Boromir was the only member of the Fellowship who tried to take the ring. He was vain and entitled, believing that he alone, of the Fellowship, was worthy of the ring. He was a thief and a traitor.
Boromir was a Lord of Gondor, and he wanted everyone to know it. “His garments were rich, his cloak was lined with fur, and he had a collar of silver in which a single white stone was set.”
Boromir did not redeem himself. He failed to protect Merry and Pippin from the orcs, who wouldn’t have found the hobbits wandering alone if it weren’t for Boromir’s actions in the first place.
Boromir would not have felt remorse or apologised if he had succeeded in taking the ring; he only did because he was caught. His image was so important to him that his “heroic” death was staged to create sympathy and goodwill so that he would not be remembered through the ages as a thief and a traitor.
Boromir got what he deserved.
Every single member of the fellowship would have turned against Frodo at one point. It’s what he realized after Boromir and why he decided to leave them. Recall, he also saw it in the water with Galadriel.
Boromir was the first to be corrupted because he was the most desperate. The others didn’t have homelands that were under siege yet.
The others didn’t have homelands that were under siege yet.
Well, they already passed through Moria by this point, Id assume Gimli would be the next character to be tempted had the party continued together.
Afaik lore wise dwarves are quite unswayed by magic rings. They hold little power over them. Ofc this is the one ring, but I don’t feel Gimli would be next.
Pippin however would totally go for it like he did with the palantir.
Well, Moria was a different case. The expedition to retake Moria was a long time ago (25 years before Fellowship). And Moria had been lost a long time ago in the first place.
I havent read the books, but movie Gimli is utterly shocked and devastated that the place is not dwarven territory. He was expecting great feasts and all so why wasnt he aware of Morias current state?
Imagine being the leader and hero of your people, groomed from the day you were born to lead and protect. You’re fighting a losing war against an enemy that will brutally slaughter every Man and child they come across. You are about to lose the last line of defense in Osgiliath and your once great father is quickly losing hope, and his mind.
In a final desperate attempt you ride West to seek aid from an old ally that has set its sight on leaving you behind to an inevitable doom.
Once there, you stumble upon your one and only chance to save your people, but to your dismay the secluded people that you have protected with your people’s blood for centuries refuses to give this weapon. Instead they are sending the weapon with some “children” who have never seen war on a suicide mission that everyone believes will fail.
For weeks on end as you trek through hostile land while an impossibly powerful corrupting force is slowly tearing down your mind, reminding you of your people’s struggles and telling you how it alone can give you the power to save them, and the world.
And then disaster happens and the leader of the suicide mission and the only one who could lead the way dies and you’re left directionless. Finally you break and try to take the weapon needed to save your people.
How are you a bad person in this scenario?
The wisest angel in the world didn’t even dare to touch the object in fear of its corrupting power. The most powerful elf on Middle-Earth earned back her spot in heaven by resisting its influence once. Boromir was the only human in the group, and the one most weary and desperate by the war, the perfect target for the ring.
Boromir was a great man, but unlike the rest of the fellowship he was also human, and with that come flaws. Your characterisation of Boromir is of him under the influence of the one ring, which is unfair. Free of the ring’s influence we see him as a selfless hero willing to give his life to protect the hobbits from harm.
It’s a shame this scene never made it to short edition of the films.
I don’t know the lore too well, but long life and invisibility that the ring bestows on mortals ain’t going win any war.
Aragorn was still a human despite more elf blood than typical but otherwise sure.
Of course, to Tolkien, being a bit of a divine monarchist simp, Aragorn’s resistance in comparison is supposed to be a slight against the effectively (small r) republican Boromir’s worthiness to rule.
Boromir’s corruption is political commentary and all discussions about his character flaws are missing the point without acknowledging that.
Mortal men cannot long resist the influence of the Ring at such close proximity. Replace Boromir with any other human, dwarf, or elf, and some member of the Fellowship would still have turned on the ring-bearer by the end.
Hobbits are more resilient, but with long enough exposure even they can be swayed. It was only a matter of time.
This is how I see it too. His intentions were pure - he wanted the ring’s power to save Gondor. The Ring corrupted and exploited those desires. In the books, we know his immediate thoughts were for the people of Gondor and the hobbits he felt like he failed, and he gave his life to defend their escape.
It’s worth saying that hobbits are more resistant because they don’t really desire any worldly power or wealth. They just want to be left alone, which is part of the reason why Sméagol took the ring into the mountains and disappeared for 500 years. The ring plays upon your desires, so his desire for solitude was amplified considerably.
I mean, that was essentially the point of Boromir’s death: the allure of the Ring corrupted him and he became an example for the Fellowship (and the reader) for the insidious power of the One Ring.
The movies gave him a much more pronounced Forlorn Hope scene but Boromir is really meant to embody why it had to be one the most unlikely creatures to succeed.
Ring to human: “You will rule all of Middle Earth!”
Ring to hobbit: “You will have…the best gardens covering all Middle Earth? What the fuck is wrong with you??”
The fact the hobbits became invisible and unnoticed when using it is probably no coincidence.
No that’s a pretty common view.
