Boromir

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(For other characters see Boromir (disambiguation))

Boromir was the eldest son of Denethor II, last ruling Steward of Gondor in the Third Age of Middle-earth, older brother of Faramir. He was one of the Nine Walkers who made up the Fellowship of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings.

Boromir in the Books

Boromir by Angelo Montanini.

In response to a prophetic dream, Boromir rides to Rivendell where he is invited to attend the Council of Elrond. There he attempts to persuade the Council to let him take the One Ring to Gondor so that it can be used in the defence of the realm, but is told that it cannot be used without corrupting its user and alerting Sauron to its presence.

He subsequently joins the Fellowship of the Ring and travels with them through Moria and then Lórien, where he is greatly disturbed by Galadriel's testing of his mind.

Boromir's Last Stand by Ted Nasmith.

Seduced by the lure of the One Ring, he tries to seize it from Frodo at Amon Hen, leading to the breaking of the Fellowship. He dies at age 41 trying to prevent Orcs from capturing Merry and Pippin in the beginning of The Two Towers, thereby redeeming himself for trying to take the Ring.

Boromir in the Films

In Ralph Bakshi's animated film, and in the subsequent BBC Radio broadcast, he is played by Michael Graham Cox. In Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring, Boromir is played by Sean Bean. Differing from the book, Boromir dies (killed by the Uruk-hai leader Lurtz) at the end of the film instead of the beginning of The Two Towers (the first chapter of the Two Towers novel is moved to the end of the Fellowship movie; the two scenes covered the same scene in the story from different perspectives).

The extended cut (not the original theatrical version) of the movie of Peter Jackson's The Two Towers includes a scene not taken from the book in which Boromir and his brother Faramir see each other for the last time, and we see their father Denethor's attitude toward his two sons. At the Council of Elrond at Rivendell, Boromir says that his prophetic dream came to first his brother, Faramir, and then to him, on the night before an attack on Osgiliath. This reference to Osgiliath may be the inspiration for the flashback scene in The Two Towers.

In the theatrical version of Peter Jackson's The Return of the King Boromir is seen in a brief flashback being pierced by arrows, as Pippin explains to Denethor the circumstances of his death. This was apparently enough to give Sean Bean his own portrait in the film's closing credits. In the extended cut, he is seen again in a vision of Denethor's, walking proudly towards his father until he fades away.

Members of the Fellowship of the Ring
Frodo · Sam · Merry · Pippin · Gandalf · Aragorn · Legolas · Gimli · Boromir

See Also