Hosts & Guests
Cait
(she/her) Cait is a self-professed horse girl from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and if you ask her about her horse, she’ll never shut up. Her partner in riding adventures is Rocket, a 24-year-old Paint Horse. Tumblr.
Alicia
(she/they) A queer Tolkien scholar and Zelda nerd interested in adaptation, audience reception, and biography.
Grace
(she/her) An acquirer of books, a queer-rights activist, serves as as the Subscriptions Steward of the Mythopoeic Society, and is a Professional Nerd (okay, technically it’s an unpaid internship).
Leah
(she/her) Just another weird Tolkien geek living in the Grey Havens (also known as Seattle WA) with two rabbits and far too few books.
Resources
Conferences
Mythopoeic Society OMS 2024: Something Mighty Queer
Organizations
International Gay Rodeo Association
Books
Diana Wynne Jones, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion. Ed. Christopher Tolkien.
Articles
Deborah Bright, “Horse Crazy.” Horsetales: American Images and Icons 1800-2000.
Susana Polo, “Aragorn is absolutely a Horse Girl: But only in the movies”. Polygon.
Presentations
Websites
“30 Fantasy Books Featuring Dragonriders”. Fanfiaddict.
About This Episode
Friend of the pod Cait Rottler joins Leah, Grace, and Alicia to talk all about horses and the ‘Horse Girl’ character trope. We start out with a look at the overlap between Horse Girls and Queer identity, continue with a quick review of the major tropes of Horse Girl stories (with a detour into the related genre of ‘Dragonrider’ stories), and then celebrate our favorite ‘Horse Girls’ from Middle-earth, including Movie!Aragorn/Viggo Mortensen, Arwen, Tom Bombadil, Beorn, Glorfindel, and more.
Related Episodes
Episode 22 – Queer Readings: Eowyn & Faramir Part 3 – Bi Wife Energypt 3
We discuss how Eowyn’s gender queerness and Faramir’s soft masculinity combine to form the Queer Relationship Voltron of “Bi Wife Energy”.
Episode 21 – Queer Readings: Eowyn & Faramir Part 2 – Faramir
We focus on Tolkien’s author insert, Faramir, his gender presentation, & how his softer, non-toxic masculinity compares to Denethor & Boromir
Episode 20 – Queer Readings: Eowyn & Faramir Part 1 – Eowyn
Part 1 of our Eowyn & Faramir series jumps into Eowyn’s complex gender identity & expression, and how she navigates her Rohirric gender role.