Miranda Otto as Éowyn in ‘The Return of the King’

Éowyn in ‘The Two Towers’: the silent take-over
We are introduced to Éowyn in ‘The Two Towers’, when she is still of very little importance to the story. As a matter of fact, in the book she only appears in chapter 3.VI. The King of the Golden Hall, where she stand behind Théoden’s throne and waits upon his guests at the table. All we are told about her is that she is beautiful, but pale and cold, and that she seems to be drawn to Aragorn.
In the movie, where she already takes up a much larger part than in the book, we are introduced to her through her relationships with others: with her uncle, King Théoden, whom she serves with loyalty but also shrouded in silence; with her brother Éomer who appears to be very protective of her; with counsellor Gríma Wormtongue who offers her companionship which she turns down; and with her cousin Théodred whose death she mourns. Later on in the movie, Éowyns portrayal seems to shift from a woman well-embedded within the social structure of her family to a woman in love: the main focus comes to rest on her relationships with Aragorn, as is shown in the second half of ‘The Two Towers’ where all her scenes revolve around Aragorn somehow. This rather curiously tones down the affection described in the book. I will return to this later.
Though in a movie with the scale and structure of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, a trilogy which stayed as true to the many-layered story-line of the books as possible, it is of course a necessity to give important characters in later events a proper introduction; I personally have always found it peculiar that while every second Arwen appears in the second instalment for many bookies seems a second to much, nothing much is said about the large expansion of Éowyn’s part in ‘The Two Towers’. Through it, she evolves from a character in the margin of the book, who only takes up the sword quite late in the trilogy, to one of the main characters of the entire trilogy.
This will radically change our view of her in the third movie, ‘The Return of the King’.


Éowyn (Miranda Otto) offers her cup to Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen)

The Meaning of the Cup
Our first encounter with Éowyn in ‘The Return of the King’, in the movie, is at Meduseld. After Saruman falls to his death, the Kings company returns to Edoras for an elaborate feast. We see Éowyn, in a white dress with a darker leather bodice, stand on the platform in front of the Golden Hall, watching the arrival of her uncle and his companions. Ironically, this scene was actually meant for ‘The Two Towers’, where it would show her watching the company leave rather than return. It was reversed to show the camera travel towards her rather than pull away from the scenery. The resulting feeling, however, is identical: here is a woman who is always left behind, always stuck waiting for the men of her household to return.
I called this ironic, because Éowyn’s first appearance in the third book is one where she is immediately parted with the one she had been waiting for. In chapter 5.II. The Passing of the Grey Company, said Grey Company arrives at Dunharrow, where Éowyn had taken the refugees from Edoras, only to leave soon after for the Paths of the Dead. Éowyn begs Aragorn to take her along, but he refuses her, pointing out that her pride and her desire for glory could stand in the way of accepting responsibility and, ultimately, true valour.
At there parting, Tolkien writes that in her hand, she bore a cup, and she set it to her lips and drank a little, wishing them good speed; and then she gave the cup to Aragorn, and he drank, and he said: ‘Farwell, Lady of Rohan! I drink to the fortunes of your House, and of you, and of all your people. Say to your brother: beyond the shadows we may meet again!’
Then it seemed to Gimli and Legolas who were nearby that she wept, and in one so stern and proud that seemed the more grievous.
[5.II.]

In the movie, however, the cup that is presented is not this one. The scene in its entirety seems to be derived, rather, from a scene in ‘The Two Towers’ where Théoden and his men prepare to ride off to Helm’s Deep.
The King rose, and at once Éowyn came forward bearing wine. ‘Ferthu, Théoden hál!’ she said. ‘Receive now this cup and drink in happy hour. Health be with thee at thy going and coming!’
Théoden drank from the cup, and she then proffered it to the guests. As she stood before Aragorn she paused suddenly and looked upon him, and her eyes were shining. And he looked upon her fair face and smiled; but as he took the cup, his hand met hers, and he knew that she trembled at the touch. ‘Hail Aragorn son of Arathorn!’ she said. ‘Hail Lady of Rohan!’ he answered, but his face now was troubled and he did not smile.
[3.VI.]

The change from book to movie is complete by the lack of obvious rejection in Aragorn’s acceptance of the cup. Both in this chapter in ‘The Two Towers’ as in the exchange at Dunharrow, it is clear to the reader that Aragorn does not return Éowyn’s affections, and is in fact troubled by them. In the movie however, Aragorn seems distant but this could be explained in a number of ways. The small conversation between Théoden and Éowyn that follows the interlude only reinforces the idea that Aragorn has in fact accepted Éowyn’s attentions rather than rejected them in the most friendly way.
This creates the necessity to have a scene later on in the movie where Aragorn actually turns Éowyn down. When Aragorn is ready to leave for the Paths of the Dead, Éowyn comes up to him all teary-eyed and begs him to stay, declaring her love for him in a veiled way. Aragorn in turn answers with ‘It is but a shadow and a thought that you love.’


Per Sjögren – No Living Man (detail)

Dernhelm: The Bird Takes Flight
One of the most archaic scenes in ‘The Two Towers’, at least to modern eyes, is the scene in 3.VI. The King of the Golden Hall. Théoden needs someone to leave in charge of the refugees of Edoras, to guide them to Dunharrow, but he needs Éomer to travel with him and his son Théodred is dead. It is Háma, the doorwarden of Meduseld, who suggests that ‘there is Éowyn, daughter of Éomund, [Éomer’s] sister. She is fearless and high-hearted. All love her. Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone.’
To this Théoden replies ‘It shall be so (…) Let the heralds announce to the folk that the Lady Éowyn will lead them! [3.VI.]
This instruction is not repeated at Dunharrow, where it is only said when Théoden departs for Gondor that he had said farewell to Éowyn above in the Hold, and the memory was grievous. [5.III.]
In the movie this is shown in reverse: Éowyn taking charge of the refugees during the Warg-attack is a spur of the moment thing, and is not officially announced. At Dunharrow, however, there is a very touching moment where Théoden hands over power to his niece, who seems to take it as a burden rather than an honourable task.

We do not know from the book how Éowyn felt about her promotion to ‘lord of the House of Eorl’, however we can assume that it was either too great a burden for her, or too little – because she disguises herself to join Théoden’s troops.
As Dernhelm she offers Merry, who despite being made Esquire of Rohan is about to be left behind, a way to join battle; not revealing her real identity even to him until the very last moment.
Of course, this deception works better in a book than on film, but still something seems missing in the lack of disguise in the movie. Especially in ‘Merry’s Simple Courage’, a small scene on the Extended Edition, it is obvious that any rider of Rohan with at least one functioning eye would have spotted a woman like Éowyn from a mile away.
The entire dressing-up, sneaking-around routine, with Merry being caught by Elfhelm, shows the strictness of a patriarchal and almost macho society. In the movie, where hobbit and woman are shown conversing in the middle of a field in the light of day, for all to see, this flight of Éowyn from the constrictions of her life as a woman in a world dominated not only by men but by soldiers, loses all credibility and much of its sting and bravado.

It also lessens the impact of the moment Éowyn is most associated with, namely the slaying of the Witch-king. One of the most breath-taking moments for any first-time reader, even if you figured out the clues already, is when Dernhelm drops her helmet and reveals herself to be none other than Éowyn: ‘But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless. For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.’
…the helm of her secrecy had fallen from her, and her bright hair, released from its bonds, gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders. Her eyes grey as the sea were hard and fell, and yet tears were on her cheek. A sword was in her hand, and she raised her shield against the horror of her enemy’s eyes.
Éowyn it was, and Dernhelm also.
[5.VI.]
The movie audience is not startled by this revelation anymore, neither are we overly shocked or thrilled by the fact that only a woman can kill one of the ultimate bad guys of this story.

A final change here is in the scene depicting Théoden’s death. In the book it’s Merry who stands by him in his final hour, and Théoden dies unaware of the crucial part Éowyn played in the success of this battle. This echoes Aragorn’s warning at Dunharrow, where he says: ‘A time may come soon when none will return. Then there will be need of valour without renown, for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defence of your homes. Yet the deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.’ [5.II.]
Even though Éowyn sets off to battle for glory and renown, as all of her people; still she does her greatest deed and finds her deepest courage in the failing act to save a dying man. There was, after all, nothing left to save; and Théoden never knows what she did for him. It’s truly ironic, but it says something about how Tolkien views honour and courage as something secret and hidden, that shouldn’t be boasted about.
Sadly, this dimension is totally lost in the movie, at least for Éowyn.


Éowyn (Miranda Otto) finding happiness with Faramir (David Wenham’s Hair)

Rebirth: Éowyn in the Houses of Healing
In a book with only threes romances, one of them stuck in the Appendixes and one at the very end of the book, it’s only natural that the remaining one becomes the favourite one. Especially if the characters involved are fair, tormented and truly popular in most ways.
So it was no small shock to discover the Houses of Healing and the subsequent romance between Éowyn and Faramir to have been cut out of the theatrical version. The two small scenes that did make it to the Extended Edition are nowhere near as complex, fascinating or touching as the two book chapters on which they have been based.

After Éowyn is discovered by Éomer, a scene most touchingly depicted on the Extended Edition, she is brought to the Houses of Healing in Minas Tirith. There she is diagnosed with Black Breath, the result of exposure to anything Nazgul. It is Aragorn who, with the aid of some athelas and his amazing kingly skills, saves her life.
But Éowyn is not happy. Recovering, she finds herself locked up inside the Houses of Healing, with everyone already departed for the Black Gate except Merry. She demands to see the lord of the city, to be released so she can join the fight. She is brought before Faramir and pleads her case to him, but all he gives her is the freedom to move around the premise. Faramir seeks her company and finally, when the War is over and Éowyn doesn’t seem inclined to join her brother at the Field of Cormallen, he asks her why she tarries: is it because she wants to avoid seeing Aragorn, or because she wants to stay with him in the City? Finally he declares his love to her, and Tolkien writes that the heart of Éowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. And suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her. [6.V.]
She stays with Faramir, and returns to Edoras only for her uncles funeral.
And they all lived happily ever after.

All of this is shown in the movie in two small sequences. The first one shows Aragorn healing Éowyn, with Éomer sitting by her bedside. She is then shown lying awake in her bed, and standing in front of a window – a moment reminiscent of her lamented: ‘My window does not look East! [6.V.] The sequence ends with a shot of Faramir standing outside her room, looking at her.
The entire sequence is shrouded in a nightly blue, and on the soundtrack is a song sung by Liv Tyler, who plays Arwen in the film.
In its totality, this scene depicts the death of the old Éowyn, the girl who wanted to fight and thought she would find healing and pride there. She rode into battle, partly to defend her people and partly to die (though this is hardly shown in the movie at all), and achieved neither.

The second sequence, which consists of only one scene actually, shows Éowyn standing in the Houses of Healing looking East with the sun on her face. She looks pale, and mournful, and she wears the starry cloak described in the book (which used to belong to Faramir’s mother). Faramir goes to stand beside, and a very small conversation ensues.
Éowyn: The city has fallen silent. There is no warmth left in the sun. It grows so cold.
Faramir: It’s just the damp of the first spring rain. I do not believe this darkness will endure.

In this scene, Éowyn seems to be reborn. She is given hope, and a new purpose. But the entire courtship, where both characters are portrayed beautifully through their conversation and Faramir shows an exceptional understand of Éowyn’s psyche, is dropped in favour of a romantic atmosphere which in now way compensates for the lack of growth in their relationship.

In the book Faramir’s instant love for her is credible because he also seems to know her so well and Éowyn’s responding affections seem to come from a growing understanding of this fact. This makes their romance seem real and genuine.
In the movie however the interaction between Faramir and Éowyn is cut down to an absolute minimum, which gives viewers who don’t know the book the impression that Éowyn takes Faramir to get over Aragorn.


Anke Eissmann – Lasting Impression (detail)

From ‘White Lady of Rohan’ to ‘Wild Shieldmaiden from the North’
In conclusion, one could say that the movie chose to portray only one side of Éowyn. In the book, Éowyn is a very complex character, constantly balancing between her duty and the expectations of the society she lives in (as said above, a patriarchal society where a glorious death in battle is the highest conceivable achievement) and a fierce passion she hides under a stern exterior. It seems the movie dropped the sterner, colder side of Éowyn in favour of a woman with passion who is willing to fight for what she wants.

I already listed the dimensions of her character that were lost through this above, but there is one aspect that I wanted to draw your attention to, and that is the amazing psychological insight Tolkien seemed to have in this particular character. Where some of his characters, even the more interesting ones like Boromir or Denethor, often lack a psychological background, Éowyn is discussed most thoroughly throughout the entire book: there is Gandalf’s analysis of her character which in the movie was given in part to Gríma, the conversations she holds with Faramir in the Houses of Healing and her own words about herself, spoken to Aragorn at Dunharrow.
From all of this information rises the image of a young woman, struggling with the expectations of her peers and her own desire to achieve *something*. She is truly loyal to her lord, but at the same time selfish in her perception of the world. Her love as well as her desire to die in battle are cold and lifeless, until she comes to understand that being always means ‘being for someone’. Before she meets Faramir she is a solitary figure, seeking for a place in a world that has no real place for her. In him she finds true meaning in life, and a true purpose.

Our society, today, has a problem with women who derive their meaning in life from the men they love. Strangely enough, we have no problem when it’s the other way around – look at Aragorn and Arwen, and how they are portrayed. In Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ a great emphasis is placed on how people derive meaning from each-other: if you look closely you will find that most characters are defined by their relations to others.
As I pointed out in the beginning of this article, this is not true for Éowyn: in the book she appears as a very lonely figure, always waiting on the edges of the events, observing. It is only when she becomes part of a whole, of ‘Faramir and Éowyn’, that she can let go of her search for a place in life – because she found it.

The way the movie portrays her seems to glorify her independence, rather than show the depth of her loneliness and despair, which Tolkien portrayed so accurately.
With Éowyn being one of the most amazing, complex and beautiful characters of Tolkien’s trilogy; this, to me at least, is a disappointing development.

(dedicated to Aervir – I hope to have lived up to your expectations)

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Related Information
Related Books vs. Movies Articles:
- Éowyn in TTT by Aervir

- 5.03. The Muster of Rohan by Rosearialelven
- 5.05. The Ride of the Rohirrim by Rosearialelven
- 5.06. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields by Ingold
- 5.08. The Houses of Healing by elenluin
- 6.05. The Steward and the King by elvishmusician


Interesting Links:
Our Gallery has has screencaps of the theatrical version, as well as the extended edition. There are also seperate galleries for Liv Tyler and Arwen.

A transcript of 'The Lord Of the Rings: The Return of the King' can be found in our Film Fun & Facts section.

A summary of 'The Lord Of the Rings: The Return of the King' can be found in Elrond's Library.

In our Film, Fun and Facts Section you can find biographies for Liv Tyler.

Some articles that are related to Éowyn of Rohan:
- Our Middle-earth Section articles about Éowyn of Rohan, The History of the Rohirrim, Théoden son of Thengel and a Family Tree of The Kings of the Mark.
- Under Literature Studies you can find an article about Rohan culture and Eorl's Hymn by Figwit.

Forum threads related to Éowyn & Miranda Otto:
- The Movie Forum has threads about The Portrayal of Women in the Movies, Éowyn - books vs. movies, Éowyn and Aragorn's romantic relationship, Arwen vs. Éowyn and your Favourite Female Character.
- In the Books Forum there’s a thread about Women in Middle-earth and Éowyn and other popular shieldmaidens.
- The Casting Forum has a thread about Miranda Otto as Éowyn and one asking you to choose between Arwen and Éowyn.

Take a look at how some artists saw Éowyn in 'The Return of the King':
- The Parting Cup by Alan Lee
- Aragorn and Éowyn (sketch) by ponine21
- Dernhelm by John Howe
- Éowyn on Horse by Elinor
- Éowyn Fights the Witch-king of Angmar by Michael Kaluta
- Éowyn and the Nazgul by the Brothers Hildebrandt
- Éowyn Fights the Witch-king (sketch) by Ted Nasmith
- Éowyn and the Nazgul by John Howe
- Éowyn and the Nazgul by Sam Hadley
- Éowyn Challenged the Witch-king on Pelennor Fields by Rankin & Bass
- The Witch-king Descends Upon Éowyn by Peter Xavier Price
- Éowyn and the Nazgul by Per Sjögren
- Éowyn by Montanini
- Éowyn, Merry and the Nazgul by Angus McBride
- Éowyn vs. the Nazgul by David Wyatt
- Éowyn Fights the Witch-king by Ted Nasmith
- Éowyn, the Shield-maiden by Ivan Allen
- Éowyn and the Witch-king by Frank Frazetta
- The Death of Théoden by Paul Gregory

- Éowyn at the Houses of Healing by the Brothers Hildebrandt
- Éowyn Is Brought to Faramir by Anke Eissmann
- In the Houses of Healing by Anke Eissmann
- Éowyn and Faramir by Anastasia I-Morn-Gwathren
- Faramir and Éowyn by Michael Kaluta
- Éowyn and Faramir by Ted Nasmith
- Éowyn & Faramir by Elinor
- Éowyn (sketch) by wolonórë
- Faramir and Éowyn (dark) by Ted Nasmith
- Faramir and Éowyn by Anke Eissmann
- Éwyn and Faramir's Wedding by Anke Eissmann

Preview the Éowyn Chatskin here.
Review the Éowyn Theme here.

Looking for something more creative - you may find it here: