I'm so glad you're back. I totally agree.Some august personage or other wrote:[...]book-Aragorn is one of my least favorite book characters.
The Paths of the Dead
- Primula Baggins
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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- superwizard
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And here I thot I liked TORN.
Man, I was once in the biggest flame war of all time over Book Aragorn. A mean, horrible, nasty witchy enemy of mine described him as "stiff" and "wooden". Can you imagine the horror I felt?
We duked it out, post upon post, for about a week and left scars on each other that the Eyes of the Wise can still see.
(But we are still good friends. Our emnity was, like, virtual.)
Man, I was once in the biggest flame war of all time over Book Aragorn. A mean, horrible, nasty witchy enemy of mine described him as "stiff" and "wooden". Can you imagine the horror I felt?
We duked it out, post upon post, for about a week and left scars on each other that the Eyes of the Wise can still see.
(But we are still good friends. Our emnity was, like, virtual.)
Dig deeper.
- Primula Baggins
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Yes, so reserved he matches the wallpaper. . . .
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- Voronwë the Faithful
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- Primula Baggins
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I guess we can't really call ourselves a messageboard until we've done Fruit vs. Fruit. . . .
I actually don't mean to slag Book Aragorn. I find him rather colorless, but that's because I prefer the hobbits, who are more traditionally "rounded" characters who change and grow.
Film Aragorn is fine for me, though I don't either love or deplore the changes in him because I still can't see him as the center of the story. In the films as in the books, I tend during his bits to be waiting for the hobbits to come back.
I actually don't mean to slag Book Aragorn. I find him rather colorless, but that's because I prefer the hobbits, who are more traditionally "rounded" characters who change and grow.
Film Aragorn is fine for me, though I don't either love or deplore the changes in him because I still can't see him as the center of the story. In the films as in the books, I tend during his bits to be waiting for the hobbits to come back.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- Old_Tom_Bombadil
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- Primula Baggins
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I would argue that there are many subtle moments, some of them at critical points. Yet it's hard for me to judge. Some of the "over-the-topness" that other people can't stand bothers me not at all; it's hard for me to be visually overloaded, for example, and I like emotion.
I know that in failing to appreciate the more "epic" characters I'm missing something that was important to Tolkien. It's just the way I'm wired; in all such stories, high or low (comic-book movies, say), what touches me most about "high" or "powerful" characters is their moments of human feeling. Book Aragorn has very few—such as complaining about how no one trusts Strider because he looks dangerous.
I know that in failing to appreciate the more "epic" characters I'm missing something that was important to Tolkien. It's just the way I'm wired; in all such stories, high or low (comic-book movies, say), what touches me most about "high" or "powerful" characters is their moments of human feeling. Book Aragorn has very few—such as complaining about how no one trusts Strider because he looks dangerous.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- superwizard
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Prim its not that he doesn't have many of these feelings- just that we don't get to see them. We rarely see inside Aragorn's head and we know little about his thoughts. Read the appendicies again especially "of Aragorn and Arwen". I'm sure you'll like him more after that
PS: Favorite fruit: blueberry (not a fruit you say? S'Wiz doesn't care
PS: Favorite fruit: blueberry (not a fruit you say? S'Wiz doesn't care
- Primula Baggins
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Swiz, I've read it about a dozen times.
There is a big difference between experiencing a character's sadness in an immediate way, and reading a series of sketchily described events and reflecting, "Wow, when that happened, he must have been sad." It's because we rarely see inside Aragorn's head that he is so remote and, to me, unaffecting. I care about his quest with my head, not my heart. It's no competition for Frodo's.
There is a big difference between experiencing a character's sadness in an immediate way, and reading a series of sketchily described events and reflecting, "Wow, when that happened, he must have been sad." It's because we rarely see inside Aragorn's head that he is so remote and, to me, unaffecting. I care about his quest with my head, not my heart. It's no competition for Frodo's.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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- axordil
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The problem with book Aragorn is that, although he has a story, and we get to hear about it, LOTR isn't his story, it's Frodo and Sam's. The part of his story that we DO see is woven into a subplot where the focus is more on Merry and Pippin's growth (figuratively and literally ).
It's a bit like reading a novel set in WWII about two staffers in the War Office who end up going on a secret mission to Berchtesgarten, in which Winston Churchill is an important supporting character.
Well, except Churchill was interesting.
Seriously, though, he's a character from romance or epic after Rivendell. He may do interesting and important things, but that doesn't mean he's all that interesting as a character. Now, from Bree to the Ford, that's different. But that's another topic.
It's a bit like reading a novel set in WWII about two staffers in the War Office who end up going on a secret mission to Berchtesgarten, in which Winston Churchill is an important supporting character.
Well, except Churchill was interesting.
Seriously, though, he's a character from romance or epic after Rivendell. He may do interesting and important things, but that doesn't mean he's all that interesting as a character. Now, from Bree to the Ford, that's different. But that's another topic.