[Mithalwen]

Yes.. the horror is part of what I feel increases her despair - and it is one of the things that was conveyed well in the film. I could talk about Eowyn for hours and often distract myself up pathways, but I do think that Tolkien hints that the relationship is as happy and fruitful (in all senses) that we would wish. THe regeneration of Ithilien is a great task and I always think it is in a small way a recreation of Numenor - a fair land of men enriched by the gifts of elves. But then I also think that Faramir and Eowyn are a positive reworking of Aldarion and Erendis - who is the only other really strong, psychologically developed mortal female character I can think of (excluding HoME). But instead of the two strong characters fighting each leading to destruction, these two will cooperate and acheive more together than they could alone. At least that is my instinct. It is an interesting piece of writing - I have to say that even some of Tolkien's main characters lack depth but those characters .... usually the ones who are not either all dark or all light are superbly drawn and just fall spring from the page.