Éowyn is a character from J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction The Lord of the Rings. She is the most interesting of the few female characters of the books, as she is the only one who wishes to fight for her country, friends, family and life in general. Some could call her a feminist, because of her struggle to avoid the common life of a housewife. As a shieldmaiden of Rohan, she dreamed of proving her valour in battle and had skills with the sword.

Sister to Éomer, cousin of Théodred and niece of King Théoden of Rohan, she fell in love with Elessar and suffered deeply for not being loved back. In Rohan, she is desired by Grima Wormtongue, King Theoden's couselor, who wants to marry her. Tolkien suggests that this is the reason why he becomes a traitor, making a secret alliance with the recently-turned-evil Saruman, The Many Coloured to destroy Rohan. Wormtongue follows every one of her steps in Edoras. That, on top of her fear of 'a cage', made Éowyn without hope or will to live. Her desperation drove her to disguise herself as a man and ride to battle with the Rohirrim, taking the hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck, who had recently entered Theoden's service and was considered by the other riders "a burden". Éowyn identifies herself with the rejection and frustration that Merry feels about being left behind while all his friends are going to battle or to Mordor.

She fights on the Battle of Pellenor Fields and sees King Théoden fall under the evil of the Witch-king. She avenges Théoden's death at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, by killing the Witch-King and leader of the Ringwraiths with the help of Merry. Almost dead, Éowyn was deeply injured and taken to Minas Tirith. In the house of cure of the white city she slowly recovered, after being healed by Aragorn with the athelas herb.

Even then, Éowyn was still sad and cold. She found peace and happiness only after she met Faramir, Capitan of Gondor and heir of Denethor II, Stewart of Gondor. They fell in love and got married after the War of the Ring.

Éowyn is the very spirit of strength in women, even if she could be seen as a woman who wants to be a man. After being injured and proving her courage, she settles down with Faramir not in a cage, but in a peaceful life of her choice. They live in Ithilien, a land given as a Principality to Faramir by Aragorn II




On the Peter Jackson's trilogy of films, Éowyn is played by australian actress Miranda Otto. So far, she's been nominated for the Empire Awards 2003 as best actress for the role of Éowyn on The Two Towers. She also appears on the last movie of the trilogy, Return of the King, but not as much as the fans of Tolkien's books would enjoy. Peter Jackson's vision of her fight against the Witch-King is quite wonderfull and faithful to the book, but the director excluded the Houses of Cure and her love affair with Faramir. However, they appear together smiling on the coronation in Gondor, after Mount Doom. There's a possibility that these missing scenes appear on the Extended Edition DVD, which is scheduled for a november 2004 release.




Many thanks to: IMDB and www.TheOneRing.Net