#ALSO CAN I TELL YOU HOW I LOVE THIS FRAMING OF NANCY AS ARAGORN TOO mmmmm juicy gonna stew on that one for a minute.

[sparklyslug]

Okay I know you’ve talked about Eddie as Faramir but let’s TALK about STEVE as EOWYN…….decides after having seen battle that he wants something completely different with his life than what he’s been told is the path of glory…..”I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend”……adopts a hobbit wholesale and brings him into battle…….puts himself between his loved ones and the danger, always…..literally his entire character arc is just him taking off his helmet and being all “I am no douchebag!!!!!”

Anyway “let us dwell in fair ithilien” jogged my brain cells and I digress. Just a lot of feels going on over here!!!!!

OH BUDDY OH MAN YOU HAVE SO TOTALLY GOT ME WE ABSOLUTELY NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS!!!!

Because you are absolutely right and correct and i'm obsessed with this now. Everything you say here!!! Fucking amazing and phenomenal!!! HE DOES NOT LOVE THE NAIL STUDDED BAT FOR ITS SHARPNESS. HE LOVES ONLY THAT WHICH IT DEFENDS. I AM NO DOUCHEBAG!!

OKAY SO LIKE LETS GO INNNNNNN. How Eowyn is stuck at the beginning of Two Towers, trapped taking care of her ailing uncle in the gathering dark, all alone. A morning of pale spring still clinging to winter's chill. Kind of stuck, waiting, not sure what the future is gonna be for her and her brother but knowing shit is bAD SHIT HAS GOTTEN VERY BAD AND SHIT IS LIKELY TO GET WORSE. But what can she do? Who is around that she can turn to? A wacky gang crash lands into her life to suck her into their epic crusade, and that kickstarts her journey but ultimately her path is her own, and her heroism is her own, it comes from her. STEVE HARRINGTON!!! STEEEEEVE!!! HARRINGTONNNN!!!! Is so loyal, will not be left at home to wait and watch when the people he loves is in danger. He doesn't crave glory the way Eowyn does, but he will absolutely put his body on the line again and again between the forces of evil and those who need his protection, and that is absolutely an Eowyn trait.

And also like, to take it there. What does Steve fear? A cage. To spend his life behind bars the way that his parents did, until use and age just make him accustomed to it and he forgets what else he wanted. I don't know if Steve initially fears the cage so much as he is already inside it, kind of clinging to it even. Nancy understands the pattern they're falling into waaaay before Steve does, because to Steve his cage of parties and fun and status isn't unwelcome yet, is something I think he is sort of not always actively trying to get back but certainly something he's kind of trying to hold on to in some ways even into Season 3 with his Scoops Ahoy Strikeout Steve woes haha.

Or, to frame it a different way, maybe he's chasing the dream of that life the way that Eowyn is chasing the dream of dying gloriously in battle. His life and his parents' lives aren't the cage--in some ways they're the goal for him. Domesticity, middle class suburban living, kind of what he's had but also with a happiness and contentment and love he's never experienced. But, like with Eowyn, it's a shallow understanding of what that life actually involves and requires and actually looks like in reality. And ultimately neither of them are necessarily suited for this dream that they're carrying. For her, of valor and death in battle, for him, of a white picket fence life of heternormative bliss. Eowyn IS a warrior and Steve IS loved and someone's future husband but like. They can't seem to recognize that they already HAVE the essential elements of the dream they want for themselves, they don't need to chase it to its furthest (unattainable, deadly) extent and consider anything less than that to be a failure.

And also! Like! Does Eowyn really love Aragorn? She sees his qualities and she admires him, and even more than that, she's captivated by what he represents: a leader of men, a noble warrior, a hero. A representative of the kind of life she wants to have, the kind of person she really wants to be. Isn't that what Nancy is to Steve? A leader, someone smart, someone who is kind and good when everyone else around him is largely uninterested in being either. She represents the kind of life he wants to have too: the six kids in the Winnebago, the big happy family. And represents the kind of person he wants to be, in how she leads the Party and is so so smart and capable, never the babysitter but the badass in charge. Eowyn clings to Aragorn as a symbol, perhaps more than she does to him as a person. It's not THE reason they don't work out, but damn it's absolutely A reason. DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR AT ALL.

I HAVE SO MANY EOWYN EMOTIONS AND AM RUNNING ON TWO HOURS OF SLEEP SO I NEED TO CUT IT SOMEWHERE but also like.

Eddie as Faramir and the two of them sharing custody of hobbits and sharing a love that's not about ideals and not about pity and not about anything other than seeing each other so clearly and finding that beautiful, fuck me up fuck me up.