#eomund and theodwyn you ARE the parents!

[mummelthecryptid]

eowyn realising she inherited the worst traits of her parents,,, eowyn who sees her fathers recklessness reflected in herself knowing it brought him death. Eowyn who knows that while her mothers despair was visible in the way she slowly rotted away, her own resulted in her trying to get herself killed in battle.

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

I've just finished reading 'Unwary'.

This was amazing - thank you for writing and sharing, and thank you for tagging me!

I can certainly sympathize with Theodwyn's view on Eomund. The things that make a man exciting at 20 quite often make him childish and irritating at 40 if he doesn't grow up and move beyond him.

Then we discover, Theodwyn is just as flawed that way herself. Also incapable of heeding the advice of others, not accepting she needs to change and behave more sensibly until it's too late.

I loved the add-on stuff about Thengel. I headcanon Thengel as being a hard, authoritarian father who set high standards and expected obedience (hence why Theoden is so worried about being worthy of his ancestors), and struggled to show love, especially to his kids. I also headcanon that one of the daughters was completely overlooked because she was quieter and plainer than her more glamorous and outgoing siblings. The 'second daughter' name in your story is a great but painful touch.

Would be interesting to see a follow-up from Eomer's perspective. The son who loves his parents unconditionally as a child realizes as an adult how flawed they both were. And perhaps it gives him some painful moments of self-reflection, sitting in vigil over Eowyn in the Halls of Healing after the Battle of Pelennor Fields, accepting that he himself suffers from the same rash stubbornness, and it almost got him killed as well. He tells himself he needs to do better and be better going forward, if he is to be a good King.

Beautifully done. Thank you again, for your lovely work :)

Thank you so very much! What a lovely message!

I think you and I are in a very similar place about Thengel! As someone who’s own father was a damn mess, he never had a good role model for fatherhood and so prioritized easily quantifiable things like discipline and obedience over squishier stuff like feelings, which he would never have imagined talking about with his dad. And since he was essentially forced back to Rohan against his will, I think that would also have made him very particular about wanting to have everything his own way once he was there. (Like an “I’m compensating for my lack of control in being here by overly controlling everything else” kind of deal.)

What you say about the lingering effect of the deaths of Éomund and Théodwyn on Éomer (and Éowyn) is really interesting. I sort of walked up to the edge of that in an earlier story, but I’d like to re-look at that now that I have a clearer sense in my own mind of how things went down with the parents. I wonder how much of the true circumstances of their deaths the kids would have ever been told. Éomund’s death was a matter of military tactics gone bad, so they probably would have learned that over time just from a description of the bare facts. But beyond knowing that their mother became inexplicably ill and died, did they know any more about the context?

It’s really interesting to think about and something I’d love to read more about, too, if anyone else has written (or will write) on that same overall theme!

(Also, have I ever told you that your Éomer “listen up fives, a ten is speaking” gifs are one of my ALL TIME favorite LOTR memes??? ♥️)

[essenceofarda]

Why not Theodwyn or Eomund for the ask meme? If they are too obscure characters/you have no hcs for them, then Eowyn and Faramir?

Oh! I’ll do all four if you don’t mind :)

Theodwyn and Eomund: Theodwyn was a wild filly when she was young, but matured as she got older (she never was rid of that wild spirit of hers tho). She wears the pants in the family re: her relationship with Eomund 😆 

She was pregnant when Eomund died, and due to stress/grief/subsequent complications with the pregnancy died along with her unborn child. (which is why i also headcanon Éomer as very nervous whenever Lothíriel is pregnant bc he’s remembers losing his mother dying while pregnant).

I don’t have a picture of her doodled out and read to post rn but I headcanon Theodwyn as half middle eastern on her mother (Morwen)’s side. Or the Middle Earth equivalent of half Middle Eastern.

Éowyn: This is so difficult to answer bc i have so many for both her and Faramir! Like her mother, she was a wild filly as a child. She always went barefoot as a child. She also learned to ride a horse before she learned to run. When she was a very little toddler she was convinced she was going to marry Theodred when she grew up (in that way little kids think they’re obviously going to marry their parents or big siblings cause they don’t understand romance/etc yet haha). She’s bisexual. She quickly in her teen years became withdrawn due to the unwelcome and predatory advances of Wormtongue. She suffered from depression for most of her teenage years and all of her adulthood until after the war of the ring. She also suffers from seasonal affective disorder afterwards, so she periodically has bouts of lowered mood and energy, but not necessarily depression. She’s very fond of Lothíriel and (disclaimer: this is my OWN bisexuality influencing this headcanon probably haha) but in another setting she might have fallen in love with Lothíriel. Her first child was a stillborn. I imagine her and Faramir having a daughter before Elboron by a few years. Gosh there’s too many headcanons to list out right now haha. Due to her mother being half Middle Eastern, I imagine that Éowyn and Éomer are a 1/4 Middle Eastern, though they look stereotypically Rohirrim (blonde hair, light eyes and while they can tan easily they are naturally pale skinned). She breastfed her children which was frowned upon in upper class Gondorian society but she was firm in upholding many aspects of Rohirrim culture.

Faramir: Faramir i have a lot of headcanons for as well. I picture him as part Middle Eastern/Central Asian and predominantly South Asian (in fact, the ideal casting for him would probably be a Pakistani/Indian actor). He’s very devoted to Éowyn in every way (wait...that’s canon haha). Like pretty much everyone after the war of the ring he has pretty bad PTSD. But not from his father, save only the way his father died (as a book fan I’m rather against PJ’s Bad!Father Denethor). He likes his women to be fierce and not upholding to expectations of “what is appropriate for a lady to act like” due to his mother (Finduilas) being of Dol Amroth, and the ladies of Dol Amroth were/are notoriously gender nonconforming. So Éowyn is a perfect fit for him :)

Okay, that’s a lot of text so I’ll stop here for now!

Thanks so much for the question!! :D

[avnakin]

Lady of Middle Earth

My favorite female character... Not Arwen, not Galadriel, not Luthien. (Though I do like and respect them a lot.) Eowyn. Eowyn is on top of my list of my favorite females from all Tolkien’s works.

A daughter of Elrond, a descendant of Earendil who was half elf, half human to first ever step on the land of Valinor, is Arwen. Evenstar gave up her immortality for beloved one, Aragorn. She knew that future might come with devastating outcomes. She knew that the world won’t have peace anymore. She knew that as Aragorn’s life will end, she will have to stay in this world utterly alone.

Galadriel is the only elf from Valinor who stayed alive, since the beginning of elven days. Lady of Lorien is a descendant of High Elves, Noldor. Her grandfather is one of the first elves to appear on Arda. She went through all the hard ages of a terribly long and annihilating war against the greatest evil that ever existed in Arda.

Luthien - a daughter of elven king and Maiar. Tinuviel sacrificed her safety and went for a huge risk to help her beloved man, facing the greatest evil in Arda. She went to the Halls of Mandos on her own, for she couldn’t live without her love and came back with him back to life in Beleriand, knowing that life wouldn’t be calm and happy anymore.

Eowyn is completely different from them. She has a royal blood but her ancestors weren’t as great. She didn’t have anything to sacrifice for. She didn’t have any special abilities. She was a human.

When Lady of Rohan was 7 years old, her parents died. Her father Eomund was slain in a battle and her mom Theodwyn soon get very sick. She was left with older brother Eomer. She was left all alone surrounded by men. Eowyn was grown up, by Theoden, king of Rohan. She didn't know mother’s love ever since, didn't have women’ softness. Consequently Lady matured, becoming a tough woman with little tenderness and happiness left in heart.

Her life, Eowyn, associated with cage. As she wanted a freedom of life, to experience tender feelings, to fight among warriors but not being allowed to, a despair was gradually growing inside her. Lady couldn’t see hope for a better life anymore. She was feeling dead inside, like a young tree left in a middle of a desert.

“What do you fear, lady?" Aragorn asked. "A cage," Eowyn 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.”

Life brings Eowyn a new twist of doom. It gives her Aragorn, descendant of kings of Gondor. She falls in love with him but the feelings weren’t mutual, as all that Aragorn was feeling towards her was pity. This was final destructive hit at her heart. If there still was hope for happiness left deep in maiden’s heart, it was completely gone. In total despair, Eowyn secretly goes to a battle, knowing that she will die and goes for it with all determination, for she didn't fear death anymore.

As a result, Lady of Rohan survived but was severely affected by illness called Black Breath. Eventually, she got healed physically. But not mentally. Eowyn’s state got even worse after she faced the horror of war but didn’t face death, which was what she desired the most.

In the darkest moments, Lady of Rohan meets Faramir, son of Gondor’s viceroy. The meeting didn't affect her much from the first time, for Eowyn’s heart was cold and heavy. She wanted to follow other warriors and fight for the peace in Middle Earth but couldn't. Again Lady was stuck in cage. However, as time passed, as Sauron was overthrown, Eowyn opened her heart to Faramir and eventually fell in love. She realized that the feelings she had towards Aragorn weren’t true, as Lady of Rohan was only fascinated by his status and the way her life could change completely. After all the miserable paths that doom had given Eowyn, Lady attained what she was seeking for all her life. 

Happiness.

Tolkien’s story about Lady of Rohan will always stay in my heart. It gives us all a big value to think about. That no matter what gender you are, no matter what your genealogy is, no matter how miserable you are, life will make you cry, life will make you stronger, life will make you happy. Life will get better at the end.

-Forget the real world, get lost in Middle Earth-