The Character Development of Arwen

[Belin]

Tolkien lived in a different era than most of us did

Er.. LotR wasn't published that long ago. I'm less familiar with British history, but in America there had already been a women's movement or two (with another coming soon!), and blaming his portrayal of women on his time period hardly seems fair to me.

That is, of course, assuming that this portrayal is blameworthy to begin with. Unlike many posters in this thread, I found Eowyn one of the most interesting characters in the books, and am inclined to think that Arwen's lack of characterization has more to do with Arwen than with women characters generally. I agree, you don't know much about her. I tend to cite, as Squatter does, "a simple lack of space or time."

Where would one put more information about her? In Rivendell? That would have revealed more about Aragorn than I think would have been appropriate at the time; it is very important to the structure of the story that our understanding of his identity comes slowly. At the end, when she shows up? Wouldn't it have distracted from the task of wrapping up the story? In fantasy scenes throughout, as the movie does? I think that would have been far more distracting in a book than it is in the movie. In any case, then we'd only be seeing her through Aragorn's eyes and this thread would have been full of complaints about that. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

This problem is especially pertinent if, as Tar-Elenion says, Arwen was a late addition to the story and its structure was already developed when she came on the scene.

I think Tolkien squeezed what he could of her into the "Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" and put it in the appendix because there was no other convenient place for it.

She is perhaps not as strong as some of his other minor characters (I am in awe of how little it took to give us Gorlim), but we do get that nice moment of her looking away from Aragorn and thinking.

--Belin Ibaimendi