While the Fellowship appears as the heroes of The Lord of the Rings, the victory over Sauron was hard won by thousands across the land. And a prime example is Eowyn, who broke her traditional role to help fight in the bloody battle against Orcs and all manner of unnatural creatures. While she makes for a compelling character, she was originally intended to have a far bigger part in the story and even marry Aragorn at the end.

With both Arwen and Eowyn each having feelings toward Aragorn, it makes things rather awkward for the young king-to-be. But while Aragorn has a deep respect and admiration for Eowyn, he remains certain that Arwen is the one he loves and tries to explain that to Eowyn as kindly as possible. Luckily, Eowyn finds Faramir at the end of The Return of the King, and they make a perfect match. But this was far from author J.R.R. Tolkien's original intention.

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Eowyn Was To Be Middle-earth's Queen

Eowyn facing the Witch-King of Angmar in The Lord of the Rings

A huge collection of Tolkien's notes and drafts were compiled into three books titled The History of Middle-earth. Within these, it's revealed that Eowyn was to be the first daughter of King Theoden of Rohan and have a cousin named Idis. But this was eventually changed by combining the characters, as Eowyn became the king's niece who was adopted by him after her parents tragically died.

With this idea of her being a princess, it works better with the concept of her marrying Aragorn. Their relationship could've symbolized a partnership between Rohan and Gondor after the war, as was traditional for real-life royalty centuries ago. But in the end, it was made so King Theoden only had one son, Theodred, who perished at the hands of Sauron's armies and left Eomer as next in line.

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Aragorn and Eowyn's Lost Relationship

Eowyn and Faramir smile at each other in Lord of the Rings

It's unknown if Arwen was in the picture at this time, but the original plan was for Aragorn and Eowyn to marry after The Lord of the Rings. And in another draft, Eowyn perished after avenging Theoden during the Battle of Minas Tirith, which led to Aragorn finally admitting his love for her after she was gone. But Tolkien believed this ending to be too "grim" for the heroes.

Another factor Tolkien took into account was their age difference; upon their first meeting in The Two Towers, Aragorn is 87 years old while Eowyn is only 24. While Aragorn doesn't appear old with his bloodline, the gap between the two would still feel rather odd, with Tolkien explaining Aragorn was "too old and lordly" for them to be together.

While their relationship could have worked, the story between Aragorn and Arwen is far more compelling and leaves all involved with a happy ending. Things would've been especially sad if Aragorn left Arwen for Eowyn, for the Elf is so willing to sacrifice everything to be with him. But luckily Tolkien took this relationship into careful consideration and ended up crafting one of the most iconic couples in fantasy,