[Folwren]

It’s a very interesting topic, Tigerlily, but I think the views you’ve thrown out are, well, wrong.

As Alatar said, I don’t think that we can ever be entirely whole by ourselves. I realize that it wasn’t you who said this, but rather that book, so I don’t want your feathers ruffled, but I don’t think that we can ever be entirely whole or completed by ourselves. Quite frankly, we’re all lacking.

Eowyn was lacking as well. She was hurting very deeply, and she felt empty and void within herself because she could never find anything that would fill that hole. When Aragorn came about, I think she saw a man who she would really not mind being the wife of. . .she practically idolized him. He told her that she did and that she didn’t love him, really, but a dream and a phantom and that what she had in her mind could never really come to pass.

Perhaps she was trying to prove to people that she was something more than she really was. She was indeed trying to fill that emptiness inside of her by her own power and will, but it didn’t work. Going off to war was the only way she saw of either proving herself (pretty much to herself because no one else doubted her), or dying in the attempt. When she didn’t die, she thought she was back to the same old problem. But then she met Faramir and realized that, yes, I can be myself, and someone can love me as such. Faramir didn’t look for anything deeper than what she was willing to give him. Faramir, unlike Aragorn, actually wanted to love her, and not only that, he wanted to love her for what she was, and she got to see that she really didn’t have anything to prove. She didn’t have to be able to fight, or to go to battle.

So, there are some half formed thoughts thrown out on the subject. I’ve always pondered Eowyn’s character and behavior. She’s a very intriguing character. And this topic is great for making a person think.

-- Folwren