LotR -- Book 3 - Chapter 01 - The Departure of Boromir

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Welcome to the chapter-by-chapter discussion of The Two Towers! Interestingly, the book begins with an ending, which only emphasizes the fact that LotR is one book, not a trilogy. (In my opinion, Peter Jackson's use of this chapter at the end of the first movie was a good choice.) The chapter title is rather ambiguous - did anyone think that it meant Boromir was going to Minas Tirith when first reading the book? We now know that it's a final and tragic (though redemptive) departure, of course.

Actually, the book begins with a synopsis of FotR; if anyone would like to comment on that or has noticed anything particularly interesting about it, this is the place to do so.

One thing that stands out in this chapter is Aragorn's uncertainty. Do you think that adds depth to his character? As mark/Helen commented in the previous chapter discussion, he is not even able to make use of the possibility of seeing on Amon Hen. Apparently the personal situation of the one who comes there affects what happens.

Unlike the movie, we do not see Boromir fighting against the orcs in the book, but stay with Aragorn, seeing the events from his point of view. He is the only one of the remaining Fellowship members who is not involved in fighting action. Gimli's answer to Aragorn's attempt to make the right decision is fascinating, even chilling:

Maybe there is no right choice.

We have one poem, Aragorn and Legolas' mourning song for Boromir.

Much of the rest of the chapter is searching for clues as to the fate of the four hobbits, and the decision to follow the orcs who took Merry and Pippin closes it with the begin of their chase.

I'm sure Boromir's end will be a major discussion point, but what other parts of the chapter are important to you, and why?

[Boromir88]

Good Morning everyone, can't believe we are already in TTT discussion.

Interestingly, the book begins with an ending, which only emphasizes the fact that LotR is one book, not a trilogy. (In my opinion, Peter Jackson's use of this chapter at the end of the first movie was a good choice.)

Very true, PJ handled that part well, I can just see it, the movie just cuts off when the orcs attack, then a year later, all of a sudden Boromir is seen dead.

On to more serious matter I'm afraid: This is a chapter of riddles (The S rune, what happened to the Hobbits, who are these bigger, larger orcs, what to do next), so as you can see the chapter is full of riddles. I think the events in this chapter are playing off Aragorn's characteristics right now. Sort of like Henry James The Turn of the Screw. The characters appear all nice and prompt, and they tidy up everything so good, but underneath it all is pretty demented evil. He uses a high vocabulary, rich terms, but underneath all the formality is some disturbing thoughts. Anyway....in this chapter we have a bunch of riddles, and I think this is to emphasize Aragorn's character at this time. Aragorn has no idea what he's done, he has no idea what to do, so Aragorn's personality is like a "riddle." He can't figure it out, he can't figure out the course to take.

Notice, in this chapter when Aragorn struggles who picks him up? Why Legolas and Gimli. Esty, has pointed out from Gimli:

"But after that we must guess the riddles, if we are to choose our course rights," answered Aragorn.
"Maybe there is no right choice," said Gimli.

Aragorn again can't decide what to do:

I do not know," answered Aragorn wearily. "Before he died Boromir told me that the Orcs had bound them; he did not think that they were dead. I sent him to follow Merry and Pippin; but I did not ask him if Frodo or Same were with him: not until it was too late. All that I have done today has gone amiss. What is to be done now?"

This time it is Legolas who picks him up:

"First we must tend the fallen," said Legolas. "We cannot leave him lying like carrion among these foul Orcs."

Once they have solved all the riddles of this Chapter, Aragorn appears to collect himself. When he went through that time "oh woe me," it was Gimli and Legolas who stepped up, but all the "riddles" have been solved, so Aragorn's personality comes back.

"Yes," said Aragorn, "we shall all need the endurance of Dwarves. But come! With hope or without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies. And woe to them, if we prove the swifter! We will make such a chase as shall be accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds: Elves, Dwarves, and Men. Forth the Three hunters!"
Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led them, tireless and swift, now that his mind was at last made up.

I love the later representation of the strong fellowship between these three people. The "Fellowship" has been broken, but Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli create this Fellowship that is stronger then the old. I wanted to point out the word "hope" again. As I've mentioned in the Farewell to Lorien CbC, Aragorn appears to be a personified "hope" for Gimli. Aragorn is given Estel (hope) and Galadriel instructs Gimli to follow "hope," hold on to it, and Gimli does. Now we have Aragorn saying, "With hope or without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies." This I cannot seem to figure out, I might have to get back to you on that one .

[davem]

Just want to make a few random observations. First there’s an interesting exchange in one of the early drafts. Aragorn tells Legolas & Gimli what Boromir had done:

’I do not know all, but I know this. Boromir tried to take the Ring by force’
Exclamation of horror from Legolas & Gimli.
‘Think not ill of him,’ said Trotter. ‘He paid manfully & confessed.’

This use of the word ‘confessed’ seems significant - especially in the light of Tolkien’s statement that he had deliberately made the story Catholic in the revision. Actually it seems that his original idea was more Catholic but he changed it. Boromir dies forgiven & absolved of his ‘sins’ because he made a ‘death bed’ confession to Aragorn (well, to Trotter). But what does this say about Aragorn/Trotter? Does it mean that Tolkien saw him as having a ‘priestly’ role - able not simply to hear confession, but to give absolution?

Second, the episode on Amon Hen. Frodo sees with enhanced vision, & Aragorn was also intended to an the early draft, but his ‘vision’ was to have included a sight of Gandalf similar to the one Frodo saw in Galadriel’s Mirror. But why does Frodo see the whole of Middle earth laid out before him while Aragorn sees only what we’d expect him to see from a high hilltop:

Then sitting in the high seat he looked out. But the sun seemed darkened, and the world dim and remote. He turned from the North back again to North, and saw nothing save the distant hills, unless it were that far away he could see again a great bird like an eagle high in the air, descending slowly in wide circles down towards the earth.

So, how ‘magical’ a place is Amon Hen - if even Aragorn only sees what any of us would expect to see what’s so special about the place to earn it its name? And how come Frodo sees so much - is it the power of the Ring? But that would mean that The Hill of Sight only deserved its name & reputation if the person using it had their vision magically enhanced.

Third, why do Aragorn, Gimli & Legolas take so much time over Boromir’s funeral arrangements? It seems illogical - shouldn’t they be off after the Hobbits straight away? I was always struck by the strangeness of their actions. It seems both right & wrong to do what they do. Logically, its silly. Boromir’s dead, the Hobbits are alive & in need, yet the three remaining companions take time to take Boromir to the boat, row it out into the stream & then sing a funeral dirge over his body. Yet on some level I know it was both right & necessary, & I would have lost all respect for them if they hadn’t done what they did - what’s that line about the heart having reasons that reason knows not of?

And that brings me to my final point - the funeral song. They didn’t actually sing that, did they?

Well, how could they? Make up a song, metre perfect, on the spur of the moment. I think what we have here is something added in to the tale afterwards. The truth’ has been mythologised. We know they must have simply expressed their grief at the time & only when the tale came to be written down was the song (possibly composed at a later date in Gondor, possibly by Bilbo or Frodo) ‘inserted’. Tolkien is not writing a novel set in Middle earth, he is writing a legend of that world. History has become legend, & its the legend that we’re given here.

But as to the song itself, its obviously intentional that Legolas sings of the South wind & the Sea.

From the mouths of the Sea the South Wind flies, from the sandhills and the stones; The wailing of the gulls it bears, and at the gate it moans. ...

-so many bones there lie On the white shores and the dark shores under the stormy sky; So many have passed down Anduin to find the flowing Sea.

‘So many have passed down Anduin to find the flowing Sea.

So they have, & others will follow, including Legolas himself.

[Bêthberry]

Thank you again for another well-wrought intro to the discussion, Estelyn. I do indeed have other things to say about the chapter, but for now let me get Boromir out of the way.

This chapter provides the one of the remaining pieces of evidence in my point that, in Boromir, Tolkien was depicting his concept of the Northern Heroic Warrior. (See Tolkien's "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth" for his ideas about noble errors and heroes dying for their folly. I don't want to repeat myself too much here, however much I enjoy listening to my argument again.)

Saucepan has said in the previous chapter that we are analysing Boromir psychologically. Here let me extricate my argument from that statement. Rather, I consider Boromir narratologically. Whoa! Big word. Not as big as verisimilitude, but up there. I mean simply that I consider Boromir the character's function in terms of plot or narrative/story.

Tolkien the writer has a problem. He's got the son of the Steward of Minas Tirith who thinks he's the One thank you very much, oldest son and Dad's favourite and the Big Man on Campus. Having won election as campus leader, he just knows he is going to be President of the University someday. However, Tolkien's got the 'once and future King', Aragorn-Arthur, who is going to return to claim the throne for righteousness and true love's sake. (My flippancy here does not do justice to how Tolkien rewrites the courtly love scenario in Aragorn and Arwen, but that is for another chapter anyway.) Now, how does a writer resolve that situation? He can let them go mano e mano, duking it out for the top dukedom, so to speak. But that will interfer with his depiction of Elessar's true nobility. Better to get the pretender out of the way somehow. And out of the way before the big A starts his lonely journey of proving himself.

What kinds of 'somehow' are available? Well, there's a chance to demonstrate by opposition the kind of true nobility which the rightful king will demonstrate. That is, show how the Pretender does not measure up. Then, there is the very attractive opportunity to demonstrate something of the power of the Ring over a character who can safely, without damaging the main plot line, be done away with. And, finally, there's a wonderful opportunity to call into play the most important moral value which the quest to destroy the Ring will show: the value of pity. Boromir the character didn't have a chance. He was just too perfectly expendable.

He can, then, go greatly in to that goodnight. Boromir's death provides Tolkien with the chance to create an essential feature of the Norther Warrior's demise: the funeral boat. Expending time on this scene demonstrates two things: the value of the dead in this kind of society--as the earthly home of the spirit they deserve a respectful closure-- as well as the funeral rites befitting a hero. Here, for example, is the funeral boat of Scyld Scefing from Beowulf. I'm using Seamus Heaney's translation, so his name is Shield Sheafson.

Shield was still thriving when his time came
and he crossed over into the Lord's keeping
His warrior band did what he bade them
when he laid down the law among the Danes:
they shouldered him out to the sea's flood,
the chief they revered who had long ruled them.
A ring-whorled prow rode in the harbour,
ice-clad, outbound, a craft for a prince.
they stretched their beloved lord in his boat,
laid out by the mast, amidships,
the great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures
were piled upon him, and precious gear.
I never heard before of a ship so well furbished
with battle tackle, bladed weapons
and coats of mail. The massed treasure
was loaded on top of him: it would travel far
on out into the ocean's sway.
They decked his body no less bountifully
with offerings than those first ones did
who cast him away when he was a child
and launched him alone out over the waves.
And they set a gold standard up
high above his head and let him drift
to wind and tide, bewailing him
and mourning their loss. No man can tell,
no wise man in hall or weathered veteran
knows for certain who salvaged that load.

This contrasts with Beowulf's death, where Beowulf had decreed a barrow be built and his body was first consumed upon a pyre with his gold and treasures. Yet consider these last lines from the poem:

So the Geat people, his hearth companions,
sorrowed for the lord who had been laid low.
They said that of all the kings upon the earth
he was the man most gracious and fair-minded,
kindest to his people and keenest to win fame.

Well, just a final little note to the extended edition of the Heroic Northern Warrior arguement.

[Aiwendil]

This is rather a short chapter - only about seven and a half pages. Why? Perhaps in part because it's not really its own chapter; in terms of content, it is more like the conclusion of the previous chapter, "The Breaking of the Fellowship". This is a nice little trick Tolkien plays: he leaves us in the midst of the action at the end of Book II (only for Frodo and Sam are things in any way concluded there), putting the literal division between the books before the natural conclusion of Book II (that conclusion being Boromir's death and Aragorn's decision to go after Merry and Pippin). Nonetheless, I'm inclined to agree with Estelyn that Peter Jackson actually made the right decision here; this is perhaps one of the few cases where the movie-aesthetic really is different from the book-aesthetic.

This chapter is in my opinion probably the best portrayal of Aragorn in the book. Aragorn, I will admit, is not my favorite character. Not that I dislike him - but it often seems that he lacks depth. In the discussion of I-10 I said:

He is a flat character in the tradition of great flat characters like Aeneas and Beowulf. It's not that he is poorly characterized, just that he does not have the same sort of psychological hook as Turin or Gollum or even Frodo.

Well, if there's one chapter that proves me wrong, I think it's this one. Here, Aragorn's indecision, his mistakes, his regrets - all are vividly and effectively depicted. For example:

Boromir smiled.
'Which way did they go? Was Frodo there?' said Aragorn.
But Boromir did not speak again.
'Alas!' said Aragorn. 'Thus passes the heir of Denethor, Lord of the Tower of the Guard! This is a bitter end. Now the company is all in ruin. It is I that have failed. Vain was Gandalf's trust in me. What shall I do now? Boromir has laid it on me to go to Minas Tirith, and my heart desires it; but where are the Ring and the Bearer? How shall I find them and save the Quest from disaster?'

Even the minutest detail is perfect here - as, for example, that Aragorn waited a moment too long to ask Boromir whether Frodo was with them.

This kind of indecision is really needed at this point in the book. One of the dangers of having characters like Aragorn and, especially, Gandalf, aiding Frodo is that, deep down, it is almost impossible for the reader to believe that such figures of benevolent authority will ever fail or be defeated. Only by showing us that they can and do fail (or even better, killing them off) can Tolkien make the reader really worry.

[HerenIstarion]

Beautiful

One question remains - the main point of putting Scyld into the boat was to 'pay back' - as he came by boat as a child.

But that remark is mainly due to my natural nastiness. Me and my long tongue, so to say. I can't be constructive in the case, so I withdraw

cheers

EDIT: cross-posted with Aiwendil. All of the post above refers to Bb's post (previous but one) END OF EDIT

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by HerenIstarion

One question remains - the main point of putting Scyld into the boat was to 'pay back' - as he came by boat as a child.

My dear HI, among the several possible answers which I could make, I shall settle for this: aren't they sending Denethor's child back by express boat to Minas Tirith?

[Aldarion Elf-Friend]

I agree that this chapter is more a conclusion of Book I than the beginning of Book II. According to my calender, there were five months between tehg publishing of FotR and TT. That's not too long to wait (certainly not as long as the poor Robert Jordan fans wait on a cliffhanger).

Since the movie has been discussed, I thought there were some very interesting deviations from the book in this scene. Most importantly, everyone in the fellowship realizes that Frodo has to go on by himself, and Merry and Pippin even heroically offer themselves up as a distraction to allow Frodo to escape the Isengard Ureks. Well done, PJ.

Originally Posted by davem

And that brings me to my final point - the funeral song. They didn’t actually sing that, did they?

Well, how could they? Make up a song, metre perfect, on the spur of the moment. I think what we have here is something added in to the tale afterwards. The truth’ has been mythologised. We know they must have simply expressed their grief at the time & only when the tale came to be written down was the song (possibly composed at a later date in Gondor, possibly by Bilbo or Frodo) ‘inserted’. Tolkien is not writing a novel set in Middle earth, he is writing a legend of that world. History has become legend, & its the legend that we’re given here.

I think that it's entirely likely that they composed the song on the spot. First, the probably were using a melody that they were very familliar with, and both Aragorn and Legolas were accomplished and experienced songwriters (Leggy's more of an assumption, I guess - Aragorn and Bilbo regularly composed together). Second, think about contemporary rap music (I use the m-word with reservations). Rap was originally improvised by the performer like jazz solos, and only when it became pop music did it become so produced.

Another example is done by comedians, such as Wayne Brady, who improvise a song on the spot. Granted, sometimes it's lame, but sometimes it's spot on. And Aragorn and Legolas didn't have the added pressure of trying to be funny in front of an audience.

So, in short, I think that it's not at all unrealistic to believe that they made the funeral song up on the spot.

My $0.02

[HerenIstarion]

Originally Posted by SpM

I think that Elrond was just exercising good common sense

Right, SpM. I've been exaggerating

With no connection to that exchange, let me bring to your attention the following:

Is there any hope of redemption by The SaucepanMan