Éowyn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
||||||||||||||||||
Éowyn (T.A. 2995–F.A. ?) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, who appears in his most famous work, The Lord of the Rings. She is a shieldmaiden of Rohan, also known as the "Lady of the Shield-arm", "White Lady of Rohan", "Lady of Ithilien", and "Lady of Emyn Arnen".
Although she never carried the title of a princess, she was a niece to one King of Rohan and sister to another, as well as the wife of a Gondorian prince. Éowyn is described to be very beautiful; she was tall, slim, pale, and graceful, with golden hair. In temperament she was idealistic, spirited, brave, high-minded, and lonely.
Contents |
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Literature
In The Lord of the Rings Éowyn, Lady of Rohan, a daughter of the House of Eorl and the niece of King Théoden of Rohan, is introduced in Meduseld, the king's hall at Edoras. She was the daughter of Théodwyn (sister to Théoden) and Éomund, and the sister of Éomer. When she was only three years old, her father Éomund was killed fighting Orcs on the marches and her mother died of grief. Along with her brother, Éowyn was then raised in her uncle King Théoden's household, and were treated as if they were his own children. It is hinted that she fell into a depression because, though her abilities and interest in warfare were at least the equal of her brother's, she was forcibly confined to the traditional feminine roles. This depression deepened when, in the years prior to the War of the Ring, Théoden's mind was poisoned by Gríma (Wormtongue) and Éowyn was forced to endure as Rohan failed around her. (To make matters worse, she was stalked by Gríma.) However, when Gandalf arrived he healed Théoden from Wormtongue's corruption, and Éowyn became infatuated with Aragorn. It soon became clear that Aragorn could not return her love (though he did not mention his betrothal to Arwen), and would not allow her to join his army. Éomer, while not blaming Aragorn, believed that unrequited love was at the root of her depression. Aragorn answered that she loved Éomer more truly than him, as her feeling for Aragorn was largely fantasy about the idea of Aragorn as a great leader and warrior representing the heroic life she could not have; and Gandalf pointed out the deeper roots of her depression in her life history.
Frustrated by unrequited love for Aragorn and longing for death in battle, she disguised herself as a man and under the alias of Dernhelm, travelled with the Riders of Rohan to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields outside the White City of Minas Tirith in Gondor, carrying with her Merry, who had also been ordered to remain behind. Théoden had in fact named her as the ruler of Rohan in his and Éomer's absence when they went to attack the invading forces at Minas Tirith if they failed during the battle, when the Doorward Háma recommended that "The House of Eorl" rule (Théoden first only thought of male members), said that he and Éomer are the last of the House, but Háma points out Éowyn, saying of her:
"There is Éowyn, daughter of Éomund, his sister. She is fearless and high-hearted. All love her. Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone." —Háma
Unwilling to remain behind she disguised herself as a male rider and with the collusion of Elfhelm she smuggled Meriadoc in the company of the King on the ride to Gondor. During the battle of the Pelennor Fields, she fought by King Théoden; when he was injured by the Witch-king of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl, she and Merry scrambled to help him. When she confronted the Witch-king, he boasted that "no living man may hinder me," referring to the 1,000-year-old prophecy by the Elf-lord Glorfindel, foretelling that the Witch-king would not "fall by the hand of man". Éowyn then removed her helmet, exposing her long blond hair and declared:
- "No living man am I! You look upon a woman."
Éowyn slew the Witch-king after Merry stabbed him behind the knee. Strictly speaking, Merry is also "no man," being a Hobbit. However, the stab behind the knee likely would not have been fatal, even if it did break the bonds that "bent his unseen sinews to his will", thanks to the magic of Merry's barrow-blade. The consensus is that Merry's stab made the Witch-king vulnerable while Éowyn's thrust actually resulted in death. Upon striking the head Nazgûl, her sword shattered. She was granted the title "Lady of the Shield-arm" after the Battle in recognition of her triumph over the Witch-king.
Éowyn was severely injured in this fight and believed to be dead until Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth realized she still lived. Because of the poisonous effect of the Black Breath of the Nazgûl and her hopeless love for Aragorn, she faced near-certain death and was brought up to the Houses of Healing together with Merry. However, she was treated in time by Aragorn, to whom she had earlier been strongly attracted. Since she was not yet completely recovered, she could not join Aragorn's army for the Battle of the Black Gate. However, while recuperating in the Houses of Healing, she met Faramir, with whom she soon fell in love, understanding that her previous "love" for Aragorn was hero-worship rather than real love.
After the demise of Sauron, the happily-wedded couple settled in Ithilien, of which Faramir was made the ruling Prince by King Elessar (the name with which Aragorn ascended the throne of the Reunited Kingdom). Éowyn was known as the Lady of Ithilien. Éowyn's brother Éomer became the King of Rohan. Faramir and Éowyn had at least one son (likely Elboron), and their grandson was Barahir, who wrote The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen in the Fourth Age. Tolkien nowhere gives the cause and date of Éowyn's death.
[edit] Adaptations
The voice of Éowyn was provided by Nellie Bellflower in the 1980 Rankin/Bass animated version of The Return of the King, and by Elin Jenkins in BBC Radio's 1981 serialisation.
Éowyn also appears briefly in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 adaptation but does not have any dialogue.
.
In Peter Jackson's films The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003), Éowyn is played by Miranda Otto. (The role was first offered to Alison Doody, who turned it down due to her pregnancy.) She was apparently promised to Gríma by Saruman in payment for being the wizard's spy in the royal court (as in the book). She sang the death-song for Théodred. In the extended edition of The Two Towers, Éowyn is shown discovering, to her astonishment, that Aragorn is a long-lived Dúnadan.
In the original theatrical release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Éowyn's injuries after fighting the Witch-king were less severe than in the novel: she is conscious but hurt, as opposed to unconscious. In scenes added in the Extended Edition of the film, she was near death: her brother found her and screamed in anguish because he feared that she was dead and later we see her being healed by Aragorn.
While she did disguise herself in the film to ride into battle, she never took on the name "Dernhelm," and the audience is always aware of her true identity. In the extended version, Théoden noticed her carving through the enemy but it is not clear if he realised that it is his niece. The production team stated that while in a book it was easy to disguise Éowyn's identity, in the medium of cinema the audience could visually tell that it was she, and it would have strained the credibility of the scenes to try to make it a secret and would have made Merry look foolish.
[edit] Names and titles
Éowyn means "horse lover" or "friend of horses" in the Old English language (the language Tolkien used to represent Rohirric) - Eoh- meaning "horse" (which Tolkien renders Éo-) and -wyn meaning "joy".
A corresponding Greek name would be Philippa, coincidentally the name of one of the writers of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy (Philippa Boyens).
The first syllable of Éowyn sounds like "eh-ah," with the "ah" just barely pronounced. As in Scandinavian or Finnish, the y in the second syllable is the same sound as the German letter ü or the French u. The actors in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy consistently pronounce her name as well as the names of Éomer and Théoden in a manner inconsistent with most reconstructions of Old English pronunciation.
Tolkien maintained Éowyn was not the character's actual name. Her real name in Rohirric is not given, but it, as well as Éomer and Éomund, would have started with the element Lô- or Loh-, meaning "horse", the equivalent of Old English Éo-.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Éowyn at the Internet Movie Database
- Éowyn at the Tolkien Gateway
- Eowyn at The Thain's Book
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
