The Tragic Heroism of Boromir
Boromir completes an epic hero's arc like Achilles, Beowulf, and Arthur
An earlier version of this essay first appeared at my other blog, roadstainedfeet.wordpress.com
I’m breaking precedent today by discussing not a heroine but a hero from The Lord of the Rings: Boromir, the son of the steward of Gondor. Boromir, you will remember, tries to take the Ring from Frodo, hoping to use it to save his country. He fails, Frodo escapes, and Boromir dies defending the hobbits from their enemies.
I once looked on Boromir as a merely cautionary character, the only companion in the Fellowship imperfect enough to desire the Ring. This does him an injustice, and I have come to understand and even admire the fallen hero.
Many ancient and epic tales share a type of hero: a strong, fearless leader doomed by fate or by hubris to fall. The tragic hero may die a strong youth like Achilles or a frail, old man like Beowulf; he may live on as a shell of himself like Oedipus; he may descend to villainy like Macbeth or be redeemed like Samson. The manifold examples teach different things, but they share a warning not to trust too much in youth and strength. Heroes are a great blessing to mankind. Their courage and strength are to be admired, esteemed, and imitated, but they are never to be worshipped.
Boromir is the tragic hero in The Lord of the Rings. Though a minor character, he completes the traditional epic hero’s arc, following greatness with greatness until his pride perverts him and he becomes the most imminent danger to Frodo and the Quest. Yet he is redeemed, giving his blood to save the innocent.
Boromir’s Strength
An epic hero is unrivaled in strength. Whether by bloodline, magic, or the blessings of Heaven, he surpasses other mortals. Achilles is invulnerable except for his infamous heel; Beowulf is stronger than Grendel, a monster that can carry half a dozen men at once; Samson can tear down a building. Along with Aragorn and Faramir, Boromir is one of the greatest men alive on Middle Earth because they share the blood of Númenor.
In describing firsthand Mordor’s assault on Gondor, Boromir reveals his own skill in battle. He, with his brother, defended Osgiliath until its last bridge fell, when they escaped by swimming across the river. He explains that Mordor succeeded because they had a new, dark captain that inspired terror and despair in even the boldest men. Boromir resisted the Witch King’s influence because of his Númenorean bloodline and because of his own great valor.
Boromir uses this strength to serve the Fellowship. Through six-foot snowdrifts atop Caradhras, he shovels a path for the smaller members of the party. In Moria’s Chamber of Records, he bars the door against a cave troll and helps the party escape hordes of orcs. He unwillingly flees the Balrog, and he and Aragorn would not have fled at all if there hadn’t been the hobbits to protect. In his final battle, he single-handedly kills two dozen orcs before dying, even as his sword is breaking and his body is shot with arrows. How tragic that this redoubtable warrior will not be able to lend his sword to later harrowing battles at Helm’s Deep and Pelennor Fields.
Boromir’s Homeland
Heroes save countries, not only individuals, just as they fight monsters, not mere men. They battle on a grand scale. Beowulf has the Danes, Arthur has Britain, Achilles has the Greeks, and Boromir has Gondor.
Let us try to regard Gondor as its proud citizens do. The first five chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring teach us to love the Shire almost as the Hobbits do, so we understand that Frodo’s first simple goal is to remove the dangerous Ring from its borders. Likewise, we sympathize when Sam wants to return home after looking in the Mirror of Galadriel. Boromir’s desire to save Gondor is not so different.
Gondor, though fallen from its former glory, is a great nation, and Boromir its greatest hero. Set aside his haughty tone and listen to his description of the kingdom that guards the rest of the West from Mordor’s encroachment.
For few, I deem, know of our deeds, and therefore guess little of their peril, if we should fail at last. Believe not that in the land of Gondor the blood of Númenor is spent, nor all its pride and dignity forgotten. By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay; and thus alone are peace and freedom maintained in the lands behind us, bulwark of the West…. But still we fight on, holding all the west shores of Anduin; and those who shelter behind us give us praise, if they hear our name: much praise but little help. Only from Rohan now will any men ride to us when we call.
He is ignorant of how the elves, dwarves, wizards, and the Dúnedain have also fought evil, but he is right that Gondor has borne the main assault from Mordor. He is also right that this assault will continue. Sauron hates and fears Gondor. He will send his army there first. If Gondor falls, the rest of the West will follow quickly.
Being a true man of Gondor is a strength and a weakness. Boromir does not protest his role as warrior and defender, but he focuses on Gondor’s needs first, and he does not heed warnings from the rest of the Council. He hopes that Isildur’s Bane will be Gondor’s Boon, giving them the strength they need to finally defeat Mordor. Instead of destroying the Ring, he urges that they wield it.
The Men of Gondor are valiant, and they will never submit; but they may be beaten down. Valour needs first strength, and then a weapon. Let the Ring be your weapon, if it has such power as you say. Take it and go forth to victory!
Thus, though Boromir is a paragon of patriotic virtue, his love of country gives him a simplistic, shortsighted outlook.
Boromir’s Pride
Boromir’s pride sets up his downfall. Aragorn’s strength is matched by his faith, virtue, and humility, but Boromir’s arrogance is typical of the tragic hero, who boasts of his conquests and dismisses the weak, the old, and the unworthy.
Boromir believes in ancient lore enough to seek the counsel of the Wise, but he does not embrace their answers. Though he submits to the Council’s decision, he does not trust their reasoning. Present trials have distanced Gondor from its past, and Boromir has little faith in the impact of ancient lore on current events. He calls the Ring Isildur’s Bane but doubts its danger to the good-intentioned and the strong. He only half-trusts Aragorn’s lineage. The physical sword of Elendil and the prophetic dream which he and Faramir shared reassure him, but they do not guide him.
He also trusts less in fate than the others do: where Gandalf says Frodo was meant to bear the Ring, Boromir sees it as an accident. The plan to destroy it sounds dangerous and insane. Like the Enemy, Boromir has too much common sense to accept the “folly” of marching right into Mordor with the Ring.
Boromir’s Moral Fall
The tragic hero usually goes wrong when he grasps at power, immortality, or wealth that is not meant for him. He defies Heaven, ignoring warnings and forgetting that he is not the source of his own greatness. Beowulf goes after a marauding dragon for its treasure, not to protect his people. Samson tells Delilah the secret of his strength. Arthur, unifier of Britain, lets rivalry fragment his kingdom until he can only bring a weak force against his enemies.
Boromir grasps at the Ring. He defies warnings that the foe is beyond him. He lets himself wonder what would happen if he used the Ring.
This is understandable due to something the book explains but the movies leave unclear: only Frodo is told to take the Ring to Mordor. Elrond explicitly tells the rest of them that they can turn from that path at any time.
The others go with him as free companions, to help him on his way. You may tarry, or come back, or turn aside into other paths, as chance allows.
Boromir plans to lend his strength on his way home to Gondor, and then he will return to his people. In fact, Aragorn plans to accompany him there and take his place as king:
The Sword-that-was-Broken shall be re-forged ere I set out to war. But your road and our road lie together for many hundreds of miles. Therefore Boromir will also be in the Company.
Neither Boromir nor Aragorn plan to go to Mordor.
Gandalf’s death in Moria changes things. Aragorn assumes leadership of the quest, but he is slow to decide that he must accompany Frodo to Mordor instead of continuing to Gondor. This leaves things ambiguous enough that Boromir can imagine the Ring coming to Gondor, where perhaps the others could be persuaded to abandon the quest to Mordor.
His hopes are finally dashed when they enter Gondor’s northernmost borders and the decision is put to Frodo. Frodo decides that he must take the Ring to Mordor. Then the months of brooding pour out of Boromir. Why couldn’t the Ring save Gondor?
What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? What could not Aragorn do? Or, if he refuses, why not Boromir? The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner!
He does what no other character has yet done. He tries to take the Ring from Frodo.
The ambition-ruined hero becomes a villain.
Boromir’s Redemption
Though not all heroes are redeemed, many are. Heaven forgives them and grants them glory. The hero’s death is as important as his victories; it can be more of a victory than a defeat.
In the final moments, his mixed motives are corrected. Beowulf and Arthur forget their petty greed and burning jealousy, respectively, to think of their kingdoms’ futures. Samson kills more Philistines through his death than he had in life. However far he has fallen, the dying man is every inch the hero he should always have been.
Boromir does not die a villain. By grace and craft Frodo escapes, and Boromir comes to his senses to redeem himself. He slays many Uruk-hai and falls trying to save Merry and Pippin. Not only that, he dies within the ancient borders of Gondor, defending his homeland and the vulnerable within it from evil hordes. He is a hero restored.
When Aragorn finds him, he has been pierced by many arrows. His sword has been broken, and the Horn of Gondor lies in two pieces beside him. The warrior’s body and equipment are broken, but two dozen slain orcs are piled around him. Boromir confesses that he tried to take the Ring. “I have paid,” he says, indicating both his wounds and the orcs, but Merry and Pippin were carried off by the surviving Uruk-hai. Boromir says he failed, but Aragorn says,
No! You have conquered. Few have gained such a victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall!
Boromir smiles and dies.
Why does Aragorn say, “You have conquered,” if Merry and Pippin were captured? It’s more than a tribute to Boromir’s skill as a warrior, great though it was. The victory Aragorn is talking about is Boromir’s escape from the Ring.
All who wield the Ring become servants of Morgoth. It was a mercy to Isildur that he died before he had carried it long, and a still greater blessing to Boromir that he never touches it at all. Gandalf says later,
Poor Boromir! I could not see what happened to him. [The temptation of the Ring] was a sore trial for such a man: a warrior, and a lord of men. Galadriel told me that he was in peril. But he escaped in the end. I am glad. It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir’s sake.
Eucatastrophe
The astute reader will point out that Boromir can’t take any credit for escaping. If Frodo hadn’t evaded him, he would have taken the Ring. He needed help…as Frodo himself will need Gollum’s help to destroy the Ring. In the heart of Mount Doom, Frodo finally succumbs to his afflicting temptation. He takes the Ring for himself. Gollum bites it from his hand and falls into the abyss, and Middle Earth is saved.
Both instances use Tolkien’s eucatastrophe, which he defines in his essay “On Fairy Stories” as “sudden and miraculous grace” that “denies universal final defeat.” Another word could be Providence. This is why it’s important that Gollum falls into the volcano, seemingly by chance. The powers that meant for Frodo to have the Ring let Gollum fall in. There’s no need for Frodo to push him.
Another eucatastrophe saves Boromir. When Frodo escapes from him, Boromir stomps around, cursing the halflings, before tripping over a stone and face-planting. A moment later, he begins to weep over his folly.
What have I said? What have I done? Frodo, Frodo! Come back! A madness took me, but it has passed. Come back!
Frodo’s escape halts Boromir’s descent to Hell, but tripping on that stone brings him to repentance. A little pain, a little check on the tendency of his thoughts, and he is himself again.
Finally, his attempt to rescue Merry and Pippin redeems him. The same power that put a stone beneath his foot to trip him made sure that those two young hobbits would be on the quest, “if only for Boromir’s sake.” He might not have seen their use on the quest. They are frail and needy, but they need a hero, and in answering that call, Boromir becomes a hero once again.
The eucatastrophe is not without its pain. Frodo loses his finger; Boromir, his life. Yet both escape with their souls.
A hero who triumphs with external help is no less a victor.
The Hero Restored
Lest we still doubt that Boromir is redeemed, we’ll end with his funeral.
Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas mourn Boromir and arrange him in a boat with the elven cloak beneath his head, the golden belt from Lórien around his waist, his helm beside him, his horn and sword on his lap, and his enemies’ swords at his feet. After sending him over the falls of Rauros in the River Anduin, they sing a song of lament, imagining the people of Gondor asking the four winds if they have seen Boromir the Tall, Boromir the Fair, Boromir the Bold. Aragorn ends the song,
And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.
‘O Boromir! The Tower of Guard shall ever northward gaze,
To Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until the end of days.
They imagine that the waterfall will be Boromir’s tomb, but another eucatastrophe preserves him.
A few days later and many miles downriver, Faramir sees his brother drift past in the boat.
The Horn of Gondor washes ashore in pieces, but Boromir’s body, sword, and armor are preserved in the boat as it floats by. The hero transcends his homeland now. Boromir continues to float out into the Great Sea, which might bear him even to Valinor, home of the gods. Whether Tolkien intended this or not, it's clear that Boromir, despite his fall, is disgraced no longer.
As Faramir says,
Whether he erred or no, of this I am sure: he died well, achieving some good thing. His face was more beautiful even than in life.
A Few Notes on Differences Between the Book and the Movie
The movie changes both Boromir and Aragorn’s characters.
First, in the movie, Aragorn does not want to become the king of Gondor. He does not want to follow in the sins of his Númenorean ancestors, especially Isildur. His character arc over the three movies requires him to “put aside the Ranger and become who he was born to be.” In the book, Aragorn always intends to return as king to Gondor. He remakes the broken sword of the kings before departing Rivendell.
Whether you prefer the book or the movie version of Aragorn's character, the ambivalent movie Aragorn leaves Boromir more leeway to imagine himself the leader of the quest and the hero of Gondor.
There’s also no “Gondor needs no king” rubbish in the book. Boromir doubts Aragorn but would never oppose the return of the legitimate king, if he were proved. Faramir knows that Boromir wishes that the line of stewards could become kings, but Boromir never declares treason by denying the king.
The movie shuffles around Boromir’s lines dangerously. In the book, he does not call the Ring “a gift to the foes of Mordor” until he tries to take it from Frodo. The movie has him declare this line to the Council, which makes one seriously question Elrond and Gandalf’s judgment in letting him join the Fellowship.
Although Boromir is written differently in the movie, Sean Bean was one of the best casting decisions in a trilogy full of excellent casting. He is fearsome, charming, good-natured, and proud all at once. He loves the hobbits and has a sense of humor. His death is one of the most moving in cinematic history. Period. “My brother. My captain. My king.”