[Sulriel]

World-building / Matriarchy

...setting this up in response to another thread and a (hot pink) bunny. (thank you meez! (I think )


- please be forewarned, I consider dread seriousness to be great fun, so this thread may not be for the faint of heart.

The question was raised regarding matriarchy in Middle-earth.

It could be done AU or canon, depending on how it's approached, but in order to work well, (I believe) either approach will need a bit of world building, something that isn't normally required in fanfiction (since it's very basis is that the author is working in someone else's already existing world).

I've done some RL study of matriarchal societies and would love to hear from others who may have more knowledge than me in this - also, any questions are very welcome as they'll prompt more thought and research. (yes, I'm a total geek. I love research!)

I'll start with some definitions: (you have to know where you're going or you'll never get there )

matriarch n
1: a female head of a family or tribe

A woman who rules a family, clan, or tribe.
A woman who dominates a group or an activity.
A highly respected woman who is a mother.

matriarchy (n. pl. ma·tri·ar·chies In both senses also called matriarchate. )
A social system in which the mother is head of the family.
A family, community, or society based on this system or governed by women.

matriarchal. n. characteristic of a matriarchy

in RL, for the most part, the ancient basis is believed to be that a women can create and bring forth life and a man can't. In order to world-build, the basis of the society needs to be kept in mind and the customs and daily habits built on that.

Tolkien gives us several Matriarchs, the Numenorian queens come to mind, Tar-Ancalime, Tar-Telperien and Tar-Vanimedle, also Haleth, but no real matriarchal societies. Melian shared Thingol's rule, as Galadriel stood beside Celeborn.

Although Tolkien gave us many strong women, (Elbereth, Luthien, Arien, Eowyn, Galadriel, Arwen, Aredhel) his world remains strongly patriarchal. Iluvatar is male, as is Melkor and Manwe. The women who ruled did so through their sire-lines and returned rule to their sons.

In order to write a matriarchal society in Middle-earth there are several things that need to be considered, the primary being (as noted above) the difference between a matriarch and a matriarchal society. - a matriarchal society could have a male ruler if he ascended the throne through his mother and passed rule to his oldest daughter or niece.

at it's most basic, an AU based on a matriarchal M-e would feature the Sons of Miriel (or daughter's of Miriel, depending on the extent of AUness). Family lines would be traced through the mother line, not the father-line. The current history records the Sons of Beor, but in a matriarchal society, the daughters would be recorded with their husbands noted on the side.

In order to write a canon matriarchal fanfic, I believe you'd have to look at the Easterlings, the Haradrim, the Orcs, or other little-known people's such as the Druedain.(Ghan-buri-gan?) <= someone please correct me on that, I don't have that book handy. Possibly the Laiquendi or another 'lost' branch of Avari or Moriquendi.

The main thing you would need is a basis for the society, a strong daughter that in some point of history overthrew her father and passed rule to her daughter, an army of women warriors. For example, the Easterlings could consider Arien (the sun) a stronger deity than Melkor since he desire her and she repulsed him. Haleth may have started a matriarchal branch of the Dunedain if any of her people had lived. (notice that Tolkien doesn't (to my knowledge give us a feminine version of Adan/Edain, or of -ion (son of) ... we need a term or prefix for daughter of and mother of.)

The Orcs would be good fodder for this sort of thing. - the women sending the expendable men out to battle - or perhaps the fighting Orcs are female !?! ... (whose to tell the difference *snicker*)

The thing to remember is that you have to bump down through the layers and look at everything from the feminine perspective in order to keep the consistency - which is part of the basis of believability

- just tossing out a few thoughts and ideas, please feel free to comment and question.

[NeumeIndil]

I'm actually fiddling with the Druadan/Wild Men/Woses/Rogin as a Matriarchal society in a fic I've been working on for months. I hope this thread keeps going as it will prove helpful for revising that part of the story. Thanks for starting it!

[Sulriel]

Wonderful! Would you believe I added them in an afterthought,? (probably! ) .... but IMO they are an excellent and underused choice in building OCs. I'll be anxious to see what you do with them.

[NeumeIndil]

Don't get your hopes up too high. It's still pretty rough.

[Sulriel]

Feel free to dicsuss the matriarchal elements here if you feel like you need to brainstorm a little.

[ghettoelleth]

[Sulriel]

[ghettoelleth]

co·nun·drum (k-nndrm)
n.
A riddle in which a fanciful question is answered by a pun.
A paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem; a dilemma: “the conundrum, thus far unanswered, of achieving full employment without inflation” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).

Laugh or cry, laugh or cry

[dolarabee]

[meez]

I do see the value of a new ME culture to explore the idea of matriarchal story line and look forward to seeing what may develop.

My thought was more of an AU wherein one of the cultures we know is changed in such a way as to make it matrileanier (inherence through the mother-line). You wouldn't necessarily have to change gender jobs so much. The Elves seem a good candidate - but how would that change the relationship between Aragorn/Arwen? And what would Gondorians think of an Elven Queen - would she be the real power as in Elven society?

Actually I thought the Rohrrim would be good candidates because of the percentage of males that would live would be so low - it would behove a society to invest social leadership with the females and military with the male.

There are all sorts of ways to include the idea without having to resort to an "Amazon" society. IMO that's just an upside down patriarchy.

I'm glad the idea is catching on.

Namaste - Meez

[Sulriel]

[ghettoelleth]

sorry for the little outburst. Didn't mean to make folks uncomfortable


G

[Sulriel]