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Originally Posted by Folwren
There is NO reason to rid this island of Faramir! Up till now, the elvse have been the ones being removed. People's main argument for doing that is because they're worthless...or stupid...or lazy...but you can not possibly apply any of those things to Faramir!
I've seen that there has been some 'lawyer work' here, but, being directly connected to a lawyer, and I'm not kidding (dad a lawyer, brother studying to be one...secretary of one), I'm quite willing to take the defending attorney's job. If I fail, I will go home complaining 'of the jurry being bribed', thing commonly seen now adays.
Bring up your prosucutions, Mr. Prosecutor! I'm ready.
-- Folwren
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I'll fill in as Assistant Prosecutor here...
As regards your charges that Faramir is neither "worthless, stupid, or lazy", I again draw your attention to the evidence of his father, whose word as Steward of Gondor is nearly unimpeachable, that is, in fact, all three.
However, since you seem to choose to disregard the evidence of His Excellency, the Steward of Gondor, I would like to point out that the actions of Faramir in dealing with the One Ring does, in fact, smack of stupidity. As you note, he doesn't even ask to see the Ring, but sends it off with Frodo. Those of us with 20/20 hindsight can see that this was ultimately the wise thing to do, but even Gandalf admits that the course of Denethor- the course that Faramir was bound to follow as an officer of the Gondorian army- was the prudent course. Faramir was stupidly disobeying his orders, and doing so for stupid reasons: "The Hobbits said that Gandalf said it was better."
That's the charge of not being stupid. Next, the charge of not being lazy.
Faramir was most definitely lazy. As his actions during the War of the Ring will show, he allowed his brother, the much needed Captain-General of Gondor, to make the 100-day journey to Rivendell while he remained in a three day radius of the White City. Next, we present as evidence his reluctance at taking command of the men in Osgiliath, when he was, as Denethor noted, the most logical choice for command. Finally, although we have no EVIDENCE of a dereliction of duty, one will note that he was conspicuous among the prominent commanders of the Western alliance in his absence at both the Field of Pelennor and the Black Gate.
And then for worthless...
Worthless is a subjective term, and isn't one that can be made based so much on one person's decisions, but on the decisions of others concerning him. But take note of those who knew him well:
Boromir, although Faramir claims he was close to him, makes not a mention of him from Rivendell to his death, although he mentions his father several times. Denethor, as already noted, DOES indeed think him worthless. His wife-to-be, Eowyn, only accepts him as a second-best choice. Aragorn is so unconcerned with him, that he does not dispense with his chief rival, but goes so far as to make him prince, and his steward to boot. If he were concerned at all about him, he'd have the sense to make a less well-connected man, like Hurin of the Keys, his steward.
Clearly, his IS lazy, stupid, and worthless. He ought to be removed.