Richard Armitage every bit Thorin Oakenshield, and Sean Bean equally Boromir
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Legacy of the People: The Burdens of Thorin Oakenshield and Boromir of Gondor
By DarkJackal

I'g sure you've seen it stated already, "Richard Armitage's Thorin is the Aragorn of The Hobbit." I considered this a while agone, particularly in calorie-free of the fact Viggo Mortensen and Armitage both sing a mean solo tune, simply after initial enthusiasm for the idea, I discarded it for lack of proof.  Information technology might appear that Thorin and Aragorn, as returning kings, would have much in common, only despite a few similarities, they are less alike than Thorin is to Boromir (read this essay by Susan Messer Chan for a comparing of Thorin and Aragorn).  Although these are somewhat superfluous details, both Thorin and Boromir are still unmarried, had younger brothers and potent-willed fathers. Both have seen war and are renowned for their bravery.  Boromir may not be royalty, merely he is the closest affair to it in the Heir of Isildur'due south absence.  Meanwhile, Thorin has the credentials of a male monarch, but few people treat him as such.  Before his pocket-sized reign in the Bluish Mountains, he had endured exile and a catamenia of humility, returning to basic blacksmithing for survival (despite this he has not lost a sense of self-importance).  But well-nigh importantly, Boromir and Thorin have tangible flaws, while Aragorn's are so fleeting they may pass unmarked (let's face information technology, Aragorn is well-nigh messianic in his perfection).  Both leaders make decisions which favor their own nations to the possible detriment of others.  I experience that with the King nether the Mountain, and the Steward's son, Tolkien challenges the reader to determine if putting the needs of one'south own people ahead of all other peoples tin can be considered noble or non. This is pretty typical behavior for a leader (if they are non looking out for your interests, they are non much of a leader) but when these characters are compared to someone similar Aragorn, who sets aside the fulfillment of his personal legacy while protecting many races, they come across as selfish and unenlightened, which is rather unfair (read my essay for a further defence of Thorin's behavior in the original book).

I must be careful when comparing characters in the Tolkien universe to identify the source as either movie or film, since there can be wide discrepancies betwixt each. Picture-Boromir is both hero and villain, most famous for having assisted, and then betrayed, the Ringbearer (and overall, he remains very similar to his textual counterpart). In contrast, movie-Thorin comes across as an unflinching hero, with the writers even adding in moments where he risks his life to save Balin and Bilbo.  This is a decidedly unlike vibe from the early capacity of The Hobbit. It is true Tolkien's Thorin had a moment or two of fearless altruism, such as when he fights the trolls with a burning branch afterwards the balance of his Company take been put in sacks, but these great deeds are start past having been the one to encourage Bilbo to wander alone into what turned out to exist the troll camp (you lot'll observe in the film that Thorin is not to arraign for Bilbo having a run in with the trolls).  I feel the improver of Bilbo and Balin'southward rescue was made to more firmly establish Thorin'due south hero status, so that information technology will be much more hard to sentinel what happens to him in later on films (if you don't call up that is necessary, keep in heed he will have some strong contest for the valiant leader spot from Luke Evans' Bard, and Orlando Bloom'due south Legolas in the next pic, and maybe from Lee Pace's Elvenking in the third film).

Fortunately, Richard Armitage assures us that by the last moving-picture show Thorin will probably become more distasteful to viewers.  In the interests of graphic symbol complication, I hope he is right.  Although Armitage'due south Thorin makes a standout hero in An Unexpected Journey, the unique ability of Tolkien'south Thorin was being able to inspire readers to both dear and detest the deportment he takes. We simply run across a hint of the darkness inherent in the grapheme in this film (mostly through the scene where he lingers in the shadows of Erebor while witnessing his granddad'southward growing obsession with gilt).

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Fifty-fifty if you know naught about what happens later in the book, and the part which "dragon sickness" plays on the mind of dwarves, the viewer should exist able to recognize a sense of foreboding here, which relates to more than just the gold luring the dragon to the mountain.

Merely as much as I would dearest to compare and contrast the moving-picture show versions of Boromir and Thorin, I don't believe justice tin be done to the task without witnessing the full wheel of Thorin'due south cinematic fate, which won't be realized until December of 2014.  Then barring that, we must render to the text.  In this essay I will draw on all the sources in which Tolkien wrote almost Thorin, including The Hobbit, "The Quest of Erebor" in The Unfinished Tales, and "Appendix A" of The Return of the King, and for Boromir, from The Fellowship of the Ring, and The 2 Towers.

*Spoilers for the books to follow*

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"Orcrist" and "Boromir" by Magali Villeneuve

Before nosotros run into them, Boromir and Thorin accept long had difficulties which they cannot overcome on their own; Boromir'due south people are in danger of being overrun by the forces of Mordor.  Thorin's people accept been in exile for many years with no ability to oust the source of their troubles:

The years lengthened. The embers in the centre of Thorin grew hot once more, as he brooded on the wrongs of his House and of the vengeance upon the Dragon that was bequeathed to him. He thought of weapons and armies and alliances, as his great hammer rang in the forge; simply the armies were dispersed and the alliances broken and the axes of his people were few; and a not bad anger without promise burned him, as he smote the ruby atomic number 26 on the anvil. (Appendix A, ROTK)

Both leaders possess just plenty humility and open-mindedness to seek out assistance from untested allies; Boromir takes it upon himself to brand a solo journey to Rivendell afterwards his blood brother Faramir has a prophetic dream encouraging such activeness (Boromir claims he once shared the dream). As for Thorin, he just happened to be in the same location every bit Gandalf when the two thought about asking for the others' assist. This bolstered the idea that their take a chance coming together was more than just coincidence.  Every bit Gandalf recounted:

He was troubled too, so troubled that he actually asked for my advice. Then I went with him to his halls in the Blue Mountains, and I listened to his long tale. I presently understood that his heart was hot with brooding on his wrongs, and the loss of the treasure of his forefathers, and burdened also with the duty of revenge upon Smaug that he had inherited. Dwarves accept such duties very seriously. (The Unfinished Tales)

Both Thorin and Boromir are disappointed in the type of assist they are able to procure. In "Quest of Erebor", Thorin is very reluctant to trust Gandalf'due south pick of a burglar.  Similarly, Boromir is initially suspicious and scornful of Aragorn, and taken ashamed when he is revealed equally Isildur'south Heir.  After recounting his own people'south failing efforts to hold back the growing forces of Mordor, his agony is patently, but his pride is fifty-fifty more than obvious.  It is Boromir who commencement suggests they utilize the power of the Band rather than destroy it, but he reluctantly accepts the decision of the Council, and assures them Gondor volition continue the fight to the concluding. But he also suggests that help (in the form of Aragorn) must come shortly if it is to be of any use. He does not actually refuse the idea of Aragorn returning and challenge his birthright, but he is impatient to run across if the Ranger will live up to expectations.

When Thorin sought Gandalf's aid, he was likely expecting the wizard to conjure upwardly something more than impressive than Bilbo Baggins. Similar Boromir, Thorin was ho-hum to have the concept of not using force to get what he wanted, as Gandalf explains:

I promised to help him if I could. I was every bit eager as he was to see the end of Smaug, but Thorin was all for plans of battle and war, equally if he were really King Thorin the Second, and I could see no hope in that. (The Unfinished Tales)

Just Thorin does get along with Gandalf's plan, and despite hardships along the way, in that location is no great falling out between any of the Company until they get to the Lonely Mount, and well after the dragon is killed. It is then that the differences betwixt dwarves and hobbits sally and become a indicate of contention.  Thorin is simply beginning to reassert his claim to his kingdom by marshaling whatever means he can in its defense.  He is determined most non allowing himself to be pushed into a compromise by the army of the Elvenking.  Being of a very different mind, Bilbo begins to weary of the siege he has go entrapped in, and longs for peace and abode.

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"On the Doorstep" by Chris Rahn

Similarly, during his journey with the Fellowship, Boromir is on good terms with his companions, even if he offers differing opinions.  It takes a while before he starts to develop an unhealthy obsession over what he intends to do most the Ring.  Before the audience with Galadriel in Lorien, he agrees to aid the Ringbearer every bit much as he can earlier departing for Gondor. Just whatever Galadriel put into his heed as a exam of character awoke the very affair she suspected was lying fallow; a personal desire for the Band. Boromir begins to fall into darker thoughts, which some of the others sense. Frodo noticed the alter back in Lorien, and in the boats on the Great River, Boromir'due south state of heed becomes manifestly enough that Pippin sees an odd gleam in his middle.

It is interesting that Thorin was also in close proximity to the Ring for an extended fourth dimension, but felt no desire for it. Reasons for this may include the Ring not having the same power over dwarves equally other races, merely well-nigh probable because Sauron had not yet begun his campaign to get the Ring to return to him through its bearer. Instead of the Ring, Thorin has a personal obsession with another object; the Arkenstone, which has significantly less importance to Heart-earth than the Band, but far more importance to Thorin on a personal level:

"For the Arkenstone of my father," he said, "is worth more than a river of gilt in itself, and to me it is beyond price. That stone of all the treasure I proper name unto myself, and I volition exist avenged on anyone who finds it and withholds it." (The Hobbit)

The Arkenstone is of great importance to the direct descendants of Thrain I, who found it in the Alone Mount, and passed information technology down for generations.  Information technology was a unique glowing gem, but comparing it to something like the Silmarils, (other gems which caused not bad strife inside and between the races) the Arkenstone is a relative newcomer to the listing of Centre-globe artifacts (just known to the dwarves for 800 years or and then). It has no true powers (aside from its glow). It was not fabricated by anyone important, nor played a peachy role in past events. The Elvenking is later impressed by it, and Bilbo is driven to pocket it, so we know it must be very attractive (enchanting), merely no one, bated from Thorin, absolutely must accept information technology. It is an heirloom, simply fifty-fifty there we have piffling description of how it was used in dwarven civilisation (of course the film expands on this to make the stone vital to Thror's merits of dominion over everyone in the expanse, including the elves, but that'southward taking it rather far). Ane could speculate at that place was some sort of intangible connexion between the kings of Erebor and the Mountain's Heart, but this is just a fancy of mine. More than rationally, it was a convenient focal point for their pride.

Like Boromir after Lorien, Thorin's change of personality happens one time they are in the Solitary Mount with the Arkenstone nonetheless undiscovered by him, and the armies of the Lake-men and Elves making demands outside the gate. Having institute the stone in the dragon hoard, Bilbo suspected that Thorin would not forgive him for keeping it secret, simply he however held onto it.  Despite this, or more likely because of this, Bilbo formulates his plan to use the Arkenstone as leverage to stop the siege.

The main divergence between Thorin and Boromir is that Thorin is betrayed by a member of his Company, while Boromir betrays the Fellowship he has agreed to protect.  When Frodo ventures off solitary to recall of his decision regarding the breaking of the Fellowship, he feels an unfriendly presence even before he sees the smiling confront of Boromir.  It is the fact that Boromir has become sneaky which disgraces him every bit much equally annihilation. Thorin never hides his intentions from his allies. Whether or not Bilbo'due south decision regarding the stone was ultimately more ethical than Thorin's is immaterial.  Information technology is truthful that after the betrayal by Bilbo, Thorin secretly hopes Dain'south army can get there earlier he is forced to give up the gold that would have been paid to get back the rock, but since he was being blackmailed into information technology, one tin inappreciably call this foul play.

This is non to say that Thorin has no flaws, but they should be judged according to the perceptions of his own people, which nosotros have little knowledge of save for a line or two from Bombur to Bilbo, correct before Bilbo is nigh to take the stone to the enemy.  Bombur'southward words marking Thorin equally a stubborn dwarf:

"A sorry business concern altogether.  Non that I venture to disagree with Thorin, may his bristles grow e'er longer; yet he was e'er a dwarf with a strong neck." (The Hobbit)

Clearly Bombur is not the ultimate example to judge other dwarves by, with a desire to swallow and slumber being his prime number motivators (rather like a hobbit).  But it does requite the feeling that Thorin was known to be difficult to persuade in one case he gear up his heed to something.  Even and so, you don't run across the whole Company stand against him openly at whatsoever time in the story.  In that location is a chip of muttering from the "younger dwarves" who would before have preferred to welcome the merry-making armies outside as friends rather than enemies, but although Tolkien later names Fili, Kili, and Bombur equally having wished for a different solution, most still believe Thorin to be in the correct.  Later there is more widely felt dismay at the manner Thorin behaves to Bilbo at the Gate, but it remains unspoken, and so what he chooses to practise must not exist entirely unacceptable to them.

By this indicate in Boromir'due south story, the power of the Ring had bested him, and turned his listen from a simple desire to protect Gondor, to the idea that he could rule quite effectively in Aragorn's absence:

"Boromir strode up and down, speaking ever more loudly. Nigh he seemed to accept forgotten Frodo, while his talk dwelt on walls and weapons, and the mustering of men; and he drew plans for cracking alliances and glorious victories to be; and he cast downwardly Mordor, and became himself a mighty king, benevolent and wise." (FOTR)

This is reminiscent of Thorin's thoughts "of weapons and armies and alliances" and his unlikely (in Gandalf's stance) "plans of battle and war".  Both were thinking every bit if they were kings, and still neither had the resources of a king, and the futility of this makes them announced foolish.

At this point Boromir discards pretense, making his intentions clear to Frodo.  His statement is non unreasonable; the Ringbearer wandering without escort of an army into the very centre of the evil that seeks it does sound like a bad idea. Simply Boromir refuses to recognize that he is existence manipulated by Sauron when he thinks such thoughts.  It takes an exceptional amount of trust in the council of the Wise, and an immense strength of will, to gainsay the siren vocal of the Ring, and Boromir was poor in this regard. The fact that he made it then far before attempting to take the Ring is a testament to his inherently honorable nature.

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"Boromir" by Deligaris

Both Boromir and Thorin descend into a maddened state when their respective hobbits thwart what they consider their correct to the object of their want.  Boromir shouts at Frodo:

"If whatever mortals have claim to this Band, information technology is the men of Numenor, and not Halflings. It is not yours save by unhappy chance. It might have been mine. It should be mine. Give information technology to me!"…And suddenly he sprang over the stone and leaped at Frodo. His off-white and pleasant face was hideously changed; a raging burn was in his eyes. (TTT)

Thorin reacts no better when he sees the Arkenstone in the hands of his enemies:

Thorin at length bankrupt the silence, and his vocalisation was thick with wrath. "That stone was my father's, and is mine," he said…."How came you by it?" shouted Thorin in gathering rage. (The Hobbit)

When Bilbo admits that it was he who handed the Arkenstone over to Bard and the Elvenking, Thorin is not at all mollified by his honesty:

"You! Yous!" cried Thorin, turning upon him and grasping him with both hands. "You miserable hobbit! You undersized—burglar!" he shouted at a loss for words, and he shook poor Bilbo like a rabbit. (The Hobbit)

Gandalf finally speaks up and helps to redirect Thorin's anger, persuading him to give Bilbo back unharmed, which he does with a curse. He wastes no time in sending messages to his budgeted allies from the Iron Hills, informing them of the treachery.  Thorin remains convinced he is doing the right thing, until possibly the very last moments of his life.

Boromir, on the other mitt, feels the guilt of his actions immediately later Frodo disappears. Just his honor wavers again as he only half explains to the group what transpired between himself and Frodo. Sam said it best when he told himself "Boromir isn't lying, that's not his mode; but he hasn't told us everything."  The typical honesty of Boromir is another mark in his favor, even if it slipped into deceit at the worst time.  Incidentally, Thorin is also a poor liar in the books, presumably from lack of exercise.  The story he gave to the Goblin King would fool no one, and his terse answers to the Elvenking'southward questioning in the dungeon of Mirkwood showed someone who would rather trust to silence than invention (I was pleased to see the movie version is mayhap even less skilled at lying, being well-nigh entirely silent during the audience with the Goblin Male monarch, and leaving the talking to Gandalf when Elrond asks about the map).

When Aragorn hears virtually what transpired with Frodo, he knows Boromir has actually done information technology this time, but gives him a gamble at redemption by finding and protecting Merry and Pippin from orcs. Pippin later recounted the fight:

Then Boromir had come leaping through the trees. He had made them fight. He slew many of them and the residue fled. But they had non gone far on the way back when they were attacked again, by a hundred Orcs at to the lowest degree, some of them very large, and they shot a rain of arrows: e'er at Boromir. Boromir had diddled his great horn till the woods rang, and at kickoff the Orcs had been dismayed and had drawn back; but when no answer just the echoes came, they had attacked more fiercely than e'er. (TTT)

Aragorn hears the sound of Boromir's horn, though he is non there to encounter the final fight:

Then suddenly with a deep-throated call a great horn blew, and the blasts of it smote the hills and echoed in the hollows, rising in a mighty shout in a higher place the roaring of the falls. (TTT)

There is an echo of the motif of the horn in a similar scene from Thorin's charge into the Boxing of Five Armies:

"To me! To me! Elves and Men! To me! O my kinsfolk!" He cried, and his vocalisation shook like a horn in the valley. (The Hobbit)

While both Boromir and Thorin were able to beat back the enemy for a short time, the tide shortly turned against them.  Thorin's group was "forced into a great ring, facing every way, hemmed all about with goblins and wolves returning to the set on."  The terminal stand of Thorin is given as an account subsequently the battle:

The dwarves were making a stand up nevertheless about their lords upon a low rounded hill. Then Beorn stooped and lifted Thorin, who had fallen pierced with spears, and bore him out of the fray. (The Hobbit)

We detect just how desperate the fight had become when we larn that Fili and Kili had "fallen defending him with shield and trunk, for he was their mother'south elder blood brother."

Boromir's battle had been lost equally well.  When Aragorn found him, he was lone, and the hobbits had been taken:

He was sitting with his dorsum to a smashing tree, as if he was resting. But Aragorn saw that he was pierced with many black-feathered arrows; his sword was however in his hand, but information technology was broken near the hilts; his horn cloven in 2 was at his side. Many Orcs lay slain, piled all about him and at his feet. (TTT)

Thorin besides showed the marks of a brutal battle:

There indeed lay Thorin Oakenshield, wounded with many wounds, and his rent armour and notched axe were cast upon the floor. (The Hobbit)

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"The Decease of Thorin" by John Howe, and "The Decease of Boromir" past CG Warrior

In his dying moments, Boromir admits to his ignoble actions:

Aragorn knelt beside him. Boromir opened his eyes and strove to speak. At last slow words came. "I tried to take the Ring from Frodo," he said. "I am pitiful. I have paid….Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed."

"No!" said Aragorn, taking his hand and kissing his brow. "You lot have conquered. Few take gained such a victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall!"

Boromir smiled. (TTT)

Besides, Bilbo has a last audience with Thorin:

"Farewell, expert thief," he said. "I get now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed. Since I leave now all gold and silver, and go where it is of little worth, I wish to function in friendship from y'all, and I would take dorsum my words and deeds at the Gate."

Bilbo knelt on one knee filled with sorrow. "Farewell, King under the Mountain!" he said. "This is a bitter chance, if information technology must end so; and non a mountain of gold tin can amend information technology. Even so I am glad that I accept shared in your perils—that has been more than whatever Baggins deserves."

"No!" said Thorin. "At that place is more than in you of good than yous know, child of the kindly W. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of united states valued food and cheer and vocal in a higher place hoarded gilded, information technology would be a merrier world. Merely sad or merry, I must go out it at present. Farewell!" (The Hobbit)

At the end, Boromir and Thorin acknowledge their mistakes, and apologize of their choices.  Later expiry, both are laid to rest with slap-up dignity.  Thorin was buried in the Lonely Mount, and his former enemies, Bard and the Elvenking, laid the Arkenstone and Orcrist upon his tomb.

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"They buried Thorin deep below the Mountain" by Alan Lee

Boromir was gear up upon the Great River in an elven boat by the remaining members of the Fellowship, with his cloven horn and broken sword.  Through his death, Boromir had regained the respect of his companions, and the song that Aragorn and Legolas sing of him shows only remorse and honor.

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"Boromir at Rauros Falls" by Ted Nasmith

But after all this, the question remains, can Thorin and Boromir notwithstanding be considered noble? I experience the answer is an obvious yes, because while they may have made mistakes in life, both gave upwardly their lives in payment.  They never desired things but for their ain needs.  Information technology is a very fine line, but in peckish the Arkenstone, Thorin sought to protect the manifestation of his people'southward pride, while Boromir's want for the Ring was simply to help the people of Gondor.  The Wise would have steered them abroad from such folly, but like most people of Center-earth, they did non possess great wisdom, only a proud eye, a heavy burden, and the deeply felt legacy of their people.

And now, for some other comparison of Thorin and Boromir, I encourage y'all to read Susan Messer Chan's essay, which comes to slightly different conclusions about these two characters.

Boosted info: For those who were wondering near what the scene from the flick showing Thorin backing into the shadows might signify, hither is an interview which is relevant.  On page two Richard Armitage talks virtually greed, dragon sickness, Thror, and Thorin'due south feelings virtually it all.