You started a nice thread here,
Leaf!
The problem with the portrayal of Aragorn in those films is partly because he is a difficult character for even avid fans who have read
LotR thoroughly to get to grips with.
This is a man who is
already 88 years old by the time the War of the Ring ends. He becomes King of Gondor and marries Arwen. He then reigns for 122 years, dying at the age of 210. He is 20 when he first meets Arwen, 2690 years his senior, and falls in love with her; but it is when he is 49, after many adventures and experiences, including serving in Rohan and Gondor, that he meets Arwen again, she returns his love, and they become engaged, an engagement that lasts for 39 years.
The reason behind this is that he is the heir of Elendil the Tall, of the line of Elros, of mixed human, elvish, and divine (through Melian the Maia) ancestry, being very long lived. Also, he has been fostered by an Elf, Elrond, as Túrin was by Thingol. The love between him and Arwen can certainly be justified by the love song title 'No Ordinary Love';
because she, as an Elf, would (and does) in order to be his wife need to become mortal, a sacrifice that can be barely imagined.
What I'm saying here is that it is difficult even for fans like ourselves to get to grips with who Aragorn is, who Arwen is, and the nature of their love. Aragorn, while he does express doubt about his ability as leader in the book, has already had many years to deal with a lot of earlier self-doubt.
Even while I accept that because who Aragorn and Arwen are, and their love for each other, is a difficult concept even for avid fans to grasp, and was too much for those involved in the films, it still doesn't explain the nonsense of two scenes. The first is in
The Two Towers film, when this happens:
ELROND: (coming into her room) Arwen. (she sits up) It is time. The ships are leaving for Valinor. Go now... before it is too late.
ARWEN: I have made my choice.
ELROND: (standing in front of her) He is not coming back. Why do you linger here when there is no hope?
ARWEN: There is still hope.
ELROND: (walks across the room) If Aragorn survives this war, you will still be parted. If Sauron is defeated and Aragorn made king......and all that you hope for comes true......you will still have to taste the bitterness of mortality.
A vision of Arwen dressed in mourning robes appears. She is standing beside Aragorn, who lies grey and dead wearing his crown and grasping his sword on top of his tomb. Mourners walk behind her.
ELROND VOICEOVER: Whether by the sword or the slow decay of time......Aragorn will die. And there will be no comfort for you......no comfort to ease the pain of his passing. He will come to death......an image of the splendor of the kings of Men......in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.
The vision changes so that Aragorn is now a stone statue on top of the tomb. Arwen is standing at the end of it, alone and grieving. As morning light comes, she wanders alone through the woods.
ELROND VOICEOVER: But you, my daughter......you will linger on in darkness and in doubt......as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Here you will dwell......bound to your grief under the fading trees...... until all the world is changed......and the long years of your life are utterly spent.
ELROND: (turning to Arwen) Arwen. (she gasps, she is crying) There is nothing for you here......only death.
In the book, while Elrond was deeply grieved by his daughter's choice of mortality, he accepted the sincerity of her and Aragon's love, not standing in their way. Later, in
The Return of the King film, Elrond tells Aragorn that Arwen is dying:
ARAGORN: (bows) My lord Elrond.
ELROND: I come on behalf of one whom I love. Arwen is dying. She will not long survive the evil that now spreads from Mordor. The light of the evenstar is failing. As Sauron’s power grows her strength wanes. Arwen’s life is now tied to the fate of the Ring. The Shadow is upon us Aragorn. The end has come.
No explanation is given for
why she is dying, and if it's Sauron's fault why others aren't also dying.
I agree completely with you,
Zigűr, that a reason for turning Aragorn into one of the protagonists in the films was that it was either too complicated, too lazy, or both, for the people responsible to give the four hobbits their due.
