Aragorn's political skills.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

I think some other smart moves done by Aragorn that haven't been mentioned yet, is actually his humility he shows to Boromir.
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So what does Aragorn do? He shows humility and actually takes orders from Boromir. On Caradhras Boromir says he and Aragorn will carry the Hobbits, Aragorn possibly in an attempt to buddy up to Boromir, doesn't object, and out of the respect of Boromir's status, listens.

Very politically wise moves, but sometimes I have to wonder if political wisdom isn't just plain common sense. And Aragorn's humility might be just that, genuine humility. After all, humility is one of the great Christian virtues, and Aragorn, as one of Tolkien's most admirable characters, would be well endowed with some of those virtues. Humility is one, maybe?

And what Boromir suggests on Caradhras is just plain common sense. He, a soldier, sees a situation in need of remedy, makes a suggestion to rectify that is fully sound, and Aragorn goes along with it because it is just plain common sense to do so.

In this way, he is very UN-political. Imagine, say, that the Parliament is stuck on Caradhras and has to make their way down. The conservative leader suggests that the strongest men go force a path through the snow, and then come back to help the weaker members through. What would happen then? Would the liberal leader agree to this sensible suggestion. I doubt it... If it was like a meeting of Parliament, then he would likely object just because it was a conservative who suggested it, even though it might be plain common sense to do it.

Perhaps Aragorn's wisdom is as much that he knows when NOT to get political as it is that he is able to function politically when it IS necessary.