One of the most hotly contested adaptational choices in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) is the characterisation of Faramir. While his brother, Boromir, is generally seen as being somewhat deepened in Jackson’s scripts, Faramir is felt to be weakened in ways that lead to disappointment, sometimes outrage, among fans. The ‘good-captain’ who shows his quality and lets the Hobbits go from the books is turned into a much more conflicted and negative character to increase the drama. Many find this version of the character unnecessarily cruel and short-sighted, others claim he fixes a major flaw within the book itself. I, personally, find myself in the former group. I believe the changes of Faramir stem from a few things: one is the misunderstanding of the Ring’s nature and how it operates, another is the changes made to Faramir’s family dynamics, and the third is the narrative changes made in the adaptational process: by elevating the status of the assault on Helm’s Deep to the central focus and climax of the film, Jackson reshapes the narrative structure of The Two Towers and thereby attempts to dramatically alter the course of Frodo and Sam’s journey to make the Faramir section more climatic having lost the book’s ending at Shelob’s Lair.
Written by Andrew
My passions include cinema, literature, fantasy, psychology, music/guitar, photography and ancient/medieval history.