Middle-earth Feedback: Boromir

[Saffron]

Meet Boromir, son of Denethor and Captain-General of Gondor!

Read about Boromir and then post your comments below!

[Asriel]

Pervy hobbit-fancier, that's what he is.

[RelikaNox]

Pervy hobbit-fancier, that's what he is.

I /KNEW/ you were going to post that right away here, you...damnit, I'd probably get banned from the forums for saying what I want to. Just you wait, Asrael, just you wait, I'll get you back for this >_>

Back on topic, cheers for Boromir, one of the underrated characters in the story. And misunderstood at times. Definitely one of my top favorites, though.

[Whitestones]

Pervy hobbit-fancier, that's what he is.

But Sam will kill him if he tries anything....

*mumbles something about the Horn of Gondor and then snickers fiendishly.*

Honestly, I'd say that Sean Bean's excellent portrayal of Boromir in the movies as a conflicted, flawed yet brave and strong Captain of Gondor really made me re-evaluate Boromir as a character, so while I knew he needed to be in the game, I was impressed with the amount of involvement he has in our characters' progression.

My two coppers... *plink*plink*

[DarkChyle]

I was impressed with the amount of involvement he has in our characters' progression.

My two coppers... *plink*plink*

If you aren't a captain the only time you talk to him is for one of Bilbo's riddles. Sorta a waste if you ask me, I think he is an important character and hope we get to see him doing something more useful then pacing in Imladris. Heck we get to run instances with Gimli and Legolas why not Boromir.

[RelikaNox]

But Sam will kill him if he tries anything....

*mumbles something about the Horn of Gondor and then snickers fiendishly.*

<_< Beat me to it. I wanted to make that reference, but I was afraid my post would wind up degenerating into something that probably isn't very appropriate for this forum. *cough*

(Still not king.)

Agreed on Sean Bean, though--he really did an excellent portrayal of Boromir, enough to make me seriously think about him as a character, and now, he's probably in my top three favorites, character-wise.

[Chrysoprase]

<_< Beat me to it. I wanted to make that reference, but I was afraid my post would wind up degenerating into something that probably isn't very appropriate for this forum. *cough*

(Still not king.)

Agreed on Sean Bean, though--he really did an excellent portrayal of Boromir, enough to make me seriously think about him as a character, and now, he's probably in my top three favorites, character-wise.

Yeah, it almost made me forgive him for his assault (ahem, molestation) of Frodo!

Poor Boromir. Will always go down in history as nothing more than a pervy hobbit fancier! And I never got to blow the horn of Gondor

[RelikaNox]

Yeah, it almost made me forgive him for his assault (ahem, molestation) of Frodo!

Poor Boromir. Will always go down in history as nothing more than a pervy hobbit fancier! And I never got to blow the horn of Gondor

Few did, though I hear that---

Oh, forget it, I'm banning myself from speaking any more on this subject here.

[Whitestones]

If you aren't a captain the only time you talk to him is for one of Bilbo's riddles. Sorta a waste if you ask me, I think he is an important character and hope we get to see him doing something more useful then pacing in Imladris. Heck we get to run instances with Gimli and Legolas why not Boromir.

Ah well... My main's a Captain so I judged his interactions based on that, I guess. Agreed - I'd like to see Boromir have a bigger influence across the different classes.

Besides... wasn't Aragorn the primary pervy Hobbit-fancier?

My two coppers... *plink*plink*

[Axion22]

Just another NPC to me.

Give him a new line of dialogue... like, "These pretzels are makin' me thirsty!"

[PythiaArgead]

Boromir is a vital character in the story of the ring.

His fall further magnifies Aragorn's ability to break free of the ring's control and the hold it held over the royal line.

Do not forget that Boromir was feared by the enemy and that his inspiration of his men held Mordor at bay far longer than any other single person could have.

Furthermore, Boromir's actions were not fueled by greed or a desire to set himself ahead of his people. The love for his father and the desire to do his father's will is what ultimately brought about his fall.

[Caitriona_Aine]

Give him a new line of dialogue... like, "These pretzels are makin' me thirsty!"

Now I'm never going to be able to ride up to the Misty Mountains without giggling uncontrollably. Thanks for that.

[Martuk]

If you aren't a captain the only time you talk to him is for one of Bilbo's riddles. Sorta a waste if you ask me, I think he is an important character and hope we get to see him doing something more useful then pacing in Imladris. Heck we get to run instances with Gimli and Legolas why not Boromir.

I think he was an important element of the story. When he arrived he was the embodiment of how good a person can be, but later he also showed that even though he was a person of strong character even those can waiver and commit evil acts even if unintentional. He was the human element to the story. The part that shows people are never just good or evil. Good and evil exist in all no matter how deep you bury it there is always something that can force it to the top.

Just my humble take. That is of course relating to the books.

[Eothain]

I've spoken to Boromir during the riddle-quest. I think Turbine nails the character very well: his dialogue hits the right notes of arrogance mixed with mangnanimity, without going too far in either direction. He's a man with some exasperating personality traits, but also great nobility and courage, and I get a sense of all that in even his brief LOTRO appearance.

(Truth be told, I always felt that Tolkien did the character wrong in Fellowship of the Ring -- always complaining, pouting, and visibly drooling over the Ring anytime we see him. It's ironically not until The Two Towers, after he's dead, that we start to focus on his good qualities (through the remembrances of others). Boromir gets a much softer, more sympathetic portrayal in the Peter Jackson film, and oddly, I find it a more accurate portrayal of what Tolkien wanted to show about the character (when he was alive, anyway) than Tolkien himself provided.)

[Forohir]

I've thought since beta that his appearance in game is not very inspiring or impressive. I can't stand his thin little beard and mustache--he looks like a teenager who hasn't yet learned how to shave.

[NeoVelamir]

Boromir, I think is portrayed well in this game in his speech. (I don't like his thin muchtache though, hey Turbine go google Boromir and copy and past Sean Bean's face onto him, Bean was an excellent actor) Boromir is definentaly my favorite Character in LOTR. I orginally rolled a guardian as my main and I still am just because they are aswome. But just because Captains get to talk to Boromirr I'm gona roll a captain . Boromir is really misunderstood by the general public because all they do is watch the movies. They go, oh you mean that loser who coudln't resist the rings corruption and got killed because he's weak? That just makes me cringe. The only reason he was corrupted was because he was the only true man in the fellowship (Aragorn is a dunedain/numinorian) so Sauron saw him most easily to be corrupted. Most men would've tried taking the Ring maybe what? 30 mins out of Rivendell? Boromir resisited the corruption a lot and I applaud him for that. He's also one of the strongest members of the fellowship swordplay wise (2nd to Gandalf) and I would love to do an instance with him, hopefully he's more capable than Gimli or Legolas *cough cough weaksauce cough cough* I mean, I would love to see a cienmatic where Boromir defends the 2 hobbits and I hope Turbine does him full glory because he killed a lot more in the books than in the movies. It's quoted heaps of orcs around him.

(my side comments)

I think the movie portrayed Amon Hen a little bad. They made it seem like everyone was really struggling. Aragorn and Sam met minimal resisitance if not any. Gimli and Legolas stood around going "Huh? Where is that sound coming from?" (They did no fighting) and Boromir was found dead with heaps of orcs around him. I don't know if they mentioned any arrows puncturing him. Also earlier in the 3rd age, he led a succesful defense of Osgiliath despite his men were outnumbered atlesat 5-1. And he personally slew the Captain Of Mordor (After he slew the unamed Captain of Mordor, That ugly orc took over. i forgot his name...the one wit the squished face. let me look it up. Gothmog thats it. Gothmog. yea....) Anyways, Boromir's really leet and everyone knows that...

(A funny little story)

I bought some uruk miniatures and the fellowship miniatures from my local hobby store. (miniatures as in the warhammer40k, warhammer, lord of the rings, minaitres) and i recreated amon hen (it looked pretty bad) i painted gimli legolas aragon boromir (i did a sloppy job on everyone but boromir) and i placed like aton of uruks and lurtz and i wanted to see which one lasted longest. not only did boromir last the longest he killed (just a like 2 uruks more) than aragon. aragon lasted 2nd longest. gimli barely lasted very long but he did alright. and legolas just got molested lol.

my 2 copper *plunk Plonk*

[Faithknight]

I like Boromir actually, I think he was a bit of a tragic figure.

He loved his people so much, but yeah he was a human and the ring was a really powerful object.


...the tempation for power when a person is in a hard desperate spot can be very great, and of course we cant forget that the ring is pure evil and it can have an effect on people... even Gandalf feared the effect the ring would have on him which is why he refused to touch it.

[WhifOfDespair]

But Sam will kill him if he tries anything....

*mumbles something about the Horn of Gondor and then snickers fiendishly.*

Honestly, I'd say that Sean Bean's excellent portrayal of Boromir in the movies as a conflicted, flawed yet brave and strong Captain of Gondor really made me re-evaluate Boromir as a character, so while I knew he needed to be in the game, I was impressed with the amount of involvement he has in our characters' progression.

My two coppers... *plink*plink*

Yah - i've always been a fan of Bean as one of those little-noticed-but-incredibly talented actors but his portrayal of Boromir was like, *WOW*. Too bad his total time on screen was so short. I really wish they had been able to bring him back in flashbacks in the sequels.

I agree that it made me really rethink the character when I reread the books (again) right after seeing the movie and I think that Bean was spot on.

Two more coppers for this pot. *kuh-chink*

[Death9Bringer]

wth this is a useless thread!!

[Forohir]

Yah - i've always been a fan of Bean as one of those little-noticed-but-incredibly talented actors but his portrayal of Boromir was like, *WOW*. Too bad his total time on screen was so short. I really wish they had been able to bring him back in flashbacks in the sequels.

I agree that it made me really rethink the character when I reread the books (again) right after seeing the movie and I think that Bean was spot on.

Two more coppers for this pot. *kuh-chink*

They did in the extended versions.

[Thorn.Felhammer]

Shouldnt Boromir be considered a Champion versus a Captain? His use of the Horn of Gondor is what I would consider a hint as to what class he would labeled as.

Thorn Felhammer
Champion, Rohan

[Donnamira]

(Truth be told, I always felt that Tolkien did the character wrong in Fellowship of the Ring -- always complaining, pouting, and visibly drooling over the Ring anytime we see him. It's ironically not until The Two Towers, after he's dead, that we start to focus on his good qualities (through the remembrances of others). Boromir gets a much softer, more sympathetic portrayal in the Peter Jackson film, and oddly, I find it a more accurate portrayal of what Tolkien wanted to show about the character (when he was alive, anyway) than Tolkien himself provided.)

The Lord of the Rings, as a novel, is a throwback to a pre-freudian time. I think you could make a good case that in a technical sense it isn't a novel at all, but I'll leave that arguement to the English grad students.

The main point, at least for this discussion, is that it spends almost no time setting forth the character's feelings. Most of the time when we view a scene through a particular character's eyes, it is to get a description of what's going on from someone who is not an omniscient narrator. We get what they see and hear, and what they perceive if they are granted some insight.

We are not told what they feel or think. Sometimes the characters themselves will tell us, but we are not given that information. As in real life, we have to infer how they are feeling. Unlike real life, though, we lack cues of tone, bearing, body language, etc. We are also used to having this kind of analysis spoon fed to us in printed works. Think of --- oh, let's take Harry Potter, since there's a high chance most of us have read it. How much time in those books do we spend reading about how upset or lonely Harry is? Compare that to how much we are told about Frodo's state of mind.

To return to your point, if you haven't met someone like Boromir, it's easy to read him as a one-dimensional character. After you've been around the track a few times, you've probably met some people with his flaws -- and hopefully strengths -- and it's easier to see him as a full person. But Tolkien doesn't make it easy for you.

Boromir is a good man, loyal, brave, valiant. His flaw is he doesn't fully trust any races except Men, and mostly the Men of Gondor. He thinks that Elf sages such as Elrond don't know what they're talking about, and he perceives them as weak. He says as much to Frodo on Amon Hen. Thus he thinks, "Don't use the Ring because it is tainted and will corrupt whatever you do with it" doesn't apply to him. He gets an attitude readjustment, but unfortunately it comes with lethal blood loss.

I think you're right, Bean did a fantastic job of bringing this out. Bean seems to have really gotten the character, and was able to help all of us get him.

[NeoVelamir]

Boromir is a Guardian/Champion/Captain. If you read skills of all 3 they basically add up to what Boromir was.

[Stigglyoutty]

To me, Boromir is the most complex character in the trilogy. He is man. He shows true pride in his people, loyalty to his kin, and had but one weakness. He is man.

While Aragorn is the man we all strive to be, pure at heart, loving, caring, strong, and brave, few people will ultimately reach that. What Boromir represents is what we truely are. We are able to love, have pride, care for others, but ultimately, we falter along the way and give in to things that are easier and simpler. That was his downfall.

[thegneech]

Boromir in the game is a bit unimpressive to look at -- just another guy in armor -- but is written very well. His small role in Bilbo's riddle quest makes him very likeable, which he should be.

-The Gneech