[Mithalwen]

Fordim's point about the absence of women is interesting; I have often wondered in the books generally whether one can assume when no women are mentioned that no women are present.. In this case I think the answer probably is yes ... I can remember even in my not-so-distant childhood most pubs having "saloons" that were effectively men only as well as mixed lounge bars -and my mother may have been a little old fashioned but I was taught that " a lady did not go into a bar alone" ( and even now I dislike being the first to arrive if I am meeting friends in a pub............) . At the Party women are mentioned and at Minas Tirith and ROhan they are evacuated .... but at the Feast at Rivendell ... it seems that Arwen was the only woman there .... and surely that can't be the case ..... when Frodo says "There was one lady.." does he mean one lady marked out for special rank by her seating ... or that she was the only woman? At Lorien no woman other than Galadriel is mentioned though her maidens are referred to.. I suppose it does increase the impact of the three significant women in the story .... but it makes it seem a superficially unbalanced world ....
but then I suppose Tolkien lived in a very male world so it may not have occurred to him it was odd....!!!