Faramir and the Ring

[The Saucepan Man]

one of the writers states that she thought Faramir's 'easy' refusal of the Ring in the books rather stripped some of the reader's view of the Ring's power to corrupt.

I think it was Fran Walsh. And, to be fair to her, she was not saying that it had that effect in the book. She was saying that, having built up the immense power of the Ring, it wouldn't have worked on film to have had a character like Faramir, who had only just been introduced and about whom the (non-book reading) audience knew very little, give the Ring up (whether for himself or his father) so easily. The Ring would have lost a lot of its power, in the minds of the audience there and then. I tend to agree with her.

In the book, Faramir's refusal of the Ring is much more credible, because Tolkien has time to build up his character in the wonderful dialogue between him and Frodo at Henneth Annun. I tend to agree, however, that, had Faramir been exposed to the Ring as long as his brother, he would have been tempted to take it, even though he may not have acted on that impulse in the way that his brother did. Such is the nature of the Ring.

Edit: Firefoot, I didn't see your post before posting myself. I didn't copy your last point intentionally. Honest. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 8:05 PM January 05, 2004: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]