Faramir

Denethor's younger son, who let the Ring pass and became Steward of Gondor.

Faramir is the younger son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, in The Lord of the Rings, and the brother of Boromir of the Fellowship of the Ring.

Quick Facts

Series

Middle-earth

First

The Lord of the Rings (1954)

Also known as

Steward of Gondor
Prince of Ithilien
Lord of Emyn Arnen

Race

Men

Family

Boromir (brother); Denethor II (father)

Spouse

Éowyn

Home

Gondor

Facts from the source article.

Background

He first appears in The Two Towers, where he meets Frodo Baggins in Ithilien and faces the temptation to take the One Ring for himself. In The Return of the King he leads Gondor's forces in the War of the Ring, comes close to death, succeeds his father as Steward and wins the love of Éowyn of Rohan.

His mother Finduilas, daughter of Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth, died when he was five, and Denethor grew cold and openly favoured Boromir, five years the elder; the brothers only grew closer. Faramir learned much of Gondor's history from Gandalf, which displeased his father, and he does not enjoy fighting for its own sake. In 3018, when he was 35, a prophetic dream of the Sword that was Broken, Isildur's Bane and the Halfling sent Boromir, not him, to seek Elrond at Imladris.

Tolkien wrote that of all his characters Faramir was the most like himself. Scholars have compared his courage to The Battle of Maldon and his green-clad rangers in Ithilien to Robin Hood. Andrew Seear voiced him in the BBC's 1981 radio version and David Wenham played him in Peter Jackson's films.