What Would You Do As Boromir?

[Nikkolas]

And no I don't mean about stealing the Ring. I apologize for the plethora of threads lately but this was something that really struck my mind as I re-read TTT:

We of my house are not of the line of Elendil, though the blood of Numenor is in us. For we reckon back our line to Mardil, the good steward, who ruled in the king's stead when he went away to war. And that was King Earnur, last of the line of Anarion, and childless, and he came never back. And the stewards have governed the city since that day, though it was many generations of Men ago.

'And this I remember of Boromir as a boy, when we together learned the tale of our sires and the history of our city, that always it displeased him that his father was not king. "How many hundreds of years needs it to make a steward a king, if the king returns not? " he asked.

"Few years, maybe, in other places of less royalty," my father answered. "In Gondor ten thousand years would not suffice." Alas! poor Boromir. Does that not tell you something of him?'

'It does,' said Frodo. 'Yet always he treated Aragorn with honour.'

'I doubt it not,' said Faramir. 'If he were satisfied of Aragorn's claim as you say, he would greatly reverence him. But the pinch has not yet come. They had not yet reached Minas Tirith or become rivals in her wars.'

There's a lot of sticky morality in LOTR/The Silmarillion that ties into heavy real world arguments like the nature of evil, free will and God but this at the least seems like something a bit more tame but still interesting.

Say you are Boromir and you don't get killed by Orcs. Forgetting how the wider story changes, you head back to your home with Aragorn and now you are in the clinch. What decision do you make? Do you honor his kingship or do you stand by the line of the Stewards? Have they not done their best to rule Gondor for hundreds of years? Why does this stranger get to march in and take over everything?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Nikkolas

Say you are Boromir and you don't get killed by Orcs. Forgetting how the wider story changes, you head back to your home with Aragorn and now you are in the clinch. What decision do you make? Do you honor his kingship or do you stand by the line of the Stewards? Have they not done their best to rule Gondor for hundreds of years? Why does this stranger get to march in and take over everything?

This is a personality test, no?

I honestly believe I would honor the claim of Aragorn, and encourage my father to do likewise. In LOTR, oathbreaking is a serious matter, and leads to ruin for those guilty of it. The Stewards were under oath to rule in the name of the king until one returned, not to rule in their own. Some sort of popular decision would have had to have been made by Gondor's people to allow the Steward to become King.

If vows are cast aside because they become inconvenient or unattractive, they are worthless as a guide and framework of law.

[Belegorn]

Originally Posted by Nikkolas

Why does this stranger get to march in and take over everything?

Because he is a the rightful Dúnedain king. The other Dúnedain of the Southern Kingdom saw that, at least in Faramir and Imrahil.

Of course other Dúnedain like Denethor must be kept in mind, especially as he is the Ruling Steward. He was a good man, and looked out for Gondor.

Originally Posted by RotK, bk. 5, ch. 1

to him there is no purpose higher in the world as it now stands than the good of Gondor; and the rule of Gondor, my lord, is mine and no other man's, unless the king should come again.

However, to Denethor, the one fit to be King had to be of the line of Anárion by male descent.

Originally Posted by Bk.5, ch. 7

I am a Steward of the House of Anárion. I will not step down to be the dotard chamberlain of an upstart. Even were his claim proved to me, still he comes but of the line of Isildur. I will not bow to such a one, last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship and dignity.

This is a long held view since the time of King Meneldil. Boromir was bringing Aragorn with him to Minis Tirith, aware of his claim, with the hope that the Sword that was Broken would aid them in their wars. He could still take Aragorn as his king and stand by the line of the Stewards. Aragorn even kept the hereditary Stewardship when he became king.

[Arathorn111]

I would want to make the line of the stewards the new line of kings. Probably through showing that my line is the closest living line to the kings and hence should be awarded the throne.

However if I returned to the white city with Aragorn, the heir of Isildur and rightful king of Gondor, I would honour his kingship and try to forge close connections between our houses.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I would want to make the line of the stewards the new line of kings. Probably through showing that my line is the closest living line to the kings and hence should be awarded the throne.

When asked by Boromir how much time must pass before a Steward could become a King, if the King did not return, Denethor replied: "Few years, maybe, in other places of less royalty... In Gondor ten thousand years would not suffice."