Mission Secured
by gustaf
A/N: I've always wondered what would happen if Faramir
went on the quest instead of Boromir, so I'm going to attempt to write
a story about that. This first chapter is just kind of background-ish
stuff and some of it is from the appendix.
1. A Strange Briefing
Seek for the Sword that was broken:
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur’s Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.
Seek...Imladris...Doom...Bane...Halfling...the words echoed around
in Faramir’s head. Waking with a start, his dream came back to him
swirling in his head like angry bees. He shivered and sat at the edge
of his bed thinking. This was the 2nd time the exact dream had come to
him. What could that mean?
The time passed and he eventually fell asleep again. The dream
from the previous evening left him restless the entire night. That
morning, he was fatigued yet he did not tell anyone, not even his
brother, about the strange dream. His father had given him a numerous
amount of tasks to do unfortunately for him as his head was in a blur
and it seemed that his father could never be satisfied with what his
younger son did. Of course, his father scolded Faramir telling him that
in everything he did, he would do it wrong. Faramir loved his brother
Boromir dearly and he was not jealous of his brother getting all the
praise from their father, but the words his father spoke to Faramir
ever since Finduilas died had hurt him. Ever oft did he think “why
could I not please father?”
Denethor handled state matters well, but when Finduilas died, his
heart broke. His son, Faramir, was like unto himself except that he
looked upon others with less scorn than his father. Many times did
Faramir and Denethor dispute about various matters as they both studied
lore. They were alike, but their opinions differed. Denethor’s
relationship with Faramir had never been good since Finduilas died, but
when Faramir had gotten older, he also became stubborn in a more subtle
way, making their relationship even harder to become well. Boromir
however, made Denethor proud. The people loved him much, and he had a
brave heart and was confident. Denethor loved him very much, and
perhaps too much that he became partial to him. Boromir often tried to
make his father think better and more clearly of Faramir, yet that
never happened.
Finduilas was often on Denethor’s mind. She died only 12 years
after their marriage. Her death was too much for Denethor to bear. He
sat in despair and thought for long periods of time in his tower.
Eventually, his mind gave in to hopelessness and he imagined Mordor
attacking Gondor and vanquishing all the free people of Middle Earth
and with that, he began to seek knowledge by using the palantír.
Stubborn and proud he was, trusting to his own strength to resist the
dark power of Sauron. None of the stewards before him nor even the
kings Eärnil and Eärnur dared to use it. This stone of Minas Tirith,
the palantír of Anárion, was most in accordance with the one that
Sauron himself had.
Denethor gained great knowledge, but acquired
distrust of others who resisted Sauron save those who served himself.
His aging came before a normal time from resisting Sauron’s will, but
he could not fully resist it. His mind slowly became more and more
slightly incoherent from trials at the palantír and he also ignored the
counsel of Mithrandir, the gray pilgrim. Yet still he was a great
leader in the city of Minas Tirith and many marveled at his wisdom.
