"The Departure of Boromir" - Ben's Thoughts

This chapter, the first of "Two Towers," only solidifies my belief that the final moments of the Fellowship really do belong in the first (and eponymous) book.

The first thing I noticed about the chapter was the first word: "Aragorn." This really is Aragorn's time to shine -- he is the central character of Books III and V. I wonder if that first word was Tolkien signaling to his readership or just a coincidence, but I think it was a striking break from "Fellowship." That break from the past, at least, did belong and work well in the new book. It was nice to spend so much time in Aragorn's head, as well -- his competency and indecision are at the forefront here, and we really feel his frustration when he mounts to the top of Amon Hen and all he can see is the eagle (presumably winging Gandalf back to earth after his sojourn in limbo; more on that of course when the wizard makes his triumphant reappearance). It is interesting that Frodo was able to see so much and Aragorn so little; perhaps the Ring had something to do with that. One wonders, however, just how the Kings of Gondor in ages past used Amon Hen and whether it showed them more that the foggy obscurity that Aragorn was shown. Perhaps Aragorn's inability to actually use the "hill of seeing" was a result of Sauron's influence over the land more than anything else.

While Gimli and Legolas, as Jacob noted, are still just one-note sidekicks here, rather than fullly-fleshed characters, Aragorn's arc from the first book is resolved in a fairly satisfying way (although not as satisfying, I maintain, if he had been required to make a proactive, affirmative choice rather than an after-the-fact choice as he does here) with his decision to leave the Ring in the hands of fate rather than his own. Unfortunately, as I indicated above, that arc should have begun and ended in its entirety in the first book. It shouldn't have been carried over here. I know no real reason why "The Departure of Boromir" had to be in "Two Towers" -- indeed, the chapter is so short that one is at a loss as to why it wasn't just merged with "Breaking of the Fellowship." Aragorn's decision could have come right before the final scenes of the first book, with Sam and Frodo heading into the Emyn Muil.

Boromir, too, should have been wrapped up in the first book. His confession to Aragorn that he tried to take the Ring from Frodo seems like the conclusion of his story. Although the confession is lacking the pathos of Jackson's elegiac final Boromir scene (Sean Bean's "Mine is the true ruin" delivers a real emotional punch), his death is quietly understated. I don't know whether Tolkien really managed to sell the Boromir-Aragorn relationship in the way that Jackson managed to in the film, but I thought it was effective.

Just a word on the song -- I know you guys are down on all the poetry, but I see them (most of the time) as a feature, not as a bug. When I was a kid, I loved this song in particular; I think I sang it to myself to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (which pretty much works except for the fourth and eighth lines of each verse). For Tolkien, story and verse were pretty intertwined; I just read about how he wrote a prose version of "The Children of Húrin" and then a long verse version transliterated from an Old English poetry form that was virtually unused in modern English; then he wrote out the remainder of the story. It was the guy's life. The poems are pretty good in and of themselves, even if they do interrupt the flow of the story.

Anyway, not a whole lot to say about this chapter; it's short, a transition piece, and doesn't really belong in this third book. Onward to the plains of Rohan!