Lord of the Misunderstood Characters

/nerd rage on

Soooo, I got together with a bunch of people for a gruelling 11 hour marathon of all 3 extended version Lord of the Rings movies. Why? Because I'm a freaking geek, that's why. Do I need any other reasons?

Anyway, I typically watch movies in that sort of thing with people who are very vocal in poking fun and such, it's just so much more fun that way. Now, a bit of a heads up, if you know nothing of the Lord of the Rings, this rant will make very little sense to you.So we get to the part where Boromir tries to take the ring from Frodo at the end of Fellowship of the Ring, and everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, probably the 15 other people watching with me, start talking about what an evil douchebag he is. I'm really kind of getting tired of explaining this to people. If you think Boromir is evil, I'm afraid you've completely missed the entire purpose of his character.

There are several things that you must understand first before you can understand why Boromir tried to take the ring when he did. First of all is the nature of the ring, both in the story and what it represents in the real world. Tolkien is very huge on symbolism, and if you're completely oblivous to such things, his writings will not make much sense to you. The Ring is the power, the very soul and essense, of the Dark Lord Sauron. It corrupts EVERYTHING that it touches. Some have more resistance to it than others, but all who come in contact with it will eventually succumb to its temptations. This is symbolic of the power of Satan and Sin to pull you away from righteousness with their power of temptation. No one on Earth is immune to the temptings of Satan, and thus, no one in Middle Earth is immune to the temptings of the Ring.

Next you must understand what kind of man that Boromir is. He is the best general and warrior that the nation of Gondor has to offer, first son of the Steward Denathor, and sent on a mission by his father. Denathor has heard stories of the Ring, and its power, and he has seen the armies of the Dark Lord massing. With only his nation standing between the hoarde and the rest of Middle Earth, Gondor alone guards against a threat that it cannot possible hope to stop, or even turn aside. Boromir was sent to Rivendel to bring back the Ring so that its power might be used to save Gondor from the Dark Lord's forces. With each passing day, Boromir sees the enemy growing stronger, and he sees how hopeless things are becoming. He has placed his faith in what his father has told him, that the Ring is the only salvation there is for his people. He is a man of duty, and honor, and wishes only to protect those whom he has sworn to protect. This is illustrated later on when he sacrifices his life to hold off an army single-handedly so that Merry and Pippen could escape, fighting on though he was shot more than thirty times with arrows, and killing most of those who came for the Hobbits.

Why did Boromir try to take the ring? There are many reasons. He believes that it is the only salvation that his people have, and that they are simply throwing it, and any hope Gondor has away by destroying it. He wishes to be the hero that saved Gondor when the Line of Kings had long abandoned it to its fate. He wishes his father to be proud of him. But most importantly, he was tempted by the nature of the Ring. He was tempted by the power and the glory that he thought it could bring him, and the salvation that it could bring to his home. Every character in the Lord of the Rings comes into contact at one point in the story or another with the temptations of the ring, and either overcome or succumb to them. Boromir, unfortunately, succumbs. But you know what, so does Frodo in the end, so shut up!

The character of Boromir himself is symbolic, going into Tolkien's love of symbolism. He symbolizes a strong and righteous man, who falls to the temptations of Satan. His character is a lesson that Tolkien was trying to teach to his readers, that even though you may be righteous and strong, you can still be tempted by evil to do evil things, so its best to leave evil things be, and stay to the path of righteousness. By the way, did I mention that Tolkien was a religious man? So, if you believe that Boromir tried to take the ring because he was evil all along, you've completely missed the point, and Tolkien is rolling in his grave because the lesson he was trying to teach you has gone ignored and misunderstood.

Boromir is one of my favorite characters in the Lord of the Rings, and when I say that, those who don't just outright ask who the heck Boromir is and why am I such a geek, look at me weird like I said Satan is my favorite character in the Bible. It's because he is a strong man who was tempted by darkness to one dark act, for which he attoned for immediately thereafter in one of the most spectacular death scenes that any character has ever had in fiction. He is one of my favorites because of the lesson that he teaches, and the things he represents in the story. Yes, he was tempted, but so was every other character, that doesn't make him evil, it makes him human.

I really love the actor that plays him in the Peter Jackson movies. I can see that Sean Bean really does understand the character, and his motivations, and the symbolism behind everything. He does a very good job of showing how a righteous man can be tempted for a moment by evil. Give the movie another watch if you didn't notice. He gives a very good performance that illustrates exactly what Tolkien was trying to say with the character. Also, pay attention to things like camera angles, the composition of visuals, lighting, sound and music. All of these things contribute to his performance to make the lesson very plain to anyone who is looking for it. I especially like the shot where Frodo sees Boromir watching him through the Ring, symbolizing that the Ring has taken him with its temptations.

/nerd rage off