The presence ofsexuality inThe Lord of the Rings, a bestsellingfantasy novel byJ. R. R. Tolkien, has been debated, as it is somewhat unobtrusive. However, love and marriage appear in the form of the warm relationship between thehobbitsSam Gamgee andRosie Cotton; the unreturned feelings ofÉowyn forAragorn, followed by her falling in love withFaramir, and marrying him; and Aragorn's love forArwen, described in an appendix rather than in the main text, as "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen". Multiple scholars have noted the symbolism of the monstrous female spiderShelob.[1][2][3] Interest has been concentrated, too, on the officer-batman-inspired same-sex relationship ofFrodo and his gardener Sam as they travel together on the dangerous quest to destroy theRing. Scholars and commentators have interpreted the relationship in different ways, from close but not necessarilyhomosexual to plainlyhomoerotic, or as an idealised heroic friendship.
The author of the bestselling fantasy novelThe Lord of the Rings,J. R. R. Tolkien, was orphaned as a boy, his father dying inSouth Africa and his mother inEngland a few years later. He was brought up by his guardian, aCatholic priest, FatherFrancis Xavier Morgan, and educated at male-onlygrammar schools and thenExeter College, Oxford, which at that time had only male students. He joined theBritish Army'sLancashire Fusiliers and saw the horror oftrench warfare, with life as an officer made more bearable by the support of a malebatman or servant. After the war he became a professor of English Language at theUniversity of Leeds, and then at theUniversity of Oxford, where he taught atPembroke College.[4] At Oxford, he created an all-male literary group with another Oxford professor of English,C. S. Lewis, calledthe Inklings.[5]
Tolkien held traditional views about women, stating that men were active in their professions while women were inclined to domestic life.[T 1] While defending the role ofwomen inThe Lord of the Rings, the scholar ofchildren's literature Melissa Hatcher wrote that "Tolkien himself, in reality, probably was the stodgy sexist Oxford professor that feminist scholars paint him out to be".[5]
Tolkien met another orphan,Edith Mary Bratt, when he was 16, and in the summer of 1909 they fell in love. Morgan prohibited them from meeting until Tolkien was 21; when Tolkien reached that age in 1913 he proposed to her, and they became engaged. They were married in 1916, linked by strong affection throughout their marriage. In 1917, on leave from the army, they went out together, visiting a wood nearRoos in Yorkshire.[4] There, Edith danced for him among the "hemlocks",[a][6] as later in his fictionLúthien danced for Beren, a story that formed the centrepiece ofThe Silmarillion. They had four children, to whom they were both devoted. Edith died in 1971, Tolkien two years later.[4]
Commentators have remarked on the apparent lack of sexuality inThe Lord of the Rings. The scholar of cultureDouglas Kellner writes that there is "no overt sexuality" in the text.[7] The feminist andqueer theory scholar Valerie Rohy notes the female novelistA. S. Byatt's remark that "part of the reason I read Tolkien when I'm ill is that there is an almost total absence of sexuality in his world, which is restful"; the Tolkien scholarTom Shippey wrote that "there is not enough awareness of sexuality" in the work; and the novelist and criticAdam Mars-Jones stated that "above all, sexuality [is] what is absent from the [work's] vision". Rohy comments that it is easy to see why they might say this; in the epic tradition, Tolkien "abandons courtship when battle looms, apparently sublimating sexuality to the greater quest". She accepts that there are three romances leading to weddings in the tale, those of Aragorn and Arwen, Éowyn and Faramir, and Sam and Rosie, but points out that their love stories are mainly external to the main narrative about theRing, and that their beginnings are basically not shown: they simply appear as marriages.[8]
The feminist scholarCatherine R. Stimpson charged that "Tolkien is irritatingly, blandly, traditionally masculine....He makes his women characters, no matter what their rank, the most hackneyed of stereotypes. They are either beautiful and distant, simply distant, or simply simple".[9] The scholarPatrick Curry commented that "it is tempting to reply, guilty as charged", agreeing that Tolkien is "paternalistic", though he objects thatGaladriel and Éowyn have more to them than Stimpson alleges.[10] Karen Viars and Cait Coker write that while Tolkien was not amisogynist, most of the characters in the novel are male, while manyTolkien fans, possibly a majority, are women.[11] The scholar of EnglishAnna Smol writes that the "enormous outpouring ofTolkien fan fiction and fan art" has led to widespread discussion of sexuality in the novel.[12] Daniel Timmons writes inMythlore that although there are "no overt or implied sex scenes", there is more to sexuality thanintercourse, and for example among the hobbit protagonists, there is definitely "sensuality", which he defines as "physical attraction linked with psychological bonding".[13] Timmons adds that the "lament" of Stimpson's title, "No Sex Please—We're Hobbits", may be witty, but is "flawed", as the novel works well in its chosen genre.[13] The scholar and fantasy authorDallas John Baker comments that scholars and critics have debated gender and sexuality inThe Lord of the Rings from soon after the novel's publication. He writes that he felt the need to "writ[e] back" to Tolkien with his ownyoung adult fiction to show "a fantasy world in which women and girls were central".[14]
Heterosexual love and marriage are depicted inThe Lord of the Rings, but unobtrusively, to the extent that some critics have stated that there are no women in the book. The main heterosexual relationships are those involvingSam Gamgee,Éowyn ofRohan, andAragorn.[15]
Thehobbit character Sam Gamgee leaves his girlfriendRosie Cotton when he sets off fromthe Shire, and returns to her admiration for theBattle of Bywater.[T 2] They have a "happy ending" with marriage and 13 children, flourishing in a simple life with Sam asmayor of the Shire, its fertility restored afterSaruman's depredations by his judicious distribution of Galadriel's gift of magical earth from her Elvish garden.[T 3] Tolkien stated that "the simple 'rustic' love of Sam and his Rosie (nowhere elaborated) isabsolutely essential [his italics] to the study of his (the chief hero's) character, and to the theme of the relation of ordinary life (breathing, eating, working, begetting) and quests, sacrifice, causes, and the 'longing for Elves', and sheer beauty."[T 4]
The scholar of fantasyAmy Sturgis describes inMythlore how afterPeter Jackson'sLord of the Rings film trilogy, Rosie has been reimagined byfemale fans in response to Tolkien's "incomplete literary portrait".[16] Rosie becomes intheir fan fiction variously "the paragon of the hearth, the iconoclast of the bedroom, or the agent of the supernatural".[16]
Éowyn's romantic feelings appear first with her unreturned attachment toAragorn.[T 5][T 6] Feeling rejected, she says she is ashieldmaiden, and against orders, chooses to go and fight in theBattle of the Pelennor Fields. There, she and theHobbitMerry Brandybuck kill theLord of the Nazgul; she is seriously wounded.[T 7] Recuperating in the Houses of Healing inMinas Tirith, she falls in love withFaramir, who had also been wounded. She renounces her warlike ways to become a healer, and they are engaged.[T 8] At the end of the book, they marry.[T 9]
The scholar of feminism Penny Griffin writes that in the Peter Jackson filmReturn of the King, Éowyn's credentials as a suitably feminist "Strong Female Character" are spoiled when her story ends with her disavowing battle and marrying Faramir to live, "we assume, happily ever after".[18] Shippey writes that the Hollywood studio sent a "script doctor" to New Zealand to bring Jackson's direction into line with their view, which was that since Aragorn needed a single love-interest, Arwen could be deleted, and "Aragorn should then marry Éowyn instead of politely dissuading her. ... The script doctor's advice was ignored."[19] Jackson does however make Aragorn far more romantic than do either Tolkien orBakshi, who had directedan earlier film ofThe Lord of the Rings. Jackson devotes substantial viewing time toAragorn's modern love triangle, and provides "clear on-screen chemistry" with Éowyn.[20]
Aragorn's love for Arwen is narrated in an appendix rather than in the main text, as "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen". In the tale, Aragorn sings theLay ofLúthien, an immortalElf-maiden in theFirst Age whomarries a man, Beren, thereby choosing a mortal life. As he does so, he sees Arwen, who looks to him like Lúthien. She reveals that although she seems no older than he, she is of great age. He falls in love with her. Arwen's father,Elrond, sees what has happened, and tells Aragorn that he may not marry until he is found worthy. They meet again inLothlórien, nearly thirty years later. Galadriel dresses Aragorn like an elf-lord. Arwen sees him and makes her choice; they become engaged. Elrond tells Aragorn that they may marry only when he is King of bothGondor and Arnor. Some years later, Aragorn helps to bring about victory in theWar of the Ring (the action of the main text ofThe Lord of the Rings), and becomes King of Gondor and Arnor. At midsummer, he and Arwen are married in Minas Tirith. Elrond leaves Middle-earth forElvenhome, never to return. Aragorn, heroic but mortal, lies down to die 120 years later; Arwen sorrowfully goes to a now-barren Lothlórien to die, alone of all her kin, never to rejoin them "beyond the end of the world".[T 10]
Tolkien described the tale as "the highest love-story" of the book.[T 11] Its relegation to an appendix makes it inconspicuous, and deprives the main text of much of its love interest. Jackson chose to incorporate the tale in his film trilogy to remedy this, giving Arwen more of a speaking part and creating additional scenes for her.[8][21][22][23] The feminist scholar Melissa Hatcher, writing inMythlore, calls Tolkien's Arwen "a symbol of the unattainable, a perfect match for the unattainable Aragorn in Éowyn's eyes."[5]
Shelob, a giant and evil spider, is presented as a disgusting female monster.[25] Forewarned byGollum, she attempts to trap Frodo and Sam as they cross the mountains intoMordor; they have no choice but to go past the tunnels to her lair, and to fight their way through. They manage to pass one obstacle, a tunnel blocked by giant cobwebs, but she ambushes and stings Frodo, who collapses. Sam fights on, takingthe Ring and Frodo's sword,Sting; Shelob attacks him, but he repels her with the light of thePhial of Galadriel. She tries to crush him to death; he allows her to sink down on to him, holding Sting point uppermost, and her downward "thrust" causes the sword to "prick" deep into her enormous belly. She is seriously wounded and retires into her lair, making bubbling noises and dripping blood.[T 12][T 13]
The Tolkien scholar David Craig writes that Shelob is sometimes just called "she", drawing the reader's attention to her gender. Her "hate and depravity" are "strongly sexualised"; Tolkien wrote that "Far and wide her lesser broods, bastards of the miserable mates, her own offspring, that she slew, spread from glen to glen".[1] Craig comments that "her crimes are abominable and include incest, illegitimacy and infanticide, all crimes pertaining to sex".[1]
The Anglican priest and scholar of literatureAlison Milbank writes that Shelob is undeniably sexual: "Tolkien offers a most convincingFreudianvagina dentata (toothed vagina) in the ancient and disgustingly gustatory spider Shelob."[2] Milbank states that Shelob symbolises "an ancient maternal power that swallows up masculine identity and autonomy", threatening a "castrating hold [which] is precisely what the sexual fetishist fears, and seeks to control".[2] The Tolkien scholar and medievalistJane Chance mentions "Sam'spenetration of her belly with his sword", noting that this may be an appropriate and symbolic way of ending her production of "bastards".[26]
The scholar of children's literature Zoë Jaques writes that Shelob is the "embodiment of monstrous maternity"; Sam's battle with Shelob could be interpreted as a "masculine rite of passage" where a smaller, weaker male penetrates and escapes the vast female body and her malicious intent.[27] The feminist scholar Brenda Partridge described the hobbits' protracted struggle with Shelob as rife with sexual symbolism. She writes that Tolkien derived Shelob from multiple myths:Sigurd killingFafnir the dragon;Theseus killing theMinotaur;Arachne and the spider; and Milton's Sin inParadise Lost. The result is to depict the woman as a threat, with implicit overtones of sexuality.[3]
| Tolkien's image | Implications |
|---|---|
| Sauron's cat | woman as "graceful, sensual, and aloof" |
| Spawning broods of monsters | fertility |
| Underground lair | womb |
| Tunnels to lair | "female sexual orifice" |
| Cobwebs at entrance brushing against Frodo, Sam | pubic hair |
| Frodo cuts cobwebs ... "a great rent was made ... swayed like a loose veil" | tearing of thehymen |
| "Soft squelching body" | sexually arousedfemale genitals |
| Folds of skin | labia |
| Swords | phalluses |
| Sam "held the elven blade point upwards, fending off that ghastly roof; and so Shelob ... thrust herself upon a bitter spike. Deep, deep it pricked" | erection, penetration |
Partridge's interpretation has been calledFreudian fantasy by the Catholic author and Tolkien scholarJoseph Pearce.[28]
The same-sex relationships inThe Lord of the Rings have been discussed by critics, who have reached a variety of conclusions.[29][12][30][31][1]
The scholar of humanities Hannah Mendro notes of the friendship ofLegolas andGimli that "one of the last notes in theRed Book" describes it as "greater than any that has been betweenElf andDwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter".[32] Mendro comments that the friendship is "both strange and comforting, intensely intimate and oddly private, deeply committed and yet riddled with gaps. All of this makes them perfect candidates for a queer reading".[32] Mendro observes that the friendship comes into being largely out of sight, as Legolas and Gimli often walk together in the forest of Lothlórien, to the surprise of the rest ofthe Company.[32] The relationship is evidently close, and kept private.[32] Mendro comments that the pair are in a way "the least significant members" of the Company, without the leadership role of Gandalf, the kingly destiny of Aragorn, or the Sauron-defeating roles of the Hobbits. They are, she writes, present at one event after another, but responding mainly to each other. This creates "both the queer potential and the queer deniability" of their relationship.[32]
The clearest same-sex relationship in the novel, in the eyes of scholars, is that of theringbearerFrodo Baggins and his servant, originally his gardener, Sam.[29] Tolkien described their relationship as like that of an officer in theBritish Army and his military servant orbatman.[T 14] He had been impressed with the personal qualities of the batmen that heencountered on the Western Front in theFirst World War.[4][29] The text depicts the relationship as one of mutual friendship and loyalty. As Frodo is progressively weakened by the burden of carrying the Ring, Sam becomes increasingly resourceful, and increasingly tender in his care and concern for Frodo. At one point, Sam takes Frodo's hand, though he is embarrassed to do this.[29][33]
The scholar of English literature Christopher Vaccaro, inThe J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, writes that Frodo and Sam's relationship "fits neatly into the discourse of friendship expressed by homosexual men until the mid-twentieth century." He notes that the feminist scholar Brenda Partridge and the scholar of English Anna Smol discuss a continuum of "nongenital tactile intimacy between men" which in his view "makes permeable the culturally determined boundaries coding some friendships as heterosexual and others as homosexual".[29] Smol looks at the substantial body of homoerotic fan fiction written, mainly by heterosexual women, in response toThe Lord of the Rings. She comments that "For a book that is supposed to be devoid of adult sexuality,The Lord of the Rings has always elicited strong reactions focusing on sex. The male intimacy that Tolkien describes, particularly the relationship between Frodo and Sam, often has an unsettling effect on readers whose reactions may range from dissatisfaction to erotic excitement", adding that neither reaction is often informed by knowledge of the friendly British First World War officer-batman relationship.[12]Critics such as Partridge, Esther Saxey andMarion Zimmer Bradley have stated that the relationship of Frodo and Sam is friendly and intimate, but not necessarily homosexual.[31][3] The scholar of culture Daniel Allington examines critical analysis of fanslash fiction about Frodo and Sam's relationship, writing that fans' discussions of such fiction must not be assumed to be simple reports of beliefs, when they are "complex rhetorical manoeuvres" within that culture.[34]
The fantasy and science fiction authorMarion Zimmer Bradley wrote that Frodo and Sam have the most intense love described in the book, stating that towards the end they attain "classical 'idealized friendship'" of an emotional force like that ofAchilles and Patroclus in theIliad, orDavid and Jonathan in theOld Testament, "passing the love of women".[31][35] Bradley writes, too, that the monstrous Gollum is bound up with Frodo and Sam in a love-hate triangle, commenting that when relationships are very strong, "hatred and love are very much akin", especially in weak people. As Frodo weakens and he and Sam grow closer, Sam "reaches an almost religious devotion and tenderness toward easing Frodo's path". Bradley calls the steady growth in intensity and diminishing distance between Frodo and Sam "surely one of the most compelling analyses of heroic friendship".[31]
The scholar of English David LaFontaine, inThe Gay and Lesbian Review, writes thatThe Lord of the Rings achieved cult status and large sales, but was mainly excluded from literary study, partly becausefantasy was despised as a genre, but partly also because of the "powerful undercurrent of same-sex love within the realm of Middle-earth". He notes that Jackson chose to make use of the gay themes in the work for his 2001–2003Lord of the Rings film trilogy: "homoerotic desire is up there on Jackson's very large screen for all to see".[30] In his view, Sam has an "epiphany" while he watches Frodo sleeping and says "I love him. He's like that, and sometimes [his inner light] shines through, somehow. But I love him, whether or no."[30][T 15][T 12] This is followed, writes LaFontaine, by "scenes in which the two hobbits express their love in increasingly homoerotic terms: holding hands, sleeping huddled together, swearing eternal devotion."[30] The scholar of literatureRobin Anne Reid describes the "queer" (as opposed to purely male homosexual)Tolkien fan fiction tradition that has developed in response.[36]
