Psychological depth in Tolkien's characters - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 11-20-2003, 04:08 AM

Saucepanman, Perhaps the problem is that in Faramir (the real one) we are seeing him after his struggle. His decision is made. The things he says reveal he is not someone who has just decided to be 'good'. He has thought through his position. The problem with the approach of the filmwriters is that they bring all the characters down to the level of Boromir - 'What should I do?'. Faramir, Aragorn, et al, have progressed beyond Boromir - probably if Boromir had survived, & passed the test he would have been the 'Faramir' we meet in Ithilien. I'm not saying the movie Faramir is not believeable - I don't think he's 'deeper' or more 'complex'. He's more like us. But he's not inspiring - well, not to me, anyway. I find his cowardlyness - the way he won't look while his men are beating up Gollum, holding his sword to the throat of an unarmed, frightened, exhausted prisoner - disconcerting in a 'good' character, to say the least.

In Tolkien's world we are presented with characters at different stages of development. Some are struggling to decide what's right, others are struggling to do what they have decided is the right thing. If we limit our definition of what constitutes depth to the former, then we simply miss the depth of the latter.

11-20-2003, 04:08 AM	#11
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	Saucepanman, Perhaps the problem is that in Faramir (the real one) we are seeing him after his struggle. His decision is made. The things he says reveal he is not someone who has just decided to be 'good'. He has thought through his position. The problem with the approach of the filmwriters is that they bring all the characters down to the level of Boromir - 'What should I do?'. Faramir, Aragorn, et al, have progressed beyond Boromir - probably if Boromir had survived, & passed the test he would have been the 'Faramir' we meet in Ithilien. I'm not saying the movie Faramir is not believeable - I don't think he's 'deeper' or more 'complex'. He's more like us. But he's not inspiring - well, not to me, anyway. I find his cowardlyness - the way he won't look while his men are beating up Gollum, holding his sword to the throat of an unarmed, frightened, exhausted prisoner - disconcerting in a 'good' character, to say the least. In Tolkien's world we are presented with characters at different stages of development. Some are struggling to decide what's right, others are struggling to do what they have decided is the right thing. If we limit our definition of what constitutes depth to the former, then we simply miss the depth of the latter. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."