# Boromir's downfall was caused by Galadriel



## Arvedui (Dec 6, 2005)

From _The Lord of the Rings, Farewell to Lórien:_


> 'I shall go to Minas Tirith, alone if need be, for it is my duty,' said Boromir; and after that he was silent for a while, sitting with his eyes fixed on Frodo, as if he was trying to read the Halfling's thoughts. At length he spoke again, softly, as if he was debating with himself. 'If you wish only to destroy the Ring,' he said, 'then there is little use in war and weapons; and the Men of Minas tirith cannot help. But if you wish to destroy the armed might of the Dark Lord, then it is folly to go without force into his domain; and folly to throw away.' He paused suddenly, as if he had become aware that he was speaking his thoughts aloud. 'It would be folly to throw lives away, I mean,' he ended. 'It is a choice between defending a strong place and walking openly into the arms of death. At least, that is how I see it.'
> Frodo caught something new and strange in Boromir's glance, and he looked hard at him. Plainly Boromir's thought was different from his final words. It would be folly to throw away: what? The Ring of Power? He had said something like this at the Council, but then he had accepted the correction of Elrond.


Yes, Boromir had accepted the correction of Elrond. But somewhere along the way that correction had faded from his mind, and from what had happened to the Fellowship, only one specific occation may have done this to Boromir: the moment when Galadriel looked into the eyes of each and everyone and gave them the choice between their inner dreams coming true, or continuing with their Quest.
Boromir was probably already under the influence of the Ring, and was clearly thinking a lot more of the prestige of Minas Tirith and himself than seeing the whole picture. But the catalyst for bringing him over the edge seem to have been Galadriel.

*waits for all the Elf-lovers to pick up the argument*


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## Thorondor_ (Dec 6, 2005)

> *waits for all the Elf-lovers to pick up the argument


I am no particular fan of her, but I believe that what she gave him was an opportunity to see certain options ahead, which could have been a last chance to change for the better.


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## Ithrynluin (Dec 6, 2005)

Elhendi, you've been picking on Galadriel far too frequently lately. I hereby declare you my deadliest foe. Misspelling your name on purpose will only be _one_ of my tools for irking you.  

I agree with Thorondor_. Galadriel only presented Boromir, and the rest of the Fellowship, with possible paths they may take. Choosing either option consciously was fully Boromir's responsibility.


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## Wolfshead (Dec 6, 2005)

Here's an idea - perhaps she knew he would eventually fall under the spell of the Ring, so by accelerating the process she enabled it to happen before it was too late. Frodo had the chance to get away and complete the task. Perhaps if they had stayed together longer he would have been able to seize the Ring, or let it fall into the wrong hands.


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## Aglarband (Dec 6, 2005)

Wolfshead said:


> Here's an idea - perhaps she knew he would eventually fall under the spell of the Ring, so by accelerating the process she enabled it to happen before it was too late. Frodo had the chance to get away and complete the task. Perhaps if they had stayed together longer he would have been able to seize the Ring, or let it fall into the wrong hands.



Or to take this idea further, other members of the Fellowship agreed with Boromir, and there was a split in the group.


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## Thorondor_ (Dec 7, 2005)

I think that she tried to be as "neutral" to their choices as she could be:


The mirror of Galadriel said:


> I will not give you counsel, saying do this, or do that. For not in doing or contriving, nor in choosing between this course and another, can I avail; but only in knowing what was and is, and in part also what shall be. But this I will say to you: your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the Company is true


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## Corvis (Dec 9, 2005)

First of all, good points by Wolfshead and Aglarband. Those are things that I had never thought of before. And in my own opinion I think Galadriel was just testing each member of the fellowship to see if they were true to the mission and Frodo. Everyone had passed except (obviously) for Boromir.


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## Wolfshead (Dec 10, 2005)

Corvis said:


> First of all, good points by Wolfshead and Aglarband. Those are things that I had never thought of before.


Neither had I, to be fair


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## Inderjit S (Dec 11, 2005)

Boromir's downfall was caused by Boromir-by his own (albeit) latent desires, which would have merely come about anyway-Galadriel was testing him, not choosing his path for him. Even Faramir thinks so.


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## Lady_of_Gondor (Dec 11, 2005)

I cannot see in the original post where Galadriel caused Boromir's temptation. Now forgive me because I haven't read the books in over two years. That's my plan over Christmas break. Galadriel often prophesied about certain things. She had foresight, and was definately a wise character. But, how does that lead Boromir to his destruction. I always thought it was because he was a man of power, because he lacked the humility that can only be found in creatures that know nothing of real power, creatures like hobbits. Because he was next in line to be Steward of Gondor, of course his vision was clouded by the illusion of grandeur. Also, he does not remember what happened to Isildur because he is mortal and has not been around long enough. He is distanced enough from the terrible past to misunderstand the ring and what it can and cannot be used for. If anything, I defend Boromir in saying that he had good intentions, but was trapped by hopes for glory. In that, I cannot understand in any capacity what Galadriel has to do with it.


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## HLGStrider (Dec 11, 2005)

I think I've said this before, but I am in a strange mood that isn't conducive to digging through old threads.

I firmly believe that Galadriel didn't tempt them with anything they weren't tempting themselves with. My main reason for saying this is how most of them look away in shame, as if they were plotting to steal someone else's pillow, I believe it is stated. 

If two people are in the line at the bank and one of them leans over the shoulder of the other and says, "Wouldn't it be so easy to knock this place over? We could get a couple hundred grand out of the vault before the teller noticed," you probably would be frightened or upset and maybe tempted (this is an extreme example), but you wouldn't feel shame. You might back away slowly, but you wouldn't hang your head. . .unless you happened to have been planning to do just that and this person just revealed your own thoughts.

I would describe Galadriel's process as discernment followed by revelation. She looked into each member's heart to see what they really wanted beyond the quest (A bit of earth, the ring of power. . .), and she put it before them saying, "And what if I could give it to you?"

Maybe Boromir wouldn't have remembered this desire until a bit later without such prompting, but it was in his heart, and surface enough that it only took a "reminder" of it to end his resistance.


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## Arvedui (Dec 12, 2005)

Funny how most of you overlooked the word 'catalyst' in the first post.... 

Oh, and Ithy: there is more concerning Galadriel coming, I think.


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