Abstract
A number of authors have analyzed the relationship between Aldarion and Erendis in the Unfinished Tales work "The Mariner's Wife." The strained relationship between Aldarion and his father, Tar-Meneldur, fifth king of Númenor, is less frequently examined, with the exception of the elder’s exasperation concerning his son’s desire for seafaring and reticence in marrying – a necessity to carry on the line of Kings in the island nation. What most commentators do not seem to note is that Meneldur is an interesting character himself, not only as Tolkien’s only named astronomer but in how Tolkien’s depiction of this avocation may actually align with not only Victorian gentlemen scientists, but the much broader topic of Victorian masculinities (plural), especially the important shift from a domestic “cult of the home” in the middle of the 19th century to a more adventurous ‘man of the empire’ (echoed in Aldarion) at century’s end. This paper uses a close reading of the father-son relationship to illustrate how these characters reflect two competing models of male masculinity from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the domestic and the colonial.
Recommended Citation
Larsen, Kristine
(2025)
"The Mariner and his Astronomer Father: Victorian Masculinities in Númenor,"
Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 21:
Iss.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol21/iss2/6
