Thanks for the thoughtful replies here! As always, I enjoy and learn from what others write, and sometimes my ideas are corrected as well.
Child, your thoughts on mothers and children remind me that children are also very largely missing from the story. It seems that Tolkien sent the women and children away from the book during wartime!
The one exception is Bergil, Beregond’s son – but he was male and considered almost old enough to fight, so he was allowed to remain in Gondor.
Your thoughts on Galadriel as Virgin Mary rather than as a real mother are fascinating! (I can see parallels to Catholic theology there, which distances her from the role she actually had as a multiple mother and a wife.)
True, some types of men are missing as well - that might be a topic for a new thread.
I agree with what you say about presuming that the Dwarven females were devoted to their craft, and we see that many artists of various categories prefer to stay free from close personal relationships today too. In explanation of what I meant, I consider the materialistic side of Dwarves (as a whole race) not as their primary characteristic, but as the weakness brought out by the rings.
Mithalwen, you’re right, of course, about the missing - err - sensual element in Middle-earth’s women. True, we see lust only as a caricature and almost entirely evil in Shelob. As for the thoughts concerning the ring and female partnership, do check out the “One Ring?” thread to which I linked. It picks up that topic wonderfully humorously yet with amazing insights, especially the posts by
Sharkû and
Mister Underhill.
Shades of the Entish Bow,
Kuruharan, and the symbolic meaning of weaponry!
A reminder though – not only the males were craftsmen to pass the time; the females Dwarves were as well, and so additionally quite a number of that minority preferred to stay single, making the odds even worse for the males.
Firefoot, it is possible that the orc women were fighters alongside their men, but it does seem an unnecessary risk for the race to send the breeding gender off to get killed…
Touché,
Bêthberry! Perhaps I should more accurately have said that I deduce or conclude from what I read, rather than inferring that it is directly shown to us. I suppose another reader could come to a different conclusion, and it will be interesting to hear yours! “absent and idealised“ – what a fascinating connection!! Perhaps the only way to idealise women is precisely by keeping them absent. If they were actually present, their imperfections – and strengths – would show and the men would have to come to terms with a variety of real persons. (I could say that I can easily imagine where that tendency could come from in Tolkien’s real life, but I certainly don’t want to act as an amateur psychologist, a category of people of which he was not fond!
)