From Letter 66, 6 May 1944
A new character has come on the scene
(I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him,
but there he came 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....
What do you think of Faramir’s arrival on the scene?
(In the earliest version of that section, Frodo and Sam were captured by
Gondorians led by some random captain. That captain then evolved into
Faramir.)
He did not invent Faramir, because Faramir... is Robin Hood!
Or that is at least the inspiration from whence he came. Its not unique
for Tolkien to be talking as though he's a third party to his own creation - if
one stays in tune to it, he does it all the time. Its just such a
pleasure when we can actually read his thoughts, from time to time, expressed
in exactly that way.
Faramir is not Robin Hood, any more than Aragorn is Arthur, Gandalf is Merlin,
or Turin is Kullervo. But in as much as they are major inspirations
behind Tolkien's creations, Faramir certainly comes on the scene like our
favourite 'merry man' from Sherwood.
In the sub-section in which Faramir debuts, 'ferns' are mentioned over and
over; and its ferns which not only lend Sherwood Forest its unique beauty, but
promote hidden stealth under their leaves. Then when the 'Rangers of
Ithilien' are first described:
"Four tall Men stood there. Two had great bows, almost of their own height, and
great quivers of long green-feathered arrows. All had swords at their
sides, and were clad in green and brown of varied hues, as if the better
to walk unseen in the glades of Ithilien. Green gauntlets covered
their hands, and thier faces were hooded and masked with green,
except for their eyes, which were very keen and bright...
The tall green man laughed grimly. 'I am Faramir, Captain
of Gondor,'..."
Faramir... Green Man... Robin Hood... Celtic legends, blended with the
Anglo-Norman conflict, brought to life by Sir Walter Scott, & immortalized by
Errol Flynn in Tolkien's day... ;-)
Could Tolkien have been anything but a third party to the wise, masked,
swashbuckling, bow-wielding, posse-leading, forest-dwelling, green-wearing
Faramir, Ranger of Ithilien
Forest?
