10 Most Heroic Things Women Did In The LOTR & Hobbit Films

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films are not particularly diversity-friendly–there is neither a lot of gender diversity nor any racial diversity. There are only about three to four strong women featured in the entire series which together amounted to six 3-4 hour long movies.

However, all the women who do appear are exceptional in their own ways. Whether the powerful ‘elf-witch’–as Gimli calls her–or a simple village girl of Lake Town, each woman contributed heroically towards the events chronicled in the films. Let’s look at ten such significant moments for women in the films.

10 Galadriel: Controlled The Desire To Take The Ring

The Lady of the Woods of Lotholorién was one of the most powerful entities in the entire saga of the Ring, so much so that her reign did not falter even when the Dark Lord threatened to rise once again.

In The Fellowship Of the Ring, Galadriel tells Frodo that she too desires Sauron’s Ring but had controlled the urge to take it since she is well aware of the terrible consequences of the Ring getting hold of her. Given the amount of power she wields, the Ring would corrupt her soul and turn her into something beyond imagination. Lady Galadriel was brave enough to know her own weakness and to keep herself from falling under the Ring’s spell.

9 Tauriel: Chose Kili Over Legolas

At times, heroism is not determined by the number of kills one has had or how bravely one has fought off villains. Sometimes, heroism is inherent in the decisions one makes.

Tauriel makes a difficult choice when she thwarts Legolas’ subtle advances. Of course, Elvenking Thranduil, i.e. Legolas’ father, hadn’t minced his words when he warned her to stay away from his son. But it goes without saying that Legolas would not have cared for such petty matters. However, Tauriel herself decided to risk her heart with the dwarf Kili rather than be with the Prince of the Woodland Realms of Mirkwood, and taking a plunge like that requires determination.

8 Galadriel: Saved Gandalf

When the grand old man of The Hobbit and the LOTR stories is on the verge of certain death in the dark and murky Dol Gudur, Galadriel walks in with Elrond and Saruman–this was before Saruman had pledged himself to Sauron–and rescues Gandalf with the force of her phenomenal powers.

Although Galadriel is not alone here and there are significant debates regarding whether or not Tolkein had ever written about the grand goings-on in Dol Gudur, nevertheless, the Elven Queen shows great tenacity when she literally carries the dying Gandalf out of harm’s way.

7 Tauriel: Healed Kili

In The Desolation of Smaug, Tauriel and Legolas arrive in Lake Town just in time to save Bard’s children and the dwarves from the orcs who had been sent to look for Thorin Okenshield.

After killing most of the orcs, Legolas leaves to go after those who had escaped. Tauriel, though, stays back to tend to Kili. She then performs extraordinary magic with the athelas plant, a plant used by elves to cure and heal, and heroically saves Kili in the nick of time from certain death.

6 Tauriel: Took On Orcs Alone

The most dreadful antagonists in the LOTR and The Hobbit books are the orcs–vile, disgusting creatures with no semblance of morals. In The Hobbit trilogy, Tauriel, the chief of Thranduil’s Elven guard, fought orcs all the time and did so like a boss. A born fighter, she would take on a whole battalion of orcs all alone and come out without a scratch.

In the climax of The Battle of The Five Armies, when Kili is murdered by Bolg, the leader of the Gundabad orcs, Tauriel is heartbroken and decides to take on Kili’s killer all by herself. No one knows what happened to Tauriel after the events of the last film since her character was fictionalized by Peter Jackson for the films. But the Elvenking did banish her from the Woodland Realm, so there is a distinct possibility that she went off to rid the world of orcs alone.

5 Arwen: Fought Off The Nazgül Single-handedly

The beautiful daughter of Elrond, Arwen was an elf of extraordinary courage. In the first part of the LOTR trilogy, Arwen arrives at a critical moment when a garrison of orcs had just descended on the Fellowship.

Frodo has been stabbed by a Morgul-blade during the ambush and was in urgent need of medical attention. Arwen rides away with the wounded Frodo, staying one step ahead of the Nazgül who have given chase at top speed. She is almost surrounded by all sides but managed to find her way across a river, knowing well that the Ringwraiths are not comfortable in the water. She then bewitches the river water which turned into majestic, galloping horses and attacked the Ringwraiths. Arwen thus ends up saving Frodo from the entire battalion of the most terrifying servants of the Dark Lord, all by herself.

4 Eowyn: Killed The Witch-King

The Lady of Rohan was the gallant niece of Theoden, the King of Rohan. She longed to join the men in battle, although her duties as a woman forced her to stay inside the confines of the castle. Éowyn was repeatedly turned down when she asked permission to go to war with the menfolk, so eventually, she took matters into her own hands and joined Rohan’s forces with the hobbit, Merry Brandybuck. Heavily armored from top to toe, it was hardly possible for anybody to tell that a woman had slipped out along with the men.

It is Éowyn who finally confronts the powerful chief of the Nazgüls, the Witch-King of Angmar after the latter had severely wounded King Theoden. The Nazgül lord reminded her of the prophecy that he would not be killed by the hands of a man, to which she replied that she was no man. Éowyn fulfilled the elf-lord Glorfindel’s prophecy by heroically doing what no man had ever been able to do.

3 Arwen: Chose To Become Mortal

Arwen was an infinitely brave entity, not just because she was a valiant warrior but because she was able to make decisions that she knew would have very serious consequences.

When Arwen fell in love with Aragorn, the two made a beautiful couple. But there was a huge catch–Aragorn was a mortal man whereas Arwen was an elf, which meant that she would have to watch her lover die and continue to live forever with a shattered heart. Arwen thus decides to become mortal, choosing death alongside Aragorn than life forever with her family. Now, that is heroism of a different level, requiring great strength of character.

2 Tilda: Helf Off Orcs

Even little girls in the Tolkien-Jackson universe show remarkable courage in the face of terrible danger. In the second part of The Hobbit trilogy, Desolation of Smaug, Bard’s three young children had to go through a great deal of trauma as their little house was attacked by orcs when they were alone with the dwarfs.

Little Tilda, the youngest of Bard’s children, finds herself face to face with a disgusting, screaming orc about to pounce on her and her brother. Tilda does what most people wouldn’t have thought of. She throws a plate at him and momentarily holds him off. For a girl of her age, faced with such appalling danger, holding off an orc even for a moment, took extraordinary courage.

1 Morwen: Sent Her Children Off To Safety

In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, chaos ensues when the Uruk-hai attacks Rohan. The village folk realizes that they might soon find themselves at the mercy of the orcs and take steps to save their families.

A simple Rohirrim woman, Morwen, is shown sending her young son and daughter off on horseback even as she watches the orcs descend upon the land. Morwen cannot escape herself, but she can at least help her kids get away, irrespective of whether they would ever see each other again. For a mother to bid farewell to her children for their sake, not knowing what fate had in store for any of them, is an instance of the utmost bravery that not even witches and wizards can match.

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