The Lord Of The Rings: 10 Best Characters NOT In The Fellowship

In a very male dominated franchise, Éowyn challenges the gender roles defined for her by her peers and her family. The niece of king Théoden and younger sister of Éomer, Éowyn is royalty of Rohan and is protected whenever possible despite her insistence at her own independence.

Éowyn consistently demands that she joins the fighting men of Rohan throughout her appearances in the trilogy, most notably at Helm's Deep. After being denied one too many times, she secretly armours herself and joins the riders of Rohan for the battle of Minas Tirith. This proves to be a good choice as she is effective in battle and in one of the most crowd-pleasing moments of the trilogy she duals with the Witch-king of Angmar.

The Lord of the Nazgûl would arrogantly proclaim that no man could kill him before Éowyn removes her helm and reveals to him that she is no man. She then plunges her sword into his shrouded head killing him. It is an awesome scene and more than makes up for her uninteresting subplot concerning her unrequited love for Aragorn.