The riddle of the hidden images in the West Gate.

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Example 2: Legolas and Gimli. Not male and female, obviously.

I wouldn't be so categoric about that. It's true that the Red Book refers to Gimli with male pronouns throughout, but we know that Dwarven genders can be difficult to tell apart, what with bearded women and all that. What if Gimli was actually Glóin's daughter and pulled a Dernhelm in order to go on the quest, and Frodo & Co. never discovered her secret? There are, to my knowledge, no scenes in LotR where the members of the Fellowship bathe together or relieve their bladders side by side, and anyway, a lot can be hidden under a beard if it's long and bushy enough.


Also, this could shed a new light on Gimli's veneration of Galadriel: maybe what we've become accustomed to see as chivalric love was actually a gender-confused young Dwarvess looking up to a mature woman who had successfully integrated her male aspect (cf. her mother-name Nerwen 'man-maiden' and her voice, which was 'clear and musical, but deeper than woman's wont'´)!