I am waiting for the time to read the book of Tolkien's letters which, just glancing through it, is a mithril mine of understanding just about every aspect of LOTR/Silmarillion you can think of.
According to my current understanding of the books I've read, I'd have to agree with those above who've said that there simply weren't enough women who came near the Ring to enable us to do much more than make the most meager of guesses. My guess ;o) would be that this is due to the fact that women were not featured all that much in the Norse legends/myths Tolkien used as a springboard for LOTR/Silmarillion.
On the other hand ... it is so much fun to go ahead and conjecture away on this question! [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
I still hold to my notion about female/male vs. woman/man. I am betting that The Letters of JRR Tolkien will tell us that he was more concerned with the essential nature of female and male expressed in relationship with the earth, Iluvatar/God/Love rather than man-woman relationships or gender roles. "Female" is immediately a much deeper concept that more than people. One example is the concept of female and male in relation to nature.
Following this line of thought, what would the female relationship to the Ring be compared and contrasted to the male relationship? I am thinking that the female's would be one of relative disinterest as archetypal female energy is involved, or interested if you will, with the flow of energy, of growth/seasonal patterns. It is more passive in the sense that it is in harmony with the earth--nothing wimpy, just not interested in hunting, acquiring, controlling. Male energy is associated more with domination and therefore more prone to be susceptible to the lure of power in the Ring. Female is associated more with submission to a higher power (nature) recognizing the wisdom of cooperation. This makes them less susceptible to something whose sole purpose is to disrupt harmony, flow, and submission to a higher power.
What's interesting is to analyze the actions and relationships of females and male characters (and that would include Treebeard, Shelob, orcs) regardng power, control, domination, passivity, harmony, etc.
And, please don't misinterpret my use of the word "passive." Any student of the martial arts, the Tao, Buddhism, and Jesus knows the power of passive, which is far superior to force in the long run.
Peace to my brothers and sisters everywhere in the midst of the current flowering of insanity around us.
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