his story of the the fall of Numenor, from around the 6:00 to 8:10 marks.

BTW, the pronunciation of Sauron given in LotR is saʊrɒn - I remember when I saw this in the appendices or wherever it was thinking I'd been mentally pronouncing it wrong all the through reading the story itself - but doesn't it sound here as if Tolkien is saying "Sor-on"? Maybe it's just his mumbling, Oxford don's accent, which isn't always easy to decipher.