Q: What did Faramir do in the Fourth Age?
ANSWER: Faramir was the only member of his family to survive the War of the Ring. He was also the last of the Ruling Stewards of Gondor.
Many readers have wondered what, exactly, there would be for Faramir to do since Aragorn was now king and governing the realm of Gondor. In the chapter “The Steward and the King” in The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote:
Faramir met Aragorn in the midst of those there assembled, and he knelt, and said: ‘The last Steward of Gondor begs leave to surrender his office.’ And he held out a white rod; but Aragorn took the rod and gave it back, saying: ‘That office is not ended, and it shall be thine and thy heirs’ as long as my line shall last. Do now thy office!’
In 1962 or 1963 a reader expressed some concerns to Tolkien about how he handled Faramir and Eowyn in the story. Tolkien wrote back in Letter No. 244:
… to be Prince of Ithilien, the greatest noble after Dol Amroth in the revived Númenórean state of Gondor, soon to be of imperial power and prestige, was not a ‘market-garden job’ as you term it. Until much had been done by the restored King, the P. of Ithilien would be the resident march-warden of Gondor, in its main eastward outpost – and also would have many duties in rehabilitating the lost territory, and clearing it of outlaws and orc-remnants, not to speak of the dreadful vale of Minas Ithil (Morgul). I did not, naturally, go into details about the way in which Aragorn, as King of Gondor, would govern the realm. But it was made clear that there was much fighting, and in the earlier years of A.’s reign expeditions against enemies in the East. The chief commanders, under the King, would be Faramir and Imrahil; and one of these would normally remain a military commander at home in the King’s absence. A Númenórean King was monarch, with the power of unquestioned decision in debate; but he governed the realm with the frame of ancient law, of which he was administrator (and interpreter) but not the maker. In all debatable matters of importance domestic, or external, however, even Denethor had a Council, and at least listened to what the Lords of the Fiefs and the Captains of the Forces had to say. Aragorn re-established the Great Council of Gondor, and in that Faramir, who remained by inheritance the Steward (or representative of the King during his absence abroad, or sickness, or between his death and the accession of his heir) would [be] the chief counsellor.
Faramir would also be responsible for governing the southern realm while Aragorn was in the north. According to an early text published in The Peoples of Middle-earth, Faramir lived until Fourth Age year 82. Another note referring to a genealogy places Faramir’s death in Fourth Age year 83.
So Faramir played quite an important role in early Fourth Age Gondor. He also started a new line of (not ruling) Stewards who served the kings descended from Aragorn.
See Also
What Did Tolkien Mean When He Said the Blood of Numenor Ran Nearly True in Faramir and Denethor?
What Do We Know about the Stewards of Gondor and King Eärnur?
Who Ruled Minas Tirith When Aragorn Became King?
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