Alright, what Iâd like to acknowledge is that this is a completely reasonable interpretation of Eowynâs arc. If this is the narrative you enjoy out of her story then take it! And indeed, as a wider rule for any story, readers should take whatever they desire out of it, itâs a readerâs right.
But I am also frustrated by this persistant narrative that anyone who percieves Eowynâs marriage as a return to her status quo have an unenlightened and simplistic misunderstanding of the themes or something. This weird sense of superiority that comes through of like âoh these silly people who just donât understand what the great Professor Tolkien meant! Youâre all just haters who want to call him sexistâ is incredibly common amongst the Tolkien-apologetics academia that also cry âvictorian mindset!â for everytime some âslant-eyed swarthyâ man is called inherently untrustworthy in the books. I donât know why Tumblr is so eager to shut down any discussion of the issues within Lord of the Rings, but hereâs my singular defense of the âEowyn is rechainedâ perspective.
Firstly, Eowyn is not riding to war to prove herself. She wants glory, yes, but it is not for a lack of self-worth or some unmoored desire at recognition. She is desperate for an escape, she has been trapped in a house as the servant of her King-uncle whom barely sees her, whose trusted advisor harasses her with impunity, for five years now. She has watched her brother and cousin freely ride away from their gradually worsening political and personal situations, whilst she is caged by her 'duty' and forced to sit and watch and wait for it all to crumble down around her, with no agency or control whatsoever. And now, with the end of the world looming, she wants to at least control how she dies. Merry's perspective of Eowyn-as-Dernhelm is not of some young person fired with the thrill of battle or lust for blood and glory;
A young man, Merry thought as he returned the glance, less in height and girth than most. He caught the glint of clear grey eyes; and then he shivered, for it came suddenly to him that it was the face of one without hope who goes in search of death.
Because that is all the control fate (and the men in her life) have left to Eowyn, she wishes to 'spend her life as she wills' as she has 'heard too often of duty'. This is a control Aragorn tries to deny her, refusing her even as she weeps brokenly and begs him to allow her to ride with him to war, allow her to reclaim some agency in her life before it ends. And when he refuses her she realises no one will help her but herself. As she says; All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death.
Like, Eowyn herself associates her sense of imprisonment with being a woman and the misogynistic demands of the men around her. She associates the demands men have on her, as a woman, and her 'place in the house' directly with her own bitterness and despair and meaninglessness. 'You have leave to be burned with the house, for the men will need it no more'.
But we, the readers, are not drawn directly to sympathise with these things, we are supposed to pity her, just as Aragorn does. Indeed, Aragorn designates himself as proper mouthpiece for Eowyn's 'troubles', taking it upon himself in the houses of healing to 'explain' Eowyn to her brother before she is even conscious. And then Faramir commands Eowyn to 'not scorn Aragorn's pity', since Aragorn is so gentled hearted to have bestowed it upon her. And Eowyn is suddenly cured of her sorrow, of her wish for control, of her striving for anything beyond 'the house' that she had previously raged against.
Faramir tells her not to scorn pity, that she is beautiful and that he loves her and she says; the Shadow has departed! I will be a shield-maiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.
Great! Love that for her! What about every single other man in the books who rode to war for glory? Where was Eomer's apparently so necessary arc of realising he should lay down down his sword, retire to a garden and continue living after the fight? Aragorns? Gimli's? Legolas'? Angbor's? Ingold's? Theoden's? All of these men continue going to war after the end of the books. Indeed, the only man in the books who actively rejects battle and chooses the 'house' is Denethor; 'Nay, I will not come down,â he said. âI must stay beside my son. He might still speak before the end'. But according to Gandalf that is also the wrong choice, the only difference between him and Eowyn being; Gender.
Not to mention the fact that both Eowyn and Faramir percieve their engagement as Faramir 'taming' Eowyn; 'would you have your proud folk say of you: ââThere goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North'".
And that isn't even touching on the fact that both Faramir and Aragorn diagnose Eowyn's reason for wanting to die as being, quite literally, because Aragorn rejected her; You desired to have the love of the Lord Aragorn. [-] But when he gave you only understanding and pity, then you desired to have nothing, unless a brave death in battle.
Again, drawing out poignant meaning for yourself from Eowyn's story around forgoing violence and finding peace after war is not wrong, of course. But you can do that without dismissing all feminist critique of her story as 'misconstruing' when quite blatantly Eowyn does return to her place, as the dominant societal demands of her gender decree. She marries her social equal, after giving up both the ambition to be a warrior as well as the ambition to be a Queen, and keeps his house (not hers, and far from her homeland) and bears his children and no deeds are recorded for her thereafter. The fact that the book tells us she finds peace, happiness and meaning in that is not a subversion or exoneration of the misogyny within the narrative, but part of it. After all, if only women would 'know their place' they would all be much happier!
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