Character Analysis Thread

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Faramir may have confirmed the apparently popular belief that Men do not go through the Golden Wood unchanged -- the Rohirrim also have that belief: "Few escape her nets," says Eomer -- but Aragorn's comment points out the error often in it:

"Say not unscathed, but if you say unchanged, then maybe you will speak the truth... But lore wanes in Gondor, Boromir, if in the city of those who once were wise they now speak evil of Lothlorien."

and

"Perilous indeed," said Aragorn, "fair and perilous; but only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them."

And Sam later puts his finger on it:

"I don't know about perilous," said Sam. "It strikes me that folk take their peril with them into Lorien, and finds it there because they've brought it. But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she's so strong in herself. You, you could dash yourself to pieces on her, like a ship on a rock; or drownd yourself, like a hobbit in a river. But neither rock nor river would be to blame."

One cannot in any way blame Galadriel for awakening the peril in Boromir's own heart; it was already there, and she in no way put it there. She was, perhaps, involved with that awakening, possibly because Boromir saw in her a strength he himself did not possess -- ultimately, the strength to resist the lure of the Ring. As Sam also says, "it's my opinion that in Lorien he first saw clearly what I guessed sooner: what he wanted." Perhaps in the testing of his heart, Boromir saw in Galadriel the strength of someone who wields an Elven Ring, not clearly realizing that this is what he saw. But perhaps he suspected, or at least entertained the possibility that Galadriel bore one of the Three -- how else could she have such strength and power in her? (a rhetorical question, of course) -- and that made him fully realize that the Ring would give him the strength he needed to protect Gondor and vanquish its great Enemy.

Even so, in the end, he acquitted himself. He could have chosen to continue to pursue Frodo, like another Gollum, until he tracked him down and got the Ring from him. Faramir could have taken the Ring from Frodo by force. They did not. At the last, they resisted the promises and lies of the Ring, went against what they both knew would be the will of their father, and did their greater duty: as a servant and steward of Gondor and those who looked to her for aid. They surpassed their father, who held his duty as being to Gondor alone, and ultimately, he betrayed his own office because he would not accept that it required him to give up his rulership to a rightful heir of the royal line. Denethor believes that Boromir would have "brought him a mighty gift," but I think that he did not know his son quite as well as he thought. Boromir could have pressed on, seized the Ring, and attempted to bring it to his father, but even before his death, he had turned aside from that path. I believe that when he realized what he had done in attempting to take the Ring from Frodo, he saw himself in a mirror and did not like what he saw. He understood that the real peril was the Ring and its lies, and turned away from it. He did not reject it with the seeming ease of Faramir (and I say seeming because I think Faramir struggled with this much more than we saw in the story) -- but he did reject it; it was not simply removed from his grasp. The evidence of this is in his dying words: "I have paid." He knew he had done wrong, and did what he could to right his "sin." If Boromir had survived the battle that day, he would have had to answer to his father for letting the Ring out of his grasp when he eventually came to Minas Tirith. And I suspect that on that day, Denethor would have felt disappointed and betrayed by both his sons.

Just my two cents, as always.