Wise warriors in Tolkien, Lewis, and Rowling
2006; Mythopoeic Society; Volume: 25; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0146-9339
Autores Tópico(s)Themes in Literature Analysis
ResumoThe phrase sounds like an oxymoron, like military intelligence. But wise warrior is an apt description of Athena--goddess of wisdom, reason, agriculture, and civilization, who was born, fully armed, from head of Zeus, and whose shield bears head of Medusa. She is mentor and guide numerous heroes, and is seldom a deity of aggression, but of defensive warfare, battling protect city and home. Her philosophy would be best expressed by Tolkien's Eowyn, in her response Warden of Gondor, master healer who laments that the world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars multiply them. Eowyn points out that needs but one foe breed a war, not two [...]. And those who have not swords can still die upon (Return of King 292)--witness, for example, death of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire. In Tolkien's Middle-earth, Enemy has already begun war; that is evil's function, breed enmity and hatred. To do nothing in response does not prevent a death, but merely turns a war into a massacre. Knowing when fight, what fight for, and how fight take wisdom. In this paper I will analyze role of wise warrior, particularly female wise warriors, in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of Rings, C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Female wise warriors should not be overlooked, discounted, or dismissed as minor characters, sidekicks, or failures. It is only unwary reader who misjudges them way Denethor misjudges Faramir, in Beregond's words, being slow believe that a captain can be wise and learned in scrolls of lore and song, as [Faramir] is, and yet a man of hardihood and swift judgement in field (Return 44). Substitute word woman for captain, and similar misconceptions hold for many characters stemming from culturally determined gender distinctions. Rowling's Mrs. Figg is a good example. Readers were probably quick accept Harry's assessment of her as a batty old lady on her first appearance in Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone (22), but she is far more. Being a squib, a person born magical parents but without magical abilities, Mrs. Figg can not protect Harry as can witches and wizards of Order of Phoenix, but armed with her string bag of canned cat food, she is a valued watcher whom Dumbledore trusts help guard Harry (Order of Phoenix 20-24). Gender distinctions, however, are not limited humans; I am not claiming that gender is a masculine construct created as part of men's political oppression of women. Tolkien's Ents are a good example of gender distinctions that can produce harmful consequences even among non-humans. The Ents, such as Treebeard or Fangorn, are wanderers; in anthropological terms, they are at hunter-gatherer stage of development. The Entwives are more settled; they have progressed farming stage. In Treebeard's story, Entwives seem be a combination of Hobbits and deity of first creation story in Genesis: Entwives ordered flowering trees and plants, herbs and grasses, to grow according their wishes, and bear leaf and fruit their liking; for Entwives desired order, and plenty, and peace (by which they meant that things should remain where they had set them) (The Two Towers 99). The later parenthetical phrase always brings my mind a picture of Tolkien carefully laying out all his story notes and linguistic references on dining table, deliberately and thoughtfully beginning craft next few chapters of his epic ten minutes before Mrs. Tolkien wants set table for dinner. Entwives, keepers of garden, along with hobbits and elves, seem have a sense of place; they are grounded, as are mature farandolae in Madeleine L'Engle's The Wind in Door. The Entwives have much in common with hobbits, particularly with Samwise Gamgee. …
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