J.R.R. Tolkien's Warrior Woman: Éowyn - Part 7 - And They Lived Happily Ever After

In previous articles in this series, I introduced  Éowyn, discussed possible historical and mythological women who may have influenced Tolkien to create her, her background, motivational factors that led her to ride to war disguised as "Dernhelm," and her experiences on the battlefield.  I also provided historical context for her character by illustrating how she relates to women soldiers of the Civil War.

In this final installment, I am going to conclude Éowyn's story along with other women soldiers I have previously discussed.

After she fell sorely wounded in her fight with the Witch-king, Éowyn was borne to the Houses of Healing.  There, healers tended her broken arm, and Aragorn drew her back from a malady called the Black Breath that she contracted by coming in contact with the villain.  But though her body was on the mend, her spirit still suffered.  In previous installments, I discussed Éowyn's troubled past.  Raised among men in a warlike culture, she believed her destiny lay on a battlefield winning renown alongside them.  Yet, they left her behind when they marched off to war.  Add the fact that Aragorn rejected her love – or love as she thought — and Éowyn found herself hurled into a dark, desperate pit.  Death would provide her only escape.  And when she awoke in the Houses of Healing only to discover that death had eluded her, hopelessness once again consumed her.  She stated,

"It is not always good to be healed in body. Nor is it always evil to die in battle, even in bitter pain. Were I permitted, in this dark hour I would choose the latter."

And in response to Gandalf's joy at her awakening to health and hope, she declared,

"To health, it may be so. At least while there is an empty saddle of some fallen Rider that I can fill, and there are deeds to do. But to hope? I do not know."

But Éowyn would indeed find hope.   And it came in the form of another broken soul there in the Houses of Healing.

Faramir

Faramir was the younger son of Denethor, ruling steward of Gondor.  His older brother, Boromir, had been a member of the fellowship of the ring and was ultimately slain while defending the hobbits, Merry and Pippin, during an orc attack.  Denethor's wife had died when Faramir was five and Boromir ten.  And so, like Éowyn, Faramir grew up without a mother.  And, like  Éowyn, he was seeking validation.  After his mother died, his father began to distance himself.  Ever the inquisitive youngster, he soaked up everything the visiting wizard, Gandalf, could teach him.  And thus, Gandalf became like a father figure to Faramir.  Denethor resented this.  He also resented the fact that, as he grew, Faramir did not delight in feats of arms, unlike his brother.  He was more interested in lore, music, and art — a cultured gentleman.  Add to the fact that Denethor projected his grief over the loss of his favored son onto Faramir, and it is not surprising that a rift developed between father and younger son.  Faramir lamented their strained relationship and did what he could to repair it, though he had done nothing wrong.  This situation culminated during the War of the Ring when Faramir was sorely wounded in battle, and Denethor, whose mental state had devolved into madness by this point, attempted to burn both of them to death on a pyre.  While his father succeeded in taking his own life, Faramir was saved and taken to the Houses of Healing.   There, healers tended his wounds while Aragorn drew him back from the Black Breath, as he had done with  Éowyn.  It was also there in the Houses of Healing where the tall, raven-haired, grey-eyed Faramir — now steward of Gondor — met the golden-haired shieldmaiden of Rohan.

She had come to him, begging him to authorize her release from the hospital so that she may follow the host to the gates of Mordor where she would perhaps achieve her goal of a glorious death  in the climatic battle of good and evil.  Faramir had a different view of combat:

"War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory.  I love only that which they defend"

Éowyn saw Faramir's tenderness. "and yet knew, for she was bred among men of war, that here was one whom no Rider of the Mark would outmatch in battle" — including herself.

He saw that she had been wounded, both physically and emotionally.   He pitied her originally.  But he grew to love her during their time together in the Houses of Healing.  Indeed, she had given up her quest to leave the hospital and follow the captains to the Black Gate where they would confront the villain, Sauron.  Faramir had masterfully negotiated her fragile emotional state with care to convince her to stay instead of riding out to destroy herself.  And he did so while respecting her because he grew to know who she truly was  — better than she knew herself.  He learned from Merry the hobbit that she had loved Aragorn, and he confronted her with the truth,

"As a great captain may to  a young soldier he seemed to you admirable...But when he gave you only understanding and pity, you desired to have nothing, unless a brave death in battle."  

And he ultimately coaxed her away from the battlefield, not by preaching to her that the killing fields were no place for a woman, but rather that she would be better prepared to face death in her own way if she were fully healed.  As a result, she softened, "as though a bitter frost were yielding at the first faint presage of spring."

Faramir was absolutely brilliant in the way he interacted with Éowyn. He  never belittled, chided, or patronized her for going to war.  Rather, he praised her for her heroic deeds:"For you are a lady high and valiant and have yourself won renown that shall not be forgotten."  He saw her as his equal and was perhaps the only man to have truly done so.  Yet, she initially rejected him because he had to gain her trust.  But when he finally convinced her that it was love and not pity he offered her, her heart changed:

"And behold!  the shadow has departed!  I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in songs of slaying.  I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren" (Return of the King)

 

https://www.deviantart.com/magianna/art/Eowyn-and-Faramir-759877446

 

 Wife and Mother

Then Faramir proposed marriage and that they should live in Ithilien where they would grow a garden.  Éowyn accepted, and Faramir declared her healed at last. They ultimately inhabited the Gondorian region of Ithlilien where Faramir ruled as its first prince by decree of Aragorn, the newly crowned king of Gondor.  There, Faramir and Éowyn lived out the remainder of their lives in peace. They had at least one child, a son named Elboron.  It is unknown when Éowyn died.  Faramir lived until the age of 120 as he was from a race of men that tended to have longer lifespans.

Thus it was that two broken people healed each other.  Recall that Tolkien's original writings included  Éowyn's death, yet he ultimately allowed her to live.  It is quite interesting that the author declared that out of all of the characters he created, Faramir was most like him.  Thus, Tolkien as Faramir saved  Éowyn both creatively and literally within the story.  And in so doing, he created something absolutely beautiful out of two shattered souls.


Some have criticized Tolkien for healing Éowyn by forcing her back into traditional feminine roles upon her marriage and motherhood.  However, it is worth noting that these were paths that she ultimately chose.  When Faramir proposed marriage, he stated that he would wed with her "if it be her will."  It was her choice.  And indeed, she did give up her warrior status.

"I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying" (Return of the King)

But read closely what she said.  She stated that she would not "take joy only in the songs of slaying" (emphasis added).  So while she hung up her sword and chose to explore other interests and sources of fulfillment, she absolutely retained her warrior's spirit.

Several women soldiers of the Civil War took similar paths to fulfillment.  Emma Edmonds went on to marry Linus Seelye in 1867.  He was a childhood friend from Canada and had moved to the United States seeking work as a carpenter.  The two became reacquainted while Edmonds was working as a nurse with the U.S. Sanitary Commission in Harpers Ferry.  Like Faramir, Linus was gentle and thoughtful.  And he treated Emma with respect after she informed him of her military service, just as Faramir had done with Éowyn.  Emma and Linus had three children, two of whom died young.  They adopted two more.

 

Elizabeth Quinn

Elizabeth Quinn married twice.  She accompanied her first husband, Jerry Kane, south from Chicago with Company G of the 90th Illinois Infantry in 1862.  He left her a teenaged widow when he was killed at the Battle of Ezra Church in 1864.  Quinn had been wounded and captured prior to the battle.  Upon her exchange, she spent the next several months recuperating in hospitals before medical officials released her a little over a month before Kane was killed.  Her immediate whereabouts afterwards is unknown, but it is highly doubtful she rejoined her regiment because officials had been alerted to her possible attempt to do so.  Therefore, she was not with her husband when he died, and it is unknown when she learned of his death.  Perhaps it was when she was traveling north after leaving the hospital in Nashville.  At any rate, she ended up in Ohio where she met ex-soldier Matthew Angel whom she married in 1866.  The couple had two daughters.  The younger of whom was just a year old when their mother succumbed to edema at the young age of twenty-seven.

Mary Ann Clark recovered from the emotional trauma from an abusive marriage and remarried.  Her new husband, James H. Nelson, was a teacher as she had been.  And, thus, she surely had a much more fulfilling marriage and life after the war.  

Healer

Besides wife and mother, Éowyn assumed another traditional feminine role as a healer, which further aroused critics of Tolkien, who equated the profession to nursing, which has traditionally been dominated by women since the Civil War.  During the Victorian era, social norms deemed it unacceptable for a woman to view —  and certainly touch — a man's body who wasn't her husband.  Therefore, in the opening days of the Civil War, women did not serve as nurses.  Rather, men were detailed from the ranks to fulfill the role.  This changed, however, as the war progressed, and those men were needed more on the battlefield to bolster the numbers dwindling due to death, imprisonment, and desertion.  Besides, officials began to realize how effective women were as nurses as survival rates improved when they were allowed to serve in hospitals.  The trend of a female-dominated nursing profession has remained so up until recent times when more men have begun to choose it as a career path.

Several women soldiers of the Civil War found themselves serving as nurses upon military officials discovering their ruse and assigning them to hospitals.  Ella Reno, Marian McKenzie, and Mary Ellen Wise all labored in this capacity.  Unlike Éowyn, none of them seemed to have had another choice and expressed their displeasure in their new duties.  Despite her apparent dissatisfaction in the work, McKenzie ended up serving multiple stints as a nurse and actually was a hospital matron at the conclusion of the war.   Emma Edmonds served as a nurse in male disguise as a soldier and continued to do so after she left the military.  She inherited her interest in nursing from her mother and believed it to be a gift which gave her almost a "magnetic power in [her] hands to soothe the delirium."


In Tolkien's Middle-earth, healing is a noble skill and one that such prominent people as Aragorn and Elrond possess.  Jesus Christ Himself was referred to as the "Great Physician" as He healed countless afflictions.  And though Tolkien denied his work was allegorical, it is difficult not to see Christian inspirations, especially considering that the author himself was a devout Catholic.  Particularly, Aragorn appears to be a Christ-like figure whose return to claim the kingship of Gondor fulfills prophecy.  This is similar to Jesus — the King of Kings and Lord of Lords — whose return to take His children out of a fallen world and into Heaven is predicted in the Bible.  Like Christ, Aragorn also possesses an almost supernatural ability to heal.  Therefore,  Éowyn appears to follow a path of divine inspiration when she chose to become a healer, thereby choosing to nurture life instead of destroy it.

Gardner

The same can be said of her decision to  engage in gardening.  The first profession the Bible mentions is gardening when God commands Adam and Eve to care for the Garden of Eden.  Therefore, gardening, like healing, contains a divine element.

 Éowyn certainly did not betray her femininity with her decisions.  Rather, she redefined herself in light of a higher and more noble purpose.

Aragorn

And so  Éowyn had turned from Aragorn and moved on with her life.  Yet, Tolkien indicated that she continued to love him, albeit in a different manner. 

"It is different to love more than one person (of the other sex) at the same time, but in a different mode and intensity.  I do not think Eowyn's feelings for Aragorn really changed that much; and when he was revealed as so lofty a figure, in descent and office, she was able to go on loving and admiring him." (Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, letter 244)

Emma Edmonds had a similar experience with Jerome Robbins.  Recall, she fell in love with him

Jerome Robbins

while she was serving in male disguise as a a nurse and he as a hospital steward.  They developed a
close friendship until Edmonds fell in love with him and admitted not only her ruse but her feelings to him.  He broke her heart when he did not return her affection, and she applied for a transfer in order to heal.  Robbins loved another woman whom he married.  Upon learning of his engagement two years later, Emma sent him a heartfelt letter congratulating him.  And though there is a hint of regret, she appears content with her fate.

"I am in earnest in my congratulations & daily realize that had I met you some years ago I might have been much happier now. But providence has ordained it otherwise & I must be content.  I would not change it now if I could...I do not love you less because you love another, but rather more for your nobleness of character displayed in your love for her."

 

Sarah Emma Edmonds

Edmonds was able to let go of unobtainable romantic goals and a painful past.  She, along with many of her fellow sister soldiers of the Civil War, and Éowyn, all with similar troubled backstories, finally found peace and fulfillment in their latter years.  

Thus, they all lived happily ever after....