#farawyn

Thanks for the tag, @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras! I'm working on chapter 13 of I brought the sun and stars (my farawyn houses of healing longfic!) today, and I am proud of my progress. Here's a little snippet as Faramir reflects on what Éowyn has just revealed to him. It's a little rough, I just wrote it, but I think it came out decently and will really shine once I edit it through.

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Her tale had been harrowing, and though Faramir had surmised much from what he had learned from Merry and the Warden, hearing her tell the unflinching details of all that had happened to her had set a new heaviness upon him. He felt sadness for her, at the suffering she had endured, and also anger that she had been forced to endure it, and beneath all he felt the sting of his own incapacity, for he knew there was little he could do in the present to assuage Éowyn’s hurts or even find justice for them.

He knew not where nor whether this Gríma still walked the earth, whether any arm of reckoning might still be able to reach him; and even if so, if or how Faramir of Gondor might bring that about–

Faramir sucked in a sharp breath. He had pressed too hard in applying the new bandage to the cut on his chest, and it stung keenly. He sighed, directing his mind away from himself, and back to the more pressing matter at hand.

No, there was nothing Faramir could do about Gríma, though it pained him to think that the man might still walk free. All Faramir could do was to show care to Éowyn, and even in that course of action, he knew that she desired no soft words, no expressions of pity. 

He thought again to their evening’s work in the pantry, to the way her demeanor had brightened in the presence of company, to her gay description of Meduseld at the height of winter festivities, and he felt his convictions crystallize: the care she most desired was companionship, a steady presence, assurance that her revelations had not changed anything between them, that she had been alone before but she need not be alone now. And Faramir felt the heaviness lift a little, for he knew well how to show care thus. 

And now, as he finished dressing his final cut, he turned not to the usual next step in his routine– the tidying of piles upon his table, the arraying of a to-do list for the following morning– but to the pile of fresh tapers. He plucked one, lit it, and began to pen a new letter. Indeed, though the night deepened outside, though the thin crescent moon had long since slid behind Mindolluin, he resolved to work for a few more hours, so that he might have time in the morning to spare for walking in the garden and discussing herb lore and perhaps even a little training at arms.

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We see these traits very clearly whenever Éowyn interacts with Aragorn. When she first meets him, her eyes linger on him, she becomes "aware" of him. Everything Tolkien writes in their subsequent interactions connotes her desire for him. She's clearly attracted to him. Yes, a lot of people read her interest in Aragorn as her wanting to *be* him. Aspects of that are true, but that's not the whole picture. She desires his power and freedom, but she also desires him; she desires what he can offer her; she wants to be chosen, seen, lifted out of her life, and empowered by having her romantic feelings returned. She does want to be transformed, but the transformation she envisions is one that emerges from Aragorn respecting, choosing, and desiring her. Tolkien is pretty clear (especially when Faramir calls her on these feelings later) that these desires stem from both romantic attraction AND platonic admiration, and the two are inextricable from one another. Éowyn is also very earnest. We see this most clearly when she begs Aragorn not to ride into the haunted mountain. She opens her full heart to him, sincerely shares some of her deepest emotions, and hopes that in doing so she can either convince him to turn aside from his course or bring her along. These are not the actions of someone who is cynical about love and romance, these are the actions of someone who believes that baring her soul to the man she (thinks) she loves might yet win her the outcome she desires. That's the opposite of how a cynic acts. I understand why a lot of people want to read cynicism about love and romance into Éowyn's character arc. She's been harmed by sexism and pressed into a mold of gender expectations. They want to see her as a girl boss, someone who fights, bucks norms, and isn't interested in ~silly things like ~male desire. And like, I get where that's coming from, but she the truth is that she is. Maybe you don't want her to be or think she shouldn't be, but as the books are written, it's a defining and driving force of her character arc, and moreover, it makes sense given her cultural context and life experiences. Indeed, her desire for a romantic life with Aragorn directly precedes her desire for a romantic (in the Rohirrim tradition at least) death in battle. Tolkien tells us this directly, via Faramir:

"You desired to have the love of Lord Aragorn... but when he gave you only understanding and pity, then you desired to have nothing, unless a brave death in battle." (1)

She looked to love first, as her last ditch effort to escape the life that was confining her, and then when that did not work, she turned to death. I think a truly feminist read of these beats doesn't deny that fact that Éowyn wanted to be desired romantically, but gives it its due weight and breathing room because its a sincere and important emotional experience of a female character in this story!

for @abemusedobsessive -- tumblr ate your question about Éowyn (boo!), but here is my answer:

Éowyn is some flavor of bi/pan, but it is obfuscated by a heavy fog of comphet. I've seen various headcanons floating around about how open the Rohirrim are to queer relationships, and while I agree they're probably more open than Gondorians, I don't think that means that queer relationships are visible or celebrated in the Riddermark, and especially not in the court of Théoden (who himself was raised in Gondor and probably ascribes/aspires to more Gondorian values). This, combined with Éowyn being generally overlooked and not seen/taken seriously in the ways she wants to due to her gender, as well as her being pressured to fulfill a specific mold of womanhood, I think really caused her to never examine her sexuality much at all. From her teenage years, she wants to be seen for her full self, chosen, loved, and lifted out of her life, by, well, a man. She idealizes romantic love with a man as an escape and solution to her problems, and she doesn't think much beyond that. She doesn't think, for example, about the intensity of her friendship with a young woman from the Eastfold who comes to live at Meduseld for a while. She doesn't closely examine why she feels so betrayed when that woman spends less time sneaking off on adventures or to the training yard with Éowyn and instead spends more time flirting with one of Théoden's household knights. Éowyn doesn't closely analyze her feelings of loss and sadness when that woman marries and leaves Meduseld, nor does she probe the depth of anger she feels when eventually that friend ceases to write letters. There's one blip on Éowyn's sexuality radar, and thats some time in 3014 or so (when she's about 19) that she grows close with a young man who rides in Théodred's éored. He's shy, but the two of them form a fast bond, partially because he's one of the few men around Edoras who takes Éowyn seriously, spends time training and riding with her, and enjoys spinning tall tales with her by the fire at night. Éowyn develops a bit of a crush on him. Once, after a few too many cups of ale around the fire, the two are sitting close, and he confesses to Éowyn that he's often wondered what it would be like to live life as a woman. He asks her if she'd still care for him the same if he was. She answers easily, 'yes', and in that moment something clicks for her- maybe someone's gender doesn't matter all that much to her in her capacity to love someone? Moreover, his question makes her think: could she feel the same way? Would she ever want to be a man, if such a thing were even possible? Ultimately, she decides no. She's largely comfortable being a woman and being perceived as such. But, she feels a little fuzzy around the edges of that label sometimes, and she thinks it feels good to subvert the expectations of what a woman is, sometimes. The next morning, they're both hungover, and shortly thereafter, he leaves Edoras and doesn't return. The memory of that night, and her question, fades in her mind, but it leaves just a tiny mark. Yes, she wants romantic love with a man: a great lord who will see her and choose her and empower her to be the kind of woman she is, not what everyone expects her to be. But, something in her has expanded: perhaps that's not the only type of love that could be fulfilling, not the only type of person she could be attracted to. She looks back on that intense friendship a little differently now: part of what felt so good about that friend (lets call her Aelflaed) was that Aelflaed, in a way, did lift Éowyn out of loneliness and expectation for a time. Aelflaed was keen to break the rules, to sneak out for a ride, to wave practice swords around with Éowyn. And, she was beautiful. Could Éowyn have loved Aelflaed? She mostly presses that question down, but she notices now, at times, that she feels attracted to certain women. Wants them to notice her, sometimes she even wonders what it would be like to kiss them.

The heat is giving me headcanons about Eowyn experiencing summerin Ithilien for the first time.

I reckon in Rohan, summers can be hot, but it's a dry heat. There's not much shade on the plains, so when the sun is out it's important to wear something that provides coverage from the sun, but it's not a damp, sticky heat. There's also a cool breeze coming down from the mountains.

Ithilien is a whole other beast. The forests have shadows which can be cool and pleasant, especially with the springs and water running through. However, it's very humid, a thick heat where the sweat doesn't dry, and walking about feels like moving through treacle. A few moments in the sun and you're already damp.

Eowyn struggles with that. She struggles with the intensity of the heat, and the length of the days, and never being able to cool off or get comfortable.

Faramir shows her all the shadiest places in the forests, and the springs to go swimming in. However, even though Emyn Arnen is built to stay cool in summer, and is good at it, at the height of summer staying cool is extremely difficult, especially at night. Faramir ends up building bathing houses, large communal ones for the inhabitants of Emyn Arnen, and a private, very luxurious one for Eowyn, near Eowyn's wing. When the nights are hot, Eowyn takes a blanket down there, goes for a swim, then falls asleep by the water.