Basking in the dark shadows of the moon

lorienscribe:

lotrconfessions:

I can’t understand why anyone would prefer Arwen over Éowyn. While Arwen stays in Rivendell doing nothing, Éowyn goes to the battle and kills the Witch King. Now, that’s a woman to look up to.

It’s sad that a woman is easily shunned for not being more masculine. Is this what feminism has turned into? “You ladies need to be more like the men!” Um, no. We choose how we want to be. I love both Arwen and Éowyn. Their parallels are so interesting. Éowyn chooses to live rather than die on the battlefield; Arwen chooses to one day die as a mortal.

There are also similarities. Éowyn goes on to become more “womanly” after the war, choosing to be married and live in peace rather than going to battles, which is pretty much what happens with Arwen. They both had their own battles in the story. What surprises me about the shunning of Arwen is that a lot of people recently went through what she’s gone through. We have (had?) this huge war, and I am sure a lot of people have vowed to marry their sweetheart when they returned. And I’m sure the waiting for their arrival can be maddening, more so for a woman who lived during a time when she would not know if Aragorn was okay because they had no means of instant communication (phones, internet, etc.) I’m pretty sure that’s taxing on anyone. It takes strength to live day by day not knowing whether your loved one was killed in battle.