So! *clearing throat and trying to properly marshal the facts* This will be both short(er), (sweetly) to the point, and also more rambly than my usual sketches. All to say, I make no apologies.
First for my rant. (And remember, this is all in good fun. Well, mostly. xD)
I’ve mentioned it a couple times recently, but the plan is (very shortly, like, probably before Christmas) to get together with a couple friends and work our way through the full length, extended version of LOTR (hopefully also while sipping warm and cheering fall drinks and nibbling on pasties and seed cakes), all of which will be utterly splendid and I’m really getting very very excited and champing at the bit. I mean, seriously, this is going to be epic! ;D
Also, I’ll have you know that, in general, I’ve become much more forgiving and broadminded than I used to be in days gone by of artistic license happening when translating a book to film -- and I’m bracing myself for the changes that I know were made with certain characters (not promising to like or even accept these particular changes, but there’s not much sense in my discussing those till I’ve at least seen it).
But, there is still one major thing that’s been bugging me exceedingly this week (and nothing to do with Hamlette's utterly and entirely splendiferous Tolkien Party -- my delving into the books preparing posts and getting ready for the read along is just what brought it to mind).
And note: this is an entirely personal matter and I won’t be critical if you love the movie version. Also I don’t mean to cast any aspersions on the casting or acting (cause again, not qualified to judge on that yet), but I am finally ready to admit publicly that part of the reason I haven’t seen them for so long is the way they chose to portray the men of Gondor -- part and parcel, the whole lot of ‘em. (It’s really rather deeply disturbing to me. ;D) Again, I’m not talking about how well they did or didn’t handle their roles, or the choices of the director and scriptwriters. I’m talking solely about the fact that the warrior men of Gondor are always supposed to be dark-haired and grey-eyed.
For many years, I actually always pictured Faramir much like this:
Now before there's any general outcry, I will say I’ve realized my mental image has shifted slightly. Now it’s something more like…
…this, I guess? Maybe?
Anyway.
I haven't seen all the sources for these so purely going off the visuals (and of course allowing for the fact that all of them wouldn’t be wearing crowns, of course). Also, yes, to prove my argument, some of the pictures should be even darker, but hey. I’m doing my best here with certain limited resources to translate what’s in my (crazy but IMHO also very sensible) brain.
We’ll start with Boromir -- the first man of Gondor we meet, and I feel like the one who sets our whole level of expectation, in many ways archetypal. From The Fellowship of the Ring: “…seated a little apart was a tall man with a fair and noble face, dark-haired and grey-eyed, proud and stern of glance.
"He was cloaked and booted as if for a journey on horseback; and indeed though his garments were rich, and his cloak was lined with fur, they were stained with long travel. He had a collar of silver in which a single white stone was set; his locks were shorn about his shoulders. On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped with silver that now was laid upon his knees. He gazed at Frodo and Bilbo with sudden wonder.”
And Denethor. Denethor is not -- very much not -- supposed to look like a Dickens character in a barrister's wig. (Sorry, I know that was strong. Biting even. But I told you, I find this all unsettling. And I will grant that some pictures of Denethor are better than others.)
“…the old man looked up. Pippin saw his carven face with its proud bones and skin like ivory, and the long curved nose between the dark deep eyes; and he was reminded not so much of Boromir as of Aragorn.” (So that’s interesting.) And later: “Denethor looked indeed much more like a great wizard than Gandalf did, more kingly, beautiful, and powerful; and older.” The Return of the King
The descriptions of Faramir are more scattered and tied in with dialogue, but we know he looked much like Boromir. And there are these two snippets from The Two Towers: “Doubt was in the grey eyes that gazed steadily at Frodo.” And “(Faramir) stood up, very tall and stern, his grey eyes glinting.”
(Annnnd… just flipping through this section I have to hold myself back from lapsing into long rabbit trails, especially The Window on the West chapter <333.) *Ok, sternly collecting myself and saving it all for the read along*
BUT, I am going to afflict you with the following, just cause I like it so much, and because I can, and as a reward for my not giving any spoilers from TWotW above: “Presently Pippin saw torches, and followed by a press of people two horsemen riding slowly: one was in white but shining no longer, pale in the twilight as if his fire was spent or veiled; the other was dark and his head was bowed. They dismounted, and as grooms took Shadowfax and the other horse, they walked forward to the sentinel at the gate: Gandalf steadily, his grey cloak flung back, and a fire still smouldering in his eyes; the other, clad all in green, slowly, swaying a little as a weary or a wounded man.
“Pippin pressed forward as they passed under the lamp beneath the gate-arch, and when he saw the pale face of Faramir he caught his breath. It was the face of one who has been assailed by a great fear or anguish, but has mastered it and now is quiet. Proud and grave he stood for a moment as he spoke to the guard, and Pippin gazing at him saw how closely he resembled his brother Boromir—whom Pippin had liked from the first, admiring the great man’s lordly but kindly manner. Yet suddenly for Faramir his heart was strangely moved with a feeling that he had not known before. Here was one with an air of high nobility such as Aragorn at times revealed, less high perhaps, yet also less incalculable and remote: one of the Kings of Men born into a later time, but touched with the wisdom and sadness of the Elder Race. He knew now why Beregond spoke his name with love. He was a captain that men would follow, that he would follow, even under the shadow of the black wings.” The Return of the King
So now we come to Beregond, who’s one of my favorite minor characters in the entire LOTR. He actually doesn’t occupy a terribly large amount of page space (though a large-ish amount for a minor character), but the role he does have is crucial and the tidbits we learn about him are fascinating.
He has family roots and heritage running right back to the old glory days of Ithilien. It’s obvious that he’s a good father and he seems to have strong family feeling as he looks out over those leaving the city, lamenting all those being separated, possibly never to be reunited.
I don’t have any deep symbolism on him for you at the moment and, honestly, I can see film-wise why he was considered extraneous, but it’s still a pity. For me he makes the whole conflict even more relatable. He’s the Everyman (kind of).
Valiant and courageous, his character shows very clearly the shifting tides that come with war and the dangers of blind devotion to an old order. Honor is always honor, but in times of war things can get very messy.
For starters, abandoning your post at all, but especially during war, is a huge thing. And his ongoing story is all wrapped up with the dilemma of whether or not you’re responsible if you’re just following orders. At what point do you have to conscientiously refuse? It’s the sticky spot when leaders fail and fall to the Enemy.
He highlights the whole of the Stewardship-Being-Handed-Over-To-The-Rightful-King business. You have Denethor and Faramir’s polar opposite responses in this regard (more of which at another time) and then there’s the humble guard, Beregond, caught in the middle, showing how the whole problem isn’t black and white. Well, it is, because it’s not really a problem except Denethor made it so. HIS actions force the men under him into horrible decisions -- decisions which, if they are truehearted, means they have to take up sword against their brothers-in-arms and then rightfully deserve the death penalty for their actions.
Denethor loved his son, too, but gave himself over to despair. In Beregond we have valiant hope -- sanity in the midst of madness. Even when things are darkest, you don’t go round reverting to killing yourself like a heathen king. And even if you don’t understand all the deep complexities of the fight and what’s happening round you, you stand by what you believe in the darkest hour -- or what you say you believe isn’t worth a penny weight.
I don’t know. There’s just something about the picture of Beregond -- knowing whichever way things went, his own life would (so far as he knew) definitely be forfeit, still going to hold off the servants sternly following Denethor’s commands. It’s akin to the center of Gaskell’s North and South, where a lie is told to protect another, which lie incidentally proves verity of heart, but is nonetheless a sorrow.
So yeah, it’s all definitely an awful situation, not what we want as normal modus operandi. Though again, it comes back to what I was saying about how this all highlights the madness of Denethor and his entire betrayal to every last person (large and small) in forcing them into horrible corners.
But the upshot is: Faramir is saved.
And Beregond doesn’t rest on his laurels or go into hiding, but into the front ranks facing the enemy outside the gates of Mordor. And of course, in the end Aragorn mercifully pardons him and sends him off as Captain of the White Company, in the guard of Faramir, for whom he risked life and limb.
All of which, thinking of Beregond and his family, not just looking forward to a future of hope and joy, but actually commissioned to go to their ancestral homeland and take dominion and rebuild the ruins -- also probably visiting with the kingdom of Rohan in the service of Faramir and the White Lady and under the new King -- makes me very happy. <3
(Ok, now that I’ve gotten a bunch of that stuff out of my system hopefully I can sit and watch the movie soon-ish without being hypercritical of this aspect. Or, well, to be more realistic, hopefully enjoy it without at least making any appalling, distractingly weird faces or comments. Thanks for bearing with me, y’all! ;D)
Oh! And of course I’d love to hear what you think of the post in general. xD If you've seen the movies, did you have any preconceptions that held you back in the beginning? And do you like Beregond too?
