Boromir: A Display of Humanity (My Thoughts)

[Landroval]

I don't like Boromir, but I will take his defence, since it is an interesting challenge.

Just how different was his situation from that of Frodo?

We must keep in mind his travel intentions:

It is not the way of the Men of Minas Tirith to desert their friends at need,' he said, `and you will need my strength, if ever you are to reach the Tindrock. To the tall isle I will go, but no further. There I shall turn to my home, alone if my help has not earned the reward of any companionship.

So Amon Hen was pretty much the parting point of Boromir from the company and from, of course, the ring.

Let us consider another point, his power:

Originally Posted by Letter #181

Frodo was in such a position: an apparently complete trap: a person of greater native power could probably never have resisted the Ring's lure to power so long; a person of less power could not hope to resist it in the final decision.

Boromir is "fearless and strong", "proud"; he also wanted the ring for the good of his people:

Originally Posted by The breaking of the fellowship

Boromir strode up and down, speaking ever more loudly. Almost he seemed to have forgotten Frodo, while his talk dwelt on walls and weapons, and the mustering of men; and he drew plans for great alliances and glorious victories to be; and he cast down Mordor, and became himself a mighty king, benevolent and wise

This is pretty much the same way that Gandalf would have taken:

Originally Posted by Shadow of the past

...With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.

His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within.

- Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good.

So, all in all, Boromir was on the point where he had to contemplate the irreversible departure from the ring (the ring going either to destruction, either to the enemy). Just like Frodo, he claims it for himself, one could even say that for less selfish reasons. In judging Boromir, I think it would be necessary to heed Tolkien's words:

Originally Posted by Letter #246

We are finite creatures with absolute limitations upon the powers of our soul-body structure in either action or endurance. Moral failure can only be asserted, I think, when a man's effort or endurance falls short of his limits, and the blame decreases as that limit is closer approached.

Nonetheless, I think it can be observed in history and experience that some individuals seem to be placed in 'sacrificial' positions: situations or tasks that for perfection of solution demand powers beyond their utmost limits, even beyond all possible limits for an incarnate creature in a physical world – in which a body may be destroyed, or so maimed that it affects the mind and will. Judgement upon any such case should then depend on the motives and disposition with which he started out, and should weigh his actions against the utmost possibility of his powers, all along the road to whatever proved the breaking-point.

I would hold Boromir less guilty than Frodo, given that his nature predisposed him highly more to the lure of the ring; and he sure did struggle with it, seeing how he behaved on the boats in the river, where Merry and Pippin were frightened with his behaviour. I could even shift a tiny bit of blame towards Galadriel - in the words of Faramir:

Originally Posted by The window on the west

What did she say to you, the Lady that dies not? What did she see? What woke in your heart then? Why went you ever to Laurelindorenan, and came not by your own road, upon the horses of Rohan riding home in the morning

To return to Tolkien's words on Frodo, tempation and failure:

Originally Posted by Letter #191

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

Corinthians may not at first sight seem to fit – unless 'bearing temptation' is taken to mean resisting it while still a free agent in normal command of the will. I think rather of the mysterious last petitions of the Lord's Prayer: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. A petition against something that cannot happen is unmeaning. There exists the possibility of being placed in positions beyond one's power.

Just like Frodo didn't actually fail, I would say that neither did Boromir - in Aragorn's words:

Originally Posted by The breaking of the fellowship

- Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.

- No! said Aragorn, taking his hand and kissing his brow. You have conquered. Few have gained such a victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall!

Boromir smiled.

[Jon S.]

Serious alcohol or drug addiction can render a man or woman impervious to almost everything else in the world, including health, safety, and loved ones, but there are also cases in which such persons, if only for a moment, grasped the precariousness of their situations and reached out for the help that ultimately saved them.

I've often wondered how differently the Fellowship would have fared had Boromir, upon being tempted by Galadrial in particular, turned to Gandalf and cried, "Help me - I can no longer resist."

[me9996]

If Borimer is human and Aragorn is not I like whatever Aragorn is better...

Not to put down humanity...
But I think Aragorn is just a very good man. (A numanorian but still human)