This week (and probably next) I want to talk a bit more Tolkien, but in a someone different vein from normal. Rather than discussing the historicity of Tolkien\u2019s world or adaptations of it, I want to take a moment to discuss some of the themes of Tolkien\u2019s work, which express themselves in the metaphysical architecture of Arda itself. In particular, I wanted to do this because it struck me how badly Rings of Power<\/em> had fumbled the core story of its second season, the Fall of Celebrimbor, seemingly failing to understand the underlying moral themes of Tolkien\u2019s legendarium and thus not understanding which elements of Celebrimbor\u2019s story were \u2018load bearing\u2019 and why.<\/p>\n That said, for those who are just here for the history, this isn\u2019t entirely a \u2018skip week!\u2019 As historians, we don\u2019t simply document events, but also seek to understand past societies and the unique, often quite alien, ways that they understood themselves and their worlds. In short, the historian tries to, in a way, inhabit the worldview of people long gone and to communicate those values and assumptions to a modern audience. One of the ways we do that is reading the things those past people wrote carefully for exactly that: values, morals, assumptions about the world, mentalit\u00e9s<\/em> as the Annales school<\/a> would phrase it or Weltanschauung<\/em> (\u2018worldview\u2019) as German would express it. When you find the same idea or assumption about the world appear multiple types through a work or body of work, we call that single strand of worldview a \u2018theme,\u2019 and so in a sense when we read a work for its themes, what we\u2019re really asking is, \u201cin what ways do the worldview or mentalities of the person-or-society that produced this work \u2018poke through\u2019 the page?\u201d<\/p>\n So we\u2019re going to do a bit of that with Tolkien, looking at the way his legendarium treats sin and redemption, through the lens of two ambiguous characters: Celebrimbor and Boromir. I think the comparison of these characters is especially useful, in my view, because of what their contrast reveals in what Tolkien thinks is valuable and important. Both figures die fighting against Sauron and evil, but equally display character flaws that make them vulnerable at key points to the manipulations and machinations of Sauron. In terms of achievement<\/em>, we would almost certainly regard Celebrimbor as the greater of the two: a king of the Elves and the maker of the Rings, the greatest of Elven craftsmen apart, perhaps, from his own ancestor F\u00ebanor.<\/p>\n Yet the verdict of the text is quite different: whereas Celebrimbor fails quite completely, Boromir is redeemed and conquers, even in defeat.<\/p>\n But first, as always, if you want to help support this project you can do so on Patreon<\/a>! And if you want updates whenever a new post appears, you can click below for email updates or following me on twitter (@BretDevereaux) and Bluesky (@bretdevereaux.bsky.social) and (less frequently) Mastodon(@bretdevereaux@historians.social) for updates when posts go live and my general musings; I have largely shifted over to Bluesky (I maintain some de minimis<\/em> presence on Twitter), given that it has become a much better place for historical discussion than Twitter.<\/p>\n Our main points of reference for Celebrimbor\u2019s fall are a few short paragraphs in \u201cOf the Rings of Power and the Third Age\u201d (as part of the Silmarillion<\/em>, henceforth in citation as Sil<\/em>.) and a few equally short pages in \u201cThe History of Galadriel and Celeborn\u201d (as part of Unfinished Tales<\/em>, henceforth Tales<\/em>). It\u2019s not a lot to go on, but I think we can get a broad sketch of Celebrimbor\u2019s character. What I think we see is a character who is not evil<\/em>, per se, but who is overwhelmed by his character failings and as a result fails in his role. Celebrimbor is not, I would argue, a tragic hero redeemed in sacrifice, but more akin to Denethor: a flawed ruler who at some times tried to do the right thing, but whose own moral shortcomings lead to the sins<\/em> that led to the failure of his rule. Rings of Power<\/em>, I think, got this character quite wrong, attempting to portray Celebrimbor as a good man (well, elf), undone in part by his pride but chiefly by his gullibility and compassion.<\/p>\n The best way to show this is simply to move through Celebrimbor\u2019s arc in both the legendarium and Rings of Power<\/em> in parallel, to show both Tolkien\u2019s moral vision and how Rings of Power<\/em> fumbles its execution by pulling out some of the load-bearing components of his character.<\/p>\n We begin with Celebrimbor\u2019s motivation<\/em> for making the rings in the first place. Put frankly Rings of Power<\/em> reframed Celebrimbor\u2019s motivation, from something arrogant and transgressive in the books to something compassionate and altruistic in the show<\/strong>. I found when I pointed this out on social media, some folks were confused, but there really isn\u2019t much doubt in the text. In the Silmarillion<\/em>, we get both Sauron\u2019s arguments and the Elves own reasoning for accepting them. Sauron, as Annatar, presents his case thusly:<\/p>\n Alas for the weakness of the great! For a mighty king is Gil-galad, and wise in all lore is Master Elrond, and yet they will not aid me in my labours. Can it be that they do not desire to see other lands become as blissful as their own? But wherefore should Middle-earth remain for ever desolate and dark, whereas the Elves could make it as fair as Eress\u00eba, nay even as Valinor?<\/strong> And since you have not returned thither, as you might, I percieve that you love this Middle-earth, as do I. Is it not then our task to labour together for its enrichment, and for the raising of all the Elven-kindreds that wander here untaught to the height of that power and knowledge which those have who are beyond the Sea?<\/strong> (Sil. 287; emphasis mine)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I want to pull out a few things from this argument. First, it is a call, however pleasantly worded, for something approaching blasphemy: an effort by the Elves, under their own power, to craft what is effectively a heaven on earth and to reverse the grand plan and will of Eru Il\u00favatar (the singular creator god) that the Elves should come to dwell in Valinor and Middle-earth pass to Men. But note also how it is \u2018sales pitch\u2019 that aims to play off of the ambition and arrogance of the listener, rather than their compassion or generosity, bidding them to raise their greatness (that of the Elven-kindreds) to match those \u201cwho are beyond the Sea\u201d (which could mean the Elves in Valinor, but equally the Valar themselves).<\/p>\n And the Elves of Eregion (chiefly, we find out in the Unfinished Tales<\/em>, the smiths of the Gwaith-i-M\u00edrdain, the \u201cpeople of the jewel-smiths\u201d), understand the appeal in basically those terms:<\/p>\n It was in Eregion that the counsels of Sauron were most gladly recieved, for in that land the Noldor desired ever to increase the skill and subtlety of their works<\/strong>. Moreover they were not at peace in their hearts, since they had refused to return into the West, and they desired both to stay in Middle-earth, which indeed they loved, and yet to enjoy the bliss of those that had departed<\/strong>. (Sil. 287; emphasis mine).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Note again the twin strains of ambition \u2013 to increase the skill and subtlety of their works \u2013 twisted with a desire for something that contravenes the will and plan of Eru \u2013 to have the bliss of Valinor while still living in Middle-earth. I should note, this temptation \u2013 that the immortality of Valinor could be seized<\/em> by art or craft, outside of the planned will of Eru \u2013 is also exactly the temptation Sauron will use to lure the N\u00famen\u00f3reans to their destruction under Ar-Pharaz\u00f4n (Sil<\/em>. 274-5). Indeed, this temptation is at the root is effectively all evil<\/em> in Tolkien\u2019s legendarium: the beginning of evil is in Melkor\u2019s decision to try to bend the Song of creation to his own tune.<\/p>\n In Tolkien\u2019s distinctly Christian worldview, both the real world and his created secondary world are ordered to the will of divinity and that will is fundamentally Good; choice is given to Men and Elves but defiance of that overarching plan is the most fundamental act of rebellion, the very root of sin. And it is what Celebrimbor is contemplating in his creation of the rings. Moreover, let us note that this motivation is wholly and entirely selfish<\/strong><\/em>: the purpose of these rings is to make the ageless, unending bliss of Valinor available for the Celebrimbor and the Elves. There is no intent to share it with anyone else. The motivation here is understandable \u2013 immortal beings grieved that the world changes even as they do not \u2013 but Tolkien\u2019s morality says, in essence, \u2018thems the breaks.\u2019 Or, to put it in the rather more eloquent words of Gandalf, \u201cbut that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Rings of Power<\/em> fumbles this element almost completely, substituting new and different motivations. Whereas in the legendarium, Gil-galad, Elrond and Galadriel all want nothing to do with Annatar!Sauron (Sil<\/em>. 287; Tales<\/em> 227), in RoP<\/em>, Gil-galad in particular is consumed with worry about the fading of the Elves and in particular that it will leave the rest of Middle-earth vulnerable to Sauron<\/em>. Lest the audience think this is simply a rationalization, we are treated to a \u2018ticking clock\u2019 in the form of a sacred tree and repeated insistence that when the last leaf falls, the Elves will be compelled to sail for Valinor. Suddenly, rather than embracing the rings as an act of revolt<\/em> against the will of Eru, the Elves are seeking a way to divert their decline \u2013 no longer presented as part of the divine plan \u2013 in order to shepherd and safeguard the other peoples.<\/p>\n That change in motivation extends to Celebrimbor and here it is worth noting that Rings of Power<\/em> has changed the order in which the rings are made. In the legendarium it is explicit (e.g. Sil<\/em>. 287, Tales<\/em> 227-8, RotK<\/em> 415) that the lesser rings were created first, the Three Elven Rings second and the One Ring last; RoP <\/em>inverts the first two, having the Three created before the Seven and Nine. Moreover, it changes the motivation: in RoP<\/em> the first three Elven rings are sufficient to avert the decline of the Elves, which would of course remove the original motivation for making them. So the show has Sauron, in disguise, suggest Celebrimbor make the other rings of power for the purpose of giving them to Men and Dwarves<\/em>. Now on the one hand, I would argue this is not a deception Sauron would actually use: Sauron understands power and domination, not altruism and he does not tempt Men or Elves with the better angels of their nature. Even when the One Ring \u2013 a shadow of Sauron\u2019s own corrupting power \u2013 tries to tempt Boromir or Sam, it tempts them not with altruism but with greatness<\/em> and adulation<\/em>, with \u201cgreat alliances and glorious victories\u2026.and he cast down Mordor and became himself a mighty king\u201d (FotR<\/em> 469; RotK<\/em> 195-6). \u2018Thankless service\u2019 is not a language Sauron speaks and so not a temptation he would use<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But more broadly, this shifting plot point, which seems to me to have been a product of the show shifting around events and characters to try to make its multi-threaded structure work, fundamentally alters Celebrimbor\u2019s motivation: rather than a bad end<\/em> (overturning the will of Eru) which turns out badly<\/em> it becomes a good end<\/em> (aiding the other Peoples of Middle-earth) turned to evil. <\/p>\n The next disconnect in the two stories is broadly in culpability. Rings of Power<\/em> does quite a lot to limit Celebrimbor\u2019s guilt<\/em> (if not his broader responsibility) for the fall of his kingdom, in part because the writers of Rings of Power<\/em> have not quite grasped the sorts of arguments Sauron uses \u2013 and thus the sort of arguments Tolkien imagines would be persuasive to figures like Celebrimbor. As mentioned already, the show has Sauron, disguised as Annatar and presenting himself as an emissary of the Valar, encourages Celebrimbor to make the lesser rings in order to aid Dwarves and Men. Rather than preying on Celebrimbor\u2019s pride, he preys on his compassion, an emotion Sauron ought not consider or understand.<\/p>\n But the larger break comes once Adar\u2019s siege arrives. In order to keep Celebrimbor working on the rings, in the show, Sauron alters Celebrimbor\u2019s sense perception<\/em><\/strong>, causing him to see his city at peace and flourishing even when it is under attack and burning<\/em> and I do not think the writers and showrunners quite realized what giving Sauron direct mind control powers<\/strong><\/em> does to the moral arc of Tolkien\u2019s universe. In a later scene (s2e7 at 58:05) Sauron seizes direct and total control over a group of Elf warriors, compelling them to kill each other over their apparent struggles. The show\u2019s excuse is that in allowing Sauron in, the Elves of Eregion put themselves \u2018under his power,\u2019 but this makes little moral sense for soldiers who had no idea who \u2018Annatar\u2019 was and no say in letting him in regardless. Instead, giving Sauron straight-up mind control<\/em> \u2013 the ability to make Celebrimbor see whatever he wants, to make other Elves do<\/em> whatever he wants \u2013 obliterates Celebrimbor\u2019s moral responsibility for his own actions. Celebrimbor doesn\u2019t respond incorrectly because of his moral failings<\/em> but because he is prevented by force majeure from seeing the world as it really is<\/em>. Indeed, the moment he does see the world as it is, he responds correctly \u2013 trying to organize the defense \u2013 but is prevented because Sauron uses magic to make it seem like Celebrimbor has callously murdered one of his smiths.<\/p>\n In short, Sauron\u2019s ability to control perceptions and minds substantially reduces \u2013 if it doesn\u2019t entirely remove \u2013 Celebrimbor and his smith\u2019s agency in the story, which in turn reframes them are relatively more innocent victims of Sauron\u2019s power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Which is very much not how the appear in the legendarium!<\/strong> As noted above, in the Silmarillion<\/em>, we get a direct report of the arguments Sauron, as Annatar, uses to persuade the Elves and there is nothing of compassion for Men or Dwarves in it, but an open invitation to attempt to build heaven on earth, to achieve \u201cthe height of that power and knowledge which those have who are beyond the Sea?\u201d which is accepted because \u201cin that land [Eregion] the Noldor desired ever to increase the skill and subtlety of their works\u201d (Sil<\/em>. 287). In short, Sauron is from the beginning asking the smiths of Eregion to do something wrong<\/em>, which they know is wrong<\/em> (as it defies the order set by Eru), his trickery which they do not know is that he intends to betray them, but that they do wrong, they know at the outset<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n As the narrative continues in the Unfinished Tales<\/em>, we see that not only the business begun wrongly, it continues wrongly. Sauron, as Annatar, convinces the brotherhood of Elven crafters under Celebrimbor, the Gwaith-i-M\u00edrdain, to join his plan and they and Celebrimbor begin working under him \u201cin secret, unknown to Galadriel and Celeborn\u201d who were, at the time, the rulers of both Eregion and L\u00f3rinand (later to be Lothl\u00f3rien; Tales<\/em> 228). They\u2019re working in secret because while Galadriel and Celeborn don\u2019t seem to know that Annatar is Sauron, they can tell something is up with him and refuse to treat with him \u2013 after all, he keeps suggesting people do a bad thing<\/em>, as noted above. Sauron, however, is able then to persuade the Gwaith-i-M\u00edrdain \u201cto revolt against Galadriel and Celeborn and seize power in Eregion\u201d at which point Galadriel flees to L\u00f3rinand, while Celeborn remains in Eregion but \u201cdisregarded by Celebrimbor\u201d (Tales<\/em> 228).<\/p>\n Which is to say that when the rightful rulers of the kingdom, Galadriel and Celeborn, correctly point out, \u201chey, this Annatar guy is sketchy and seems to be asking you to do something that at least shades into evil,\u201d Celebrimbor and the Gwaith-i-M\u00edrdain respond by launching a coup<\/strong>, forcing Galadriel out of the kingdom and excluding Celeborn from the government. Having already begun a task at the advice of Annatar which is, at the very least, morally dubious, they have then taken an action \u2013 revolt against lawful authority \u2013 which is clearly morally wrong<\/em> in its pursuit.<\/p>\n Celebrimbor only repents of this choice once the One Ring is made and the trap revealed, not before (Tales<\/em> 228; Sil<\/em>. 288), which again means that Celebrimbor only turns against Annatar!Sauron when it becomes clear it will be bad for Celebrimbor<\/em> if Sauron achieves his aims; he was fine when it was merely an evil against Galadriel, Celeborn and the order of creation set out by Eru Il\u00favatar. In this sense, I would note, Celebrimbor\u2019s arrogance and pride in a way neatly mirror that of Denethor\u2019s: both characters are notionally on the side of Good against Evil and that\u2019s certainly what they\u2019d tell you if you asked them, but equally both characters are, in their pride, rebelling against rightful authority (\u201cI will not step down to be the dotard chamberlain of an upstart\u2026I will not bow to such a one, last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship and dignity\u201d RotK<\/em> 142). Indeed, Gandalf\u2019s rebuke to Denethor, \u201cauthority is not given to you, Steward of Gondor, to order the hour of your death\u201d (RotK<\/em>, 141) could equally have been given to the Elves seeking to recreate in Middle-earth the deathless, eternity of Valinor.<\/p>\n Likewise, I do not think in the books that Celebrimbor is redeemed in his death. In Rings of Power<\/em>, a great deal is made of Celebrimbor\u2019s resistance to Sauron at the end and his unwillingness to give up the locations of any<\/em> of the rings, as well as his desperate efforts, as things come crashing down, to do the right thing: he tries to organize the defense, but is prevented by Sauron\u2019s trickery, he tries to attack Sauron, but is prevented when Sauron mind-controls his guards, and he refuses to tell Sauron anything even under torture.<\/p>\n By contrast, the portrait in the Unfinished Tales<\/em> is not so flattering. When Sauron\u2019s assault falls on Eregion, it is the disregarded Celeborn who makes the initial sortie. Celebrimbor only appears after the attackers breach Eregion, defending \u201cthe chief object of Sauron\u2019s assault, the House of the M\u00edrdain, where were their smithies and their treasures\u201d (Tales <\/em>228). While this is after the \u201crepentance and revolt [against Sauron] of Celebrimbor\u201d (Tales<\/em> 228), I think it is revealing that Celebrimbor is taken defending the thing he fundamentally cares about this most: the works of his hands and those of the M\u00edrdain, their treasures<\/strong><\/em>. It is instead Elrond<\/em> who takes care for those who survive the fall of Eregion (Tales<\/em> 229): so while Elrond and Celeborn seek to save people<\/em>, Celebrimbor, in his last acts, seeks to save things<\/em>. According to the Tales<\/em>, the Nine Rings were there in the House of the M\u00edrdain and Celebrimbor, tortured, revealed the locations of the Seven \u201cbecause neither the Seven nor the Nine did he value as he valued the Three\u2026the Three were made by Celebrimbor alone\u201d (Tales<\/em> 229). Note of course, those Seven rings were \u201cbestowed\u201d to people<\/em> (Tales<\/em> 229) whom Celebrimbor is giving up instead of the Three not because he cares about the people<\/em> but because he cares about the things<\/em> and in particular he values the Three not for who holds them but because they were the works of his hands<\/strong>.<\/p>\n To summarize then, Rings of Power<\/em>\u2018s Celebrimbor was a basically good Elf, who sought to solve a real and pressing problem (the fading of the Elves, which might leave Middle-earth defenseless), unknowingly enlisted the aid of a bad fellow in solving it, who \u2013 once he discovered that fact \u2013 immediately set about trying to right his mistakes, albeit failing in the process, because Sauron has Magic Mind Control Powers.<\/p>\n By contrast, J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s Celebrimbor is not an evil<\/em> Elf, in that he does not desire domination \u2013 which is the sine qua non<\/em> of capital-E Evil in Tolkien\u2019s legendarium. Tolkien writes, after all, \u201cCelebrimbor was not corrupted in heart or faith, but had accepted Sauron as what he posed to be\u201d (Tales<\/em> 228). But Celebrimbor is an arrogant and proud Elf who does much wrong and is undone by his wrongdoing<\/strong>. For reasons we\u2019ll get into in a subsequent post, the cause and effect here is direct<\/em>: the moral universe (the Unseen) of Arda has a direct, causal<\/em> impact on the physical universe (the Seen); Celebrimbor is undone by his wrongdoing<\/em> \u2013 that is, had he done right<\/em> he would not have been undone. This version of Celebrimbor pursues an aim that was wrong in its conception, attempting to turn aside the plan of Eru for how the world would change (demanding heaven on earth instead of Heaven and Earth, as it were), then executed wrongly with a coup. And in his final moments, Celebrimbor reveals what always mattered to him most as he defends not his people but his things<\/em>, the products of his hands that he valued most, a sort of love I have no doubt Tolkien would view as inordinate<\/strong> \u2013 in a literal sense \u2018out of order,\u2019 and thus inappropriate.<\/p>\n Consequently, while Celebrimbor revolts against Sauron, he never really changes his character, remaining prideful and ambitious to the end and unwilling to see his prized creations destroyed \u2013 as the text notes, \u201cthey should have destroyed all the Rings of Power at this time [before the fall of Eregion], \u2018but they failed to find the strength.’\u201d (Tales<\/em> 228); another indicator, by the by, that the rings of power themselves ought not to have been made under any circumstances. Celebrimbor doesn\u2019t redeem himself and fall heroically, but rather is, at last, consumed by his folly.<\/p>\n The contrast with Boromir is marked: where Celebrimbor, for all of his artifice and greatness fell<\/em>, Boromir, we are told, conquered<\/em>.<\/p>\n First, I think we ought to get the facts of the narrative out of the way. In a straight reading of events of the Breaking of the Fellowship, Boromir does not come off tremendously well. When Frodo splits off from the group at Nen Hithoel, Boromir follows him and falls to the Ring\u2019s temptation, first trying to persuade Frodo and then eventually trying to take the Ring by force. He recovers himself once Frodo vanishes and flees, but then wanders for at least half an hour (FotR<\/em>, 476) before returning to the rest of the Fellowship, where he then refuses to be entirely truthful, though he does not lie (FotR<\/em>, 475-6) and then, as if the full import of the moment has finally hit him, just sort of breaks down, \u201cput his head in his hands, and sat as if bowed with grief\u201d (FotR<\/em>, 476) while the Fellowship begins to scatter.<\/p>\n As an aside, I think this is one point where I think the notion that Peter Jackson\u2019s films are a bit more favorable to Boromir than the books deserves some credit. First, this returning scene \u2013 where Boromir wastes time and breaks down, is gone entirely, but I think more importantly, whereas in the books Aragorn, heading off, never finds Frodo in the film he does<\/em>. And we see Aragorn tempted by the Ring too, something we do not get in the books. The edge in Viggo Mortensen\u2019s voice and the threatening way he is shot in the scene is not just, I think, a fake out, but rather we are to understand that Aragorn here too is struggling to resist the Ring and succeeds only with difficulty, which is why<\/em> he sends Frodo away. There was real peril in this moment and Aragorn, in his wisdom, realizes the answer to Frodo\u2019s question, \u201cCan you protect me from yourself?\u201d is \u201cno.\u201d I think that moment does a lot to humanize Boromir\u2019s failure \u2013 he wasn\u2019t the only<\/em> member of the Fellowship to be broken by the Ring, merely the first<\/em>; the others would have fallen, one by one, given time (which I think, for what it is worth is the correct<\/em> reading of the text: the Ring would have destroyed all of them, given the time, just as it eventually, in the very last instance, claims Frodo).<\/p>\n In any case, Aragorn bids Boromir keep the other hobbits safe while he searches (FotR<\/em>, 476). Boromir meets this charge, attempting to protect Merry and Pippin even to the cost of his life. Here, of course, he fights and apparently fails utterly: he is mortally wounded and both hobbits in his care are taken bound by his enemies once he is too wounded to fight back. The orcs focus on what they think<\/em> is their objective<\/a> (no, I will not let Saruman live down this bit of terrible operational planning, thank you) \u2013 capturing hobbits \u2013 but do not (in the book) bother to finish Boromir off; they simply leave him to bleed out (TT, 18).<\/p>\n In short, then, we might say Boromir succumbed to temptation, then lost his head at a critical moment, then tried to accomplish something in battle, failed entirely and was slain. That sounds<\/em> a lot like Celebrimbor, but whereas the basic facts of the two more or less match, what is in their hearts does not and that makes all the difference<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Boromir\u2019s verdict on himself is sharply negative, focusing on those facts: \u201cI have tried to take the Ring from Frodo,\u201d he said, \u201cI am sorry. I have paid\u2026Farewell Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed\u201d (TT, 18). Except of course, that is Boromir<\/em> speaking and one thing we\u2019ve learned is that Boromir, whatever his virtues \u2013 and he has them \u2013 is not among the wise. One of the key things for understanding The Lord of the Rings<\/em> and Tolkien\u2019s broader legendarium is that statements should be evaluated by the speaker; words from the wisest characters, like Gandalf, are often deeply true to the point of being prophetic, but less wise or even foolish characters, like Saruman, frequently err or say more than they mean<\/a>. Critically, what makes one wise<\/em> is not an understanding of the Seen world (the physical, \u2018real\u2019 world) but an understanding of the Unseen<\/em> <\/a>world and its deeper, more profound moral realities. Boromir cannot see that while he has failed in the Seen world, he has triumphed in the Unseen world<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But Aragorn<\/em>, Aragorn is<\/em> one of the relatively wise characters, even though he is not without fault (indeed, he spends much of the chapter \u201cThe Departure of Boromir\u201d reminding the reader that \u201cAll that I have done today has gone amiss.\u201d (TT 19)), and so we can put a fair bit more stock in Aragorn\u2019s judgement. And Aragorn immediately<\/em> corrects Boromir, with a judgement that gives us the title of this post:<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u2019 said Aragorn, taking his hand and kissing his brow. \u201cYou have conquered<\/strong>. Few have gained such a victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall!\u201d<\/p>\n Boromir smiled. (TT 18; emphasis mine)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n First I want to note the use of the word \u2018conquered\u2019 here, which may strike readers as strange. In modern English, we generally use \u2018conquer\u2019 to mean the capture of territory (that is, conquest), but Tolkien was a classically trained philologist and so, like many Latin and Greek students before and after him, he will have used \u2018conquer\u2019 frequently to translate Latin vincere<\/em> and Greek \u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u1fb7\u03bd both of which have a sense of winning a victory or prevailing in a contest in a much broader sense (for instance winning in an athletic contest).<\/p>\n Note that Aragorn at this point no longer merely suspects that Boromir tried to take the Ring, but knows it, as Boromir has told him. He likewise knows that the hobbits have been taken, though he does not yet know for certain it is just Merry and Pippin (he\u2019ll realize Frodo and Sam went elsewhere in a couple of pages). In short, Aragorn has encompassed the full magnitude of Boromir\u2019s folly and failure and fears yet more besides. And yet he declares \u201cYou have conquered<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n If you were somewhat unfamiliar with the way Tolkien\u2019s characters work, you might read Aragorn\u2019s statement as merely a comforting lie told to a dying man, but I think that would be profoundly out of character for Aragorn, who does not lie casually. You might also read it as Aragorn merely commenting on how many orcs Boromir slew \u2013 at least twenty before he fell \u2013 but that too would be surprising for Aragorn, who you may note does not take part in Gimli and Legolas\u2019 game at Helm\u2019s Deep.<\/p>\n But then of course Gandalf returns later in the book and offers his own judgement:<\/p>\n Poor Boromir! I could not see what happened to him. It was a sore trial for such a man: a warrior, and a lord of men. Galadriel told me that he was in peril. But he escaped in the end. I am glad. It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir\u2019s sake. (TT 118)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And we should remember here that Gandalf is, in fact, Ol\u00f3rin<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the wisest of the Maiar<\/strong><\/em>. He isn\u2019t all-knowing and indeed in this passage admits to gaps in his knowledge, but his moral intuition and understanding of the spiritual<\/em> structure of Arda <\/a>is unsurpassed by any character we meet or really could meet<\/em> in the context of the narrative. We may take his judgement here as essentially axiomatically true. He too, knows Boromir\u2019s folly (right before this sentence, he essentially tells Aragorn this, without revealing it to Gimli and Legolas) and is a bit more reserved than Aragorn, framing Boromir\u2019s death as an escape from the peril he was in, which Galadriel perceived \u2013 and he chalks up the hobbits having more than a little role in this escape, declaring himself glad of it.<\/p>\n I think the \u201cyoung hobbits\u201d role in this is our key to understand why Boromor \u201cescapes\u201d and \u201cconquers\u201d whereas Celebrimbor fails and falls: evidently Gandalf would have us understand the presence of the \u201cyoung hobbits\u201d accomplished something \u201cfor Boromir\u2019s sake.\u201d They certainly didn\u2019t change the \u2018facts on the ground,\u2019 as it were: their presence changed nothing for Boromir in the Seen world. But they changed everything for Boromir in the Unseen world, which is, I hope we\u2019re coming to understand, the more important one<\/strong>.<\/p>\n We see Boromir, like Celebrimbor, succumb to a moment of temptation \u2013 he tries, by his own admission, to take the ring, a grievous failure. In the period that follows, I think we should understand his sullen silence as a wrestling with what that moment means. Boromir recognizes his failure and regrets it, instantly, after all, but then has to sit with the guilt; it would be all too easy for him to rationalize away his failure \u2013 to say it wasn\u2019t a failure at all, but that Frodo was the fool \u2013 or to fall into despair. But Aragorn bids him to do something<\/em> and that seems to snap Boromir out of his sullen state.<\/p>\n More to the point, the thing Aragorn bids Boromir to do requires the rejection of his false thinking and the embrace of something selfless<\/strong>. Whereas Celebrimbor, at the last, fell defending the very things that had been his sin and ruin \u2013 his pride in his craftsmanship, made manifest and tangible in the Rings \u2013 Boromir does not rush to defend his ambition or the glory of Gondor, or his dreams of conquest. He does not seek a grand audience and indeed when the deed is done, requests scorn, not praise, for it. Instead, otherwise alone, unwatched and unnoticed, he fights a battle he must know is hopeless to answer his charge and defend two young hobbits who are entirely superfluous to the quest<\/em> as he understands it. They don\u2019t matter in the Seen world, which is part of why they matter so much: Boromir isn\u2019t doing this for glory or praise, but merely because it is the right thing to do.<\/p>\n I think Boromir must have had something of a crisis of identity in those sullen minutes. Boromir had imagined himself as the great hero of Gondor and it was this false pride that the ring had used to wedge itself in his mind; in accepting his failure, that false image has to fall away. Boromir has to become someone different and Aragorn, perhaps unknowingly, gives him the opportunity by charging him to do something good with no promise of glory or renown or power, a chance to take the new Boromir forming in the soul and make him real in the world. I think we see a hint of this new Boromir in his dying words, where he bids Aragorn, \u201cGo to Minas Tirith and save my people!\u201d \u2013 the old Boromir would not easily have yielded the glory of saving his people to another, but the new Boromir, a wiser Boromir, recognizes this task was not the one allotted to him; his task was to defend the young hobbits, a task with little hope of glory or power (TT, 18). It did not matter if Boromir succeeded or failed in that task, because the outcome of the battle was less important than the moral choice to fight it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The hobbits matter for Boromir\u2019s sake because they provided the opportunity for him to take his moral transformation and make it real by putting real sacrifice behind it. This is the thing Celebrimbor, defending his rings to the last, does not do. It is necessary to note, of course, that this is a very Christian worldview that Tolkien is advancing: what matters is Boromir\u2019s soul<\/em>, which is influenced by his decision to sacrifice even if the battle is not. Celebrimbor\u2019s actions have the same influence on the battle, but not the same impact on his soul, for he does not abandon his vain ambition, even at the end.<\/p>\n Of course, in Tolkien\u2019s legendarium, the moral force of actions has its own logic to it and bears out its consequences in the Seen world in its own way. Boromir has, after all, in his stout \u2013 if forlorn \u2013 defense of the hobbits, helped to save Gondor, though he knows it not. For the hobbits will now go to the Ents and so help topple Saruman, and from there to Gondor, where Pippin will help to save Faramir from Denethor\u2019s pyre and Merry will help to fell the Witch King on the field of battle. As we\u2019ll see next week, we ought not dismiss that chain of events as \u2018mere chance.\u2019 In Tolkien\u2019s world it is the moral universe, the spiritual value of our choices, that matter most, far more than the physical results those choices produce<\/strong>. It is the choice to fight<\/em> for the good<\/em> rather than victory in battle, that matters to Tolkien and to his world. Yet at the same time, Tolkien exudes a confidence that if we choose to do right, things will be right, even if we do not live to see it.<\/p>\n On Borormir then, I think it is best to give Pippin the last word, \u201cBut I honor his memory, for he was very valiant. He died to save us, my kinsman Meriadoc and myself, waylaid in the woods by the soldiery of the Dark Lord; and though he fell and failed, my gratitude is none the less.\u201d (TT, 29).<\/p>\n And so Celebrimbor fell, but Boromir conquered.<\/p>\nThe Fall of Celebrimbor<\/h2>\n
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Why Boromir Conquered<\/h2>\n
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Like this:<\/h3>\n