towers

the king of the golden hall 683
and all the lords and chiefs were gathered together that
remained in Edoras or dwelt nearby.
‘Behold! I go forth, and it seems like to be my last riding,’
said Théoden. ‘I have no child. Théodred my son is slain. I
name Éomer my sister-son to be my heir. If neither of us
return, then choose a new lord as you will. But to some one
I must now entrust my people that I leave behind, to rule
them in my place. Which of you will stay?’
No man spoke.
‘Is there none whom you would name? In whom do my
people trust?’
‘In the House of Eorl,’ answered Háma.
‘But Éomer I cannot spare, nor would he stay,’ said the
king; ‘and he is the last of that House.’
‘I said not Éomer,’ answered Háma. ‘And he is not the
last. There is Éowyn, daughter of Éomund, his sister. She is
fearless and high-hearted. All love her. Let her be as lord to
the Eorlingas, while we are gone.’
‘It shall be so,’ said Théoden. ‘Let the heralds announce
to the folk that the Lady Éowyn will lead them!’
Then the king sat upon a seat before his doors, and Éowyn
knelt before him and received from him a sword and a fair
corslet. ‘Farewell sister-daughter!’ he said. ‘Dark is the hour,
yet maybe we shall return to the Golden Hall. But in Dunharrow
the people may long defend themselves, and if the battle
go ill, thither will come all who escape.’
‘Speak not so!’ she answered. ‘A year shall I endure for
every day that passes until your return.’ But as she spoke her
eyes went to Aragorn who stood nearby.
‘The king shall come again,’ he said. ‘Fear not! Not West
but East does our doom await us.’
The king now went down the stair with Gandalf beside
him. The others followed. Aragorn looked back as they
passed towards the gate. Alone Éowyn stood before the doors
of the house at the stair’s head; the sword was set upright