Shield maidens and the heroic genre

[Lalaith]

Vardamar - I can't think of any real-life female warriors with which to refute or
confirm your assertion!
Thank you for your kind words littlemanpoet. What you say about the Niebelungenlied is quite right. It is a later, mediaeval work - and interestingly the vengeance theme has been reversed. The heroine in the earlier work of Atlakvida avenges her brothers by killing her husband, while the Nieblungerlied has the same characters, but the woman kills her brothers to avenge her husband. Blood family was more important than romantic love in those far-off heroic days....I always felt Eowyn was avenging Theoden when she killed the Witch King.

Tolkien's Eowyn is not as frightening and ruthless as the heroines of the epics I mentioned, but the Miranda Otto performance annoyed me a great deal as it has NOTHING to do with the literary heritage of the character.