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Originally Posted by Galadriel55
I've thought of her commanding Elfhelm to keep silent, but then it says that all the troops seeed not to notice Merry. It would be a bit hard to keep hundreds of people fro gossip that would sooner or later reach Theoden's ears.
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Merry didn’t know that Derhelm was Éowyn until she revealed herself before the Nazgûl. But it might be easier to keep her identity secret from Merry than from the other riders, most of whom presumably knew one another and would be curious about this new addition to their
éored.
Tolkien does not say how the secret was kept, but it seems to me most likely that Elfhelm had commanded his troops not to notice Merry. But why would he command this, presumably at Éowyn’s word, if he had not had some reason to trust and obey Éowyn? It is simplest for me to imagine that he knew who she was and obeyed her for that reason, perhaps in return for some previous favour she had done him. Éowyn would have been well known to him to be a capable shieldmaiden and fighter and so Elfhelm ordered his men not to notice either Éowyn or Merry and they obeyed.
Possibly some of Elfhelm’s men also recognized her, but said nothing. And so, because they said nothing, no word of Éowyn’s presence reached Théoden.
But these are only my imaginings about a matter of which Tolkien does not write and I might be wrong. Merry himself may never thought to have asked, or may not have told what he later found out to Frodo, or Frodo may not have written it down, or Tolkien may be imagined not to have translated it.
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It is a mistake to call it feminism, because it is also present in Faramir and other people. It is more like the desire to preserve and create rather than destroy and kill. It is not the kitchen that Eowyn returns to, it's just a different for of freedom.
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Indeed! While being a shieldmaiden was not a common thing among the Rohirrim, it was acceptable. Like as not there were other shieldmaidens among the Rohirrim riders on the journey to Gondor, though Tolkien does not mention them.