Aragorn may be gripped by pain but he will not be swayed from his mission by any concern. Nay, Éowyn was loved and admired, but she had been rejected at every turn, by her uncle, then her brother, and only when Aragon came along that it had ties to romantic love. He knows this (and loves Arwen, anyway), and so rejects her advances. In her case it is not expensive ointment that she pours over the feet of her beloved but her life that she is prepared to lay down for a man who has been a father to her. Again, no. And so he leaves her, “stood still as a figure carven in stone, her hands clenched at her sides” and she stumbles, as one who is blind, back to her place of lodging. Grima enters and attempts to comfort her. She seeks death and death will come, but not hers. Leave the dead in peace!”, A cold voice answered: ‘Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! What does this do for either character? She swung a sword and she fought the Lord of the Nazgûl! So she laid down under the Mallorn trees and died of a broken heart. He’s completely beneath her as a foe at this point. (Here he alludes to Éowyn's statement to Aragorn: "But am I not of the House of Eorl, a shieldmaiden and not a dry-nurse?" “No living man am I.” Got to love it. In that there now seems no life, although it is unbroken. Éowyn: "Do you not know?" Not only is she calling him out for sexism, she lays out why it’s sexist and does a pretty damn fine job of distilling down the lot of women in this culture. She makes him afraid before she does it because up until then, he thought he was immortal. I wrote this piece in August 2016 and during the past week it received its 1,000 view. I do hope that you will visit another time. Uh... Eowyn, duh! I think you lose a lot of important nuance by over simplifying it to “I am no man.”. Aragorn has rejected her, refusing to take her with him on the Paths of the Dead. I would argue that it’s a definitive yes. To narrowly define Éowyn’s despair as simply a rejection by a romantic lover that was not meant to be, you have diminished Éowyn and her character. Back walking with Eowyn, Aragorn looks distant : EOWYN: My lord? Eowyn sees them off, and again has a cup. I have all the soundtracks to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but this song did not come up. ... Switches to Aragorn dreaming. Aragorn wrapped a strong hand around Arwen's wrist, holding her firmly in place. She likes cupcakes and cephalopods a lot. In the book we see this much more clearly, that while Theoden has been restored to sanity, in many ways things haven’t changed for Eowyn much at all. Your challenge made me go back to what I wrote for the first time in quite a while. Twitter: @Earth_and_Oak. ARAGORN: She is sailing to the Undying Lands with all that is left of her kin. [He touches her face then turns away.] The wonder is that the void is not an empty space but that everywhere the arms of Love await us if we can but submit to them. May you live your life with a whole heart! Thank you so much for a wonderful comment. She will embrace despair, not as an act of submission, as Bonnivard did in Byron’s poem, but of defiance. Sticking closer to the original narrative and character would have solved this issue neatly. He obviously did not want her conflicting with Éowyn. Still, while the films don’t go into all this nuance, we do get to see her caring for her dying cousin, dealing with Wormtongue, and the acknowledgement that life for ladies wasn’t exactly on equal footing. Aragorn and Arwen Plight Their Troth in Lothlórien. Full of sexist shit, in fact. Her life is exactly what she most fears: a cage. ( Log Out /  What’s more? Or at least let her tag along. Musings from a Data Analyst, podcast enthusiast and history lover. And then she stabs him in the face. She tells him, “All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. In fact it received its highest monthly total in November of last year. (Important note: Your personal mileage may vary widely on this sort of thing and if you loved movie Eowyn I am NOT trying to convince you otherwise. When Aragorn died, they were entombed beside the late king. Way to have a mature, adult discussion Tolkien, The Two Towers tags: aragorn , eowyn It’s one of the most perplexing character and narrative choices/changes in the films. This is so important. Éowyn: "Do you not know?" Éowyn travels through her despair to a rediscovery of hope when she falls in love with Faramir. A Cure for Weariness, Fear and Sadness. She doesn’t come even remotely close to saying anything like that in the film, instead pleading with him out of love, giving a lot of doe eyed looks, and generally being deferential instead of defiant. I’m thrilled the films exist and I’m glad that, obsessive geek though I am, it wasn’t me tasked with making that come alive. Aragorn didn't pursue Eowyn for a number of reasons: Firstly and most importantly, he was very much in love with Arwen, whereas Eowyn was just someone he met, to whom he meant no harm (if one would re-read the passage in which they meet: he's embarrassed and worried by the infatuation that he sees in her). And he looked down upon her fair face and smiled; but as he took the cup, his hand met hers, and he knew that she trembled at the touch.” ― J.R.R. There’s a lot to really admire given the scope of the world and the fact that a large part of the story is following different groups of people wandering around and talking. Would she have chosen this path if Aragon had not come along? Why would you have this amazing moment where Eowyn defeats an enemy literally no one else in Middle Earth could have…and then have her crawling away from a generic, malignant orc in the aftermath? Gotta watch out for those prophecies. His heart belonged to Arwen. She said. He then saw fit to smile at her. Which is just…weird. But. Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. And so, when Rohan’s existence was in peril, indeed when the fate of all Men was on the line, she chose to go to battle and fight (even if she had to go in disguise). I cannot give you what you seek." Before this happens to Éowyn she will pass through Hell and through Purgatory but she will find her way through. In the films, it’s just something he does without any help, but in the books, he uses … She's desperate for Pete's sake. The idea that Wormtongue has been promised Éowyn as a reward for his services holds up in the movies and the books. Eowyn in the books is a very cold, very unhappy, character. Let me explain why. This seems incredibly central to her character to me and yet…it’s not even touched on in the film. And she calls him on it. She saw Aragorn was standing alone, looking all around his new home, and she walked to him. She speaks openly from her heart to Aragorn when she tells him that what she fears is a cage. I wouldn't want to be Arwen. But Eowyn was not pierced by the sword of the Nazgul (specifically the Witch-King of Angmar, the most powerful of the Nine) with a piece of the blade working towards her heart, about to make her a wraith! I think the drinking of wine was just a cultural thing, people toasting on important occasions. Let her bear away her love for you to the undying lands, there to be ever green." Death and Resurrection as men would, but under Saruman 's spell the King demise. Will ; but the chief evil comes through the sword-arm of important nuance by over simplifying it to important! 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