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Théoden s Roharian forces include his niece Eowyn, who secretlybecomes a woman warrior when she is unable to woo Aragorn.Aragornjoins the crusade against the evil forces of Sauron along with Gandalf, theElf Legalos, the dwarf Gimli, and the Hobbits Pippin and Merry.In thefighting, both Pippin and Merry take up the sword, are initiated intobattle, and emerge into Manhood.Eowyn achieves heroine status whenshe stabs Sauron s dark and menacing Witch King, who tells her that hecannot be killed by man; she whips off her helmut, declaring I am noman, and stabs the monster, achieving phallic power.Likewise Aragorn, 36 Douglas Kellnerlike King Arthur, takes up the mythic sword of Elendia and is revealed asthe true King of Gondor as he leads the disparate Coalition of the Willingto victory.At first, it appears that the powerful army of Sauron will take theGondorian stronghold of the very white fortress city Minas Tirith whichis assaulted by armies of Orcs, bestial Trolls pulling back the springs forcatapults to hurl boulders against its walls and towers, and a fire-breathing assault machine that pounds against its gates.Even Gandalf ispessimistic, believing that Frodo has been taken and that defeat is on itsway.But in a fleet of ships Aragorn appears with an Army of the Dead.Inthe Battle of Pelennor Fields, these join the Fellowship and their allies,who together carry out an epic struggle against Sauron s Legion of Evilwith its mechanized Orc army, assorted Trolls and mutants, giantelephants, winged dragons, and other beasties.Audaciously drawing on the imagery of Abel Gance s J Accuse(1919) which in a March of the Dead sequence showed legions ofwraithlike spirits bemoaning their senseless deaths on the battlefields ofWorld War I, Peter Jackson s army of souls comes from a painfulPurgatory.They are mobilized by Aragorn, who promises to release themfrom their limbo after the defeat of Sauron s legions.TransformingGance s anti-war symbology into figures of military heroism gives awaythe militarist proclivities of the film trilogy which invests its greatestenergy and cinematic elan in the spectacular war scenes.The battle is alsograced by eagles which are allies of the Coalition of the Willing.Eventually Gandalf will fly away with these creatures, perhaps joiningwith a will-be-upon-a-time American hegemony for future battles.As noted, the trilogy is an epic of militarist Patriarchy as each herosolemnly takes up the sword in scenes bathed in white light andaccompanied by operatic or soulful music.Militarism is the privilegedroute to manhood and virtue in The Lord of the Rings; the manlycharacter takes up the sword, displays valor, and achieves honor, thussending out the message that the sword and the military constitute thebest route for manhood and social validation.In a parallel story, Sam and Frodo trek to Mount Doom to destroythe Ring.In one horrifying sequence in a cave, Frodo battles a horrible The Lord of the Rings as Allegory 37giant spider that evokes fear and loathing of female sexuality.The spidermonster Shelob has what appears to be a threatening vagina detenta,classically signaling fear of castration.Curiously, the Eye of Sauron alsoappears as a flaming vagina, putting on display male fear of women andpresenting images of the feminine as menacing and castrating, thusinfusing the film cycle with infantile and harmful notions of femalesexuality.Indeed, Jackson s The Lord of the Rings cycle bifurcates itsfemale characters into idealized female fantasy figures or symbolicimages of castration, with the exception of Eowyn who becomes aWoman Warrior after she is spurned.As the spider entangles Frodo in its web, it looks as though itmight be curtains for the little Hobbit, now alienated from Sam byGollum who has convinced him that Sam wants the Ring for himself.ButSam turns out to be a loyal servant, stealthily taking the Ring away whenFrodo is captured by Sauron s minions and then accompanying himthrough Sauron s territory and up Mount Doom.Just as Frodo fightsgreed and temptation in order to throw the Ring into the fiery depths thatwill consume it, Gollum creeps up to snatch the Ring.After he fights withFrodo, both figures appear to fall off the top of the mountain into the fierypit below.But Frodo emerges seconds later, intact and now a full-fledgedhero and True Man, as he has carried out his task and defeated Evil.Sam embraces him with joy and Frodo returns Sam s affection,saying, I m glad to be with you Sam Gamgee, at the end of all this. After a period of manly embracing and homoerotic bonding, Samfantasizes returning to the Shire and marrying Rosie Cotton, perhaps todemonstrate that he and Frodo were not gay.The same cannot be soeasily affirmed of Merry and Pippin who, after the victory over Sauron sforces, discover themselves still alive on the battlefield.Both haveattained manhood, and fulsomely embrace and demonstrate their manlylove.Yet on the narrative surface The Lord of the Rings is a heterosexualtext and so Aragorn and Arwen must marry in a triumph of Whitenessand Matrimony.When the couple reunite the spectacle is bathed, as usual,with intense white light and their very white faces are brightly lit andgleaming
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