[Child of the 7th Age]

Estelyn - I agree with your assessment of Boromir. He is the one and only character where I actually prefer PJ's vision over Tolkien. I think there's a reason for that. If you look through Tolkien's Letters, you can see that Faramir was the character in the book that the author identified with most closely. The author explicitly states that Faramir is the character most like himself. Tolkien talks repeatedly in the Letters about Faramir and defends his actions.

Tolkien says very little about his brother Boromir and that is largely negative. Tolkien stated that Faramir was bossed around by his father and brother. Accordingly, he didn't have a lot of sympathy for the brother.

Tolkien's Boromir did repent his hasty actions towards Frodo and the Ring. However, if you compare the wording, PJ's scene is actually the more poignant with Boromir explicitly acknowledging the leadership of Aragorn.

There was another thread where we went into Tolkien's identification with Faramir and dislike of Boromir, but I don't remember exactly where it was!

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

[ June 14, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]