The criticisms are based not so much on how lame Arwen is perceived to be, which is pretty irrelevant, but how important her role as the one who helps the line continue is (I personally don't find Arwen lame actually) IE, that one of the most important female character in LOTR's role is to get married and have kids. And that it is a big book with a lot of characters is the point. That in such a big book with a lot of characters, the extraordinarily empowered women are few and far between.

Wait what? The female characters in general are few and far between, which could be a valid criticism (although it IS a war story), but the females that DO appear tend to be interesting characters who play pivotal roles in the story. Look at the women who have speaking parts in LOTR... Galadriel is the wisest and strongest non-angelic character in the book, probably the most important character outside the Fellowship and plays a bigger role in their eventual success than anybody other than Frodo, Sam and Gandalf (and Gollum). Eowyn is a strong willed badass who displays great determination, courage and martial skill. Goldberry is a nature spirit. Yes, her role is mostly as Tom's wife, but I'm not really sure how else she could have been written. The book wouldn't have been better if she was a partner at Old Man Willow's law firm. Rosie Cotton is a plucky farmgirl. And finally we have Arwen, basically a distressed damsel who's not actually in distress.

I find focusing on the importance of their roles is a silly way of looking at things in any event. It's like saying LOTR was anti-religious because Illuvatar didn't actually DO anything. Their characterization is far more important.

Good Face makes good points. There are strong women in Tolkien: Eowyn, the elves, the more matriarchal of the hobbits (even if they don't go on adventures, they seem to run the Shire via gossip and kitchen politics). Goldberry is a sweet old dame but I would not want to push her too far.

The curious thing to me was always the races that seem to get along without any women at all. I gotta wonder about the dwarves, for instance. Orcs and the folk of Mordor seem to get along without females. The Entwives are long gone. Are there female eagles? This is the kind of thing that keeps me up nights.

The book wouldn't have been better if she was a partner at Old Man Willow's law firm.

I laughed.

Pratchett solved the dwarf problem by saying they look and act just like the male dwarves.

The curious thing to me was always the races that seem to get along without any women at all. I gotta wonder about the dwarves, for instance.

This brings me back to the early days of Dragon magazine, and the endless debate in the letters section as to whether or not female dwarves have beards.

Wouldn't Jedi-Jedi sex be the most awesome thing ever?

Gimli and Galadriel.

Didn't work for internet porn.

I am still shocked that anyone pays a penny for porn. I mean, thanks guys for doing it, so they keep making tons of it.

It's not like the quality is any better, or that high-quality porn is even something the majority of end-users care about.

Re: 102

And Shelob (Hey if Smaug can be male, Shelob can be called a female) is her own badass too. She doesn't answer to anyone but herself.

post-commerce world of the Federation

It's post commerce, but somehow Picard is an absentee landlord of a sweet vineyard in Provence.

Any excuse to post this brilliant star wars review which is part genius, part insanity and very funny.

I am still shocked that anyone pays a penny for porn. I mean, thanks guys for doing it, so they keep making tons of it.

It's not like the quality is any better, or that high-quality porn is even something the majority of end-users care about.

What would high-quality porn even look like anyway?

Anyhow, screw the Federation, I want to live in The Culture.

Yeah, just don't piss them off.

Fine, but why don't Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam have the same accents as Merry and Pippin?

There is more than one "British" accent and dialect, there are hundreds of them. Sam, for example, is quite clearly trying for West Country and ends up closer to West Hampshire.

And the Scottish accents were not Glaswegian or highland brogue which is what the accent is usually represented as but the much milder accents of the borders.

What would high-quality porn even look like anyway?

Showgirls but better?

I am still shocked that anyone pays a penny for porn. I mean, thanks guys for doing it, so they keep making tons of it.


If I had to guess I would say the porn that is being purchased is the porn that interacts with you. Stuff like webcams, peronalized photos and trinkets, conversations, and such, I personally can't imagine why anyone would pay for anything besides that since it is all available for free on the internet. I knew a guy who got suspended from college because he stole his roommate's credit card to purchase online porn. I have no idea why he would do that when there were so many free sites available.

What would high-quality porn even look like anyway?

It's anything with Shooty.