Editing Boromir (section)

== Analysis ==

=== Morality ===

[[File:Grandes chroniques Roland.jpg|thumb|Boromir's life and death have been compared to the legendary medieval hero [[Roland]].<ref name="Seaman 2013"/> 15th century painting showing eight stages of Roland's life]]

Boromir's desire for the Ring has been described as well-intentioned but uninformed by the potential danger. His perception of Middle-earth is biased by a belief that divine powers have chosen Gondor to lead the fight against evil.<ref name=Rutledge>{{cite book |last=Rutledge |first=Fleming |author-link=Fleming Rutledge |title=The Battle for Middle-Earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRiViwMylSUC&q=Boromir&pg=PA142 | pages=140–142 |publisher=Roundhouse Publishing Group |year=2004 |isbn=978-0802824974}}</ref> He is always eager to praise the great deeds of Gondor, including his own.<ref name=Burkard>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNXisFc4FUEC&q=Boromir&pg=PA381 |title=Vestigia Vergiliana: Vergil-Rezeption in Der Neuzeit |trans-title=Vestigia Vergiliana: The Reception of Virgil in Modern Times |language=de |first1=Thorsten |last1=Burkard |first2=Markus |last2=Schauer |first3=Claudia |last3=Wiener |pages=381, 383 |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-11-024720-6}}</ref> Boromir's [[hubris]] makes him prey to the malign power of the Ring, and he seals his own doom when he attacks Frodo to seize it.<ref name=Rutledge/> He makes way thereby for Aragorn to become the future king of Gondor, in a manner similar to [[Virgil]]'s character [[Turnus]].<ref name=Burkard/> He speaks of using the Ring in the service of Gondor, but his talk of "strength in a just cause" indicates, writes the Tolkien critic [[Tom Shippey]], only how matters would begin. He comments that Boromir never quite says "[[the end justifies the means]]", though the thought makes his corrupted behaviour entirely believable.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|p=156}}

[[Christianity in Middle-earth|In Christian terms]], Boromir atones for his assault on Frodo by single-handedly but vainly defending Merry and Pippin from orcs,<ref name=olar>{{cite journal |last=Olar |first=Jared L. |title=The Gospel According to J.R.R. Tolkien |journal=Grace and Knowledge |issue=12 |date=July 2002 |url=http://graceandknowledge.faithweb.com/tolkien.html}}</ref> which illustrates the Catholic theme of the importance of good intention, especially at the point of death. This is clear from Gandalf's statement:<ref name=olar/><ref name=Rutledge/> "But he [Boromir] escaped in the end.... It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir's sake."<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954}}, book 3, ch. 5 "The White Rider"</ref>

Boromir has been likened to other Tolkien characters such as [[Fëanor]] or [[Túrin Turambar]] who display vainglorious excess, a trait in leaders that Tolkien despised.<ref>{{ME-ref|Solopova|p. 42}}</ref> The character of Boromir has been compared to the legendary medieval hero [[Roland]]. Both blow a horn in the distress of battle and both are eventually killed in the wilderness while defending their companions, although Roland is portrayed as blameless and heroic throughout. Further, Roland's death gives the appearance of signalling the end of the ruling dynasty.<ref name="Seaman 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Seaman |first=Gerald |title=Old French Literature |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-last=Drout |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout | encyclopedia=J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment |pages=468–469 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |isbn=978-0-415-96942-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA469}}</ref>

=== Boat-funeral ===
{{further|Beowulf and Middle-earth}}

The [[ship-burial]]s of the seafaring Numenoreans in ''[[The Lost Road and Other Writings]]''<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1987}}, ch. 2 "The Fall of Numenor"</ref> have been compared to those of the Viking age as described in the ''[[Prose Edda]]'' and in the [[Old English]] poem ''[[Beowulf]]''; Boromir is similarly given a boat-funeral.<ref name="Departure of Boromir" group="T"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Fimi |first=Dimitra |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |editor1-last=Clark |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Phelpstead |editor2-first=Carl |chapter=Tolkien and Old Norse Antiquity |title=Old Norse Made New: Essays on the Post-Medieval Reception of Old Norse Literature and Culture |date=2007 |publisher=Viking Society for Northern Research: University College London |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d8c7/c29c5fa7e794e73861e1e1a0a9e4ceb6d878.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226212500/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d8c7/c29c5fa7e794e73861e1e1a0a9e4ceb6d878.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-02-26 |pages=84–99|s2cid=163015967 }}</ref><ref name="Hall 2006">{{cite journal |last=Hall |first=Mark F. |year=2006 |title=The Theory and Practice of Alliterative Verse in the Work of J.R.R. Tolkien |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=25 |issue=1 |at=Article 4 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol25/iss1/4}}</ref> As with [[Scyld Scefing]]'s funeral ship in ''Beowulf'', no-one knows where the boat goes to in the end, but for Tolkien the suggestion that it goes to a [[Valinor|mysterious land in the uttermost West]] was fascinating, and he developed it at length in ''The Lost Road''.<ref name="Lee Solopova 2005">{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Stuart D. |author-link=Stuart D. Lee |last2=Solopova |first2=Elizabeth |author2-link=Elizabeth Solopova |chapter=Boromir's Death – Beowulf, II. 26–52 |title=The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature Through the Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien |title-link=The Keys of Middle-earth |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/keysmiddleearthd00lees_471 |date=2005 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan|Palgrave]] |isbn=978-1403946713 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/keysmiddleearthd00lees_471/page/n189 177]-182}}</ref>{{-}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+ Boromir's funeral compared to the ship-burial in ''[[Beowulf]]''<ref name="Lee Solopova 2005"/>
|-
! ''[[Beowulf]]'' 2:36b–42<br/>[[Scyld Scefing]]'s funeral !! Translation<ref name="Hall 2006"/> !! "Departure of Boromir" (prose)<ref name="Departure of Boromir" group="T"/>
|-
| ''&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; þær wæs madma fela<br/>of feorwegum &nbsp; &nbsp; frætwa gelæded;<br/>ne hyrde ic cymlicor  &nbsp;&nbsp; ceol gegyrwan<br/>hildewæpnum &nbsp; &nbsp; ond heaðowædum,<br/>billum ond byrnum; &nbsp; &nbsp; him on bearme læg<br/>madma mænigo, &nbsp;&nbsp; þa him mid scoldon<br/>on flodes æht &nbsp;&nbsp; feor gewitan.''<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>
| &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; There was much treasure<br/>from faraway &nbsp; &nbsp; ornaments brought<br/>not heard I of more nobly &nbsp; &nbsp; a ship prepared<br/>war-weapons &nbsp; &nbsp; and war-armour<br/>sword and mail; &nbsp; &nbsp; on his lap lay<br/>treasures many &nbsp; &nbsp; then with him should<br/>on floods' possession &nbsp; &nbsp; far departed.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>
|Now they laid Boromir in the middle of the boat<br/>that was to bear him away.<br/>The grey hood and elven-cloak<br/>they folded and placed beneath his head.<br/>They combed his long dark hair<br/>and arrayed it upon his shoulders.<br/>The golden belt of Lórien gleamed about his waist.<br/>His helm they set beside him,<br/>and across his lap they laid the cloven horn<br/>and the hilts and shards of his sword;<br/>beneath his feet they put the swords of his enemies. 
|}