“Each minute we spend worrying about the future and regretting the past is a minute we miss in our appointment with life – a missed opportunity to engage life and to see that each moment gives us the chance to change for the better, to experience peace and joy.”
I’ve been drawing just, so many dudes, so here are some Ladies of Gondor and Shieldmaidens of Rohan! Sometimes you just have to design a bunch of ren-faire gowns and accessories, you know?
First, Eowyn, the best excuse to draw split skirts. Her star-embroidered gloves were a gift from Faramir, but it wasn’t until I drew Finduilas below that I realized her pendant was probably also a gift from him as well.
Lothiriel! I referenced her pose from my fave, @adorkastock. I don’t have many headcanons about Lothiriel but I imagine she’s the only person who can make Eomer trip over his own feet.
Theodwyn, Eowyn and Eomer’s mother! Maybe she was born with a clubbed foot. We don’t know. Tolkien only tells us she was pretty. A big thank-you to @hurricanek8art, @fruitbatvampiresociety, and @arrowpunk for giving me great feedback on her cane, including wrapping the base in leather and adding a skirt hike to her belt to keep her hem up.
Elfhild, Theoden’s wife and Theodred’s mother! No big headcanons here, either, but I think she’d bring Theoden a lot of joy and purpose and thus a lot of grief and aimlessness when she died.
And finally, Finduilas. There’s the pendant Faramir gave Eowyn, and oh, her cape clasp looks familiar.
Tolkien gives us a few extra sentences about Finduilas, and so we know she had a difficult time in Minas Tirith. He writes that she was gentle and beautiful, but that “she withered in the guarded city… the shadow in the east filled her with horror, and she turned her eyes ever south to the sea that she missed.” He also says Denethor “loved her, in his fashion,” which I read as, “guy couldn’t healthily express an emotion if it was written out for him.” I imagine Finduilas was lonely and isolated, and, in pregnancy, afraid of the world she was bringing her babies into.
But maybe things weren’t all bad! Maybe before she got too ill, she brought her boys to the seashore, where Faramir would babble and splash and Boromir would run all over creation and bring her treasures.
