Éowyn's Motivation

[cressidarambles]

sistermagpie recently asked me...

What would you say to the charge that Eowyn only goes into battle to prove herself to Aragorn, whom she was pining after, or that she went into battle for self-pity?I don't believe there is any currency to the idea that Éowyn goes into battle to "prove herself" to Aragorn. In the first place, the issues between them have

Comments

[roh_wyn]

Interesting!

I agree that she is not attempting to prove herself to Aragorn, but I do think her hopelessness is (at least partly) tied to Aragorn snubbing her affection. In fact, I think that was a bigger part of her "death wish" (if you will) than the possibility of the impending Dark Age. She may have felt keenly that she needed to play a part in restoring Rohan's glory, as you suggest. But Theoden makes her his regent and she leaves her appointed post to ride off to battle. It was her responsibility to be part of Rohan's last stand (if it came to that), but she does not stay to protect her people. I have to think this is because her hopelessness is far greater than her sense of loyalty to Rohan, and her need to restore the House of Eorl to glory.

Yes, that's an awfully negative thing to say about Eowyn, but I think she's written as a bit of a glory hound (at least prior to meeting Faramir), and to me, it fits.

There. That should get the discussion going! ;)

[cressidarambles]

I agree that Aragorn's rejection certainly sent her into a black mood, but I don't think her situation is as simple as "Waaaaah, that guy doesn't love me, so now I want to die." I think both causes of her despair are significant, and I stressed the impending Dark Age a bit more above mainly because I think it often tends to get overlooked in discussions like these. I think it's hard to say which was the bigger cause. Frankly, I suspect that either impetus on its own might have been enough to get her to snap and sneak off to war, even without the other one

[lilan14]

...the poor woman must have been quite a mess emotionally at the time. I wonder whether even she could have sorted out and quantified all her motivations!

My thoughts exactly. She could have definitely used someone who'd sit down and talk it through with her, actually! (Which Faramir probably did later!)

[roh_wyn]

The more I write about this, the more I think the poor woman must have been quite a mess emotionally at the time.

Oh, no doubt. No matter how you slice it, she had some serious issues to deal with, and frankly, I think her biggest problem was that she was desperately lonely. I don't think she had anyone to talk to, and certainly nobody to help her through her problems. I think that was the main reason she even was attracted to Aragorn. He struck her as someone who would understand her, help her.

This comment makes me think you actually agree with me more than you think you do.

Actually, I agree with most of what you had said in the OP. I just felt that maybe you had glossed over the Aragorn-related reason for Eowyn's actions, but I see now why that is.

[lilan14]

*laugh* I've only just noticed that my book userpic is originally part of yours!!

[roh_wyn]

Ha. I've always wondered why that icon made me think "oh, I've seen this somewhere". *giggle*