Actually cattle had a much greater role in the earlier drafts of LOTR; consequently, had Boromir survived, he doubtless would have spent a great deal of time towing cows around. Professor Tolkien later edited out much of the overtly bovine references, but their influence was apparent in the Peter Jackson films, at least in the foreign DVD subtitles.
Insofar as it also appeared in a movie trilogy, I agree.
I think it’s possible that, having experienced the temptation of the ring firsthand, Boromir would have finally realized that it was too dangerous a burden to bring to Gondor. From the impression given in the text, it seems that Boromir never really had cause to doubt his own integrity or judgement before, and Denethor’s pride and open favoritism toward his eldest son only reinforced Boromir’s arrogance. Trying to claim mastery of the Ring was perhaps the first real test of character that Boromir had ever failed at, and it probably would have shaken his self-confidence greatly had he survived the orcs’ attack.
After this realization, I think he would have ceased to regard Aragorn as a rival and would have begun to grow into a wiser, less headstrong man. Any lingering doubts he might have harbored regarding Aragorn’s claim to the throne would have likely been dispelled when the Dead Army acknowledged the Heir of Isildur. By the time they reached Gondor, Boromir would have been as staunch an ally as Legolas and Gimli were, fully prepared to clear the way for the King’s return. I’m not sure how this would have played out though, since Denethor had expected to pass the rule of Gondor to Boromir rather than Aragorn. At this point he was also convinced that the fall of the West was inevitable in any case, and was dangerously unstable as a result of the palantir’s corruption.
Supposedly Denethor’s own father favored Aragorn over him when Aragorn had served Ecthelion, so it’s anyone’s guess how Denethor would have reacted when his son returned from Rivendell ready to hand the kingdom over to the guy. Ironically, Boromir’s time spent with Aragorn might have given him the opportunity to mature into the faithful Steward that his father never comletely was.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have said they were intended to be perfect, angelic, or uncorruptible; but that they were intended to be perfectly representative of their respective races and of their age-old conflicts.
Had Tolkien written Legolas or Gimli to have fallen, or had become corrupted, who would have told the story of the reconciliation between Elf and Dwarf? Who would have brought their point of view to the tale?
Remember that Legolas and Gimli were both part of the Fellowship directly because of Sauron’s meddling. Sauron sent orcs to free Gollum, whom Legolas’s kin were guarding; and Legolas went to Imladris to report Gollum’s escape; and Gimli was there (if I remember aright) to report that Sauron had been sending emissaries to the Lonely Mountain to inquire after Bilbo. Again, Sauron’s meddling directly led to the dispatch of the two heroes who would ultimately assist in Sauron’s own destruction.
Boromir was corrupted by the ring because somebody had to be. Boromir was redundant — the story of his people could be told later, by Aragon or Faramir. We were not going to visit the Lonely Mountain again, nor Fangorn, so Legolas and Gimli were reserved as perfect representatives of their races, to give the larger-world perspectives.
Boromir’s kinda set up in the story as someone who had to die tragically and heroically, no matter how much the rest of us might with otherwise.
Plus, his actions have cast an enormous shadow on the entire Fellowship, and he wouldn’t trust himself to handle a second temptation. He’s also rather plugged full of arrows at this point, and I don’t remember if there was any convenient place they could drop him off.
If Boromir lives, I’d expect Frodo (and Sam) to sneak off that night while they’re camped there to keep Boromir from bleeding to death. Then, the party splits off again to accomodate a seriously injured member - which most likely means that Gimli’s “stuck” playing nursemaid/babysitter/whatever (and they don’t have horses at this point, so traveling’s going to be glacial) while Aragorn and Legolas go off to save Merry and Pippin.
Even if we “save” him at this point, there’s still a bunch of other battles to worry about, and with each one it gets less and less likely that he’d survive the next.
Remember, too, that in the context that Tolkien’s writing in, “doom” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Back in the Silmarillion, for instance, Beren was doomed to penetrate into the Hidden Land where mortals had never before trod, love and be loved by the most beautiful maiden in all of Creation, recover with her one of the three Great Jewels from the crown of Morgoth himself, and after death to come back to a new life with her. I wouldn’t mind a doom like that.
Terrifel, while Aragorn did serve under Ecthelion as well, I don’t think that was exactly common knowledge. He did so under the assumed name of “Thorongil” (dude had nearly as many names as Turin), and he’s aged only very slowly since then (that being about sixty years previous), so I don’t think anyone would suspect that he was the same person.
I seem to recall that one of the Appendices contains a passing remark suggesting that Denethor had figured out that Thorongil was in fact Isildur’s heir. I’d be more certain of my facts if I could find the stinkin’ book (alas, at Casa Terrifel they’re not so much bookshelves as bookdrifts)…
Now that I think about it, though, I suppose that doesn’t necessarily mean that he believed Thorongil and Aragorn were the same guy. Possibly Denethor thought Aragorn was the descendant of Thorongil (although surely he would have been nearly as chafed to hand over the throne to the scion of his earlier rival). On the other hand, surely Denethor wouldn’t have been misled by the fact that royal-blooded Numenoreans lived longer than other men.
Any hoo, I’d always interpreted Denethor’s earlier rivalry with Thorongil as being Tolkien’s way of directly justifying the Steward’s rejection of Aragorn’s claim to the throne. However, I guess it could have simply been intended to underscore the reason for Denethor’s mistrust of Gandalf.
Not so: Sam both bore and used the Ring for a short while, and while he was briefly tempted by it in his fantasy of Samwise The Strong, his sturdy common sense and down-to-earth selflessness saw him through: he’d rather have a garden to tend than be a ruler of kingdoms. Admittedly his tenure as Ringbearer was the briefest, but in all Middlearth he seems to have been the most resistant to the Ring’s effects: when he offers to carry it for Frodo it’s a genuine desire to relieve his friend’s burden and not a ploy to gain it for himself.
In Old English, “doom” means “judgment” or “assessment.” Tolkien, who knew his Old English much better than I do, uses the word in that much older sense; meeting your doom is a sort of moment of reckoning, where you come to your fate, good or bad.
Well, Boromir did bear the horn of the Kine of Araw, after all (now why do I still remember that particular factoid?), so his bovine proclivities were well-established.
Boromir fell because of hubris, the classic Greek tragedy character flaw. Don’t forget, Tolkein was a professor of literature; he knew Sophocles forward and backward. Boromir had to die, not just because he was tempted by the ring, but because his hubris made him think he could use it for good. That’s why Frodo and Sam both were able to carry the ring – neither thought he was worthy of it, both were afraid of it (once they realized what it was) and both wanted nothing more than to get rid of it, despite the spell it had over both of them. I think Tolkien placed Galadriel’s refusal to hold the ring and Boromir’s attempt to posess it close together in the first book to illustrate the nobility of the elves and to draw the stark contrast between elven heroism and human frailty.
But these issues are tangental to the primary purpose of even having Boromir in the story in the first place. I believe he is the Sophoclean tragic figure, and his purpose in the story is to illustrate the power of the ring and teach the lesson of what happens when mere men think they can turn the ring to good use, despite its evil nature.
Although I’m not a Tolkien expert like many of the posters in this thread, I would have to say it depends on if you’re talking about Tolkien’s Boromir or Jackson’s. The character that Jackson created for the screen and Sean Bean brought to life seems much more noble and altruistic than the character I read about in Tolkien’s book. I can forgive Jackson his trespasses (even Aragorn falling off a cliff… :smack: ) for the bit of extra dimension that he gave Boromir. I cared when Boromir died in the movie. Reading the book it seemed like he got what he deserved.
Jackson’s Boromir may have succeeded or would have at least left the company of the Fellowship. Tolkien’s would have failed.
In Laughing Lagomorph’s link, it says that Faramir was Numenorean – this is another word for “Dunedain” or “the people whence came the Dunedain,” correct? The long-lived, noble people whose destiny is to claim Middle-Earth for the race of Men. Not easily corrupted.
So if Faramir (in the book) didn’t want the Ring (or wanted it only to make his dad happy), how come Boromir and Denethor wanted it so badly? Is it just a matter of politics? Denethor never actually comes in contact with the Ring, but he’s heard of it and wants the power it will give him. It seems that both Boromir and Denethor have never had the power and the danger of the Ring sufficiently explained to them (well, it’s discussed at the Council in the book, but not in the movie). How does Faramir understand so well how dangerous it is, with only Frodo and Sam’s frightened reactions to go by? It seems the Ring would grab hold of you, hard, and your gentle temperament and kindly ways would be no match for the visceral pull of something so powerfully evil.
Faramir heeded and honored Mithrandir’s teachings. He was in most ways better than his father and brother. He was as sharp and strong willed as his father and a smarter leader than Boromir. He was almost as good of a fighter and a better Ranger. In the time of the war, among humans, Faramir was second only to Aragorn as a leader of men. He was like Aragorn a learned warrior and a wise leader who won his men respect as much from caring for their safety as prowess in fighting. Both Denethor and his younger son were throwbacks to the men of Numenor rather than modern Gondorians. Boromir’s & Faramir’s mother was Finduilas, daughter of Adrahil of Dol Amroth. So by joining the 2 noblest houses of Gondor, by some quirk of fate or genetics was born Faramir, Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien, Last Ruling Steward and finally Prince of Ithilien. The noblest of the later day Gondorians.
Noble and long-lived, yes, but I don’t think that Tolkien ever states or implies that they’re difficult to corrupt. If anything, it’s the reverse: The kings of Numenor became corrupted by the promise of power, and in their hubris, attempted to sail to the Undying Lands (this is what led to the eventual drowning of Numenor), and the most formidable of enemies are the fallen among the Numenorians (the Witch-King of Angmar was probably one such).
Yeah, just remember the Black Numenoreans (black meaning their evil acts, not skin tone). From them came the Mouth of Sauron and many of the Corsairs of Umbar. Among others.
