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Dancing_Hobbit · 01-23-2004, 10:07 PM

Just to poit out: having "the blood of the Westernesse" would really just be the visible or percieptable result of genes that were passed on from Numenorean ancestors. Scince huge numbers of genes would be responsible for these traits, it is perfectly possible to have all manner of gradations of people with "the blood of the Westernesse." My point is, it's not something you have or don't have, it's all a question of genetic makeup. There would have to be a huge range of possibilities, with Faramir happening to fall on the purer end of the spectrum than Boromir.

I would also argue that the distinction has more to do with personality than with physical traits, although personality is at least somewhat determined by genetics (the amount depending on where you stand on the nature versus nurture debate). So the difference is twofold: firstly, siblings (excluding identicle twins) always inherit different genes, otherwise they would look exactly the same, and secondly, it is impossible for two people to grow up in identicle situations, no matter how hard you try. This is both because events are never quite the same and because the way an event affects you is dependant on your reaction to it which is dependant on your genetic makup and previous experiences, so as siblings develope they diverge more and more. Since "the blood of the Westernesse" seems to me to reffer to general temperament as well as physical atributes and no two people (except identical twins - and not necissarilly even them) are ever geneticly identical, Boromir and Faramir would become completely different people, and it just happened by chance that Faramir greatly resembled the men of Westernesse wheras Boromir did not.

Yes I know I'm repeating many things that have already been touched on. I'm sorry. I just have this need to reiterate things in my own words and in what I feel to be a clearer, more concise way. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 11:09 PM January 23, 2004: Message edited by: Dancing_Hobbit ]

01-23-2004, 10:07 PM	#8
Dancing_Hobbit Haunting Spirit Join Date: May 2003 Location: A fairyland of mists and shadows deep in the emerald wood. Posts: 56	Just to poit out: having "the blood of the Westernesse" would really just be the visible or percieptable result of genes that were passed on from Numenorean ancestors. Scince huge numbers of genes would be responsible for these traits, it is perfectly possible to have all manner of gradations of people with "the blood of the Westernesse." My point is, it's not something you have or don't have, it's all a question of genetic makeup. There would have to be a huge range of possibilities, with Faramir happening to fall on the purer end of the spectrum than Boromir. I would also argue that the distinction has more to do with personality than with physical traits, although personality is at least somewhat determined by genetics (the amount depending on where you stand on the nature versus nurture debate). So the difference is twofold: firstly, siblings (excluding identicle twins) always inherit different genes, otherwise they would look exactly the same, and secondly, it is impossible for two people to grow up in identicle situations, no matter how hard you try. This is both because events are never quite the same and because the way an event affects you is dependant on your reaction to it which is dependant on your genetic makup and previous experiences, so as siblings develope they diverge more and more. Since "the blood of the Westernesse" seems to me to reffer to general temperament as well as physical atributes and no two people (except identical twins - and not necissarilly even them) are ever geneticly identical, Boromir and Faramir would become completely different people, and it just happened by chance that Faramir greatly resembled the men of Westernesse wheras Boromir did not. Yes I know I'm repeating many things that have already been touched on. I'm sorry. I just have this need to reiterate things in my own words and in what I feel to be a clearer, more concise way. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] <font size=1 color=339966>[ 11:09 PM January 23, 2004: Message edited by: Dancing_Hobbit ] __________________ Hobbits bow to nobody! ...Except their plates...