Let's Ask Violet

Lord of the Rings has been an essential part of my life, mostly because my dad is a colossal nerd, to the point where my middle name is actually Éowyn.  And for the most part, it has dictated who I grew up to be, Éowyn showing me that I should be a strong woman who doesn’t take no for an answer, and Sam showing me that friendship and determination is stronger than anything.

My dad would read to me Lord of the Rings when I was younger, and I read the series over and over and over again throughout my life.  I don’t remember quotes too often, just the ones that hit me personally.  I remember watching the Hobbit and the Animated Lord of the Rings movies throughout my childhood, and they were one of the greatest parts of it.  Which would probably explain why I was so weird back in grade school, but that’s for another time.

That being said, I keep getting mixed reactions to my middle name.  Before the live action movies came out, people mistook my middle name for Edwin, which was frightfully annoying since I am very much a woman.  Hell, my baptism certificate says Samantha Edwin Limberger.  For some reason, they didn’t think it was important to actually get the spelling for my middle name.

A lot of kids made fun of me, because they didn’t know who the heck Éowyn was, or what she represented.  Then after the live action movies came out, that’s when people got confused.  Some people thought it was the greatest thing of all time.  Others thought that I was a freak.  A lot of people still said “what does Éowyn come from?”, and then when I explained it, they looked at me and went “But she’s not a real character”.

Yeah, that was annoying, but honestly, I like my middle name, and I like the fact that I can relate to both Éowyn and Sam as my role models.

Over the course of my life, I still learn new things from that series.  I don’t know why it resonates with me so well, but I’m glad that it exists, and that it was such a big impact on my life.