G.E.M. May Be Right
John R.

In reply to G.E.M.'s observations about Tolkien's women, I fear she may be correct. Only watching the movie can (hopefully) allay my fears.

Eowyn is a marvelous role. Eowyn is the only non-Hobbit character to be so well developed in the book. She starts off as encorceled by Wormtongue, then ice-maiden under stress whose hard surface cracks when she meets Aragorn. Despairing, she abandons her leadership responsibility, and dresses in drag to ride to anticipated death at the side of Theoden. She kills the Witchking in the most dramatic moment (for me) in the story. Faramir pursues her unsuccessfully, until Sauron is defeated and her heart changes. She lives happily every after with Faramir. Geez, a whole book could have been written from her point of view.

But as G.E.M. points out, the ascendancy of Arwen may unwittingly detract from Eowyn's character and life story.