Tolkien does not have that many female characters. I mean, he has many, many male characters- and only a few female characters.
And yet I think of Tolkien as one of the best writers for female characters.
It's simple: quality above quantity.
And it's about two female characters.
Galadriel and Eowyn.
There is no one in Lord of the Rings that we are in awe of more than Galadriel.
There are three Gandalf figures: Gandalf himself, Elrond, and Galadriel. And Galadriel is certainly not the least of them.
Galadriel is certainly the equal even to Gandalf himself.
One of the three great leaders from a higher order of being who have been guiding the world's efforts against the darkness for thousands of years.
And I dare you to find a wise sage character or a character who we are supposed to be in awe of who is more well written than Galadriel, or who represents better ideals or represents high ideals better or more effectively than Galadriel.
Or who is more interesting, in a beautiful, radiant way, than Galadriel.
Galadriel is a great leader of a higher order of being. In touch with the higher divine.
Eowyn represents the best of the rest of us.
It is through Eowyn that Tolkien represents the many ordinary people who, unlike the hobbits in the Shire, have to face and fight the darkness day after day.
She has one of the best character arcs in all fantasy fiction.
She wins one of the great victories in the story, and yet still has story yet to live after that victory.
She leaves behind war to get married not because it is a woman's place. Don't forget that Faramir is leaving behind war to get married too.
This is not a woman's place.
It is all of our place.
We were not meant to suffer war forever.
And part of Eowyn's character arc is learning and accepting that when the war ends, we get to move on to better and more beautiful things.
She embodies the experience of so many young people in the world wars- including Tolkien himself.
She is proud of her heroism. But she learns that it is okay to move on once the war is over and the world saved, to really live, to get married not because it is a second best, but because it is a better, more beautiful place.
It is through her that Tolkien represents not only the experience of the many people in Gondor facing darkness day after day, but his own experience in World War I- and moving on from the war to better and more beautiful things.
And at the same time Eowyn is one of the great action heroes in the story.
Remember that it is not only Eowyn that puts war behind her to get married.
So does Faramir.
And so does Aragorn.
And Sam. And Merry. And Pippin.
This is not something Tolkien puts forth as a woman's place, but as Humanity's place, male and female.
Eowyn is one of the great heroes, and a fair bit of the story is told through her eyes.
She has a great character arc. She learns and grows.
And she learns to enjoy peace, just like Aragorn and Faramir.
Tolkien's female characters.
Quality over quantity.
For your consideration!
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
P.S. There are a couple of other female characters who we glimpse only briefly. Goldberry is particularly interesting for me. Like Tom Bombadil, she is a mystery. We do not really get to know much of anything about her. Like Tom Bombadil, she is of their world, and not our own ordinary world. She has the youthful charm of a young maiden, but in the way she greets the hobbits we catch a glimpse of something else, for she greets the hobbits like a loving experienced mother greeting the neighbor's children. Here we can see, if we pay attention, that beneath that youthful appearance, she is in reality very old and very wise. Like the Elves, she appears young because like Tom, she does not age. Tom appears as a bearded man because he wants too. Goldberry appears young for the same reasons. Seeing her as in reality old and wise, and a mystery and a being of great power, we can catch a glimpse of something else- Goldberry blessing Frodo and company as they leave through the path by the dangerous barrow-downs. Here Goldberry is a being of great power, blessing Frodo and company. These things are subtle, for Tolkien often deals with subtle things, especially in mysterious characters of magic and wonder who we glimpse only briefly.
In the Silmarillion there are a few other female characters who are as great as any in the Silmarillion, who we get to know quite well- Luthien, Melian, and the Valar Queens Yavanna and Nienna (Unlike Varda, the loftiest of the Queens of the Valar, who by necessity must remain more of a mystery, as indeed Manwe does as well.) Although Nienna we get to know more as an ideal, and a Valar embodying an ideal, whereas Yavanna, Melian, and Luthien, especially Yavanna and Luthien, we get to know well as people. Among the Valar, it is especially Yavanna and Aule who we get to know well, so much that for me I feel we get to know the Valar almost as family, and not just a distant divine presence, without diminishing the divine presence of the Valar- and as family, Yavanna and Aule are the ones we really get to know well, whereas the others are more like the cousins who we see at Christmas parties, but who are still family. This portrait of the Valar, in the main narrative as well as in the Valaquenta, is one of my favorite aspects of the Silmarillion, with the Valar as the lead characters for the entire first section of the narrative, and Yavanna, with Aule, the one who we get to know the closest.
(read my 'how to tell if you will like the Silmarillion', on this site below among the H's, to see if The Silmarillion is for you!