Eowyn

Probably the only fictional heroine I ever truly fell in love with: Eowyn, shieldmaiden of Rohan in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, is a figure of artistic inspiration to many, many people. I learned this by accident, the last time I read LOTR, when I spent hours searching for images and maps online. You would probably not be surprised that there’s a huge amount of Tolkien fan-art out there, but what’s really incredible is how much of it is dedicated to Eowyn.

Many of the pages I saw didn’t actually have the artist’s name recorded. I’m not sure of the psychology that’s behind this, it’s not amateurism that’s for sure because most of it is really excellent work. Some of them came with the artist’s name and other information in the file metadata, such as the Ted Nasmith piece about five screens down. If any of those ardent young people (perhaps not so young or ardent anymore except in their love for Eowyn) get in touch with me I will gladly add a caption for you.

Thank you on behalf of those artists for your enjoyment of their work. I’m sketching out my own Eowyn, and I’ll post it ere the end, as Tolkien might say in his uniquely doom-laden but hopeful way.