Interview with Shadow by Himring by daughterofshadows, Himring

Aromanticism is one reading of Tolkien that, once you notice it, it is hard to not see throughout his work. Shadow's presentation for Mereth Aderthad 2025, "The Aromantic in Tolkien," will focus on just three characters but will introduce a topic that is getting very little attention in Tolkien scholarship right now. Himring had a chance to talk with Shadow about their upcoming presentation, what inspired them to consider aromanticism specifically, and why the topic of aromanticism in Tolkien resonates with them.

Himring: I’ve just re-read your meta post from Meta Week, which already mentions Aredhel and Bilbo. Do you have existing work (scholarly, fannish, or both!) that you would like us to highlight, especially the idea you explore of the Dwarven Call to Craft?

Shadow: I'm going to highlight a fic that deals with a concept that relates perfectly to my topic, but I just don't have the time available to fit it into a fifteen-minute presentation! It's called Daughters of Rhûn, and while it primarily focuses on worldbuilding the life and culture of Dwarves in Rhûn, it also features the inherent aromanticism of Tolkien's Dwarves and the "Call to the Craft".

The call of the craft here refers to a fact Tolkien mentions in Appendix A, Durin's Folk. I don't have the book to hand to quote it, but it goes along the lines of "not all Dwarves marry, because some are too absorbed in their craft to desire a spouse".¹ In fanon terms, this is often described as being called by their craft. To me, "not desiring a spouse" is a quintessential part of being aromantic, and here, it is simply an accepted part of Dwarven culture! Absolutely fascinating!

I probably could have put together an entire presentation just based on this, but that will have to wait for another opportunity! For my Mereth Aderthad presentation, I wanted to focus on a more character-driven approach.

Generally, I explore aromantic and asexual concepts in quite a few of my stories. It's both the "write about what you know" feeling and the desire to see more representation of my identities that leads me to write most of these stories! And another cheeky self-plug, if you are really desperate to get a sneak-peek at what my presentation will be about, you can read this piece of meta that I wrote for SWG's Meta Week last December, Tolkien through an Aromantic Lens. I'll basically be expanding on the things I mention there.

Himring: What draws you to Tolkien and/or what is your favorite part of the legendarium? Is the aromantic aspect something that you spotted straight away when you first encountered Tolkien or that became more important for you later? Do you have favourite parts that are entirely unconnected?

Shadow: The thing that I love most about Tolkien is the hopefulness. Hope is such a prevailing presence throughout his works. Time and again, the characters are stuck in dark places and dark times, only to find that there still is a light burning somewhere. I cling to that hopefulness a lot, especially with the current state of the world.

That wasn't what drew me in first, though. I had a bit of a circuitous journey into this fandom. Initially, I picked up The Hobbit from my parents’ bookshelf when I was ... twelve maybe? But there were way too many Dwarves and their names were way too similar, so I didn't even make it out of the Shire before I gave up.

A year or so later, my best friend decided to watch An Unexpected Journey on his birthday, and suddenly everything made way more sense! Being able to finally put some faces to all the names was a huge help and I devoured The Hobbit and then The Lord of the Rings in quick succession. The part of the books that hooked me back then were the poems in particular. "The Road goes ever on and on" remains one of my favourite poems to this day, but really, they were all so good!

Since then, Tolkien's works have accompanied me through many things. The Lord of the Rings was the first major book I read in English! Perhaps not the most sensible choice, but it sure helped with my language skills XD

It's funny, because the reason I like the characters I'm talking about for my presentation is not because they're aro-coded. When I fell in love with them, I hadn't even realised that I was aromantic! Though I think I can give Bilbo some credit for helping me along on the journey of self-discovery.

I think arofili is the creator who opened my eyes to the aromantic potential of many characters. Without their works, I would never have thought about this matter at all (and by the way, if you want to read about more aro characters, you should really check out their works!).

Himring: I think the hopefulness indeed means a lot to many of us. Partly because it is the kind of hopefulness that does not pretend things are all right, really.

I've read a few of arofili's works. I think they have done a lot for the community, especially for Tumblrites.

Shadow: Absolutely. Reading their works gave me a huge confidence boost that I could actually publish that type of content.

Himring: Why did you choose this topic? The term you have chosen to highlight is “aromantic” (rather than, for example, “ace”). Is this something you think might be useful to comment on here? Do you want to comment any more here on why you think this topic needs pursuing more than it has been? Do you want to mention other characters that scholars or fanwork creators could also explore in this light here?

Shadow: Okay, so the initial idea for this actually sparked while listening to the Tolkien Society Seminar on Tolkien and Diversity in July 2021. Not long after I joined the SWG Discord. I couldn't tell you now whose paper it was or what it was called,² but it covered queer relationships in Tolkien, and despite the fact that I enjoyed the presentation overall, I remember being very frustrated that they danced around characters potentially being aromantic, but absolutely refused to use that word. It just felt like another one of those times where that part of my identity went ignored. I actually said something along the lines of "Well, I guess I'll have to do that aromantic presentation myself" to some other SWG people hanging out and watching the seminar, and well, here we are! Truth be told, I didn't expect to actually do a presentation on that back then, but I'm super excited to share it with you now!

I'm choosing to specifically talk about aromantic, rather than asexual or even aro and ace characters for a few reasons. One part of it is the fact that since hearing that seminar, I have seen quite a few works engaging with asexuality in Tolkien, both in fannish and scholarly ways. Aromanticism on the other hand? Not so much.

The next is the fact that there undoubtedly is love in Tolkien works. The sex is definitely happening, but isn't mentioned as overtly, so exploring characters that break the mould in the love department just is more interesting to me right now.

Finally then, on a personal note, my own aromanticism is the part of me that I have struggled to come to terms with the most, and working through my feelings via fictional characters has definitely helped on the road to acceptance. Love is such a prevalent concept in the day-to-day life of many of us, and I hope my presentation will allow people to look at these characters in a new light and explore concepts and feelings that may be very unfamiliar to them!

And it's not even just Aredhel, Bilbo, and Boromir that can be read as aromantic! Regardless of whether Tolkien was aware or not, his legendarium is full of characters that can easily be reframed as aromantic. I just needed to pick some specific ones to talk about, otherwise this presentation would easily be an hour long or more! In fact, if you want to check out fanworks about other aro- and aspec characters, I highly recommend you check out the Aspec Arda Week on Tumblr.

Really, though I hope the more scholarly-inclined attendees will get something valuable out of my presentation, I am a fanwork creator first and foremost and so this is very much geared towards exploring aromantic characters through fanworks and how you can approach this even if you aren't aromantic yourself.

Notes

1. “For not all the women take husbands: some desire none …. As for the men, very many also do not desire marriage, being engrossed in their crafts.” The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A: Durin's Folk.
2. We've since discovered it was Danna Petersen-Deeprose, Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien.