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In the movie LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, I am wondering why Frodo didn't tell Aragorn, or one of the others in the fellowship, that Galadriel had told him that Boromir would try to take the One Ring. I would think that Frodo would want them to know this so that they could keep a constant watch over him while the group traveled on to Mordor.

Why didn't Frodo tell the others that Boromir would try to take the One Ring?

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    Because Peter Jackson made it up for dramatic effect. In the book, this is all that is said of what she got from Boromir: I should have said that she was tempting us, and offering what she pretended to have the power to give. It need not be said that I refused to listen. The Men of Minas Tirith are true to their word.’ But what he thought that the Lady had offered him Boromir did not tell. Boromir says something that makes Frodo suspicious after they leave, but nothing even close to concrete.
    – Shamshiel
    Commented Nov 4, 2021 at 22:01
  • If you were OK with a book answer, I can make that (with some extra detail) an answer, but I'm assuming you want a movie answer.
    – Shamshiel
    Commented Nov 4, 2021 at 22:02
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    Does Galadriel tell Frodo that Boromir will try take the ring, or that unspecified "he" will? Without clarification, it could have been almost anyone in the fellowship, if Frodo was paranoid enough, though the two obvious candidates are Aragorn and Boromir. Even in the movie, Frodo isn't sure Aragorn won't try to take the ring, when they meet at the top of Amon Hen, after Boromir had tried to take it.
    – David Roberts
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 1:00
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    Peter Jackson's logic: Do whatever looks cool on screen, let SFF Stack Exchange users write it for you afterwards.
    – Misha R
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 3:55
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    Because Movie!Frodo lacks the agency and character building that Frodo does in the book, and is written as being largely helpless. Even at the end, in Sammath Naur, Frodo in the book is much more emphatic and decisive in claiming the Ring. (If you've not read the book, here's a something you might find interesting: Frodo tells Gollum he would use the influence of the Ring to force him (Gollum) to kill himself, not something you can imagine Elijah Wood saying!)
    – David Roberts
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 4:51

3 Answers 3

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Because the Ring didn’t want him to

In both the movies and the books it is clear that the Ring is semi-sentient and has “wants”: the primary one being that it wants to return to Sauron. Or, perhaps more accurately, it responds to Sauron’s desire to regain it. More speculatively, it “wants” to be wielded by someone with the power to do so.

Boromir was more likely to fulfil both “wants” than Frodo. The Ring has a history of discarding bearers when they no longer suit it. It abandoned both Isuldur and Gollum - it might have been waiting for an opportunity to abandon Frodo. Indeed, it had already done so in the Misty Mountains, slipping free of Frodo right in the path of Boromir.

Also, the ring makes its bearer bat-shit crazy and paranoid.

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    The movies dramatically overplayed the sentience and allure of the Ring, but I suppose this is a good movie answer.
    – Shamshiel
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 1:05
  • @Shamshiel well, yeah
    – Dale M
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 1:31
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    Isn't the ring slipping free in the path of Boromir in the Misty Moutains made up by Peter Jackson too? I don't remember this from the books..
    – Kaddath
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 12:38
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    @IanKemp This answer just says that "the Ring is semi-sentient". Just semi. And I think it's fitting. Gandalf says "A Ring of Power looks after itself" and "It was not Gollum, Frodo, but the Ring itself that decided things".
    – Fabio says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 13:32
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    @Spencer Well, the ring does have adversaries. Maybe it just can't handle the complex multi-step planning required to prevent the fellowship from turning its own actions against it. Plus, there are plenty of examples of humans making decisions that turn out to backfire on them, sometimes spectacularly, so it's not a stretch to see how a semi-sentient (or sapient or whatever) magical object could do the same.
    – David Z
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 23:19
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Because it's intentionally ambiguous in the film

Galadriel only says "he", not "Boromir".

Does Boromir want it? Sure, we've seen that when the Ring "falls" into the snow in the Misty Mountains.

How about Aragorn though? The reason the scene with Frodo and Aragorn at the Breaking of the Fellowship is so powerful is because up to that point we don't know. Up to that point, Boromir has always been the one who's been closer to the hobbits (especially Merry and Pippin), and Aragorn has been quite standoffish with them. He's been a good leader, but not necessarily likeable. We also know that Aragorn is afraid he'll be tempted the same way his great-however-many-grandfather was - so not only do we not know, but the character doesn't know either.

The story of the Fellowship film isn't just character development for the hobbits. Jackson also managed to build in character development for Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, something which is famously absent from the book. Remember that the book itself was a loving pastiche of Norse sagas. Jackson knew that he had to produce something which would stand up to modern standards of story-telling. Aragorn facing down that temptation is the point where he rises to be better than Isildur. Everything afterwards is detail - exciting detail, to be sure, but closing Frodo's hand back over the Ring is when he earns the right to be king, and Boromir says as much as he dies.

And the "he" could also be Sam, or even Merry or Pippin. Frodo is already getting the effects of the Ring by that point. Pippin proves his own weakness later with the palantir, after all. Sam has to virtually drown to prove himself to Frodo.

There's no shortage of "he"s, basically.

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  • Not to mention S and S.
    – Spencer
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 16:58
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    @Spencer Sauron, sure, but that wouldn't exactly be a secret. And Frodo hasn't met (and doesn't meet) Saruman. If we granted Galadriel greater precognitive powers then it could also include Faramir (that's another good change in the film, because it never made any sense that Faramir was somehow immune to the effects of the Ring). But she does then say "you know of whom I speak", and Frodo hasn't met Faramir at that point.
    – Graham
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 17:05
  • We can argue the semantics of that, but yours is the right answer anyway.
    – Spencer
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 17:06
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    Faramir isn't "immune" to the ring (even Gandalf isn't by his own admission); Faramir is actually just stronger in character than Boromir. This is quite clear in the books. Relevant to the question because no, Faramir is not a good candidate for the "he".
    – GHolmes
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 18:18
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Frodo tries to see the best in people; when Boromir then acts on it, Frodo again allows him a final dignity of silence.

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