[Orual]

Having females in the Fellowship--and by this I do not mean the book, but the actual Fellowship--would have been unrealistic, and if anything The Lord of the Rings is realistic. (I think the definition of such realism has been discussed, but if you missed it and don't know what I mean I'd be glad to explain.) In a society such as the one portrayed in LotR, women would not be brought into such a mission--and even today they might not, besides the fact that a mixed company would present some practical problems, if you follow me.

Myself, I hardly noticed that there were no major female roles until it was pointed out to me. Certainly I knew that there were none, on some peripheral level, but it never really occured to me that I should be somehow upset by this. All of the characters were so well-drawn and three-dimensional that I sympathized completely with them, and it didn't matter that they were all male.

I think what people are missing when they complain about the lack of central female characters in the Lord of the Rings is that the characters in the Lord of the Rings should be seen as people, and why does it matter what gender they are? I am a girl, and I admire a lot of men for who they are and what they have done. Just because they are male and I am female doesn't mean that I can't respect them as well as I can respect another woman. That's what people need to understand; they need to see past the gender issue into the character, and try to see what can be admired, and what they can learn.

~*~Orual~*~