[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Leaf

I want to look into this aspect of Aragorn's character deeper and collect, together with your help, passages from a books that substantiate this motif. We could, for example, collect every instance where Aragorn insists on his status, or where he introduces himself to other people as the rightful heir of Isildur. But I think that the oppsite might be more practical. To whom doesn't Aragorn declare his heritage and claims and why?! We could start with analysing Fellowship and work our way up till the Return of the King.

That sounds like an interesting project. I may take you up on that.

Originally Posted by Leaf

Book-Aragorn, on the other hand, is confident and strident when it comes to the verbalisation of his heritage and claim.

and

Originally Posted by Leaf

Political sovereignty over a territory does not simply fall from the sky. In actuality it's quite the opposite. It requieres determination and the will to defend a claim to power, verbally and in action. Book-Aragorn embodies this bold and overbearing concept in person.

And

Originally Posted by Leaf

In a way I always liked Book-Aragorn for his determination and occasional boldness. At times he seems to be more of a mythical figure, a visage of kingship in and of itself.
As I said before his fierce assertiveness even has some comedic value to me. I always chuckle when I read those Aragorn passages where he declares his right to rule, own or do something simply because of his ancestors. Like "Oh, that thing over there?! Yep, that's totally mine." "What, I can't act this way? Has anybody told you who I am?"

I don’t agree that Aragorn is strident or overbearing in asserting his claims. In point of fact, he is usually rather humble about it. I agree that Tolkien intended him to be a semi-mythic figure. However, I think Faramir Jones is correct in pointing out that from a practical standpoint Aragorn already had a wealth of experience in life and in leadership by the time he encountered the hobbits at The Prancing Pony. He was accustomed to heavy responsibility and hard choices.

Originally Posted by Zigûr

It reminds me of how in the film Pippin has to have a vision of Minas Tirith in the palantír for Gandalf to realise that Sauron is going to strike there next, and he reacts as if he'd never even thought of it as a possibility.
All Gandalf needs to do is say something like "We may have defeated Saruman, but Sauron is sure to strike next against Minas Tirith, the capital city of Gondor, his old enemy." Anyone watching knows that "Gondor" is a country where good Men live; it gets mentioned a lot in the films. There's no need for Pippin to have a silly vision. It would even keep viewers in suspense if they, like Pippin, were largely in the dark until the arrival at the city; if you want a visual cue you can point out how close Mordor is (as the film often does) to emphasise why we're now at Minas Tirith.

Perhaps they have underlying discomfort with the concept of competent leadership…

EDIT: Gah, I put one of my quotes in the wrong place which rather distorted the flow of the post. Corrected now.