Sister

[Son of Númenor]

Sisterhood, I think, plays a key thematic role in The Lord of the Rings that we (at least I) have been overlooking entirely.

Let's take a look at the three primary female characters: Arwen, Eowyn, and Galadriel.

Arwen is the 'young' elf, Galadriel the elder: both are immortal.

Eowyn is mortal.

So here we have this crushingly poignant unfoldment of sister-roles that I was until recently totally blind to.

Eowyn marries and leaves her brother.
Arwen dies and leaves her brothers.
Galadriel is separated from her brothers and allowed to return after the death of the beautiful forest kingdom she has built.

Tolkien had one younger brother, no sisters.

Might Middle-earth be nothing more or less than the sister Tolkien spent a lifetime singing into existence?

[Beleg Cuthalion]

No. No and no.

[Son of Númenor]

Originally Posted by Beleg Cuthalion

No. No and no.

I sense animosity in the way you've chosen to express yourself. Three no's could mean many things - one no and one yes would do just fine.

[Beleg Cuthalion]

Originally Posted by Son of Númenor

Three no's could mean many things - one no and one yes would do just fine.

I disagree. One "yes" would be dishonest and misleading, since I disagree with the three major aspects of this topic.

Really, it's just unwise, and probably unfounded, to try and reduce the creation of M-E to a handful of shared attributes between three female characters and the fact that Tolkien never had a sister. There were a huge amount of things in Tolkien's life experience that we can reasonably assume had a hand in shaping Arda, and to try and pin it all down on just this one thing seems a little silly.

[Farael]

Originally Posted by Beleg Cuthalion

I disagree. One "yes" would be dishonest and misleading, since I disagree with the three major aspects of this topic.

Perhaps, but there is no need to answer in such fashion. Really, how would you feel if you bothered to create a new topic and all the answer you got was "no, no and no"? Can't think that'd feel well, so if you don't have anything to add to the discussion (and clearly, there IS a reason why you say no, so might as well explain it rather than just say "no") don't post in a hurtful manner at least!.

I don't see it either, if anything I'd say that Arwen and Eowyn's separation from their respective families shows the power of romantic love over family love... or perhaps the bridging of class-gaps (Faramir being almost a pure descendant from Numenor and Eowyn being from Rohan and Arwen, an elf, with Aragorn, a man).

[Oddwen]

I think it's an interesting idea - these few powerful females in LotR, and none of them have sisters. If Tolkien had a sister, would there be more women in LotR?

[Boromir88]

Might Middle-earth be nothing more or less than the sister Tolkien spent a lifetime singing into existence?

If you ask if Tolkien intentionally created these 3 characters to kind of 'represent' a sister that he never had; I would have to give you a profound 'no.' I think Middle-earth was something different than to give a reflection/representation of his life. Tolkien created Middle-earth I think for an entirely different reason. In Letters there is the 'Thompson draft' to which he starts off:

"Thank you very much for your kind and encouraging letter. Having set myself a task, the arrogance of which I fully recognized and trembled at: being precisely to restore to the English an epic tradition and present them with a mythology of their own: it is a wonderful thing to be told that I have succeeded, at least with those who have still the undarkened heart and mind."

I think one important thing to remember is the characters in Tolkien's story are their own person. They have their own actions, motivations, even their own 'sub-story,' and I don't think they should be broken down into people/thoughts of Tolkien's personal life.

Now, I do say intentionally, because honestly based upon what Tolkien talked about...Middle-earth did not represent the 'real world,' therefor I don't think he purposefully meant for Galadriel, Eowyn, and Arwen to be seen as such. However, subconsciously is a whole different thing and I don't think we have a clue what Tolkien was thinking, there is only what he wrote down and told . Many authors (either intentionally or subconsciously) write about their personal life (Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald are two that come to mind). To a certain extent I think every author is influenced by what is going on during their lifetime, and what Tolkien was thinking subconsciously I don't think anyone knows.

I do agree with Farael here...I think it's an interesting coincidence more than anything else. I say it's interesting because I never noticed that either until now ...but I think the connection is too weak and that makes it look coincidental.