fireproof78 wrote:Actually, I am surprised that Tolkien didn't have more women his stories, given his positive view of them but, to contrast, he was relating to a time when ladies roles were much different in society. The fact that Eowyn broke with her people's traditions and female role is interesting in of itself. It reflects a little more of Tolkien's attitudes more closely, I think.
Well, Tolkien's original strong woman was Lúthien. She was about as strong as they come. She was an elven princess who fell in love with Beren, a mortal man. When he was captured and tortured by Sauron, she faced him herself. Sauron. The dark freaking lord. With the help of Huan the hound the two of them defeated waves of wolves and a shapeshifting Sauron, beat his ass, made him hand over the keys to the dungeon and banished him from the land.
She healed Beren and the two of them lived like bandits in the forest, very unfitting for a highborn elven lady. Tolkien didn't stop there, though. Like a boss, she helped her lover Beren steal the Silmarils, the most precious jewels ever crafted in Arda, right from the crown of Morgoth himself. The original dark lord, who made Sauron look like a kitten by comparison.
When Beren died fighting off the mightiest of all werewolves, she died of grief, then pleaded to the Valar (the gods) in the afterlife to let her reunite with Beren, at the cost of her immortality. Her sacrifice moved them and both were brought back from death as mortals; the only time that ever happened to lesser beings in Tolkien's mythos. The two lived out their mortal lives and had many children, eventually becoming the ancestors of Elrond and Arwen.
Tolkien requested his wife Edith's grave be inscripted with the name Lúthien. When he died, the name Beren was added to his inscription.
