Was Eowyn selfish?

Actually, in the book Tolkien has a conversation between Eowyn and Aragorn on the subject of "duty". Eowyn's is the more "modern" attitude: "May I not do what I want with my life?" Aragorn's reply? "Few may do so with honor", meaning that we have obligations to others as well.

Tolkien doesn't give us an easy answer (for all the criticism of LotR as being simplistic and "black & white"). Eowyn's duty to her people (and the uncle who raised her like a father) is clear but she seems to play an essential role in the slaying of the Witch-king. It's a bit clearer in the book but a prophecy had been made that "Not by the hand of Man shall he be slain". The movie comes down on the side of one interpretation: "No Man shall slay me!" right before he's laid low by a woman and a Hobbit - a bit of ironic "read the fine print on your prophecy". But Tolkien scholars point out that it may just have been a prediction, not a requirement, that the W-k would be killed by someone other than a male human. So we really don't know if Eowyn was wrong to refuse her duty; we just know that it worked out alright.

Sadly, a LARGE part of the story/history of Rohan and Gondor got left out of the movies. Faramir and Eowyn's marriage, for just the most obvious example, was barely even acknowledged. Yet the whole race of the Rohirrim descended from one of the three original lines of men, the house of Hador. There is much left unsaid. If you have not read The Silmarillion, go do so immediately!

~~~We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode! ~~~ (Jayne Cobb, from 'Serenity')

I think she is selfish. End.

It's really not even that she thinks her help will be needed more on the battlefield than back at Edoras, she just wants glory and renown.

It works out well in the end, obviously, but not because Eowyn understands she has an important destiny to fulfill.

Well if the battle had gone ill then Eowyn wouldn't really have made a difference in Edoras. Sauron would have won. They would have all died anyways.

So from the predictable consequences the correct ethical decision was to make sure the battle did not go ill. So she wasn't selfish.

Selfish or not, they wouldn't have been able to kill The Witch King without her there. So it's kind of a moot point.



"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." -Gandalf

[deleted]

Maybe immature is a better word than selfish.

Is it a question that would even be asked if Eowyn was a man? Would not the decision be seen as heroic and selfless rather than selfish

Given that she played a key part in the victory, I am surprised that an answer is needed.... to a question that wasn't warranted.

'tler