Highlights
- Denethor was corrupted by a Palantir, leading to his tragic downfall in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
- Boromir’s desperate optimism led to him betraying his comrades, but he ultimately redeemed himself.
- Pippin starts off as a clueless goofball who makes it hard for others to trust him, but he matures into a more dependable character by the end of the story.
The Lord of the Rings has a reputation for its impressive cast of characters, and they run the spectrum from courageous heroes to duplicitous villains. One of the ongoing themes of the books is that the power of the One Ring makes it impossible to trust anyone.
Frodo recognizes the power of the One Ring, but that doesn’t make him immune to its corruption, and several other characters are much weaker than him. For some, it might be a matter of opinion, but there are other characters in The Lord of the Rings stories that nobody should ever trust.
6 Denethor
Was Corrupted By A Seeing Stone
- Appeared In: The Return of the King – “Minas Tirith.”
He was actually Denethor II and the last Steward of Gondor before the king returned. The movies make him more of an obvious villain, but in the books, he’s more of a sympathetic character based on a tragic figure from Greek legend, Aegeus, a king who threw himself in the ocean out of despair.
The source of Denethor’s despair was a Palantir, which he was secretly using to look into the future, or so he thought. What he thought was a vision of Minas Tirith’s fall was something else entirely, but he made little to no effort to secure the city because he thought defeat was inevitable. Even at his best, Denethor couldn’t be trusted.
5 Boromir
Overwhelmed By Responsibility And Tempted By The One Ring
- Appeared In: The Fellowship of the Ring – “The Council of Elrond.”
Boromir wasn’t much better than his father when it came to trust issues, but his motives are more understandable and come from a place of desperate optimism instead of resignation. He was desperate to find a way to defend Gondor against the forces of Mordor, and part of his motivation for joining the Fellowship was to either get the ring for himself or at least steer it towards Minas Tirith.
Boromir causes the breaking of the Fellowship, but he manages to redeem himself before his death, which is more than Denethor did in the book or movie. He was reliable as a fighter and a survivalist, but he ultimately failed the true test of the One Ring. Though he meant well for the most part, he made it very difficult for the other members of the Fellowship to put their trust in him.
4 Pippin (Peregrin Took)
A Hobbit Who Means Well But Causes Regular Problems
- Appeared In: The Fellowship of the Ring – “A Long-expected Party.”
More often known as Pippin, this character serves as the main source of comic relief among the hobbits, acting as a foil to the more focused Merry. He’s here to make audience members laugh and provide them with a character arc of a young naive hobbit going out into the world and returning to the Shire a hero.
His friends often tease him about how clueless he is, and Gandalf is quite vocal about the mistakes he makes, highlighting how they are dangerous as opposed to harmless fun. By the time the story concludes, Pippin matures into a more dependable person, but it’s hard to deny how untrustworthy he is prior to the climax of the tale. Though betraying one’s trust is rarely his intention, his actions can often result in him seeming more untrustworthy than he intends to appear.
3 Saruman
A Once-Honorable Maiar Who Betrayed A Fellow Wizard
- Appeared In: The Fellowship of the Ring – “The Shadow of the Past”
Not even the Wizards sent to Middle-earth were immune from the power of the One Ring. Gandalf refused to even touch it and begged Frodo not to give it to him, even leaving it on the floor in Bilbo’s house rather than interacting with it.
Saruman’s lack of respect for the Palantir foreshadows his betrayal, not only to the other Wizards but also to Sauron eventually. In the books, he was exiled after the destruction of Orthanc instead of killed, and he was so diabolically clever that he managed to seek out the Shire and almost razed it to the ground before the hobbits returned home. Though he was once a wise and honorable wizard, his lust for knowledge and Sauron’s influence eventually rendered him twisted and untrustworthy.
2 Tom Bombadil
A Mysterious Man Who Could Not Be Trusted To Keep The One Ring
- Appeared In:The Fellowship of the Ring – “In the House of Tom Bombadil.”
Debate rages among scholars and fans alike as to who or what Tom Bombadil is or what Tolkien intended with his creation. He’s left out of most adaptations because he isn’t connected to the narrative, and his mysterious powers don’t make sense according to the previous rules set for this world.
Tom Bombadil famously puts on the One Ring and doesn’t disappear. He seems to think it’s a joke, refusing to take it seriously. Gandalf mentions that, although he could safely keep the ring, he would likely forget it somewhere or lose it because he doesn’t really think it’s important. The One Ring would end up at the bottom of a river or under a tree if Tom Bombadil had it, so placing any degree of trust in him would be a bad move. He’s magical and interesting, but he’s not at all dependable.
1 Gollum
Two Characters Who Are Equally Untrustworthy By The End Of The Story
- Appeared In:The Hobbit – “Riddles In The Dark.”
One of the most notoriously two-faced characters in literature, Gollum, is obviously a figure who can’t be trusted. It’s Sam that gives Gollum two names for each of his faces, and he’s right in his assessment that one is bad, and the other is worse.
Formerly known as Smeagol, Gollum killed his best friend to get the ring from him, so not even the people close to him could trust him. That’s how he ended up in exile in the first place. Frodo’s faith in him comes from a place of empathy, and even though Gollum can’t redeem himself on his own, at least both the hobbits give him a fair chance.
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