Faramir's armour...... vs Boromir's

[Neurion]

It lives?

Originally Posted by Saurreg

Edit: The helm type used by the Gondorians is known as a barbute. That together with the design of the ornate cuirass makes the Gondorian man-at-arms extremely Italian in appearance!

Yes, the designers seem to have been going for a sort of Roman/Medieval esthetic in the visual design of the Gondorian culture.

Originally Posted by Alcarin

They could kill enemies even if they were naked....so who cares about the armor?

Because if someone happens to land a blow on you (as is inevitable in the press of battle) you're not going to be immediately disembowled.

[Damrod]

Faramir didn't really need to have plate armor, did he? He was deployed with the rangers-light and stealthy. Guerilla attacks on the dark lord's forces, like the Harad road battle scene in TTT. The rangers wore brown or green cloaks and hooded their faces. As calandil said before (too lazy to hit the quote button)"he cannot walk around in the woods wearing nice shiny armor". He would be pretty easy to see, and with the weight and heft of plate armor he would be easy to track and follow as well. Not good, as the rangers' strength is being able to sneak around Ithilien in their secret forts and over and back the Anduin.

[Saurreg]

Aye Damrod I have always thought of rangers of both the north and south as scouts and at times ambush troops. Strike sudden, strike fast, strike hard, that be their motto!

However me thinks ambushes and such are also extraordinary, highly skilled rangers dressed in quilted surcoats and leather vests should be used as the eyes and ears of the army and not the striking arm.

[Beleg Cuthalion]

Of course, none of this changes the fact that the thread is about the fact that when Faramir does wear armor, it's totally different from Boromir's, which is kind of the reverse of what you'd expect.

Boromir spends more time on the front lines, presumably weaing armor, so you'd think that his armor would be custom-made for him, while Faramir, who's primarily a Ranger, seems more likely to just grab a suit off the rack when going out openly onto the battlefield, but instead, we get Boromir in what's basically the ordinary infantry soldier's armor minus the gorget and with the addition of some extra maille, while Faramir has this ornate, highly personalized suit of armour that's completely different than anyone else's and specially made for him.

This gets even weirder when Denethor comes into the equation. Wouldn't he be more likely to order a special suit of armor for his favourite son, rather than that embarassment Faramir?

[findorfin]

I also find it strange that Faramir has seemingly more ornate armour. However, when you think that armour was a highly personal thing, perhaps not and Boromir's is hardly drab. Perhaps he just preferred the extra mobility, or for that scene has removed parts of his armour. Afterall, he's talking to his brother AFTER the battle. We see Faramir fully-coated when he's about to charge.

Another argument would be that faramir's armour is in some way supposed to represent his Numenorean blood to the audience, whereas Boromir was more 'common'. This is a purely film-making reason.

Also, to reply to the post above..I doubt Denethor would have ordered anything for Faramir. As the steward's son and presumbaly a wealthy man in his own right, Faramir would have got exactly what armour he wanted.

[ArathorofBarahir]

Personally, I thought Boromir's and Faramir's armor suited each of them perfectly and were inherently different because of the different needs of each man.

We seem to be forgetting the fact of physical strength. Boromir was much stronger than Faramir, so he could use heavier armor. It makes sense: Tolkien himself described him as a warrior, a champion, =)