If Denethor hadn't committed suicide

[Morwen]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

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:



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.

I agree with you that Aragorn seems to have an ability to keep the essence (?) of who he is under wraps. He can seem unassuming enough but there is "a light in his eyes that when they were kindled few could endure".(Appendix A (v), Tale of Aragorn and Arwen)

There is also a "clothes make the man" transformation in Appendix A in the tale of Arwen and Aragorn.

"... and Galadriel bade him cast aside his wayworn raiment, and she clothed him in silver and white, with a cloak of elven grey and a bright gem on his brow. Then more than any kind of Men he appeared, and seemed rather an Elf-lord from the Isles of the West."

About 2 or 3 paragraphs before this description we are told this about Aragorn's appearance:

"His ways were hard and long, and he became somewhat grim to look upon, unless he chanced to smile; and yet he seemed to Men worthy of honour, as a king that is in exile, when he did not hide his true shape. For he went in many guises, and won renown under many names." (emphasis mine)

At certain points it seems he did do more that simply hide his kingliness. I suppose more drastic alterations to his appearances might be necessary when venturing into places where the population did not look like him.