What if Faramir had gone instead of Boromir?

[Goldilocks Gamgee]

I find that if, following Denethor's will, Faramir had gone with the Fellowship, a lot of things would have been different.
Most importantly, Frodo would have had to receive the final push to go to Mordor, from someone else. Or it would never have happened.
For Faramir, the Ring would find it harder to bend him to it's will. He had the blood of the West in his veins, something his brother didn't have. Boromir was more like the Men of Rohan, brave, bold, and fearless. He loved battle!
Faramir, though, even says:

"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. I love only that which they defend.”

There is a difference between the two brothers. A difference that made Denethor love Boromir more than Faramir.
Faramir would have lasted longer, against the Power of the Ring. What would have happened?
Faramir would have died, defending Merry and Pippin. Probably, Aragorn would have sent Legolas, or he would have went himself, with Frodo and Sam. Whoever it would be - Aragorn or Legolas - he would die, just for the sake of the story. To make sure that, as Galadriel said it:

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

Well, probably, Legolas would have went, because Aragorn needs to survive, to become King of Gondor.
That would make a really sad ending for the brave Gimli!
Anyway, that's what I think would have happened.

Oh, and, Denethor would still have killed himself, because Boromir would, after not hearing from Faramir for a while, go in search for his little brother, and die trying. So, it would be very sad, if Tolkien decided to send Faramor instead of Boromir.

 

[Barliman]

I find that if, following Denethor's will, Faramir had gone with the Fellowship, a lot of things would have been different.
Most importantly, Frodo would have had to receive the final push to go to Mordor, from someone else.

Not sure. remember, the only reason Frodo when off by himself, or tried to, was because of Boromir attempting to take The Ring from him.
If it had been Faramir he might have gone with him all the way to Mordor.

 

[Olorgando]

Not sure. remember, the only reason Frodo when off by himself, or tried to, was because of Boromir attempting to take The Ring from him.
If it had been Faramir he might have gone with him all the way to Mordor.

I agree, ol' innkeeper. But I would extend this in one way (I probably have done so in other posts):
It comes down to that unbroken chain of, of all people, Hobbits that cause Sauron's downfall after Isildur lost the One Ring and his life in the Gladden Fields.
Or to put it another way: Big Folk are not good to have around this corrupting One Ring.
Perhaps, in the long run, even Aragorn, let alone Faramir.
Now Frodo, Sam and Sméagol / Gollum stumbled on the garrison of Henneth Annûn commanded by Faramir by accident (a term to be used with some trepidation in JRRT's writings!). With Faramir escorting them from the Falls of Rauros, they might have gone there on purpose due to Faramir's (probable) knowledge of the site - or would he have steered them clear so as not to compromise the secret of its location?

There are almost endless questions about a Faramir escorting Frodo and Sam scenario:

- how would the first meeting / confrontation with Sméagol / Gollum in the Emyn Muil have played out?
- would the relatively huge Faramir have ever made it through the treacherous Dead Marshes?
- that much-overlooked scene in the chapter "The Black Gate is closed" in TT where Frodo utterly scares the hell out of Gollum, and gives Sam a slack-jawed experience deep in "WTF" territory; with some difficulty, I can also imagine Faramir's reaction being similar to Sam's, but Frodo hammering Gollum with such a "Dirty-Harry-make-my-day" snarl with Faramir present (he would probably be something of a Strider re-run, with the Hobbits including Frodo deferring to him quite a bit) - even more difficult to imagine for me.
- how would the confrontation with Shelob in her tunnels below the pass of Cirith Ungol have played out?
- part of the point of the capture of Frodo by the combined Orc forces at Cirith Ungol is that there are only two of the Fellowship there, so Sam can use the One Ring to hide from the Orcs; what's Faramir to do in this situation?
- could Faramir have disguised himself - obviously only as an Uruk - to escape detection in the situation where Frodo and Sam were overtaken by the Orcs heading for the Black Gate after Aragorn gave Sauron a scare in wrenching the Orthanc Palantir from him?

etc. 🥴

 

[ZehnWaters]

From letter 66 in Humphrey Carpenter's 1981 "The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien", written 06 May 1944 to his son Christopher, who was in South Africa at the time in training with the RAF:
"A new character has come on the scene (I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, but I like him, but there he comes walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, the brother of Boromir - and he is holding up the 'catastrophe' by a lot of stuff about the history of Gondor and Rohan (with some very sound reflections on martial glory and true glory): but if he goes on much more a lot of him will have to be removed to the appendices. …"

I used to not understand how something like this happens until it literally happened to me. I'm there writing a scene with the female protagonist. She starts walking down the stairs and suddenly she has a step-mother and an infant half-brother both with backstory. It's a rather eerie experience.

Certainly, being an "Aragorn junior" (book Aragorn, obviously)...but they certainly would have reacted pretty much diametrically opposite to it. Faramir as a sign of hope for some kind of meaningful assistance from the secret remnants of the northern Kingdom of Arnor.

This is, indeed, what happened in my Alternate Fellowship RPG.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Not exactly the same thing and not sure I believe in this 100% but there's a phenomenon called a Tulpa that I've always found interesting:

Many of us grew up with an imaginary friend by our side. Maybe you still like to personify your favorite character or superhero, but these companions typically don't usually last beyond childhood. However, there's an ancient idea gaining more and more traction in our modern world. It's the idea that given enough thought and focus, we can actually create real sentient beings. They're known as tulpas, beings or objects that are created in someone's imagination by visualization techniques.

Tulpas: Thoughts That Can Come Alive

Imaginary friends have nothing on tulpas. These are "entities" people believe will to life in their minds - complete with feelings, thoughts and experiences.

people.howstuffworks.com

 

[ZehnWaters]

Not exactly the same thing and not sure I believe in this 100% but there's a phenomenon called a Tulpa that I've always found interesting:

Tulpas: Thoughts That Can Come Alive

Imaginary friends have nothing on tulpas. These are "entities" people believe will to life in their minds - complete with feelings, thoughts and experiences.

people.howstuffworks.com

That...would explain a lot. With enough focus the story I'm writing did, indeed, begin to take on a life of its own.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Here's one scenario, which tries to keep as much of the original story intact as possible (but still amounts to fanfic, admittedly):

All goes the same until Parth Galen, except
1) Faramir reveres Galadriel, and joins Aragorn and Legolas in "enduring her gaze", confirming Aragorn's judgment of his character
2) No gratuitous horn-blowing!

At Parth Galen, Frodo wanders off. Discussion ensues. At some point:
'The sun is climbing the sky,' said Aragorn. 'Frodo should have returned by now.'
'You're right, sir! cried Sam, leaping up. 'I'll run and fetch him.'

Sam enters the wood, finds the path, and begins to climb the hill, but it comes to him suddenly that Frodo has determined to go to Mordor alone. 'To the boats, Sam!'

Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin decide to follow Sam. They are waylaid by orcs in the wood, while another group simultaneously attacks the others, who manage to kill or fight them off, but find that the hobbits have been carried away. Were Frodo and Sam with them?

They run down to the shore, to discover one of the boats missing. Aragorn is torn.
'You offered to go with Frodo to Mordor, Faramir. Now I must lay it on you do so. Though we would all have gone, I cannot leave the others in the hands of the orcs. Find Frodo and guide him.'

'I shall. And you, Aragorn, save the hobbits, and save my city!"

Faramir catches up with Frodo and Sam, either before or after their meeting with Gollum, and gives much the same warning to Frodo as he does at Henneth Annun, but accedes to Frodo's mercy.

The journey goes as before, but at Henneth Annun, Faramir selects two or three of the Rangers to accompany them to Mordor. At some point, they are accosted by a small band of orcs.
'Go, Frodo! We will stand and hold them off!'

Frodo and Sam -- and Gollum, of course-- escape. One of the Rangers is killed, and Faramir is knocked unconscious, but they have killed the orcs. Or perhaps one escapes.

'It is too late to follow them now. They are beyond our reach. Perhaps it was fated so.'

Faramir returns to Minas Tirith, to face the wrath of Denethor.

 

[Olorgando]

... Faramir catches up with Frodo and Sam, either before or after their meeting with Gollum, and gives much the same warning to Frodo as he does at Henneth Annun, but accedes to Frodo's mercy.
The journey goes as before, ...

I've always seen one almost insurmountable problem with any of the Big Folk (Legolas would be a different matter) accompanying the Hobbits across the Anduin: the passage of the Dead Marshes. Faramir would have needed the equivalent of snowshoes for some passages.

 

[ZehnWaters]

Here's one scenario, which tries to keep as much of the original story intact as possible (but still amounts to fanfic, admittedly):

All goes the same until Parth Galen, except
1) Faramir reveres Galadriel, and joins Aragorn and Legolas in "enduring her gaze", confirming Aragorn's judgment of his character
2) No gratuitous horn-blowing!

At Parth Galen, Frodo wanders off. Discussion ensues. At some point:
'The sun is climbing the sky,' said Aragorn. 'Frodo should have returned by now.'
'You're right, sir! cried Sam, leaping up. 'I'll run and fetch him.'

Sam enters the wood, finds the path, and begins to climb the hill, but it comes to him suddenly that Frodo has determined to go to Mordor alone. 'To the boats, Sam!'

Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin decide to follow Sam. They are waylaid by orcs in the wood, while another group simultaneously attacks the others, who manage to kill or fight them off, but find that the hobbits have been carried away. Were Frodo and Sam with them?

They run down to the shore, to discover one of the boats missing. Aragorn is torn.
'You offered to go with Frodo to Mordor, Faramir. Now I must lay it on you do so. Though we would all have gone, I cannot leave the others in the hands of the orcs. Find Frodo and guide him.'

'I shall. And you, Aragorn, save the hobbits, and save my city!"

Faramir catches up with Frodo and Sam, either before or after their meeting with Gollum, and gives much the same warning to Frodo as he does at Henneth Annun, but accedes to Frodo's mercy.

The journey goes as before, but at Henneth Annun, Faramir selects two or three of the Rangers to accompany them to Mordor. At some point, they are accosted by a small band of orcs.
'Go, Frodo! We will stand and hold them off!'

Frodo and Sam -- and Gollum, of course-- escape. One of the Rangers is killed, and Faramir is knocked unconscious, but they have killed the orcs. Or perhaps one escapes.

'It is too late to follow them now. They are beyond our reach. Perhaps it was fated so.'

Faramir returns to Minas Tirith, to face the wrath of Denethor.

I like it.

I've always seen one almost insurmountable problem with any of the Big Folk (Legolas would be a different matter) accompanying the Hobbits across the Anduin: the passage of the Dead Marshes. Faramir would have needed the equivalent of snowshoes for some passages.

If anyone could have done it, it would have been Aragorn or Faramir, as they're rangers. Though Ithilien is nothing like a marsh.

 

[Rōmānus]

Hard for me to say. What I think of first is how Denethor was very comparable to Aragorn in all things aside from their opinion of Gandalf (The Stewards). These two were like the best of their people. Faramir was said to be like Denethor, however, when Pippin saw him he thought he possessed a similar air to Aragorn but on a lesser level. So for me it would be like having Aragorn and a slightly lesser version of Aragorn together. How that would work I do not know, but he is very much comparable to Boromir as a captain, aside from the Númenorean traits being expressed more strongly in himself.

 

[Realskelly]

Tbh when I searched this question it was if boromir remained in osgiliath and faramir went to rivendale would boro be able to hold osgiliath (faramir would have been better choice to go to rivendale especially in a time of war second son not as inspirational as the first “boro” was legit worshiped among the men on Gondor) he IMO would have held the line. (If I have posted on wrong thread then please let me know so i can copy and paste to the right one) thanks 😊

 

[grendel]

I had quite a dissertation ready for this topic; then I checked to see if it already existed, and here we are.😏

Basically I started with the idea that the Valar were still - in a VERY subtle way - trying to move things along in M-E. (F'rinstance, Gandalf to Frodo in Chapter 2: ‘… Beyond that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-Maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.’)

I thought the dream and the poem were sent to Faramir so that he would be the one to seek Rivendell. But Boromir, still (presumably) having Free Will, took the journey upon himself, and I wondered how the whole saga would have changed if Faramir had been at the Council of Elrond and Bormoir had met Frodo and Sam in Ithilien. But I see that has been well-hashed here.

Then I remembered that the dream came "oft" to Faramir and "once" to Boromir... which could not have been happenstance. So maybe they (the Valar?) put the idea in both of their heads and may the best man win. So maybe it worked out the way they hoped.

I did think that Faramir may have been strongly tempted by the Ring. His steadfastness later was after he learned what happened to his brother. With no foreknowledge, he may have had the same reaction?

 

[Starbrow]

I did think that Faramir may have been strongly tempted by the Ring. His steadfastness later was after he learned what happened to his brother. With no foreknowledge, he may have had the same reaction?

I disagree somewhat with this statement. While Faramir is taking Frodo and Sam to Henneth Annun, he asks about Isildur's Bane. He knows that Boromir is dead and suspects that he wanted something from Frodo. Frodo doesn't give him any detailed information about what happened, though. Still Faramir says, "I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory." It's not until later that night that Faramir finds out about the One Ring and that Boromir tried to take it from Frodo.

Based on this statement, I don't think Faramir would have been tempted to use the Ring.

 

[Klaatu]

Boromir’s resistance was admirable, even tragic, and often undersold. His fall wasn’t a quick capitulation but a slow erosion of resolve under immense pressure, grief, and duty. Faramir, by contrast, had the foresight of his brother’s fate, a deeper wisdom born of observation, and a temperament less beholden to glory and desperation. It’s true that we can’t fully know how the Ring would’ve worked on Faramir had he been in Boromir’s place from the beginning… only that different pressures yield different outcomes.

As for the consequences of a swapped fate—yes! The ripple effect would’ve been massive. Rohan’s salvation, Merry and Pippin’s growth, even the Ents’ march might’ve vanished like lembas in a hobbit’s pocket. The Ring has many ways of winning.

Anyway—on my homeworld, we have a similar tale: a noble, ring-resistant jelly creature named Splarn. Splarn once resisted the allure of a golden scone for three whole lunar cycles. A hero. A philosopher. A cautionary tale, for in the end, the scone was just a cleverly disguised wasp. Splarn was never the same.

Such is the peril of great power… and baked goods.