The Mystery of Arwen's Absence from Battle in The Lord of the Rings

Arwen's Role in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Despite being powerful in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Arwen never participated in any of the fighting. It seems that she would want to get in on the action and help protect Middle-earth since she was in love with Aragorn and planned to remain with him if Sauron was defeated. However, while other elves like Legolas fought by Aragorn's side, Arwen stayed safely in Rivendell. It would be one thing if she didn't have the training or ability to fight, but the events with the Ringwraiths in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring prove this wasn't the case. Ultimately, it's the changes between Tolkien's books and Jackson's films that make Arwen's status as a warrior more complicated.

Liv Tyler as Arwen in The Lord of the Rings.

In the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie, Arwen appears in the knick of time to help save Frodo from the Ringwraiths. She puts him on her horse and rushes him to Rivendell, and when the Ringwraiths try to pursue her, she draws her sword and uses her magic to stop them. Unfortunately, this is the last time in The Lord of the Rings trilogy that we see Arwen take part in any combat, which is strange considering how her character is presented in the films. However, in the Lord of the Rings books, it was never odd that she didn't fight since Arwen was never a warrior, and the Elves of Middle-earth weren't part of Aragorn's battles.

Arwen holding a sword in Lord of the Rings.

The only reason that Arwen's absence from the battles of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King seems strange is because of the changes Jackson made to the books. First, in Tolkien's version of the tale, Arwen wasn't the one who showed up to save Frodo. Instead, this was Glorfindel, who was known as one of the strongest Elves in Middle-earth. Ultimately, Jackson traded out this character for Arwen because she had an almost negligible part in the book, with no actual lines and only a passing mention when Frodo saw her with Aragorn at Rivendell. Since Arwen never demonstrated any fighting ability, there was no reason to expect her to fight in the Lord of the Rings books.

Close up of Arwen looking at Aragorn in The Lord Of The Rings

The Influence of Changes to the Lord of the Rings Books

Jackson also changed the role of Elves during the events of The Lord of the Rings. In The Two Towers movie, Elves from Lothl\u00f3rien showed up at Helm's Deep to assist Rohan in the fight against Saruman's Uruk-hai. However, this never happened in the book. The only Elf that fought in this battle was Legolas, and he only did so because of his involvement with the Fellowship of the Ring. Therefore, it wasn't strange in the Lord of the Rings books that Arwen wouldn't enter the fray, while the combined events of Jackson's movie make it seem like she should have been there.

Arwen Lord of the Rings (1)-1

Arwen can briefly be seen in the background of the Battle of Helm's Deep in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers because Peter Jackson originally included her in the battle. However, he ultimately cut all the scenes that featured her arrival with the other elves.

The Influence of Changes to the Lord of the Rings Books

The Role of Sexism and the Elves in Middle-earth

Because screen adaptations set in Middle-earth often depict female Elf warriors, such as Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Tauriel in The Hobbit, there's a common misconception that the sexism that forced Eowyn to pretend to be a man so she could fight was exclusively a Human problem. However, this wasn't the case in Tolkien's works. There is never any clear indication that there were female Elf warriors. Tolkien is ambiguous about whether Galadriel was a fighter in the traditional sense—she was extremely powerful and capable, but this referred to magic, not might with a sword. Then there's Tauriel, who was an invention of Jackson's for The Hobbit movies.

Lord of the rings eowyn arwen galadriel

In general, the women of Middle-earth were not permitted to fight on the battlefield. This certainly isn't to say that they didn't serve important and powerful roles in Middle-earth (and beyond) history. Melian, Luthien, Galadriel, Elwing, and more were all powerful female Lord of the Rings characters, but they were subject to in-universe sexism all the same. Tolkien challenged this with Eowyn's story, but he may have felt that having Arwen contradict expectations as well would be too much.

Undying Lands Ship Lord of the Rings (1)

The Elves' Departure and Arwen's Role

Even if Arwen had been an established warrior in Tolkien canon, the fact that the Elves, in general, weren't getting involved in Aragorn's fight was enough reason to keep her out of the battles. During the events of The Lord of the Rings, the Elves knew that their time in Middle-earth was almost over. The Light of the Eldar was fading, and it was time to pass the world over to Men. So, the Elves were focused on defending their people and settlements until they had all migrated to Valinor. Arwen was a special case, so she turned mortal and became Aragorn's queen. Still, Gondor's fight wasn't the Elves fight—something Jackson's Lord of the Rings altered.