Off t'Club: "I would have followed you, my Brother……my Captain……. my King….”

Upon first seeing who had been cast as Boromir for The Lord of The Rings movies I was a little dismayed to find out it was Sean Bean. That’s not to say that he isn’t a good actor it’s just that sometimes he struggles to completely eliminate his Yorkshire accent and this can get a little annoying, especially when you want to get immersed in a movie and then something profoundly real and normal jumps out at you, like an accent from your home county, it can break the spell and pull you out of the story.

Anyway after seeing the films at the cinema I was ok with the casting, “he did a passable job I thought” but to my mind didn’t quite capture the full essence of the character of the book. It was only after rewatching the films a few times on the extended DVD did I start to like Sean’s portrayal. I especially like the scenes at the recapture of Osgiliath where it’s clear the unconditional love between Boromir and his brother Faramir along with how much the soldiery of Gondor idolise their brave captain! Here was a true hero, beloved of his people and worthy the accolades bestowed upon him and yet down to earth and able to mingle with the men under his command, but with a huge ego admittedly, earned through feats of bravery.

So when you read the book or see the film the first time it’s not immediately clear how much of a hero Boromir is, especially as the majority of the narrative only features him when he is exposed to the ring! Its only when Frodo slips away during their argument at Amon Hen that Boromir is exposed as a man, not some mythical hero to be enthroned as the perfect soldier but just a normal man with weaknesses as well as strengths. It’s at this point that his arrogance falls away and you see Boromir the man striving to correct his mistake, he finally understands that there are some things that are beyond him. And it’s this realisation that allows him to accept that Aragorn is to a degree greater than him and Boromir now has someone to look up to! Hence the quote as the title of the post.

So suffice it to say in the movies Boromir is introduced as a Hero, appears to become evil, is revealed to be just a man with the usual weaknesses and strengths, and finally becomes a Hero again!

Now on to the model, once again the sculpt is spot on for the movie character, I wasn’t sure that I’d enjoy painting this one however he practically painted his self.