[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by the phantom

I'm not sure I agree that his desire was "irrational".

This is irrational-> expecting a hobbit to safely enter a heavily guarded land, travel for miles and miles without getting caught, and destroy a ring he could not willingly throw into his little fire at home.

To Boromir this idea seems much more irrational than attempting to use the Ring.

This is the basis upon which Boromir founds his belief that it is better to use the Ring against Sauron rather than walk into Sauron's back yard in an attempt to destroy it. I agree that this is a rational (albeit, as it turns out, misguided) belief. What I am labelling "irrational" is his desire to seize it at all costs (ie by means of an attack on the person whom he has sworn to defend). It is irrational because it is provoked not by rational thought, but by the corrupting influence of the Ring.

Originally Posted by the phantom

Boromir was strong, and a leader, and was used to ruling and having his judgments heard and obeyed. He thought that he could use the Ring safely because he was strong, and he certainly had more faith in his own strength than in the apparent "folly" of the quest.

I think that you misunderstand my use of the concept of mental weakness. I am not using it in the sense of "self-confident", which Boromir undoubtedly was. Rather, I am talking in terms of strength of will to resist the Ring's influence. It is in this respect that I would say that Boromir was, mentally, the weakest of the Company.