Faramir's (and Boromir's) Dream

[Pitchwife]

I'm with Legate and Nerwen here as for the matter of the sender of the dream being some "higher power" rather than, say, Gandalf or Galadriel, and I'm also not sure we need to bother Eru himself to explain it - the Valar, I think, weren't quite so detached from the War of the Ring as it probably seemed to those in Middle-earth, they merely acted with more discretion than in former ages, confining themselves to giving a 'minimally invasive' nudge in the right direction to things here and there (for another example see e.g. this thread).

Why Boromir and not Faramir? I suppose the final decision would have been Denethor's; and I think skip has a good point here:

Originally Posted by skip

Yeah but my point is... all this chasing a dream, seeking the advice of Elrond Halfelven concerning a legendary heirloom, doesn't all that seem a bit like... wizard talk to you? Something Boromir's brother was scorned for heeding too much, you know, for listening too much to Gandalf and his likes...

Exactly; and therefore, if it was absolutely unavoidable that one of the Steward's sons had to go on that errand, Denethor would have trusted Boromir more to represent Gondor's best interests (as he saw them!) in dealing with those tricky wizards and halfelves than Faramir, who was too much of a 'wizard's pupil' already for his father's taste.