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Originally Posted by Fordim
but the idea that Eowyn's best (and indeed only) fate is to forsake the martial heroism that has been her watchword throughout the story and to lay it all down so that she can become rather a cliched figure of healing and fertility...
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Well, without getting into that too deeply, I think that Tolkien, as someone who had seen the reality of warfare, in effect the wrongness, the immorality, of it (while acknowledging its necessity in certain circumstances), would not see 'martial heroism' as something admirable - after all, neither Merry, Pippin nor Sam follow Aragorn in his continued seek & destroy mission after the end of the War of the Ring. Eowyn chooses peace over war, to be a healer rather than a destroyer, & I think Tolkien is presenting this as a more moral, more grown up thing. Would we rather see her hacked to pieces by orcs, or spending the rest of her best years hacking them to pieces?
The world Tolkien created (or communicated, or made available) to us is self contained. We should first try & experience it for itself. Then we can analyse it & our own feelings towards it. We have to try & experience it before we can judge it, listen to the story we're being told. If we don't make that effort, how can we know whether we've got issues with Tolkien or with ourselves?