Éomer
Éomer, son of Éomund; the Third Marshal of the Riddermark; later King of Rohan
Name and Lineage
Éomer — son of Éomund and Théodwyn (sister of King Théoden), and the elder brother of Éowyn — was the eldest of the young lords who grew up at Meduseld after his father’s death and his mother’s; he was close in spirit to his uncle the King. He was tall and golden, “the comeliest of the Riders of the Mark”, fierce in war and true to his word. He rose to be the Third Marshal of the Riddermark, warden of the East-mark on the marches that looked toward Gondor and the Enemy.
The Marshalship and the Meeting in the Wild
- When the six thousand Riders rode in the plains beyond the Emyn Muil, Éomer’s éored came upon the trail of the Orcs that had taken the hobbits. Farther, in his battle with the Orcs at the Battle of the Fords of Isen and the pursuit, he met in the wild Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, the hunters of the Three — whom at first he took for enemies, yet to whom, being persuaded by the words and the wounds of their cause, he offered his great stallions and his friendship, in defiance of Gríma’s counsels and the ban of his king.
The War of the Ring
- Fangorn: after Théoden’s healing and the revolt against Wormtongue, Éomer was restored to favour, and rode with the King to the Hornburg and the Battle of Helm’s Deep, where he broke the hosts of Saruman’s Orcs.
- The Ride of the Rohirrim: with the Red Arrow from Gondor he rode at Théoden’s right hand in the six-thousand charge across the plains of Anórien. In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields he received his mortal charge; and when the King fell, and the Riders cried “Westu Théoden hal!”, Éomer in grief and fury led the great charge down the Pelennor that swept the field before the coming of Aragorn from the ships.
- After the war: finding Éowyn upon the field, and she receiving healing in Gondor, Éomer was crowned King of Rohan, the first of the Second Line of the Mark (the house of Eorl continued through him); he sealed the friendship of Rohan and the Reunited Kingdom — being given, as the mark of alliance, “the sword and the friendship of the King”; he reigned sixty-five years. In his reign Rohan prospered and was at peace, and his friendship with Elessar (Aragorn) endured to the end of the age.
Significance
Éomer is the loyal, hot-tempered son of the Mark — the Marshal who first mistakes the Heir of Isildur for an enemy, then proves his truest ally; the horseman whose charge on the Pelennor is the turning point of the war, and the king who carries Rohan into the peace of the Fourth Age.