First movie: heh, colossus big strong gentle Russian metal giant
Second movie: Colossus picking Wade up and just holding him softly after undeniable Deadpool style romantic tension followed immediately by Fighting Dirty Scene.Mp4
Lately I’ve been thinking about all the female fans of Lord of the Rings. The books and movies are very popular among women, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect given that there are far more male characters than female characters. So what’s different about this franchise compared to other male dominated franchises? It’s a pretty obvious answer that I’m sure has been discussed before. It’s the way in which the male characters are portrayed, and the emphasis on their relationships with each other. To put it simply, they’re well written characters that don’t fall into the “macho alpha male” trope, and in a big action franchise, that’s pretty refreshing.
I’d say the only characters that come close to falling under that trope, but still don’t, are Aragorn, Boromir, and Eomer.
Aragorn would be the most obvious character to end up as the macho alpha dude given that he’s one of the best fighters in the movies, he’s a romantic lead, and he’s got the “great destiny” trope. He’s not the macho alpha male in the books at all, and they avoided portraying him that way in the movie. Aragorn is probably one of the softest characters in the series. You can see that in his interactions with Arwen and also Frodo. He’s very protective of the whole fellowship, constantly looking out for all of them, and he doesn’t try to pretend otherwise. He’s never the cold guy who secretly cares. He openly cares. As for his “great destiny” to be king, he rejects it for a long time because he was ashamed to be Isildur’s heir given how Isildur fell to the Ring’s power. He doesn’t take on his destiny to be king eagerly. He gradually accepts it and eventually embraces it, and is able to succeed against the Ring where Isildur had failed.
In terms of personality, Boromir is probably closer to that alpha male trope than Aragorn. He’s a proud and stubborn soldier. His people adore him and see him as a heroic warrior. He rejects Aragorn as king immediately when he discovered his heritage. A lot of these things would typically have him fall under the trope. However, he still doesn’t, for some of the same reasons Aragorn doesn’t. In the flashback scene with Faramir, Boromir is unabashedly tender with his brother. He tries to credit Faramir with their victory at Osgiliath to their father, and when Denethor insults Faramir, he tries to tell him that Faramir loves him and clearly hates his “favorite son” position. He is in no way the jerk big brother. This is further reinforced by how much Faramir mourns him after Boromir dies.
Boromir’s friendship with Merry and Pippin is a favorite among fans, for good reason. Fellowship of the Ring did a great job of including small scenes of Boromir looking out for them, making it all the more heartbreaking when he died protecting them. In a lot of their scenes, you can see that Boromir had a big brother instinct. A great moment is when all the hobbits are crying about the loss of Gandalf and it’s Boromir who wants to let them have a moment to grieve, and not press on in their journey. Yes, Boromir may have momentarily succumbed to the power of the Ring, but he redeems himself when he dies protecting Merry and Pippin. As for his relationship with Aragorn and his initial skepticism of him, the first movie and book shows his developing respect for Aragorn. Ultimately, at the end of his life, he pledged his support for Aragorn as his king. Boromir was next in line to rule Gondor as steward, and he would have given that up to follow Aragorn. Boromir may have been stubborn and proud, traits you’d expect the alpha male character to have, but his relationship with his brother, Merry, Pippin, and others, as well as his development in regards to Aragorn, all prevent him from filling that trope.
Eomer is another character that could come pretty close to falling under the alpha male trope. He has that hard ass personality, far more than both Aragorn and Boromir. I think he shields his emotions more than both of them. When Gimli makes a relatively harmless comment, even if it was a little biting, Eomer’s reaction is to belittle him for his size and to threaten to cut off his head. He also jokes about Merry’s size and believes him incapable because he is small, and that his sister is incapable because she is a woman. All of that is par for the course for alpha male characters.
I think in the book we get more of Eomer’s development. There is more focus on how he and Gimli make up and become friends. We also get to hear more about the loss of his parents, which is likely what turned him into such a hard ass. What the movies did well, and Karl Urban deserves a lot of credit for it, is show his tenderness towards Eowyn. They don’t have too many scenes, but whenever they’re on screen together, Karl will do something like touch her shoulder or make eye contact with her. He’s always very aware of her, and these little moments show us how much he cares for her. This ultimately leads up to his discovery of what he believes to be Eowyn’s dead body after the battle at Minas Tirith. In both the book and the movie, Eomer is devastated. In the book he becomes essentially suicidal, charging into battle recklessly after he sees her. In the movie, he weeps openly and cradles her body in his arms. He doesn’t leave her side in the Houses of Healing. Eomer’s adoration of his sister, similar to Boromir’s love for Faramir, to me, keeps him from the alpha male trope.
Those are the only three characters that I would say come close to the hyper masculine lead we often see in film, but for the reasons I just gave, none of them really fall under that category.
As for the other characters, I wouldn’t say Gimli or Legolas are anywhere near that trope. Both of them are super badass, but that’s about the only thing they have in common with that trope. Yes, they’re distrusting of each other at first, trading insults and the like, but ultimately, they become best friends. This friendship is also a fan favorite. The movies develop it very well, and if anything, it’s emphasized even more in the books. Tolkien describes them as loving each other. Legolas ultimately takes Gimli to the undying lands with him likely because he didn’t want to be parted from him. This sort of emphasis on relationships is part of why this series is so popular. You don’t feel distance between the characters. You do feel like they love each other.
I think Gandalf is also really relevant to this discussion given just about everything he represents as a character. Gandalf is certainly one of the most badass, if not the most badass, characters in the series. The scene when he takes on the Balrog is iconic for a reason. But I think what’s more important about him is the way he loves hobbits, and the simpler things in life. He goes to the Shire because hobbits make him happy. In The Hobbit he says he believes that it is simple acts of kindness that keep darkness at bay. Gandalf is a believer in the good in the world, and the hobbits usually represent that good. Saruman believes it’s all about power, and he is wrong in believing this. Gandalf is both the biggest badass who will take on a Balrog and a softie who loves to go to the Shire and put on a fireworks show for hobbits. You don’t have to be cold and distant to be a badass, and Gandalf exemplifies that.
I hardly think I need to talk about the hobbits. But hey, let’s do it anyway. They’re the heart of the series. Without the hobbits, Middle Earth would not have been saved. The hobbits are heroic not because they’re physically strong or amazing fighters, but because they are good. Deep in their hearts, they are not hungry for power or angry and bitter, they are good and kind, believers in the simple life and simple joys. I think this resonates with a lot of people, because usually the hero is some great and noble warrior, and that is not the case here. I think Merry said it best when he was talking to Eowyn.
“I know there is not much point now in hoping. If I were a knight of Rohan capable of great deeds…but I’m not. I’m a hobbit. And I know I can’t save Middle Earth. I just want to help my friends.”
That I think sums up what is so great about all of the hobbits. Frodo says something similar, that they set out to save the Shire when they went on their mission. They did not do this for the glory or their legacy or any of that. They just wanted to save their home, their friends, and their family. That was what mattered to them, and there is something incredibly noble in that. The hobbits are heroic in a different way than we usually see in movies. We don’t see a lot of characters like them, and that’s what makes them special. Sam and Frodo save Middle Earth essentially with the power of friendship. They loved each other so much that they were able to finish their journey, but only because they had each other to keep going.
I think the other thing that draws people to Lord of the Rings is the optimism of the whole story. There is no cynicism to be found here. In a lot of fantasy, you see this “deep down, everyone is a monster” trope, which I kind of hate. That is not the case in LOTR. Yeah, you see characters succumb to darkness, but they ultimately overcome it. I don’t think you could say about any of the protagonists that they were truly a bad person, and that is something I love about it.
So IDK where this ended up. This started as something about why female fans really love Lord of the Rings, and the alpha male trope, but it turned into just a think piece about the movies. But I think a lot of what I said does relate to why women have been drawn to the series, and why so many of us love it so much.
