Boromir

Boromir is a fictional character belonging to the legendarium created by the writer J. R. R. Tolkien and who appears in his novel The Lord of the Rings. He is a dúnadan, eldest son of the steward of Gondor Denethor II, elder brother of Faramir and favorite of the twenty-fourth and last ruling steward of the kingdom of Gondor. As his firstborn, Boromir was captain of the White Tower and carried the Great Horn of Vorondil, the main heirloom of the House of Stewards.

After having a prophetic dream about the One Ring, Boromir set out for Rivendell, the land of the half-elf Elrond, hoping to find answers there. Thus, he ended up forming part of the Company of the Ring, whose objective was to take the precious object to Mordor and destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom, the place where it was forged, so that the dark lord Sauron, who put part of his power in it, could be defeated. During the journey Boromir was perverted by the evil influence of the Ring, and tried to take it by force from its bearer, the hobbit Frodo Baggins. He purged that fault by defending his companions Peregrin Tuk and Meriadoc Brandigamo from an attack by a horde of uruk-hai, in which act he died.

Boromir has appeared in various adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, including New Zealand director Peter Jackson's film trilogy, where he is played by actor Sean Bean.

Etymology and meaning of the name

Boromir was described by Tolkien as a "mixed" name; possibly combining Quenya and Sindarin elements: bor(on)- (Sindarin "unbreakable") + mîr (Sindarin "jewel") or + míre (also 'jewel', but in Quenya); to give a meaning of "unbreakable jewel". However, the Stewards of Gondor used to choose names "referred to in ancient songs and tales of the First Age", without regard to their meaning, so the name "Boromir" may have simply been adopted by copying that of Boromir, an Edain. of the House of Bëor in the First Age, mentioned in The Silmarillion.

History

Before the War of the Ring

Boromir was born in 2978 T.E. He was the son of Denethor and Finduilas, daughter of Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth. From a very young age, he excelled in the use of weapons and warrior skills, which led him to be placed in the preferences of his father, as his favorite son. Strong-willed and proud, he always had a desire to restore Gondor to its former splendor. In addition, he could not understand how his family had not been able to overcome tradition, turning the Regent Stewards into Kings, since for him it was improbable that the true heir of Isildur existed, and it hurt him deeply that, despite so many years of Stewards leading of Gondor, they could not lead it like kings. This thought further accentuated his pride and he was a guide for his whole life.

In the year 3018 of the Third Age of the Sun, he directed the defense of the western coast of Anduin from the attack of the armies of Mordor, led by the Witch-king of Angmar. Together with his brother, Faramir counterattacks the orc forces that had just conquered Osgiliath. In the battle he manages to make the orcs retreat to the eastern bank of Anduin and destroys the bridge of Osgiliath, preventing the attack on Minas Tirith, and advances to Ithilien, driving the orc armies back to Minas Morgul.

The Dream

While in the middle of a campaign against the orcs of Mordor, and together with his younger brother Faramir, he has a strange and prophetic dream (which Faramir had already had several times) in which a voice told him: "(...)Find the broken sword, which is in Imladris; there will be councils stronger than Morgul's spells. They will show a sign that Fate is near: Isildur's Harm will awaken, and the Halfling will appear..." After telling his father, this was the only thing he consented to (it is not "consented", since it was the only thing he could have known; closer to the truth would be to say "he was right to tell them" in telling him, was that Imladris was from ancient times the name given by the elves to a distant valley in the north, where lived Elrond the Half-elf, the greatest of the loremasters.Wanting to destroy Sauron, he marched to Rivendell despite from an argument with his brother Faramir and because it was the firstborn. Boromir left in his place looking for an answer. "(...)I (Faramir) had been chosen by my father and the elders, but he he went ahead, because he was the oldest and the most daring, and did not listen to reasons. And after 110 days of travel, in which he suffered many incidents, even losing his horse in Tharbad, he arrived to participate in the Council of Elrond and seek answers to the enigma.

Boromir's Doubts

Boromir's interest in the One Ring

Boromir's interest in having the One Ring did not respond, as in the case of Isildur, to an excessive ambition for power, but rather to the need to use it against his own evil to save his people, as became clear when in the Council of Elrond he proposed to take the ring to Minas Tirith to help in the fight against Mordor, and despite the warnings of Gandalf and the Half-Elf he was not convinced. Something of his personality shines through in his position on the matter and the one who best explains it is his brother Faramir, when he maintains that since he was young the idea that his father was not King made him angry. Furthermore, Faramir, upon learning from Frodo of the attempt to take it from him, said that if the Ring "(...)were a talisman that procured advantages in war, I can certainly believe that Boromir, the proud and the intrepid, often reckless Boromir, always dreaming of Minas Tirith's victory (and his own glory) wished to possess it and was drawn to it..."

Pride, fidelity to his house and daring seem to be the components of Boromir's personality that led him to search for answers to the dream and later to desire the Ring. Saying about Sam, Boromir himself carried the danger in himself, since as soon as he saw the Ring he wanted to have it for himself.

At the Council of Rivendell

Already in the Council of Elrond, Boromir raised his disagreement about the idea of taking the Ring to its destruction, since he believed that it was better to take it to Gondor and take advantage of its power to defeat Sauron. For him the Sword of Elendil (Narsil), forged anew, and the possession of the One Ring would be powerful tools to definitively defeat Sauron; and I even ask: “(...)Why not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serve us in this hour of need? Bearing the Ring, the Lords of the Free could defeat the enemy..."

As you can see, Boromir could not understand that the power of the Ring ends up destroying whoever possesses it, since as Elrond said "(...)The strength of the Ring, Boromir, is too great for someone to wield at will, save for those who already have great power of their own. But for them it holds an even more deadly danger. It is enough to desire the Ring for the heart to be corrupted".

With much hesitation he ended up accepting the idea of destroying it instead of using it. But things changed when Gandalf fell into Moria. There the Company began to doubt what the fate of the Ring should be, since the main guide (now fallen) was the one who had most strongly imposed the idea of destroying it. And Aragorn, when he was in front of the group of brave men, felt that his Númenórean blood put him in the dilemma of continuing with the company towards Mordor or running to the aid of Gondor. This probably aroused in Boromir the idea of seizing the Ring to use against Sauron, so much so that Galadriel realized, in Lothlórien, the thoughts of the man of Gondor, although he did not reveal it at the time.

Your stay in Lothlórien

As the Company neared its destination, Boromir's doubts grew; but it was the stay of the Company in the Forest of Lothlórien that marked a turning point for Boromir in his doubts about the path to follow on the question of the Ring and as we said above, the Elven Lady of the Forest of Lórien realized that this when reading his thoughts, when in his greeting he looked directly into his eyes and dived inside; and the man of Gondor could not hold his gaze, and was exceedingly troubled.

Because of the above, it was not surprising that at the moment of leaving the Golden Forest, the doubt about the path to follow was clearly raised. Even Boromir himself stated that his idea was to return to Minas Tirith by saying that he would choose to continue along the western bank of Anduin crossing the kingdom of Rohan, where they would find allies. Because for him it would be foolish to enter Mordor without a powerful force and it would also be "(...)folly to sacrifice lives...". For Boromir it was a question of "(...)choosing between defending a fortified place and marching directly towards death..."

Celeborn's offer of elven boats and the knowledge that the trip by land was dangerous, postponed the discussion, since they would not have to define until they reached the falls of the Rauros.

Boromir in the Fellowship of the Ring

His presence in the Fellowship of the Ring was due to the fact that he would represent one of the free peoples of Middle-earth that had contributed the most to the fight to contain the Dark Lord, and also because the path chosen for the Ringbearer it took him directly south and part of the land to be traversed was in Gondor; hence Boromir thought that a starting point to enter Mordor could be Minas Tirith. He had not given up hope of convincing Frodo and the others of the option of using the Ring.

Throughout the tough mission, he was an invaluable member of the Fellowship. Already in the first leg of the trip he showed his courage and determination.

In Acebeda

In Red Horn Pass, and taking advantage of his experience in his travels through the White Mountains, he advised carrying bundles of firewood to avoid freezing to death, which saved the Company in the greatest and strangest snowfall in the path. His throw also cleared the way a bit, as with Aragorn they dashed forward, opening a gap in the snow to prevent the hobbits from freezing to death. Only the avalanche of stones caused by a rare contraption prevented them from continuing on that path. This gave him the opportunity to insist that the best route was the Pass of Rohan, an idea that Gandalf rejected, fearing capture by Saruman in the vicinity of Isengard.

For this reason, and despite their disagreement, the Company attempted the crossing through Moria. When they were heading towards the West Gate of the mine they had to fight Sauron's Wolves in Acebeda. Boromir demonstrated not only his courage, but his skill in the use of the sword, as he slew many of them. Accustomed to giving orders, he did not willingly accept Gandalf's directives, much less Aragorn's (a lie, he held Aragorn in the highest esteem for the lineage from which he came). Only his pledged word to accompany Frodo and his sense of loyalty to his members prevented him from breaking the unit, but he always made his voice heard.

In Moria

At the gates of Khazad-dûm, Boromir inadvertently threw a stone (in the film, it was not Boromir who threw the stone but Merry, one of the hobbits) into the dark lake surrounding the mine entrance, which woke up the monstrous Gatekeeper, who trapped Frodo. Quick action by Sam and Boromir prevented the hobbit from being swallowed by the beast; fortunately the doors were already open and they were able to flee into the mine; as they began to walk the path, Boromir whispered under his breath, but the ringing stone amplified the sound, turning it into a hoarse murmur that all could hear: "(...) -In the depths of the world! And here we go, against my will. Who will lead us in this hopeless darkness?..."

In Moria he fought bravely against the dangers that lurked in the mine, with the orcs and trolls in the Chamber of Mazarbul and then covering the backs of the rest who fled towards the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm. With the appearance of the Balrog, Boromir and Aragorn decided to back the Wizard in the challenge; Boromir then raised his horn and blew."(...)The challenge rang out and roared like the cry of many throats beneath the cavernous vault. The orcs hesitated for a moment and the burning shadow stopped..." Gandalf shouted for them to flee with the others but Aragorn and Boromir ignored the order and planting their feet firmly on the ground they stood together behind Gandalf at the end of the bridge; and only when the Wizard fell into the abyss did they both rush to the exit, at the very moment the bridge was collapsing. They all desperately ran out of the mine at Aragorn's order; Boromir brought up the rear, running up the rear.

Already out of danger for the moment, they all gave vent to their sadness, but the march continued because the Orcs could follow them, until past the Mirror Lake Aragorn remembered the wounded and called Boromir to help him; the captain of Gondor took Frodo up in his arms and carried him to the vicinity of a stream which descended from the Misty Mountains and joined the Silverbed, where Aragorn healed and washed the wounds of Sam and Frodo.

In the Golden Forest

As we saw above, the stay in Lothlórien was crucial for Boromir and for the fate of the Company. Although they recovered from the harsh hardships suffered, the discussion about the paths to follow lasted for a long time and finally when they left the jetty at the confluence between the Anduin and the Celebrant, the fate of all the members and especially the Captain of Gondor, I was lying.

Celeborn gave precise explanations of the possible routes to take and Galadriel offered gifts according to the needs and expectations of the travelers; to Boromir he gave a golden belt.

In the Anduin and in Sarn Gebir

Boromir running with the horn of Gondor (fanart).

Leaving the Golden Forest did nothing but feed a feeling of helplessness in all the members of the Fellowship of the Ring, since the crucial moment was approaching soon and no one believed they had enough strength to carry out the Mission successfully, except Boromir; "(...)As for me -he said-, the way back is ahead and not behind..."

During the trip along the Rio Grande to the south, doubt and the desire to possess the ring took over Boromir's mind and he showed it with some attitudes that denoted that internal struggle; Merry and Pippin, who were traveling with him in the boat, noticed it, though without knowing the reason; they saw that he was very nervous, muttering unintelligible words, always trying to bring his boat closer to Frodo's, and on several occasions Pippin observed a strange light in the eyes of the Southern Dúnadan.

At Sarn Gebir they were attacked by orcs and when Aragorn suggested crossing the rapids by taking the boats along a path to a pier downriver, Boromir openly expressed his disagreement; he said that it was not worth following the river since it was easier, to reach Minas Tirith, to take the road west and south to the Entaguas from where they were; Aragorn replied that this could be feasible if they went to the City, but that it had not yet been decided and "(...)that course may be more dangerous than it seems... . 4;. The argument was settled, momentarily, as the other members sided with the Northern Dúnadan. In those instances, even more so when he was in his own territory, his mood changed and he became ironic and contemptuous.

Boromir's Death

In the meadows of Parth Galen, at the foot of the Amon Hen, where the Fellowship had to decide whether to continue south or cross the River Anduin to Mordor, Frodo, the Ring-bearer, turned away from the others to reflect on the way forward. He actually had already decided but he was afraid to take the Company since he considered it a trip of no return and he did not want to risk the lives of any of his friends. Besides, he didn't want to expose them to the temptations of the Ring. While he thought about how to tell them, he reached the meadow that stretched out at the foot of Amon Hen and sat down to meditate.

Boromir followed him, intending to change his mind about destroying the Ring since, as we know, he considered it folly to let Frodo take the Ring to Mordor. He found him sitting on a stone and approached him from behind; Frodo at once realized that someone was behind him and turned hastily, and saw a kind-faced and smiling Boromir; but he did not like a strange gleam in his eyes when he brought up again his thesis that the One must be in Minas Tirith; Faced with the Hobbit's refusal, Boromir showed that his intentions were to take it by force, as long as the Bearer did not give it up voluntarily. Even his tone of voice changed and Frodo knew it and was afraid. The Gondorian continued to insist, but Frodo's refusal increased, and Boromir began to walk from one side to the other, impatient, nervous, and speaking to him against what had been said at the Council of Elrond. Beside himself, he jumped on Frodo trying to get the Ring out of him; but the hobbit dodged it and put on the Ring, disappearing from the sight of the son of Denethor. This infuriated him so much that he blindly tried to catch Frodo, shouting and cursing him; He immediately began to run trying to reach the invisible Hobbit and a little further on he tripped and fell to the ground, hitting himself and lying on his face for a long time.

The fall and removal of the Ring seemed to clear his mind and bring him back to himself. The evil of the Ring had mastered him, as it seemed to do to all beings, when they approached the One; he got up crying: he had realized his madness and now remorse weighed on his soul. Desperate for what he had done, Boromir returned to the place where the rest of the Community was waiting for him and when he arrived he told part of what had happened; everyone despaired, but Sam was furious because he understood that Frodo had put on the Ring, because he wanted to flee from Boromir; and before he could say anything they all ran out, desperate to look for the Bearer.

His last battle

Aragorn, unable to contain the rout, ordered Boromir to follow Merry and Pippin to protect them while he followed Sam. The Man of Gondor went after them and overtook them about a mile into a clearing in a little wood; fighting against a group of uruk-hai who, curiously, were not trying to kill the hobbits but to catch them. Boromir's Onslaught he decimated the uruk-hai; but when they tried to return to the coast, they were attacked again by a larger group.

Boromir blew his great horn until it broke. He fought bravely in this second onslaught, slaying more than a score before being pierced by numerous arrows: he leaned against a large tree and slowly fell to a sitting position on the ground. That's how Aragorn found him, who took him in his arms, and opening his eyes said: & # 34; (...) I tried to take the Ring from Frodo -he said-. I'm sorry. I've paid. He—he glanced at the fallen enemies; twenty at least were lying nearby. They left," he said. -The Halflings, they were taken by the orcs. I think they are not dead. The orcs bound them. Goodbye, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed..." And he said no more. He only smiled when Aragorn told him that he had done a great deed, then took her hand and wept.

Thus they were found by Legolas and Gimli, who upon seeing the scene were overcome with grief. After his death his body was placed in one of the boats that the elves had given them in Lothlórien, ”(...) they folded the gray hood and the elven cloak and put them under their heads. They combed her long dark hair and arranged it over her shoulders. Lórien's golden belt glittered at her waist. Next to him they placed the helmet and on his lap the cloven horn and the hilt and the fragments of the sword, and at his feet the weapons of the enemies ... ”and then she was thrown into the currents of Anduin. "(...)The river had taken Boromir son of Denethor and no one would see him again in Minas Tirith, standing in the White Tower in the morning as was his custom.... 4; The three companions stayed for a while to watch him while the boat moved away and fell down the Rauros; and suddenly Aragorn and Legolas sang some beautiful parting songs. A few days later, one night, Faramir saw, as in a dream, a strange boat coming down the river, with a warrior half submerged in the water. As he approached, he saw that it was his brother. He recovered only the horn and took it to his father. It was said that his body continued along the river until it reached the Sea, which was his final home.

Accommodations

Both in the 1978 animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi and in the 1981 BBC radio serial, Boromir was voiced by Michael Graham Cox. In Bakshi's film, Boromir was drawn looking like a barbarian or Viking, even with two sharp horns on his helmet, which has nothing to do with Tolkien's text.

The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy

Sean Bean, Boromir's interpreter in Peter Jackson's films in 2015.

In Peter Jackson's trilogy, actor Sean Bean plays the character of Boromir. Contrary to the distribution given by Tolkien to the events of the novel, Boromir's death is shown at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring, instead of at the beginning of The Two Towers, because the writers decided to use this scene as the ending of the first film. This decision meant that Sean Bean's role was limited almost exclusively to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, appearing in the other two only in various flashbacks, that they manage, however, that the actor deserves his presentation in the credits of the three films:

• In the version displayed in cinemas The Lord of the Rings: the two towers appears briefly at the beginning, when the scene of the fall of Gandalf and the balrog in Moria is repeated as flashback liaison.
• In the extended edition of the previous one, Boromir appears in two more scenes: a memory of Faramir, in which he sees how his body arrives to Gondor floating on a raft through the Anduin, with the Vorondil Horn broken in two parts on the chest; and another of a conversation about the "Isildur Day" between the two brothers and their father after the victory of Osgilia
• In the version reproduced in the rooms The Lord of the Rings: the return of the KingSean Bean appears in a brief memory of Pippin about his heroic sacrifice.
• In the extended edition of the latter, it also appears in the visualization of a Denethor II disaster, which confuses Faramir with his older, dead son.

Another plot difference related to Boromir is the representation of his death: while in the novel it is narrated as being riddled with arrows shot by anonymous uruks led by Uglúk, in the film the writers decided to give a more relevant role to Lurtz, an uruk character invented by them, this being the one who kills Boromir with his bow.

In terms of the physical appearance of the character and his characterization, Sean Bean has light hair, while Tolkien describes Boromir as having brown hair. Also, in the novel, Boromir uses a long sword and a dagger, and does not wear chain mail, or at least it is not specified; while Sean Bean did see her in the movie, and she wields a broadsword. The difference in age (or rather in appearance, considering the long-lived race he comes from) is quite noticeable.

In Peter Jackson's films, Sean Bean was dubbed by voice actors Jordi Boixaderas for Spain and Salvador Delgado for Latin America.