LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 5 - The Steward and the King

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Fordim

So the only way to make her an interesting character whose transformation makes sense is to remove her gender completely? Eowyn is interesting and compelling because she is not 'really' a woman at all, but a stand in for a kind or type of masculinity?

Not at all. I think Tolkien wished to show (not just through Eowyn) the horror of warfare through the effects it had on a character. He could have had Eomer's younger brother, a young man filled with ideas about what war might do for him, about how doing great deeds, maybe even dying, would somehow fill the emptiness of his life. Instead Tolkien did something much more interesting. Instead of giving Eomer a younger brother, he gave him a sister. Having a woman on the battlefield even more sharply delineates the horrors of war, with our preconceived ideas about women participating in violent acts being somehow far more horrific - which are still strong to this day. And it also makes an interesting comparison with Faramir, who fights, but does not wish to fight.

Eowyn's take up of arms only more keenly demonstrates the horrors which Middle-earth faces. It does not matter if she is male or female, as she is there to represent youth, but the fact that she is a woman makes the image all the more powerful.