Boromir and the Ring - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Westerly Wizard · 06-08-2003, 05:34 PM

"I who was his father say that he would have brought it to me" (ROTK "The Siege of Gondor"). Denethor is, of course, incorrect--Boromir would have kept the Ring himself as Gandalf notes--but his comment is clear that Boromir's fall to the Ring was something not simply the product of what knowledge he had of its power. That he wouldn't wish to destroy the Ring was forseeable by his father from the beginning. Denethor was able to forsee Boromir not giving in to the counsel of the Wise without Boromir having even known what the Ring was. Faramir does the same: "I canwell believe that Boromir, the proud and fearless, often rash, ever anxiou fo the victory of Minas Tirith (and his own glory herein) might desire such a thing and be allured by it" (TTT "The Window on the West).

Boromir can be characterized by an Old English word which Tolkien deals with in length in his essay "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth." That word is ofermod, which Tolkien translates to "overmastering pride." It is a word found in the poem "The Battle of Maldon" (and its only other use is applied to the Devil), of the earl Beorhtnoth doing the chivalrous act of equaling the battlefield for his enemies ("as he should not have done") so that his image could be raised in glory. In that essay, Tolkien singles out another Old English Word, the last used in the poem Beowulf, applied to the hero: lofgeornost, "most desirous of glory."

The actions of Boromir throughout LOTR are indicative of both these words. "Take it and go forth to victory!" he shouts at the Council of Elrond, and he really means it to. Boromir's fall to the Ring has nothing to do with anything but his own shortcomings, those clearly exposed qualities that contrast him from Faramir.

[ June 08, 2003: Message edited by: Westerly Wizard ]

06-08-2003, 05:34 PM	#22
Westerly Wizard Haunting Spirit Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 72	"I who was his father say that he would have brought it to me" (ROTK "The Siege of Gondor"). Denethor is, of course, incorrect--Boromir would have kept the Ring himself as Gandalf notes--but his comment is clear that Boromir's fall to the Ring was something not simply the product of what knowledge he had of its power. That he wouldn't wish to destroy the Ring was forseeable by his father from the beginning. Denethor was able to forsee Boromir not giving in to the counsel of the Wise without Boromir having even known what the Ring was. Faramir does the same: "I canwell believe that Boromir, the proud and fearless, often rash, ever anxiou fo the victory of Minas Tirith (and his own glory herein) might desire such a thing and be allured by it" (TTT "The Window on the West). Boromir can be characterized by an Old English word which Tolkien deals with in length in his essay "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth." That word is ofermod, which Tolkien translates to "overmastering pride." It is a word found in the poem "The Battle of Maldon" (and its only other use is applied to the Devil), of the earl Beorhtnoth doing the chivalrous act of equaling the battlefield for his enemies ("as he should not have done") so that his image could be raised in glory. In that essay, Tolkien singles out another Old English Word, the last used in the poem Beowulf, applied to the hero: lofgeornost, "most desirous of glory." The actions of Boromir throughout LOTR are indicative of both these words. "Take it and go forth to victory!" he shouts at the Council of Elrond, and he really means it to. Boromir's fall to the Ring has nothing to do with anything but his own shortcomings, those clearly exposed qualities that contrast him from Faramir. [ June 08, 2003: Message edited by: Westerly Wizard ] __________________ "He was sent by a mere prudent plan of the angelic Valar or governors; but Authority had taken up this plan and enlarged it, at the moment of its failure."