There's Something Missing In 'The Hobbit' That A Lot Of People Didn't Notice At First

The worst part? We perpetuate this cycle without even knowing that we're doing it.

Patrick Rothfuss is a fantasy author best known for his series "The Kingkiller Chronicle." He's also pretty well-known for generally being a badass bringer of real talk. Case in point: During a Q&A at a pop culture event in Chicago, he was asked, "What would you change about fantasy?"

Here's what he had to say:

Yep, that's right: There are no women in "The Hobbit." That seems absolutely ridiculous, doesn't it? Well, only kind of. As Rothfuss explains, fantasy novels are all based on fantasy novels that came before them, which themselves are based on old traditional myths. Until an author like Rothfuss purposely counteracts a trope like that, the pattern is pretty predictable. That's what makes him as an author so darn awesome.

Don't miss the full recording of his answer below. My favorite part is where he admits to having written a fantasy novel in high school that didn't have a single female character. "Not even a serving girl. No one even thinks about their mom." Think it's safe to say Rothfuss has since learned from that mistake? I'd say so.

FACT CHECK TIME!

Just to be extra super duper clear, we're talking about "The Hobbit" the book.

I wasn't quite sure I believed that there were no women in "The Hobbit," so I looked it up. After digging through quite a few fan sites, I learned that there are three female characters mentioned in "The Hobbit": Bilbo's mother (Belladonna Took), the unnamed mother of Fili and Kili, and the unnamed wife of Girion of Dale. None of these female characters have active roles; they simply provide connections between other (male) characters.

There may be mentions of other females, but they definitely don't have names or actual roles. And besides, if we're gonna get caught up in arguing the details of how many daughters Old Took may or may not have had ... then we're kind of missing the point.

Patrick Rothfuss (he's on Twitter!) is a fantasy writer best known for his series "The Kingkiller Chronicle." This video of him was uploaded by The Nerd Element. I found the story on plutheroquexos' Tumblr via skyisawake.

I made the GIFs in this post. The thumbnail photo is from a video uploaded by UAT Digital Video, used under Creative Commons license.

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