In the course of literature involving conflict among peoples, individual hero characters often rise up to overcome their own personal obstacles before they address the main conflict of the story. In The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien introduces us to two such heroes, Boromir son of the steward of Gondor, and Aragorn, son of Arathorn, rightful heir to the throne and chief of the Rangers of the north. While the weaknesses and challenges which the two characters face are as individual as the characters themselves, both heroes eventually are able to surmount the complications which divert their attention from the main task at hand, the destruction of the ring of Sauron.

Boromir is portrayed by Tolkien as a dashing hero of great might, honor, and reputation with a princely physical appearance, a legendary record, and yet a weakness so great as to nearly disqualify him from being the beloved legend his people expect him to be. Tolkien first introduces Boromir as the son of the Steward of Gondor, “a tall man with a fair and noble face, dark-haired and grey-eyed, proud and stern of glance” (Fellowship, 155). As Tolkien describes him at the beginning of the Counsel of the Fellowship, held in Elrond’s palace, Boromir is “cloaked and booted as if for a journey on horseback; and indeed though his garments were rich and his cloak was lined with fur, they were stained with long travel.” A beautiful man with clothes considered rich for their time, but Tolkien is not yet finished with the description, he continues with a glimpse of the jewelry that Boromir wears, “He had a collar of silver in which a single white stone was set; his locks were shorn about his shoulders. On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped with silver that now was laid upon his knees” (Fellowship, 155). These concrete details lead those who interact with him to conclude that this is a man of comfortable means and great power of the time. Even the silver tipped horn, a small detail which we are only briefly introduced to here, is later identified to be the Horn of Gondor, a symbol of the power and the prestige of that great southern realm. These tokens are not given to just any citizen of the realm of gondor but are symbols of a man who is held in high regard, of quasi-royal lineage, and a man who has great pride in his position in the land of Gondor.

Boromir is not only a man of beauty but a bold prince, a great fighter among men, and a brave and valiant leader. By his nature, Boromir is very proud, a man who believes that without Gondor’s might and power, Middle Earth will not survive. While Tolkien makes it clear that the might and army of Gondor certainly plays a very large part in the protection of Middle Earth, we are also led to believe that Boromir exaggerates the power and place of his homeland and that the grace, dignity, and bloodline on which the realm was founded are actually eroding away over many years. To this view, Boromir proclaims, “Believe not that in the land of Gondor the blood of Numenor is spent nor all its pride and dignity forgotten. By our valor the wild folk of the east are still restrained, and the terror of Morgol kept at bay” (Fellowship, 158). Despite various proofs that tolkien gives us to the contrary via other character interactions, Boromir asserts a great strength of ancient blood in Gondor, which is not strictly true. Furthermore, all throughout the counsel, Boromir cannot help but to ensure that every moment of every day, those around him are reminded of who Boromir is, and his place in the royalty of Gondor, allowing his pride and ego to intervene into his conversations with the great counsel of the age.

Boromir has a struggling weakness he is tempted so thoroughly to get and use the great ring for the might and defense of Gondor that he succumbs to its corrupting power and makes an attempt to seize the ring from the appointed ring bearer. Soon after the company leaves the elf haven of Rivendell, the company begins to notice that Boromir bites his nails, murmurs something and looks strangely at Frodo as he begins to struggle internally over the best course of action to take about the ring. As the quest of the fellowship continues, Boromir becomes more and more aggressive, working as best he can to gain control of where the company is going and to steer their course to his homeland of Gondor rather than to Mordor where the fellowship is charged with journeying to destroy the ring of power. During a time of rest upon Amon Hen, Boromir finally succumbs outright to the pressure of the ring and follows Frodo off into the wilderness. Boromir again illustrates his willingness to put his patriotism in the land of Gondor upon the good of Middle Earth as decreed by the counsel of Elrond, betraying all the company to make an attempt on the ring of power for the defense of his own country.

Boromir overcomes his weakness once the power and influence of the ring is out of his grasp and forges on to redeem his life and his betrayal of the fellowship. Boromir is able to redeem himself by fending off a great hoard of Orcs making an attempt on two members of the party, and Aragorn finds him “sitting with his back to a great tree, as if he was resting. But Aragorn saw that he was pierced with many black-feathered arrows; his sword was still in his hand, but it was broken near the hilt; his horn cloven in two was at his side. Many Orcs lay slain, piled all about him and at his feet” (Towers, 2). In the last, Boromir admits his attempt on the ring to Aragorn and overcomes his weakness to redeem his life as a hero in the waning moments of his breath.

Although Boromir is a great prince whose stature, clothes, jewelry, and deeds proclaim to be a hero, Aragorn son of Arathorn is entirely different, a hidden hero whose flaws cause him to hide his value. Aragorn must overcome his own fear and doubt in order to take the place of the king of Gondor and complete the quest of the ring. Aragorn’s stature in life has a poem that says “All that is gold does not glitter” (Fellowship, 160), a symbolic description of Aragorn himself. Aragorn is first described to us as “a strange, weather beaten man” (Fellowship, 103) who Tolkien tells us is tall with long legs. He bears boots that are worn and caked with mud of long journeys, shrouding himself in a heavy cloak wherever he goes. Tolkien introduces us to him the town of Bree, a man who is dark in nature, frightening the townspeople and who chooses not to socialize with the men or hobbits but instead stays in a dark corner smoking in solitary, observing the room. Aragorn looks very much like a wandering vagrant, a man who has many miles upon his feet and no place to call home. He has no royal nature about him, a ranger of the forests and a rejection of society.

Aragorn is also called Strider because of his endless wandering in his journey as a ranger, a dark people who make little contact with the rest of the world. Instead of seeking the throne which is rightfully his in the land of Gondor, he has spent his life protecting people who view him with distrust because of what he appears to be. He is a man of ill repute who possesses limited social skills and even less open social interaction giving no pretense of royalty or of any respectability in the world beyond his own journeys. Although Tolkien introduces the reader to Aragorn’s position as the king of the northern kingdom of Arnor and chief of the rangers; Aragorn’s appearance scares those who he has dealings with and little is revealed of his rightful place in the lineage of Gondor, despite his responsibilities to that throne.

Aragorn has spent years and years wandering as a ranger, avoiding his duty as the king of Gondor and his responsibility to see the ring destroyed. When he first talks to Boromir, the son of the reigning steward of Gondor, Aragorn does not claim the kingdom as is rightfully his but rather allows Elrond to proclaim his status as “Aragorn, son of Arathorn… descended through many fathers from Isildur, Elendil’s son of Minas Ithil… the Chief of the Dunedain in the North” (Fellowship, 159). Though his ability to claim the throne is given to us by the omniscient narrator and other characters in the story, the people that he interacts with doubt his ability to take that throne because of his lack of confidence in himself and his long years of hiding. Even Boromir, who would profit from Aragorn’s help in the defense of Gondor, cannot help but doubt Aragorn’s claim to the throne, “’the Sword of Elendil would be a help beyond our hope – if such a thing could indeed return out of the shadows of the past.’ He looked again at Aragorn, and doubt was in his eyes” (Fellowship, 160). Aragorn is very much aware of his reputation and how he is seen in the eyes of others, and even goes so far as to admit his failing, “Little do I resemble the figures of Elendil and Isildur as they stand carven in their majesty in the halls of Denethor. I am but the heir of Isildur, not Isildur himself. I have had a hard life and a long…” (Fellowship, 160).

Despite his long years of hiding, Aragorn is able to overcome his feat and doubt in order to join and eventually lead the fellowship in the quest of the ring. Meeting with the leaders of the age of middle earth, Aragorn is strengthened by their counsel and though still unsure of his own power and place, he makes the commitment to take up that which was his, “But now the world is changing once again. A new hour comes Isildur’s bane is found. Battle is at hand. The sword shall be reforged. I will come to Minas Tirith” (Fellowship, 161). The counsel of Elrond is where Aragorn first begins to take his place in the events related to the ring, events which would eventually bring him back into the kingship of Gondor. He vows to take art in the battle of Gondor, casting aside his own fear and doubt, and trusting in himself, “Mayhap the Sword-that-was-Broken may still stem the tide – if the hand that wields it has inherited not an heirloom only but the sinews of the Kings of Men. Who can tell? ... But we will put it to the test one day” (Fellowship, 173). In the end, Aragorn is able to cast aside his fear and his doubt in his own abilities in order to do his best to see that the defense of his home is set well and that the quest of the ring is successful.

Aragorn and Boromir both experience weakness which precludes them from emerging as a hero within the Fellowship of the Ring. These weaknesses derived from inherent character flaws, greed and pride of Boromir and the fear and doubt of Aragorn, hinder the quest and both Heroes are forced to overcome them in order to make a significant contribution to the quest of the ring. Boromir is released from the power of the ring and redeems himself through great valor in the defense of Pippin and Merry while Aragorn thrusts aside his fear and doubt about himself and his abilities in order to take up a leadership role in the company and ensuring that the quest comes to a successful conclusion. Although their characters are nearly polar opposites in terms of personality and individual challenges, Aragorn being the beggar with great power and Boromir the prince of little internal strength, by the end of The Fellowship of the Ring, both emerge as heroes which serve the quest in greater stead in later books.

Works Cited

Tolkien, JRR. The Fellowship of the Ring. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002.