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Théoden appointed Éowyn as his steward when he went riding off to Gondor with Éomer. Then Éowyn disguised herself as a man and followed.

Did Éowyn leave the remaining Rohirrim leaderless when she left? That sounds highly irresponsible, but seems to be true as far as I can tell. I can see nothing in the books that indicates otherwise, though by "books" I mean The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

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18

Éowyn's departure left Rohan without a representative of the royal family but not without leadership.

Per the Tolkien Gateway (citing "Unfinished Tales") Erkenbrand, was left in charge of the Rohirrim defenders, even when Théoden believed that Eowyn would also be there.

Erkenbrand did not come to Minas Tirith to fight in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. King Théoden gave him the command of the forces that were left behind to defend Rohan because of Erkenbrand's dignity and authority.

Since Éowyn was Théoden's Steward, her absence might harm Rohirrim morale (because of suspicions that she might have fled to some place of safety), and if parley was necessary, the enemy leaders might not consider Erkenbrand an appropriate person to negotiate with, but Éowyn's departure did not leave Rohan without leadership, just without royal family leadership

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    Both Eowyn and Erkenbrand were appointed to separate responsibilities by Theoden. Eowyn didn't appoint anyone to take her place (doing so would not have been in the spirit of sneaking off), but it's not a stretch to assume, in the current military emergency, that Erkenbrand would be challenged should he assume her position.
    – chepner
    Commented Jul 15 at 17:25
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    Updated answer to clarify that the cite is to "Unfinished Tales"
    – Andrew
    Commented Jul 15 at 18:59
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    The exact quote from UT (a footnote by Tolkien in Appendix (i) to Battle of the Fords of Isen — to para UT 3.05.appendix.01.2.006 in the DTP citation system) justifying the statement about Erkenbrand is slightly subtle to parse; Tolkien Gateway spells it out clearer, but I thought from the above TG quote was from Tolkien, originally.
    – David Roberts
    Commented Jul 16 at 6:33
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    Here's the quote from UT: "...Erkenbrand was an older man, and the King felt the need of one of dignity and authority to leave behind in command of such forces as could be spared for the defence of Rohan."
    – David Roberts
    Commented Jul 16 at 7:57
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    If you edit again, could you change "Theodon" to "Théoden"? Too few characters for me to edit.
    – Michael Foster
    Commented Jul 16 at 9:42

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