[Kalimac]

Yes, Legolas and Gimli do seem to be singularly free of the nagging thought that they should really be writing home to mother and letting her know how they're doing [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. But no, I don't think they're ever mentioned - Tolkien says specifically that only Dwarf-woman named in history is Dis, mother of Fili and Kili, so that leaves Gloin's spouse somewhat out of things, wherever she is. And I'm not sure, but Thranduil's Queen *might* be mentioned somewhere in "The Hobbit" - if she is, though, it's nothing more than a glancing reference, she's certainly not named.

The only other mother I can think of who hasn't been mentioned yet (and who has a story, not just a name in the family trees) is Primula Brandybuck, and of course she's dead even before Page 1. Sam's mother is presumably deceased (at least, I hope she is, considering that the Gaffer is being looked after by the Widow Rumble). Oh yes, and Mrs. Cotton is definitely the motherly type [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img].

I don't know if this particular lack-of-motherliness has so much to do with Tolkien not including women in his stories (though that certainly didn't help) as in the fact that most adventure stories tend to involve characters who are at a fairly loose end and don't have too many obligations or ties at home, mostly because they're in a better position to take a sudden change of circumstance without it having repercussions on half a dozen other people (to coin a phrase, "not everyone can be an orphan"). Imagine if Frodo's parents had still been alive though elderly when the Quest came along, and Sam and Merry and Pippin had all been married - it's sort of the equivalent of that. They could possibly have done it, but half the challenge would have been arranging for everything at home to be taken care of before getting started (imagine Rosie Gamgee, nee Cotton, just letting her husband go off with Frodo alone for some vague period of time - not too likely). Same for the rest of the Fellowship and, for that matter, quite a few characters outside of it (Eowyn's mother would probably not be fooled by the "Dernhelm" outfit, for one thing).

Basically it's the same reason that heroes and heroines in all adventure novels always have dead or absent mothers, if not dead or absent fathers as well. If they had parents, how would they ever get started? ("And just where do you think you're going off to, young lady?")