Well, not all of the love stories, necessarily — just Aragorn and Arwen, which he described as “perfunctory” and “unnecessary.” Do you agree? And what other fictional love stories would you have advised their authors to drop?
In a previously unpublished letter from Tolkien to his publisher Rayner Unwin (currently up for auction, if you have a spare $10K or so lying around), he describes the poet’s reaction to reading a draft. Auden approved of what Tolkien described as “the Eowyn-Faramir business,” but Arwen and Aragorn were not so lucky. Said Tolkien: “He thinks Aragorn-Arwen unnecessary & perfunctory. I hope the fragment of the ‘saga’ will cure him. I still find it poignant: an allegory of naked hope. I hope you do.”
What do you think? Are there other stories that you think would have been made better by dropping a love story or two from the plot? Tell us about them now.
