Reyna Evergreen's comment made a lot of sense to me. Perhaps for this subject we ought to consider Tolkien's obligations to his personal beliefs and to the needs of his readers. The thing to remember when discussing the role of Boromir is that he reconciled himself magnificently in the end. Writing from a Christian viewpoint, Tolkien must have chosen to include that Christians, (represented as all the "good" characters and/or races in LoTR) regardless of their sins or mistakes, are always given the opportunity to come back to their Lord and Saviour and ask forgiveness, knowing that it will be given. Boromir turned out to be an admirable character, and even swore allegiance (or pretty nearly) to Aragorn. He didn't have to do that. It shows that he recognized his mistake and was willing to seek forgiveness with both his actions and his words.
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"'You," he said, "tell her all. What good came to you? Do you rejoice that Maleldil became a man? Tell her of your joys, and of what profit you had when you made Maleldil and death acquainted.'" -Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis
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