If Denethor hadn't committed suicide

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

How do you explain the differences between Denethor and his younger son, except by painting Faramir as the wiser and clearer-hearted?

One explanation for the difference between Faramir and his father, as well as his elder brother, can only be conjectured - Finduilas. We know too little about her to guess at her influence on her husband and sons, especially since she died while the latter were fairly young, but it is possible that Tolkien unconsciously thought of his own mother while writing about the characters. She died while he was young too, yet her influence on him was lasting and powerful. Tolkien once said that Faramir was the character closest to himself, so parallels, while speculative, are possible.

We know that Denethor changed in character after the death of his wife. It would be interesting to speculate on the course his life might have taken had she yet lived. Could there be parallels with Finwë/Míriel/Fëanor hidden in there?

[Faramir Jones]

Esty, I agree about the possibility of Faramir being particularly influenced by his mother, as Tolkien was by his, although Finduilas died when he was five, younger than Tolkien when his mother Mabel died, he being twelve at the time.

My view is that perhaps we also need to look at the posthumous influence of Faramir's mother on him via her family. Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth was his mother's brother, and the most prominent Gondorian after the Steward. Also, his mother and Imrahil had an elder sister, Ivriniel.

We know that Imrahil had four children, three sons and a daughter, the latter, Lothíriel, later marrying Éomer. So Faramir might have had a lot of influence from his mother's side of the family, to compensate him for the loss of his mother.

We should, of course, not leave out the possible influences of members of his father's family. Denethor, like Imrahil, was the youngest of three children, having two elder sisters. Did these paternal aunts have any influence on Faramir's upbringing?

Certainly it would have been interesting to have seen what might have happened had Finduilas not died when she did.

You wondered about possible parallels between Finwë/Míriel/Fëanor, which may be the case, although I believe that there are significant differences. Fëanor was an only and an incredibly gifted child of the marriage of Finwë and Míriel. After her death, he remarried Indis of the Vanyar, and had four children with her, two sons: Fingolfin and Finarfin, and two daughters: Findis and Irimë.

It appears that, due to the close relationship between Fëanor and his father, that he resented the latter's remarriage and his half-siblings, in particular his two half-brothers. Later, he accused Fingolfin of trying to alienate their father's affections, indeed once threatening him with violence. This sibling rivalry would, as we know, have bloody consequences.

By contrast, Denethor never remarried. There is no doubt that he loved Finduilas deeply, something we can presume his sons were well aware of. As Sarumian said, 'He [Denethor] also was able to raise two outstanding sons whose moral consistency is out of any doubt'. While I'm sure they, including Boromir, missed their mother, they grew up to be the men we meet in LofR.

Also, there is no trace of any sibling rivalry between Boromir and Faramir. While Tolkien called the former the 'bossy' elder brother, he did so in inverted commas. Perhaps this was a trace of their mother's influence, she telling Boromir (who was ten at her death) to take care of his younger brother. Faramir did not resent Boromir being the heir, and as we see, lamented his death.