We never met, except perhaps in the depths of my father’s heart, but I have heard his name since I could first understand words.
Boromir the Bold. My kinsman, brother of my father, Captain-General of Gondor, High Warden of the Tower where we three stand now. The hero of old, who carried my father’s vision to Imladris, and helped safeguard the Ring-bearer through great danger, only to fall at Amon Hen.
My father and the King speak of him now, as they do each year at this time. This was the day Boromir fell, pierced by many arrows, trying to save his small comrades from the cruel Uruk-hai. The tale has been told by hobbit, Elf, Dwarf, and Man. I bear a name that is kin to his; and I have always been told that I bear his likeness as well.
I wonder how Boromir felt in those days, the great battle for Osgiliath that he led in the summer of 3018, standing against the overwhelming tide that later nearly killed my father. And how did he stand it, later, to ride off on his lonely quest and die so far from the home he yearned to save?
Yet I cannot truly know the answers. It was a different time, long ago, beyond my ken. Gondor is safe and strong. I have fought, in the East and South, but never against terrible odds. There are no more Nazgûl, and far fewer Orcs, to beset the Men of the West.
I have just learned glad tidings. My lady will bear our firstborn in the summer. If the child is a boy, I will give him a name that is both old and new, but is not bound to that of Boromir.
But I will remember Boromir. And so will my son.
Author's Note: The meaning of the name of Elboron, Faramir's semi-canonical son, has been translated as 'Enduring Star' or 'Faithful Star', which ties in with the meaning of Boromir - 'Faithful Jewel'. Tolkien mentions Faramir's grandson Barahir in the Appendices in ROTK; I have assumed, since Tolkien mentioned no other child of Faramir, that Elboron was Barahir's father, but Barahir's paternity is never specified.
Dedicated to all the legendary warriors who never came home to reap the rewards of peace.