Her age depends on where in her story we are, but Aeroniel was born in 2990 T.A., meaning that she was 28 when Boromir left Minas Tirith, and 29 at the end of the war.
7. Who is your OC's best or closest friend?
Aeroniel went a long, long time without having friends but always dreaming of friendship. The characters I would consider her closest friends are Boromir (her husband), Faramir (who she bonded with a lot when Boromir was gone), Éowyn (they're sisters-in-law and basically became sisters), and Arwen (I imagine that Aeroniel was absolutely terrified of Arwen at first, but soon realised that Arwen is actually so so sweet. Maybe Aeroniel became one of Arwen's ladies-in-waiting? I think she'd love that).
15. What is your OC’s background?
Aeroniel was the only child of very loving parents who were relatively well-off merchants, but they were killed when she was only eight years old. After that, she was raised by her abusive paternal uncle for about a decade, who practically used her as his maid and refused to let her leave the house). After her uncle died, Aeroniel had not interacted with other humans for ten years, so even though she was technically 'free', she struggled to go outside. She did begin to do so after the next ten years, and she was lucky enough to meet Boromir on one of those trips outside.
22. What is a song you associate with your OC?
During her years as a shut-in (after Uncle Haerion's death), Aeroniel had a lot of different hobbies, but part of her always yearned to go outside and do something different.
25. What does your OC want most?
Acceptance, friendship, and family (all things which she does find).
Aeroniel was born in Minas Tirith in Gondor, and had been alone for a years when she met Boromir for the first time. After the first evening they met, both of them were sure they would never meet again, but fate had more in store for them. They married in secret a few short months before Boromir left for Rivendell, and Aeroniel was crushed when Faramir brought her the news that her husband had fallen in battle. However, Boromir later returned to Gondor with Gandalf and Pippin, and once Aragorn became King, the couple went on to live a long, happy life together; raising four very loved children.
Just a quick little aesthetic I made for my OC and Boromir. I’ve been thinking about them a lot recently and I feel like I need to talk about them ☺️
OKAY so I found this list of OC couple questions (I hope they're also okay to use for OC x Canon couples), and I'm going to answer them for Boromir and Aeroniel because I love them ❤️
I probably repeat myself like crazy, but I hope if you choose to read this you enjoy it 🥰
1. What were their first impressions of each other?
Their first impressions of each other were very positive. Though she was slightly intimidated by him at first, Aeroniel quickly found Boromir to be a very comforting presence. There was just something about him that felt so... safe and warm, and she hadn't met someone like that in years (not that she had met many people, because she was kind of a shut-in). Talking to him felt easy.
Boromir thought that Aeroniel's tendency to ramble was very sweet. He also liked the fact that at first, she had no idea who he was, so she was speaking to him like a person, not looking up to him like he was on a pedestal. I kind of headcanon that Boromir has struggled to have proper friendships with people other than Faramir because everyone sees him as like... a 'hero', and no one really gets to know him as himself. And even though Aeroniel gets all awkward and formal when she first realises who he is, once they start seeing each other more often she treats him like a person rather than a symbol, and he loves that.
2. Is it a casual relationship, or true love? Or somewhere in between?
True love, for sure. I'm too sappy to have them be anything else. They get married, raise their four children together, and love each other for the rest of their lives.
3. What was each of their 'oh shit, I have feelings for them' moment?
The first moment that Boromir realised his feelings for Aeroniel was when she gave him a scarf that she had knitted just for him. Like she gave him the scarf, said something about not wanting him to be cold or fall ill, and he was floored. It wasn't until the situation outlined in Q.5 that he realised he couldn't live without her, however.
For Aeroniel, it was quite an easy realisation. There was no big moment that solidified how she felt, all of a sudden she was like "oh I love him".
4. Did either of them fight their feelings, or was it easy to accept?
Both of them accepted their feelings after realising them, but I also think that they both struggled with believing their feelings would be reciprocated by the other. I imagine they bring that up later and both of them are just baffled, like... "what do you mean you didn't think I could be in love with you? Of course I am, you're amazing!!"
5. When was their first 'I love you'? What prompted it? If neither have said it yet, why?
Okay, so this is very random, but sometimes I like to take little bits of lore from different sources and mix them all together. I read on Boromir's Tolkien Gateway page that in The Lord of the Rings Online, there's a storyline about Denethor betrothing Boromir to Lothíriel. I didn't like the idea at first, but after a little bit of thought I was like "oh, I can use this". So basically, Boromir had never imagined himself getting married. He'd never had strong enough feelings for someone to make him think of marrying, and his position kept him very busy anyway.
Then he met Aeroniel, and he started to think about what it might be like to be married to her... of course, that would never happen. Then, his father started talking about marrying him to Lothíriel, and it terrified Boromir. If he was going to marry, he wanted it to be for love (and not to his cousin), but Denethor was not listening. After a brief talk with Faramir, he practically bolted to Aeroniel's home to tell her how he felt about her. He told her that he loved her, and that he wanted her to be his wife. Aeroniel accepts, of course. They ended up getting married in secret a few days later, with Faramir as the only witness.
6. Who's the big spoon and who's the little spoon?
Boromir's the big spoon and Aeroniel's the little spoon, but I think they're more likely to cuddle with Aeroniel resting her head on Boromir's chest ❤️
7. What was the biggest obstacle to their relationship?
Denethor. Expanding on the things I spoke about in Q.5.: The plan was to eventually tell Denethor about the marriage after a few months, but then Boromir had to go to Rivendell and when his horn washed up everyone thought he was dead for a while. Then, when he came back to Minas Tirith with Gandalf and Pippin and everyone found out that he was alive, Boromir informed his father that he was married. Denethor was probably too far into his madness to really take much notice of Aeroniel though, but I'm sure he'd get a few insults in before his death.
Also, there was the distance between them after Boromir left for Rivendell. Part of me thinks that Aeroniel was pretty mad at Boromir because he insisted on going, so when she hears news of his 'death', she's not only devastated but she feels guilty because she had been mad at him the last time they spoke. All was forgiven when he came back though ❤️
8. What drew them to each other the most?
I kind of talked about this in the other questions, but Boromir is drawn to Aeroniel because she treats him like a person rather than a statue on a pedestal. Like yes, she admires him and thinks he's amazing, but she understands that he's just a man with emotions and vulnerabilities like anyone else. He knows that he can talk to her without any judgement.
What draws Aeroniel to Boromir is similar, in the vein of being able to speak without judgement. After her parents died, she was raised by her uncle who mistreated her and made her feel like there was something wrong with her (for obvious reasons there's no diagnosis in universe, but she's most likely AuDHD), which led to her shutting herself away even after he died. Her and Boromir met each other by chance, but he gave her a reason to let the world in again.
9. How long did they know each other before developing feelings?
They did start developing feelings pretty quickly, to be honest. When they met something just clicked, something that neither of them had really experienced with other people before. While it wasn't exactly 'love at first sight', it was close - though this is Middle Earth, and people fall in love at first sight all the time 😆
10. What is their favourite quality about each other?
For Boromir, it's how passionate Aeroniel gets about her interests. Like he could have no idea what she's talking about but it's the enthusiasm that gets him. For example he knows pretty much nothing about art, but he knows how happy it makes Aeroniel, and he could easily listen to her talk for hours.
For Aeroniel, her favourite thing about Boromir is how he can be so strong but so gentle at the same time. She feels safe around him, both physically and emotionally, and knows that he will never mistreat her or judge her for who she is.
I know that I haven't really talked about Boromir and Aeroniel's children on here (I think I've only really said that there's four of them and the eldest is a girl called Finduilas) but I've been seeing actors around and thinking they would be the perfect people to portray them.
They aren't perfect representations on the CK3 versions of them, but I think they fit the vibe I'm going for with the characters.
Chloé Delaney as Finduilas. She's the eldest and most serious, and she doesn't show much emotion except around her family and her childhood friend, Eldarion.
Emily Bader as Faenvirien. She's much more of a dreamer and a romantic, I can also see her being a poet.
Robert Aramayo as Aerviron (I couldn't resist using young Ned Stark 😂). He's kind of a nerd but also has an adventurous spirit - he has always been interested in the world outside Gondor and wants to see everything there is to see.
Meladúril is the one that's eluding me. She's strong and interested in martial pursuits, but she's also rather outgoing and social (just imagine Boromir in the Two Towers flashback scene where he's laughing and talking with Faramir)
Edit: Millie Brady as Meladúril
(I must have taken this screenshot while she was in the middle of blinking bc she looks weird haha)
