Skip to main content

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)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How do Pokemon trainers collect their winnings?

According to Bulbapedia , Prize money is the money that a Trainer pays out at the end of a battle. So we know that the money comes directly from the trainer that just lost, and not some third-party committee or sponsor. But how is this done? It can be easy seeing the random trainers who challenge you along the way wanting to wager and then, after admitting defeat, sticking to their word and handing over their hard-earned pokebucks. Then there are the likes of Team Rocket and Giovanni, who also give money once they lose. This doesn't seem like something people in a criminal organization would willingly do. From this it appears that trainers have no say in whether or not they cough up the dough after losing, but I can't find anything on how exactly the funds are transferred from loser to winner. So how do Pokemon trainers receive their winnings?
Post a Comment
Read more