April 14, 2003

Frodo vs. Boromir, Plus a Questions on Orcs
Beleg Strongbow

I'll start with the questions first: Why is Saruman getting the orcs out of the ground? And are the orcs still mortal, since they are in reality elves? Several of my Tolkien-deprived friends asked me about this and (horror of horrors!) I couldn't answer!

Secondly, I came upon an interesting thought:

Boromir is getting all the bad rap for trying to take the ring from Frodo to use in Gondor AGAINST SAURON (aka evil), while Frodo himself tried to become the ultimate Lord of the Rings (aka, evil itself). Now, why, might I ask, does Boromir get all the bad press when he was actually trying to help Middle-Earth, while Frodo is immortalized (not literally, of course!) for trying to become all-powerful.

Comparing Frodo and Boromir, you will find that they are both similar in their last (or, in the case of Frodo, what they thought was his last) moments: they both had a conviction to use the ring. However, Frodo wants to use the ring for himself, while Boromir wants to use it to assist Gondor and Middle-earth. Now, admittidly Frodo did get the ring to Orodruin with all of the best intentions (mostly), but the fate of Middle Earth had to be saved by a schitzophrenic maniac with a lack of balance!

Any thoughts?