Faramir in the book presumably would have been tempted as much as any other Very Good character (like Aragorn) if he'd allowed himself to be, but he wisely doesn't even look at the ring. (He's smart like Gandalf.)
Yes and no, I think. In the books, Tolkien implies that Aragorn has power to resist the Ring more than any other living being, because he is pure Numenorian and the ancient power of that race flows in his veins etc. E.g., he alone is capable of looking into the Orthanc palantir and confronting Sauron directly--and he terrifies Sauron. Even Gandalf, Maia though he is, does not have that strength, and never risks looking into the palantir.
Only Aragorn can pass the Doors of the Dead and survive (and any who follow him are protected by him). And he alone can absolve the dead of their guilt. Aragorn has powers that are only hinted at--not supernatural magical powers, but supreme human moral authority.
Which is not to say that he would have been able to resist the Ring's corruption. Eventually he too would have succumbed.
Book!Faramir, in whom the blood of Numenor also runs true (as it did not in Denethor and Boromir), apparently also has a bit of Aragorn's quality of Insight and strength; hence he too is capable of rejecting the Ring once, at least.
Forgot to say about Denethor, he's never been my favorite character so I'm probably more open to his being reduced to something more comic as well. I was reading this really stupid article somebody posted by a guy who [...] claimed Tolkien "clearly" wanted Denethor to represent a noble pessimist just driven to despair by the state his culture had fallen into...um, projection much?
Some of this seems right to me. Book!Denethor isn't very likeable, but he is noble. His lineage is nearly the same as Aragorn's and far more illustrious than, say, Theoden's. He is a pessimist because he lives in the diminished latter days of his nation (or culture, if you will), and is aware that his people have fallen from their greatness.
His natural pessimism is corrupted into madness and despair when he begins to look into the Minas Tirith palantir. Because he is no King (not Aragorn), he mistakes what Sauron chooses to show him in the palantir for the objective truth. And so despairs.
So it's a pity that Denethor is shown in the movie as merely nutso. Jackson got rid of the second palantir because it would have been two confusing to have two of them. But without it, Denethor's fall makes little sense, and his tragedy is reduced to farce.
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Date: 2003-12-21 06:05 pm (UTC)Yes and no, I think. In the books, Tolkien implies that Aragorn has power to resist the Ring more than any other living being, because he is pure Numenorian and the ancient power of that race flows in his veins etc. E.g., he alone is capable of looking into the Orthanc palantir and confronting Sauron directly--and he terrifies Sauron. Even Gandalf, Maia though he is, does not have that strength, and never risks looking into the palantir.
Only Aragorn can pass the Doors of the Dead and survive (and any who follow him are protected by him). And he alone can absolve the dead of their guilt. Aragorn has powers that are only hinted at--not supernatural magical powers, but supreme human moral authority.
Which is not to say that he would have been able to resist the Ring's corruption. Eventually he too would have succumbed.
Book!Faramir, in whom the blood of Numenor also runs true (as it did not in Denethor and Boromir), apparently also has a bit of Aragorn's quality of Insight and strength; hence he too is capable of rejecting the Ring once, at least.
Forgot to say about Denethor, he's never been my favorite character so I'm probably more open to his being reduced to something more comic as well. I was reading this really stupid article somebody posted by a guy who [...] claimed Tolkien "clearly" wanted Denethor to represent a noble pessimist just driven to despair by the state his culture had fallen into...um, projection much?
Some of this seems right to me. Book!Denethor isn't very likeable, but he is noble. His lineage is nearly the same as Aragorn's and far more illustrious than, say, Theoden's. He is a pessimist because he lives in the diminished latter days of his nation (or culture, if you will), and is aware that his people have fallen from their greatness.
His natural pessimism is corrupted into madness and despair when he begins to look into the Minas Tirith palantir. Because he is no King (not Aragorn), he mistakes what Sauron chooses to show him in the palantir for the objective truth. And so despairs.
So it's a pity that Denethor is shown in the movie as merely nutso. Jackson got rid of the second palantir because it would have been two confusing to have two of them. But without it, Denethor's fall makes little sense, and his tragedy is reduced to farce.