The ascension of Eowyn: Using the Ithil Stone

OK, so as should be obvious to anyone who has been reading this, I am completely untrustworthy, or at least have horrible predictive skills, when it comes to what is going to happen on this blog.  I say I am done writing, and here I am writing.  I write that I am going to cover a specific topic next, and then I veer off to something else.

This post will be of the latter type of not doing what I said I was going to do.  After writing my 'intro' post yesterday on this "New and Old Way", I had another thought that came to me that is kind of tied to that, I guess, but not really.  In any case, I had a bit more energy in my thinking on that second thought, and wanted to continue to further that here.  It's also a little bit more 'scoped', in that it seems pretty much a discrete thought that I can just get down and explore, whereas on the other one seems like it could meander.  I don't know.  So, I will hold off on this other topic (which will essentially build off of the concept of the 3 Kingdoms, and the restoration of worlds in relation to each other as it was at the end of the 1st age), and get this thought out.

As always, experimental, but I like these because, again, they remind me to not take myself or this blog too seriously, have fun with it, and let loose a little bit.

This second thought I had builds on the dream I shared in the post "Keys as Cars: Stones as a means of transportation and the healing of the Anor Stone in Ithilien", and essentially takes things to their logical conclusion.  It also somewhat modifies the identity of the stone/ car in that dream, or at the very least tips my guess back toward the other of the two stones that I had identified as candidates.

To briefly summarize that dream (you can read the slightly more detailed account in the link above), I was with my girlfriend from college and we had a car that had come into our possession.  My girlfriend was adamant that she would not use it because it had belonged to a 'smoker', but I was pretty confident that we could make use of the vehicle.

As a reminder, cars have become synonymous with stones in my dreams.  I see stones as cars, and I believe in that dream that this was also the case - that what we were dealing with was a stone.

I vacillated between the Anor and Ithil Stones as likely candidates, each with a potential 'smoker' as the previous owner (Denethor since he literally set himself on fire, and Sauron because of his hand in causing Nimloth the White Tree to be burned and smoked).  I went with the Anor Stone due its future role in both Lehi's exodus, as well as events yet to come.

However, I am going to change my guess, and suggest that what I saw in my dream actually represented the recovery of the Ithil Stone following the fall of Barad-dur.  This makes sense given the feeling in the dream that this stone just suddenly came into the lives of those represented in the dream.  The Anor Stone would have been known, obviously, where the car in my dream seemed like a new acquisition - like something that unexpectedly showed up.  It has been assumed that the Ithil Stone was destroyed in Sauron's fall, but obviously for my story to work out (with the Anor and Ithil Stones linking in the future), that must not have been the case, and my dream showed its recovery, apparently.

It also makes sense given what I think it was then used for:  Eowyn ascending to Valinor.

This was the new thought last night - that Eowyn would have used the Ithil Stone to travel to Tirion/ Tun in Valinor, and it is there that she has remained (as a translated Eowyn) until the present day.  While in my story, I have assumed that she is there now in Valinor (while we also have Asenath holding down the fort off of Eressea), it surprised me to think that this has been her home since the days immediately following the 3rd age, and that she has not died in the time in between.  Meaning, if we were to see her today, she would look like and be Eowyn.

Again, it was a strange thought, but the more it settled on my mind, the more it made sense, until by this morning I figured that was the idea I wanted to get down for today.  As in, I have fully adopted this concept into my story.

There is an interesting observation with stated death dates of the main LOTR characters that gives some support, or at least doesn't go against, this thought.

For all of the primary LOTR characters, we have some date recorded for either their death, burial, or travel across the sea to the Undying Lands.  All of the characters' fates are recorded or alluded to.  All characters, that is, except for Eowyn.

For her husband Faramir we have a recorded death year:  82 of the 4th age.  He would have been 120, and his longer life than other Men was attributed to his Numenorean or Dunedain ancestry.  Eowyn was born as a Rohirrim and wouldn't have been expected to live as long, or at least much longer than Faramir.  Her brother Eomer died at the age of 93 in the year 63 of the 4th age.   I think she was about 12 years younger than Faramir, so would have been 108 at his death.  Which would be old, but perhaps not impossible.

But the point is, that for all characters that died around that time frame, even more minor characters in the tale, they all have recorded deaths.  Even those who died well later, such as Aragorn who lived to be 210 years old and died in 120 of the 4th age, are recorded.  Arwen's death was recorded a year later.

I mean, you can take a look, but whoever was keeping the records, and wherever Tolkien was pulling this from, had recorded births and deaths (or at least fates) for all of these players, with the sole exception of Eowyn.  This was actually surprising as I chased down this thought a bit, that there wasn't anything recorded for her, and yet there was for everyone else.

Doesn't mean she didn't die, but it does mean that I don't have to say anyone was wrong or change anything to leave open the possibility that this thought I had is true.

As I mentioned earlier, something likely happened in Ithilien in the years following the War of the Ring, and it is a mystery that will be unfolded.  I think it involved some work with these stones, and it seems like something may have happened with Eowyn and the Ithil Stone.

I guess I kind of have to laugh, as well, because in my dream, Eowyn (played by my girlfriend) was pretty adamant that she wasn't going anywhere near that car (the Ithil Stone).  So, I guess something must have changed her mind.

As this thought grew in my mind, it also helped make sense (potentially) of a dream I had back in the fall of 2020.  In the dream, I was hanging out with one of my friends who I grew up with, and we also roomed together in college.  In fact, I would go out to visit him a little later that fall just to continue to try and clear my head.

Anyway, we were hanging out in a bar having a drink, which is funny because we are both Mormons and don't drink (He is an active member, and I am no longer 'active', but am as Mormon as you can get with not drinking).  I ended up walking behind him, bumping him and causing him to spill his beer or whatever it was that he was drinking.  As I did this, I looked up at a large TV that was behind the bar.  On the screen was a green hill, but one of the strangest hills I have ever seen - something that could only be in a dream, and hard to explain.  I then noticed a white swan that was flying away from my point of view, and heading toward this hill, after which I woke up.

I actually now think that white swan represented Eowyn flying toward Tuna, which is the green hill in Aman on which stands Tirion or Tun.  Funnily enough, I think my friend, whose beer I spilled, was meant to represent Legolas, who was still pining away to go over the sea, and who had also taken up residence in Ithilien with Eowyn and Faramir, along with other Elves.

I believe Legolas and Gimli would sail across the sea to Eressea, so this dream would mean that Eowyn's departure happened sometime before (if it was a one-way ticket kind of thing - could there have been back and forth travel?).

Eowyn's departure would have been different from the others', including the ship that the Ring Bearers (Gandalf, Frodo, Galadriel, and Elrond) went on, because, whereas they went to Eressea, it seems she went straight to Valinor and has remained there since (or at least based out of there... seems she has been to other lands/ places on various errands).

Anyway, that is the update on Eowyn.  She used the Ithil Stone to ascend up to Valinor itself, and take up residence in Tirion (but perhaps landing in Alqualonde, the Swan Haven, first?).  The White Lady ascending to another White City.