"My friends, you bow to no one"

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Lotrelf

I think that wasn't melodramatic at all. As someone previously said, Aragorn's bow meant that hobbits did something that took courage of kings and warriors. The bow meant the world owes a lot to these four hobbits. Without their selfless efforts the War of the Ring would have turned out differently. That is true for both, books and the movies.

It wasn't the gesture itself that was all that bad: it was the fact that dialogue was deemed necessary to hammer the point home. A simple, wordless bow would have been more effective.