[Kalimac]

I agree with doug*platypus, especially about the issue of Elendil's heir returning. Also, think about Denethor; if Boromir remained alive, even if he went with the Three Walkers (now the Four Walkers) it would be impossible to keep him away from Gondor for very long. Of course, Faramir would never see the vision of the dead Boromir, and Denethor would not be affected the way he was. Instead we'd have Faramir prowling around somewhere in the underbrush with Denethor stepping on his neck as per usual, as well as a much stronger and more confident Denethor (his favorite son returned) who incidentally is still looking into the Palantir and being manipulated by Sauron. Whew. I'm not sure what happens after that. Any number of things are possible, but it's pretty safe to say that the King Returned would have a much harder time of it, as Doug stated. Denethor talks a good line about how they will alway be Stewards and never Kings, but it's hard to see him graciously making way for Aragorn either.

As for Boromir himself - well, he's decided it's best not to take the Ring after all, but he's not very diplomatic and it's hard to see him (a) managing to conceal the fact that he actually had access to Isildur's Bane from his father (b) explaining to Denethor's satisfaction his failure to bring it back. Add Faramir's actions in releasing Frodo to all this, and now Denethor has two sons who let the Ring go instead of just one.

I have to stop, I'm starting to get alarmed. Whatever the results would be, they wouldn't be pretty. Things were better as they happened in the books.