overthinkinglotr:

Ok but I really love how the LOTR films use colors/costume design to show Denethor’s power over the other characters

Like: every character in LOTR has their own set of Characteristic Colors™. Denethor’s Characteristic Colors™ are desaturated black and grey:

. These aren’t necessarily Gondor’s colors (I’ll get to that in a minute) but they’re definitely his. In The Two Towers’ flashback scene, Gondor’s soldiers are dressed in Denethor’s black/grey, including Boromir:

But when Boromir leaves Gondor– and is free from needing to carefully Perform in front of his father– he starts wearing his own Characteristic Colors™ instead. These colors are royal red, gold and blue:

(Literally wearing your true colors)

Meanwhile Faramir, unlike Boromir, doesn’t wear Denethor’s colors in the flashback. He wears his own Characteristic Colors™, which are brown/green, bc Faramir does not do what Denethor wants him to do…

….until ROTK, when Faramir surrenders to his father’s will and exchanges his characteristic brown/green armor for black/grey armor. It’s like his identity is stripped away

Similarly, Pippin’s Characteristic Colors™ are blue/green:

But when he enters Denethor’s service:

No individual expression allowed

“But black and grey with no accents are Gondor’s colors–” Nahhh I don’t buy  Denethor’s anti-color propaganda. When Aragorn replaces Denethor, the first thing he brings back is colorful fashion

Aragorn doesn’t wear black and grey, like Denethor did. He wears things that merge the black/white of Gondor with the sort of royal red/blue/gold of Boromir’s characteristic colors

And so at last the tyranny of Denethor’s drab fashion sense was ended