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Shades of Gray A fact about Eowyn that pretty much goes ignored in fandom is the fact that while Eowyn can easily be considered a hero, she can also be thought of as an abandoner, leaving her people in a dire time when, chances are, they needed her. This is not to question what Eowyn did. I love her character, and in my opinion, her actions there are vital to her character development. However, there is the fact that she abandoned her duty to go on her suicidie charge to consider. In the film version of Return of the King, Theoden never makes it very clear that it is Eowyn's duty to lead her people in his and Eomer's absence and in case of their death; while there is the conversation between Theoden and Eowyn at Edoras, I don't think it does a really good job of justifying Eowyn's later actions, and only serves to make it seem that once again Eowyn's only motivation is Aragorn. However, it does add a new layer of seeming selfishness; he pleads with her rather lovingly to do this for him, but because Aragorn rejected her, she decided that she wanted to die. It doesn't really add up, and that's another reason why I'm unhappy with the film depiction of Eowyn in Return of the King; while her reasoning in the book and the morality behind it is certainly debatable, once you really consider what she's doing, it sort of goes beyond gray and into just plain selfish; her overall unhappiness with her life wasn't really shown. But getting back to Eowyn in the books, let say once more that this is not an "Anti-Eowyn" essay in anyway. I like Eowyn. But part of the reason I like Eowyn is that she's a complex, dynamic character; she certainly isn't a selfless saint, and her whole reasoning for her suicide charge and her rejecting the duty given to her is a reason why. Most people consider it a meager duty, only given to her so she wouldn't feel worthless and rejected; but this is not the case, seeing as how she was given the duties of a king or a prince. I think this makes it obvious that Eowyn left for war for herself, not Rohan. After all, she had no intentions of surviving. But was she truly heroic in her actions? This is a question that's never brought up in canon itself. Obviously, she played a major role in slaying the Witch-King; this is fact, and yes, she is a hero because of what she did. But that was not her intention riding out, and that's something that's only considered in fandom. This, of course, leads to another question; is suicide itself heroic? Or, rather, the way that Eowyn chose to commit suicide. Her motivations can be understood, but once you really get into this whole idea of suicide and heroism and duty, Eowyn's hero status becomes somewhat questionable. And then, of course, there's the matter of the duty she left behind. It was her duty to watch over those who could not fight; the elderly, the women, and the children. And she left them to fight; all of these actions of hers are hard to justify. But that's why she's interesting. Eowyn isn't a selfless saint, but that's a good thing! Really, would we want her pure and true and noble and brave and blah blah blah isn't she great? She just wouldn't work that way. What seems like selfishness helps show her troubled state of mind, since let's just face it; someone who was suicidial wouldn't be out to save the world. Eowyn is very flawed, but that's why she's so GREAT.