One of the aspects of the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings series that has always stood out to me was their enhancement of Arwen's involvement in the main events of the story. Given that I just read the books for the first time this year and am currently reading them for a second time, I was far more familiar with how the story and characters were presented in the films. That being said, when I read through the series, I was pretty surprised at how little Arwen appears in the story (and how her and Aragorn's relationship is merely implied until The Return of the King). Since this week's readings covered "Many Meetings", the first and only chapter that Arwen actively appears in until The Return of the King, I thought I would dedicate a post to where the Lady of Rivendell falls in line of important characters in the history of Middle-Earth.
As is stated in "Many Meetings", Arwen is the youngest of Elrond and Celebrían's children and their only daughter. Her paternal grandparents were Eärendil and Elwing. It is through her grandmother than she is a descendent of Beren and Lúthien, to whom she is said to have a strong likeness to in appearance. She is also the granddaughter of Galadriel and Celeborn through her mother Celebrían. However, despite her mother being Elven, Arwen is of the Half-Elven since her grandfather is Eärendil, the second of the Half-Elven. Her marriage to Aragorn, whose ancestor is Elros, brother of Elrond and Half-Elven, would reunite the lineage of the Half-Eleven.
Also a fun note about her name(s): One of the names she is known by is Undómiel, which is the Quenyan (High-Eleven) word for Evenstar: Undómë meaning "evening twilight" and el meaning "star". The name Arwen is in Sindarian (the common Elvish language) and translates to "royal, noble" and "maiden".
Having grown up watching the Lord of the Rings and then the Hobbit, when it was adapted into the three part film series, before ever lying my hands on a copy of the books, I also think it’s interesting how much Hollywood loves to ramp up romantic tension in the movies that don’t exist in the books.
ReplyDeleteThere’s absolutely not a hint of romance in the Hobbit, and yet the filmmakers create this grand romance between Kili and the Mirkwood elf, Tauriel, creating this weird love triangle thing with Legolas. Tauriel doesn’t even exist in the books and Legolas doesn’t come in until the Lord of the Rings.
Hollywood just loves to create so much drama. Even going into the lost love of Thranduil, Legolas’ mother, and how it’s taboo to speak of her as the pain of the loss is still so prevalent for him. It’s a little too much and strays so far from Tolkien, in my opinion, as interesting a plot line as it is.
I too was surprised at how little Arwen actually appeared in the story. She seems to serve a slightly more significant role in The Return of the King since Aragorn requests that the hobbits not leave Minas Tirith until Arwen arrives and they are wed. But it is strange that Tolkien does not dwell further on this relationship and only seems to allude to it here and there throughout the book.
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