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She met Boromir when she was a young girl, perhaps 7 or 8. He and Theodred were close friends, despite their respective fathers' frostiness, and spent much time back and forth between Gondor and Rohan. Shortly after the death of her mother, Boromir had come to visit. She had fallen a little in love with him: as little girls do with boys in their late teens. He was kind and gentlemanly, in a way Eomer was not and Theodred could not (for fear of untoward rumors with her cousin). As Theoden changed, and her world grew scarier, darker, and colder, she held on to those now distant memories.
She met Gandalf just after she had passed from girl to young lady, perhaps at the age of 13. She was visiting Eomer in Aldburg, as he was progressing up the ranks of his eored. While their, Gandalf had come through in the pursuit of something and noticed a lonely little girl turned lady. She had, for several years now, secretly been learning how to fight properly, but otherwise was bored in a military hold. The men were not interested in entertaining or teaching a young princess and the women only wanted to lecture about the household. Gandalf caught her on the walls late at night and taught her history and language, music and healing. As much as she loved her uncle, cousin, and brother, Gandalf treated her like she was a capable in a way her family never could.
When Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli arrived with Gandalf to Edoras many years later, she was woman grown. She was 23, soon to be 24, and princess of hell. Her cousin had been killed, her uncle faded into someone, something foreign, and her brother exiled. She was trapped between love and duty for her uncle and country, and the machinations and assaults of Wormtongue. She no longer hoped for freedom or love, just Wormtongue's disappearance. Watching the Three Hunters slam through the door and rescue her uncle seemed out of a dream. While she noticed the elf and the dwarf, Aragorn truly caught her eye. She found out later he is the same Thorongil that fought with her grandfather and the true king of Gondor. But, at first, she was in love with his gentility, nobility, and ability--much the same as Boromir's. His love for another was pure and total, he was not meant for her. She felt, perhaps, he was the best man she would ever meet.
She soon got to know Legolas and Gimli--a matched set if she ever saw one. She became friends with them as a pair: never far from each other, more devoted friends she would be hard pressed to find. Legolas, Prince of the Woodland Elves, treated her like a true princess. He was noble and kind, happy to sit with her or dance with her. Gimli, in turn, treated her like a younger sister. He was always teasing, but protective. He would joke with her and make her smile. He was the first to truly make her laugh after Wormtongue's departure. They allowed her to just be her, a true gift of friendship.
Merry and Pippin were another set she met together, though Merry was the first she knew. After Pippin's departure, she and Merry would spend hours together: two lonely people, lost in excitement they were pushed to the side of. He would find her in the kitchens, helping the housekeeper or planning the menu. After stealing a basket, they would wander behind Edoras--not far--at sit and share stories of the people they missed. When it came time to ride to Minas Tirith, and end the evil of Sauron, they were the perfect companions. They rode together, fought together, fell together, and healed together. Theirs was a bond unlike any other she had: complete trust in each other, hard earned.
Pippin she properly met in the Houses of Healing. Merry would come visit, and so he would come along. When they discovered her 24th birthday had come and gone, they snuck a celebration in, to the ire of the healers. It was an effort to bring a smile to her face--and it succeeded, albeit faintly and briefly. Pippin brought joy and laughter, but also patience. He was willing to sit with her in her melancholy--a character change for him, but hadn't they all changed in the shadow of Mordor. He watched her and Faramir fall in love.
Sam she met next. Faramir introduced them, and she spent as much time as she could sitting with him. She knew the pain of recovering, and the pain of waiting for a loved one to recover. She quietly shared her story, and he did the same. The cried for the innocent children they had once been and could never be again.
Frodo she met last--he came to her broken in the Houses of Healing. In many ways, her injury was not dissimilar to his--his was just deeper and created over a longer period of time. When he awoke, she shared her own pain of the evil of Mordor--her arm would never fully heal. They shared a similar strength, in doing what was necessary because no one else could.
Her wedding to Faramir was blessed as a love match, and was attended by two kings, a queen, several elven lords and ladies, the Fellowship, and Rohirrim and Gondorians alike. It was smaller than Aragorn's to Arwen, but full of no less love. She had made many friends along the way to becoming the White Lady of Rohan, as she would ever be remembered. But her title no longer indicated her prison or her mourning, her melancholia or innocence. She was the White Lady who slayed the Witch King. She was the White Lady who survived innumerable insults and assaults to her person. She was the White Lady who recovered from despair and became full of hope. She was the White Lady.