Women in Fiction (And their evolution over time)

So moving away from romance... (The imaginary crowd that I pretend reads my blog breaks out into cheers)

Yeah, yeah, OK. I think I've exhausted the topic of romance for now. I'll probably come back to it soon with an inevitable love triangle rant but today I'm going to launch a series of blog posts centered around women in fiction.

Obviously roles have been changing in fiction. The woman was once just a background decoration or reward for the hero and most of what she did was scream, get captured, be rescued and kiss. Which isn't to say we don't have plenty of those in Urban fantasy today! (Trust me, the Bella Swan rant is coming. Just not yet.)

But I like to look at when the first strong woman came on the scene in fantasy. And I trace it back to one of my favorite novels of all time: Lord of the Rings.

Yeah, talk about a male heavy cast. There were only three prominent female roles in this series: Arwin, Lady Galadriel and Eowyn. Each of these characters was interesting in their own right. Arwin could handle a sword, ride a horse and enchant rivers to eat up Nazgul (I love that scene) but much of her motivation was focused on a man. An awesome man, but a man none the less.

Lady Galadriel is the third oldest person on middle earth (Bet you didn't know that did you? Hooray for having a brother with a photographic memory who knows every single solitary thing about LoTR) And she wise and awesome and powerful but she doesn't ever join in with the guys in fighting. She's reserved, which I would expect from an elf.

Yeah, I bet you can guess who my favorite character is: Eowyn.

This. Woman. Kicks. Ass. And I think she was one of the first to do it in this genre. Especially considering Lord of the Rings was one of the first great fantasy epics. Eowyn was pretty ahead of her time, let's be honest.

And sure I cheer when the ring is destroyed and when the tower falls and when everyone kneels to the hobbits and Frodo leaves Middle Earth (Actually those last two involve significant tears. When I make a list of the movies I've actually cried at, that's going to be on it). All of those scenes are awesome. But the scene that really makes me jump out of my seat, pump my fists and give a triumphant "HECK YEAH!" is Eowyn's scene.

You know the one.

The Witch King says "No man can kill me. Die."

Merry helpfully stabs him in the leg.

Eowyn takes off her helmet and reveals she's a woman.

"I am no man."

And with a wild cry she kills the KING OF THE NAZGUL! Holy crap! That's the most awesome line before killing something ever and that's probably the most bad ass thing anyone in the movie did (Besides Legolas killing that one elephant and all the men riding it. That was awesome)

Think about the main villains. No one actually fights Sauron he's just taken down by the ring in the fire. While that is AWESOME, he couldn't actually fight back because he was a tower. Sauroman (In the movie version, I know it's different in the book) is left to die in his tower. No one actually kills him.

The next main baddy is the witch king and Eowyn is the one who takes him down, with the help of a hobbit.

Eowyn was truly the first fantasy female badass and I think she still is one of the all time greats.

So for the next week before I go out of town for awhile with no internet access I shall be looking at the evolution of the woman in fiction, analyzing steryotypes and favorite characters, and talking about them in general.

Until tomorrow! Where I will talk about Disney princesses!

-Authoress Anonymous