Faramir
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- This article is about Faramir, son of Denethor. For information about the Hobbit with the same name, see Faramir Took.
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Faramir is a fictional character appearing in The Lord of the Rings. He is first mentioned in The Fellowship of the Ring and appears later in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. In The Fellowship of the Ring Faramir is introduced to the story as the brother of Boromir and second son of Denethor, the Steward of Gondor. The relationships between the three men are revealed over the course of The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
Faramir's character interacts with many of the major characters in Tolkien's story, and shares dialogue with several of them. He first appears in person when meeting Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee in Ithilien, where he confronts them as a captain of Gondor. Like Boromir, Faramir is presented with a choice when he discovers that Frodo carries the One Ring.
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[edit] Appearances
[edit] Literature
In Tolkien's novels, Faramir is the brother of Boromir and the second child of Denethor II and Finduilas, daughter of Adrahil of Dol Amroth.
Faramir is mentioned in The Fellowship of the Ring, but first appears in The Two Towers. In the latter, Tolkien reveals that when Faramir was five years old, his mother died. After her death, his father, Denethor, became somber, cold, and detached from his family. However, the relationship between Faramir and Boromir, who was five years Faramir's elder, only grew closer. Denethor openly favoured Boromir over Faramir, but there was no jealousy or rivalry between the two. Boromir protected Faramir, and Faramir looked up to his older brother.
Tolkien writes that it was Faramir's "love of lore and music" that led him to form a friendship with Gandalf, called "Mithrandir" by the people of Gondor. He learned what he could from Mithrandir's wisdom and mentoring. Denethor did not approve of Faramir becoming the “wizard’s pupil”, for he neither trusted nor liked the Istari (as wizards of Gandalf's order were called).
Faramir’s leadership, skill-in-arms, and swift but hardy judgement proved valuable in battle, and earned him the respect of others. During the War of the Ring, he was the Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien, which consisted of the Dúnedain of the South belonging to the line of the Lords of Westernesse. Faramir valiantly defended Gondor from the Enemy on many fronts, but did not enjoy fighting for war’s sake.[1]
Early in The Fellowship of the Ring, Faramir had a prophetic dream of a voice speaking the following riddle:
| “ |
Seek for the Sword that was broken: |
” |
The dream came to Faramir twice more and to Boromir once. The brothers told their dream to their father, who told them only that Imladris was the Elvish name for Rivendell, home of Elrond the Half-elven king. Although Faramir wanted to go for the sake of Gondor, Boromir, with the support of their father, claimed the right to the errand and so it was he that made the trip to the North.
One night, while on guard, Faramir waded down to the Anduin river after seeing a boat there. To his grief, it contained the dead body of his brother, who had been killed by Orcs.
Faramir first encountered the Hobbits Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee in Ithilien and recognized them to be the Halflings mentioned in his dreams. Faramir questioned Frodo of his quest, and Frodo revealed that he, along with eight other companions, had set out from Rivendell. During the interrogation, Faramir asked often about Boromir. Isildur’s Bane, which Frodo tried to avoid talking about, was also asked about at length. Through intelligent questioning and intuition, Faramir determined that Frodo was carrying one of Sauron's great weapons. At this point, he showed the crucial difference between him and his proud brother:
| “ | But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.[3] | ” |
In the Rangers’ secret refuge behind the waterfall, Henneth Annûn, Sam accidentally spoke of Boromir’s desire for the One Ring, thus revealing the item Frodo was carrying. Despite the Hobbits’ fears, Faramir was wise enough to realize that such a weapon was not to be used and if desired, should be resisted. With this knowledge, he also realized what his brother had to face, and wished that he had gone in his brother’s stead — knowing that Boromir would have wanted this ring in which he could bring glory and victory to Minas Tirith, Gondor, and himself. Giving them provisions, he sent them on their way to continue their quest, but warned Frodo that their guide Gollum was a treacherous creature, and that a sleepless, unknown terror resided in Cirith Ungol.
Noting that the sky was now covered in complete darkness from the East, the following evening in Cair Andros, Faramir sent his company south to reinforce the garrison at Osgiliath while he and three of his men rode to Minas Tirith. Along the way, they were pursued by Sauron's servants, the Nazgûl. Faramir rode back to aid the fallen. Immediately, Gandalf rode out to their aid, temporarily banishing the Nazgûl.
Faramir next appears in The Return of the King. Arriving at Minas Tirith, Faramir reported to Denethor and Gandalf of his encounter with Frodo and Sam. Denethor became angry that Faramir had not brought the Ring to Gondor, wishing that he and his brother’s places had been reversed — since Denethor believed that Boromir would have brought the Enemy’s weapon to him. Though the rest of Council decided that Gondor could not make any stroke of its own without the aid of Rohan. Denethor sent Faramir to hold Osgiliath against the hosts of the Enemy that outnumbered their own greatly, having seen that there the enemy send the greater part of its force. Although Faramir disagreed with his father’s strategy, he agreed to go, requesting that his father think better of him if he returned (to which Denethor coldly replied that his thoughts of his son would depend on manner of his return).
Sauron's second-in-command, the Witch-king of Angmar, led a force from Minas Morgul many times greater, and attacked Osgiliath. However, it was not through numbers that Osgiliath fell, but rather by the fear that the Witch-king spread where ever he would go. Faramir, who decided to stay with the rearguard in order to make sure that the retreat over Pelennor would not turn into a rout, was gravely wounded by a Southron arrow shot by one of the Nazgûl after the Ramnas Echor was breached. Fortunately, Gandalf and Faramir’s uncle, Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth, rode to his aid and brought him back to Denethor in Minas Tirith.
Denethor, after seeing in the prophetic palantír the forces that were arrayed against him, ordered his servants to build a funeral pyre in the House of Stewards that sit on the Silent Street for him and his son, whom he believed to be poisoned and killed by the Witch-king’s dart.
Denethor's temporary Hobbit servant, Peregrin Took, went to alert Gandalf and Beregond, one of the Tower Guards he had befriended. Gandalf and Beregond stopped the impending sacrifice just in time. Mad with grief, Denethor jumped into the lit pyre, burning himself alive.
Two days later, the battle over, Aragorn came and revived Faramir with athelas in the Houses of Healing.
Faramir met the Lady Éowyn of Rohan, and eventually fell in love with her. Éowyn initially refused his advances, as she was still in mourning for her uncle, King Théoden, who had died at Pelennor Fields. Faramir consoled her by admitting his own grief for his father and brother. This admission melted Éowyn's heart, and she realized that she had come to love Faramir in return.
Faramir briefly served as a Ruling Steward, and began preparing the city for the King’s arrival. On the day of the King’s official coronation, Faramir surrendered his office. Aragorn, however, announced that as long as his line would last, Faramir and his descendants would be Stewards of Gondor.
Aragorn, now King Elessar, appointed Faramir as the Prince of Ithilien and Beregond to be the Captain of his guard, the White Company. As Prince of Ithilien, he and the Prince of Dol Amroth, Gondor’s two highest ranking nobles, became King Elessar's chief commanders. His duties also included acting as resident march-warden of Gondor's main eastward outpost, rehabilitating the lost territories, as well as clearing it of outlaws and orcs and cleansing Minas Morgul of evil-remnants.[4] Faramir also fulfilled the traditional role as Steward, acting as the King’s chief counsellor as well as ruling Gondor in the King’s absence.
With Éowyn, he settled in Emyn Arnen, where the two had a son named Elboron. After Faramir’s death in 82 of the Fourth Age at the age of 120, his son succeeded him in all of his titles. Barahir, Faramir's grandson, wrote The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, which was inserted (in an abbreviated form) in the Thain's Book by the writer Findegil, and appears in The Lord of the Rings as part of Appendix A.[5] Barahir may have been the son of Elboron, but nothing directly indicates this conclusion.
[edit] Adaptations
In the 1981 BBC Radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, Faramir is voiced by Andrew Seear.
In the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, Faramir is played by David Wenham. Wenham jokes that he got the role because he and Sean Bean, who played Boromir, both had large noses.[6] A minor change is that in the book, Faramir and his brother are dark-haired and, following a statement in Unfinished Tales, lack beards, but in the movie, they have fair hair and are slightly bearded.
In the Jackson films, Faramir does not at first let Frodo, Sam, and Gollum go, but decides to bring them and the Ring to Gondor. He takes them west to Osgiliath and not until the Ringwraiths attack the city does he release them. This change received some criticism; some fans have jokingly dubbed him "Filmamir" or "Farfromthebookamir", among other names.[7]
Jackson's explanation is that he needed another adventure to delay Frodo and Sam, because the episode at Cirith Ungol was moved to the third movie, and so a new climax was needed (in fact, according to the timeline given by Tolkien, Frodo and Sam had only reached the Morannon at the time of the fall of Isengard.) Jackson also argues that it was necessary for Faramir to be tempted by the Ring because in his films everyone else was tempted, and letting Faramir be immune would be inconsistent in the eyes of a film audience.[8]
Several fans, however, remain unimpressed and unconvinced by Jackson's justifications;[9] for these, Faramir was rendered too much like Boromir and thus the contrast between the two was severely weakened.
Some have also criticized the Rangers' treatment of Gollum, who is beaten up, and Faramir's implicit compliance. In the book, Faramir calls the creature Sméagol instead of Gollum, and told his men to "treat him gently...but watch him."[3]
In the extended edition of The Two Towers, Jackson included an invented flashback scene showing that Denethor had neglected him in favour of Boromir, so that Faramir wanted to please his father by bringing him the Ring. (The relationship is similarly strained in the book, but his father's favouritism does not seem to affect his decisions in Ithilien.) Many critics expressed that the extra scenes brought Faramir far more in line with the sympathetic treatment of the books.
Faramir is a bonus playable character in the videogame The Return of the King. David Wenham said that "Faramir and Boromir were brothers, and it isn't beyond possibility that Faramir would have gone to Rivendell instead. And if that happened, Boromir would have survived and returned to Gondor."[citation needed]
[edit] Names and titles
Faramir's name in Elvish either means 'sufficient jewel' or 'jewelled hunter'. The -mir meaning "jewel, precious thing, treasure" and the -phar meaning "suffice" or the element far (from faras) meaning "hunting." His father named his brother Boromir, on the other hand, which means "faithful jewel" or "jewelled hand".
As the Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien (as well as the Captain of the White Tower after his brother's death) during the War of the Ring, he had the strength of his Númenórean ancestors, whose blood ran true in him, to reject the Ring without temptation — whereas his brother, Boromir, could not.
After his father's death, Faramir became the Steward of Gondor. Upon the arrival of the true king, King Elessar, he laid down his office as Ruling Steward, but Elessar renewed his hereditary appointment as Steward and advisor to the King. Faramir was also appointed Prince of Ithilien and Lord of Emyn Arnen.
[edit] Concept and creation
Faramir's appearance toward the end of The Two Towers apparently was as much of a surprise to Tolkien as it is to his readers. "I am sure I did not invent him," he wrote. "I did not even want him, though I like him."[10]
Long after completing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien would write, "As far as any character is 'like me', it is Faramir."[11]. Faramir's relationship toward war in Tolkien's story reflected that of Tolkien himself, who was a soldier in World War I and saw action in the Somme. Tolkien bestowed his dream of "darkness unescapable" upon Faramir's character, who relates it to Éowyn in the fifth chapter of The Return of the King. Of this, Tolkien wrote, "For when Faramir speaks of his private vision of the Great Wave, he speaks for me. That vision and dream has been ever with me — and has been inherited (as I only discovered recently) by one of my children, Michael."[11]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ J. R. R. Tolkien (1987). The Two Towers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "The Window on the West". ISBN 0-395-08254-4.
- ^ J. R. R. Tolkien (1987). The Fellowship of the Ring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "The Council of Elrond". ISBN 0-395-08255-2.
- ^ a b J. R. R. Tolkien (1987). The Two Towers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "The Window on the West". ISBN 0-395-08254-4.
- ^ Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.) (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, #323. ISBN 0-395-31555-7.
- ^ J. R. R. Tolkien (1987). The Return of the King. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Appendix A. ISBN 0-395-08256-0.
- ^ Cameras in Middle-earth: Filming The Two Towers SEE DVD Documentary
- ^ The Reading Room. Caption Contest 33!!!!!!!!!!!! - Filmamir! er... Farfromthebookamir! No wait... it's Faramir!. Retrieved on October 1, 2006.
- ^ The Next Reel. GreenCine. Retrieved on August 16, 2006.
- ^ http://jackflannel.org/lotr/#ttt
- ^ Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.) (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, #66. ISBN 0-395-31555-7.
- ^ a b Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.) (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, #180. ISBN 0-395-31555-7.
[edit] External links
- Faramir at The Thain's Book
| Preceded by Denethor II |
Stewards of Gondor | Succeeded by Princes of Ithilien |
