Buffy ,'Potential'
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Mmm...Shelob. I never think of her as a "female character", because she's a gigantic spider-demon. But you're right, she *is* hugely important.
Luthian isn't in Lord of the Rings. :)
However, you're ALSO very correct about Gilraen mother of Aragorn; though she doesn't appear in LotR, her behavior totally informs Aragorn's early life - and is so tragic.
"I gave Hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept no hope for myself."
The world is grey, the mountains old,
The forge's fire is ashen-cold;
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:
The darkness dwells in Durin's halls;
The shadow lies upon his tomb
In Moria, in Khazad-dum.
I shivered the first time I read that.
But do you remember birthdays?
Except for very rare exceptions, no - that's what Google Calendar is for. (The exceptions are holidays - mine is April 1, my sister's is July 4, my mom's is Kitty Hawk Day - I got my maternal grandfather's birthday wrong by a week MY ENTIRE LIFE.)
My brain is full of *useless* trivia, nothing *useful*. :)
Goldberry is Bombadil's wife; you're thinking of Mrs. Maggot, "a Queen amongst Hobbits" :) I don't think she's given a first name.
Yes, those were meant as two separate guesses. (Perils of punctuation standing in for tone of voice)
Yes, those were meant as two separate guesses. (Perils of punctuation standing in for tone of voice)
Oh! Sorry. :)
I never think of her as a "female character", because she's a gigantic spider-demon.
Best that we don't, probably. I was just being flip.
Oh come on, without Luthian we wouldn't have Aragorn or Elrond!
I was just being flip.
I can't ever tell - especially when my geekiness is engaged. It's all a serious question that needs a serious answer. (sigh)
I am all for the serious answer to the flip question, actually. Makes for fun thinking.
Oh come on, without Luthian we wouldn't have Aragorn or Elrond!
Pish. :) Illogical extreme: without Illuvatar, we wouldn't have the *world* for the story to take place.
Luthien is the centerpiece of a different work - the Quenta Silmarillion. She's no more significant to the story of LotR than Arvedui Lastking is; just another ancestor (illustrious, without question) of Aragorn. (And all these Halfelf marriages are so incestuous - Elros is Aragorn's umpteen-gazillionth granddad, and is Elrond's brother. So Arwen is Aragorn's 1st cousin.)
Luthien (and Beren) make me cry; that's what's on the Tolkiens' tombstones; that's how he thought of her. (Tearing up typing this; I'm so mushy inside.)