Boromir, Gollum and Eowyn

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Boromir, Gollum and Éoywn may seem like an oddball collection of characters but I think that they are linked to one another in some interesting ways:

1) All three of them face despair and, oddly, triumph over it.

2) They all are rather unwitting players in a larger drama that they do not fully understand.

3) They are motivated, if not defined by, desire.

4) Their failures to fulfil their desires are integral parts of the successful completion of the Quest and of Aragorn’s Return.

5) They oppose the wills of the heroes, even try to hinder them, but they are not evil.

6) They have the same ‘place’ or role in the overall structure of the narrative.

OK – so that’s a lot, but please bear with me for a bit as I work through each of these points. I want to do this because I think that Boromir, Gollum and Éowyn each have a very special ‘place’ in the story that bears special attention. They give us an opportunity to tackle some of the very thorniest issues of the tale in ways that we can’t in relation to any other characters.

1) All three of them face despair and, oddly, triumph over it.

Boromir attempts to take the Ring from Frodo as he despairs over the fate of Minas Tirith. He sees no hope for his people, and so the Ring is able to exploit that. Gollum has no hope for himself, rather than for anyone or anything else. Frodo offers Gollum the opportunity to repent a number of times, and he comes close at least once (on the Stairs of Cirith Ungol – if only Sam had slept just a bit longer!), but in the end his despair consumes him and he remains dedicated to the Ring. Éowyn is an interesting composite of the other two. She despairs both for herself (Gollum) and for her land (Boromir). Like Boromir, she fails in her duty and her oaths of loyalty when she goes against her King’s command. Like Gollum, she fails in her spirit when she fails to repent of her despair and turn to hope, even though Aragorn has bid her do so.

But in some way, all three of them do manage to triumph over their despair, if in odd ways. Boromir defends the hobbits at Amon Hen and is killed, but dies in honour, repenting to Aragorn. Éowyn also nearly loses her life in battle with the Witch-King, but her return to hope comes when she falls in love with Faramir – interestingly, Boromir’s brother, who was originally ‘called’ to be in the Fellowship. Gollum becomes the tool of Providence, and falls into the fire, converting the despair of Middle-earth into Hope of the highest order (eucatastrophe).

These three each have a different kind of despair, or their despair has a different ‘direction’ than the others, but they all manage to overcome that. Boromir despairs for others (his city), so it is through his sacrifice to save others that he is redeemed. Éowyn despairs for herself and for others, so it is through her trials with renunciation of (selfish) desire for Aragorn and her acceptance of her new role as the White Lady (for the benefit of others, Faramir included) that she is redeemed of her despair. Gollum’s despair is entirely reserved for himself, and while he never returns to hope, per se, it is his individual destruction and the destruction of the Ring (which has come to replace his own sense of self) that Hope returns to Middle-earth.

2) They all are rather unwitting players in a larger drama that they do not fully understand.

Needless to say, none of them has any kind of apprehension about their role in events like the one I outline above. It’s not enough, however, to say that they are characters in a story and thus cannot know they have a ‘place’ in it, let alone what that place may be – but The Lord of the Rings is a funny story. The heroes in this tale do know that they are in a story – or, rather, a Story – and have at least some sense of what their part is. Aragorn, Gandalf and Frodo are the most ‘aware’: they know what they are to do, what their role is in the overall plan. Even characters as apparently ‘limited’ in their perceptions as Sam, Pippin and Merry know that they have a ‘part’ to play.

Boromir, Gollum and Éowyn are not aware of this at all – in fact, all three of them rail against being put into any particular role or part and want to find their own path, and make their own fate. (In Éowyn’s case there might be a certain sympathy to this desire, but it remains a ‘bad’ choice nonetheless.) It’s this desire to make their own way that, ironically, sets them down the path to despair and incorporates them into the grand Story: their actions, which they undertake for themselves, are integral to the success of the Story. But more on that to follow.

3) They are motivated, if not defined by, desire.

Éowyn for Aragorn and glory. Boromir for renown and glory, and thus for the Ring. Gollum for the Ring. Again they form an interesting pattern of ‘bad’ to ‘worse’, and this pattern is defined by how much the desire is directed away from the self and toward the other. Éowyn’s desire is a selfish one (she wants Aragorn for herself), but she does genuinely love another person; what’s more, at least part of her attraction to Aragorn is born of the conviction (well founded as it turns out) that he can save her people. Boromir is much more selfish; he thinks of his people and of protecting them, but he wants to be the Protector to their grateful Protected. Gollum thinks of nothing and no-one but himself and his desire for the Ring – to the point where the only ‘other’ he considers is simply another aspect of himself (slinker and stinker).

4) Their failures to fulfil their desires are integral parts of the successful completion of the Quest and of Aragorn’s Return.

I’ve already really covered this above, I suppose, but I still see it as a distinct point. Boromir, Éowyn and Gollum are all denied the successful fulfilment of their desires, and these failures are parts of the success of Good. Once more, there is a pattern from ‘bad’ to ‘worse’. Éowyn fails in her desire to have Aragorn for herself, but she transforms that desire of her own will into a desire for a more fitting man. Boromir fails in his desire for personal glory, but because of his self-sacrifice he dies with honour and his memory is redeemed. More significantly, because of his betrayal of the Fellowship at Amon Hen, Frodo and Sam go off alone, which proves to be the only way they could have succeeded, in the end. Gollum actually succeeds in fulfilling his desire for the Ring, but thank goodness because it is destroyed in this manner.

5) They oppose the wills of the heroes, even try to hinder them, but they are not evil.

This is probably the most important point about them. They are the story’s only truly flawed characters who undergo some process of redemption transformation. It is why they are the most interesting characters in some ways. They do evil things (even Éowyn, who breaks her oath to her King) but they are not evil. They are, in fact, good, but mistaken in their actions and desires.

6) They have the same ‘place’ or role in the overall structure of the narrative.

The oddest part of what I am outlining here: I see Éowyn and Gollum as taking Boromir’s place in the Fellowship. When Frodo and Sam go into Mordor on their own, they are accompanied by someone who, like Boromir, wants the Ring for himself and eventually attempts to take it. Boromir is Aragorn’s foil before Amon Hen, and Gollum is Frodo’s foil after it. Both initially take on a care-taking role for the hobbits (remember Boromir on Caradhras?) but eventually come to meditate harm on the hobbits. So far as Éowyn is concerned, she accepts responsibility for the care of at least one of the hobbits (Merry) who has been saved by Boromir, and she ends up marrying Boromir’s brother. Most significantly, however, she becomes Aragorn’s foil for the latter half of the tale. Boromir was presented with the challenge of Aragorn: accept him and love him and place his hope upon him. He failed in this challenge, and it is Éowyn who next takes it up. She very nearly fails in the challenge by loving him in the wrong way, but unlike Boromir she is able to overcome her selfish desires and redeem herself. Boromir and Éowyn both present options or reflections to Aragorn himself, however. Boromir reflects that part of Aragorn that wishes to proceed directly to Minas Tirith and claim the Throne, the Quest to Mordor be darned. Éowyn presents to him the option of an immediate gratification for a desire that to him must seem faint and fading fast – marriage with a beautiful and honourable princess. Again they together chart out the difference between other and self: Aragorn must overcome his Boromir-desire to protect his people and his throne at the expense of everyone else, and he must overcome his Éowyn-desire for a selfish relationship.

In the end, it is Éowyn and Gollum who redeem Boromir’s failure of his duty at Amon Hen. Gollum, like Boromir, tries to take the Ring, but this completes the Quest. Éowyn, like Boromir, rides out to battle in despair and for personal glory, but she manages to kill the Witch-King and – most importantly – she learns from this experience where her true duty lies: that is, she transmutes the love she feels for Aragorn from a personal affection to a dutiful one.

* * *

All right, so why I am going on and on about all this? Partly to get something off my chest (our out of my breosthord) that has been there a long time, but also because I think that these three characters, when we look at them together, have an awful lot to offer to our understanding of the extraordinarily thorny issues around free will, good and evil, desire and sacrifice, that are explored elsewhere in the story through relatively ‘simple’ forms of opposition. For example, in the contest between Good and Evil we have Aragorn versus Sauron. In the contest between Selfishness and Selflessness we have the Ring and Frodo. In Hope and Despair, there’s Gandalf and Saruman/Denethor. But Boromir, Gollum Éowyn we have all of these issues being played out in and with individual characters. So:

1) Good and evil: how do these three characters show us the difference between good and evil? What is evil about what they want and/or do, and how is it that good triumphs?

2) Free will: all three of them act selfishly, but all three of them end up promoting the Story – is there free will here? Are they making choices that are becoming incorporated into an evolving Story, or are they unwittingly playing parts that have been scripted for them?

3) Despair: do they all despair in the same way, or for the same thing? Why are their fates so different if they are all giving way to despair? Why do they not have hope to begin?

4) Other smart ideas I’ve not had yet: undoubtedly the most significant part of what I hope will be an intriguing discussion!