Lothíriel is about to marry Éomer and become Queen of Rohan, but grows nervous the night before the festivities. She seeks out Éowyn for comfort, who tells stories to pass the time and to familiarize Lothíriel a little more with Rohirric culture and tradition - among them Éowyn's favourite about the first Shieldmaiden of the Rohirrim, and how that tradition began.
That story could be based on Germanic myth (Hervor (II) from the Hervarar Saga, maybe?) and history, or canon (or both). Encyclopedia of Arda (http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/s/shieldmaidens.html) has some interesting thoughts, and there's a reference in HoMe VIII stating that Éowyn says that women must ride now, as they did in a like evil time in the days of Brego [> Aldor], when the wild men of the East came from the Inland Sea into the Eastemnet.
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timeasmymeasure
Éowyn and Lothíriel, gen, the first Shieldmaiden
Date: 2015-03-04 04:11 pm (UTC)That story could be based on Germanic myth (Hervor (II) from the Hervarar Saga, maybe?) and history, or canon (or both). Encyclopedia of Arda (http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/s/shieldmaidens.html) has some interesting thoughts, and there's a reference in HoMe VIII stating that Éowyn says that women must ride now, as they did in a like evil time in the days of Brego [> Aldor], when the wild men of the East came from the Inland Sea into the Eastemnet.