The sons of Elrond have arrived with a company
of Rangers from the North, to help Aragorn. Elrond sends word to "Bid
Aragorn remember the words of the seer, and the Paths of the Dead."
At dinner Aragorn announces his intention to take these paths. Afterward,
Éowyn confronts him alone.
[Aragorn] turned and saw her as a glimmer in the night,
for she was clad in white; but her eyes were on fire.
"Aragorn," she said, "why will you go on
this deadly road?"
"Because I must," he said. "Only so can
I see any hope of doing my part in the war against Sauron. I do not
choose paths of peril, Éowyn. Were I to go where my heart dwells,
far in the North I would now be wandering, in the fair valley of Rivendell."
For a while she was silent, as if pondering what this
might mean. Then suddenly she laid her hand on his arm. "You are
a stern lord and resolute," she said; "and thus do men win
renown." She paused. "Lord," she said, "if you must
go, then let me ride in your following. For I am weary of skulking in
the hills, and wish to face peril and battle."
"Your duty is with your people," he answered.
"Too often have I heard of duty," she cried.
"But am I not of the House of Eorl, a shieldmaiden and not a dry-nurse?
I have waited on faltering feet long enough. Since they falter no longer,
it seems, may I not now spend my life as I will?"
"Few may do that with honour," he answered.
"But as for you, lady: did you not accept the charge to govern
the people until their lord's return? If you had not been chosen, then
some marshal or captain would have been set in the same place, and he
could not ride away from his charge, were he weary of it or no."
"Shall I always be chosen?" she said bitterly.
"Shall I always be left behind when the Riders depart, to mind
the house while they win renown, and find food and beds when they return?"
"A time may come soon," said he, "when
none will return. Then there will be need of valour without renown,
for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defence
of your homes. Yet the deeds will not be less valiant because they are
unpraised."
And she answered: "All your words are but to say:
you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have
died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house,
for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl and
not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear pain
or death."
"What do you fear, lady?" he asked.
"A cage," she said. "To stay behind bars,
until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds
is gone beyond recall or desire."
"And yet you counselled me not to adventure on the
road I had chosen, because it is perilous?"
"So may one counsel another," she said. "Yet
I do not bid you flee from peril, but to ride to battle where your sword
may win renown and victory. I would not see a thing that is high and
excellent cast away needlessly."
"Nor would I," he said. "Therefore I say
to you, lady: Stay! For you have no errand to the South."
"Neither have those others who go with thee. They
go only because they would not be parted from thee — because they
love thee." Then she turned and vanished into the night.