Bard & The Master Vs Aragorn & the House of Stewards

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Bywaters, Jackson uses different wording then Tolkien, but the main idea is still there. Boromir has accepted the fact that Aragorn is the rightful heir..."Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed."

The different wording between film and book reveal a subtle but important difference between Tolkien's and Jackson's vision. The "My Captain, My King" of the movie is quite dramatic and moving; it speaks of a good heart turned to the truth, and thus loyalty expressed. By comparison, "Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed" reveals a kind of spritual apotheosis: Tolkien's Boromir has discovered his own limitations. The loyalty to his people remains, but it has found its appropriate context. Tolkien's wording presents a moral change of heart, which is deeper; the badness, the evil, has been recognized and acknowledged, and confessed; and by this, Boromir dies well. I suppose this is an example of how LotR is consciously Catholic....

I found Formendacil's redaction (is that the right word?) of the quote to be fascinating; shows how Tolkien's themes run across his works.