What if Boromir claimed the Ring?

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

I believe Boromir did want the Ring for himself, but I don't see him becoming hostile towards his family, if Denethor asked for the Ring, Boromir would have given it to him.

I agree that Boromir's intentions as regards the Ring, at least at first, were to use it against Sauron and in the defence of Gondor. In this, he spoke truly (from his perspective) at the Council of Elrond.

But I doubt that, when it came to it, he could voluntarily have surrendered it to his father. Even Bilbo had to be nudged into giving it up and that was before it was fully awakened and far from Mordor, not to mention that Bilbo was a Hobbit and therefore (in my view) had a greater innate resistance to it than Boromir.

Had Boromir seized it from Frodo and (against the odds) made it back to Minas Tirith, he would have been exposed to it for some time. By that time the hold of the Ring would have been too strong. Perhaps it would have seduced him into believing that only he could wield it or that it was his right to bear it. The result would have been chaos in Minas Tirith and quite possibly a second kin-strife. In any event, it wouldn't have taken long for Sauron to march his forces in to seize it, quite possibly (in those circumstances) with little resistance.