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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 310123" data-attributes="member: 2020">Yes, Colonel Hardisson, that is my point.  To all too many people, Denethor comes off as the madman who failed to lead his people during the Siege.  He is the loser who stayed in his tower while his city burned, and did nothing.  He is the madman who forced Gandalf away from the Field of Battle (thus bringing greater woe to Theoden, Eowyn, and Merry, than perhaps would have been.)  The madman who decided to burn himself alive, and burn his son alive with him.    The madman who succeeded in killing himself, burning to death with the Palantir clutched in his withering hands.  And there is Gandalf, telling Denethor (before the end) that he is not given the right to kill himself or his son, and otherwise preaching to Denethor as a priest might ... and Denethor calling Gandalf a fool, and stating all is lost ... Denethor lost in his madness and taken by the darkness.  This definitely COULD give Denethor a bad image in the eyes of those reading the books.  For those who have not read the books, what will they think, when they see Return of the King (the film) and they see Denethor's despair and death?  Will they appreciate his very real heroism?  Will they appreciate the man who stood as a staunch defender of his people?  Will they appreciate the man who tried to find a way to save his people when confronted with impossible odds?  Or will they see the idiot who did not fight for his city, did not leave his tower when the final need came, and who ultimately proclaimed all was lost and killed himself?  Denethor the fool.  Denethor the madman.  Denethor the pessimist.  Denethor the idiot.  And this impression is WRONG.  If people are lead to believe that this is the truth, then they are as mislead as Denethor himself was - when Sauron mislead him through the Palantir.  Boromir understood the truth, and he tried to tell Aragorn that truth, and pleaded with him to stand with Gondor, stand with the White City.  Before he died, Boromir saw the true Aragorn, and Aragorn plighted his loyalty to Gondor, and swore to save the White City.  Now THAT is the truth ... and it would seem that Peter Jackson wishes the audience to appreciate the real truth of the Stewards.  I simply hope he portrays the true Denethor, and allows the audience to see what really was, and not the false and shallow image of the idiot and madman, as Denethor ultimately fell into the Darkness.</blockquote>

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