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Originally Posted by Encaitare
How exactly would you consider the Old Forest to be such a 'feminine' presence?
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Well, principally in that the earth, unbound, free nature, has always been seen symbolically as 'feminine' - the Earth Mother, but speaking personally Middle earth has always seemed a feminine presence in the story, which is why I've never felt the story to be overwhelmingly 'male' dominated, as the dominant presence to me has always been Middle earth herself'. As to the Old Forest specifically, the dominant 'presence' for me was not Old Man Willow, but the River Woman, spirit of the Withywindle, the centre from which all the queerness comes. After all, Goldberry is the most mysterious & subtly powerful of all the beings we encounter in the OF.
As to
Beren87's points - that would take a week's answer or none at all, so I'll have to come back to that later - though the more I think about it the more I wonder whether it wouldn't rather require a whole new thread.