[davem]

Originally Posted by Bethberry

As beautiful as the symmetry is I have to ask myself why Tolkien choose to use the most "modern" female character to represent this very positive move from warrior society to peacful endeavour. The healing metaphor is powerful and perfect for the ending of the warlike nature of Rohan, but to portray the women who wanted more than domestic acitivity as needing to be healed of her desire, as if it were a disease, ultimately disappoints me.

But is Eowyn a 'modern' female character - certainly she can be presented in that way (as in the movie), but I'm not sure Tolkien saw her in that way. Her response to the Witch King's taunt 'No living man may hinder me' is, as has been pointed out, not a declaration of her feminist politics, but a mocking response (not 'I am no man! as in the movie, but 'No living man am I!) It is no more of a 'feminist' response than if he had said 'No Gondorian may hinder me!' & she was to respond 'No Gondorian am I! You look on one of the Rohirrim!'

Of course, as Child points out, Middle earth is not this world - there are very few alternatives available - basically find yourself a job healing or slaying. But as Leslie A Donovan points out in her essay, The Valkyrie reflex in the Lord of the Rings:

Yet despite the answers love provides, Eowyn, like her Valkyrie counterparts, retains her shield-maiden spirit, 'tamed' to be sure, but not diminished. Rather, with her marriage to Faramir, she commits her public & private selves to a union that satisfies both aspects of her nature. Although she says, '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 & love all things that grow', the use here of the word 'only' insists taht in the future she will not simply reject but transcend the limitations of her shield-maiden role. Her new awareness acknowledges the effects of healing as well as of battle, of growth as well as of death. In this Eowyn integrates her dual nature by joining her Valkyrie identified public goal of restoring her people to their previous cultural glory to her newly percieved individual needs of pursuing love as well as battle. By not permitting the former to dominate, however, her transformation allows both to co-exist & draw strength from each other. To live with Faramir in Ithilien is not a rejection but an extension of Rohan, for her cultural identity as a Valkyrie is still authoritative, though it is now completed by her personal, emotional fulfilment as well. In this unified state, her character becomes more than a Lord's second-in-command. Instead, Eowyn's future suggests her ruling side by side with Faramir through her personal volition & with cultural purpose, each individual completing the other.

Donovan in Tolkien the Medievalist

Surely, Tolkien condemns the whole idea of women fighting, but he sees war itself as ultimately tragic & wrong. Eowyn's desire for a glorious death in battle is 'wrong' - something she must be healed of - but we are entitled to ask whether he is offering us a concept of a 'healed' Eowyn being simply a wife & mother. I do side with Child & Donovan on this one - what else could she do - this is not the modern world, where a variety of careers are on offer. Eowyn's choices are simply between love (& the rule of a people) or carrying on with the slaughter - & (outside the fantasies of teen readers & fanfic writers) what kind of existence is that? In Middle earth everyone's choices are limited to some variation on healing or killing, loving or hating. What better alternative, within the limitations of Middle earth, could Tolkien have come up with to symbolise Eowyn's healing?

In short, Eowyn cannot, as far as I can see, be considered a 'modern' character, because Middle earth is not a 'modern' world. Feminism would be simply anachronistic & unconvincing. Maybe Tolkien did have some subtle 'political' point to make about 'moderns', but that doesn't come through for me in my reading of the book, because I can't think of any better result for Eowyn than what she gets.