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Originally Posted by Lalaith
LMP - what about quite difficult, complicated women like Morwen and Erendis?
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Yes, I had thought of Morwen though not Erendis, but forgot in my rush to mention them. Note that Morwen's and Erendis' stories are Romantic Tragedy rather than Romantic Comedy (in the classic sense of the word: 'happy ending'). A tragedy necessitates characters, both men and women, with crucial character flaws. Therefore the idealization mode must be set aside for the sake of the story. Thinking on my feet, but I think it works.
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Originally Posted by Anguirel
Tolkien can write women.
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Please don't misunderstand me. I for one am not in any way, shape, or form, saying that Tolkien can't write women, or isn't as good as others at it. Rather, I'm saying that Tolkien writes idealized women. 'Perilous' does not remove Galadriel from the ideal. The Queen of Fairy is perilous. (Speaking of which, I have to say that Ellen Kushner in
Thomas the Rhymer does a rather passable job of writing an idealized woman (the queen of fairy) from a man's point of view.) I'm also saying that it's hard (not impossible) for a woman to write a Romantic man. It doesn't come naturally because I don't think many women writers understand, or are interested, in the mindset of Romantic men for whom the idealization of women speaks profoundly. It obviously did to Tolkien, though as some have already pointed out, he wrote non-idealized women too. But which women did he give the most ink to?