Aragorn in the movies

[Essex]

One of the only things in the book Character or Plot wise that bothers me is why Aragorn doesn't follow Frodo and Sam. I know how Tolkien explains it, but it still doesn't ring true to me.

Now in the film we have another reason for Aragorn letting him go. His DOUBT towards whether he is strong enough to resist the Ring.

Do you think this could have been one of the main reasons why Aragorn's character was 'changed' by the scriptwriters? To give us a more fluid reason why Aragorn let Frodo go.

PS if you can take a listen to the commentary on the EE section of this part. This is when I realised that it wasn't Jackson who was the main force behind the Scriptwriting, but Boyens (and Walsh to some extent) who put him right when he makes an absolute blunder in describing what happened in the book at this point!

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Essex

Do you think this could have been one of the main reasons why Aragorn's character was 'changed' by the scriptwriters? To give us a more fluid reason why Aragorn let Frodo go.

That would make sense to me. Another theme that they chose to emphasise was the power and corrupting influence of the Ring (and this, too, ties in with the "weakness of Men" theme). This was the primary reason for the Faramir changes in TTT.