Boromir in Tolkien Art

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For a character present in the books for so short a time, it would be easy to discount Boromir’s importance in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ – but nothing is so simple in Tolkien’s world.

Boromir is a brave and noble man and a natural warrior. At the Council of Elrond he appears proud, with a lack of respect for many people and things, most importantly the One Ring which he undervalues. This ignorance leaves him open to the Ring’s power. Through the course of Boromir’s story he falls more and more under the Ring’s thrall, with the gradual decline and the corruption of his will leading eventually to the breaking of the Fellowship and Boromir’s own death.

However, Boromir’s reason for wanting the Ring is pure. He feels that the Ring could be wielded against Sauron by the “valiant” and true men of Gondor. His principal wish is to aid Gondor, but the flaws in his nature still lead to his fall from grace.

In the end he is shamed by his weak will, but redeems himself by fighting bravely to save others. Boromir’s last words show how much he evolved as a character within such a small space of time, and in the end he dies a hero.

Not surprisingly, he has become a popular figure in Tolkien art, being the subject of paintings by such artists as Alan Lee, Ted Nasmith and many other professional and amateur artists alike. This article, however, will concentrate on three artists and their very different depictions of the Captain-General of Gondor. These will be John Howe, Anke Eissmann and Katarzyna Karina Chmiel.

Tolkien’s descriptions of Boromir

Tolkien described Boromir as being:

“a tall man with a fair and noble face, dark-haired and grey-eyed, proud and stern of glance. He was cloaked and booted as if for a long journey on horse-back; and indeed though his garments were rich, and his cloak was lined in fur, they were stained with long travel. 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…” He also bore a long sword and a shield.

Boromir was 41 years old, still young for one of his lineage, and very nearly the same height as Aragorn but more muscular in build. It is mentioned after Boromir’s death how unlike his father he was in both temperament and appearance. Gandalf tells how “By some chance the blood of Westernesse runs nearly true in (Denethor); as it does in his other son Faramir, and yet did not in Boromir whom he loved best” and Pippin remarks how Denethor looks more like Aragorn in appearance. It must also be noted that Boromir’s mother was Finduilas of Dol Amroth (the sister of Prince Imrahil), a race of people who were thought to have Elven blood from the ancient days when the Elves stayed on the western coasts of Gondor before they sailed to the Undying Lands.

John Howe’s view of Boromir

John Howe has depicted Boromir several times for several games and publications. One of his paintings of Boromir is even a self-portrait! I asked him for his thoughts on Boromir and why his paintings of him are so different:

“I like poor Boromir because he is so flawed, and sees himself as strong (opposite of his brother, who finds himself unworthy, but is in the end stronger than his brother.”

“I’ve never really had a chance to do a real Boromir picture the way I wanted. Each one has been a kind of trial run.”

“The one for the LOTR Board game card- short hair – was another idea.”

“The unpublished one with arrows stuck in him was a bit closer,

and in the end, the “self-portrait” came along kind of automatically, except that given the dimensions of the card, I had to bring the horn back in a curve.”

“One day, I hope to do the scene I’ve not done since art school (I still have it, it’s an awful drawing) of the dying Boromir surrounded by orcs, with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli.”

You can see all of John Howe’s art including unpublished work such as “The Death of Boromir” by visiting his website at www.john-howe.com

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Anke-Katrin Eissmann’s view of Boromir

Anke has been painting scenes from “The Lord of the Rings” since she first read it when she was fifteen years old. She sees Alan Lee’s work as an inspiration, which only adds to the dreamlike quality of her own work. While her favourite character is Faramir, she has done several pictures of Boromir including “Brothers” and “The Sons of Denethor” which form interesting insights into the relationships between the members of the family.

Anke told me about her opinions of Boromir and how she tries to capture him in her work.

“In my opinion Boromir is one of the most underestimated and misunderstood characters in LotR, and a wonderful example to contradict those who claim Tolkien’s characters are flat and one-dimensional. Despite his rather short appearance in the book, his role is very important, as his actions lead to reactions of great impact by characters like Frodo and Sam, or Aragorn, and others.

In my artwork I try to convey him as a proud and noble man. Tolkien’s description in “The Council of Elrond” gives a good indication of how he’s supposed to look (e.g. of his proper hair colour), and how he is clothed and armed. Because he is said to be a great warrior, I depict him as a man of athletic stature, but refrain from making him look “barbaric” (like he did in the Bakshi-Film). After all, he is one of the highest nobles in Gondor. Other than his brother or father, I do depict him with a beard, because it’s said that he has not inherited their share of Númenorean blood (don’t ask me how that’s possible genetically).”

Anke has her own website at www.anke.edoras-art.de which also features her amazing “Beowulf” illustrations.

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Katarzyna Karina Chmiel

Katarzyna “Kasiopea” is a self confessed “fierce Boromirist” and her work focuses quite heavily upon the Son of Gondor. I asked her why Boromir holds such a fascination and inspiration for her. Why is he so fascinating? Well, maybe because he is fair, noble, valiant, brave, stern, handsome, kind, bold, tall, strong, stubborn and “bossy”- as Tolkien himself had said. Beloved son and brother. Beloved captain of Gondorian people. Mysterious. Did I mention he was handsome? Moreover this is my favourite combination – “grey-eyed and dark-haired”. And I like men with shoulder-length hair. 🙂 But most of all he is interesting as a good person, who fell and then paid with his life – fighting for his honour and for the safety of his comrades. And with my illustrations, I’m trying to honour his memory and to recompense him for that terrible Viking-like image from the Bakshi movie.”

Amen to that!

Also included is a brand new picture from Chmiel, “The Heir of Denethor”.

You can email Katarzyna regarding her artwork on kasiopea@acn.waw.pl

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Thank you to all the featured artists for their participation in this article and for sharing their beautiful work with us.

by Loving Spirit