I feel like Boromir gets a bum rep because he’s kinda dumped into the fantastical end of things. He’s the guy who’s been in the shit with no wizards or hobbits or ancient wisdom beyond legends and fairy tales. His frame of reference is a dirty, desperate war that killed a lot of his friends.
So far the council has heard the stories of how Saruman and Isildur and Gollum have all been corrupted by the ring and Boromir is like “I’m just build different tho”
That's why I think his just up and blowing his horn in the face of Durin's Bane is so impressive. It's like, he's a baseline human. Balrogs are something you read about in legends: fallen angels that slew the greatest of elf lords. And he's like, "Fuck it, we ball."
Yeah. And it’s easy to give Boromir shit for droning on about how Gondor has done all of the fighting but also… Gondor has done all the fighting.
Sure, Elrond put in his 11,947 tours of duty back in the day and earned his spurs but from a human perspective he’s a retiree hiding and dicking around.
I think Children of Hurin helps frame Boromir even though it takes place two ages ago. It’s what Middle Earth looks like to mortal men who don’t come in with a detached perspective of a hobbit from a comfy hole or elven longevity or wizard pals. You’re born, you fight, you suffer, and you die.
Imagine being a soldier taken off the battlefields of ‘Nam. A guy claiming to be Santa Claus tells you his genius plan is to give some midgets he found in the English countryside a H-bomb which they must take to Hanoi in order to dismantle it. Man was a saint for putting up with as much as he did.
