[davem]

Originally Posted by Lalwende

Pairing her with Faramir is even more interesting, as he seems to represent the experienced soldier who has 'seen it all'. He has seen the fervent youths join up and be killed. To him, war is something which must be got through in one piece, something to be survived. When he meets Eowyn, on a symbolic level it is like the meeting of the older soldier with the younger one, and his greater experience of war, of the grim realities of war, brings into focus the experiences the other has just gone through.

Made me think of The Homecoming of Beortnoth, & the conversation between Torthelm, the idealistic young man with a head full of heroic lays, & Tidwald, the old soldier who knows the reality of war:

TORTHELM: Offa! he's silenced. Not all liked him;
Many would have muzzled him, had master let them
'There are cravens at council that crow proudly
with the hearts of hens'; so I hear he said
at the Lords meeting. As lays remind us:
'What at the mead man vows, when morning comes
let him with deeds answer, or his drink vomit
and a sot be shown.' But the songs wither,
and the world worsens. & the lazy thralls,
cooks & sutlers! By the Cross, Tida,
I loved him no less than any lord with him;
and a poor freeman may prove in the end
more tough when tested than titled earls
who count back their kin to kings ere Woden.

TIDWALD: 'You can talk, Totta! Your time'll come,
& it'll look less easy than lays make it.
Bitter taste has iron, & the bite of swords
is cruel & cold, when you come to it.
The God guard you, if your glees falter!
When your shield is shivered, between shame & death
is hard choosing.