: Hi gang, it's been a while for me, so I'll just jump in right here for a sec. About a year ago I became very discouraged by simple rumors that Miramax was considering making Sam a female to try to balance out the very "maleness" of the book. At that point I didn't want to even read another rumor, but I got sucked back in about two months ago and I must say I'm somewhat pleased with the way things are going so far, in terms of casting and some of PJ's words from interviews.

: With all this in mind, the idea of Arwen doing a tarantella on some upsuspecting Nazgul brings me back to that same Sam fear. I understand the need for filmmakers to provide their audience with certain elements that attract people to films. Although Eowyn is one of my favorite characters, and Galadriel is something out of a dream, you can see, just from this (hopefully) bogus rumor that a female character may end up being more significant in terms of screen time and role than what would naturally come out of the Masterpiece. Thoughts on this? BTW, I hope that my comments did not come across as MCPish, that's far from it, I just meant in the context of accuracy for the most part.

I've been mulling this Arwen thing over in my mind for some time. One day I'm okay with having her be more "active" in the film and then I lean the other way. I'm afraid my current stance is to let Peter Jackson do as he feels best. I can certainly invent a logical argument that would allow Arwen to use some formidable Elvish powers if she chose to do so. And it wouldn't be entirely out of place for the Elven females in general to be a bit more active at this particular time. After all Sauron is pressing the battle on every front and the outcome is uncertain. The whole thing hangs on an almost futile attempt by two lone Hobbits to destroy the One Ring. Wouldn't the whole population be engaged in some defensive or offensive activity? I only hope that Jackson does not combine the Arwen/Eowyn characters into one person. I believe that there's plenty of room for several women in the film. To have Arwen stuck at home with the knitting is hardly a display of Qeenly character. Does anyone recall how many times Arwen is actually seen in the main part of the book? I don't have time to look right now, but it seems to me we would hardly even know that Arwen was alive if Jackson follows the book verbatum (and doesn't use the Appendices).