Tolkien through an Aromantic Lens by daughterofshadows

Chapter 1

This is less structured and more of a stream of consciousness, so if there is anything that isn't clear or is a bit tangled up, let me know!

And for context, because I forgot to explain it in the text:

amatonormative is the idea that a romantic relationship is a desire everyone experiences and strives for and that this relationship is the be all, end all of relationships, while heteronormative suggests that this romantic relationship should necessarily be between a man and woman.

Read Chapter 1

Before we can look at the many ways aromantic characters and concepts are present in Tolkien’s work, let’s take a moment to establish what aromanticism actually is for all those who aren’t familiar.

The term aromantic refers to a romantic orientation characterised by a lack of romantic attraction or desire to engage in romantic relationships. As is the case with any label under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, there are many forms this can take, but this lack is the key link between all of them. It’s also the main factor you need to know to understand what I’m going for here.

The term itself was first used in this form in the early 2000s, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t characters and even entire cultural concepts in Tolkien’s works that represent aromanticism very well.

Though I have many many many ideas and headcanons relating to aromantic characters in Tolkien, I’m going to focus here on two in particular.

 

Aredhel

The line “to none her heart was given” is often quoted when talking about why Aredhel can easily be read as aromantic. And it’s easy to see why. It’s almost a quintessential summary of the definition of aromanticism, even if it uses slightly more archaic terms.

To me as both an aromantic person and fanfic author, Aredhel is an especially fun character to explore aro concepts with because she is a woman, and even now, there are still many stories who tie women’s narrative importance to their relevance to a romantic subplot. In Tolkien, the majority of female characters are tied to a male one through marriage, Aredhel included.

Turning those ideas on their head and removing the romantic ties is really enjoyable and filled with interesting stories.

 

Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo’s aromantic potential doesn’t necessarily arise from any one quote to me (though I’m sure I could find some if I went looking). Instead it is the way he is present? He exists? In the wider culture of the Shire.

With the hobbits being as family oriented as they are, and placing value in continuing their family lines, often with sprawling numbers of children, Bilbo stands out by having none of that.

He isn’t even at a point in his life where a family and marriage might just not have happened yet, because he is young and still has time. No, Bilbo is firmly established as a Bachelor with no intention to follow the traditional route expected of a hobbit of his status.

To me, this lack of desire to follow the hetero- and amatonormative expectations placed on you by the society you live in, mirrors an experience shared by many aromantic people, me included, and so Bilbo is a great character to me to explore the struggles I face in real life through a fictional lens and use the stories as an outlet.

Though I still err on the side of caution when publishing these stories, because I’ve found that taking one half of a popular m/m couple in the fandom and turning them aromantic (thus ruining the OTP) can easily lead to accusations of homophobia if the wrong type of fans finds it.

Thankfully, with the SWG I’ve found a community where I don’t constantly worry about those things, but old habits die hard and it still is a topic where I am far more selective on where I post stories relating to it.

 

Aromantic concepts and culture

Finally then let’s talk about the aromantic concepts in Tolkien.

Specifically, we’re going to talk about the “Call to the Craft” of the dwarves. I don’t remember if that term specifically was used by Tolkien, or if it simply established itself as the most common term in the fandom, but the basic concept behind it was mentioned in the text itself.

The fact that some dwarves desired no spouse, most often because they were too absorbed in their craft.

I like to call this concept “cultural aromanticism” (a term I didn’t come up with but couldn’t tell you where I got it from). To me, this is the presence of aromantic people in a world that readily accepts this fact and where it is common enough to develop a term for it. For context, though we have no specific numbers for the IRL number of aro people, nor for the number of dwarves who did not marry for this reason, based on the wording Tolkien uses, it seems likely to me that more than 1% of the total dwarf population are unwilling to marry due to being absorbed in their craft.

It’s a huge part of why I adore worldbuilding dwarven societies and exploring how it could look like if there were no amatonormative expectations placed on aromantic people.

 

Conclusion

To wrap this all up, this is just a few bits and pieces in present in Tolkien’s stories that include aromantic concepts without even stretching the bounds of canon. It’s all right there in the text itself. That’s not to say that there aren’t also loads of characters that you can turn into aromantics that have no textual basis! In fact, I encourage everyone to explore aromantic headcanons with the characters they care about!

I could probably talk about this for hours at the time, but unfortunately, both university and my anxiety are major hindrances in actually doing that.

So we’re going to keep this to the three things mentioned here, and I’m going to get this posted quickly, before I can start overthinking it, and if anyone wants to hear about some of my other favourite aro potentials, just ask (there’s so many of them, there’s sure to be one that you’re interested in XD)