Today’s blog entry is going to be a giant ramble about Lord of the Rings. I’ll probably get to the Hobbit later. It’s also a little late because I’m writing it just now, I’ve been kind of lax with the writing schedule because I’ve been working ten to twelve hours a day and I have absolutely no inclination for writing once I get home. In fact, I had an extra day off and I spent most of it sleeping instead of writing. So, this is going to be mostly about the Jackson movies because it was so long ago since I read any of Tolkien’s stuff, probably it’s been about maybe twenty years now, more honestly, if I think about it. I’ve been watching The Hobbit lately because of course, one can’t watch the Lord of the Rings and not watch The Hobbit. I don’t know why everybody complains they are not great movies. Well, I mean they aren’t great movies but they’re great in the fact that they are entertaining. They do what I want them to do as far as media consumption is concerned.
This is probably going to be short and disjointed but hopefully entertaining. Honestly, I hate the “Redemption through Death” trope, and both the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings have this. So, I’ve probably mentioned my retcon “The Destiny of a King” where Boromir Lives. The problem I have with his death is that even though he was under the influence of the Ring he was perceived as a villain and he although he tried to take it, he redeemed himself of his transgression by fighting for Merry and Pippin. Now I acknowledge that plot-wise his death was important in spurring Aragorn to embrace his legacy as King, but I take issue with Aragorn’s perceptions of Boromir. It is one of the many things that I believe had the deck stacked against him in terms of the arrangement of the fellowship. The one Man in the group who should have been Boromir’s ally has internalised distaste of his own race. As much as I love Elrond, Aragorn was brought up with the elf’s pretty blatant distaste for Men. Elrond bases his entire argument that men are weak on the failing of Aragorn’s ancestor, and it influences Aragorn’s reluctance to take the throne of Gondor. So, when confronted by the very reminder of his responsibility Aragorn has no sufferance for Boromir.
This also related to Frodo, because of the story Aragorn told him about the Kings of Men that were now the Ringwraiths. Because of this Frodo now probably believes any Man who wants to use the ring is wicked or will fall into wickedness. So, you can imagine when Boromir suggests they use the Ring during the council that this does not endear him to Frodo. As for the council meeting, I get this feeling that no one bothered to adequately explain to Boromir why using the ring was bad. He gets admonished in front of his peers of other nations and is pretty much told that he should “hush the grownups are talking, you don’t know enough to have an opinion.” Then, he is also further humiliated by being told he should owe his allegiance to a man who has been shirking his responsibilities for decades. Despite all of this, Boromir still volunteers to go on what could be considered a suicide mission for the sake of saving Middle Earth, other Men in the council could have gone.
So, circling back to the structure of the Fellowship, and why inherently it was one of the reasons Boromir fell prey to the Ring. As the other Man in the group, he had no emotional support to lean on. It’s not mentioned in the movie but Boromir should know Gandalf as Mithrandir since he was Faramir’s tutor. However, there is no connection with the ‘mysterious’ wizard as there is almost no interaction with him and Boromir throughout the entire story. The others already have connections within the group. All of the halflings have each other by way of both race and familiarity. Aragorn had already made friends with the Hobbits, they trust and admire him for saving them. There is the perception that Aragorn most likely knows Legolas, as there is a familiarity with elves already established there. Even if Gimli did not know Legolas before the Fellowship was formed, he knows of him from his father Gloin because of the part the Mirkwood elves played in the Battle of the Five Armies. Now I must point out that even though he made what seems like good friends with Merry and Pippin, he does not seem to connect with them on an ‘adult level.’ The reason I say this is his conversation with Aragorn in Lothlorien. Boromir must feel like he is on a pointless quest while the people of his nation die when he could be in Gondor doing something about it. These fears are not something he could share with anyone, least of all two carefree and happy Hobbits he feels he needs to protect from the horrors to come.
He probably feels a failure to protect them from such a thing after Gandalf ‘dies’ in Moria. Boromir is the first to acknowledge everyone’s sorrow and is reprimanded for it. Then despite him pointing out they never should have gone that way he is then taken to place where he has been cautioned about all of his life as dangerous. And really Lothlorien is the catalyst for all of it. I’m not fond of Galadriel and I think her interference is most likely to blame for the Ring’s influence over Boromir than anything else. All of her dramatic posturing and dire portents smacks of villain monologue to me. Then, with Aragorn’s lacklustre comforting over the fate of Gondor and later his harsh words on the riverbank, it was no surprise that Boromir was ripe for the Ring’s manipulations.
So now that you’ve read over a thousand words of me rambling on about why I think Boromir was done dirty, I’ll leave you in anticipation about next week’s entry. It’s basically ‘why I think Thorin is a jerk but should have lived’ and why Kili’s death was entirely unnecessary considering that any Tauriel and/or Legolas ‘romance’ never appeared to go anywhere. Also known as ‘For Valar’s sake, Thranduil, they are just friends…’
Anyway, I’m off to finish watching The Fellowship of the Ring again and write more ‘Everybody Lives Nobody Dies’ AUs. Plot bunnies abound, until next time y’all!
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