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the lord of the rings - Is There More to Arwen Than Her Obsessive Love for Aragorn?


It's me again -- still reading my way through The Lord of the Rings, but quite familiar with Peter Jackson's trilogy, which I really like.


It occurs to me, though, that Arwen is almost the Lord of the Rings' equivalent of Twilight's Bella Swan. Arwen's sole purpose in her life seems to be to obsessively love Aragorn and to be with Aragorn romantically. As an elf, Arwen gives up her immortality to be with Aragorn (although I'm unsure why her being paired with Aragorn would require Arwen to give up her immortality to begin with). In the Jackson trilogy, there's the absolutely ridiculous and nonsensical storyline that ties Arwen's mortality to the fate of the One Ring (say WUT?). While Arwen and Aragorn do marry and are married for 122 or so years, Arwen dies of a broken heart a year after Aragorn passes away.


Does Arwen have any personal identity, interests, or causes of her own, that do not involve Aragorn, in the LOTR trilogy? Or is her purpose in the stories to simply be Aragorn's love interest? I find Arwen to be by far the most boring and insipid character of the LOTR movies, but is there more to her than meets the eye? I'm completely open to being swayed. Oh, and yes, I realize Arwen is responsible for safely transporting Frodo to Rivendell following his stabbing by the Witch King of Angmar, and I thought that was pretty awesome, especially when she said to Strider/Aragorn, "I do not fear [the Nazgûl]." Yet after this . . . Arwen's storyline seems to deteriorate to include only the Arwen/Aragorn love story.



Answer



Your judgment of Arwen can only get harsher after you've read the books. If anything, Peter Jackson beefed up her role. He did mess up the reason for her mortality, which is unrelated to the One Ring. Arwen dies because, in marrying a mortal, she chose mortality over Elvendom. This is clearly explained in the appendix.


I've read somewhere -- and concur -- that Tolkien had a very traditional and romantic view of females, possibly related to his upbringing and/or life at Oxford. I don't think he was an expert on women at all. I think his Arwen is a very weak character, barely something for Aragorn to pine for. Which is a shame, since when his female characters are allowed to show some backbone, they shine. One gets the impression Galadriel is both wise and very powerful. She is clearly calling the shots at Lothlorien (Celeborn seems more like a trophy husband), and we are told that if she ever took the One Ring, she would become way more powerful than Sauron ever was.


And we all know about Eowyn's "hands on" approach to adventure, willing to risk her life, instead of being left behind by the men. I pity Eowyn for the fate the Professor reserves for her. We're shown she has backbone, and she is definitely dangerous and brave. And all for nothing: at the end, this promise gets deflated. She will no longer be a shieldmaiden. I assume she gets to marry and raise children. Eh.. yay?


(disclaimer: these are the random thoughts of someone who absolutely loves LOTR. You should see what I do to books I hate)



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