What's the Worst Thing Characters had to Face in Middle Earth?

[Farael]

Originally Posted by LMP

Do you really think so? I find this to be an interesting thought. Would Denethor really own Faramir? Or would he only believe that he did?

I do not think he could actually own Faramir's destiny as we see in the story that Faramir is saved and Denethor dies, so Denethor was only responsible for his own destiny. Yet if he had succeeded and burned Faramir along with himself then maybe we could argue that, as Denethor chose to kill Faramir before knowing the outcome of his desease, he truncated his destiny.

Now, I trully believe that we are the masters of our own destiny and if someone else takes control of our destiny then he is taking control of our lives and ourselves. So I guess it might be me putting those thoughts into Denethor who is only acting out of despair

Also we should take into account that Denethor was overwhelmed not only by despair but by the influence of Sauron. Maybe those thoughts were implanted in his mind by the Dark Lord and responted to no concisous or unconscious reasoning by Denethor.

Still, I do not think Denethor had completlely lost his mind either to Sauron or despair. He is fairly lucid, someone who has lost hope would probably not oppose Gandalf when he storms in to stop him. I believe that Denethor was so afraid of loosing the last important person in his life that he decided to kill him and himself so that he would not have to suffer a new separation. That way, him and his son would share a common destiny chosen by Denethor.