Nerwen: I think we have a major communication breakdown here. It might be my broken English or hastiness to say things too bluntly or whatever...
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Originally Posted by Nerwen
Besides– in your scenario Merry and Pippin (and later, Eowyn) would have died: would that not also have been a "cold" decision on the part of the author?
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Why would they have died? If Tolkien wished them to live he could have written the story differently so that they would not have been in the same dangers... or he could have written them escaping those dangers differently.
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I mean, in the end, all fictional characters are– as you say– just puppets.
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Absolutely. But you can either make them logical or not (and that means also the logicality of their feelings; not in a way anyone should "feel logically" but that their emotions are "believable" given the character).
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Boromir was "right" only according to his limited information (or rather, what information he accepted- see below). The Ring would have corrupted him.
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Of course it would have. I actually said that in my post.
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Originally Posted by me
(and the downfall would have been inevitable to be sure)
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Originally Posted by Nerwen
And it's not like he was really trying to usher in a new age of rationality in to superstition-ridden Middle-earth.
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Nope. He wished to wield it in the service of Gondor (so he had to believe in the Ring's force!) - and he didn't take Gandalf's (and others') warnings seriously enough. Looking at his character he should have followed that path and not turn into this nice-guy-hero thinking more of two unrelated hobbits than the future of Gondor, the men and good against evil; the key to which was the Ring he should have sought after - according to his beliefs!
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And yes, I do think Boromir is an interesting and in many ways admirable character– but don't make him into an infallible Gary Stu, please.
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I am not and I never was. I'm just saying that the prof built him as a certain kind of character and then made him act against the character he was built to be to serve his plot.
But yes, I'm not willing to make this a row of any sorts.