Are there any homosexual characters in The Silmarillion?

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

I would point out that the idea of homosexual persons did not even exist in the academic world of sexuality, and the word "homosexual" was not even around until 1907. Somehow, I doubt that the idea really filtered down to Tolkien in his world of Finnish epics, Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon, and 13th century monastic rules for anchoresses. Certainly, before people started thinking of people as gay, there were homosexual actions, and there were preferences one way or another, but sexuality was thought of as something much more fluid and much less boxed away than it tends to be. Sexual activity of men with men or women and of women with women or men was not something thought of as uncommon, nor as something which sets someone off as "different" from the rest of the world, the world GLBT does today. So, basically, I can conceive there being in Middle-earth a man who sexually loves a man, but the idea of "gay" characters produces major cognitive dissonance.

Gwai, this is kinda cute, but I'm not sure I agree. None of Tolkien's characters have real sexual identities, as we understand them, let alone sexual preferences. But Tolkien was certainly aware (personally) of homosexual behavior, as it was rather traditional in his 'academic' environments. Those people, although they remained closeted in political discourse (as they did about keeping a mistress, taking cocaine, and other recreational pursuits) were generally pretty clear to their friends and peers. I would say Oscar Wilde's trial was the begining of British "gay identity", although of course not called that, so Tolkien's choice of innocence in his characters is clearly a choice, and not an oversight.