When he first emerged as a character, during the first meeting of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli with Éomer's éored, Éothain was Éomer's squire, and in those first drafts, as in the published The Lord of the Rings, he was apprehensive towards the Three Hunters and scoffed at the idea that Hobbits even existed. And, despite his brief appearance, the words he speaks and his reactions address the matter of his disposition succinctly, giving him a definite personality.
As evidenced by those, the author's views on Éothain's status changed as The Lord of the Rings was being written and amended. Tolkien's writings found in The History of Middle-earth provide more details on the subject. While The Lord of the Rings offers nothing on the matter of Éothain's position in Éomer's éored, the book itself is not the sole source from where information can be gleaned. Concerning his temperament, a good number of writers paint him as an easy-to-laugh, jovial fellow, fond of jokes and teasing. Stories set after the Ring War offer more freedom with regard to his rank and many authors cast him in the role of Éomer's Captain of the Guard, whereas in fanfics taking place during the War, others envision him as a simple soldier. For that reason, writers of fanfiction are granted much artistic licence to create a social station for him, as well as flesh out his personality. Speaking only a few lines in The Lord of the Rings, no background information concerning his person is given in the book: he is possibly the only minor canon character who interacts with major canon characters and remains unidentified as to his status. Of all the minor canonical characters hailing from Rohan that JRR Tolkien created, Éothain is perhaps the most widely used in fanfiction.
0 kommentar(er)
