Welly-moot #6.2 report - Eowyn's Choices

The second Welly-moot meeting was held at Embassy café today. Alongside of regular members, we have new visitors; Maria and Logan, both are big fans of Tolkien’s world.

First, we started with updates and news around the table – the upcoming charity event with Royd Tolkien on April 12 (http://www.welly-moot.com/2017/03/royd-tolkien-coming-to-wellington-at.html), news about Wellington Movie Museum (ie, no news, more delays), and new movies; especially “Ghost in the Shell” with both Jack and Alex as Extras.

--
Today’s theme was "Eowyn's Choices" - a theme we received from Astrid from Austrian Tirol Tolkien Smial. Astrid is asking different groups some Tolkien themed questions, and is collecting answers, possibly to be published at a later stage. We'll keep you updated!

In The Return Of The King, Theoden King had laid the faith of their people into Eowyn's hands. However, she secretly fought alongside with Kind and her brother and she could have easily died.

Questions;

(1) What is she now? – Is she a traitor, a rogue, just a huge egoist, irresponsible or what?

We all agreed that she is none of them, and certainly not a traitor. Ryan and Kay spotted the excellent point - if Eowyn was a male, King Theoden would have asked to stay at home? It is obviously not because all men were expected to fight with the King.

As everyone knew that the fight had no hope to win and everyone was expected to die during the battle. If everyone died in the battle, then all women and children who were left behind would be killed by Sauron anyway, so there was no point to remain as the successor. Eowyn chose to die alongside with the King and her brother to try to protect the world and people. Maybe she betrayed her King but not her people.

Alex brought a more romantic answer; because Eowyn was heart-broken by being rejected by Aragorn, she lost her hope to live and she chose to die.

An interesting question members pointed out – “Was it irresponsible of her to take Merry with her to the battle?” After some discussion, we concluded that it was not irresponsible. She was going to be left behind and so was Merry who both wanted to fight for their love ones.
 

A quotation from the movie, when Aragorn asked her what she was afraid of, then she answered “a cage”. If she did as King asked, she was like being a cage without freedom or her own will.

(2) Is she a great heroine of her time, after all?

We all agreed “Yes”. However she had to disguise herself to be in the battle and killed the Nazgul. She is a heroine and a fighter. She did far more good in the battle than she would have if she'd followed the king's orders.

(3) To WHOM did she pass on her responsibility for the Rohirrim? Especially as it had to be operated in secret? Any optional leader at hand was to join Theoden's army, after all.

As like other stories, there is always someone to inherit the throne; maybe descendant of Hamma or Gamling, or second/third cousin of Eomer and Eowyn.

We had a great discussions about Eowyn today and it was so much fun. We have decided to have this kind of discussion with different themes and topics for future meetings. If you have any ideas, topics, or questions you want to ask Welly-mooters to discuss about it, please email to Jack (jack@wellymoot.com). We welcome anyones’ participation.

Finally we had an announcement. Jack and Alex have decided to remain at the helm Welly-moot and we are having a new committee member, Kay who has attended all meetings since last year and been supporting us. Jack will lead us as the President of Welly-moot, and Kristi, Alex, Cinnamon, Daniel, and now Kay will support him and the group as Committee members.

The next meeting is on Sunday 4 June. See you there.

Jack & Alex

Theme for Welly-moot #6.2 - "Eowyn's Choices". March 26, 2017.

Way back in December 2011, Welly-moot had a visit from Astrid from the Austrian Tirol Tolkien Smial (at Welly-moot #0.6). She's been back in New Zealand in 2015, and amongst other things,  visited Rivendell:

Unfortunately she wasn't here for our picnic last month, but she has set us a challenge for our next meeting. Astrid has started a little Tolkien project of her own. She is asking different groups some Tolkien themed questions, and is collecting answers, possibly to be published at a later stage.


(Astrid:)

As Tolkien seems to kind of forcefully "sneak back" into my life lately, I decided to start a little project. I raise a question, concerning things Tolkien that left me curious for some time, and collect answers and ideas...

Here is my challenge for WELLY-MOOT fellowship:

Reading LotR about Eowyn leaving for Minas Tirith among the riders, I was wondering about two unexplained facts:

First – beside any motive Tolkien had displayed for her action… there remains the fact that she ignored her responsibilities!
After all she had been second in line after her brother in royal hierarchy since her cousin had been slain on the battlefield. And Theoden King  had laid the faith of their people into her hands before when she had led them to Dunharrow (book version!). So in her decision to join the battle on Pelennor, just in case she would have died alongside her King and her brother – most likely outcome in opposite to the final story, she would have ripped her people of leadership entirely!
So I ask myself -  what is she now? A traitor, a  rogue, just a huge egoist, irresponsible…??? Or is she a great heroine of her time, after all?

Second – to WHOM did she pass on her responsibility for the Rohirrim? Especially as it had to be operated in secret? Any optional leader at hand was to join Theoden's army, after all.

So, there it is; a theme for our next meeting. We're going to need someone to take a few notes from our discussion, so we can send her our findings afterwards. In any case, it sounds like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, with lashings of coffee and scones. Come join us!


The meeting will be held, as usual, upstairs at the Embassy Cinema, starting at 2:00pm. All are welcome, including non-members. Bring money for coffee (but lifetime membership is free, as always).

Update from our Austrian friends

Recently I received an email from Astrid who visited us in 2011. Astrid is a member of the Austrian Tyrol Tolkien Smial, and some of you may remember that she joined us for a meeting in December 2011, together with Peter Kenny from the Brisbane Tolkien Fellowship.


She has blogged about her experiences in New Zealand, including her time at the Welly-moot. Their blog is mostly in German, but she has graciously translated the relevant pages into English for us.

For her New Zealand experiences, read here.

For her Welly-moot evening, start here.



Astrid is considering coming back for another visit in the future - I think she should come back for December 2014, the release month of the LAST Hobbit movie. It should be a fantastic month!

  - Jack