Frodo and Sam’s gay romance Lord of the Rgs is more than a theory - Polygon

Contents:

• IS ‘THE LORD OF THE RGS’ A QUEER LOVE STORY?IN TOLKIEN’S FANTASY WORLD, GENR IS “OTHER”JONATHAN POLETTI·FOLLOWPUBLISHED ???????????·8 M READ·FEB 18, 2021--18SHAREIT WAS STRANGE — AN ALL-MALE EPIC WHOSE HERO WERE THE FEME ON? NOT EVERYBODY WAS TO “THE LORD OF THE RGS.” REVIEWS WERE FULL OF TART REMARKS.IN 1955, ONE NOT THAT J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S CHARACTERS SEEM NOT TO KNOW “ANYTHG ABOUT WOMEN, EXCEPT BY HEARSAY.” BUT, YEAR BY YEAR, THE WORLD FELL LOVE WH THE BIGGT, QUEERT, MOST CLOSETED LOVE STORY EVER.GIZTHEGUNSLGER, “BEHD BLUE EY” (2020)TOLKIEN’S SPECI’ ARE FULL OF GENRED CU.A HOBB, FOR EXAMPLE, IS SORT OF GAY. THIS SEEMS TO ME OVERT AND UNNTROVERSIAL. HILARY WHEATON, A 2006 SAY, “MASCULY LORD OF THE RGS,” NOT THE HOBBS SEEM “FEMIZED,” WH A LACK OF “MASCULE TRAS.”BUT THE GENERALLY STRAIGHT WORLD OF TOLKIEN FANS, SUCH OBSERVATNS N TO TROUBLE. IN A 2015 SAY, “SEX AND SUBTEXT TOLKIEN’S WORLD,” DAVID LAFONTAE ADDS: “THE HOMOEROTICISM OF THE HOBBS, THE RACE OF BEGS THAT LNCHED TOLKIEN’S FAME, HAS OFTEN BEEN GLOSSED OVER, NIED, AND SOMETIM ATTACKED.”HE POTS OUT THAT GOLLUM READ AS A “LISPG HOLLYWOOD STEREOTYPE OF A BTER QUEEN.”TOLKIEN HAD ALL BUT SAID THAT BAGGS WAS GAY.
• 'LORD OF THE RGS' ACTOR VIGGO MORTENSEN FENDS CISN TO PLAY GAY ROLE
• LORD OF THE RG TAPS A GAY ARCHETYPE
• ‘LORD OF THE RGS’ IS STILL GAYER THAN EVER
• THE GAY LORD OF THE RGS: READGS FROM MIDDLE-EARTH
• THE GAY LORD OF THE RGS: READGS FROM MIDDLE-EARTH
• THE GAY LORD OF THE RGS: READGS FROM MIDDLE-EARTH
• THE GAY LORD OF THE RGS: READGS FROM MIDDLE-EARTH
• ‘LORD OF THE RGS’ ACTOR VIGGO MORTENSEN FENDS CISN TO PLAY GAY ROLE
• MAKE AMAZON’S LORD OF THE RGS GAY, YOU COWARDS

IS ‘THE LORD OF THE RGS’ A QUEER LOVE STORY?IN TOLKIEN’S FANTASY WORLD, GENR IS “OTHER”JONATHAN POLETTI·FOLLOWPUBLISHED ???????????·8 M READ·FEB 18, 2021--18SHAREIT WAS STRANGE — AN ALL-MALE EPIC WHOSE HERO WERE THE FEME ON? NOT EVERYBODY WAS TO “THE LORD OF THE RGS.” REVIEWS WERE FULL OF TART REMARKS.IN 1955, ONE NOT THAT J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S CHARACTERS SEEM NOT TO KNOW “ANYTHG ABOUT WOMEN, EXCEPT BY HEARSAY.” BUT, YEAR BY YEAR, THE WORLD FELL LOVE WH THE BIGGT, QUEERT, MOST CLOSETED LOVE STORY EVER.GIZTHEGUNSLGER, “BEHD BLUE EY” (2020)TOLKIEN’S SPECI’ ARE FULL OF GENRED CU.A HOBB, FOR EXAMPLE, IS SORT OF GAY. THIS SEEMS TO ME OVERT AND UNNTROVERSIAL. HILARY WHEATON, A 2006 SAY, “MASCULY LORD OF THE RGS,” NOT THE HOBBS SEEM “FEMIZED,” WH A LACK OF “MASCULE TRAS.”BUT THE GENERALLY STRAIGHT WORLD OF TOLKIEN FANS, SUCH OBSERVATNS N TO TROUBLE. IN A 2015 SAY, “SEX AND SUBTEXT TOLKIEN’S WORLD,” DAVID LAFONTAE ADDS: “THE HOMOEROTICISM OF THE HOBBS, THE RACE OF BEGS THAT LNCHED TOLKIEN’S FAME, HAS OFTEN BEEN GLOSSED OVER, NIED, AND SOMETIM ATTACKED.”HE POTS OUT THAT GOLLUM READ AS A “LISPG HOLLYWOOD STEREOTYPE OF A BTER QUEEN.”TOLKIEN HAD ALL BUT SAID THAT BAGGS WAS GAY.

Note: This say ntas discsn of homophobia and mentn of suici. Outsi of the safe darkns of the theater, the Mordor-like wasteland of middle school, the movi were synonymo wh the favored sult of the time — “gay.

Early-2000s preteen Ameri was a time of gay jok, of “no homo, ” of mockg voic and slurs, and secret, punive vlence enacted the locker room agast anyone who had a whiff of otherns. He never would have wrten about gay people! He faced a urt-martial 1918 after one of his letters scribed “homosexual relatns wh men his pany.

Two years before The Lord of the Rgs was published, war-wng breaker and geni mathematician Alan Turg stood trial for “homosexual acts and gross cency” — that is, beg ught his own home wh another man. Lewis wrote a letter to Sheldon Vanken (later reprted Vanken’s tobgraphy) that Lewis had received a letter om a “p male homosexual [... The only mentn is a bland reference his bgraphy by Humphrey Carpenter: “As to homosexualy, Tolkien claimed that at neteen he did not even know the word.

'LORD OF THE RGS' ACTOR VIGGO MORTENSEN FENDS CISN TO PLAY GAY ROLE

Tolkien wrote of the openly gay poet W. As scribed by thor Reynolds Price, at least one member of Tolkien’s iend group, the Inklgs, “separated om his wife and lived a quietly homosexual life. She beme an in the gay male muny for wrg sympathetilly about same-sex relatnships ancient Greece.

Bilbo and Frodo’s home of Bag End is scribed by other hobbs as “a queer place, and s folk are queerer” — an adjective which had a strong nnotatn of homosexualy by the late 1800s.

LORD OF THE RG TAPS A GAY ARCHETYPE

It’s tricky to apply morn labels to people that they did not claim life — but morn labels clu “straight” and “cisgenr” jt as much as “gay” or “transgenr. One of them was Geofey Bache Smh, a poet whose work is nsired homoromantic by morn rears.

“Homosexualy the First World War.

The bate over jt how gay Lord of the Rgs really is will no doubt still be ragg another hundred years – there’s a fascatg say wrten om a queer perspective here – given the gild posn JRR Tolkien’s high-fantasy novel holds English lerary history. What’s no longer doubt is that Peter Jackson’s team for the Osr-wng trilogy were perfectly well aware of their epic tale’s homoerotic unrton.

‘LORD OF THE RGS’ IS STILL GAYER THAN EVER

In The Lord of the Rgs: The Fellowship of the Rg's st mentary, Ian McKellen, a gay in his own right who played Gandalf the Grey, revealed that he was rponsible for the cln of a small but ccial moment between Sam (Sean Ast) and Frodo (Elijah Wood) that featured the books but might not have ma to the films whout his suggtn. "When I suggted to Sean that he take Elijah's hand, ” McKellen explas, “ was bee I thought that [] might be missed by two rolutely heterosexual actors who might not appreciate that gay people, like myself, saw a touch somethg, perhaps, more meangful than others might. McKellen’s suggtn exemplifi how The Lord of the Rgs so succsfully rved a niche for self as a part of queer fandom, and why LGBTQ+ fans are so drawn to the Sam/Frodo relatnship the books: Though Tolkien himself likely didn’t tend to the relatnship as gay, the sheer tenrns of the language and the nstant affectn between the two speaks to a kd of timacy that queer fans are able to regnize and ronate wh.

Lord of the Rgs is gay wh a pal "G"-for-Gandalf, and anyone who ntts that is clearly not readg the same books or watchg the same films that we are. And durg said discsn, he implied that the same uld also be te of his own character, Gandalf: "Now there are two gay dwarfs.

There’s a gay elf.

THE GAY LORD OF THE RGS: READGS FROM MIDDLE-EARTH

There are six openly gay actors. Who’s to say that Gandalf isn’t gay anyway?

So between all that and Legolas' bleached gay crisis hair, 's easy to see why queer fans love Lord of the Rgs so much. However, that hasn't stopped thirsty gays om suggtg that Elrond, the elf played by Robert Aramayo, might be gay still.

THE GAY LORD OF THE RGS: READGS FROM MIDDLE-EARTH

Pl, there's fely some Gay Bt Friend™ vib every time Elrond chats to Galadriel. But the ma reason fans spect he might be gay has everythg to do wh the iendship Elrond shar wh Dur. One of the most often ced exampl of queer dg Fellowship of the Rgs only happened bee Ian McKellen directly proposed to the actors on set:"When I suggted to Sean that he take Elijah's hand, " Ian explaed the DVD mentary, " was bee I thought that [] might be missed by two rolutely heterosexual actors who might not appreciate that gay people, like myself, saw a touch somethg, perhaps, more meangful than others might.

" Two s on, Lord of the Rgs ntu to overlook this re aspect of the fandom wh Rgs of Power, which is not gay wh a pal "G" for Gandalf, Galadriel, or any other "G" nam for that matter too. A hobb, for example, is sort of gay.

In a 2015 say, “Sex and Subtext Tolkien’s World, ” David LaFontae adds: “The homoeroticism of the hobbs, the race of begs that lnched Tolkien’s fame, has often been glossed over, nied, and sometim attacked. Craig not the passag, and adds that ‘queer’ at the time did suggt a state that was sexually meetg of Bilbo and Gollum the darkns uld even be allive of gay experience—so often done shadow.

THE GAY LORD OF THE RGS: READGS FROM MIDDLE-EARTH

Hontly, every time I thk I uldn't love gay people more,. "I thought I had strayed to a dream"Arwen and (lbian) Aragorn for Diverse Tolke Week day one – women of lor #dvtw21 — molly (active) (@hobbgay) Febary 23, 2021. LONDON (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Armed wh a retort volvg proctologists, Osr-nomated actor Viggo Mortensen is prepared for cricism of his cisn - as a straight man - to play a gay character his directorial but, which premier Bra on Monday.

THE GAY LORD OF THE RGS: READGS FROM MIDDLE-EARTH

Mortensen, bt known for his portrayal of Aragorn the “Lord of the Rgs” trilogy, said he was jokg, but wanted to make the pot that actors are actors - simply playg a role whether a gay man or a proctologist.

“Fallg” tells the story of John’s racist and homophobic father Willis, played by Lance Henriksen, who mov om his ral farm to live wh his son Los Angel when he starts showg early signs of mentia.

‘SO MUCH INJUSTICE’Mortensen, who wrote and directed the film as well as playg s ma protagonist, was keen to strs that his cisn to make John a gay man was not “a gimmick, anchor or some trigger” was while wrg an early scene which John gets a phone ll om his partner as Willis wanrs off an airport, that Mortensen cid to swch John’s sexualy. Meanwhile, openly gay poet WH Aun, once said: “No fictn I have read the last five years has given me more joy. ‘Who’s to say Gandalf isn’t gay?

‘LORD OF THE RGS’ ACTOR VIGGO MORTENSEN FENDS CISN TO PLAY GAY ROLE

When McKellen filmed the movi he was the only openly gay st member – but over the past two s more of the actors have e out cludg The Hobb stars Lee Pace (Elven Kg Thranduil) and Le Evans (Bard the Bowman). In an terview wh The Tim he said: “When I beme Gandalf, I thk I was the only gay member of the st.

“Now there are two gay dwarfs. There was also the hugely popular LiveJournal satiril fanfictn The Very Secret Diari om 2001-2003 which clud several gay relatnships.? Although is not yet clear how much LGBTQ+ reprentatn the new seri will have, if any, early reviews dite elf Elrond, played by Robert Aramayo, may be gay.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS giv a signifint purpose and meang to endurg male-male partnerships that many more overtly gay narrativ do not.

MAKE AMAZON’S LORD OF THE RGS GAY, YOU COWARDS

The homoerotic aspects of this motif of male partnership are strikgly evint Tolkien’s novel, which Sam is portrayed as much more than jt a close iend to Frodo. While ’s te that Tolkien had a wife and raised a fay, extremely close male iendships were the primary foc of his social life, and ’s clear om his poignant pictns of male pannship that somethg eply homoerotic if not homosexual stirred his soul, somethg that was perhaps both aroed and cshed the trench of World War I. This same-sex nfiguratn of self-actualizatn echo closely the dividuatn procs for gay men scribed by gay-centered psychologist Mch Walker, who has brought a much-need homosexual perspective to Jungian psychology and elucidated the signifince of “a special, erotic, tw ‘brother’ who is felt to be the ‘source of spiratn’” a gay man’s psyche.