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It's also interesting to consider that, by all rational standards, it was a terrible mistake for the "good guys" to be standing about singing while the Orcs are dragging the captured Hobbits further and further away. But as badly as the company needed to take off after the kidnapped Hobbits, it was even more essential that they show and define who they are. Unlike the Orcs who let their comrades die without giving them a second thought, Aragorn and his companions take time to show respect and honor for those who have fallen, even if it puts them further behind the kidnappers. To gain time by disregarding a fundamental principle--that of respect for an individual life--is not something Tolkien could countenance in his "heroes".
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Picking up on what Child says above, I think it was entirely natural that Tolkien had his characters respect their fallen comrade in this way. With his experiences in the trenches he would have known this characteristic of 'good soldiers' only too well. In the trenches time was taken to engage in such seemingly time-wasting activities as acts of worship, and there are many tales of soldiers bringing back fallen comrades from no man's land, despite the risk to themselves. As an ex-serviceman and conservative (with a small 'c') Englishman he would have been one of those men who understand and respect the fundamental
humanity of such behaviour.
Throughout the books he shows how those on the side of good respect their dead and do not allow their bodies to be despoiled. Burials also occur after the battles of Helm's Deep and the Pelennor Fields. Admittedly, there is a little more
time after these battles, but even in 'the field' Theoden's body is swiftly removed, and if they were not under threat, then it would be natural to give Boromir the best burial they could given the resources available to them.