[Boromir88]

Ooh my excellent posts, there's a lot about Boromir to talk about here I think. So, here it goes.

When we get straight to the bottomline here, I think Mathew puts it best:

In plain words, Boromir was human.

Boromir is a deep complex character that is faced with the decision to do what is right or give into his temptation. It's as Freud would say a battle between his id and his super-ego. He knows what is 'right,' but is that enough to hold off his desires.

It comes down to a choice and when he tries to take the Ring he makes a bad choice. That in no way however makes him a 'bad' person. We all are faced with decisions, and we all like to make the 'right' choice, but not always do we. And when we do make that bad decision, we can either learn from that and become a better person, or we could spiral downhill and make everything worse.

The thing about Boromir is he knows what he tried to do was absolutely without a doubt wrong; he recognizes he should not have done that and he hates himself for it. However, instead of getting down upon himself and spiral downhill, he recognized what he did was wrong and he goes about to make up for it. Because that is Boromir, that is what defines him, and makes him such a complex character. He recognizes his mistake and he goes about to try to make up for it.

So stepping away a little bit, I'm going to talk about Boromir's pride here. As much as I love him he does suffer from excessive pride (like Denethor):

Boromir, five years the elder, beloved by his father, was like him in face and pride, but in little else.~Appendix A: Gondor and the Tales of Anarion; The Stewards

As has been said, Pride can be a good thing, it can be a good trait. However, Pride is also one of the '7 deadly sins' because Pride (to the point of arrogance) is not a good trait. I'm not trying to take anything away from Boromir here, he's without a doubt my favorite character, but I want to try and paint the best picture of him as possible. And that means Pride is something that Boromir has, and Pride (which you apply his lack of humility...in the beginning of the quest) is his weak point; and that is how he falls prey to the Ring.

Boromir loves Gondor, another good trait with him, but this is part of the feed for his tribe. With Boromir it is about Gondor, he has this heir of arrogance when he's talking about his people (because he does love his people and his country). For instance:

'Well,' said Boromir, 'when heads are at a loss bodies must serve, as we say in my country. The strongest of us must seek a way...'~The Ring Goes South

You note an arrogant air about Boromir here, it's the 'We of Minas Tirith' his pride shows up for his country, and then even more so with his insistance that the 'strongest must find a way.'

'Boromir's eyes glinted as he gazed at the golden thing. 'The Halfling!' he muttered. 'Is then the doom of Minas Tirith come at last? But why then should we seek a broken sword?'
'The words were not the doom of Minas Tirith,' said Aragorn. 'But doom and great deeds are indeed at hand....Now that you have seen the sword that you have sought, what would you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?'
'I was not sent to beg any boon, but to seek only the meaning of a riddle,' answered Boromir proudly. 'Yet we are hard pressed, and the Sword of Elendil would be a help beyond our hope - if such a thing could indeed return out of the shadows of the past.' He looked again at Aragorn, and doubt was in his eyes.~The Council of Elrond

At the Council of Elrond Boromir misinterprets the riddle as he believes this whole thing is about Minas Tirith and Minas Tirith only. Than he goes on to poke some jabs at Aragorn.

'Believe not that in the land of Gondor the blood of Numenor is spent, nor all its pride and dignity forgotten. By our valour the wild folk of the East ar still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay, and thuse alone are peace and freedom maintained in the lands behind us, bulwark of the West.'~ibid

Now Boromir is right in this case, as Gondor has been a stout defense against Sauron, and has held off enemies for centuries. However, as Aragorn notes:

'If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we [the Dunedain] have played another part...'

The arrogance here about Boromir is that there is peace in the lands in the West solely because of Gondor. To Boromir it's all about Gondor and that's (at least up to this point) he can not see. Aragorn reminds him that there have been others to hold off the 'evil' and it's not solely Gondor.

Boromir looked in surprise at Bilbo, but the laughter died on his lips when he saw that all the others regarded the old hobbit with grave respect.

Here's I think a big clue on Boromir's character. Most of these quotes I'm giving are from the Council of Elrond, because we see how Boromir was like from the Council and to who he became and how he changed throughout the quest. When Bilbo offers to take the Ring, Boromir wants to laugh at him, but realizes that others respect this Hobbit greatly and doesn't. We get the impression that Boromir (at this stage) his pride and his feeling of 'what good can these little hobbits do?' Because in Boromir's mind it was through strength of arms that would beat Sauron, it's the strong, and the brave that hold off evil, and that is I feel a big sign of excessive pride.

We mostly see this in Boromir when we first meet him probably due to his background. He is Gondor's leader and he is heir to the Steward's throne. As the Captain-General (or Commander in Chief) of Gondor's army he sees the militaristic view. Therefor he views the ring from a militants perspective. He's also not used to taking orders he's used to giving orders and leading. When he's amongst a company of essentially people of a 'higher status' it takes him a while to adjust and learn humility. He opposes the direction the Fellowship takes on several occasions, and this is probably due again to him dealing with the fact that in the Fellowship he is not the leader like he was back in Gondor.

Hmm, this is already dreadfully long, and I'm not even neard done...hopefully you can all bear with me.

When we first meet Boromir at the Council and early in the journey we do see his pride shine through and we do see that his excessive pride is his weakness. This thought that 'everything is about Minas Tirith,' and as Faramir I think correctly observes:

'I can well believe that Boromir, the proud and fearless, often rash, and ever anxious for the victory of Minas Tirith (and his own glory therein), might desire such a thing and be allured by it.~The Window on the West

There you have it, Boromir's weakness and his draw to the Ring is his pride. I'm not going to sugar-coat anything here, I adore Boromir, but he does have a pride that is to the point of arrogance...his pride for his country and the pride for himself. Now enough beating up on Boromir, as despite this, he is so complex because he is such a loveable guy. And he's so loveable because the changes that occur throughout this journey. As he does change and we do get to see the great noble side of Boromir, as Mathew so excellently observes. He does make his sacrifices for the Fellowship...at first his relationship with Aragorn starts out a bit rocky but then throughout the journey he does grow in friendship with Aragorn...and in the end the recognizing of his own weaknesses and going about to try and make up for it.

Before I talked about Boromir's lack of humbleness, well in the end he actually does learn it; I think it's a great testament to how he has changed when he actually follows Aragorn's orders with no argument at all. Aragorn tells him to go after Merry and Pippin, and to guard them, and he sure does it. Without any opposition Boromir took orders, something he was not used to at all, and something he didn't do without a fight before. There'sone change we see in him.

Another is his acceptance of Aragorn, as Frodo says and Faramir agrees:

'It does,' said Frodo. 'Yet always he treated Aragorn with honour.'
'I doubt it not,' said Faramir. 'If he were satisfied of Aragorn's claim, as you say, he would greatly reverence him...~The Window on the West

Now Faramir does go onto say that neither have come to Minas Tirith where they might end up as rivals and they weren't faced with that 'pinch.' But the point about Boromir is that he does accept Aragorn's claim and he did treat Aragorn 'honourably.' It doesn't matter what might of happened, what matters is what did happen. And Boromir did accept Aragorn:

'Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.'~The Breaking of the Fellowship

This exactly isn't the Hollywood ending Jackson gives us of 'our people' and 'my brother.' But if we look at Boromir's progression and we sort of read between the lines I think we can reach the same conclusion. Boromir going from the proud man we see at the Council doubting Aragorn's ability to the point here where he tells Aragorn to go save his people...is I think a huge jump for Boromir. Just like the huge jump he made when he listened to Aragorn's orders. Boromir did become very accepting of Aragorn and if we notice this change that occurred from when we first meet him, to his death, we see this 'acceptance' of Aragorn as his King.

So we are left with someone who had their flaws, their weaknesses, and that led them to a bad choice. Sounds very human-like don't you think? What makes Boromir the person he is at the end (and indeed why he was redeemed in the end) is the sacrifices he made. But above all the changes that took place within him, and ending up as the person he was..a man as Aragorn said 'conquered.'

That would be a great way for me to end it, wouldn't it? But, not quite yet, eventhough this is more about the movies I have to gush about Sean Bean. Absolutely stellar actor and put up an unforgettable performance as Boromir. It was Sean Bean's portrayal of Boromir that got me to notice things about him that I didn't notice before when I had read the books. I'm an avid Bean fan ever since his performance as Boromir and am trying to keep up to date with what he's been up to...just listening to him talk in interviews you can really see that he knows what he's doing as an actor, and he certainly knew what he was doing as Boromir. If you want to talk about Boromir as a man who makes many sacrifices, Sean Bean fits this...he no longer has a fear of heights, but he did when he filmed Lord of the Rings. If you want to talk about sacrifice how about hiking up mountains and for miles in full dress to the shooting location because of his fear to ride in the helicopter. Great casting done by PJ here.

Ok, that's all, sorry to have to put everyone through that.

Edit: Believe it or not I actually x-posted with Mith...haha