This week on the blog! We are talking Tolkien, particularly his moral vision, by a study in contrasts of 'failures' - and why Celebrimbor falls whereas Boromir 'conquers' (and how Peter Jackson gets this right, but Rings of Power gets it wrong).
https://acoup.blog/2025/04/18/collections-why-celebrimbor-fell-and-boromir-conquered-the-moral-universe-of-tolkien/
https://acoup.blog/2025/04/18/collections-why-celebrimbor-fell-and-boromir-conquered-the-moral-universe-of-tolkien/
Comments
I love your analysis, dry humour, and I feel like I have discarded many preconceptions.
You have gained yet another fan! Thanks for writing these!
But I think it speaks to how we are to understand Celebrimbor that it is in the legendarium in the first place.
Also, love the seductiveness of your writing and how it just draws you in from one article to another, and before you know it, hours gone. Great fan!
Long-view-indirect-causes are often how supernatural and moral power exert themselves in Tolkien, as a greater form of what we might term magic (though Tolkien would object to the word).
Boromir is a really complex character with a fantastic portrayal.
Also pays off the long build of the Uruk Hai, a confrontation that's been building basically the whole film.
"You can't be trusted to survive this Important Mission, so I'll have to take it on myself."
Creating a new Ring of Power free of Sauron’s influence in Shadow of War did not change the underlying issue which brought his downfall.
But far from the only one.
i wonder who else started reading this in donald trump's voice
SO glad RoP was reupped for another season so you can continue to shred the writers' incompetence.