The Middle Earth Popularity Cup

[Lalwendë]

Both quite complex men, it's difficult to say who is more interesting, but with the insights to Boromir's mind and his turmoil that Tolkien gives us, he wins it by a whisker I'd say. I love his chunnerings all the way down the Anduin as he fights to allow himself to be led by Aragorn. His death scene is ace (and who hasn't tried to draw a picture of it, eh? ). And he wasn't led astray by some strumpet in the woods, either....just by an um...magic ring.....

++Boromir

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

His death scene is ace (and who hasn't tried to draw a picture of it, eh? )

Me.

At least I think I haven't.

It's a scene I'm cherishing only inside my mind till the day comes that I am a terrific artist.

Let's see if I shall ever draw it.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Me.

At least I think I haven't.

Really? I thought everyone had had a go at that scene? I bet you've done a doodle of the White Tree though, eh?

One day I'll find my sketch of Boromir stuck full of arrows and being cradled by Aragorn and scan it and post it. I was only about 13 when I drew it though so it has what an Art critic might charitably term 'naive charm'

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Really? I thought everyone had had a go at that scene? I bet you've done a doodle of the White Tree though, eh?

Nope, and that's for certain. Drawing trees is not for me.

I used to draw a lot Tolkien things when I had just read Lotr (ie when I was 11-13). After that the Tolkien-related stuff I drew was mostly just about our RPG.

I'm planning to start drawing/painting Middle-earth pictures again, though. It's been way too long.

[Lalwendë]

Actually, wasn't there a thread on this topic, about things people have drawn from Tolkien's work? I seem to remember SpM posted up some of his childhood drawings? I might have to find that one, it was great....

[Nogrod]

A hard choice indeed.

But to go against all odds I'm voting

++ Boromir

for purely personal reasons which are not that Sean Bean is "soo charismatic in the movie" or that Beren is the less known of them.

To me Boromir has a special place in my mind that goes to my history of reading in general. I mean, first when I read the LotR like 10 years old or something I just thought: "Yeah, a great hero but so bad". But slowly I started thinking that there was something in that verdict that was not right. That even if the narrator of the story was painting him as a person who was weak (had not the guts to deny the temptations of the evil promises for glory) and was lured by the ring into madness because of his pride, I was starting to look at it from a different angle.

So the narrator was not right! Looking at his history and motivations showed he was the most sensible person around when the fellowship broke. All those omens and fatalisms - and the thought of risking everything with a the weakest card was the madness, not Boromir.

He was right then... only that the author had decided to make the world where he lived different in a way that because of Tolkien's ideals the impossible became possible... But that really opened my eyes with literature. The authors pull the strings in more ways we readers would like to concentrate on.

And therefore my vote for Boromir, the one who's destiny got me thinking about the status of the author when I was a teenager.

[Nerwen]

++Beren

Because I happen to like him better... though I'm quite pleased to see that interesting character Boromir has so many votes. The poor man gets an awfully bad press in some quarters.