Summary: The sad bird sings again.
Universe: Movies
Author's Note: Okay, I loved the books, but it was the movies, even with their differences, who made the characters real for me. I noticed that in the extended edition of The Two Towers, Gimli seemed rather fond of Éowyn; perhaps her passing resemblance to Galadriel has something to do with it?
Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings.
There has been little joy in her life.
"…ought to have loved her as a father…"
Instead of turning this proud, fearsome daughter of kings into a dry nurse.
And he should have, Théoden reflects bitterly, been able to see how his sister-daughter wilted in the dark. It matters little that he himself labored in darkness, the mist falling ever deeper over his eyes; he knows, knows with the certainty of a man who has lived long and seen many good men and women fall, that he should have been able to see Éowyn's own decline.
He wonders how long it has been since he last saw her laugh.
On the road to Helm's Deep, Théoden King of Rohan finds himself grateful for Gimli son of Glóin. The stout dwarf seems to have taken a paternal fondness towards Éowyn as he regales them all with the stories of his homeland; Théoden can see the gentle light in the dwarf's beady eyes as he looks at his niece, and is unafraid of his intentions. As a smile grows over Éowyn's milk-pale face, however, Théoden feels his own contentment start to shrivel.
Then, her laughter, so long ago since it has been last heard that the land has all but forgotten it, fills the air.
The sad bird sings again. And Théoden can feel his sorrow grow.
He should have been able to see it.
How long has it been since she last had occasion to laugh or even to smile? Months? Years?
Away from the darkness Saruman has cast over Edoras, Éowyn begins to bloom again, a steel flower, again laughing, again smiling, looking for once like what she is: a young girl whose mind ought not to be as weighed down with troubles as it is.
This girl, this woman of Rohan, ought to have been treated by him as a daughter, rather than as a dry nurse.
He ought to have been able to make her smile.
Théoden wonders how far Éowyn would have fallen ere he saw her decline if Gandalf had not come when he had.
He thinks, with guilt, that she would have died in the dark, had not light come for him.
And he would have never seen it.