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Beren IV
Gondor
Feb 18 2007, 1:39am
Views: 11914
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Re: [Aerin] This of course has been much discussed,
[In reply to]
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Can't Post
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Gotcha - I was just wondering (I guess I missed the previous discussion). Of course, Eowyn is not unique: there are several female adventurers/warriors elswehere in Tolkien, including Galadriel, Lúthien, and Haleth, from the Sil. Eowyn is unique only in LotR, and only then if we ignore unnamed characters. I have argued in the past that it is highly unlikely that Eowyn was the only woman to have gone to battle on the Pellenor, based both upon historical pre-industrial accounts and also on basic human nature.
Nonetheless, Eowyn is unique among the named characters in LotR, and I agree that it would tend to obviate Eowyn if there were another character like her even of a different race, so I suppose that such incidences of female heroism might best be kept "off-stage". So even if Arwen - or anybody else for that matter - is willing, able to, and gets a chance to, defend their homeland elsewhere on the map, it makes the most sense from a literary prospective to not discuss it, just as the battles in Dale and Erebor and Mirkwood and possibly even Eriador are only hinted at.
Another possible reason for Arwen: both Arwen and Aragorn are important, there will be no Reunited Kingdom without both of them. Danger is unavoidable for Aragorn, but it isn't for Arwen. Arwen might have stayed home merely so that there are one fewer "targets" for random orc archers that would have disasterous consequences for the future of Arda if an unfortunate arrow happened to find a mark. This is of course one reason for keeping women out of combat all along, although in Arwen's case, it makes special sense for her more than most any other woman in Middle-Earth. It would be much less of an invitation to disaster if, for example, Mrs. Maggot were to fight alongside her husband in the Battle of Bywater.
*
I will say that I would have liked to have seen more of Arwen in LotR (the book, not the movie!). However, being part of the Fellowship is something that I don't think would have worked. Part of me is kinda glad that the Lay of Leithien was never put into a novelistic form by Tolkien either - there would have been sexual tensions and overtones between either A&A or B&L, and dizzyingly explicit as he is in Aldarion and Erendis, I honestly don't think that Tolkien's mastery as a writer extended to the sensual side that would be unavoidable in an adventure with either of those two heroic couples together. So all in all, it's probably just as well that we see so little of Arwen. With three major plotlines occurring simultaneously between the Breaking of the Fellowship and the destruction of the Ring, it is difficult enough to keep track of all of the characters and events already! 
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User
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Time
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Tolkien Artists, The Bros. Hildebrandt: Loose Ends and That's All Folks
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drogo
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Feb 17 2007, 10:04pm
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Arwen Joins the Quest
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Reera the Red
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Feb 18 2007, 12:11am
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Well, that does explain
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Aerin
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Feb 18 2007, 12:20am
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Oh, I like that one!
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Ainu Laire
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Feb 18 2007, 12:27am
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No story that I know of.
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Reera the Red
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Feb 18 2007, 12:38am
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Re: [Reera the Red] No story that I know of.
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drogo
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Feb 18 2007, 12:55am
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Re: [drogo] No story that I know of.
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Nerdanel
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Feb 18 2007, 11:58pm
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"breathes life into Tolkien"
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N.E. Brigand
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Feb 23 2007, 11:23pm
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The cover of the original Grotta bio!
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dernwyn
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Feb 20 2007, 3:56pm
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mine has two Hildebrandts on the cover
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a.s.
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Feb 21 2007, 1:10am
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Yes, yours is a decade newer
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dernwyn
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Feb 22 2007, 4:56am
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mine has an Epilogue chapter
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a.s.
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Feb 22 2007, 12:17pm
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Tolkien the time-traveller?
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N.E. Brigand
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Feb 23 2007, 11:19pm
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Re: [drogo] Tolkien Artists, The Bros. Hildebrandt: Loose Ends and That's All Folks
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Sandicomm
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Feb 18 2007, 12:28am
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Re: [drogo] Tolkien Artists, The Bros. Hildebrandt: Loose Ends and That's All Folks
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a.s.
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Feb 18 2007, 12:31am
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dang I keep forgetting to change my subject line!! [nt]
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a.s.
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Feb 18 2007, 12:31am
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Alas for the loss of Mod... loved it.
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Cirdan the Shipwright
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Feb 19 2007, 9:06pm
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thanks, originally
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a.s.
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Feb 19 2007, 11:29pm
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Re: [drogo] Tolkien Artists, The Bros. Hildebrandt: Loose Ends and That's All Folks
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Beren IV
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Feb 18 2007, 12:47am
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This of course has been much discussed,
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Aerin
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Feb 18 2007, 1:17am
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Re: [Aerin] This of course has been much discussed,
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Beren IV
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Feb 18 2007, 1:39am
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That's another good point, as well.
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Aerin
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Feb 18 2007, 6:40am
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Not completely unique
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Beren IV
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Feb 18 2007, 6:56pm
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True, women of Haleth
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Aerin
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Feb 18 2007, 9:51pm
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Another historical note
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Beren IV
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Feb 18 2007, 11:51pm
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Re: [Beren IV] Another historical note
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Elizabeth
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Feb 19 2007, 12:43am
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See Elizabeth's note, plus
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Aerin
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Feb 19 2007, 6:45am
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More Arwen in the books than most readers catch.
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N.E. Brigand
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Feb 23 2007, 11:40pm
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Re: [Aerin] This of course has been much discussed,
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Sandicomm
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Feb 18 2007, 6:16pm
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I think the movies came close to
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Aerin
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Feb 18 2007, 10:09pm
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Some unexpected brilliance
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linkin-artelf
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Feb 19 2007, 3:09am
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"Journey in the Dark" is the chapter title
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dernwyn
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Feb 20 2007, 4:07pm
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Orcs did wear cloaks.
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N.E. Brigand
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Feb 23 2007, 11:34pm
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Unexpected Joy!
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Daughter of Nienna
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Feb 19 2007, 11:19am
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"a heavy front plane"
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N.E. Brigand
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Feb 23 2007, 11:44pm
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