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lotesseThere's this idea floating around, due in whole to the films, that in the text of The Lord of the Rings Faramir is a static character who has no journey or development arc. This, I would argue, is not the case.
Faramir is a good man, a man of peace and knowledge and compassion, even when we first meet him. He can resist temptation. He can do his duty. He's a pretty together guy, and I think that's a good part of the reason why he is so beloved. He's a character who endears himself to the geeks, and he's the ultimately crush-worthy guy.
But static goodness or perfection is boring. Witness the animosity of fen towards Mary Sues and their ilk. We hate them, and some theorize that it is due to their perfection. They're irritating and boring and just no fun. And yet Faramir is still loved beyond all reason by really a lot of people. To me, this says that there must be some sort of growth, some sort of narrative arc, within his story. We can see its effects even if we cannot name it directly with ease.
Faramir is a good man, but he suffers a good deal from his father's coldness and disapproval. He has a thirst to prove himself, which teeters dangerously on the edge of becoming ruthless ambition. If his principles waver even a little it would be very easy for him to fall into the same traps as his brother, not because he shares Boromir's blind nesses but because he longs so badly for his father's love. And that's his journey: overcoming the spectre of his father and his own self-doubt, growing to stand on his own and to be truly independent. He would not, I think, disobey his principles for his father's sake. He will not take the Ring, though he knows that Denethor would approve of that course, and he “shows his quality.”
Through the course of the book he learns how to not tear himself apart over it. He becomes his own man. He learns to be confident in himself as such a man, as an individual. Without that confidence he could not become a true leader of men in the way that he does. He becomes able to not be dependent on the approval of others for validation of himself.
And because he frees himself of his dependence of his father, he can give of his strength to others. Before, it took everything he had to stay his course in the face of parental snubbing. Now he can use that strength towards helping others and rebuilding his world.
It is a hard thing to face the disapproval of a parent and remain steady in one's course. The self-doubt can tear you apart. And I think that it does hurt Faramir very, very badly. His actions during the Battle of the Pelennor have a strong undercurrent of despair. Gandalf feels the need to warn him not to throw away his life, which shows the gravity of the situation. Faramir needs Denethor's love so badly that it does try his resolve, and the energy that it takes for him to resist that is Herculean. For him to put that aside frees him, and allows him to live with his full heart and mind and to not “be always torn in two.”
Faramir's journey is not a simple as Boromir's, nor as readily understandable. He does not have to learn how to be good; he knows that well enough already. But he does grow. He is not static. He moves from doubt and sorrow and need to strength and confidence. And that journey is what makes him loveable. Not only the wicked or the fatally flawed have character arcs.
Faramir is a good man, a man of peace and knowledge and compassion, even when we first meet him. He can resist temptation. He can do his duty. He's a pretty together guy, and I think that's a good part of the reason why he is so beloved. He's a character who endears himself to the geeks, and he's the ultimately crush-worthy guy.
But static goodness or perfection is boring. Witness the animosity of fen towards Mary Sues and their ilk. We hate them, and some theorize that it is due to their perfection. They're irritating and boring and just no fun. And yet Faramir is still loved beyond all reason by really a lot of people. To me, this says that there must be some sort of growth, some sort of narrative arc, within his story. We can see its effects even if we cannot name it directly with ease.
Faramir is a good man, but he suffers a good deal from his father's coldness and disapproval. He has a thirst to prove himself, which teeters dangerously on the edge of becoming ruthless ambition. If his principles waver even a little it would be very easy for him to fall into the same traps as his brother, not because he shares Boromir's blind nesses but because he longs so badly for his father's love. And that's his journey: overcoming the spectre of his father and his own self-doubt, growing to stand on his own and to be truly independent. He would not, I think, disobey his principles for his father's sake. He will not take the Ring, though he knows that Denethor would approve of that course, and he “shows his quality.”
Through the course of the book he learns how to not tear himself apart over it. He becomes his own man. He learns to be confident in himself as such a man, as an individual. Without that confidence he could not become a true leader of men in the way that he does. He becomes able to not be dependent on the approval of others for validation of himself.
And because he frees himself of his dependence of his father, he can give of his strength to others. Before, it took everything he had to stay his course in the face of parental snubbing. Now he can use that strength towards helping others and rebuilding his world.
It is a hard thing to face the disapproval of a parent and remain steady in one's course. The self-doubt can tear you apart. And I think that it does hurt Faramir very, very badly. His actions during the Battle of the Pelennor have a strong undercurrent of despair. Gandalf feels the need to warn him not to throw away his life, which shows the gravity of the situation. Faramir needs Denethor's love so badly that it does try his resolve, and the energy that it takes for him to resist that is Herculean. For him to put that aside frees him, and allows him to live with his full heart and mind and to not “be always torn in two.”
Faramir's journey is not a simple as Boromir's, nor as readily understandable. He does not have to learn how to be good; he knows that well enough already. But he does grow. He is not static. He moves from doubt and sorrow and need to strength and confidence. And that journey is what makes him loveable. Not only the wicked or the fatally flawed have character arcs.