Written by Mr. Mouseburger 14th Apr 2006
Kindly submitted by Slasher71
During the epic siege of Minas Tirith, Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, is stricken with grief over the death of his last remaining son, Faramir; Boromir (q.v.) being killed in the first instalment of the trilogy. Feeling there is nothing left to live for, he ignores all protestations that his son is alive, and with his elite guard, he locks himself away in the Tomb of the Stewards, and puts Faramir on a funeral pyre, preparing to burn him.
Just as he is about to put a flame to the pyre, Gandalf and Pippin come bursting into the Tomb of the Stewards and rescue Faramir. It is obvious at this point that Denethor has gone mad through his grief, and when he attempts to attack Pippin for having the temerity to save Faramir, Gandalf (or more precisely Shadowfax) knocks Denethor into the pyre where he lights up like a Christmas tree.
Completely aflame, Denethor then bursts out of the Tomb of the Stewards, runs what must be at least a mile along the uppermost cliff of the city in world record time, before launching himself off of the end (no doubt crashing on some poor innocent Gondorian who was happily going about his daily chores).
how come he's not a good guy?he should count as Goody (Minor).not Baddy (Minor) or Ambivalent (Minor)!
EXACTLY! Denethor was NOT evil. His plan for saving the world was only different than that of the heroes of the story. From Denethor's perspective, two hobbits waltzing into Mordor with the Ring was doomed to fail, and in real life, it may very well have. The fact that he stood up for what he believed in, does not give anyone the right to be label him as "Baddy".
he has not been labelled a baddy - he is ambivalent (minor).
Denethor did not hinder things because he thought what he was doing was right. What is not explained in the film is that Denethor is driven mad by endless visions (from Sauron) of Mordor's might as seen through a palantir. This combined with the death of his son (Boromir) turn him insane, to the point where he almost kills Faramir too.
He is not a baddy as such, but he is certainly not a goody!
A tiny typo - Ian McKellen.
Heh, this death was so funny. Its not everyday you see a guy, body completely aflame, running out of his palace, screaming obsenities, and then falling to his death.
Animal? Shadowfax kicked him into the fire after all.
This is like a bad burlesque scene. In the novel, his death is terrific and leaves you with fear and respect. In the movie, you most likely spit your popcorn off laughing. They left him with NO DIGNITY. And the character is badly played in general. Without the palantir, no one can understand it...
That long running was just...
I think that Denethor would qualify for a Baddy since while insanity doesn't truly do that, he did show that he cares more about himself than anyone else (sans Boromir). For example he nearly killed Pippin after the Hobbit stopped Denethor from killing his son for next-to-no reason. Another reason why I think he's a villain is that he is one of the primary antagonists of the story (the others being Sauron, Gollum, the Witch-King of Angmar and Lieutenant Gothmog as well as Saruman on the Extended Edition).
Also doesn't anyone else think that the word Lord should be inputted into the title. Because throughout the film, many of Denethor's underlings (specifically Irolas, one of the monks and at one point Faramir) do call him "Lord Denethor".
I agree that he should be credited as Lord Denethor, but I do think Ambivalent (Minor) is the most suitable archetype for him since he's practically a villain but not quite (or at least, not on the same level as the other villains in the film). I also agree that 'Animal' should be added to the list.