E is For... Eowyn

Howdy Humble Readers...

Your friendly neighbourhood hobbit is in a much better frame of mind than I was this morning.  The snow has been melting quickly, and the sun has deigned to make an appearance.  I have *my* computer now (as opposed to the crazy screw-up by Dell), and I was able to not only load and sort all of our pictures from the last three years, but I even managed to max out my Pi.casa free account uploading them all to the web.  All I have left to load on this puter is my office software and I'll be good to go. 

Today's letter is E... and this one was super easy for me.  If I wasn't a hobbit at heart, I would hope that I could resemble Eowyn, a daughter of the house of Eorl, sister of Eomer (a marshal of the Riddermark), niece of King Theoden of Rohan, and self-proclaimed sheildmaiden.  Yes... she is from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, actually one of the few important women in the series. 

I confess, while I did really like Eowyn from reading the books, it wasn't until I watched the movies that she really and truly came to life for me.  (I was too wrapped up in the hobbits to really pay attention to a lone daughter of the race of men.)

When we first meet Eowyn, she's like a beautiful bird in a cage.  With her parents long dead, and her brother away in the military, it falls to her to care for her magically ailing uncle, King Theoden.  Theoden is under an evil spell, and being led around by the nose by the creepy and aptly named Grima Wormtongue.  Wormtongue looks to possess not only the king's power, but also his niece. 

And even though she is willingly acting as caregiver to a drooling old man, Eowyn longs to do or be something bigger.  She dreams of riding out in service to her kingdom, and to help protect her people. 

Her opportunity comes when the spell on her uncle is broken, and the Riders of Rohan head to Minas Tirith to do battle with the armies of Sauron (the evil lord of Mordor).  Disguising herself as a man, she secretly joins the army, and in fulfillment of an old prophecy that 'the hand of no living man' could harm him, she slays the Witch-King of Angmar. 

I love her because Eowyn doesn't allow other's expectations to limit her.   She has a dream and she goes out, against all advice and against the orders of those who seek to control her, and does what she feels called to do. 

She is strong.  She is brave.  She thinks for herself.  And she fights for those she loves. 

Who is the strongest female character that you've encountered?

And as an aside... if this Halfling ends up being a 'she-hobbit', she will be christened with the bloggy name Eowyn (Wynnie for everyday).