Faramir

Faramir enters the narrative in The Two Towers, where, upon meeting Frodo Baggins, he is presented with a temptation to take possession of the One Ring.

In The Return of the King, he leads the forces of Gondor in the War of the Ring, coming near to death, succeeds his father as Steward, and wins the love of Éowyn, lady of the royal house of Rohan.

The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance sees Faramir as central to a complex web of Germanic allegiance-relationships.

Faramir has been the subject of illustrations by Tolkien artists including John Howe, Ted Nasmith and Anke Eißmann.

[T 2] His mother is Finduilas, daughter of Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth;[T 1] she dies when Faramir is five, and is to him "but a memory of loveliness in far days and of his first grief".

[T 1][T 5] Faramir looks much like Boromir,[T 1][T 6] who is described as "a tall man with a fair and noble face, dark-haired and grey-eyed, proud and stern of glance".

[T 5] Gondor had long been threatened by the nearby realm of Mordor, and in 3018 (when Faramir was 35) the Dark Lord Sauron begins the War of the Ring, attacking the ruined city of Osgiliath that guards the river crossing to Minas Tirith.

[T 7] Shortly before the battle, Faramir has a prophetic dream, in which a voice speaks of the "Sword that was Broken" that is to be found at Imladris far to the north, about the awakening of "Isildur's Bane", the approach of "Doom", and the appearance of "the Halfling".

Faramir decides to journey to Imladris and seek the advice of Elrond the Half-elven, but Denethor sends Boromir instead.

[T 5][T 7] “For myself,” said Faramir, “I would see the White Tree in flower again in the courts of the kings, and the Silver Crown return, and Minas Tirith in peace: Minas Anor again as of old, full of light, high and fair, beautiful as a queen among other queens: not a mistress of many slaves, nay, not even a kind mistress of willing slaves.

War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory.

'[T 6] The following evening, Faramir sends his company to reinforce the garrison at Osgiliath, while he and three men ride to Minas Tirith.

Aragorn, however, renews the office, announcing that as long as his line lasts, Faramir's descendants would be Stewards of Gondor.

Barahir, Faramir's grandson, writes The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, said in the frame story to have been inserted in the Thain's Book by the writer Findegil.

[2] The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance analyses Faramir's place in what she identifies as an elaborate web of relationships based on a medieval Germanic worldview.

Sam serves Frodo faithfully, but accidentally betrays him to Faramir with the smoke from his cooking fire and then by mentioning the Ring.

Marjorie Burns sees a sign of Englishness, "a Robin Hood touch", in the green-clad Faramir and his men hunting the enemy in the forested Ithilien.

Harrison comments that Faramir's "wilderness dwelling, his skill with the bow, and his choice of a green cloak, mask, and gauntlets as clothing all invite direct comparisons" with the outlaw of Sherwood Forest.

Instead, he leads the attack on the men of Harad "in a thoroughly unchivalric guerilla ambuscade", while "clothing, weaponry, tactics, and [concealed] refuge" all indicate the opposite of the shining knight: the outlaw in the Greenwood.

[8] She notes that Tolkien wrote in response to criticism that "In my experience feelings and decisions ripen very quickly (as measured by mere 'clock-time', which is actually not justly applicable) in periods of great stress, and especially under the expectation of imminent death".

[8] In The History of The Lord of the Rings, Christopher Tolkien recorded that his father had not foreseen the emergence of Faramir during the writing of the book, only inventing him at the actual point of his appearance in The Two Towers.

[T 12] Tolkien himself noted that the introduction of Faramir had led to postponement of the book's dénouement and to further development of the background for Gondor and Rohan.

[T 14]Faramir appears in several illustrations created by John Howe, Ted Nasmith and Anke Eißmann for The Lord of the Rings and related products.

The radio drama adhered faithfully to the books, and Peter Jackson gave the adaptation credit in the production of his film trilogy.

[13][14] In Rankin/Bass' 1980 adaptation of The Return of the King, a dark-haired man taken to be Faramir is shown next to Éowyn in greeting Aragorn as he arrives to Minas Tirith.