Eowyn Take
Stephanie C.

Just a couple of comments:

You said: "Eowyn was not trying to impersonate a man. She wanted to be free of her stifling existance, and she looked for freedom in battle. However, even though she assumed the role of a man she was not trying to become one."

Actually, that may not be exactly true. I agree that Eowyn wasn't looking to be a man, if you mean that she wanted to be male. She was looking for a feeling of self-respect, a sense of identity and control over her life, and a way of understanding the world around her. The problem (in my eyes) was that she mistakenly associated all of the things she was looking for exclusively with male rather than female roles. So, she identified with male role models and eventually impersonated them. It could be a very logical mistake, considering the society she grew up in. She wanted to change things, assert herself, and act in ways that would alleviate her sense of powerlessness--cash in on the credibility assigned in her culture to warriors in order to feel more worthwhile. But she didn't think she could achieve any of these things in female roles. So she took on typically male roles. In that way, she did want to be a man. Aragorn, for her, was the epitome of the roles she wanted to take!
 on.

As for the spell factor, I have to think that Grima didn't have half the power of Saruman, and strong-willed people could resist the spell of Saruman's voice. Eowyn may (through ignorance or lack of self-understanding) have been fooled by the spell, but I don't think she was unavoidably compelled to do anything by the spell. I'm don't wish to demean Eowyn. She's one of Tolkien's best characters, and I desperately hope that PJ will play her story up and avoid any kind of contest between her and Arwen. But, for whatever reason, Eowyn made choices that contributed to her situation. She didn't have to remain inactive and powerless.

Eowyn's freedom came in the moment she realized that she'd had the power to better her life from the start. When Faramir's love helped her understood that a woman doesn't have to be a warrior to be influential, respected, and assertive. When she gave up her preconceptions about womens' roles and found out that there can be a lot of great things about being a woman, like being loved by a good man and working to bring some gentleness and sense into the world.

As for why the Nazgūl broke off the attack on Weathertop, it would be funny in one way for them to be scared off when Frodo managed to wound their leader, yet press the attack later at places like the Ford when their quarry still had the same weapons. Of course, the Nine were patient, their quarry wasn't likely to escape, and they thought they could get the Ring whenever they wanted; maybe it would make sense for them to wait it out from there until the group was weaker and farther from any protection. But then, why wait until Rivendell? It shouldn't have been too hard to follow Aragorn and the hobbits from Weathertop. Of course, there's also the point that the Nazgul only had to watch the ford. They knew the travellers would have to pass there to get to Rivendell. The ford was close to protection, though. In any case, the Ringwraiths didn't seem to have handled the situation very well. Maybe they weren't used to anyone standing up to them or had lost a certain amount of intel!
ligence or initiative to their Rings' influence. Any other ideas?

Please, everyone, let's use this forum to discuss the movies in a logical and reasonable manner! All of us will disagree with certain of PJ's decisions (I know I have my caveats). Yet, we may still be quite pleased with the finished product. No more flames! Disagreement is fine, but give reasons and be willing to weigh the merits of arguments. Make articles such that if PJ himself wanted to look at our articles to decide what to cut, he'd be convinced by our thoughtful discussion. Let's not make any of this too personal. It's just a movie!

Just my take! Thanks.