WARNING: this is probably the most chaotic thing ive ever written, and idek how much of this makes sense?????? dont be a ghost reader on this one, tell me if this is comprehensible cuz i honestly have no idea. I got this idea past midnight, at almost 1AM three days ago and immediately rushed to write it down in my notes app on my phone. now im copying those 1AM thoughts here and making some edits
.....im giving u guys this chapter early bc we're almost at 400 reads!!!!!!!! TYSMMM!!!!!!!!
BUT I LITERALLY HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS TOPIC??????? LIKE SINCE I GOT THE IDEA IVE JUST BEEN REPEATING IT OVER AND OVER LIKE I-
...for the lovely people reading this: im sorry in advance
ALSO the original title that I gave this on my notes app but wattpad said it was too long for this is: How Character Archetypes in LOTR Contribute to Final Canon Relationship Dynamics
how i was able to form that whole ass sentence at almost 1AM i dont freaking know
***
OKAY SO TODAY WE'RE TALKING ABT THE ONLY OOPS SORRY I MEANT **MAIN** TWO CANON RELATIONSHIPS IN LOTR:
aragorn x arwen and faramir x éowyn
ive said it before i'll say it again: these two relationships make no sense. I'm not gonna get into this, if you want more info go read the first two chapters of this fic after the intro and the chapter called why I HATE faramir x éowyn
NOW HERE'S THE QUESTION IM ASKING: why is aragorn x arwen made a big deal of in the movies but not in the books and why is faramir x éowyn made a big deal of in the books but not in the movies?
Answer: It's all in the mf character archetypes.
I DONT KNOW HOW I DIDNT SEE THIS BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOW LET ME EXPLAIN OK so aragorn's archetype is very muchacho, very ceremonial, very showy, tough guy™️. he's the one who makes dramatic battle speeches, the one who leads the armies, the one all warriors aspire to be: essentially the specimen.
other examples across fandoms of this archetype are like Steve Rogers, Nikolai Lantsov (also the Darkling, in some situations) Achilles, (that's a big one!!!) if you want to look at Greek mythology we've got Zeus, Kronos—the list goes on and on and on.
Éowyn's archetype is very simple—the badass female warrior. There's nothing else to it, this is a very common archetype, and a VERY good one. I LOVE seeing this in books and movies
other examples across fandoms of THIS archetype are quite common: Natasha Romanoff, Young Galadriel, Daenerys, Brienne of Tarth, Sif (in the movies) Zoya Nazyalensky, in real life we have Joan of Arc, Greek myths give us Atalanta—all different forms of the same character trope.
So how does this affect their final canon relationships? (Meaning, why does eowyn end up with faramir and why does aragorn end up with arwen? WHY ARE THEIR RELATIONSHIPS HOW THEY ARE??) It's simple—let's look at Éowyn first.
In the time that lotr was written and for WHO it was written BY, (sorry tolkien, still love ya, but you were a white male in the 50s - it had to be said) for the badass female warrior character there was only one ending: either she dies in the end, or she gets married
And her marriage has to very specifically almost tamp her down. Whoever she marries has to open a new life/career for her as a wife, mother and no longer a warrior. Her marriage/final relationship must make her forget her prior dreams of battle. This is exactly why eowyn marries faramir in the end, bc that is exactly what happens.
Again, i talk abt this in WAYYYY more detail in my chapter dedicated to faramir x eowyn and why i hate them together
ofc, now times have changed, and female warrior characters are very capable of remaining single in the end of their stories, or if they do end up with someone, they continue their chosen path of battle/warring. A great other example of this is Jo March, from Little Women. In the end of the BOOK, she married, opened up a school and this stopped her feminist writing career and dreams.
(why do yall think i hate the ending of that book)
...In the 2019 MOVIE version of Little Women, they change this and show how it should have ended—with Jo finally writing her masterpiece. The same thing happens with Éowyn in the movies vs the books.
In the books they make a big deal out of their relationship because it has to be believable. She's giving up everything for Faramir, so we must dwell on this to convince the readers of the fact. Because the movies are more modernized versions of the tale, (to some extent), they cut this out, showing only briefly their relationship and not her crushed dreams. Same thing with the 2019 version of Little Women, they showed how it should have been.
NOW THIS IS ACTUALLY INSANE
I DIDNT EVEN REALISE HOW MUCH THEY CUT BEFORE I REWATCHED THE MOVIES!!!!!!!!!!!
this brings me to our second example: aragorn x arwen. Like I said, his archetype is very showy, very fancy speeches, very ride-into-battle-covered-in-blood-sweat-and-tears, etc etc. If I could describe Aragorn's character IN THE BOOKS in one word, it would be CEREMONIAL.
so because of this, his final canon relationship ALSO has to be full of ceremony. It's made a HUGE deal of in the movies, but in the books, it's only dwelt on for less than a paragraph all in all (for more on this read the second chapter after the introduction)
Because Aragorn's character is so ceremonial, his marriage couldn't just be to some random girl. She couldn't even be a lady of the city or anything like that. No, this union would have to go down in history—JUST LIKE HIM.
so of course, his final union would be one of the three between the Eldar and the Edain.
This is an ENORMOUS deal!!!!!!!!!!!
There were only two other elf/human relationships before them, and they were both THOUSANDS of years prior, THIS is why it's made such a big deal of in the movies: because here is the most potential for a romantic subplot which ofc every movie has to have.
She's literally giving up her IMMORTALITY, ETERNAL LIFE, for HIM!!! So why isn't this acknowledged in the books? Why is it just a given that they should be married? That Elrond wouldn't object to his only daughter being lost to the curse of mortality forever?
*mf drumroooooll please*
The answer is that this relationship is nothing but ink on paper. It's pure show. It's just another point on aragorn's résumé: King of Gondor, Isildur's Heir, and now we can add married to the elven-lady Arwen. They had this huge showy wedding, and for what? She gave up EVERYTHING for him, for a man she would've seen only as a BROTHER as they raised side by side under Elrond's roof AS SIBLINGS, and he mentioned her three times in the whole trilogy?!
What I'm trying to say is that because of their archetypes, because of the way their characters are portrayed, Éowyn's final relationship had to be the END of an era for her, and Aragorn's had to be the BEGINNING of a new one.
His relationship brought him MORE FAME, (bc he managed to get with a freaking elf princess), which is very in line with his whole character arc as Ranger-turned-King, and hers TOOK AWAY what little fame she had. Again, very in line with her character arc bc she had to EARN her glory just to have it RIPPED out of her hands by her marriage
cannot stress this enough, go read my faramir x eowyn chapter, none of this is gonna make sense if u havent. also that chapter lowkey flopped so ✨marketing✨
...arwen gave up everything too, FOR ARAGORN, but this isn't made a big deal of in the books. Why? Because she did it FOR HIM. Éowyn gave up everything in her final relationship, and there's a whole scene surrounding it. WHY? Because it was FOR HERSELF. For her character. For the way she was written and portrayed, of course it had to end with a MAN.
like i said, the 50s weren't rlly the best time for the girlies.
i reaaaaaaaally hope that all makes sense bccccc *nervous laughter*
...with the way ARAGORN was portrayed, it in turn had to end with a woman for him. But she is only meant to be for show, so he can become only MORE RENOWNED because he's married to her, and both women, Éowyn in her ending and Arwen in hers, slink out of the story and are forgotten.
THIS, ladies, gentlemen, and anyone else, is why Éowyn should've stayed single, and also why I ship Aralas.
Thank you for coming to my motherfucking TED talk.
Side note: Even the scene with the Evenstar—in the movies it's a whole thing ("it is mine to give... Like my heart.") but in the books it's literally given to him by one of the Dúnedain FROM Arwen when they were on the road and accidentally met them in the Two Towers and then never mentioned again. This is probably the BIGGEST example of aragorn x arwen in the movies vs the books.
just something i didnt talk abt in the prev chapter abt their relationship
ALSO, i do think that if these two canon relationships are to exist, their roles in the movies vs the books should be reversed - the way aragorn x arwen is portrayed in the movies should be in the books and the opposite for eowyn. THEN it would have made SOME SEMBLANCE of sense.
***
AND THATS ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT YALL
thank you so much to leaderibbit, without him this behemoth of a chapter most likely wouldnt exist. i wasnt even sure if i was gonna post it since its SO LONG and different from my usual rants, but tysmmm for saying u liked my aralas rants, it motivated me to edit and post this!!! <33
I HOPE YALL ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER IF U MADE IT TO THE END UR A REAL ONE
thank you guys for all your lovely comments, every. single. one brings me SO MUCH joy. And we're almost at 400 reads so thank you guys so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that's it. out ✨