It’s no secret thatThe Lord of the Ringsis a very male-heavy story. In fact, in the past a lot of high fantasy tended to have scads of male characters while women were pushed to the side, often used as love interests and nothing more. More modern fantasy has a lot more female involvement and tends to have more feminist ideas, partially because there are more women involved in the creation of the stories themselves now.
That being said, the female representation that is present inLord of the Ringscould be considered somewhat progressive for the time, as having any female characters with any agency at all in such a male-dominated story was hard to come by.The women that appear inLord of the Ringsare each unique in their own way and provide something important and interesting to the overall story itself. Here are the most major players and what makes them so prominent.
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Arwen
Though she was given more to do in the film adaptations of Tolkien’s work, Arwen is still super important in the book version ofThe Lord of the Rings. She is Elrond’s daughter and Aragorn’s love interest, but her purpose in the story is much more than that. She becomes the representative of the struggle between mortal and immortal life. She and Aragorn have a love story for the ages (quite literally) as she gives up her Elf status to live a mortal life in order to be with him, rather than having to sail off tothe Undying Landswith the rest of the Elves.
She has more of a passive role in the books, but in the movies,Arwen’s warrior sidegets to show a little more. She rescues Frodo after he receives a deadly stabbing from the Witch-King, outrunning the Nazgûl and carrying him to Rivendell. In one of her best moments, she even gets to use her power over the river to bring giant waves down on the Nazgûl and stop them from crossing. She was even supposed to be at the Battle of Helms Deep, but unfortunately that part of her role was cut from the final film. Arwen is at the heart of the story, and things like the Evenstar necklace that she gives to Aragorn have become some of the most memorable iconography from the franchise.
Galadriel
Galadriel is positioned as a super powerful being within the story, one of the most wise and most powerful in all of Middle-earth. She, along with her husband Celeborn, are the leaders of Lothlórien, an Elf colony in the forests near the Misty Mountains.Galadriel possessed Nenya, one of the rings of power, whose power protected Lothlórien from evil. The Fellowship goes to her for guidance during their journey, and she provides them with gifts to take on their way.
In the film, she even shows Frodo a vision of the potential future if Sauron wins (which includes a reference to the Scouring of the Shire chapter in the books). He offers the Ring to her, which tempts her for a moment, but she is able to overcome it. In the films, she is presented as an almost omniscient figure who presides over the events of the story andlends her powerwhen it is needed, such as when she appears to Frodo in a vision and urges him to continue his journey when he is near Cirith Ungol.
Eowyn
Eowyn is the female character inLord of the Ringswho probably gets the best arc. The audience meets her in Rohan, where she is watching her uncle, Theoden, fall victim toSaruman’s manipulation, and she desperaely wants to fight her way out of her situation. She is handy with a blade and knows how to defend herself, and she goes into battle even when advised (in fact ordered) against it by her male family members.
Luckily for them, her choice to fight was a good one, as she is the only one able to slay the Witch-King of Angmar, in one of the greatest moments of the trilogy. When the Witch-King confidently states that he can’t be killed by any man, Eowyn declares, “I am no man” before epically finishing him off. Eowyn gets to have her moment as a hero, and isn’t just reduced to being a love interest (though she does also get her well-deservedhappy ending with Faramir) or a damsel in distress. This kind of representation was rare in Tolkien’s time, which makes its inclusion in the story all the more special.
Shelob
Yes, the disturbingly giant spider that likely gave arachnaphobes nightmares for weeks after their first viewing ofLord of the Ringscounts as a female character too. Shelob was a great Spider, and one of the offspring of Ungoliant, thefirst great Spider in Arda, which makes her part spider and part demon. Shelob herself was not a fantastic mother, as she was known to feast on her own offspring. Her lair was in Ephel Dúath near Cirith Ungol, and it was here that she made a maze of webs within the caves as a way to trap her prey. Because of the way she (unintentionally) became a guard for the pass of Cirith Ungol, Sauron was actually fond of her and even referred to her as his cat (yes, apparently Sauron also has a sense of humor).
Frodo and Sam, of course, encounter her on the way the Mount Doom, where she even manages to immobilize Frodo for a time until Sam stabbed her with Sting and used the phial of light that Galadriel had given him to force her back. These were the worst injuries she had ever received, and it is unknown whether she survived them or not, though she was not heard from in Middle-earth again after this.
Rosie Cotton
On a much less terrifying note, one of the other female characters inLord of the Ringsthat plays an important role is Rosie Cotton, the object ofSamwise Gamgee’saffections. While not much is known about Rosie, and she doesn’t play the most prominent role in the story, she still makes an impact. Rosie becomes the representation of home for Sam; when he’s in the upsetting situations he finds himself in, he imagines a future with her in the Shire, and it eventually comes true. She represents the life he’s working towards, and the happy ending he gets to have after his harrowing journey.
Of course, a female character’s only purpose in the story being motivation for a male character isn’t necessarily the best representation, but Sam and Rosie’s briefly mentioned romance is one of the lighter points in a story that can often be quite heavy, and watching them get together does feel homey and cozy in a way that doesn’t often come through in a lot of aspects ofLord of the Ringsoutside of the Shire.
