Which character did you view totally differently as a child vs. as an adult? -Â Eowyn
Iâm talking about Book!Eowyn. This is important to remember because sheâs so very different from Movie!Eowyn.
When I first read Lord of the Rings I was 11, which looking back was way too young to fully understand them. Rereading them when a was as a mature, wise eighteen-year-old (yes, that counts as an adult) I find myself looking at Eowyn differently.
As a kid, I felt like she was a good example of how to not write a female character. She was going to commit suicide just because a random guy didnât like her, and she ends the story marrying a random dude and deciding to stay in the kitchen. Like a lot of people, I thought her entire character was pretty sexist. Of course, I loved Movie!Eowyn. She was my idea of a good female character: a spunky warrior who smashed the patriarchy.
Between 11 and 18 Iâve struggled with depression a lot. My experiences with that and other mental illnesses put Lord of the Rings in a completely different light. Its funny no one mentions exactly how much itâs about conquering depression. Thatâs practically the main theme of the book. Every character suffers from depression at one point, every character gives up all hope at least once, and itâs the constant, unseen enemy. The Nazguls personify despair, but we see less blatant examples too. Eowynâs journey is possibly my favorite.
Eowynâs situation when we first meet her is pretty terrible. Her cousin has recently died, her brother is banished and on a suicide mission, and thereâs a creepy guy constantly trying to make moves on her. Her kingdom is about to be overrun and her people are being killed, and thereâs nothing she can do about it. Whatâs worst, her uncle, whoâs practically a father to her, is being manipulated and weakened. She watched him grow weaker every day and thereâs no way she can help him. Sheâs royalty, born for greatness, but sheâs stuck helplessly watching everything around her crumble and rot.
That sort of depression, the kind when you fear your own helplessness and inability more than anything when you are unable to fight back, doesnât have a name. But those who have faced it know how draining and debilitating it is, especially when you feel that you have to stay strong for those around you.
Then Gandalf and co come in and save the day, Eowyn sees a way out. She sees Aragorn and becomes obsessed with him. Not because sheâs actually in love with him, but because she sees him as a great king who will give her a chance to fight, a chance to be great, a chance of freedom.
But then he leaves on what seems like a suicide mission, and she knows her uncle and brother are on their way to a battle they probably wonât return from. She, however, is stuck once more, left behind to watch her world fall apart while she can do nothing.
Her soul has been worn away by the endless waiting. She has no hope left that the power of Mordor can be defeated because she has watched it invade her very home while she could do nothing. In many ways, sheâs similar to Denethor, who was destroyed by doing nothing but watching the enemy creep closer. But Denethorâs paralysis was by choice. Eowyn has no choice, she rarely does. She has no control over anything. And the one person she thought could save her and her kingdom is leaving on what seems like a hopeless journey.
Eowyn is no longer afraid of dying. Sheâs reached rock bottom at this point. All she wants is a chance to make a difference, to make a choice for once in her life. So she disguises herself as a soldier and marches off to battle she doesnât plan to come back from.
And of course, she takes Merry, who might not be as desperate but also feels pretty helpless.
We all know what happens next. That scene is so famous, itâs probably one of the best moments of the books. Itâs way better in the book the movie: Eowyn laughs before her âI am no man,â line. But looking further into it the scene is about as heartbreaking as it is awesome. Eowynâs laughing because at last, sheâs doing something. At last, sheâs able to at least try to make a choice. A choice at how she will die, heroically, defending her king and father-figure to the last. The Nazgul, whose weapon is soul-crushing despair, has no effect on her because sheâs faced it day after day. And that despair had no face and no form and she couldnât fight it. And now, finally, in her last moments, she has a chance to fight it.
But instead of dying, sheâs wounded, and yet when Aragorn heals her she finds that not much has changed. She still believes that their defeat at the hands of Mordor is inevitable, and sheâs still determined to die in the best way she can. If she canât control her life, she might as well control her death.
But she canât even control that. Aragorn and the others insist that she stays behind to heal while they once again head off to a hopeless last stand. Yet again sheâs trapped, helpless, waiting for Mordor to win and overrun everything.
She killed a Ringwraith, but nothing much changed.
Then she meets Faramir. Heâs the first person she lets see her as anything but strong. She allows herself to cry before him, and later on, draws close to him when she thinks the armies of Mordor are coming. This is a sharp contrast to the way she treated Aragorn, constantly trying to prove her strength to him. She lets Faramir see her pain and her fear. Faramir knows quite a bit about despair himself, and heâs watched at least one loved one (his father) be destroyed by it already. He wants to save Eowyn from her own hopelessness. The two grow close, and Eowyn allows herself to melt a little.
Finally, after Mordor falls, Faramir asks her if she loves him, or Aragorn. Like many love triangles, this one is symbolic. Aragorn offered what she thought she needed: a chance to have control of her life, to be great queen, to have control over her world. But he was never going to love her back, and great deeds were never going to heal her.
Faramir offered a simple life. He wasnât a king, her place as second in line to Rohan was much higher than his. But he loves her, and she loves him. He gave her a chance to be a healer, a mother, and a wife. She was never going to heal chasing the impossible, striving for a last heroic stand. She had to stop fighting and let herself heal.
Ironically enough, killing the personification of despair didnât conquer Eowynâs depression, finally accepting someone elseâs love and letting herself a chance to heal did.
Eowynâs story is not about a battle against evil hordes or even the patriarchy, but of a battle against depression. She is so much more than a spunky heroine or a tragic lover. Her character is complex and her despair feels very real because many of us have felt it.
Many people, including me at first, felt like Eowynâs ending was sexist. But Tolkien never saw battle as heroic or good. We naturally see it sexist that our heroine retires to become a healer and wife because weâve been taught that those things arenât âheroicâ or âcoolâ. But Tolkienâs heroes rarely are skilled in battle, and over and over again we are given the message that true strength is not what it seems.
The great ones: Denethor, Boromir, Theoden, and Saruman are easily corrupted. The small, unimportant hobbits who like to cook and garden (fairly traditionally feminine activities) are the strongest of all. Even Aragorn is recognized as a king due to being a healer, not a warrior.
Eowynâs story is another one in which Tolkien shows us that true strength isnât killing a terrifying demon but letting yourself hope again.
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