Aragorn's story. was Re: Drama

[pippin_999 <foxmoth@qnet.com>]

Abigail said:
>>If Aragorn ever wonders if he's capable of walking into Gondor 
and just siezing the reigns of power, we never read about it. 
There's no doubt, there's no conflict, and Aragorn becomes less 
interesting and less believable to the reader as a result.<<

Ahh, you've discovered the missing character arc for Aragorn. 
<g> There actually is one in the book, but it's very subtle, and not 
at all dramatic. Aragorn's character flaw is entirely hidden 
from his fellow characters. It illustrates something about 
hero-worship, or Grace, perhaps, but the other characters can 
hardly react to a flaw they don't know is there. 

Aragorn's story is a novel in embryo, by an author who did not 
consider himself a novelist, or a dramatist for that matter. I can't 
blame Jackson for writing it out of the story and setting another 
one in its place. 

Tolkien was far more interested in tortured landscapes than 
tortured mortals, but Aragorn actually does have a story...gather 
ye round.
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LOTR SPOILERS
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The key to the story is these lines, spoken by Aragorn at the 
Council of Elrond: "...I caught him, Gollum. He was covered with 
green slime. He will never love me, I fear, for he bit me, and I 
was not gentle. Nothing more did I ever get from his mouth than 
the marks of his teeth. I deemed it the worst part of all my 
journey, the road back, watching him day and night, making him 
walk before me with a halter on his neck, gagged, until he was 
tamed by lack of drink and food..."

This is a Captain of the West? Even Sam shows more mercy to 
Gollum than that. Starving poor Smeagol, beating him, keeping 
him tied up? No, Aragorn is nowhere near as noble as the 
Hobbits think, less noble than they themselves in this case, for 
all his lineage and stature.

His sin is pride, and it shows up in every word he speaks. 
Ursula LeGuin complained that Aragorn sounds like a stuffed 
shirt and blamed Tolkien for it, but I blame Aragorn. He is too 
proud to acknowledge any kinship with Gollum, too proud to see 
that Boromir, as one of his own kindred, could fall into evil. Not 
that the Hobbits notice any of this. It's left for the reader.

Nor do the Hobbits recognize that  Aragorn is tempted by the 
Ring. Aragorn gave his word to Boromir that he would go to 
Minas Tirith at the Council of Elrond. It is when he reneges on 
this, saying that he will go with Frodo to Mordor instead, that 
Boromir seeks to deter Frodo from his Quest. No wonder 
Aragorn cries, "It is I who have failed," when Boromir dies. 

That is a turning point. Aragorn realizes then that to rule he must 
do more than count on his natural charisma. He has to humble 
himself, put himself in the mind of lesser Men, his subjects, so 
that he can raise them up. He tries, very painfully, with Eowyn. At 
least  he can see that she's struggling, but all he can think of to 
tell her is what he would do in her place. He knows he's not 
being very helpful, but it's the best he can manage. 

His next chance is with the craven soldiers on the way to the 
Black Gate, and here he does a little better. Some he shames 
into fighting, but he's realized, since his experience with Eowyn, 
that not everyone is capable of living up to his example. He gives 
them a task "within their measure." Still, he's reacting to the 
situation, not anticipating it as a good leader should.

Aragorn is learning. But he's too late. Gollum has already 
betrayed Frodo at Cirith Ungol, and done it in part because of 
what Aragorn did to him... "an evil light came into his eyes at the 
naming of Aragorn."
When Aragorn comes to the Black Gate, he is met by his own 
shadow counterpart. The Mouth of Sauron, who has no name as 
Aragorn has many,   mocks the King for his royal pretensions 
with the spoils of Cirith Ungol in his hands. Aragorn, though he 
is an exemplar of Grace to others, stands himself in as much 
need of Grace as they. 

There is a clue to all this in the speech Faramir makes to Eowyn. 
He explains that she lost her heart to Aragorn, "because he was 
high and puissant." Now "puissant" is an odd word. It comes 
from the Norman language of chivalry which Tolkien usually 
despised. He needn't have used it. He could have had Faramir 
say, "noble and mighty" instead. What he can't have Faramir say, 
of course, is, "high and mighty." That is the actual  language of 
English chivalry, and was once meant as a compliment, but  it 
has become debased to mean one who is haughty. It's Tolkien's 
sly little commentary on Aragorn, entirely transparent to the 
characters themselves.

When Aragorn sits in judgement on Beregond, he realizes that, 
though Beregond deserves no punishment, nothing  will make 
his erstwhile comrades in the City Guard see it that way. He 
finds Beregond another post, of greater honor, but removed from 
those he was forced to betray. At last Aragorn is being pro-active, 
anticipating the weaknesses of those  around him, and 
compensating for them as a Ruler should. He has learned to be 
a King.

But there is one final step in Aragorn's journey. Only on his 
deathbed, when Arwen pleads with him not to leave her, does he 
have the self-knowledge to realize he is being tempted before he 
succumbs instead of after. "Let *us* not be overthrown at the 
end, who of old renounced the Shadow and the Ring," he says.

Dramatic? No..but a good story, IMO.

Pippin
wishing happy holidays to list