Boromir

[Askmiddlearth]

If you love Boromir (or, I guess, even if you don't), and you've got something to say about it, this is the place!

[Agnès]

I think he is (so far) one of the most interesting characters.

Where most of the characters in the story are either good (8 members the Company) or bad (the Enemy), he feels most human to me. He torn by ambition, which makes him susceptible to the Ring, and the wish to do the right thing.

Has any fic (by tolkien or fan fic) been written about his background?

[Michele]

A_denie wrote: "I think he is (so far) one of the most interesting characters...Has any fic (by tolkien or fan fic) been written about his background?"

He's definitely the most tempted of the group. Later on (view spoiler)[when they hobbits meet his brother Faramir, they get a lot of insight into his character (hide spoiler)]. I think of him as sort of a traditional military guy who believes the ends justifies the means; he's focused on the tangible/immediate victory that he thinks the Ring might give Gondor rather than looking at the bigger picture.

[Hika86]

I like Boromir because, as you said, he is the most human. And this is because (my opinion), we can love elves and hobbits, but we're human, like him, in the end. With honour and greed, with wits and fails.
What I really appreciate of him (and I'm glad it was shown in the movie too) is his love for Gondor, his land and his people.
During the Council he never spoke about himself, his hopes, his desires, but he expresses the hopes, the sorrows and troubles of the whole Gondor.

[Hika86]

Soooo, feelings after his death? What about his try to get the One Ring?
Thoughts about his death scene in the movie/book?

[darchildre]

Weirdly, I have never cried at Boromir's actual death but I cry every single time I hit the poem at the beginning of the Two Towers, where Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli lay him to rest in the river. Always at "Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries, and I grieve" - I just lose it. It's one of the things that gets me every time I read it.

[Hika86]

That scene in wonderfull! I wonder why they didn't put it in the movies (maybe shorter) since it's very touching. It could have worked for the movie version!

[Castillon02]

Poor Boromir! I got much more emotional than I thought I would over his death, especially the care and grief that the rest of the Fellowship went through while they prepared his body and gave him the best farewell and funeral that they could under the circumstances.

At the same time, I wonder if his death is...I don't know, a symbolic purging of some of the corruption of Man? Boromir tried to take the Ring and died, and now Aragorn, who resisted that temptation, seems set on leading Gondor in his stead. I think this idea might hinge on Faramir's behavior if/when he ever faces the same choice.

Also, did anyone else get sad when Eomer mentioned how much he admired Boromir? It is as though Tolkien wanted to remind us that Boromir was an admirable man even though the Ring eventually led him astray! Emphasizing Boromir's greatness also reminds us of how powerful the Ring really is--because if it can influence a strong Man like Boromir, it must take someone really special to resist its influence!

[Michele]

One of the things that Boromir's death highlights for me is how the ring can take a person's best qualities and twist them to evil. Boromir had this immense, intense love for Gondor -- her history, her power, her role as protector of the West -- which is entirely admirable. The ring twisted that into a desire to take the ring in order to better defend his homeland. As Galadriel says when Frodo offers her the ring, saying that she'd do the right things with it, "Yes, that is how it would begin..."

[Hika86]

he was a man of onor for sure. He accepted what the wisest said at the Council and supported the Fellowship whose task is/was to destroy the Ring. It corrupted him, but he was, without, a great Man and, for sure, a capable leader for Gondor.

Oh, and I was sad when he mantioned him ç.ç/