Eowyn and the Nazgul
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“Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!”
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“Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.”
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“Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may.”
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“Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!”
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“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Eomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.”
When I was younger, I always said that if I ever had a daughter, I would name her Eowyn, after the heroine in The Return of the King. Of course, this was before the blockbuster LOTR movies, when the vast majority of people would just have thought it was a pretty name and not made the nerd connection. Now, obviously, that is not an option.
But it is not without some level 0f sadness that I let the name go. It has a beautiful, haunting sound to it, and calls to mind the image of Eowyn standing before the Lord of the Nazgul, protecting the body of her uncle, King Theoden of Rohan, from desecration. Then (as now), women were not considered fit for combat, and Eowyn had been forbade to ride with the men, but she disguised herself and came anyway in defiance of gender.
But when she was called to combat, it was not against any ordinary foe. The Witch-King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgul, was an opponent so powerful that the prophecies said no living man could harm him, or hinder him in any way. But Eowyn was no man, and could therefore do what no man could.
I think that is an amazing sentiment, and a wonderful namesake for a girl to aspire to and be inspired by in an age when women are still told they can’t do everything a man can. It is also probably the greatest scene in fantasy literature, bar none.
My friend Matt lent us this baby sound kit, which lets us listen to the baby’s heartbeat in the womb. It also came with a set of little speakers (I call them wombphones) you can put on your belly to play the baby music, which she seems to react strongly to. Some people think that this added stimulation helps stimulate the baby’s mental development, though I don’t know if there’s any factual research behind that.
Anyway, I started recording MP3 files of me reading to play for the baby in the womb, so she will become accustomed to my voice. I could read right to her belly, but that feels a little silly. Besides, I can also have Dani play the MP3’s for her when I am away after she’s born. Of course, the first thing I recorded was the scene where Eowyn slays the Nazgul. I also read some Lewis Carroll and poetry by Tolkien. It was deliciously nerdy.
Maybe Eowyn will still do as a middle name…
Merry Brandybuck helped. Maybe when he said no man could harm him, he was talking about hobbits. Does that mean we should name Squirmy Meriadoc?
Yo, why you gotta be tryin’ to keep a woman from getting her due?
I bet you’re an Obamagirl.
I’m an Obamagirl.
I was SO disappointed with how that scene played out in the movie. “Die, now?”
COME ON. It’s the greatest speech in fantasy and “Die, now!” is the best you can do?
Black mark on an otherwise amazing film.
Word.
one of my personal heroes.
i met Eowyn in high school — and as a “i’m-gonna-get-in-your-panties” gift (he knew how crazy i was about the book,) my then boyfriend gave me a first edition copy of LOTR, bound in red leather, for my birthday. (still have it.)
oh. you want to know if he got in my panties with such a gift.
you don’t need to know.
😉
Oh, I bet he did.
All the girls I know go ga-ga over leather-bound first editions of nerd books.
I fear your data may be skewed a bit. Perhaps you should use a larger sample base.
I think your case for eliminating the name as a contender is weak–frankly it read more like reasons you should hold on to it. Besides if you give her that name then future suitors will know you are totally on to them with their leather-bound panty-penetrating first editions, and they will be afraid.
Has it really been 6 years?