'So it seems,' said Faramir, slowly and very softly, with a strange smile. 'So that is the answer to all the riddles! The One Ring that was thought to have perished from the world. And Boromir tried to take it by force? And you escaped? And ran all the way – to me! And here in the wild I have you: two halflings, and a host of men at my call, and the Ring of Rings. A pretty stroke of fortune! A chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, to show his quality! Ha!' He stood up, very tall and stern, his grey eyes glinting.
Frodo and Sam sprang from their stools and set themselves side by side with their backs to the wall, fumbling for their sword-hilts. There was a silence. All the men in the cave stopped talking and looked towards them in wonder. But Faramir sat down again in his chair and began to laugh quietly, and then suddenly became grave again.
'Alas for Boromir! It was too sore a trial!' he said. 'How you have increased my sorrow, you two strange wanderers from a far country, bearing the peril of Men! But you are less judges of Men than I of Halflings. We are truth-speakers, we men of Gondor. We boast seldom, and then perform, or die in the attempt. Not if I found it on the highway would I take it I said. Even if I were such a man as to desire this thing, and even though I knew not clearly what this thing was when I spoke, still I should take those words as a vow, and be held by them.
'But I am not such a man. Or I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which a man must flee. Sit at peace! And be comforted, Samwise. If you seem to have stumbled, think that it was fated to be so. Your heart is shrewd as well as faithful, and saw clearer than your eyes. For strange though it may seem, it was safe to declare this to me. It may even help the master that you love. It shall turn to his good, if it is in my power. So be comforted. But do not even name this thing again aloud. Once is enough.'
And this, right here, is the exact moment that Faramir because my favorite character when i read it as an eight year old child, and why he has never been bumped from that #1 spot in the 20+ years since.
i've talked about this before, but there can never be enough said about how good this moment is.
Ever since we were first introduced to Faramir, both we the readers and Frodo have been conflicted about whether or not to trust him. He reminds us all of Boromir, and while that's usually not a bad thing the last time Frodo and Boromir saw each other does make all of us second guess everything. And the fact that he Boromir's brother just makes that seem to be an even more likely eventuality that he will be tempted in the same way that Boromir was.
No... as much as we want to trust Faramir, as much as we are reminded of Aragorn and Elrond and Gandalf as well as of Boromir, it's probably a much safer course of action not to risk confiding in him.
But then Sam slips and he tells the secret that we all - Frodo, Sam, and the readers - are in agreement that we probably shouldn't be telling Faramir. And his response is terrifying, because he is described in almost the exact same words as Boromir was when he tried to take the Ring.
But then... he sits down again. He doesn't make a move towards the Hobbits, he doesn't fall into the same pitfall that took Boromir, and instead reaffirms the trust we wanted to put in him and comforts Sam so that he will not blame himself for what he would undoubtedly have considered a massive mistake.
And we realize that everything he was saying earlier that made us so badly want to trust him has now been backed by his actions.
it's not that Faramir wouldn't be tempted by the Ring. But while Boromir acted from his heart and did not allow wisdom to guide his actions, Faramir acts from a place of wisdom and allows the empathy and compassion of his heart to inform those actions.
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rough childhood headcanon qs / @clxscdeyes / no longer accepting !
╰┈➤ 7 . how old was your muse when they realized they had childhood trauma?
||. one whole "today years old" post!ragnarok and hela's reveal. Except, even then, according to the movie, not really because Thor is still in heavy denial about all of it where Odin is concerned. I've spoken a bit (here) about how Thor adores his family; he idolizes them and views them through blinding rose-colored glasses, (especially when they're deceased) and that is especially true of his circumstances.
So, very often times when the truth clashes with the rose-colored view of them (namely: his father), Thor does one of two things: find a way to justify the words or action with the surrounding context of the time to make it make sense (e.g., well he scolded me harshly because i was talking back), or avoid it altogether. (this is his go-to. no talking about it; thor would rather not right now, so he does not.)
Key example being: he would rather focus on how his father changed his ways, and the Odin that he knew and grew up with was a man who had turned away from pursuing war for war's sake, and was instead one who valued peace and life. He would rather focus on that aspect of Odin, and take in the broader picture of Odin's life. REGARDLESS of the fact that what Thor is deeply, personally affected - not with the realization that Odin changed his ways once upon a time - but by the fact that he lied to him, manipulated him, and controlled and shaped every aspect of his being, for Thor's whole life, JUST to avoid another Hela. Someone who Thor is not, could not be farther from, and never knew about, because Odin (apparently) kept the matter of his true first-born a closely-guarded secret and seemingly would have continued to were it not for Odin's death, Hela's escape, and Ragnarok all coinciding at the same moment in time.
And this, all because Thor rationalizes it as "well, I wouldn't want to be remembered and judged based on the person that I used to be. I should extend that same kindness to my father, because he too, changed." (x10 because now Odin is dead. And it's in poor-taste to speak ill of a dead man.)
The problem namely being: Thor only talks about things when Thor decides it's time to talk about things ; when he is ready. ...but as this is a topic that ripple effects down to Thor's core, good luck getting him to open up about it, even just with himself.
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