The one thing I hate about The Lord of the Rings

[Cross posted from my other Blog TFS Magnum.

Don't get me wrong, I love LotR! I have 2 copies of the books, (paperback editions that I read again and again, and the good hardback I've only read once - looked great on a bookshelf before I moved aboard my boat - now those books are in storage). I have the complete unabriged recoding by Recorded Books - this is great for cross-country car trips, as it is somthing like 20 hours of recordings. I haven't bought the DVD's yet, but I have seen them multiple times. It is a great story.

But the women in The Lord of the Rings, for the most part, are delicate flowers.

One exception of course is Galadriel. She is portrayed as a powerful sorceress, loved by some, feared by many. She's an elf, after all, and not actually human.

But the exception that really bothers me is Eowen, Shieldmadien of Rohan. She is portrayed as a tortured creature looking for the release of death in battle. Along the way, she does some amazing things, but as soon as her wounded heart is healed, she gives up the fight, decides to become a healer, and makes plans to become a wife and mother. In other words, she steps back into her rightful place.

Two of the main female characters can only be veiwed as strong if they are shown to be outside the range of normal for women. One is portrayed as non-human, the other as insane.

The set of changes made in the movie that I really liked were the changes to both the Lady Arwen, and Eowen. Arwen is the classic delicate flower in the book, she never gets to do anything except have dinner and get married. Yet Arwen gets to show some real heart in the movie riding against the Black Riders of Mordor. In the movie, Eowen is driven to accompany her brother and uncle into battle, but it isn't so much to seek death, as it is to fulfill her duty. Both get to be strong women without being thrown too far outside of normal.

A book that is very similar to Lord of the Rings is The Deed of Paksenarrion. Originally published as three books Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold this epic follows Pakesenarion Dorthansdotter from her father's farm, to a respected warrior, to an agent of "The High Lord" righting wrongs, and ending with a great quest to save the world (or a small part of it anyway) from evil. Complete with elves, dwarves, magic swords and magic horses, I have come to like this tale at almost as much as LotR. It was written by Elizabeth Moon, a veteran of the USMC. The fact she was a Marine actually helped get it published - since the feeling that a woman could not possiblly write good battle scenes was common in the day. The Deed isn't perfect, what book of 1200 or so pages could be, but it is fun, it is sad, it is well written, and it is filled strong women characters.

[comments from TFS Magnum]