Further, in Livingston's opinion, the Steward Denethor's two sons, Boromir and Faramir, play the roles of Hector in Homer's Iliad, "the heroic example of martial, mortal man", and of Paris, the younger brother "little loved by [his father]", in "asterisk" form, as they might have been. Livingston notes that Paris, like Faramir, is seriously wounded by a "deadly dart"; he is dragged back into Troy, just as Faramir is carried to Minas Tirith's Houses of Healing. Both men suffer burning fevers. Paris can't be saved; Faramir can. Paris's body is burned on a pyre; his abandoned wife Oenone burns herself to death with him. Denethor has himself burned alive on a pyre, and he tries to have Faramir burned with him, but is foiled in this.
Further, in Livingston's opinion, the Steward Denethor's two sons, Boromir and Faramir, play the roles of Hector in Homer's Iliad, "the heroic example of martial, mortal man", and of Paris, the younger brother "little loved by [his father]", in "asterisk" form as they might have been. Livingston, notes that Paris, like Faramir, is seriously wounded by a "deadly dart"; he is dragged back into Troy, just as Faramir is carried to Minas Tirith's Houses of Healing. Both men suffer burning fevers. Paris can't be saved; Faramir can. Paris's body is burned on a pyre; his abandoned wife Oenone burns herself to death with him. Denethor has himself burned alive on a pyre, and he tries to have Faramir burned with him, but is foiled in this.