Stupid, quick question about Malbeth

[Elianna]

Do you guys think Malbeth the Seer is a girl or a boy?

I always envisioned a old woman like from Macbeth, but then I looked at the Malbeth entry in Foster's "Complete guide to M-E" and it said Malbeth was a 'he', Encyclopedia of Arda has him as a him too.

I checked RotK and the Appen., and I didn't find any 'he's or 'him's or anything to really denote a gender. My mom said 'seers' are usually men, but I haven't heard that anywhere else.

So is there some other text of Tolkien's that tells a definite gender, or is it really possible that Malbeth was a girl?

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I had always thought he was a Man. Maybe an expert in the languages can point out the most likely answer.

[Calathanien]

hmmm well i always thought malbeth was a woman because the name just came across as female. but then i havent a vivid imagination and think "she" looks like mystic meg

[Son of Númenor]

Malbeth is a man.

[Isowen]

Yes, I always thought Malbeth was a female because of the name and the fact that it has "beth" at the end of it, which is obviously a girls name! I watch a TV programme called Charmed and its about magic etc and there is a seer on that, and its a female. So, I just get the image of a woman rather than a man.

[Elianna]

Interesting that the girls think Malbeth's a girl and the guys think Malbeth's a guy (if I'm inferring correctly from your screen-names)...

Son of Númenor: Got a reference?

[Morsul the Dark]

Indeed Malbeth sounds like a women but I always thought if it were a man it would look like john edwards but otherwise I envisioned an old women that looks like the psycic from "Shadow of Destiny"(a game for PS2 that's really fun)

[davem]

Seers are male, the female equivalent is seeress, like prince/princess

[Amanaduial the archer]

Seeress? Hmm, somehow not so...catchy.

I imaged Malbeth as being a sort of mysterious, ancient wizard type - somewhat like Merlin, I suppose.