Éomer
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy Middle-earth legendarium, Éomer was a Chief Marshal, then the eighteenth King, of the land of Rohan. He appears in the second and third volumes of Tolkien's book The Lord of the Rings — The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
His name is likely derived from the Anglo-Saxon words "eoh" ("war-horse"), and possibly "mēre", ("grand, excellent, famous"). He is later called "Éadig" ("Blessed"). In a note written well after the initial publication of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gave Éomer's height as 6 feet 6 inches tall ("of like height with Aragorn").
He was tall and strong, possessed of great passion, a valiant warrior, and a discerning, decent man.
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[edit] Literature
Éomer, of the House of Eorl, was the son of Théodwyn and Éomund, a Chief Marshal of the Riddermark. He had a sister named Éowyn. After their parents died, Théoden adopted them as his own children. Éomer was third Marshal of the Riddermark, and was a strong leader of Men. His éored hunted down the Uruk-hai that had taken the hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took as they camped near Fangorn forest, slaying them all. He never saw the hobbits, as they fled during the battle. Afterwards he met Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas in the plains of Rohan, and he lent them two horses.
Éomer returned to Edoras, and reported on meeting the Ranger and friends. However, under the poisonous advice of Gríma Wormtongue, he was arrested.
He was set free when Théoden recovered from the influence of Saruman the White, and was with his king at the battle of Hornburg, where he and his éored drove the Orcs and Dunlendings of Saruman into the walls of the Hornburg and in the forest of Huorns, where they were killed.
Afterwards he rode with Théoden, Aragorn, and Gandalf to Isengard, where they confronted a trapped Saruman. Éomer rode with his king to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and fought bravely for Rohan and Gondor.
Théoden was mortally wounded in the battle, and Éomer became his successor. He stayed long behind in Minas Tirith to help Aragorn rebuild his own kingdom (for the latter was crowned King Elessar of the Reunited Kingdom,), before returning home to be crowned king himself.
Éomer renewed the Oath of Eorl for Aragorn after both of them had been crowned king, swearing everlasting friendship between Rohan and Gondor (and confirming Cirion's grant of Calenardhon to the Éothéod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim.)
He became known as Éomer Éadig, or "the Blessed", because during his reign Rohan recovered from the hurts of the War and became a rich and fruitful land again.
Éomer had met Princess Lothíriel, daughter of Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth, during his stay in Gondor, and they were wed. She bore him a son Elfwine the Fair, who succeeded his father as the King of Rohan, after Éomer's death in the year F.A. 63.
Éomer's sword was called Gúthwinë (Old English battle-friend).
[edit] Adaptations
In the 1978 animated adapation of The Lord of the Rings by Ralph Bakshi, Éomer is portrayed as a renegade. He does not have any lines, but is still important to the plot.
He also appears in the Rankin/Bass 1980 animated version of The Return of the King.
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Éomer was played by New Zealand actor Karl Urban. In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, he is exiled by Gríma before meeting Aragorn (which the animated film only hints at), and is an outcast.
In both Bakshi and Jackson's versions, he arrives at the climax of the Battle of Helm's Deep, accompanied by Gandalf (the animated film does not single him out at Helm's Deep out but in an earlier scene Gandalf says he will leave to find "Éomer's riders"). In this sense, his character has been combined with the character of Erkenbrand, who, in the book, is the one that Gandalf returns to Helm's Deep with.
[edit] External links
- Éomer at The Thain's Book
| Preceded by Théoden Ednew |
Kings of Rohan | Succeeded by Elfwine |
