[…] all these folk have taught you to say so. For themselves they may be right. These elves and half-elves and wizards, they would come to grief perhaps. Yet often I doubt if they are wise and not merely timid. But each to his own kind. True-hearted Men, they will not be corrupted. […] And behold! in our need chance brings to light the Ring of Power. It is a gift, I say; a gift to the foes of Mordor. It is mad not to use it, to use the power of the Enemy against him. The fearless, the ruthless, these alone will achieve victory. What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? […] I need your Ring: that you know now; […] If any mortals have claim to the Ring, it is the men of Númenor, and not Halflings. It is not yours save by unhappy chance. It might have been mine. It shoud be mine. Give it to me!
Boromir, to Frodo in Book II, The Breaking of the Fellowship
#boromirweek | Day 3: favourite quote
Yes, my favourite quote (or conversation) is this one, though it has very little of the good and much of the bad and the ugly and it does pain me to see him like this.
But I like it best—for the first part—because, beside what he has already said at the council of Elrond, it shows how dear he holds his countrymen and how valiantly he thinks of them.
Secondly, though, he also says what I think is the view that most of the people of Gondor hold at the time—regarding Elves and Half-elves etc.—because what’s presented as Faramir’s view (which is somewhat more well-informed and (therefore) less sinister*, if not much less suspicious, or careful at least) certainly isn’t the popular one, neither does the very positive perception of the Elves by the people of Dol Amroth strike me as such.
Overall (and with what we learn a little later on) this makes me see Boromir as a true voice of his people.
I do like it also, however, because we finally see the Ring’s power—if really just a fraction of it—other than that which draws the Nazgûl close or Galadriel’s performance which ends pretty mildly.
We’re finally shown that the Ring corrupts.
The mere thought of it, of having it, of wanting it does. It does this to a good man. Frodo asks Boromir, if he did not listen at the council: that they can not use it because whatever is done with it turns to evil.
I don’t think Boromir didn’t listen, or plain didn’t want to hear it (again) in that moment but couldn’t. That the Ring had him well wrapped up in it’s power, that it would try anything to get into someone’s hands who would just use it, before Boromir literally leapt at Frodo for it.
And I think this part is still too often misunderstood. People might think it’s about Boromir not being a good man, or at least not good enough—but I would argue that it’s about no one being good enough, that this is about the Ring being too powerful, instead.
Sometimes the question comes up: would Faramir have succumbed to the Ring? And I can not make myself say no. He may have held out longer that Boromir, perhaps, at least by what he says to the Hobbits about it when they meet in Ithilien, but it would still be a mere matter of time (for anyone in its proximity such as was with the Fellowship).
It’s tragic, of course, to witness Boromir’s fall here, especially with all that follows, but I do love this scene—this quote—in so far as that it’s a further glimpse into the people of Gondor, of whom little is known at that point, and that it shows a very human character with all hopes, desires but ultimately and very immediately also the flaws within them/the means sought to achieve these ends and because the Ring finally “gets” its power.
(via wiizardspupil)