Was Boromir a mistake?

[Child of the 7th Age]

I don't want to restate what others have so aptly expressed, but one other minor point deserves consideration. In terms of themes, I think it was important that Tolkien have at least one major character in the story who goes outside the bounds of goodness, but then makes a conscious decision to recant that choice and seek forgiveness through his actions. This has to be Borormir.

So many critics have unjustly criticized Tolkien for his one-dimensional "good" and "bad" characters, a charge that is particularly ludicrous in view of both Boromir and Gollum. Gollum was so deeply entrenched with evil that his halting attempt at repentence is easily deterred, but Boromir does succeed in showing us that he has the freedom to chose one side or the other, and that free choice still operates even after he has made a faulty decision. That is one of the critical differences between Tolkien and the ancient northern mythologies which he emulated, but only in part. There, the idea of an unyielding doom has a much stronger hold.


Faramir's reaction to the Ring would have been quite different if we judge from his later meeting with Sam and Frodo. (In that situation, Frodo was truly unprotected and Faramir showed his true nature.) So Boromir was essential to the themes of the story as well as the plot. sharon, the 7th age hobbit.