

Of course she does not wish to appear like a little girl before him but her defences remain firm against hope. This sternness and gentleness so wonderfully combined in one man she has met before in Aragorn and as with Aragorn she knows that Faramir is a mighty warrior, tested in battle. She guessed that this tall man, both stern and gentle, might think her merely wayward, like a child that has not the firmness of mind to go on with a dull task to the end.” Her first words are proud but “her heart faltered, and for the first time she doubted herself. She might become embittered, vengeful and cruel or she might take the road of despair just as Denethor did.Īnd then she meets Faramir in The Houses of Healing and everything begins to be transformed within her. The danger for her soul is that the darkness that she believes to be her fate might yet become a choice. She cannot ride with the host to battle with Mordor as she did before and so she is condemned to wait, longing for the safe return of her brother whom she loves but refusing to hope for herself again. She will not risk to hope for herself again. Since that moment she has sought death in battle believing that this is the only escape for her from dishonour and misery. Aragorn chose the Paths of the Dead as he was destined to do and he rejected her love, even refusing to take her with him as the shieldmaiden that she believed herself to be. She would become a queen, adored by the world and untouched by her past.Īnd then her fragile dream was snatched away. She allowed herself to believe that he would take her away from her unhappiness to a place of glory. Briefly a door opened into her inner darkness and the glorious light that is Aragorn shone into her heart. At least in part she regards herself as a woman from “a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor among their dogs”. The years of hopeless misery in the halls of Théoden as he became a shrivelled figure dominated by the whispering of Wormtongue have left their mark upon her.



She has not said the great “Yes!” of her life to the dark.īut her soul is in danger. Happily this is not the path that Éowyn has taken. Sauron has made his choice and it is fixed for ever. Why would we want to be unhappy, to choose thoughts of darkness, even to seek out death? Why would we choose to build defences against the light, using all our strength to try to keep it out? There are some, like Sauron, who have chosen the dark, believing that the light is some small, temporary and fragile thing that must ultimately fail against the overwhelming power that is darkness.
