Denethor, son of Ecthelion (sketch for a painting)

'I sent my son forth, unthanked, unblessed, out into needless peril, and here he lies with poison in his veins. Nay, nay, whatever may now betide in war, my line too is ending, even the House of the Stewards has failed. Mean folk shall rule the last remnant of the Kings of Men, lurking in the hills until all are hounded out.'

the despair and eventual suicide of Denethor being played for comedy was one of Peter Jackson's more... um, "interesting" artistic choices. Re-reading ROTK recently, I'd forgotten just how much Tolkien sympathizes with the great, proud old lord. this one scene always stood out to me from chapter 4 "the siege of Gondor" where Denethor is in a chamber in the white tower, with faramir laying wounded and dying, and he muses about the end of his line, and how the west has failed, it's some of Tolkien's best writing (imho)

this one's a rough draft for a painting i'd like to do, i ran out of room at the bottom to do faramir laying prone, with pippin tending to him.