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Great question, Renkon!

Let me see... Well, in my opinion, a person's character doesn't change simply because they've been introduced to something a little later or earlier. If a person is good, and would do the right thing, then they would do the right thing regardless of when the opportunity is presented to them. I think that if Faramir had gone to Rivendell instead of his brother, Boromir, that yes, he would still have been able to resist the temptations of the Ring. It maybe would have tried him harder, but he would have resisted.

Alas, I do not believe Boromir would have let them go, however. He was a fairly good man, but not as good, it appears, as his brother was. I believe having the Ring in his clutches like that would have overcome him with desire for the Ring, and he would have made a seriously bad choice and kept them captive. Not because he was a bad person, you see, but because he was less virtuous than Faramir.

A very valid point. But the way I see it is that if he was so concerned with pleasing his father, then he would want to do so by being a valiant, honorable, and courageous man, would he not? A person with those kinds of morals and values doesn't just develop them over night, they are raised with them, or they see and believe in them from a young age. And while one brother may not take to them so easily, the other may embrace, and indeed strictly adhere to them. I do not believe Faramir was the type of person, at any point, to succumb to the corruption of a great evil.

Well, bases are covered. lol

Another good question, and several good points. If Boromir hadn't been such a "weak link" in the Fellowship, if they hadn't gotten split up as they did, I think Saruman wouldn't ever have been defeated by walking, talking tree's, and the Horse-masters of Rohan would have fallen, yes. It would have been dark times for all of the good people involved in those two situations, indeed.

(Speaking of which, in the movies, there is a small army of Elve's that marches to Helm's Deep. This never happened in the book, so that small army of Elve's (to anyone who didn't know that) does not count as a save in regards to the question "what if Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli never ended up at Helm's Deep?")

And if they had never split up, Aragorn would never have been able to free the spirits of those long-suffering soldiers, either, which would have sucked for them, eh?

((It really was a good thing. It just happened in a bad way.))

Ahh, you're right. Never thought of that. Definitely should have, though. Thanks for pointing that out.
Especially the part about the Hobbits tale of Boromir having influence over Faramir. That was something that had especially slipped my mind.

Aha! Equally as valid point. So lets assume that is what I was thinking in the first place, shall we? lol

Yes, Rohan, then Minastirith and Gondor. It would have been terrible.

That is a good point, and, of course, it comes back to whether Boromir was weak or the ring was strong. Aragorn had many advantages of Boromir, even so: Being of the Dunadain, carrying the Star of Elendil given him by Arwen, and the lack of obligation to any kingdom at that time (Recall that Boromir wanted the ring 'to help Gondor').

There will, of course, be unaccountable variables for any character when confronted with the Ring's power. For example, why did Smeagol seem to be more effected than Deagol when they were both exposed to the Ring for the same amount of time? (Actually, Deagol had been exposed to it for longer -by a few seconds/minuets.)