Women are Warrior-Makers

My wife and I are making our way through the original Lord of the Rings trilogy – also known as the only Lord of the Rings movies that are worth watching, but I digress.

When the armies of Isengard amass outside of Helm’s Deep, the king gives the order to equip every man and strong boy with weapons to prepare for the impending desperate struggle.

We see weeping mothers parting with their young teenage boys, as the terrified young men are collected by the soldiers.

Meditating on the sequence brings to mind some observations about manhood and womanhood.

Firstly, some have objected: “why are they taking the boys? They should let the women fight. The women would be stronger!“

I would first acknowledge that there are some desperate situations where it becomes necessary for women to fight – something about a millstone comes to mind (Judg. 9:53). (And I am sure that the ladies of Rohan would’ve made a ferocious last stand at the entrance of the caves if it came to it.)

Having given that caveat, however, this objection is deeply flawed on a number of levels.

First of all, it’s simply not true. By the time a boy is in his young to middle teen years, he is physically equal or superior to the vast majority of women. Your average 15-year-old farmboy would make a much more physically formidable opponent than your average fully grown woman.

Secondly, there is a psychological difference between men and women that makes men, even young ones, better suited for battle. While looking over the hordes of approaching foes is definitely terrifying, the truth is that those boys have been dreaming about this sort of thing since they were old enough to wave a stick in the air. Boys are wired for war.

Thirdly, there is a psychological aspect of warfare that has to do with morale and camaraderie. Men fight together and die together as brothers. They develop a close-knit bond around a shared love for their people and a shared goal of victory.

Introducing women into the mix destroys this chemistry. (If you want a real world footnote, see Matt Walsh’s recent account of the testimonies he has received from cops detailing how the introduction of women into the police force has caused all number of problems.)

Men – at least good ones – naturally have a protective instinct towards women. If you mix up a bunch of men and women and then throw them into combat, the men are going to be unable to focus properly. They are at once trying to accomplish the mission and also trying to protect the women. The result? A less effective fighting force, and more people dead.

Of course, when men are fighting on a team, they have each other‘s back. They protect each other, given the chance. But they also recognize that they’re all in the same category, devoted to the same mission, and they realize that they – or their buddy – might not make it back that night. It’s accounted for, compartmentalized, and they go do what needs to be done.

But you introduce a damsel in distress into the mix? Now the men are constantly having to compensate for the weaknesses of and protect the vulnerabilities of their female counterparts, and they will not be able to stop doing this unless you completely deprogram a Christian and chivalrous masculinity.

Furthermore, when it comes to morale, no man likes to see his brother dead on the battlefield. But that is a completely different category than seeing his brother’s wife dead on the battlefield. (And I’m not even touching on the absolute heart-wreck of seeing one’s own wife dead on the battlefield.)

For a man to see the dead body of one of his brothers in arms is for a man to see the loss of who he was fighting with. For a man to see the dead body of one of the matrons or maidens of his community is for him to see the loss of who he was fighting for.

Eomer sees the death of hundreds of men that he knows and loves, but it is finding the body of his sister lying on the battlefield that brings him to his knees.

When men fall in battle, it is a sad thing. But it is what men are for. When women fall in battle, something is broken. And it drains the heart out of the fighting men.

Men are conquerors. Women are what make conquering worth it.

Men are built to be heroes. Women are built to be homes.

And there is nothing that sinks the heart of a hero like seeing his home on fire.

Incidentally, the psychological design of men and women works the other way. The male propensity for mission-focus and emotional compartmentalization makes them uniquely equipped for combat, and the relational, conciliatory, compassionate nature of women makes them uniquely unsuited for combat.

This is demonstrated in even the most feminist of films. In Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury dies - (asterisk) - and an emotional scene follows. In the scene, the two hard-as-nails ninja-women struggle, unsuccessfully, to hold back tears.

Meanwhile, Captain America looks on stoically, and while surely he feels sorrow it is obvious that he is processing and strategizing and working to identify and eliminate the threat.

Let me pause here and say that I am well aware that this is soft science. It’s my opinion. You’re welcome to leave an angry comment and move on with your life.

But the funny thing is, we all know that it is true. You can appeal to exceptions all you want, but the fact remains that 15-year-old boys beat elite women at soccer, that no woman has successfully passed the required training to become a Navy SEAL, and that Marvel can have Black Widow punch as many 250-lb guys in the face as they want to, but when the time comes, they will still have her gasp, they will still have her cry, and they will still have her melt helplessly into the arms of the big, strong, male hero. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

(Yes, there are movies where they try really really hard and actually successfully throw off all of the gender stereotypes. There just aren’t any remotely good movies that do it, because, frankly, nobody wants to watch that.)

Now. I began by stating that women are warrior-makers. If we return to our opening example of Helm’s Deep, there is a powerful moral to be drawn. Women are warrior-makers, not only simply by virtue of the fact that they give birth to sons, but on a deeper level because they are the ones for whom the warriors strap on their swords.

So this closing point is an exhortation to wives and sisters and mothers.

You cannot tell me that a woman in combat has anything close to the kind of power to win wars and shape nations as a woman who knows and wields her warrior-making power.

There are dragons aplenty. We need men to slay them.

And we need women, not to compete with the knights, but rather to be the crown and glory for which knighthood exists.

We need women who build dragonslayers.

So quit trying to keep your son safe. Quit dampening the dreams of your husband because you think they are too unrealistic. If you have men in your life who want to slay dragons, and you are trying to keep them safe at home, shame on you. That is selfishness. That is a misunderstanding of what God put us here for. We are not here to be preserved and safe. We are here to go forth and conquer in the name of Jesus.

Ships are safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.

So put your boys out on the ocean. Feed the fires in your husband‘s heart. Don’t admire fictional heroes while constantly tapping the brakes on actual heroism.

If your little boy scrapes his knee, he doesn’t need a cuddle and a bandage. He needs a quick hug and a “good job, your daddy gets scrapes at work all the time, you keep on going, and I’ll bet you’ll get it next time.“

If your son is masked and medicated and sanitized from every possible exposure to germs, how is he supposed to survive a day on a job site – let alone a day in the woods – let alone a life of danger and heroism and conquest?

If your son has to wear 18 different forms of protective gear to ride a bike or play on the playground, how can he be expected to take a bullet through the arm and keep fighting?

If your son wants to climb trees, but he’s not allowed because it’s “too dangerous“, what is he supposed to do when sharing the Gospel might cost him his job? When standing up to that tyrannical patriarch might get him punched in the face? When rebuking the rebellious and manipulative church ladies might get him kicked out of polite society? When protecting the lady in the street might cost him his life?

Your son needs to know that it is better to die a hero than to live a coward. And you have a massive role to play in showing that to him.

And your husband, too. Your husband is responsible before God to do what is right regardless of what his wife thinks. But you have the power to cut him in half or to multiply him exponentially.

Don’t melt the hearts of your men. Set them on fire.

Don’t be lion tamers. Be lion feeders.

Imagine with me a different scene. The sky is just as dark. The encroaching armies are just as numerous and just as wicked. The odds are just as hopeless. The king gives the same order. The soldiers come to gather the old men and the young ones.

One of the soldiers, in full armor, walks up to where a mother stands with her 13-year-old son. The soldier and the mother lock eyes for a brief moment, and then she turns to her boy. She takes him firmly by the shoulders and stares into his eyes. She chokes back a sob and then, in a voice that is both broken and firm, like a great granite boulder that is cracked but unmovable, she says:

“I love you, my son. No matter the doom we face, I always will. But now it is time for you to prove yourself a man of Rohan.“

She straightens. Embraces him tightly. Wipes a tear from his eye. Turns and directs him towards the soldier.

“Go forth and make your father proud.”

And then, as the men of Rohan gather on the walls of their city, facing impossible odds, from the caves, echoing like an angelic chorus, rise the voices of the women of Rohan – their wives and mothers – singing an ancient battle song.

Imagine the fire in the eyes of those few doomed men.

Imagine the courage throbbing in their hearts.

Isengard doesn’t stand a chance.