LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 5 - The Steward and the King

[Estelyn Telcontar]

This chapter takes us back in two respects – back to the city of Minas Tirith, after the last chapter ended on the field of Cormallen, and back in time, even before the battle began at the Black Gate. It shows us a situation that is familiar to many, probably all of us – waiting with no power to do anything to influence the coming events, and with no news of what is happening at the crucial location. I find it interesting to read that without ‘Estel’ Telcontar, there was little hope in the city.

This is also a chapter for Éowyn and Faramir fans and for Aragorn swooners!

We begin by joining Éowyn in the Houses of Healing, where her body is recovering more rapidly than her spirit. Her talk with the Warden includes some wonderful lines on healing and swords. Then she meets Faramir for the first time; he sees more than meets the eye – an indication of osanwë ability? Though he tells her later that her beauty is what attracts her to him, it is obvious that this is not all. He speaks to her with great wisdom – he is a ruler, but he will not overrule the healers, and accepts the verdict of their superior knowledge. I also see acceptance of Éowyn in his advice to use the waiting time for healing in order to be able to face whatever may come in strength. Those words precede her first softening.

I must admit, I chuckled over the fact that he asked first the Warden, then Merry about her. He shows genuine interest in desiring to know her better. Just the fact that he gives her his mother’s cloak to wear is very telling! Time passes, then halts. Joy returns, and though the citizens of the city do not yet know why, we readers do.

An Eagle comes, but this time as a messenger, not as a carrier. What do you feel when you read the words of the song he sings?

We have seen first signs of love between Éowyn and Faramir on the walls; how do Tolkien’s very restrained sentences touch you? A brief, unconscious holding of hands; the intermingled hair; the chaste kiss on the brow – I find these much more interesting than an explicit love scene would be. However, she is still not sure of her heart. It takes an almost therapeutic talk between them for her to realize what she really desires and to renounce her wishes for Aragorn’s love. Now really, gals, are there men nowadays who react with that kind of perception, or did they die out some time after the Fourth Age?! (Like Herod to the Wise Men, I’m tempted to say, “When you have found him, bring me word again, that I may come…” )

The word “barren” is used several times in this chapter, the first time when Éowyn vows to love growing things and be a healer. It applies to nature, yes, but certainly to her own life too. The other times pertain to the White Tree, and again more than that, to Aragorn’s line. He has already been crowned King, so the significance of the tree is obviously to establish his house and his heirs as future kings. Without Arwen, the House of Telcontar would remain barren, without a future.

The crowning ceremony is wonderfully described, a grand and magnificent moment for Aragorn, his friends and the people of the city. In the midst of all this loftiness and joy, Tolkien places some of his wonderfully subtle humour in the “conversation” – very one-sided! – of Ioreth and her unnamed kinswoman. This is a passage I enjoy very much!

The description of Aragorn and his clothing is not merely a fashion show moment, but deeply symbolic. Faramir counts up all of his names and titles in a list so long that I think the people welcomed the King just to put an end to it!

The Kingship brings an end to the barrenness of the city! It becomes the center not only for its kingdom or for the race of men, but for the other races as well. Aragorn swooners, beware – his judgement in the case of Beregond is truly Solomonic. He shows mercy to the former enemies of his people. And Éomer is greeted not as a vassal, but with the respect due to an ally and equal – and with the love of a wonderful friendship.

It is interesting to note that the waiting time lasts until Midsummer – I remember reading that that date was also favoured by Hobbits for weddings. Wouldn’t you have loved to see the procession of the Elves into Minas Tirith?! The last sentence of the chapter, “the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfilment” is a reference to Appendix A, The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen.

There seems to be something for everyone in this chapter – what are your favourite parts?

[davem]

The Steward

As Esty has pointed out, this chapter begins before the fall of Sauron. It is almost as if Tolkien wants to keep on re-emphasising the significance & impact of that event on all those involved. All reach the depths of despair, experience dyscatastrophe, before Eucatastrophe.

This is the darkness before dawn, the ‘dark night of the soul’ of the mystics’, the ‘night sea journey’. At the beginning of this chapter we see individuals carrying on in the face of hopelessness, not giving in to despair. The Warden of the Houses is a man who has clearly spent many years healing the sick & tending the dying. Eowyn’s gloryfication of the warrior ethic doesn’t impress him.

'There are no tidings,' said the Warden, 'save that the Lords have ridden to Morgul Vale; and men say that the new captain out of the North is their chief. A great lord is that, and a healer; and it is a thing passing strange to me that the healing hand should also wield the sword. It is not thus in Gondor now, though once it was so, if old tales be true. But for long years we healers have only sought to patch the rents made by the men of swords. Though we should still have enough to do without them: the world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.'
'It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, Master Warden,' answered Eowyn. 'And those who have not swords can still die upon them. Would you have the folk of Gondor gather you herbs only, when the Dark Lord gathers armies? And 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.'

Eowyn may have logic on her side, but one gets the sense that the Warden has heard it all before & just wishes people would stop using swords on each other. One also gets the sense that Eowyn feels the opposite. This is a typical interchange between warrior & healer, heard repeatedly in hospitals & in medical tents down the ages.

Between these two stands Faramir. Warrior he may be

He looked at her, and being a man whom pity deeply stirred, it seemed to him that her loveliness amid her grief would pierce his heart. And she looked at him and saw the grave tenderness in his eyes, 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.

but unlike her, he does not love war - for him it is a necessary evil, not a way out of one’s personal problems. Eowyn tells him she does not desire healing, but clearly she does - she just doesn’t realise it, because she doesn’t understand what form her healing will take. Faramir quickly realises that she needs time, to be gently disabused of her plan to go to the battle. He does this, basically, by telling her that if she rests she will be in a better position to fight, In short, he doesn’t belittle her desire but speaks to her in terms that she will understand & accept. Unlike all the men she has so far encountered he doesn’t tell here her place is in the home, looking after the menfolk. This is possibly the first time a man has treated her as an adult & more importantly as an equal. The result of this is interesting:

She did not answer, but as he looked at her it seemed to him that something in her softened, as though a bitter frost were yielding at the first faint presage of Spring. A tear sprang in her eye and fell down her cheek, like a glistening rain-drop. Her proud head drooped a little.

The first time she doesn’t have to ‘pretend’, to be a ‘warrior’, or an untouchable ‘Queen’, to gain respect, she doesn’t know how to respond, Its clear that for all this time she hasn’t been truly herself. Now that she can be, she doesn’t know what to do, because she doesn’t really know who she is.

The description of the mantle Faramir gives her:

They were clad in warm raiment and heavy cloaks, and over all the lady Eowyn wore a great blue mantle of the colour of deep summer-night, and it was set with silver stars about hem and throat.

made me think of the description of her healing:

hen, whether Aragorn had indeed some forgotten power of Westernesse, or whether it was but his words of the Lady Eowyn that wrought on them, 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.

An made me wonder if there might be a connection.

But still, for all Faramir’s efforts, she is full of fear & despair. She is still drawn to the darkness, but no longer willingly. She has looked into the void for so long that she cannot turn away. Still, she is beginning to think there may be light somewhere:

Let us not speak at all! I stand upon some dreadful brink, and it is utterly dark in the abyss before my feet, but whether there is any light behind me I cannot tell. For I cannot turn yet. I wait for some stroke of doom.'

Faramir understands - he has often dreamt of Numenor.

'It reminds me of Numenor,' said Faramir, and wondered to hear himself speak.
'Of Numenor?' said Eowyn.
'Yes,' said Faramir, 'of the land of Westernesse that foundered, and of the great dark wave Climbing over the green lands and above the hills, and coming on, darkness unescapable. I often dream of it.'

This may simply be a result of his Heritage - but it doesn’t seem to be a common dream among those of Numenorean descent. Both of them are haunted by the idea of a great desroying force, waiting for them, or actively pursuing them. Strangely, it is at this very moment that things change - at first it is no more than a feeling but this feeling is confirmed by the appearance of the eagle. Shippey has pointed out the similarity of the eagle’s song to the psalms of the Authorised Version of the Bible.

Some readers feel that the relationship between Faramir & Eowyn is not convincing - that it all happens too quickly, & is too much like a tying up of loose ends, I think Tolkien commented that in such despereate times people don’t have the luxury of playing games, that all acting & pretense are cast aside in the face of impending doom & individuals are more honest than they would be if they felt that they had all the time in the world. I suspect he is right, but then I was never unconvinced by the relationship of Faramir & Eowyn. They are perfect for one another. He needs her as much as she needs him. His proposal & her acceptance are the final stage in her healing. No longer lost in fantasies of being a warrior, she ‘awakens’

‘I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun,' she said; 'and behold! the Shadow has departed! 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.'

She can even tease her future husband:

'Then must I leave my own people, man of Gondor?' she said. 'And would you have your proud folk say of you: "There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North! Was there no woman of the race of Numenor to choose?" '

This is the first time we have seen this side of Eowyn. This is the real Eowyn, Dernhelm has finally been laid to rest.

Faramir, too, is finally able to be himself. He is no longer in the shadows of his brother & his father. He has known much grief, losing mother, brother & finally father. He has no-one till he meets Eowyn. She heals him as much as he heals her.

I’ll come back to The King later.....

[Lalwendë]

It was the day before Midsummer when messengers came from Amon Din to the City, and they said that there was a riding of fair folk out of the North, and they drew near now to the walls of the Pelennor. And the King said: 'At last they have come. Let all the City be made ready!'

Upon the very Eve of Midsummer, when the sky was blue as sapphire and white stars opened in the East, but the West was still golden, and the air was cool and fragrant, the riders came down the North-way to the gates of Minas Tirith. First rode Elrohir and Elladan with a banner of silver, and then came Glorfindel and Erestor and all the household of Rivendell, and after them came the Lady Galadriel and Celeborn, Lord of Lothlorien, riding upon white steeds and with them many fair folk of their land, grey-cloaked with white gems in their hair; and last came Master Elrond, mighty among Elves and Men, bearing the sceptre of Annuminas, and beside him upon a grey palfrey rode Arwen his daughter, Evenstar of her people.

And Frodo when he saw her come glimmering in the evening, with stars on her brow and a sweet fragrance about her, was moved with great wonder, and he said to Gandalf: 'At last I understand why we have waited! This is the ending. Now not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away!'

Then the King welcomed his guests, and they alighted; and Elrond surrendered his sceptre, and laid the hand of his daughter in the hand of the King, and together they went up into the High City, and all the stars flowered in the sky. And Aragorn the King Elessar wedded Arwen Undomiel in the City of the Kings upon the day of Midsummer, and the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfilment.

This to me is one of the most fairytale and the most faerie of moments in LotR. Fairytale in that we have the fair maiden, the princess, brought by her retinue to her wedding to her love, a handsome and brave King. Faerie because this is like those tales where the faeries decide to ride in procession to the world of Men; it is a significant date in the calendar, Midsummer, when betrothals made on May Day are turned into marriages. Aragorn is going to marry the Faery Queen. She travels with no less than her entire household, the heads of Lothlorien and many of their household also. On the one hand she could be seen as something of a diva for not travelling lightly , but this is Arwen, the last high born Elf to be born in Middle-earth, and her marriage is also an incredible sacrifice for her kin. Marrying Aragorn she will never see her family again, not even after death, as the Elves are bound to the world, while she, as a mortal, will go with Aragorn beyond its boundaries. You could expect no less than such a retinue for this marriage.

This makes a a nice contrast to the ballad Tam Lin where the Faery Queen rides in procession with her court and Tam Lin himself, held under a bewitchment; the human maiden, Janet, has to wrestle him from his horse and keep him from the Queen. But here the faeries are benign, their procession is grand, but they are instead giving up one of their own rather than taking one of humankind.

But even Aragorn is revealed in this chapter as something out of the ordinary. Eomer remarks:

Since the day when you rose before me out of the green grass of the downs I have loved you

But when Aragorn arose all that beheld him gazed in silence, for it seemed to them that he was revealed to them now for the first time. Tall as the sea-kings of old, he stood above all that were near; ancient of days he seemed and yet in the flower of manhood; and wisdom sat upon his brow, and strength and healing were in his hands, and a light was about him.

Eomer views Aragorn not only as a friend and ally but as a remnant of legend or history; he rises out of the very earth itself. The impression he got when he first met Aragorn has not been forgotten; Aragorn's reputation is already legendary even amongst his close friends, which bodes well for his kingship. When he is crowned, this seemingly ordinary man is revealed for who he really is. He even shines with light.

The obvious pairing to compare this couple with are Faramir and Eowyn, utterly extraordinary in themselves yet very ordinary in their hopes for the future, to live in peace and "dwell in fair Ithilien and there make a garden". Tolkien holds this contrasting couple up as equally noble, equally worthy. We see them at the beginning of their relationship so we see the passions in contrast to the ceremony that is shown with Aragorn and Arwen, yet even here we see a hint of their own love in "the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfilment". The fiery and active Aragorn marries the peaceful and cool Arwen, while the quiet and thoughtful Faramir marries the passionate and imaginative Eowyn.

I also find it touching that both women have been incredibly vulnerable and yet have won through. Arwen has known that she can never marry the man she loves unless he becomes King, a seemingly impossible task the fate of which has hung on the fate of the Ring; and through marriage she has also known that she will lose her father and family. Eowyn has been living an increasingly desperate life and after an equally desperate love for an unobtainable man she has, at a basic level, finally taken extreme action to do something about the frustration she feels. Eowyn has been given the opportunity for freedom while she is in the Houses of Healing and has had time to truly think about herself. I don't think either of them have 'given up' by accepting marriage. Arwen has made a brave and very final choice, while Eowyn has found peace and someone who accepts her for who she really is.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

The description of Aragorn at his crowning brings to mind the passage from Appendix A that tells of his death:

Then a great beauty was revealed in him, so that all who after came there looked on him in wonder; for they saw that the grace of his youth, and the valour of his manhood, and the wisdom and majesty of his age were blended together. And long there he lay, an image of the splendour of the Kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.

They don't make them like that anymore... *sigh*

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

OK, I'll be the one to say it:

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.' And again she looked at Faramir. 'No longer do I desire to be a queen,' she said.

Then Faramir laughed merrily. 'That is well,' he said; 'for I am not a king. Yet I will wed with the White Lady of Rohan, if it be her will. And if she will, then let us cross the River and in happier days let us dwell in fair Ithilien and there make a garden. All things will grow with joy there, if the White Lady comes.'

I've always foudn that this moment -- and, truth be told, this chapter -- strikes something of a discordant note with me. It's obvioulsy the 'feminine' pairing of the previous more 'masculine' chapter: the 'home front' and those who got left behind as the others marched out to war. The previous chapter celebrated the men who saved the world, this chapter celebrates the women who helpe them along the way. Certainly, that's too simplistic a split, but there's enough truth in it that I think it sticks.

This is the chapter with the 'most' women in a way: Eowyn marries Faramir, and Arwen marries Aragorn and in each case you have a woman who is forsaking her previous identity for the sake of a man. And in each case you have a woman who is becoming lesser in a way. Don't get me wrong, you could do a lot worse than to marry Faramir or Aragorn, and I have no doubt that Eowyn and Arwen are happy and the better for it, but I find it disenchanting how the women have to give up so much to marry, while the men gain everything they've always wanted (and deserved).

I find this most distressing with Eowyn, insofar as what she gives up is the very character and dynamic presence that has made her so interesting in the story. I think it's safe to say that Eowyn is a favourite with most of the book's readers, and I daresay that what they -- like I -- like about her is her tragic and impassioned outcry against the constraints that are thrown about women in her world...and yet here at the end she gives up that tragic and impassioned outcry and happily adopts that constrained identity. It is just too jarring.

I think the aspect of this moment that I find the most difficult to accept is Eowyn's clear belief that to give up on her desire to be a queen is the equivalent of forsaking any desire to have power other than a very traditionally 'feminine' sort (healing, etc). It's almost as though she is saying that her desire for 'masculine' modes of power and action (agency) are as innappropriate as her desire to become queen -- that her desire to move in a male realm of action is a kind of usurpation of a role that is not hers by rights.

And I still remember quite vividly my thundering shock when Arwen arrives and Aragorn marries her -- I had no idea from the text that they were engaged. In subsequent readings I see that there are clues, but Tolkien's decision to relegate the love story to the Appendix confounds me. It is a rare case in which -- I think -- his art fails.

That's what I find so disappointing in this chapter: I don't mind a more conservative view of women -- I read a lot of very old books and I'm familiar with it, and that alone certainly does not make me react to a story negatively. What does jar with me so much in this chapter is that Tolkien's own view of women is such that even though his story seems to be leading him one way (that is, giving his women characters more space and agency) the narrative goes against that (that is, puts them 'back in their place'). It's almost as though the story began to get away from him somewhat, and he had to 'force' it back into the shape that he found the only one acceptable: an Eowyn who does not give up her martial heroism is something that he could not imagine (even though it would have made perfect sense in the story); an Arwen who is Aragorn's equal in the story is something that can be acknowleged only in the Appendix.

So I'm not 'bashing' Tolkien for his views of women -- I do disagree with them, but it is his story and he can portray them in any way he likes (just as I can reject that portrayal). But I do fault him for the unrealistic characterisation in regard to Eowyn ("Oh, I shall be the Lady in White! Why? Not sure, I just will be!") and the sloppy narrative in regard to Arwen ("Here comes Arwen!" "Who?" "Arargon's one true love!" "Never heard him mention her...").

[Aiwendil]

Fordim: I half agree with you.

About Eowyn: I am also unsettled by the way in which this chapter seems to "put Eowyn back in her place". I go back and forth on whether this is a flaw, though. A few points that I think might be made in defense of Eowyn's development here:

1. Her transformation is not altogether distinct from the post-war transformation that affects all the characters - male and female. With the war over, it is not only Eowyn that will be putting away her arms.

2. I think that to some extent her change here may be seen not as forsaking her earlier ideals, but rather as coming to terms with the establishment. Like so many young radicals, she has come to a point in her life where she has decided that there are things she'd rather do than lash out against society's inequitites. Whether this is the acquisition of wisdom or the betrayal of idealism is an open question.

3. Whether Eowyn's change is a good thing or a bad, it is believable. The portrayal of sexism, or of sexist attitudes, need not be sexist itself; and often it is in fact necessary for the sake of believability, since such attitudes do actually exist.

But none of these is a compelling argument, for Eowyn's transformation is indeed portrayed as a good thing.

About Arwen: Here I disagree. I'm glad that Tolkien didn't spend any more time of the Aragorn/Arwen story. I think there's a danger in writing of trying to make each character's motivations and inner feelings as evident as possible; this can, counter-intuitively, make characters less deep, less interesting, because it gives the reader the impression that he or she knows the character thoroughly. Too much emphasis on his romance with Arwen would have made Aragorn's character too transparent, in my opinion.

Also, as Tolkien's love stories go, I must say that I've always found the Aragorn/Arwen story fairly dull. If it were of the caliber of Beren/Luthien or Turin/Finduilas or Aredhel/Eol I think spending more time on it would be justified. But in my view it's not substantial enough to sustain much more development.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

Too much emphasis on his romance with Arwen would have made Aragorn's character too transparent

Agreed, but what about some or even any emphasis on same?

I think the comparison of Aragorn's story with Sam's is a good illustration of why I find this aspect of the tale so uncompelling. Sam's romance with Rosie is equally obscured but this, I think, makes narrative sense insofar as Sam's return to the Shire is his own shocking and surprising return to the promise of his later life: the reader, like Sam, is jolted into recognition that now it's time for Sam to get on with things and marry his sweetheart. But the situation could not be more different with Aragorn and Arwen: whereas Sam left the Shire not having said anything to Rose about his intention to ask for her to marry him, Aragorn has been spending the last, what is it, 60 or 70 years of his life doing everything he can to become worthy of Arwen! True, there is a danger that if Tolkien had dwelled upon Aragorn's hopeless love for Arwen it would seem as though he helps Frodo for the sake of the girl alone, and not for the more complex motives of love, duty, honour and hope. But I think that an artist of Tolkien's calibre could have struck that balance quite well...had he tried.

The more I think about this, the more I begin to think that perhaps in this regard the film actually does a more credible job than the book in telling the story, insofar as Viggagorn is a man who is clearly motivated by a dual desire to save Gondor and marry the girl of his dreams. In Tolkien's way of telling the tale, motive one comes out loud and clear, but motive two is a jarring surprise.

*Pauses for a moment with the last paragraph highlighted, his fingers above the delete button....clicks 'Submit' instead*

[davem]

Originally Posted by Fordim

I find this most distressing with Eowyn, insofar as what she gives up is the very character and dynamic presence that has made her so interesting in the story.

Aren't you confusing what she does with why she does it? You seem to be implying that she was by nature & inclination a warrior, that she was happy & fullfilled in that role.

My reading is different. It seems to me she becomes a warrior because she cannot see any other way out of her situation. She ends up happily married to a man she loves, with a fulfilling, creative role. What is the alternative - would you prefer that she continued living on the battlefield, killing orcs & probably dying at the hands of one of them, bleeding her life away into the mud?

Eowyn the Shieldmaiden is a great character to read about, but if you put yourself in her place, what's so attractive about such a life?

She went to war not because she wanted to fight but because she wanted to die & win some renown in the process, to prove herself 'worthy' in terms of her culture.

What, exactly, does Eowyn 'give up' that's worth having?

Edit

The King

Faramir met Aragorn in the midst of those there assembled, and he knelt, and said: 'The last Steward of Gondor begs leave to surrender his office.' And he held out a white rod; but Aragorn took the rod and gave it back, saying: 'That office is not ended, and it shall be thine and thy heirs' as long as my line shall last. Do now thy office!'

This incident with the staff is interesting. In an earlier draft Faramir broke his white rod upon his knee in front of Aragorn, apparently in token of his surrendering of the Stewardship. It seems Tolkien had in mind that this was a ritual action, performed by all the Stewards (something suggested in a talk at Birmingham) - which sheds a certain light on Denethor’s action in Rath Dinen.

Then Aragorn took the crown and held it up and said:
Et Earello Endorenna utulien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta!
And those were the words that Elendil spoke when he came up out of the Sea on the wings of the wind: 'Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.'

Its also interesting to consider the sub text here. Aragorn uses the words of Elendil to begin his kingship. Is this simply an appeal to tradition, or something more? Aragorn cannot claim the kingship by right of inheritance - he’s the heir of Isildur, not of Anarion. What he seems to be doing is to focus the people’s minds on the father of both Isildur & Anarion. This kind of sidelines Anarion, with Aragorn claiming descent not from Isildur but from Elendil - a subtle re-writing of history, perhaps?

In his time the City was made more fair than it had ever been, even in the days of its first glory; and it was filled with trees and with fountains, and its gates were wrought of mithril and steel, and its streets were paved with white marble; and the Folk of the Mountain laboured in it, and the Folk of the Wood rejoiced to come there; and all was healed and made good, and the houses were filled with men and women and the laughter of children, and no window was blind nor any courtyard empty; and after the ending of the Third Age of the world into the new age it preserved the memory and the glory of the years that were gone.

This is probably a later interpolation, depicting Elessar as the ideal king, almost a kind of ‘And the all lived happilly ever after’. It reads like the words of someone looking back nostalgically to a perfect time, long gone. We seem to have left behind the historical account & are being given the ‘fairytale’ It is ‘Camelot’.

Aragorn begins his rule with wisdom & compassion (who doesn’t shed a tear when they read his judgement of Beregond?). But he also shows a clever grasp of realpolitik in his treatment of his defeted enemies. Clearly his mind is on ensuring the safety & continuation of his realm, rather than in taking vengeance on his former foes.

The finding of the White Tree is the symbol of the resurgeance of Gondor, of the Numenorean Realms, but it plays another role, along with the Mallorn that Sam will plant in the Shire (interesting that both places come to have a tree as an object of ‘veneration’) The tree of Gondor is white or ‘silver’ that of the Shire is ‘golden’. The story of Middle-earth begins & ends with two trees, as if Middle-earth is itself redeemed & brought into alignment with the Blessed Realm, the Earthly Paradise. Melkor destroyed the Two Trees, but their images will now stand in Middle-earth, courtesy of Aragorn the king & Samwise the Gardener.

(One last thought: Gandalf told Denethor that he was also a 'Steward' - I wonder if the title of this chapter has a dual meaning, encompassing both Faramir & Aragorn and Gandalf & Aragorn?)

[B]A good question of Davem does somebody know what Gandalf meaned when he said he was also a steward[/B]
I don't think Gandalf said that without reason.

[Bêthberry]

Oh, gosh. *sniffle, sniffle* Don't you all just love a beautiful wedding? And two! *hands around the kleenexes* And the brides both look so lovely, don't they?

Shakespeare had it all wrong. Faramir is the kind of man who tames the shrew, not Petruccio.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Oh, gosh. *sniffle, sniffle* Don't you all just love a beautiful wedding? And two! *hands around the kleenexes* And the brides both look so lovely, don't they?

Shakespeare had it all wrong. Faramir is the kind of man who tames the shrew, not Petruccio.

As usual, Bb's glib comments have sparked an actual non-glib idea...

I'm not sure that Petruccio and Faramir really depend upon tactics that are all that different. Petruccio isolates Kate from her family and her homeland, reduces her to a state of physical weakness with lack of sleep and food, and then teaches her the value of a good joke. Now let's see, Eowyn is:

1) trapped in the Houses of Healing in Minas Tirith; uncle dead, love interest and brother gone to war,

2) physically weakened by her battle with the Nazgul and fading fast,

3) preternaturally grim until Faramir is able to lighten her mood and convince her to laugh.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Fordim

I find this most distressing with Eowyn, insofar as what she gives up is the very character and dynamic presence that has made her so interesting in the story. I think it's safe to say that Eowyn is a favourite with most of the book's readers, and I daresay that what they -- like I -- like about her is her tragic and impassioned outcry against the constraints that are thrown about women in her world...and yet here at the end she gives up that tragic and impassioned outcry and happily adopts that constrained identity. It is just too jarring.

I think the aspect of this moment that I find the most difficult to accept is Eowyn's clear belief that to give up on her desire to be a queen is the equivalent of forsaking any desire to have power other than a very traditionally 'feminine' sort (healing, etc). It's almost as though she is saying that her desire for 'masculine' modes of power and action (agency) are as innappropriate as her desire to become queen -- that her desire to move in a male realm of action is a kind of usurpation of a role that is not hers by rights.

Looking at the text from a feminist perspective this is exactly what you would see, but there are different things to see. I never get the feeling that Eowyn has in any way 'sold out' when she agrees to living a quieter life, partly because I saw her episode as a warrior as somewhat symbolic.

Eowyn could be viewed as representative of Tolkien's view of what war did to a certain type of person. She is a person without purpose before Aragorn comes along, she is also trapped, and very much told what to do with her life. Along comes Aragorn, a man stepped right out of myth and legend as Eomer sees him, and quite likely this is how Eowyn too views him. He walks in to Edoras as an inspiring figure, and she is most definitely inspired. She becomes an Ara-fan.

Eowyn loves Aragorn, but in what way does she love him? If Eowyn had been a youth she might well have fallen in love with Aragorn all the same, and just the same, she might have yearned to go off and fight with him, or at the very least, for him. When Aragorn is through with inspiring the Men of Rohan, off he goes, but he will not allow Eowyn to come along - she has another role to fulfill as he sees it. Likewise, her Uncle has given her the important job of looking after Rohan in his absence. In this respect, Eowyn is like the younger son of a king, the one who is the 'spare' to the 'heir'; she could also be seen as a page, told to stay behind and look after the tents when battle looms.

Nevertheles she goes off to fight, and in the battle with the Witch King she is hurt. She revelas she is a woman on the battlefield as if to underline her difference to the seasoned soldiers, and in the Houses of Healing, again Tolkien underlines her beauty and her fragility.

What this all reminds me of is a message about war. Eowyn is a figure to represent the young who race off to war, fervent and keen, but not necessarily understanding that death really is final; it might be glorious, but it is also grim and dirty. In WWI there were many youths who lied about their age so they could fight. In WW2, young men fresh from their grammar schools were recruited to be RAF crew, the more 'glamorous' end of the British armed forces; many of them died on their first mission, few lived through a whole campaign. I'm sure there are stories like this from every war.

Rather than being a miraculous virago/amazon figure, instead I find that Eowyn represents more the young man with his passion to fight, to do his bit, stirred by inspiring tales or leaders to sign up. Then she is shown to play her part, but to be hurt in the process.

Pairing her with Faramir is even more interesting, as he seems to represent the experienced soldier who has 'seen it all'. He has seen the fervent youths join up and be killed. To him, war is something which must be got through in one piece, something to be survived. When he meets Eowyn, on a symbolic level it is like the meeting of the older soldier with the younger one, and his greater experience of war, of the grim realities of war, brings into focus the experiences the other has just gone through.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Lalwende

Pairing her with Faramir is even more interesting, as he seems to represent the experienced soldier who has 'seen it all'. He has seen the fervent youths join up and be killed. To him, war is something which must be got through in one piece, something to be survived. When he meets Eowyn, on a symbolic level it is like the meeting of the older soldier with the younger one, and his greater experience of war, of the grim realities of war, brings into focus the experiences the other has just gone through.

Made me think of The Homecoming of Beortnoth, & the conversation between Torthelm, the idealistic young man with a head full of heroic lays, & Tidwald, the old soldier who knows the reality of war:

TORTHELM: Offa! he's silenced. Not all liked him;
Many would have muzzled him, had master let them
'There are cravens at council that crow proudly
with the hearts of hens'; so I hear he said
at the Lords meeting. As lays remind us:
'What at the mead man vows, when morning comes
let him with deeds answer, or his drink vomit
and a sot be shown.' But the songs wither,
and the world worsens. & the lazy thralls,
cooks & sutlers! By the Cross, Tida,
I loved him no less than any lord with him;
and a poor freeman may prove in the end
more tough when tested than titled earls
who count back their kin to kings ere Woden.

TIDWALD: 'You can talk, Totta! Your time'll come,
& it'll look less easy than lays make it.
Bitter taste has iron, & the bite of swords
is cruel & cold, when you come to it.
The God guard you, if your glees falter!
When your shield is shivered, between shame & death
is hard choosing.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Rather than being a miraculous virago/amazon figure, instead I find that Eowyn represents more the young man with his passion to fight, to do his bit, stirred by inspiring tales or leaders to sign up. Then she is shown to play her part, but to be hurt in the process.

So the only way to make her an interesting character whose transformation makes sense is to remove her gender completely? Eowyn is interesting and compelling because she is not 'really' a woman at all, but a stand in for a kind or type of masculinity?

Hmmmmmmm

[Alphaelin]

Yay, I got back home in time to join the discussion of this chapter! Faramir and Eowyn are two of my favorite characters. I suppose I am a Faramir swooner -- looks, kindness, courage, integrity -- sigh. No wonder I lost my heart to him when I was fourteen, lol.

I enjoy the idea of Faramir trying to pump both the Warden and Merry for information about Eowyn right after their first meeting, too. I'm not sure if it's osanwë ability or an immediate crush, though.

All swooning aside, the Faramir/Eowyn story draws me in more than the Aragorn/Arwen story, simply because it is more fleshed out. You get an idea that as they are meeting and talking every day, their mutual liking and respect is growing into love, albeit unrecognized by Eowyn at first. Then there's that wonderful description as they wait for 'they know not what':

And so they stood on the walls of the City of Gondor, and a great wind rose and blew, and their hair, raven and golden, streamed out mingling in the air.

To me, this sentence foreshadows the 'mingling' of their souls in marriage and is a beautiful image.

Originally Posted by Fordim
I find this most distressing with Eowyn, insofar as what she gives up is the very character and dynamic presence that has made her so interesting in the story.

How interesting that you think the masculine 'warrior role' is so much more interesting and dynamic than the traditional female 'healer role', Fordim I know a lot of doctors and nurses who might not agree with you.

Like Lalwende , I think there is some symbolism that can be attached to Eowyn's development, but I guess my ideas focus on how she sees her masculine/feminine sides. Prior to her entrance into the story in TTT, Eowyn was forced into the role of Theoden's caregiver, in which her role "seemed more ignoble than that of the staff he leaned on", while the boys all got to go outside and play with their spears and horsies and chase Orcs. This is the stereotypical 'traditional female role' where the woman's job is to be quiet and wait on the menfolk. As an outlet for her feminine side, it is an exerise in frustration for her. When, in her despair, she takes up her sword and follows Theoden into battle, there is an element of following her masculine side. She's able to harness her 'masculine' skills with tremendous success, but finds that living through her masculine side brings her the fame she wanted, yet not the love she wanted.

Finally, when she is able to accept and return the love of Faramir she is willing to turn to her feminine side again, possibly because she feels Faramir values all of her. He never asks her to give up her sword! Now she's going to learn the skills of healing, just as she learned the skills of riding and swordplay. She ends her story with the prospect of living as a woman in balance, having the powers of both life and death in her hands. In this way, she is the perfect match for Faramir, who already has been described as balancing love of lore and his own skills as an officer.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Fordim

So the only way to make her an interesting character whose transformation makes sense is to remove her gender completely? Eowyn is interesting and compelling because she is not 'really' a woman at all, but a stand in for a kind or type of masculinity?

Not at all. I think Tolkien wished to show (not just through Eowyn) the horror of warfare through the effects it had on a character. He could have had Eomer's younger brother, a young man filled with ideas about what war might do for him, about how doing great deeds, maybe even dying, would somehow fill the emptiness of his life. Instead Tolkien did something much more interesting. Instead of giving Eomer a younger brother, he gave him a sister. Having a woman on the battlefield even more sharply delineates the horrors of war, with our preconceived ideas about women participating in violent acts being somehow far more horrific - which are still strong to this day. And it also makes an interesting comparison with Faramir, who fights, but does not wish to fight.

Eowyn's take up of arms only more keenly demonstrates the horrors which Middle-earth faces. It does not matter if she is male or female, as she is there to represent youth, but the fact that she is a woman makes the image all the more powerful.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I'm sorry Lal but I'm just not on board with you here -- again, the comparison you are making is between Eowyn and an imaginary masculine figure (a younger brother) so it seems to me that you are still trying to 'rescue' Eowyn by having her stand in for a man. The fact that it is "more horrific" to see a woman at war than a man (and I'm not even sure that I agree with this, but I get that you are playing off of popular stereotypes without wanting to agree with them yourself) still doesn't alter the fact that you are seeing Eowyn's move into war as an essentiall masculine move: i.e. that she does not -- as a woman -- belong there and thus it is terrible that she goes there. I know, I know, nobody "belongs" in a war, but it's still pretty clear in the text and in your argument that men are more "properly" the warriors when forced into it.

So my original quibble with the narrative stands: Eowyn begins by rebelling against her constrained role as a woman by violating the boundaries put up between female and male by going to war; but she ends by announcing that it was wrong of her to go to war because she is a woman, and thus needs to move back into the constrained role that she originally rebelled against. Don't get me wrong, though, her life is immeasurably better being married to Faramir than under the thumb of Grima!! I just wish the transition had been more complex and allowed Eowyn some way to integrate her two identities (female/healer/home and male/warrior/road) rather than reject the latter in favour of a better version of the former.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Fordim

but she ends by announcing that it was wrong of her to go to war because she is a woman, and thus needs to move back into the constrained role that she originally rebelled against.

I don't see she did that. She does say she will be a Shieldmaiden no longer, but will become a healer instead.

I just wish the transition had been more complex and allowed Eowyn some way to integrate her two identities (female/healer/home and male/warrior/road) rather than reject the latter in favour of a better version of the former.

Hmmm.

Apropos of absolutely nothing - I used to work with a man who was obsessed with the movie 'Aliens', to the extent that he had a recurring dream of Ripley 'all tooled up', as he put it.

(Wouldn't want anyone to think I'm suggesting that Fordim has an unhealthy obession with Miranda Otto in chainmail carrying a big sword, or anything )

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Originally Posted by davem

(Wouldn't want anyone to think I'm suggesting that Fordim has an unhealthy obession with Miranda Otto in chainmail carrying a big sword, or anything )

It's not unhealthy!

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by davem

Apropos of absolutely nothing - I used to work with a man who was obsessed with the movie 'Aliens', to the extent that he had a recurring dream of Ripley 'all tooled up', as he put it.

(Wouldn't want anyone to think I'm suggesting that Fordim has an unhealthy obession with Miranda Otto in chainmail carrying a big sword, or anything )

Well, there are a fair few Tolkien artists who have depicted Eowyn as a muscled amazonian uber-babe with strategically ripped outfits, so it's not uncommon...

Originally Posted by Fordim

Eowyn begins by rebelling against her constrained role as a woman by violating the boundaries put up between female and male by going to war; but she ends by announcing that it was wrong of her to go to war because she is a woman, and thus needs to move back into the constrained role that she originally rebelled against. Don't get me wrong, though, her life is immeasurably better being married to Faramir than under the thumb of Grima!! I just wish the transition had been more complex and allowed Eowyn some way to integrate her two identities (female/healer/home and male/warrior/road) rather than reject the latter in favour of a better version of the former.

This depends on whether you think Eowyn was specifically rebelling against a feminine role laid down for her or not. Remember she was originally supposed to have been left as leader of Rohan while the King was away - a role which might have been expected to have gone to one of the Marshalls. And I also think that in her going to war, it was not necessarily an act of rebellion, but more of desperation. It was also in no small way inspired by Aragorn's leadership; she sought the glory which he represented in her eyes. It makes me think that Aragorn may have represented her animus in some way and have stirred this up.

The other point is that being a healer in Middle-earth is most definitely not a prescribed feminine role. The best healer in Middle-earth seems to be Elrond, and Aragorn himself is extremely skilled in the art.

[Alphaelin]

Lalwendë wrote:

It was also in no small way inspired by Aragorn's leadership; she sought the glory which he represented in her eyes. It makes me think that Aragorn may have represented her animus in some way and have stirred this up.

Excellent point, Lal! I hadn't taken it quite that far, but it makes sense to me. And I agree with your next sentence:

The other point is that being a healer in Middle-earth is most definitely not a prescribed feminine role. The best healer in Middle-earth seems to be Elrond, and Aragorn himself is extremely skilled in the art.

Not to mention the Chief Warden of the Houses of Healing.

I think the main reason that Eowyn's integration of her anima & animus are incomplete in LOTR is that much as some of us love her, she is one of JRRT's supporting characters, so he's not going to spend as much time fleshing her out as he does the Hobbits, for example, or Aragorn. LOTR is about the Quest, not a love story, and even the plotline of 'Aragorn and Arwen' takes a back seat to the main story. At least Eowyn has a quest of her own, not like poor Arwen, who is relegated to an appearance in Imladris, a reference in Lorien and then, hey presto! shows up in time to provide the reader with a wedding and the assumption that Aragorn will have heirs of his body to inherit the North and South Kingdoms. Pretty poor treatment of a High Elven princess and the Evenstar of her people!

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Alphaelin

I think the main reason that Eowyn's integration of her anima & animus are incomplete in LOTR is that much as some of us love her, she is one of JRRT's supporting characters, so he's not going to spend as much time fleshing her out as he does the Hobbits, for example, or Aragorn.

Yes! It's a shame that we do not get to see more of Eowyn, and Faramir for that matter, as both these characters are very complex with real hang-ups and problems, and strong inner personalities which struggle for expression. That's the impression I get, anyway. Whoever says that Tolkien's characters are flat and dull ought to be pointed to look at these two (and, for that matter, Gollum and Frodo).

One thing to remember about Eowyn is that she is a young woman, and Tolkien underlines this fact. She still seems to be learning about the ways of the world, and she still has her dreams. Those dreams have been damaged at an early age, and she is filled with anger by this. Perhaps an older woman may have taken this more stoically? Perhaps not? It might be worth discussing if Eowyn's age is relevant to her actions, as I have found that as I grow older myself, I feel differently about her in the light of my own experience.

[Lathriel]

As a fan of Eowyn and Faramir I also would have liked to read more about their relationship and how Faramir healed Eowyn.
I always shed a few tears because it is all so beautiful. The romance, the crowning, the fellowship as close to complete as it can be if only for a little while.
And Faramir...well, his relationship with Eowyn is so Romantic! If that happened to me I would swoon. (read the last part of Morte D'arthur, all the characters do there is swoon) Well maybe not but I would certainly be very touched.
I have no problem with Eowyn denouncing her former want to be a queen because I think it would not make her happy at all. She wanted to be queen before so that she wasn't helpless and she hoped it would bring her happiness. However, when Faramir came along she realized that that was no longer the caseand she also realized that she would never find true happiness with Aragorn. After Theoden's death and the other horrors she experienced I don't think it is a good idea to return to the battlefield. Although she has been healed she will always remember the trauma she went through during and after the Pelennor fields.

[Guinevere]

I started writing this contribution ages ago, but got interrupted at the time, and now I suddenly found the draft gain, so I decided to post it after all. (I don't know if anyone will read this, after all that time... )

This is one of my favourite chapters, since I belong to the category of “Faramir swooners” and am a hopeless romantic. So this beautiful, subtle lovestory appeals very much to me!

Here is something I noticed but nobody here commented on it:
As I read Eowyn’s words to the warden .

“…and those who have not swords can still die upon them.”

I was immediately reminded of the words in the Bible:

“all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”

What Eowyn says sounds almost like a reply to those words as well as to the words of the warden! I cannot believe that Tolkien wasn’t aware of that... What do you think?

I read with interest the discussion about Eowyn “forsaking her previous identity” and “diminishing” by marrying Faramir and becoming a healer.

Originally posted by Davem:
My reading is different. It seems to me she becomes a warrior because she cannot see any other way out of her situation. She ends up happily married to a man she loves, with a fulfilling, creative role. What is the alternative - would you prefer that she continued living on the battlefield, killing orcs & probably dying at the hands of one of them, bleeding her life away into the mud?

Eowyn the Shieldmaiden is a great character to read about, but if you put yourself in her place, what's so attractive about such a life?

She went to war not because she wanted to fight but because she wanted to die & win some renown in the process, to prove herself 'worthy' in terms of her culture.

What, exactly, does Eowyn 'give up' that's worth having?

I agree very much with what Davem and Lalwendë and Alphaelin have written!

Originally posted by Fordim Hedgethistle:
And I still remember quite vividly my thundering shock when Arwen arrives and Aragorn marries her -- I had no idea from the text that they were engaged. In subsequent readings I see that there are clues, but Tolkien's decision to relegate the love story to the Appendix confounds me. It is a rare case in which -- I think -- his art fails.

Hm, I suspected something between these two when I read about Aragorn’s dreamy behaviour on Cerin Amroth and his words “Arwen vanimelda, Namarië!”
And then I browsed in the Appendices long before finishing the book (I was just too curious ) and read the story of Aragorn and Arwen. So the wedding didn’t come as a surprise to me, but too bad I read the sad ending too!

Originally posted by Lalwendë:
Yes! It's a shame that we do not get to see more of Eowyn, and Faramir for that matter, as both these characters are very complex with real hang-ups and problems, and strong inner personalities which struggle for expression. That's the impression I get, anyway. Whoever says that Tolkien's characters are flat and dull ought to be pointed to look at these two (and, for that matter, Gollum and Frodo).

Yet I know several people who think that Faramir is too perfect, that he isn’t believable because he seems to have no flaws… (This was PJ’s argument for the alteration of Faramir’s character in the movies as well )
Well, he may be an ideal, but he came very much “alive” for me in the book. So I quite agree with Lalwendë! I think Faramir’s most extraordinary character trait is his perceptiveness and compassion.(Also commented upon by Beregond) He recognizes better than Eowyn herself what is going on in her mind!

I thought it also interesting that he, as a descendant of Númenor, had this recurring nightmare about the great dark wave drowning everything. (And stupid of the scriptwriters to give those words in the movie to Eowyn, in quite a different setting¨)
Even more interesting is what Tolkien writes in one of his letters

from letter #163….I have what some might call an Atlantis complex. Possibly inherited, though my parents died too young for me to know such things about them, and too young to transfer such things by words. Inherited from me (I suppose) by one only of my children, though I did not know that about my son until recently, and he did not know it about me. I mean the terrible recurrent dream (beginning with memory) of the Great Wave, towering up, and coming in ineluctably over the trees and green fields. (I bequeathed it to Faramir.) I don’t think I have had it since I wrote the “Downfall of Númenor” as the last of the legends of the First and Second Age.

[Lathriel]

Well, Guinevere, I did read your post and I really liked it.

I read somewhere that somebody(sorry don't remember who) said that he/she didn't see the marriage of Arwen and Aragorn coming. I di see it somewhat since there were hints. However, I like it that Tolkien didn't tell us straight off that Arwen and Aragorn were engaged because this adds more suspense(for lack of a better word) to the story of Eowyn and Aragorn.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Its also interesting to consider the sub text here. Aragorn uses the words of Elendil to begin his kingship. Is this simply an appeal to tradition, or something more? Aragorn cannot claim the kingship by right of inheritance - he’s the heir of Isildur, not of Anarion. What he seems to be doing is to focus the people’s minds on the father of both Isildur & Anarion. This kind of sidelines Anarion, with Aragorn claiming descent not from Isildur but from Elendil - a subtle re-writing of history, perhaps?

He is certainly invoking Elendil here, but precisely because his claim as High King *is* legitimate. Elendil was king of Arnor and Gondor both, but deputed the rule of the South-kingdom to his sons jointly; when Isildur took up his father's sceptre he likewise deputed Gondor to his nephew: but the senior line retained the High-Kingship of both realms. At the time Arvedui advanced this agrgument the Council of Gondor was able to dig up Earnur, but by TA 3019 there's no doubt that the line of Anarion is extinct!

[Formendacil]

Rereading the previous chapter, I was struck by the number of those for whom "The Field of Cormallen" was their most deeply moving chapter. And I get it, but that sentiment for me is far stronger in "The Steward and the King." At least this time through, this was the chapter that made me emotional as I read it.

Some of this, no doubt, is the romance of Faramir and Eowyn, which receives the barest of glances in the film (and I tend to cherish whatever the films neglected), and some of it is the wonder of the Elves coming and Aragorn's midsummer night dream, but I think it is, more than anything else, the restoration of the King that affects me.

Minas Tirith is the one character present throughout the chapter. She waits, with Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry for tidings of the army, and rejoices when the eagles bring word. She is the one reborn and made glorious, welcoming back all her children (side-note: what a bittersweet moment the return of the newly-widowed and half-orphaned must have been. Many men of Gondor had died since they were sent away to Lossarnach and beyond). She is the one hallowed by a new White Tree and the visit of the Elves, who enters a new, unrivalled golden age.