Middle-Earth Tours

Tour 1: The People of Middle-Earth

Boromir
And seated a little apart was a tall man with a fair and noble face, dark-haired and grey-eyed, proud and stern of glance.
    He was cloaked and booted as if for a journey on horseback; and indeed though his garments were rich, and his cloak was lined with fur, they were stained with long travel. He had a collar of silver in which a single white stone was set; his locks were shorn about his shoulders. On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped with silver that now was laid upon his knees. He gazed at Frodo and Bilbo with sudden wonder. --description of Boromir from FotR, "Many Meetings"

Despite the specificity of Tolkien's description, each artist here has a very different image of Boromir. To Inger Edelfeldt, he's a tragic man-boy; to Michael Kaluta, a flawed Prince Valiant (note the haircut); to Anke-Katrin Eiszmann, an Alan Rickman lookalike; and to Ted Nasmith, a mighty warrior.
detail of Boromir, by
Michael Kaluta

Detail of Boromir, by Inger Edelfeldt		 He was pierced with many black-feathered arrows; his sword was still in his hand, but it was broken near the hilts; his horn cloven in two was at his side. Many Orcs lay slain, piled all about him and at his feet. --TTT, "The Departure of Boromir"


Boromir's Death, by
Anke-Katrin Eiszmann
The Last Words of Boromir,
by Ted Nasmith

LotR artists rarely paint Boromir in closeup, except in his death scene. Otherwise, they consign him to the fringes of a group. He never quite belongs and usually looks a bit sulky.

detail of Boromir, by
Anke-Katrin Eiszmann
Boromir and Frodo, by
Catherine Karina Chmiel
Boromir, by John Howe
In the movie, Boromir is played by Sean Bean -- blonde hair, fingering the Ring, and all. And he still does a first-rate job of bringing this complex character to life.
image from the preview teaser on the official movie site


image from a Decipher
trading card


image from a Topps trading card
via theonering.net
image from the limited edition 2001 New Line movie calendar

Full-size versions of these pictures are on display at Rolozo Tolkien, the official LotR movie site, and theonering.net.