‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ Misses the Most Awesome Detail About Boromir
One of the best aspects of The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien‘s legendarium is how many incredible relics and artifacts there are. The problem with this is that Peter Jackson‘s trilogy could never fit all of them into the story. One of the most impressive ones is reduced to a brief appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: the Horn of Gondor, which Boromir (Sean Bean) blows to call for aid toward the end of the movie, when he is defending Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). The Horn is actually the most powerful object he carries, and its feats are astonishing.
The Horn of Gondor Is an Heirloom From the House of Stewards
The Horn of Gondor is one of the most important heirlooms in the Southern Kingdom, but it’s not tied to royalty or the kings; instead, it belongs to the House of Stewards, of which Boromir is part. Traditionally, the Stewards of Gondor pass it on to their eldest sons, with Denethor II (John Noble) receiving it from his father, Ecthelion II, and then passing it on to Boromir. Unfortunately, the Horn is destroyed when Boromir dies fighting on the slopes of Amon Hen.
The Horn itself was crafted around a millennium before The Lord of the Rings by Vorondil the Hunter, Steward of Gondor. At that time, the Stewards were the main advisors to the king, and would only begin serving as leaders in their stead some time later. While hunting in the eastern lands of Rhûn, Vorondil shot a Kine of Araw, a rare breed of oxen that is said to descend from the sacred cattle of the Vala Oromë. From the Kine’s horn, Vorondil crafted a hunting horn, “bound with silver, and written with ancient characters.”
It’s not a regular horn, however. As Faramir (David Wenham) tells Frodo (Elijah Wood) in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, when the Horn of Gondor is blown anywhere within the borders of Gondor, its call for help will not go unheeded. It’s never explicitly said that the horn has mystical properties itself, but its sound goes far beyond the reach of an ordinary hunting horn. That makes it a great tool, especially in times of distress and overwhelming adversity, like Boromir faces on Amon Hen.
Boromir Blows the Horn of Gondor Three Times in the Books
It’s a pity that the movies couldn’t show us the true range of the Horn of Gondor, because, in the books, it’s truly remarkable. Boromir blows it three times, the one on Amon Hen being the last one. In the movie, he blows it three times, too, but all at once, and to a rather limited reach, simply trying to call Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) for help.
The first time Boromir blows the Horn of Gondor in the books is in Rivendell. In the Council of Elrond, Boromir is chosen to be part of the Fellowship of the Ring, and, shortly after, lets the horn ring throughout Imladris, as a display of his pride and the power of Gondor. He does get a warning from Elrond (Hugo Weaving), however, who knows about the horn’s powers, and tells him to only use it within the boundaries of Gondor and when in danger. That would never come to pass, unfortunately.
The second time is certainly the most impressive, although mentioned only briefly in the book. When the Fellowship is running from the Orcs and the Balrog in Moria, Boromir uses the horn, and it produces such a loud sound, amplified by the echo of the empty halls, that even the Balrog hesitates, as Tolkien writes: “For a moment, the orcs quailed and the fiery shadow halted.” This effect doesn’t last long, as the sound eventually fades, so it only buys the Fellowship a few moments until they reach the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. Still, making a Balrog hesitate is no small feat.
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Faramir and Denethor Hear It in Gondor When Boromir Blows the Horn on Amon Hen
The last time Boromir blows the Horn of Gondor is much more impressive than shown in the movies. That’s because it isn’t heard just by Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, but by Faramir and Denethor, too. When Boromir uses the horn, its call for aid is heard all the way in Minas Tirith. These distances are huge, but, as Faramir notes in the books, the power of the horn is related to the borders of Gondor “as the realm was of old,” which once included Amon Hen and even Rohan.
For days, both Faramir and Denethor are troubled by the sound of the horn, not knowing whether Boromir made it or not. Faramir eventually finds his body in Ithilien, on the shores of the Anduin river, and notes that the Horn of Gondor isn’t there. As it turns out, it had already been found and returned to Denethor in Minas Tirith, and he later shows it, broken in two halves, to Pippin. As Faramir notes, it was “cloven in two,” probably by an axe or sword. Although help didn’t reach Boromir in time, his friends did answer the call, with the legend of the Horn of Gondor holding true until the last time.
