I agree with your thoughts on Boromir to an extent. He is a good man and a good leader but like most he is weak willed when compared with the power, temptation and corruption of the ring. Very few can withstand it for any length of time, the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo were able to weather it better than most but even they were changed by it. Gandalf even does not trust himself with the ring and refuses to touch it.
Boromir's fall served two purposes from a story perspective. It follows Galadriel's own explanation just before it that she were to take the ring she would use it at first for good but it would corrupt her too eventually and she would become a Dark Queen in the place of the Dark Lord. So even though Boromir's intention to use the ring to defend Gondor may appear noble it would ultimately be used for ill. It also directly parallels with Aragorn's own temptation when Frodo freely offers him the ring and he over comes his lust for it and rejects it. In doing so he demonstrates that he is worthy, free of the curse of his line and the true King. He knows what Boromir and Isildur could not see, there is no using the ring, the ring uses you. It also allowed Boromir to accept Aragorn as is true king when he realised the difference between the two of them.
It also juxtaposes with Faramir's own temptation in the Two Towers. When a certain Captain of Gondor allows Frodo to go free with the ring and so proving his quality. Denethor was wrong about his sons. Boromir was loved by his men, a good warrior and military commander but Faramir would be a just and wise King.
Once Boromir had finally fallen under the thrall of the ring (when he tried to take it from Frodo) he would likely always be a danger to the ring bearer and would not be able to trust himself in its company. Even poor Bilbo lashed out in Rivendale when he saw it again, trying to take it for his own if even for the briefest of moments.
In terms of Pippin, I think we should apply the same lesson learned from Gandalf's words of wisdom to Frodo concerning Gollum:
?€œMany that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement"
My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill" "The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many."
Pippin saved Merry from Shagrat and Merry of course was instrumental in the demise of the Witchking. Pippin and Merry convinced the Ents to march and so led to the demise of Saruman and his armies. If Pippin had not recklessly looked into the Palantir then Sauron would not have wrongly suspected that they were taking the ring to Gondor and so committed his armies early against them. Pippin broke the news of Boromir's death to Denethor in a way which smoothed over the tensions between him and Gandalf as best as possible allowing Gandalf run of the city (something he could not have done on his own). Pippin also was the only one of Denethor's honour guard to defy him, saving Faramir and assisting Gandalf in rallying the people of Minas Tirith.
Maybe Gandalf always suspected that Merry and Pippin had a part to play like Gollum... I doubt he brought them along just for the benefit of their company and second breakfast.
Oh my Gods I hadn't read/answered this extremely interesting post!!
Tolkien has subtexts all over the place. His taking so long to produce LOTR was not by his being lazy or too busy.
One of the subtexts is that of the weaker having their relevance in the big order of things, and that being the reason why there are stronger ones and weaker ones on this Earth. What Sam and Frodo did remembers me of Vietnam, or the David vs Goliath myth. Pippin and Merry follow another arc, which I think runs above the subtext of fault and redemption, combined with the idea that the apparently unfit can actually be fit but in an unclear way, and so go on to do relevant contributions. Life itself.
At the lowest point, Pippin certainly deserved a punishment he never received: he didn't even had the spare time to torture himself much with grief/guilt/remorse during the following months after his "deed". Yet, by mere (and very relevant) chances, and because of his own personal merits (that go together with his own personal flaws), he was instrumental in the later chain of events (as you have all rushed to point out). Fault and redemption. Flaws and merits. Very unclear, but it all works out in the end. Life is like that. Tolkien knew it and so expressed it.
BTW guys, one lesson from my History teacher at highschool. It is useless to speculate much with what might had happened, had some factor in a historical process been different or modified. You guys will never know what might had happened had Boromir and Gandalf survived. It is just too complex a process for any sensible historical extrapolation. Things might have worked out anyway, maybe quicker and with less losses, or maybe Hitler would have won WWII of the Ring in the end. You can only ever hope to infer pretty evident stuff, like that causing the deaths of 2 of the more valuable assets rallying on the Light Side (one directly caused the other), plus full credit in the ensuing dismantling of the Fellowship, and being so instrumental in ruining The Plan, can never be considered a great contribution to the good guys' cause, even with Eru's serendipity on their side.
One last point: "Once Boromir had finally fallen under the thrall of the ring (when he tried to take it from Frodo) he would likely always be a danger to the ring bearer and would not be able to trust himself in its company. Even poor Bilbo lashed out in Rivendale when he saw it again, trying to take it for his own if even for the briefest of moments."
Man, Boromir DID learn from his mistake. His words, when he came back to his senses, were genuine and clear. But he did not only talk, and this is my own thinking: maybe because of his renewed commitment, maybe to prove exactly that he had learnt, he sacrificed himself (none the less than Gondor's most important asset) for the sake of an irrelevant, harmful midget and his cousin, which he wouldn't have cared less about just 1 month prior. By doing so, the amount of trouble in Gondor waiting for the remaining Fellows only multiplied, btw. Had the remaining Fellows entered the White City with this new Boromir, things MIGHT have developed quite differently, MAYBE for the better, no serendipity involved thank you very much.
Wouldn't you guys agree?
Thx,
m.
