Episode 132 Summary

Tony Meade

Active Member
SESSION 132

Reviewing Boromir’s perspective:
  • Boromir’s interruption of Elrond is presumptuous, but also courteous, as he asks for leave and then takes his chance to speak without waiting for the answer. He assumes that leave is given.
  • His elevated style reflects his own high opinion of himself, but this is justified both by his birthright as the son of the Steward, but also by the merit of his deeds for the people of Gondor.
  • Note: There is a strong tradition in medieval traditions in which there is no expectation of humility among great heroes, such as Beowulf or the Arthurian knights, who speak proudly.
  • Boromir is also standing on the dignity of Gondor, whom he is representing, and in that position feels that he is attending this Council as an equal with the Elf-lords, not as a beggar.
  • Note: While Gondor has less of the boastful heroic tradition than Rohan, for instance, there are also personal differences between Boromir and other characters, like Faramir, who is very little like someone in the mold of Beowulf. Faramir’s claim to not love the sword for its sharpness, meaning liking war as an end unto itself, probably doesn’t apply to Boromir.
  • While the pride of Boromir’s words is for Gondor and not for himself, it does seem as though in Boromir would think of those two things as intertwined.
  • Note: Importantly, at this point in the text, we have not been told who Boromir is, only that he is a stranger from Gondor, and what he looks like when he speaks.
  • It’s possible that Boromir’s assertion that Gondor stands alone in defense between Mordor and the rest of the continent probably rankled Aragorn and some of the others.
  • Boromir also has come practically fresh from the battlefield, so he is a witness to the most recent events in Gondor that the others don’t know, but also shows his provincialism.
  • He probably disregards the stories of Glóin and the others as sideshows and not fronts in the same war in which Gondor is engaged with Mordor, and he seems not to have paid them heed.
  • In a way, Boromir, and the rest of the Gondorians, are as ignorant of the world outside their realm as the Hobbits of the Shire are about things and events outside their own.
The clear and present danger:
  • Boromir’s “yet” is a rhetorical turn from the imagined consequences of Gondor’s fall to the real possibility in the near future. He has created a tension that would draw attention to his stories.
  • It’s possible that this delivery of his news has been rehearsed for many weeks while on the road.
  • Boromir is a captain of men, so he needs these rhetorical skills to be a good speaker and leader.
  • He may not have expected to deliver this news to a Council, as it was unplanned and his arrival unexpected, but he would have anticipated a personal interview with Elrond.
  • He also might not have expected to defend the honor of Gondor but is prompted by Elrond.
  • Though it sounds as though Boromir thinks he is delivering news that the others already know, this is a rhetorical technique to set the scene in order to make his story real for the councilors.
  • He is also explaining this in the mythic terminology of Gondor, which helps them understand the experience in Gondor of the threat of Mordor, including how they see Sauron.
  • From a military standpoint, Boromir establishes that Sauron is very strong through his alliances, but this is only setup for the real peril in Gondor. This new power represents a crisis.
  • Boromir has explained that the Gondorians have been living in a state of vigilance and almost siege for many generations, but that things have changed, and not just because of the armies.
  • He is appealing to the fact that whatever the new power there is, it is supernatural in origin.
  • Boromir’s real news is that what is happening in Gondor is not just new for this generation but has never happened in all the time of Gondor. They have faced Mordor’s armies, but not this.
On the power they have not felt before:
  • In all the time that the Nazgûl have occupied Minas Morgul, they have never come forth.
  • The Witch-king has taken to the battlefield before, but only in Arnor, and more than a thousand years before. When King Eärnur was taken by the Witch-king, he was lured into Minas Morgul.
  • Even the taking of Minas Ithil wasn’t really a military engagement, as it was mostly empty at the time and seems to have been taking using a spiritual siege by the Nazgûl, almost like a haunting.
  • This may have been a larger scale version of what happened around the house at Crickhollow. There is no mention of an army of orcs or any battles.
  • When the Nazgûl attack with the armies at Minas Tirith later, they will do a similar thing, though this time the city is well-defended and occupied and thus requires a besieging army as well.
  • Note: In the film, the Nazgul’s threat is physical, but that is not what happens in the book, where the primary attacks of the Nazgûl are psychological and spiritual prior to the arrival of Grond.
  • The only physical attack of any of the Nazgûl is the Witch-king’s attack on Théoden before engaging with Éowyn, but even that was an attempt of spiritual warfare against the Rohirrim.
  • A spiritual siege like in Crickhollow that went on for two years would likely empty out Minas Ithil without having to engage in physical combat. They may or not have needed an army there.
  • The only times that we see the Nazgûl engage in physical force is when it is as a last resort when their other powers aren’t sufficient, and they are desperate, such as when escaping the Shire.
Like a great black horseman:
  • Is Boromir skeptical of the reports of this horseman, since he uses the phrase “some said”?
  • Nowhere in his recounting of these events so far has Boromir used “I”, only “we”, as he is speaking for Gondor, not himself. This is not the abstract “royal we”, but as a part of the army.
  • Note: The purpose of the royal “we” is to show that the monarch is not speaking as an individual, but with the authority of the throne and as the voice of the kingdom. A monarch speaks in the first-person singular when speaking only about their own person. In Boromir’s case, he does not have the authority to speak for the whole kingdom in the legal sense.
  • In using the phrase “some said”, there is a shift from a collective “we” and begins to speak in more of a third person, as if this was not something he witnessed, though he might have.
  • This may be a rhetorical tactic of speaking of himself in the third person but not naming himself, and this is more likely as there are very few others among the army who could have seen it.
  • The story of the black horseman turns from the broader political situation to a personal account of a specific event. Only at the end of the description does he reveal that he witnessed it.
  • Note: Though Boromir has said that their bravest fled from the Witch-king, the hobbits will tell how they stood up the Nazgûl many times, and the Witch-king himself twice.
  • There may be a touch of humility in the idea of not leading with the fact that he was a witness. He wouldn’t want to give the impression that this story was all about him, but about Gondor.
  • This doesn’t downplay Boromir’s heroism, as his brand of heroism doesn’t require humility.
  • Boromir identifies himself with Gondor very strongly, but that is not in competition with his own sense of his glory or reputation, though he would see those things as necessarily intertwined.
  • Note: The Christian virtue of humility would not apply to Boromir in this pre-Christian setting. Though pride is seen as a vice in Middle-earth, it is not analogous to the Greek idea of hubris, which is a specific kind of pride, not just an excess of pride, which seems to be mostly tolerable.
  • Note: The tale of swimming the river is reminiscent of the boasting of Unferth in Beowulf.
  • The rhetorical scope has descended from the global to the national to the personal in steps.
  • The phrase “much praise but little help” is a more than a veiled jab at those in other lands, and he even claims that most of their deeds have been anonymous to other peoples
(continued below)
 

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(continued)

On Rohan and Boromir’s journey:
  • Note: If Boromir has traveled for 110 days, this would be the eleventy-first day of that trip.
  • The last time that Rohan actually did ride to the defense of Gondor was during the reign of Folcwine to help against the Haradrim, which was 133 years before this.
  • Boromir’s point is that he trusts that the Rohirrim would do it again, after he passed through there on his journey, during which he received a horse.
  • He would have had an opportunity to speak to Théoden and the royal household at that time, and he seems to have been left with a positive impression of the strength of their alliance.
  • This may mean that Grima Wormtongue was either not involved or that Théoden was not yet in the state Gandalf and the others will find him in The Two Towers.
  • Would Boromir have passed through Bree on the way to Rivendell? Having traveled north through Tharbad into Eriador, the East Road would have been the only direct route there.
  • If Boromir has only just arrived on foot, and if he did come via Bree, he would have had to pass through only a few days behind the hobbits and Gandalf, respectively.
  • Generally speaking, it isn’t clear how Boromir found Rivendell. He did not leave Gondor with clear directions and would have to rely on providence or the help of others.
  • The only road that directly leads into the North from Gondor, and that is the Greenway, which would take him past Bree, which is where it would meet the East Road.
  • We are not told anything about Boromir’s route to Rivendell, which leaves open many possibilities. He may have having wandered through the Ettenmoors to get there.
  • Would people in Bree know about Rivendell? If so, it would only be in rumors and old stories.
  • Would he have stopped at Isengard? Probably not, as he doesn’t have a high opinion of wizards.
The ends of Boromir’s rhetoric:
  • So far, he has defended the honor of Gondor and explained their plight with new information.
  • Why does he make the criticism of the lack of help? To whom is the criticism directed and why?
  • The use of “all the west shores of Anduin” again shows Boromir’s parochialism, as the Anduin has many more west shores, all to the north of Gondor and beyond its borders.
  • Is Boromir saying that the other lands have an obligation to aid Gondor with some contribution?
  • There seems to be a subtext of a need for reciprocation, though there is really no one to the west of Gondor at all, much less anyone who could provide military aid to them.
  • He includes the western and southern fiefs of Gondor as part of the bulwark against Mordor.
  • Boromir is not only explaining how alone and pressed they are, but also leveling an accusation of something like ingratitude against the rest of the western world.
  • This goes beyond elevating Gondor, diminishing the other lands, perhaps with some bitterness.
  • The person who most recently praised Gondor is Elrond himself, though that seemed like the praise of a eulogy, so this criticism may be directed at Elrond and the other Elves.
  • By assuming that all other peoples are idle against Sauron, save Rohan, he shows not only his provincialism, but short-sightedness in that the help can only come in the form of military aid.
  • Note: The tone of Boromir’s criticism has remained within the bounds of diplomacy, much like Vikings were known to use words aggressively, but politely, to avoid violence, per Tom Shippey.
  • Boromir is not simply venting his grievances. This is done for a purpose, to support his request.
  • In a way, Boromir has emphasized the fact that he, as captain-general, has left Gondor at this time of great dangers, and that this shows the importance of his errand, above all the others.
  • He has also emphasized the heroism of his difficult journey, but in spite of this, and the dire nature of Gondor’s plight, he is not calling for allies in war.
  • This is why he mentions the Rohirrim, as if to say that the councilors’ military help is not expected like it is from the Men of Rohan. This sets up the reasonableness of his request.
  • This is intended to make his request for counsel small in comparison to what they are owed.
  • Note: While Boromir is valiant and admirable in many ways, it shows Denethor’s lack of wisdom that he has assigned the wrong sons to the wrong tasks, as Faramir is far more suited to this.
  • His assertion that the “might of Elrond of is in wisdom not in weapons” is something like a backhanded compliment. This seems a bit like sarcasm, though what he says is entirely true.
  • Boromir’s request is neither humble nor delivered with humility, but instead employs rhetoric to convince Elrond of his obligation to help Gondor with what he can do.
  • There is irony that this follows Elrond’s story of participating the War of the Last Alliance and having taken personal part in the final combat with Sauron himself at Mount Doom.
  • Using the phrase “it is said” gives Boromir deniability while expressing this view of Elrond.
On Faramir and Boromir’s shared call:
  • In describing the dreams, Boromir says that the had a “like dream” rather than the same dream.
  • Boromir is not the kind of man to lie about having had the dream once. There is no evidence that he wasn’t also sent this dream like it was to his brother.
  • It seems like Faramir is the one being called to this quest, so why was it also sent to Boromir?
  • The fact that Faramir had the prophetic dream multiple times and reported it to his father for counsel, and that he wasn’t sent on the quest, points to a need to include Boromir by its sender.
  • Note: We don’t find out much about why Boromir was sent on the quest instead of Faramir until we meet Faramir in The Two Towers. Therefore, this speech only reveals Boromir’s side. We don’t know that Denethor did not also have the dream, but that might allay his doubts about it.
  • Denethor would be much more likely to take the dream seriously if Boromir had it as well.
  • Note: The fact that Denethor sends Boromir, in spite the need for him in leading the war, shows how little he regards Faramir, and he might see Faramir’s report as stemming from mystical interests, as he is a “wizard’s pupil”. He knows that Faramir would not fabricate the dream, but he would question his significance to Faramir until Boromir also has it.
END OF SESSION
 

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