#i am no man

[gleafer]

I mean… HONESTLY.

[booksinthelakes]

@prudencegoodewitch on instagram

Literally would watch this on repeat.

Like daily. Hourly. EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY.

[andata-e-ritorno]

Art by Ami Thompson

[camille-lachenille]

Happy Stabbing of the Witch King Day!

Let’s not forget that, on 15th March it wasn’t just Julius Caesar who got stabbed to death by unexpected opponents! On this day, Éowyn daughter of Éomund and Meriadoc Bradybuck killed the Witch King of Angmar, chief of the Nazgûl, during the battle of the Pelennor Fields.

[sleazyjanet]

éowyn best character

[tiachristiner]

Eowyn ✨

[darkesttiimelines]

Throughout history, women have left an undeniable impact on society with their hard work, creativity, and dedication to progress. Unfortunately, their accomplishments have often gone unnoticed, been undervalued, or even stolen. Despite these challenges, brave women of today continue to push boundaries, break barriers, and pave the way for a more fair and equal world. It's our duty to keep going, so that future generations of women can inherit a kinder, more just, and supportive world. By following in the footsteps of the incredible women who came before us, we can create a world where every woman can flourish and succeed, and where their contributions are recognized and celebrated.

Joan of Arc is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years' War. Claiming to be acting under divine guidance, she became a military leader who transcended gender roles and gained recognition as a savior of France. She was put on trial by Bishop Pierre Cauchon on accusations of heresy, which included blaspheming by wearing men's clothes, acting upon visions that were demonic, and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the judgment of the church. She was declared guilty and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, aged about nineteen.

Rani Lakshmibai was the Maharani consort of the princely state of Jhansi from 1843 to 1853. She was one of the leading figures in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 became a symbol of resistance to the British rule in India for Indian nationalists. When the Maharaja died in 1853, the British East India Company under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie refused to recognize the claim of his adpoted heir and annexed Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse. She rode into battle with her infant son strapped to her back, and died in June 1858 after being mortally wounded during the British counterattack at Gwalior.

Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA. Her contributions were largely overlooked by her male colleagues, James Watson and Francis Crick, who used her data without her permission or acknowledgement. This theft of her intellectual property and erasure of her contributions is a prime example of the systemic sexism that has historically plagued the scientific community.

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress and inventor who co-invented a frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology during World War II that was used to guide torpedoes. However, her contributions were largely ignored and dismissed by male engineers and the military at the time. It was only later in life that she received recognition for her scientific achievements.

Emma Weyant is an American competitive swimmer. She was the US national champion at the individual medley. She qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in the 400m individual medley and won the silver medal in this event. Weyant finished second in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. She was beaten by William (Lia) Thomas, a fetishist, who when competing as a member of the Penn men's team, which was 2018-19, ranked 554th in the 200 freestyle, 65th in the 500 freestyle and 32nd in the 1650 freestyle. Weyant is the fastest swimmer in the 500-yard freestyle and had her position stolen by a man.

Maryna Viazovska is a Ukrainian mathematician who made a breakthrough in sphere packing, solving the centuries-old mathematical problem known as the densest packing of spheres in dimensions 8 and 24. She was awarded the Fields Medal in July 2022, making her the second woman (after Maryam Mirzakhani), the second person born in the Ukrainian SSR and the first with a degree from a Ukrainian university to ever receive it.

Hannie Schaft was a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II who played a crucial role in the resistance movement against Nazi occupation. Schaft was a former university student who dropped out because she refused to sign a pledge of loyalty to Germany. Nazis arrested and killed her in 1945, just three weeks before the war ended in Europe. According to lore, Schaft’s last words were, “I’m a better shot,” after initially only being wounded by her executioner.

Shakuntala Devi was an Indian mathematician and mental calculator who was known as the "Human Computer" for her exceptional ability to perform complex mathematical calculations in her head. Her extraordinary abilities earned her a place in the 1982 Guinness Book of Records. Her lesser known achievement is that in 1977 she wrote what is considered to be the first book in India on homosexuality titled “The World of Homosexuals.”  

J. K. Rowling is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. Known for her philanthropy, she was doxxed and harassed after coming out with support for women's and gay rights in 2020. Rowling secretly donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to save 100 female lawyers and their families facing murder in Afghanistan. In 2022, she funded a women's only rape shelter in Edinburgh.

[thecupsmith]

Don't get me wrong, I like LoTR and the "I am no man" scene where Eowyn stabs the Witch King of Angmar, but you can really feel how Toilken was a British professor of languages and history (a NERD), when you re-frame the scene as "A high ranking general of Fantasy Satan is defeated because they were too cocky and didn't have a strong enough grasp of English wordplay"

[thranduilofsmirkwood]

✵✰❅❉❣★❦★❣❉❅✰✵

✵✰❅❉❣★❦★❣❉❅✰✵

✵✰❅❉❣★❦★❣❉❅✰✵

✵✰❅❉❣★❦★❣❉❅✰✵

✵✰❅❉❣★❦★❣❉❅✰✵

[archerinventive]

A moment to breathe between bouts

Thank you to Liv F.H. (@ liv.ing_lively on IG) for capturing this recent moment at faire, and to the  Landsknecht guild for sharing the field with us this year. ❤️ ⚔️

[fuzzylilteagoblin]

Éowyn: Sword Maiden of Rohan, Griever of War

I’ve been rewatching the movies with my partner and ahhhhh I love them so much. This piece took me so long but the toil was well worth it.

[flutterofpapillons]

[booksdogsmagicandmore]

There’s this exchange in Return of the King between Aragorn and Eowyn and it kills me that they cut it short for the movie:

'A time may come soon,' said he, 'when none will return. Then there will be need of valour without renown, for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defence of your homes. Yet the deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.'

And she answered: 'All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more.

Because on the one hand, Aragorn is right. Eowyn may yet be needed to defend her people in Rohan should the battle in Minas Tirith go south. And Eowyn does place too much value on the glory of battle.

But on the other hand, Eowyn is right. Aragorn asks none of his warriors to stay behind. Their best chance at winning is to save Minas Tirith, and in that battle every man counts. If they fail at Minas Tirith then the world of men will fall, and any battle left would be in vain.

Eowyn is being asked to stay at home because she is a woman, and thus society has deemed that her place is in the home. Notice that her brother rides openly to the battle of Minas Tirith. But she cannot, because even in Rohan, where the women learn to fight, they are only permitted to defend themselves in their homes, never to defend their people on the battlefield.

And ultimately, Eowyn proves herself right. Not only do women deserve to be on the battlefield, but they are necessary. The witch king would not have been defeated if Eowyn had done what Aragorn told her to do and stayed with her people.

And it kills me that Eowyn’s speech, her dressing down of the sexism of even Aragorn’s words, was cut out of the movie, so that our hero king can be perfectly moral and sympathetic.

[thatannoyingbitch]

eowyn getting rejected by a man and responding by killing the witch king then falling in love with someone way hotter than the guy who rejected her is such an inspiration to me

[modernincorrectlotrhobbit]

Merry: Anyway, I faced him and copied what Éowyn did—

Éomer: What, like her whole “I am no man” speech?

Éowyn, shrugging: I mean, it was fairly iconic.

[kelsonius]

I love a good "this can be done by no man" trope. Yes no man, go get 'em!