[Thuriniel]

[JaneDoe]

Thuriniel,

Thanks for the comment. One of the things I'm glad I avoided with "Elwen" was the Kitchen Sink Syndrome. For some reason, people cannot seem to fathom people having uninhibited sex within a loving, monogamous relationship. Like everyone else, I'd love to have my way with Elrond, and I'll probably write a fic about it sooner or later, but I liked using Tolkien's writings as a springboard for my own ideas.

As for slash, what sometimes gets my goat is when characters who have ample proof to be heterosexual (or at most bi-curious) are portrayed as openly gay. Like I said before, I do not mind homosexuality, but completely disregarding what's been written about the characters to get them into bed together seems a bit cheesy. It's even worse when said characters are related to each other. Then again, a lot of it is fantasy, so it doesn't irk me as it would if it were about a real person.

If we could entertain for a moment that some of Tolkien's characters could be gay, most of the people on that list would be confirmed bachelors and bachelorettes. Here is my breakdown of least likely to most likely to be gay. For the most part, I'm sticking to Elves. There are just too many Men to count.

Most Likely Straight
Finwe, Feanor, Fingolfin, Thingol, Finarfin, Turgon, Curufin, Celegorm, Eol, Angrod, Aegnor

People Were Wondering
Finrod, Maeglin, Elrond, Faramir, Galadriel, Eowyn

Wouldn't Be Surprised
Maedhros, Fingon, Maglor, Gil-galad, Cirdan, Glorfindel, Ecthelion

[inglor]

Jd,
I have to ask...
I understand Finrod, Elrond and somewhat Maeglin, but I'd love to hear your reasoning behind Galadriel and Eowyn.

Inglor

[GypsieRose]

I suppose Eowyn is there because she dresses up as a man and goes off to fight.

I think it's rather unfair to put both her and Faramir on the "wondering" list. They are the only two people to have a fully-fleshed out, explicitly stated love story in LOTR. If that's not enough to get a person classified as "probably heterosexual," I don't know what it takes.

--Rose

[SpaceWeavil]

[JaneDoe]

Oh. I forgot to put Legolas on that "Wouldn't be surprised" list. Every time I hear the song by Soft Cell called "Sex Dwarf," my mind wanders to a certain Mirkwood Elf and a certain Dwarf.

Why Faramir instead of Boromir?

Becasue, if you look at it from the POV of conventional society, a man who is sensitive, reflective, and more interested in Elvish poetry than in war would seem "fruity." It doesn't matter what the truth is. Only perception. The same can be said for Eowyn. Until these two hook up, both of them would be perceived as...different.

Why Galadriel?

Because until she hooked up with Celeborn, the only difference between Galadriel and Eowyn was that Galadriel was an Elf. Her mother-name (the one that bears more resemblance to her personality) was man-maiden.

[Scribe]

I just don't get it.

Slash that is. I mean I read some of it, though I agree with JaneDoe, not lately. However, the whole concept of slash is something I don't get. If there's a good reason for it, I'd like to know but for my part, I can only see it is a faux-Sue. You know, when you want to write your fav with a woman but don't want to seem like an MS, so you write him instead with another male? I mean these characters were clearly established as heterosexual and even if they weren't, I doubt questions about their sexuality even entered his head when Tolkien was writing them. With Tolkien's conservative and Catholic background, I certainly think he would have reconsidered his 'great love between Legolas and Gimili ' ...(ewww).... if he knew how it would have been inteprated.

[SpaceWeavil]

[Eyborg]

I've heard many people say that "Tolkien gave Sam a wife (Rosie) & 13 children, so that his and Frodo's relationship would not be misinterpreted"... well, I'm personally not so sure about that myself (Tolkien being a conservative Catholic and all that), but you know, you can always interpret things the way you want...

This is actually one of the things that show how Tolkien was a "child of his time". Nowadays people just don't seem to know any other kind of love but sexual love...

Personally I don't have that much problem with slash... I read it occasionally for fun, and many slash stories I've read are really good & funny. But I would never write it myself, because a) it's A/U for me and I'm not very good at writing A/U, b) I feel there is more than enough (and many talented) writers out there who can do it, and c) I just prefer het! - Oh, and by the way, I have no problem with anybody being gay. That's just the way some people are.

As for LOTR characters who could possibly be gay... well, we could always guess the "bacherlors" i.e. Frodo, Bilbo, Boromir, Legolas & Gimli (although we never know if the last two ever married, as it's never mentioned). But that's also a kind of a prejudice, if you think it that way... I mean, can't a person be single & live alone, without being gay? If not, I guess I'm a lesbian... LOL!

[inglor]

[Thuriniel]

[JaneDoe]

[SpaceWeavil]

[dolarabee]

I don't know... for me, Tolkien spent some time explaining the dynamics of many relationships, established backgrounds for characters (more some than others) and even gave us a glimpse of what was going to take place for them in future in the appendices. Why give details on how apparently heterosexually some behaved and not a word on the ones that could have been homosexual? Because he was a repressed Catholic? Maybe so but I think it's more a thing that there just wasn't any, otherwise those charas would have been established as such. I mean it would have been an important part of their makeup and development as characters so why would the author have left that out?

do.

[DarkElfChilde]