Denethor: If the Steward of Gondor is a
difficult character to fathom in Tolkien’s books, the movie version of Denethor
is even more cryptic. The way Jackson presents him in his script, we get the
impression the imperious leader of Gondor is overcome by too many cares: the
loss of his beloved son (“He loved Boromir. Too much, perhaps.”), the burden of
rule, and the apparently inevitable destruction of his realm all conspire to
slowly rob Denethor of his sanity and drive him to a despairing murder/suicide.
There is certainly some grounding of this reading in the book, but an audience
sees John Noble’s Denethor teeter incoherently between rage, despair,
confusion, incompetence, love, and hubris so quickly and without apparent
reason the effect is nothing short of bewildering.
Tolkien’s
Denethor is a proud and stately ruler of a realm under siege. These have not
been easy times, and the Steward’s own personal faults only complicate things
further. Driven by a growing need for information about the dangers he is sworn
to defend against, Denethor risks the palantir
of the White Tower to spy on his foe. Sauron, wily demi-god that he is,
allows Denethor to believe he has the strength of will to wrench the
seeing-stone from the Dark Lord’s control. This plays perfectly into Denethor’s
already latent belief that the race of Numenor is a superior one with the might
to challenge the Enemy himself. This, of course, is foolishness borne of pride,
and Sauron succeeds in “editing” the information Denethor does gather through
the stone, showing him always the immense power of Mordor. This causes Denethor
to believe more and more completely that the cause of defense is hopeless,
until what he regards as Faramir’s utter failure to seize the Ring when it
comes within his grasp finally overthrows his mind. The Steward of Gondor may
have still been redeemed, had he brought a bit of humility to the fight, but
Denethor is one of those people who clearly believes in the inherent
superiority of certain people over others, naturally with himself very high in
the food chain. His straightforward refusal to “bow to this Ranger of the
North, last of a ragged house, long bereft of lordship” is perhaps the most
obvious manifestation of his greatest sin as he elevates himself above the King
of Gondor – a claim he notably does not think is even very important (“even were
his claim proved to me”). With these types of qualities Sauron is quite at
home, and it is only a matter of time before Denethor’s mind is shattered and
he nearly brings ruin on his own house.
The Denethor
we see in Jackson’s films played by Noble is (and maybe has to be) somewhat
different. The character gets very little time on-screen, but his role is
nonetheless an extremely important one. Aside from the obvious connections to his
sons and their parts in the great events of the Third Age, Denethor is yet
another vessel by which the audience experiences Sauron’s evil power, lending
personality, purpose, and intent to the shadowy Enemy in his Tower, far away.
Noble’s Denethor, however, appears in contrast to David Wenham’s Faramir (as I
discussed in the previous post), who comes to his embracement of death more or
less rationally. Denethor appears to have simply been driven mad by the
bewitchments of Sauron, which is a decidedly less impactful choice. It’s also
not grounded in the source material, which is doubly unfortunate.
Evidence of
my assertion is seen in some of Jackson’s extra-Tolkien lines and moments, most
notably when Movie Denethor sees the Host of Morgul on his doorstep and says to
himself, “Theoden has betrayed me!” Denethor has
already stated he knows Theoden is headed for Gondor (“I know who rides with
Theoden of Rohan.”) and Gandalf very plainly told him to light
the beacons and call for Rohan’s aid and he refused (we know he knew about
Gandalf’s little movie-scheme because we saw the camera shot where Denethor
glowers his disapproval when Pippin scales Mindolluin to light the first
beacon), so why would he suddenly speak as if Rohan had willfully stabbed him
in the back? This defies logic and, therefore, illogic (i.e., genuine madness)
must be the explanation. This downgrades the character, however, because Book Denethor’s descent
into hedonism via prideful stubbornness and ambition is a far more compelling
story, albeit one that must be handled carefully in order to be understood and
appreciated, especially in film.
Jackson’s
approach is rather ham-handed, even going so far as to insert a small sequence
where Denethor hallucinates and pictures Boromir approaching him only to have
the mirage fade into Faramir. The only sensible conclusion, based on Jackson’s
repeated hints (“The rule of Gondor is mine, and no other’s!” “All is turned to
vain ambition!” “Boromir was loyal to me, and not some wizard’s pupil!” “My
line is ended!”), is that Jackson’s Denethor is solely focused on the
perpetuation of his ruling lineage. This tunnel-visioned idea made Boromir’s
death more than he could bear, since he had no trust in Faramir. We are left to
assume this is because Boromir was “less apt to [Gandalf’s] hand,” and
therefore more willing to do as his father bade him, but it also doesn’t square
with Denethor lamenting the end of his line only when Faramir lies dying (but
not dead – which is important to gleaning the character’s mental state as well)
before him.
Having seen
bits of other, commendable work Noble has performed, I think it likely this odd
turn as Denethor was forced upon him by a) Jackson’s personal interpretation of
the character, b) the often-clunky process of transitioning a literary
masterpiece into film, or c) both of these simultaneously. Other choices by
Jackson also serve to further diminish the character, especially when Gandalf
pummels him with his staff in full view of the entire City. This strains
credulity, to put it mildly, and has the uniquely undesirable effect of
creating comedy where there should be none. It is also entirely out of
character for both Gandalf and Denethor, to say nothing of the thousands of
people watching the exchange. In the end, whatever the cause of Denethor’s diminution,
the result is a far less nuanced Denethor, from whom we are able to learn very
little.
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