#favourite female tolkien character poll

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Final Results of Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll

Very belated!

Overall Winner: Éowyn

Favourite Elf: Lúthien

Favourite Finwëan: Galadriel

Favourite First Age Edain: Haleth

Favourite Númenorean: Tar-Míriel

Favourite Gondorian or Arnorian: Ioreth

Favourite Vala: Nienna

Favourite Maia: Melian

Favourite Hobbit: Rosie Cotton

#tolkien #the silmarillion #favourite female tolkien character poll #eowyn #luthien #galadriel #haleth #tar miriel #rosie cotton #ioreth #nienna #melian

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Round 1, Match 36

Lalia Took & Pearl Took

Quotation is from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, letter 214:

A well-known case, also, was that of Lalia the Great (or less courteously the Fat). Fortinbras II, one time head of the Tooks and Thain, married Lalia of the Clayhangers in 1314 [Shire-reckoning], when he was 36 and she was 31. He died in 1380 at the age of of 102, but she long outlived him, coming to an unfortunate end in 1402 at the age of 119. So she ruled the Tooks and the Great Smails for 22 years, a grand and memorable, if not universally beloved, ‘matriarch’. She was not at the famous Party (SY 1401), but was prevented from attending rather by her great size and immobility than by her age. Her son, Fenumbras, had no wife, being unable (it was alleged) to find anyone willing to occupy apartments in the Great Smials, under the rule of Lalia. Lalia, in her last and fattest years, had the custom of being wheeled to the Great Door, to take the air on a fine morning. In the spring of SY 1402 her clumsy attendant let the heavy chair run over the threshold and tipped Lalia down the flight of steps into the garden. So ended a reign and life that might well have rivalled that of the Great Took.

It was widely rumoured that the attendant was Pearl (Pippin’s sister), though the Tooks tried to keep the matter within the family. At the celebration of Fenumbras’ accession the displeasure and regret of the family was formally expressed by the exclusion of Pearl from the ceremony and feast; but it did not escape notice that later (after a decent interval) she appeared in a splendid necklace of her name-jewels that had long lain in the hoard of the Thains.

Pearl was Pippin’s older sister. She was 27 at the time of the incident; Pippin was twelve. All his siblings had P-names (Pearl, Pimpernel, Pervinca, Peregrin).

#favourite female tolkien character poll #hobbits #pearl took #lalia took #pippin took #the lord of the rings #tolkien

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Round 1, Match 2

Haleth

When Orcs attacked and besiged her people in Thargelion and killed her father and brother, she took up the leadership of her people and held them together. She refused Carathir’s offer for them to settle farther to the north in that region, and instead led them west through the dreadful valley of Nan Dungortheb to the Forest of Brethil. This forest was part of Doriath, though not within the Girdle of Melian, but Finrod Felagund obtained Thingol’s permission for them to dwell there if they guarded the Crossings of Teiglin against Orcs. To this Haleth replied: “Where are Haldad my father, and Haldarmy brother? If the King of Doriath fears an alliance between Haleth and those who have devoured her kin, then the thoughts of the Eldar are strange to Men.” And her peopled lived there and took her name, calling themselves the Haladin.

Andreth

A wise-woman of the House of Bëor whose lengthy philosophical discussion with Finrod Felagund regarding the nature and fates of Men is recorded. She argued that Men were originally immortal, only becoming mortal through some evil of Morgoth, and discussed with him the relationship between spirit (fëa) and body (hröa) in Men and Elves. Their conversation led Finrod to believe that Etu’s role for Men in the world was no less than to heal the Marring of Arda and enable an Arda Remade where Elves and Men could live together in gladness. Andreth told Finrod also of the Old Hope of Men, that Eru would hinself enter Arda and heal the Marring; she herself did not believe in it, but Finrod did. They spoke also of more personal matters. Andreth had loved and been loved by Finrod’s brother Aegnor in her youth, but he rejected her, fearing the pain of her aging and death, and wanting to keep the memory of youth and happiness untainted by later griefs; and Andreth bitterly grieved this.

#favourite female tolkien character poll #haleth #andreth #tolkien #the silmarillion #history of middle earth #athrabeth finrod ah andreth #finrod #aegnor

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Round 1, Match 1

Character information behind the cut! Add your own advocacy for your fave in reblogs!

Míriel Therindë

The greatest fabric artist and innovator among the Noldor, and the mother of Fëanor. Her death from overwhelming weariness shortly after Fëanor’s birth leaves her husband Finwë distraught. When she chooses to never return from the Halls, Finwë remarries - much to Fëanor’s discontent, as it means Míriel’s decision not to return will be irrevocable. After Finwë’s death and her reunion with him in the Halls of Mandos, she wishes to return to life, and Finwë chooses to remain dead to allow her to do so. She is grieved by what has passed since her death, and rather than return among the Noldor, she enters the house of Vairë the Weaver, and weaves tapestries of all the history of the Noldor.

She was a Noldorin Elda of slender and graceful form, and of gentle disposition, though as was later discovered in matters far more grave, she could show an ultimate obstinacy that counsel or command would only make more obdurate. She had a beautiful voice and a delicate and clear enunciation, though she spoke swiftly and took pride in this skill. Her chief talent, however, was a marvellous dexterity of hand. This she employed in embroidery, which though achieved in what even the Eldar thought a speed of haste was finer and more intricate than any that had before been seen. She was therefore called ‘Therindë’ (Needlewoman).

[After her return from the Halls of Mandos.] Míriel was accepted by Vairë and became her chief handmaid; and all tidings of the Noldor down the years from their beginning were brought to her, and she wove them in webs historical, so fair and skilled that they seemed to live, imperishable, shining with a light of many hues fairer than are known in Middle-earth.

Nerdanel

A great sculptor, and the wife of Fëanor and mother of seven sons. She is known as Nerdanel the Wise, and is the only person whose counsel Fëanor ever took, but later in his life during the Unrest of the Noldor his deeds grieve her and they become estranged; she does not go with him when he is exiled from Tirion, nor when he leaves Valinor, and instead lives with Indis, whom she is friends with. During the Flight of the Noldor she pleads with him to leave at least some of their sons in Valinor, but he rebuffs her.

While still in early youth Fëanor wedded Nerdanel, a maiden of the Noldor; at which many wondered, for she was not among the fairest of her people. But she was strong, and free of mind, and filled with the desire of knowledge. In her youth she loved to wander far from the dwellings of the Noldor, either beside the long shores of the Sea or in the hills; and this she and Fëanor had met and were companions in many journeys.

Her father, Mahtan, was a great smith, and among those of the Noldor most dear to the heart of Aulë. Of Mahtan Nerdanel learned much of crafts that women of the Noldor seldom used: the making of things of metal and stone. She made images, some of the Valar in their forms visible, and others of men and women of the Eldar, and these were so like that their friends, if they knew not her art, would speak to them; but many things she wrought also of her own thought in shapes strong and strange but beautiful.

#favourite female tolkien character poll #miriel #nerdanel #the silmarillion #tolkien #history of middle earth #i may have gone overboard on the info! #two artistic geniuses! #I CAN ADD CUTS IN THE APP NOW THANK YOU TUMBLR STAFF!! 👏

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Extra poll out of curiosity: favourite female Finwëan other than Galadriel. Character selection based on results of previous rounds (characters who didn’t lose to any Finwëan other than Galadriel).

#favourite female tolkien character poll #tolkien #the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #nerdanel #earwen #aredhel #idril #elwing #arwen #i feel like elwing would object to being considered a finwean but i wanted to be thorough

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Round 2, Match 6

Emeldir

Beren’s mother, and a badass.

At last so desperate was the cause of Barahir that Emeldir the Manhearted his wife (whose mind was rather to fight beside her son and husband than to flee) gathered together all the women and children that were left, and gave arms to those that would bear them; and she led them into the mountains that lay behind, and so by perilous paths, until they came at last with loss and misery to Brethil.

Morwen

Túrin’s mother, and probably the most fully-characterized older human woman we get in Tolkien’s writings. Is proud, determined, sharp, and reluctant to be dependent on anyone. She and her husband Húrin have an excellent relationship. Loses everything in her life, and bears up under it with a spine of steel: sends Túrin to Doriath for fostering to keep him safe; survives with a newborn child despite the dangerous hostility of the Easterling occupiers, who accuse her of witchcraft, and their theft of nearly all her belongings; escapes to Doriath with her daughter Nienor. When she hears of Túrin and the fall of Nargothrond, absolutely insists on looking for him, alone if necessary. We don’t see anything if what happened to her between then and the moment when Húrin finds her at their childrens’ gravestone, weary and worn. He gives her the best epitaph of any character in Tolkien: “She was not conquered.”

#favourite female tolkien character poll #emeldir #morwen #beren and luthien #the children of hurin #the silmarillion #tolkien

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - FINAL!!

#favourite female tolkien character poll #the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #tolkien #lúthien #eowyn #luthien

[warrioreowynofrohan]

I’m going to do a poll bracket!

Favourite Female Tolkien Character

(Let me know if someone’s done it already)

Qualifications:

Must be a character Tolkien wrote (no adaptation-only characters)

Must be female

Must be named (I’ve made one exception)

In general I’ve tried to pick characters where we have something more than a name on a family tree, but there are a few of those by request

Matchups!

It’s set up so that similar characters (same family/era/species) are grouped together, at least mostly - Noldor, Sindar, Valar, Maiar, First Age Edain, Númenoreans, Third Age women of Gondor, women of Rohan, hobbits, etc. - so that the most popular members of different groups will end up going against each other. (EDIT: Bracket changed so that all Valar, Maiar, Umaia, etc are in the same segment. Minor edits made to group Númenorean and Gondorian characters.)

Often, characters are matched against ones with similar levels of notability, so it’s not just the most well-known ones steamrolling the bracket; I just find it more interesting.

I haven’t yet decided whether the semifinals will be three-way contests between the characters from each side of the bracket, or the characters from opposite sides going up against each other. Might depend on which matchups look the most interesting after the quarterfinals.

Bracket!

The bracket will start up with two very big matchups!

Míriel Therindë vs Nerdanel

Haleth vs Andreth

I’m thinking two polls per day for the first round, but might go up to four a day if it starts feeling slow.

#tolkien #the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #history of middle earth #the fall of gondolin #the children of húrin #favourite female tolkien character poll #tumblr polls

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Results of Sectional Finals

Favourite Female Finwëan: Galadriel

Favourite Female Sinda: Lúthien

Favourite Female Maia: Melian

Favourite Female Vala: Nienna

Favourite Female Vala or Maia: Nienna

Favourite First-Age Edain Woman: Haleth

Favourite Female Númenorian: Tar-Míriel

Favourite Woman of Gondor or Arnor: Ioreth

Favourite Woman of Númenor, Gondor, or Arnor: Tar-Míriel

Favourite Woman of Rohan: Éowyn

Favourite Female Dwarf: Dís

Favourite Female Hobbit: Rosie Cotton

Favourite Female Villain or Monster: Ungoliant

#favourite female tolkien character poll #the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #tolkien #galadriel #luthien #melian #nienna #ungoliant #haleth #tar miriel #ioreth #eowyn #dís #rosie cotton #quarterfinals start tomorrow!

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Semifinal 2

#tolkien #the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #favourite female tolkien character poll #haleth #eowyn #haladin #rohirrim

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character - Semifinal 1

#favourite female tolkien character poll #tolkien #the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #athrabeth finrod ah andreth #luthien #andreth

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Quarterfinal 3

#favourite female tolkien character poll #tolkien #the silmarillion #athrabeth finrod ah andreth #andreth #nienna

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Round 4, Wild Card Match

Pick the additional character to join Galadriel, Lúthien, Nienna, Haleth, Tar-Míriel, Rosie Cotton, and Éowyn in the quarterfinals!

If it’s close between a few of them, we may have a runoff.

#favourite female tolkien character poll #the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #athrabeth finrod ah andreth #tolkien #andreth #miriel #nerdanel #aredhel #idril #finduilas #celebrian #elwing #nimloth #finduilas of dol amroth #lobelia sackville baggins

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Round 1, Match 29

Finduilas of Dol Amroth

Was married to Denethor, and the mother of Boromir and Faramir. She died when Boromir was 10 and Faramir was 5.

[Denethor] had married late, taking as wife Finduilas, daughter of Adrahil of Dol Amroth. She was a lady of great beauty and gentle heart, but before twelve years had passed she died. Denethor loved her, in his fashion, more dearly than any other, unless it were the elder of the sons that she bore him. But it seemed to men that she withered in the guarded city, as a flower of the seaward vales set upon a barren rock. The shadow in the east filled her with horror, and she turned her eyes ever south to the sea that she missed.

Ioreth

A talkative elderly woman of Gondor who worked in the Houses of Healing. Also chats with her country relative during Aragorn’s coronation.

Then an old wife, Ioreth, the eldest of the women who served in that house, looking on the fair face of Faramir, wept, for all the people loved him. And she said: “Alas! if he should die. Would that there were kings in Gondor, as there were once upon a time, they say! For it is said in old lore: The hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known.”

And Gandalf, who stood by, said: “Men may long remember your words, Ioreth! For there is hope in them. Maybe a king has indeed returned to Gondor; or have you not heard the strange tidings that have come to the city?”

“I have been too busy with this and that to heed all the crying and shouting,” she answered. “All I hope is that those murdering devils do not come to this House and trouble the sick.”

#favourite female tolkien character poll #finduilas of dol amroth #ioreth #the lord of the rings #tolkien #gondor #faramir #boromir #denethor

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Round 3, Match 10

Today is the last set of polls for round 3!

Dís

The sister of Thorin, and mother of Fili and Kili. She lost all three of them in the same day, at the Battle of Five Armies.

Dís was the daughter of Thráin II. She is the only dwarf-woman named in these histories. It is said by Gimli that there are few dwarf-women, probably no more than a third of the whole people. They seldom walk abroad except at great need. They are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the dwarf-men that the eyes and ears of other peoples cannot tell them apart.

Pearl Took

Quotation is from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, letter 214:

A well-known case, also, was that of Lalia the Great (or less courteously the Fat). Fortinbras II, one time head of the Tooks and Thain, married Lalia of the Clayhangers in 1314 [Shire-reckoning], when he was 36 and she was 31. He died in 1380 at the age of of 102, but she long outlived him, coming to an unfortunate end in 1402 at the age of 119. So she ruled the Tooks and the Great Smails for 22 years, a grand and memorable, if not universally beloved, ‘matriarch’. She was not at the famous Party (SY 1401), but was prevented from attending rather by her great size and immobility than by her age. Her son, Fenumbras, had no wife, being unable (it was alleged) to find anyone willing to occupy apartments in the Great Smials, under the rule of Lalia. Lalia, in her last and fattest years, had the custom of being wheeled to the Great Door, to take the air on a fine morning. In the spring of SY 1402 her clumsy attendant let the heavy chair run over the threshold and tipped Lalia down the flight of steps into the garden. So ended a reign and life that might well have rivalled that of the Great Took.

It was widely rumoured that the attendant was Pearl (Pippin’s sister), though the Tooks tried to keep the matter within the family. At the celebration of Fenumbras’ accession the displeasure and regret of the family was formally expressed by the exclusion of Pearl from the ceremony and feast; but it did not escape notice that later (after a decent interval) she appeared in a splendid necklace of her name-jewels that had long lain in the hoard of the Thains.

Pearl was Pippin’s older sister. She was 27 at the time of the incident; Pippin was twelve. All his siblings had P-names (Pearl, Pimpernel, Pervinca, Peregrin).

#favourite female tolkien character poll #dís #pearl took #dwarves #hobbits #the hobbit #the letters of jrr tolkien #the lord of the rings #tolkien #thorin #pippin took

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Quarterfinal 4

#tolkien #the lord of the rings #favourite female tolkien character poll #eowyn #rosie cotton #hobbits #rohirrim