Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
Oh he's not that bad! :)
He's supposed to get the Hobbits lost on the way to Rivendell...so the Black Riders can't find them. It's not like he had no clue where he was. To me, choosing the Cadharas route is saner than trying Moria. So that plan didn't work out. It happens (expecting Aragorn to be omniscient is a bit much).
He doesn't know whether to go with Frodo or with Boromir at the end of the Fellowship.
Well, Frodo. I fear that the burden is laid upon you. You are the Bearer appointed by the Council. Your own way you alone can choose. In this matter I cannot advise you. I am not Gandalf, and though I have tried to bear his part, I do not know what design or hope he had for this hour, if indeed he had any. Most likely it seems that if he were here now the choice would still wait on you.His decision depended on Frodo's decision.
As for the angst at Boromir's death, would you want to follow a leader that didn't care that one of his companions died?
Maybe he told her she was "just a girl." :))
In the book, he leads the Hobbits off the trail from Weathertop, but then he gets lost. (Which I would too if I were in the woods... don't follow me, I need street signs)
After Boromir's death, the angst isn't about Boromir, it's about Aragorn. Everything I do comes to nothing...
You're right about waiting for Frodo... he couldn't really decide what to do until then. But you don't get that in the movie. In the movie, he was following Frodo to the end. It was only after the confrontation, that he let Frodo go.
The movie Aragorn is more sharply drawn. But, you have to do that in a movie where you are just one of 9 supporting characters. In the books, I have pages to devote to angst and self-doubt. That's what makes his transformation after looking in the palantir so amazing.
In the book, he leads the Hobbits off the trail from Weathertop, but then he gets lost.
Maybe he doesn't come out where he originally wanted on the way from Weathertop. But after one quick scouting trip, he's back on course.
After Boromir's death, the angst isn't about Boromir, it's about Aragorn. Everything I do comes to nothing...
That sounds to me more like what anyone would say when they've had a bad day. :)
But the first time I read the book (I only read it once, then saw the movie) Aragorn wasn't one of my favorites. Now he is, and I appreciate the movie Aragorn for all the same reasons JenB does and I appreciate the book Aragorn. Of the two, the book Aragorn has more shades of gray. The movie Aragorn does not. But again, Jackson doesn't have the time to give Aragorn all the shades that Tolkien gave him.
What makes Aragorn a good king in the books is all the shades of gray. His 80 years learning how to be king makes him a great king.
It always seemed to me that in the book, although he is unsure of himself to some extent, after Gandalf dies and the Breaking of the Fellowship, as to whether his methods are working (you got to admit he had a run of really bad luck!), he is utterly sure of his goal, which is to become King of Gondor and Arnor so he can marry Arwen. He's spent 40 years working steadily towards this goal.
In the movie, OTOH, Elrond says to Gandalf that Aragorn has exiled himself, implying that he has decided not to pursue the Crown. Thie implies to me that he is supposed to be unsure not only of his tactics, but even of whether he wants to try to be King.
The scene with Aragorn/Arwen where she cheers him up with her faith in him is not realistic, IMHO, for that time in Aragorn's life. Although it might be very appropriate for the period 40 years or so earlier when they get engaged. They've obviously compressed some of the history of their relationship timewise. I don't have a real problem with that, as I think it works fairly well. The only alternative would be some type of flashback scene to Lorien, which would just confuse the newbies no end.
In the movie, the implication is that it isn't until Boromir lies dieing that Aragorn decides to fight for and defend the people of Gondor. In the book, he has always intended to fight for the Numenoreans (after all, he has been doing it for 60 years), the only question is over tactics.
I guess PJ is attempting to compress the whole history of Aragorn's life and character development and the Aragorn/Arwen relationship into the timespan of the movie. Not a bad idea, just very different from what I got out of the book.
ITA! If the man doesn't have faith in himself at 80, it's just not going to happen. LOL
In the movie, you get the sense that Aragorn doesn't want to be king... which gives more credence to Boromir's "Gondor has no king, Gondor needs no king."
Boromir is right. Why would Gondor need a king that doesn't care anything about Gondor?
Yeah, take that all you Boromir-bashers!
But what you don't find out unless you read the Appendices is that Aragorn has been defending Gondor all along under an assumed name. Of course that's for book-Aragorn only. I don't get much sense of Aragorn's past in the movie (except for the Arwen thing).
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