Boromir

[spoiler]I'm mainly concerned with the last paragraph.[/spoiler]
In 1954 a man by the name of J.R.R. Tolkien published a book he titled The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the trilogy Lord of the Rings. A character that is introduced and dies in this book is a man of the name Boromir. He is the epitome of ‘man’ in Middle Earth. He’s impatient, selfish, and quick to anger.  Boromir is the one of the first characters in the trilogy to fall under the Ring’s enchantment. He attacks the protagonist, Frodo, for it and is painted as a generally unlikable character. However, Boromir, a man who tried to take the Ring for his own purposes, demonstrates humility and honor towards the end of his life. He attempts to save two other Hobbits that accompanied Frodo, sacrificing himself so they might be saved. With his dying breath, he shows great humility by apologizing for attacking Frodo and dies an honorable man.
 

Boromir is the first character in any literature I became aware of that fits into the group I call ‘redeemed characters.’ These characters are creations that begin the story as unlikeable but endear themselves in one way or another at the end of the story or their involvement in the story. Sometimes I call these characters the ‘Boromir character’ because he was the first I was aware of.
 

He also opened my eyes to the fact that goodness is in everyone.  If a man can endanger the world and still protect practically defenseless beings with his own life, could not a man here on Earth, in reality, make a horrendous mistake and redeem himself? I think he could. Whatever the mistake, I think it could be overcome and that legacy replaced with a more favorable one. I try, sometimes unsuccessfully, to give people the benefit of the doubt. Boromir is one of the reasons why.