Comments | laughinggas13: Eowyn, Day Two: A Shieldmaiden And Not A Dry-Nurse

laughinggas13

Eowyn, Day Two: A Shieldmaiden And Not A Dry-Nurse

Sep 10, 2011 16:21

"Shall I always be chose?" she said bitterly. "Shall I always be left behind when the Riders depart, to mind the house while they win renown, and find food and beds when they return?"

"A time may come soon," said he, "when none will return. Then there will be need of valour without renown, for none will remember the deeds that are done in the last ( Read more... )

we love the women that fandom hates, lord of the rings, eowyn

Comments 4

philstar22 September 10 2011, 15:33:40 UTC

See, I don't see any place where Eowyn looks down on other women. She is just saying that she doesn't have the same personality traits as them and that there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. Which I like about her. She wants to be who she is. She doesn't want to be tied up in the gender roles of her time, but she also doesn't want to be tied up in the ideas of who women are/should be. Because the stereotypes are just as problematic as the roles. Not that it is a bad thing to be a housewife or to not want to fight or whatever. But there is also nothing wrong with not being those things ( ... )

laughinggas13 September 10 2011, 16:06:16 UTC

Possibly my paraphrasing went a bit far, but I think there's a definite degree of pride in the way she says that she's not a dry-nurse or a serving women, and the comparison does, to me, imply that she sees herself as better than that. It's understandable, based on her character and upbringing, but, well, she's not so much fighting for women in general, so much as she's fighting for herself.

Oh yes, I definitely identify with her on that! Forcing people to fit stereotypes is such a pointless thing, because nobody does. It's just a waste of effort and leaves everyone unhappy.

Your icon is rather wonderful, BTW

tweedymcgee September 10 2011, 21:45:58 UTC

Thanks for reminding me how much I love Eowyn.

Also, you're right, Aragorn's pep-talk is pretty good. Which makes her even more of a badass for slicing it to ribbons.

beatrice_otter September 11 2011, 16:34:25 UTC

There are nine female speaking parts in The Lord of the Rings: Galadriel, Arwen, Eowyn, Rosie, Goldberry, Ioreth, Mrs. Cotton, Shelob (if you count hisses and spits) and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins (who was much maligned by Bilbo all those years, as pointed out here:http://hooked-on-heroines.dreamwidth.org/9473.html

But yes, Eowyn is the Awesomest of them all.