Just wanted to point out... [Eowyn changes]

[Lalwendë]

There's another thing about Eowyn that makes me think that she did not undergo such a great change. She was not always a shieldmaiden, and I do not get the impression that it was always even a desire for her. Yes, she has the skills to ride and use a sword, and she is brave enough to face the Witch King, but this seems to be a latent desire which is awakened when she meets Aragorn. I wonder just how much this interest was stirred by his appearance in her life?

Originally Posted by davem

I wonder how complete Eowyn's change was - she says she will no longer 'take joy only in the songs of slaying'. This implies that the side of her that took joy in the songs of slaying will remain a part of her. I think it will be an interesting marriage

Hmm, I can just see Eowyn singing a rousing chorus about hewing bodies apart and being soaked in blood while she tends to the household.

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

She was not always a shieldmaiden, and I do not get the impression that it was always even a desire for her.

So you're suggesting that shieldmaidening was just a "passing phase" for her ...

[Mithalwen]

Well I think both career and recreational options were probably a bit limited in Rohan at the end of the Third Age .... you can see how it happens ... spend years quietly in a barn in the middle of nowhere with a lot of blond beardie types and then tall dark stranger arrives ..who just happens to be a king and who is heavily into the warrior scene ... shieldmaiding probably seemed a good idea....

[Elianna]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

shieldmaiding probably seemed a good idea....

True, but I doubt shieldmaiding was that new to her. Aragorn did bring changes in her as both Eomer and Aragorn observed in the Houses of Healing. "A flower wrought by elven smiths of steel." Aragorn says, "Or was it of ice?" And Eomer answers, "Not ice until she saw you." (paraphrasing)

So she was made of steel before Aragorn showed up. Somehow, I find ice more desperate than steel.

[Mithalwen]

Sorry .. I was writing tongue in cheek... but that is a wonderful quote.

I think you are right - a flower made by eleven smiths from steel is a rather positive image - beautiful, cold maybe, yet strong and enduring. Steel may flex under pressure but spring back. A flower of ice on the other hand may also be beautiful but it is also fragile, easily shattered and fleeting. Steel is tempered by the fire but ice melts .....

I am sure Eowyn reatined her steel even though in happier times she allowed herself to develop the full range of her character.

[Lalaith]

I think another important point to remember is that Eowyn's marriage to Faramir is not just about Eowyn as a woman and Faramir as a man, they are both representatives of their respective cultures.

Rohan, while of course thoroughly splendid in many ways, was a vassal kingdom, its people and culture were more primitive than those of Gondor. Remember, Gandalf talks about their lack of literacy. Eowyn is marrying the greatest man in Gondor, next to Elessar himself, a man in whom "the blood of Westernesse runs nearly pure." Faramir's interests are more "elvish" and elevated - lore, healing and wise rule. By having her turn her back on "songs of slaying", I think Tolkien intended to give Eowyn a cultural step upwards.

[Mithalwen]

Certainly her horizons widened but I think that is a little harsh. Eowyn is at least a quarter Gondorian through her grandmother Morwen of Lossarnach - who despite her name was of the strong and noble Numenorean line of the Princes of Dol Amroth. Faramir and Eowyn are cousins (albeit third or forth cousins). But on a more general level I think the two countries will be brought closer in many regards by the intermarriage of their noblest houses (with Eomer and Lothiriel also). Gondor has culture, but Rohan has perhaps more vigour and dynamism.