If Denethor hadn't committed suicide

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Morwen

The word "disguise" does seem to indicate some change in physical appearance. To merely change your name and give someone a phony backstory about yourself seems to me the actions of some who wishes to be incognito not "in disguise". The disguise need not be that radical. It does not mean that Aragorn had to cease to look like someone with Numenorean blood. The idea could simply be to alter his appearance enough so that on the off chance that someone from Gondor or farther afield had ever seen Aragorn they would not think that Thorongil was the same person.

Aragorn does this all the time.

When Frodo first meets him in Bree, he is merely "Strider"--tall and lanky, foul rather than fair, and certainly no King. However, this is more than a mere question of a change of clothes in Rivendell--that is noted on at the end of "Many Meetings" but there is nothing else--he's still Strider, just in nicer clothes. When he's back in his regular clothes for the Council of Elrond, Tolkien makes a point of mentioning that Boromir looks him over doubtfully--little does he resemble the graven images of Elendil and Isildur in the Hall of the Kings.

However... if we jump forward to the approach of the Argonath:

Originally Posted by The Great River

'Fear not!' said a strange voice behind him. Frodo turned and saw Strider, and yet not Strider; for the weatherworn Ranger was no longer there. In the stern sat Aragorn son of Arathorn, proud and erect, guiding the boat with skilful strokes; his hood was cast back, and his dark hair was blowing in the wind, a light was in his eyes: a king returning from exile to his own land.

No change of clothes, no change of circumstances... but a complete and total change from Strider to Aragorn. My memory wants to say there's a few more instances of similar transformations--perhaps in Rohan somewhere and certainly "The hands of a king are the hands of a healer" but this is the only quote I'm going to cite. I don't think another can top it.

I also think I hardly need to explain what I'm saying--Aragorn's "disguise" is to hide his kingliness. He's still clearly a Ranger, a Númenorean--the Dúnadan, as Elrond's people call him--but as Aragorn son of Arathorn he is something unique.

Now... exactly how that works, I don't claim to know.