Character Analysis Thread

[ArathornJax]

I think that Boromir is a very tragic figure in LOTR and has many good qualities, yet he is very human. I believe he is very human because of the weaknesses that open him up to being tempted by the ring. The ring plays on his desire to protect his city/country/people and on his own ego, his desire for personal glory. Thus like many of us, he is very noble in many ways, yet his ego also leads to temptation and mistakes.
Boromir is also valiant, brave, courageous, and helpful. He looks after others and basically lives up to a very chivalrous code (as we see at the attempt at the Redhorn among one example). So in the end, it is his human weaknesses that leads him to yield to the enticings of the ring. He quickly realizes what he has done, and then gives his life in defended Merry and Pippin. Before dying he confesses his error to Aragorn, and then surrenders up his life.

One thing that many people fail to realize also, is the role that Boromir as a character plays to the plot. Though the actions of the day when Boromir tried to seize the ring and its consequences are seen as evil with the breaking of the Fellowship, it is really an unhappy day. The day is unhappy because of the death of the noble Boromir, but those the events of the day seem evil, they result in the greater good. Frodo escapes Boromir (and thus Sauron twice) and leaves to Mordor with Sam in which eventually the ring will be destroyed. Merry and Pippin are taken, but eventually escape and come to Treebeard and the Ents and aid in rousing them to action against Saruman. This also leads to Merry stabbing the Witch King and Pippin saving Faramir. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli reunite with Gandalf the White and free Theoden from Wormtongue's influence and control. This allows Rohan to defeat the armies of Saruman and then go to Gondor's aid via several directions. Thus in a way, all of this would not have happen, even the final victory, if Boromir had not given in to his temptation for glory and protection of himself and his people and thus resulting in the Breaking of the Fellowship. I like to think that not only is there a ballad or two made after the War of the Ring in rememberance of Boromir, and of his valiant and noble deeds.

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

One could actually say that by his death at that particular moment, Boromir saved Gondor and Minas Tirith. If the Fellowship had not broken that day and Boromir had lived, Aragorn would either have gone to Mordor with Frodo or he would have gone to Minas Tirith with Boromir. Though Rohan might have been stirred into action by Gandalf after his return, any road Aragorn took but the one to Dunharrow would NOT have sent him on the Paths of the Dead, to eventually stop the Black Fleet from coming up the Anduin and turning the battle of the Pellenor into a resounding defeat. We are regularly reminded in LotR that chance "as it is called" is not so random a thing as it seems. The board on which the game is set has many pieces in motion, and what seems like the untimely loss of a knight too early in the game can actually lead to the final checkmate. If Boromir had known what would happen as a result of his death at Parth Galen, I suspect he would have done whatever was necessary to achieve that end; if he believed, like his father, that the protection of Gondor was the only hope of the West, he would have laid down his own life to ensure it. That he gave his life in defending Merry and Pippin without any knowledge of a later good that would come of it showed that he was genuinely noble at heart -- moreso, I think, than his father. He could have wallowed in despair but did not; he pulled himself together and did his duty, a test of heart and will with no promise of greater glory, a trial his father could not pass.

[ArathornJax]

I was reading in Scull and Hammond's A Reader's Companion on Boromir and found an interesting point. As I stated, one of the things I like about Boromir is that he is very human. He desires the ring for his own glorification (ego) and justifies it by claiming to want to defend his city, people and country. For me Gandalf already realized back in Hobbiton that this is the danger of the ring according to the weakness of the person who has it or seeks it. Gandalf states:
"Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good."

The Ring attacks Boromir through his desires to lead, protect, and to seek his own glory. We see that when he says to Frodo that "True-hearted Men, they will not be corrupted. We men of Minis Tirith have been staunch through long years of trial."

He then goes on to say ""We do not desire the power of wizard-lords, only strength to defend ourselves, strength in just cause. . . The fearless, the ruthless, these alone will achieve victory. What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? What could not Aragorn do? Or if he refuses, why not Boromir? The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner!"

The quote is long, but fits Fair Use Guidelines and shows that the Ring is tempting Boromir first by having him see himself using the Ring to defend and lead his people to victory against their enemy, Sauron. His own ego comes in when he appeals to the notion of what a great leader could do like Aragorn, and if he refuses why not Boromir? The Ring appeals to his view of himself as becoming so great that not only would he drive the hosts of Mordor, but he would have ALL men flocking to his banner for him to command.

Now my point in bringing this up is not to attack Boromir. As I've stated I like the guy and think in someways he is one of the most human characters in the trilogy. I also believe he was fated to go on the quest and fated to be tempted so that the Fellowship could achieve its end. However, I wonder if this is how Sauron tempted some of the Nine in terms of getting them to accept their ring of power? Did he appeal to a personal situation or a political situation and offer a solution? Did the then also appeal to their ego and personal pride with shades of personal glory?

So, would Boromir have been one of the Nine had he lived so many years ago? I would love to hear your thoughts on this as I could see Sauron going after Boromir to make him one of his Nine IF Boromir had been alive at the time. Would Boromir have given in? I'm not sure on that, but I would hope that in the same way that when the temptation was removed with the ring, he quickly gained his rational thought back, and returned to his noble acts and done his duty as he did with Merry and Pippin. I would hope in the past that he would have done the same.

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by ArathornJax

Did he appeal to a personal situation or a political situation and offer a solution? Did the then also appeal to their ego and personal pride with shades of personal glory?

What do you think Galadriel did? Her test of mind is what fueled Boromir's attempt to take the Ring. Her test awoke that feeling he had when he first saw the One Ring at the Council. Faramir himself confirms that Men seldom walk out of the Golden Wood unchanged-

"You passed through the Hidden Land, said Faramir, but it seems that you little understood its power. If Men have dealings with the Mistress of Magic who dwells in the Golden Wood, then they may look for strange things to follow. For it is perilous for mortal man to walk out of the world of this Sun, and few of old came thence unchanged, ‘tis said." -The Two Towers

Originally Posted by Arathorn

So, would Boromir have been one of the Nine had he lived so many years ago?

No way.

On a side note, isn't this thread supposed to be talking about the relationship between Boromir and Faramir? Everybody seems to be isolating Boromir here.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by MatthewM

What do you think Galadriel did? Her test of mind is what fueled Boromir's attempt to take the Ring. Her test awoke that feeling he had when he first saw the One Ring at the Council. Faramir himself confirms that Men seldom walk out of the Golden Wood unchanged-

"You passed through the Hidden Land, said Faramir, but it seems that you little understood its power. If Men have dealings with the Mistress of Magic who dwells in the Golden Wood, then they may look for strange things to follow. For it is perilous for mortal man to walk out of the world of this Sun, and few of old came thence unchanged, ‘tis said." -The Two Towers

Sorry, but I don't quite understand what you mean.

Are you saying it was Galadriel who instigated Boromir's downfall rather than Boromir's own pride? Are you implying that she was somehow implicated in the Breaking of the Fellowship? Or are you suggesting this is Faramir's interpretation of events, more of his hero worship of his older brother?

[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.

[Bêthberry]

Thanks for those two cents worth, Ibrîniðilpathânezel--more than two cents' worth I would say. You've picked some of the very quotes I would have from the text to explain Galadriel's power.

However, I was more interested in what MatthewM was implying in response to the quote he gave from ArathornJax, particularly since he substituted Galadriel for AJ's original question of Sauron's MO.

Originally Posted by MatthewM

What do you think Galadriel did? Her test of mind is what fueled Boromir's attempt to take the Ring. Her test awoke that feeling he had when he first saw the One Ring at the Council. Faramir himself confirms that Men seldom walk out of the Golden Wood unchanged-

This was AJ original question:

Originally Posted by AJ

However, I wonder if this is how Sauron tempted some of the Nine in terms of getting them to accept their ring of power? Did he appeal to a personal situation or a political situation and offer a solution? Did the then also appeal to their ego and personal pride with shades of personal glory?

If Galadriel was able to test Boromir that way, why could not Sauron? And if Boromir fell to Galadriel's test, would he not then also be likely to fall to a similar one from Sauron? So it makes it more likely Boromir, speaking of course always hypothetically as most of our discussions here are, would have fallen similarly to become one of the Nine.

Yet I don't think that's what many Downers would think?