Boromir não era malvado. Ele simplesmente não tinha fé suficiente.
Tenha em mente que Sauron não poderia ser derrotado por toda a força militar do Ocidente, e todos sabiam disso.
Denethor foi levado ao desespero suicida, mas ele não estava errado em sua avaliação.
‘My lords,’ said Gandalf, ‘listen to the words of the Steward of Gondor before he died: You may triumph on the fields of the Pelennor for a day, but against the Power that has now arisen there is no victory. I do not bid you despair, as he did, but to ponder the truth in these words.
‘The Stones of Seeing do not lie, and not even the Lord of Barad-dûr can make them do so. He can, maybe, by his will choose what things shall be seen by weaker minds, or cause them to mistake the meaning of what they see. Nonetheless it cannot be doubted that when Denethor saw great forces arrayed against him in Mordor, and more still being gathered, he saw that which truly is.
‘Hardly has our strength sufficed to beat off the first great assault. The next will be greater. This war then is without final hope, as Denethor perceived. Victory cannot be achieved by arms, whether you sit here to endure siege after siege, or march out to be overwhelmed beyond the River. You have only a choice of evils; and prudence would counsel you to strengthen such strong places as you have, and there await the onset; for so shall the time before your end be made a little longer.’
(LotR, The Last Debate)
Não sabemos quanto Denethor disse a Boromir, mas parece bastante provável que Boromir tivesse uma boa compreensão de sua situação estratégica antes de partir para Valfenda: ele também sabia que a guerra não tinha esperança final. Ele era filho de Denethor, ele lutou por Minas Tirith contra Sauron muitas vezes, e ele não era tolo. Boromir sabia que todo o Ocidente não poderia resistir contra Sauron - e considerar até que ponto até mesmo o
primeiro ataque de Sauron era: arruinar entre os Elfos, Pelennor venceu por um muito de sorte no último minuto, e Dale e a Montanha de Ferro também não se saíram tão bem.
Então: imagine que você e todos que você conhece vão morrer como escravos sob o Lorde das Trevas. O que você vai fazer? A solução do Sábio é, desde que você tenha em mãos uma super arma potencialmente vencedora de uma guerra, enviá-la para dentro do território inimigo nas mãos de dois hobbits country-bumpkin e esperar que eles consigam se infiltrar no país do Inimigo e em sua forja pessoal. para que eles possam lançar a super armada. A propósito, se o Inimigo colocar sua mão nessa super arma, ele vence a guerra ainda mais rápido e você nem mesmo tem a esperança de suportar seus ataques por um pouco.
Você pode ver por que algumas pessoas podem ter um problema com esse plano.
‘What then is your wisdom?’ said Gandalf.
‘Enough to perceive that there are two follies to avoid. To use this thing is perilous. At this hour, to send it in the hands of a witless halfling into the land of the Enemy himself, as you have done, and this son of mine, that is madness.’
‘And the Lord Denethor what would he have done?’
‘Neither. But most surely not for any argument would he have set this thing at a hazard beyond all but a fool's hope, risking our utter ruin, if the Enemy should recover what he lost. Nay, it should have been kept, hidden, hidden dark and deep. Not used, I say, unless at the uttermost end of need, but set beyond his grasp, save by a victory so final that what then befell would not trouble us, being dead.’
(LotR, The Siege of Gondor)
ou
Thus we return once more to the destroying of the Ring,’ said Erestor, ‘and yet we come no nearer. What strength have we for the finding of the Fire in which it was made? That is the path of despair. Of folly I would say, if the long wisdom of Elrond did not forbid me.’
(LotR, The Council of Elrond)
Aqui está a coisa - o Plano nunca foi um plano racional . Era quase explicitamente um plano irracional .
Despair, or folly?’ said Gandalf. ‘It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall put him out of reckoning.’ (LotR, the Council of Elrond)
Era um plano (principalmente o de Gandalf, ao que parecia) baseado na fé de que tudo iria funcionar de acordo com a vontade de Eru, e ele tinha em mente o melhor interesse de todos.
For in his condition it was for him a sacrifice to perish on the Bridge in defence of his companions, less perhaps than for a mortal Man or Hobbit, since he had a far greater inner power than they; but also more, since it was a humbling and abnegation of himself in conformity to ‘the Rules': for all he could know at that moment he was the only person who could direct the resistance to Sauron successfully, and all his mission was vain. He was handing over to the Authority that ordained the Rules, and giving up personal hope of success. (Letters)
Portanto, essa foi a atitude de Gandalf em geral: fazer o que é certo, de acordo com as regras, e deixar que tudo dê certo. Como Gandalf diz a Denethor, ele tem que pensar na rota mais rápida e permanente da derrota do Inimigo; uma maneira que não corre o risco de criar novos tiranos. Destruir o Anel é, portanto, a medida Direita . Mas ainda é um plano maluco.
Você pode ver mais indícios disso nas Cartas de Tolkien, que falam muito sobre a providência.
I do not think that Frodo's was a moral failure. At the last moment the pressure of the Ring would reach its maximum - impossible, I should have said, for any one to resist, certainly after long possession, months of increasing torment, and when starved and exhausted. Frodo had done what he could and spent himself completely (as an instrument of Providence) and had produced a situation in which the object of his quest could be achieved. His humility (with which he began) and his sufferings were justly rewarded by the highest honour; and his exercise of patience and mercy towards Gollum gained him Mercy: his failure was redressed. (Letters)
ou:
But at this point the ‘salvation’ of the world and Frodo's own ‘salvation’ is achieved by his previous pity and forgiveness of injury. At any point any prudent person would have told Frodo that Gollum would certainly* betray him, and could rob him in the end. To ‘pity’ him, to forbear to kill him, was a piece of folly, or a mystical belief in the ultimate value-in-itself of pity and generosity even if disastrous in the world of time. He did rob him and injure him in the end — but by a ‘grace’, that last betrayal was at a precise juncture when the final evil deed was the most beneficial thing any one cd. have done for Frodo! [...]
[Later, in the same letter] But the One retains all ultimate authority, and (or so it seems as viewed in serial time) reserves the right to intrude the finger of God into the story: that is to produce realities which could not be deduced even from a complete knowledge of the previous past, but which being real become part of the effective past for all subsequent time (a possible definition of a ‘miracle’). (Letters)
Então você pode ver porque Boromir teria tido dúvidas o tempo todo, especialmente porque ele foi enviado para lá por esse pai.
What in truth this Thing is I cannot yet guess; but some heirloom of power and peril it must be. A fell weapon, perchance, devised by the Dark Lord. If it were a thing that gave advantage in battle, I can well believe that Boromir, the proud and fearless, often rash, ever anxious for the victory of Minas Tirith (and his own glory therein), might desire such a thing and be allured by it. Alas that ever he went on that errand! I should have been chosen by my father and the elders, but he put himself forward, as being the older and the hardier (both true), and he would not be stayed. (LotR, The Window on the West)
Isso certamente é ecoado nas palavras de Boromir para Frodo, mesmo quando ele está 'possuído' por seu desejo pelo Anel.
As you wish. I care not,’ said Boromir. ‘Yet may I not even speak of it? For you seem ever to think only of its power in the hands of the Enemy: of its evil uses not of its good. The world is changing, you say. Minas Tirith will fall, if the Ring lasts. But why? Certainly, if the Ring were with the Enemy. But why, if it were with us?’
‘Were you not at the Council?’ answered Frodo. ‘Because we cannot use it, and what is done with it turns to evil.’
Boromir got up and walked about impatiently. ‘So you go on,’ he cried. ‘Gandalf, Elrond - all these folk have taught you to say so. For themselves they may be right. These elves and half-elves and wizards, they would come to grief perhaps. Yet often I doubt if they are wise and not merely timid. But each to his own kind. True-hearted Men, they will not be corrupted. We of Minas Tirith have been staunch through long years of trial. We do not desire the power of wizard-lords, only strength to defend ourselves, strength in a just cause. And behold! in our need chance brings to light the Ring of Power. It is a gift, I say; a gift to the foes of Mordor. It is mad not to use it, to use the power of the Enemy against him. The fearless, the ruthless, these alone will achieve victory. What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? What could not Aragorn do? Or if he refuses, why not Boromir? The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner!’ [...] 'I do not say destroy it. That might be well, if reason could show any hope of doing so. It does not. The only plan that is proposed to us is that a halfling should walk blindly into Mordor and offer the Enemy every chance of recapturing it for himself. Folly!
(The Breaking of the Fellowship)
Mas Boromir reconheceu seu erro no final:
At last slow words came. ‘I tried to take the Ring from Frodo,’ he said. ‘I am sorry. I have paid.’ His glance strayed to his fallen enemies; twenty at least lay there. (The Departure of Boromir)
Mas isso é tudo: um erro. Ele foi, naturalmente, tentado mais do que os outros - um líder do reino mais poderoso que resistiu diretamente a Sauron. Ele sucumbiu e se arrependeu.