Tolkien’s Favorite Character

askmiddlearth:

I’m not sure if Tolkien ever admitted to having a favorite character (if I had to guess, I’d say either Gandalf or Galadriel.) However, there is a clear winner for which character is most based on Tolkien himself. “As far as any character is ‘like me’” Tolkien wrote, “it is Faramir.” This resemblance is particularly clear when it comes to Faramir’s views on war, which are very much influenced by Tolkien’s own opinions after World War One. As Faramir said “I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness… I love only that which they defend.” However, Tolkien admits that Faramir (and he says this of each character) possesses a courage that he does not.

Tolkien’s relationship with Faramir is interesting beyond this resemblance. Tolkien wrote that Faramir wasn’t planned, and that he was as surprised as anybody when Faramir appeared in the story. “(I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, brother of Boromir.” And the rest, as they say, was history.

SOURCES: Tolkien’s letters #66 and #180