Speaking to the darkness
What Éowyn teaches us about being human
This is probably no surprise to anyone who knows me in the slightest, but I will always be a “the book is better than the movie” girl. And that applies to the Lord of the Rings trilogy even more so, because the books are so exceptional. One of the biggest ways that the books are exponentially better (we’re not even going to talk about Tom Bombadil and Goldberry because I don’t want to get too angry!) is how the movies completely butcher the character of Éowyn.
In the movies, Éowyn has some good points: she helps lead and protect the citizens of her land, and yes, she ends up killing the Witch-king of Angmar because she is “no man”. But beyond that, her character lacks depth and complexity, and she’s mostly portrayed as needy and pathetically in love with Aragorn, and a cluelessly horrible cook. Considering that she is one of the few females in all of the trilogy that we’re given any insight into her character, I feel that the movies missed a huge opportunity in how she was portrayed. And also, because she’s one of my favorite characters in the Lord of the Rings, it bothers me greatly to see a friend so maligned.
The real Éowyn, from the books, is a nuanced, dynamic woman. We’re introduced in The Two Towers, as she is in the background of the standoff between Gandalf and Wormtongue over the deception of Théoden. The focus of that interaction is how Théoden is affected, but later in the story, in The Return of the King, we find out that the poisoned words of Wormtongue were breaking down Éowyn as well.
In a conversation between Aragorn, Gandalf, and Éomer, Éowyn’s brother, Aragorn says this:
“‘When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die?”’
Éomer essentially replies that he thinks that Éowyn’s coldness is the result of her unrequited love for Aragorn, but then Gandalf corrects him, and says:
‘“Think you that Wormtongue had poison only for Théoden’s ears? Dotard!…But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?”’
In that incredibly descriptive line, we’re given insight into Éowyn’s battle against darkness and hopelessness. It’s not a battle wholly unknown until then as a previous encounter between Aragorn and Éowyn uses similar language:
“‘What do you fear, lady?’ he asked.
“‘A cage,’ she said. ‘To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.’”
This hopelessness eventually leads to Éowyn disguising herself as a man and riding into battle, finally coming to the place where she is able to kill the Witch-king.
“Still she did not blench: maiden of the Rohirrim, child of kings, slender but as a steel-blade, fair yet terrible. A swift stroke she dealt, skilled and deadly. The outstretched neck she clove asunder, and the hewn head fell like a stone. Backward she sprang as the huge shape crashed to ruin, vast wings outspread, crumpled on the earth; and with its fall the shadow passed away. A light fell about her, and her hair shone in the sunrise.”
Éowyn ends up doing this great deed, exactly like she thought she wanted, and yet the darkness was still too much. In discussing how to heal her from the wounds sustained in battle, Aragorn says:
‘“I have, maybe, the power to heal her body, and to recall her from the dark valley. But to what she will awake: hope, or forgetfulness, or despair, I do not know. And if to despair, then she will die, unless other healing comes which I cannot bring. Alas! for her deeds have set her among the queens of great renown.”’
Aragorn isn’t sure what the outcome of Éowyn’s healing will be, but he does his part anyway, bruising two leaves of athelas and placing them in steaming water. And “as the sweet influence of the herb stole about the chamber it seemed to those who stood by that a keen wind blew through the window, and it bore no scent, but was an air wholly fresh and clean and young, as if it had not before been breathed by any living thing and came new-made from snowy mountains high beneath a dome of stars, or from shores of silver far away washed by seas of foam. ‘Awake, Éowyn, Lady of Rohan!’ said Aragorn again, and he took her right hand in his and felt it warm with life returning. ‘Awake! The shadow is gone and all darkness is washed clean!’”
Éowyn awakens, and after a conversation with her brother, is encouraged to rest by Gandalf, and it is then we see Éowyn’s continued despair.
“‘But do not speak yet of war or woe, until you are made whole again. Great gladness it is to see you wake again to health and hope, so valiant a lady!’
“‘To health?’ said Éowyn. ‘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.’”
So what is my point in sharing all of this? Is it just to have an excuse to share a lot of beautiful Tolkien quotes that underscore his exquisite wordsmithery? That might be part of it, but I also find Éowyn’s mental trajectory through the books to be fascinating. It’s extremely relatable, but also, it isn’t neatly resolved.
In so many books and stories (especially if they’re labeled as “Christian fiction”), if a character is depressed or struggling mentally or emotionally, then that struggle is only allowed to go on for so long before it needs to be neatly buttoned up, tied in a bow, and taken care of. Circumstances come to a crux, someone says the exact right thing, and voila! everything is better. And though it seems quite simplistic when spelled out like that, oftentimes society, especially “Christian” society, expects that of us in real life as well. Sure, you can have your mental or emotional struggles, but there is clearly a expiration date on when that is no longer okay, and you need to get your act together and be happy again.
But that's not what we see in Éowyn. She falls into a hard and cold despair as a result of being surrounded by Saruman's lies spoken by Wormtongue. That's understandable, especially considering how deeply those lies also affected Théoden, and it seems as though part of how Éowyn tries to fight back against her despair is by trying to do some “great deed” that will be remembered long after she is gone. I'm sure many of us could relate to that desire, even on a smaller scale, with our modern terminology of “dopamine hit” or “adrenaline rush”. But then, and this is where it starts to go outside our socially acceptable trajectory, Éowyn does do her great deed (killing the Witch-king) and…it's not enough. Even on her recovery bed, after being brought back from the brink of death, it's acknowledged both by Éowyn and those with much wisdom around her, that she still doesn't know if she can have hope.
That is definitely the part that I think many Christians would take issue with. Aragorn's work with the athelas in the Houses of Healing is reminiscent of Jesus’s healing of so many different people. Technically, for Éowyn, “the shadow is gone and all darkness is washed clean!”, and yet she doesn't know if she can hope. Just like for us, we can believe in Jesus for salvation, but that doesn't mean any mental and emotional struggles immediately disappear. Yes, there are instances of miraculous instant healing, but I would say that for most of us, it's a slow slog through whatever besets us.
And so it was for Éowyn. At a deep healing level, the shadow was gone and she was clean, but that didn’t mean that she was immediately happy. There were many days after her healing that she spends walking the gardens in the City of Gondor while she continues to be “ailing and sorrowful”, because fighting the good fight takes time. The faithful love of Faramir is what finally brings her to a better place, and “her winter passed, and the sun shone on her.” She finally stops grasping for things to make her feel better, and declares “‘I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.’”
Throughout the course of the trilogy, we see Éowyn persevering through her struggles, but sometimes just barely…because sometimes barely is all that you can do. And when she feels she has lost all hope, there are those who come around her in support. Not telling her to get her act together and get over this already, but instead holding out hope and letting her know they’re there for her. As someone who has been there, I can tell you right now that truly no one has ever been helped by someone telling them that they should be over their pain by now. We need to learn to come aside those in pain, and sit with them. We have no idea what has shaped their suffering, and we can’t be afraid of emotions. Someday winter will pass, and the sun will shine again, but let us not presume to know that timeline for another.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15)