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Guess Who's Coming to the Disaster

© Michael Martinez

Someone recently asked me if there was much appeal in Tolkien for female readers. Curiously, this came at a time when I've found myself discussing Visualizing Middle-earth with a lot of women. What is it about fantasy fiction that gives people the impression certain stories or authors only appeal to men or women? Take a C.J. Cherryh story, for example. She writes a pretty hard and fast science fiction story, but her fantasy can be both deep and moving, or sonorous as Tolkien might have put it. A good dip into Cherryh fantasy brings the reader into close quarters with women, men, love, hate, anger, and flashing swords. But I don't believe I've ever heard anyone say, "C.J. Cherryh -- there's a women's author if ever I've read one!" For some reason, Tolkien has a reputation for leaving the ladies out of his books. But as nearly as I can tell, he puts a female character into most of the important sub-plots: there is Lobelia Sackville-Baggins and her quest for control over Bag End; Rosie Cotton has an undercurrent of wistful longing for Sam; Goldberry enchants the Hobbits while they visit Bombadil (and she foreshadows Galadriel and Eowyn in curious ways); Arwen graces the feast held in Frodo's honor and later sings a hymn of Valinor which captures Frodo's attention; the Balrog dances a jig with the serving girls in Moria. Well, okay, Tolkien didn't actually say that about the Balrog. The point is that, even in many scenes where no female characters are present, Tolkien manages to bring women and lost loves into the picture. Ask anyone what they remember most vividly about Merry and Pippin's encounter with Treebeard, and they will probably say something about the Entmoot or the storming of Isengard. But ask them what the most interesting question concerning the Ents is, and they'll probably say, "What happened to the Ent-wives?" How is it that the Ent-wives merit so much curiosity when they aren't even in the story? They don't even have an impact on the story. It's not like Treebeard pulls out some ancient Ent-wife comb and says, "Here, lads. Take this comb and use it to ease your journey through the orchards of Rohan and Gondor, where the trees remember Fimbrethil and honor her name." The lonely old boy goes on at quite some length about his lost love and her little clique. But what do the Ent-wives add to the story, except a tinge of femininity? In a book that supposedly eschews women, Tolkien has one of the most powerful characters wistfully sing about the Ents and their lost mates.

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