Éowyn

Éowyn ("horse lover" in Anglo-Saxon) is a character in the fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien. She is a noblewoman of Rohan; sister of Marshal Éomer, who became king of the Rohirrim; she and daughter of Éomund and Théodwyn, the sister of King Théoden. Tolkien describes her as a beautiful warrior maiden, which she calls herself in the novel “Shieldmaiden of Rohan”, which places her in the typical tradition of a skjaldmö of the Scandinavian sagas.

Etymology and meaning of the name

Éowyn is a name in the Anglo-Saxon language, which Tolkien used in his writings to represent the language of the horsemen of the Mark, Rohírric, in order to make the names known to English ears. and Rohan texts will sound like authentic Rohyrric would have sounded to a Westron speaker: remotely familiar, but archaic. It can be translated as 'horse lover' or 'horse lady' (eoh → éo- = 'war horse' + wyn = 'joy', 'pleasure').

Therefore, for Tolkien's mental schemes, Éowyn would not have been the character's "real name" in Rohyrric, but rather a representation of it in Anglo-Saxon. That "real name" that was never given by Tolkien should, like that of Éomer and Éomund, begin with the formant Lô- or Loh-, meaning 'horse' in Rohyrric: the particle that Tolkien represents in Anglo-Saxon with the element Eoh-.

Tolkien also uses the names "White Lady of Rohan", "Lady of Emyn Arnen" and "Lady of Ithilien" to refer to Éowyn. During the action prior to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields narrated in the novel, Éowyn disguises herself as a man, using the name "Dernhelm" to do so.

Description

Tolkien describes her as the most beautiful of maidens, a warrior more willing to take up arms than to do domestic work. Supposedly the grace, pride, and coldness of her grandmother, Morwen of Lossarnach, woman of Gondor and wife of King Thengel, whom the Rohirrim had called "Shining of Steel," supposedly shine through in her:

He had a very beautiful face and long hairs that looked like a golden river. High and slender was she in the white robe girded with silver; but strong and vigorous at the same time, tempered as steel, true daughter of kings. This is how Aragorn first saw in the light of the day Eowyn, the Lady of Rohan, and found her beautiful, beautiful and cold, as a clear spring morning that has not yet reached the fullness of life.

— J. R. Tolkien, “The King of the Golden Castle” in The Lord of the Rings.

She is a brave and feisty woman who cannot sit back and do nothing to help her people, going into battle against the orders of her uncle the king. To achieve this she adopts the name Dernhelm. In the original version of the book, Éowyn calls herself “Shieldmaiden of Rohan”: a “shieldmaiden” of Rohan. This title places Éowyn in the typical tradition of a skjaldmö (“shieldmaiden” in English); the "shield maidens" of the Scandinavian sagas such as, for example, Hervör, the daughter of Heiðrekr in the Hervarar Saga (or of the wise king Heiðrekr) or Brynhildr in the Volsunga Saga. In particular, the Hervarar Saga is considered an important source of inspiration for The Lord of the Rings.

Fictional story

Éowyn was born in the year 2995 of the Third Age of the Sun. Her father Éomund died when she was seven years old, chasing a band of orcs in 3002 TE; and her mother Théodwyn fell ill and also died soon after. King Théoden of Rohan, Éowyn's maternal uncle, adopted her and her brother Éomer, treating them from that moment on as if they had been her own children.

During part of his adult life he was obliged to take care of his decrepit uncle Théoden, bewitched by Saruman and turned into an old man who could barely stand. Éowyn loved him deeply, because he was like a father to her, and that is why it hurt her to see him become a being without will, having previously been brave and honorable. Faced with the decline of her house, she longed for other horizons where there was courage and honor. Therefore, when she met Aragorn, she came to admire him so much and she fell deeply in love with him.

During the War of the Ring he cared for his people, first in Edoras and then in the Sanctum. From there she watched Aragorn leave for the Paths of the Dead and asked him to take her with him, to which Aragorn graciously refused. After this, as Rohan's troops prepared for battle in Gondor, she disguised herself as a man and joined the horsemen, taking with her the hobbit Merry, who had also been left behind in an attempt to protect him, since both They longed to intervene in the decisive combat. At the Battle of the Pelennor Fields she faced the Witch King with the help of Merry, and killed him. Regarding this, the elf Glorfindel had prophesied years before that he would not fall "by the hand of man" and in fact he died at the hands of a woman and a hobbit.

Éowyn was seriously injured by the breath of the Nazgûl, so she was taken to the Healing Houses of Minas Tirith, in the care of Ioreth, and there she was healed with athelas by Aragorn while she was unconscious. Once the War of the Ring was over, she married Faramir, with whom she had a son, Elboron. She resided alongside Faramir in Emyn Arnen, she renounced war and established herself as a great healer.

Character creation and evolution

Tolkien originally intended for Éowyn to marry Aragorn. Later, however, he decided against this option because Aragorn seemed "too old, stately and stuffy" for her. He also considered the possibility that Éowyn was Éomund's twin sister, and that she died "to avenge or save Théoden." He even considered the option of having Aragorn truly in love with Éowyn, and him never marrying after her death.

At one point, Tolkien described Éowyn as "a stern Amazon"; but he later wrote: "although she has not the character of 'a nurse,' she is not really a soldier or Amazon, but like many brave women "He was capable of great courage and military nobility during a crisis", alluding to the phrase that Éowyn addresses to Aragorn in the novel: "But am I not of the House of Eorl, a warrior virgin and not a dry nurse?".

Adaptations

The character of Éowyn appears very briefly in the animated adaptation of the novel produced by Ralph Bakshi in 1978, and lacks dialogue. Instead, voice actress Nellie Bellflower voiced Éowyn in the animated film The Return of the King, produced by Rankin/Bass in 1980, and Elin Jenkins in the serialization of The Lord of the Rings produced by Jane Morgan and Penny Leicester and broadcast on BBC Radio in 1981, both adaptations in which the Lady of Rohan is as relevant a character as in the novel.

In the film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson this character appears in The Two Towers and The Return of the King, played by the Australian actress Miranda Otto. The role was initially offered to Alison Doody, who had to reject it due to being in an advanced state of pregnancy, ^{[citation required]} and during pre-production to Uma Thurman, who He rejected it for scheduling reasons, as it would have required eighteen months of stay in New Zealand to interpret it.