Women of Middle Earth

Podcast: Download

SME109: Tolkien’s women are rarely at the center of the story. They don’t need to be.

From Yavanna, who created the Two Trees of Valinor, to Rosie Cotton, whose presence in Sam’s heart carries him through Mordor, the women of Middle-earth hold everything together as the foundation beneath the story. As Alix Murray observes in this episode: they’re not in the background. They are the background.

Alix Murray, Jeff Haecker, and Kathryn Laffrey (co-host of Secrets of Sacred Art) gather in honor of Mother’s Day to celebrate the women of Tolkien’s universe across all three ages. Running through every character they discuss is a thread connecting them to Tolkien himself: his mother, who died supporting her children after her family rejected her for converting to Catholicism; his wife Edith, inspiration for Lúthien; and his deep Marian devotion shaped by the Oratorians of Birmingham.

They begin in the Years of the Trees with Yavanna, creator of the Two Trees of Valinor, whose grief over their misuse led to a compassionate conversation with Manwë. They discuss Vairë the Weaver, who holds Arda’s entire history in tapestry, and Nienna, lady of mercy, whose role seems designed as a counterpoint to Morgoth’s capacity for destruction. Then there’s Ungoliant: all-consuming, terrifying, and possibly a Maia of darkness twisted by Melkor, with a void at her center that Melkor taught her to fill the wrong way. She eventually turns that hunger on herself.

The First Age brings Galadriel‘s refusal of Fëanor in Valinor (her hair held the light of the Two Trees) in striking contrast to the three strands she later gives Gimli freely. It brings Melian‘s protective Girdle around Doriath and her prophetic warnings that Thingol repeatedly ignores. And it brings Lúthien: the character Tolkien wrote as a portrait of his wife Edith. Lúthien defeats Sauron in a singing contest, escapes captivity twice, sings Morgoth to sleep, and makes every step of the quest for the Silmaril possible. Nothing happens without her.

The Third Age yields Gilraen, Aragorn’s mother, who gives hope to all men and keeps none for herself — a character who mirrors both the Virgin Mary and Tolkien’s own mother. Éowyn‘s “I am no man” gets a full treatment: her emotional wounds, her partnership with Merry, Théoden’s death, and her healing with Faramir. Arwen‘s choice of mortality and the grace she gives Frodo. The quiet, indispensable Rosie Cotton. And a lively debate about what Rings of Power got right (Disa, Durin’s wife and stone-singer) and what it got badly wrong with Galadriel.

What does it mean to be powerful when you’re not standing at the front?

Get all new episodes automatically and for free:

Follow by Email | Listen to this episode and subscribe on YouTube.

Help us continue to offer the Secrets of Middle Earth. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Code:

by
Secrets of Middle-earth Secrets of Middle-Earth 1-300