"A Wizard's Pupil"

Denethor doesn't like Faramir. Why? Well, most people just assume that Denethor is an asshole and leave it at that, but there's actually a lot more to it.

When we first see Denethor and Faramir interact, Denethor seems unusually harsh and cruel to his son, to the point where he tells him that he wished he would have died instead of Boromir. This seems...well, just plain wrong. It's enough to make anyone who was reading the book hate Denethor, since only a bastard and a jerk would tell their only living son something like THAT. However, we soon get a reason for Denethor's dislike of his son; Gandalf.

He calls him "a wizard's pupil", and says that he cares more for Gandalf than he does for his own father. However, this doesn't seem to make sense to me...he literally hates Faramir. In his eyes, he can do NOTHING right. The only time he seems to care about him is when Faramir is on his deathbed, and that's when goes crazy and tries to burn and bury him, despite the that he's still alive. We can assume that Faramir's childhood wasn't the best; his mother died at an early age, and most of his father's affection, if not all, was focused on Boromir. Gandalf, and even Boromir, were the only real fatherly influences in his life; while Denethor was there, he certainly didn't treat Faramir well. I think it's safe to say that Gandalf warped his opinion about his son; he might have loved him, if it were not for his affection to and respect of Gandalf. However, due to it, Denethor's opinion of him grew much lower, to the point where he can honestly say that he hates his son.

Speaking of childhood; Denethor must have been kind to him, at least for a short while, before he came into contact with Gandalf. Once again, we don't really know how often Gandalf was around during Faramir's childhood; enough to make Denethor resent how much Faramir liked him, and enough for Faramir to become a "pupil" of sorts to Gandalf. [after all, he wasn't tempted by the ring, while almost all other men are. This was due to Gandalf's influence.] And Denethor does seem to care about him, at least a little; he asks for his son when Faramir calls out for him, but he was insane by that time, so it's questionable as to if that actually counts or not. However, he must have felt some affection for his son; enough for him to be jealous of Gandalf "stealing" Faramir from him.