The Making of "The Gift of Men"

Paola Cartoceti

Now, Ma, I told you not to look too closely at those links!

    Conservative Tolkien fans frown upon fan fiction... luckily they have no idea of what is out there. However my story could be frowned upon even by not-so-conservative Tolkien fans who like to write serious fan fiction to fill the gaps or give their own twist on a theme. I have been trying to convince myself that my story is canon, that it is faithful to the book and not the movie (apart for the names of some secondary characters, taken a bit randomly from the screenplay - must fix), that it fits perfectly in the Chronology. It does not, apart from the material time it takes. It does make some sense to have Faramir at the end more bereaved than ever: it flows well into his coldness in the movie "The Two Towers"; but I think he has already reasons enough for being like this, and the addition of such a particular brand of grief would leave him in a far worse state of mind at the Houses of Healing.
    In "The Lord of the Rings", Faramir and Eowyn have some of the most beautiful scenes that Tolkien ever wrote. There are also some lovely Faramir fanfics out there. My little story cannot compare. It is just a classic Mary Sue, and there is no Eowyn in sight (yet). I always liked Eowyn, I liked her with Faramir in the book, and I liked what we got in Peter Jackson's "The Two Towers". However, my inspiration did not present Eowyn to me when it practically forced me to write this story after seeing TTT for the fifth time. I guess I do not feel yet like identifying with her. And then, I'm not a blonde... The result is that fans (or detractors) of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars trilogy will laugh their heads off at the beginning. Who did she say she was again... Mara something?

    So what did I want with this story? Well, apart from the pleasure of writing this intriguing character that Peter Jackson's Faramir is for me (I avoided scrupulously to mention the colour of his hair... well, there is a little hint of how I imagine him...), I had two ideas that really fascinated me. One was the title and the ending... I was in love with the concept. Moreover, I had never done anything of that sort to a character of mine, and I loved to explore it and stage such a tragic irony. This is the case when the usual objection "If you have an idea, write an independent story about it" does not stand, in my opinion. The idea stemmed exactly from the way "the Gift of Men" is defined and regarded in Middle Earth, not anywhere else, and, given Boromir and Faramir's history, it fits perfectly these characters, possibly more than any other, except for Aragorn. Creating new characters and a new setting would be far too costly for what is, in essence, just a black humour pun, a twisted variation on a theme, but which I felt was worth something to recount.
    The other idea was an arranged marriage for Boromir. It would have made perfect sense for the time and the society of "The Lord of the Rings". This brought me also to consider how such an element would impact on the bond between the two brothers. (How? Very hard, and with a punch to the chin.) Seriously, I really loved to write about that bond. We got far too little of it in PJ's movie, and never enough even in the book itself. I was happy to have Boromir so present in the story, so important, even though he never really appears. Pity about the limited scope of the story; it would have been interesting to explore his relationship with Morwen, though there were no apparent foundations for a romance with either of the brothers. We just do not know enough of Morwen, and neither do they. She comments by herself on her relationship with Boromir. As for Faramir, her reaction was as extreme as trying to kill him, and probably baseless, though it is impossible to see what could have been. She reacts more or less like Eowyn to Aragorn; too traumatic a situation, no great basis for a romance.
    A piece of trivia: due to not brushing up my Genealogies, in the first version I had Morwen as Prince Imrahil's daughter, thus Boromir's first cousin. In a mediaeval court this would not have been strange. But my instinct told me to take it out, and I did, and only later read a section of the "Peoples of Middle-Earth" about Ar-Pharazon and Tar-Miriel and discovered that marriage between first cousins was disapproved of even in the royal family. So my instinct was right. "Morwen" is a fairly common name (off the top of my head I remember Tùrin's mother, Morwen Eledhwen, and Théoden's mother, Morwen of Lossarnach) and I preferred to use that rather than trying to invent one or use the name of some more clearly-identified character.
    A third idea inspired me, of course... the rope. More information than you needed to know? I am SO not into S/M. I never liked even innocent stories which involve handcuffs or any kind of bondage. It makes me uneasy just thinking about it. And yet... the moment I heard Faramir say "Bind their hands" in the movie, I definitely did not remain indifferent!

    Finally, even this little story was very demanding. As much as I tried to write something that could recall (from very far away) Tolkien's style, my way of writing and of imagining things is completely different, and I had to keep myself in check as much as possible while keeping the elements I wanted to see. I am glad to say that there are some moments of pure LOTR, but LOTR certainly would never have the infamous rope scene or the fade-out on the door! Even a little thing such as Faramir yawning is not Tolkien. Some inquiring minds have wondered what actually happens at the outpost. My most sincere opinion?... Nothing. Outdated Quenya vows are no excuse. But a girl can dream... [UPDATE February 2004: "Cold Mountain" copied me!!!]

    So, this is a sort of hybrid... a story which started in the pure spirit of Tolkien but lost itself somewhere along the way, in part willingly. I can say only this, I had lots of fun (cathartic, you know) while writing it, and I did it out of love for the inspiring work of Tolkien, for Peter Jackson's movies and for the characters that make both so unique; therefore I hope that a little of this love will shine through, and that you too will enjoy it.

© Paola Cartoceti 2003