Opinion

When I was first reading The Lord of the Rings, Faramir, like Eowyn, was just there for me; he was just Boromir's little brother, no one really important. That was, once agian, until I re-read it. One of the first things I noticed was Denethor, Faramir, and Boromir's truly twisted family dynamics; sure, there was a loving relationship between Faramir and Boromir, but that was about the only really healthy relationship in that family. Finduilas, the only woman of that family, passed away when Faramir was only four, leaving Faramir with a cold father and brother who would have to serve as sort of a foster-father. At first, I felt pity for him, especially when his father told him that he wished it was he who would have died instead of his brother.

Then I began to see him as just more of a background character. He obviously came from a troubled home, and yet grew into so noble a man. He was actually able to resist the pull of the ring, while in the end, it lead to the death of his brother. He began to interest me more than he did at first glance, and he seemed to be more complex and interesting the more I thought about him.

When I got to the romance of Faramir and Eowyn in The Steward and the King, he became one of my favourite characters. For one thing, he obviously had very good taste in women, to fall in love with one of the coolest women upon Middle-earth. And he wasn't put off by her icy demenor, and he didn't pity her; he loved her for what she was, even though she was convinced at this point that there was no point to life. Instead of telling her that she was wrong for feeling that way and that there was so much to life, he decided to show her - and to me, that was really impressive, since it seemed that he knew that was something she needed to learn on her own, not be told by someone else. Faramir really captivated me the second time around; I just seemed to love everything about him, and as of now, he has to be one of my favourite literay characters of all time.