The Lady of Rohan, Éowyn was the niece of Theoden, the king of Rohan, and one of the bravest characters in Tolkien's epic fantasy, The Lord Of The Rings. Éowyn was portrayed in Peter Jackson's trilogy by actress Miranda Ott.
The Lord Of The Rings is a primarily male narrative, demonstrating the gallantry displayed by various male characters, whether a Man, an Elf, a Wizard, or a Hobbit. Éowyn is one of the few women in the story who gets to play a significant role in shaping the course of events. However, like many of the other characters, there are things about her that make little sense.
The shieldmaiden of Rohan shows exceptional courage when she joins the battle of the Pelennor Fields, when Rohan answers Gondor's cry for help in their hour of need, even though they are well aware that they are walking to their death.
Éowyn, ignored by her own kin, disguises herself as a man and participates in the battle, even though she is clearly nervous. She then goes on to destroy the Lord of the Nazgûls, the Witch-King of Angmar, by killing him once and for all. However, despite her outstanding bravery, and crucial role in murdering one of the primary sources of evil in the story, Éowyn does not seem to get enough credit. She is not often mentioned in the same breath as the two other significant female characters in the LOTR--Galadriel and Arwen.
This actually demonstrates the position of women amongst the Men in Middle Earth. Women were considered fragile and capable only of tending to the house and looking after the sick and the poor.
In spite of Éowyn being royalty, she is still subjected to the same parochial ideas of what a woman is and isn't capable of. Her appeals to be allowed to fight are turned down more than once by her own uncle, and even Aragorn does not seem to respect her enough to take her to war. Given the valor she ultimately displays, it makes no sense that she had to seek permission to fight and then could do so only in the guise of a man.
The King of Rohan, Theoden, asks Eowyn, as always, to stay back and look after the kingdom while he and his men fight. He means well, of course, not realizing that Eowyn would much rather take up arms than mechanically do her duties as a woman.
Eowyn finds a way to join the battle, unknown to all except Merry Brandybuck. However, one wonders what happens to Rohan while she is wielding her sword on the battlefield. Does no one try and find out where the Lady of Rohan had disappeared to?
In the books, it is said that Éowyn met Faramir, the brother of Boromir, and son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor. The two fell in love and got married. Eowyn ad Faramir's wedding was in fact shot for Peter Jackson's film but got deleted in the final cut.
However, Tolkien has Éowyn settle down into the duties of a wife after she meets Faramir. She is no longer shown to be fighting valiantly for her land but instead becomes a dutiful wife and lover. This seems to go against her nature for she was shown craving the excitement of war before she had laid eyes on Faramir. Once again, her character is relegated into the background as a faithful wife and nothing more.
The Elf-Lord, Glorfindel, had prophecied that the leader of the Ringwraiths, the Witch-King of Angmar, would not die in the hands of a mortal man. As it happened, the prophecy was slightly misleading.
The Witch-King believed that he could not be killed by Man--with a capital m--that is, anybody from the race of Men. However, Eowyn was no man, she was a woman, and the other person to help kill the Witch-King, Merry, was a Hobbit. There is some debate regarding whether or not Glorfindel's prophecy actually meant a woman, instead of a man, or whether Tolkien simply takes advantage of the language when he finally has Éowyn kill the Lord of the Nazgûls. This makes no sense, since considering this an advantage of vocabulary somehow reduces Éowyn's bravery into some sort of trickery.
Unlike the Lady Galadriel, who is portrayed as one of the most powerful entities on Middle Earth, one whose strength continues to sustain despite Sauron's forces rearing their ugly heads, Éowyn's role is, surprisingly, downplayed continually.
Undoubtedly, the Lady of Rohan's biggest achievement was destroying the Nazgûl Lord, but apparently, there are debates that question her gallantry on the field. Some say that it was really the male Hobbit, Merry Brandybuck who had killed the Ringwraith, and then all Éowyn needed to do was to finish the task. However, it is more likely that Merry had used the sword forged especially to fight evil such as that represented by the Witch-King. This sword had cut off the magic that kept the Witch-King tethered to Sauron and then Éowyn had struck the blow that really killed him. There seems little scope for debate here, yet Éowyn's great victory is still put under the scanner.
A woman's heart is difficult to fathom. Éowyn is seen crushing on Aragorn when the latter leads Rohan into battle. Although in the films, the heir of Isildur oozes a sort of brooding charisma and is, understandably, capable of stealing a young woman's heart, Strider does not appear quite so romantic in the books, thus making Éowyn's feelings for him a bit strange.
Aragorn, as Tolkien imagined him, was a rather grim and lofty character, his bravery notwithstanding. He was not quite as charming as Viggo Mortensen, whose handsome image is the perception of Aragorn that is seared into the public imagination. It seems a wee bit odd then, that Éowyn should fall for this man, although, as mentioned above, it's difficult to know a woman's mind and hence best not to judge.
In the book, it is indicated that Éowyn is severely injured after her confrontation with the Witch-King of Angmar. She falls prey to the black breath, the dark, terrifying aura generated by the Nazgûl which usually had very serious repercussions for anybody who happened to cross their paths.
Éowyn had a very close encounter with the Nazgûl Lord and was naturally affected by the black breath. In fact, since most people succumbed to the fatal black breath even without physical injuries, it might have made more sense for her to die as she had also been mortally wounded during the Battle of Pelennor Fields. However, Tolkien decided to let her live, having Aragorn revive her with the life-giving athelas plant with its magical healing properties.
In the film trilogy, Éowyn defeats the leader of the Nagûl in the final film, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. However, although she plays a vital role within the broader narrative, the film suddenly loses all interest in her after her bravery on the field.
It is understandable that to condense a massive epic such as this for the silver screen in a mammoth task in itself and every detail cannot be included as such. In the books, as mentioned above, Éowyn is wounded and then recovers in the House of Healing, after which she meets Faramir. However, the film only has a suggestion of a potential romance between the Lady of Rohan and the new Steward of Gondor, with no allusion to what transpired in between, which seems disconnected.
Carrying on from the last point, since the film does not really mention what happens to Éowyn after she is seen killing the Nazgûl, it seems very sudden and a bit fickle on her part when she is next seen with Faramir. After all, before this moment she had been seen pining for Aragorn for quite a while.
Of course, at the end of the day, Aragorn had been but an infatuation for Éowyn. As mentioned above, in the film, her feelings for the brave future king of Gondor made sense given the romantic aura surrounding Aragorn's character. Even then, Éowyn seemed to go from yearning for one man to settling down with another way too quickly.
