LotR Challenge 03

03 - Favourite Character

I think I'll have to go with the obvious:



Aragorn, Ranger of the North.

The reasons?
He's an incredible character with a wonderful backstory I really can't get enough of.
He's the guy with the most to lose (okay, apart from "all of our lives", but that's what every single person in Middle Earth is dealing with, so I'll just ignore it for now) - he could lose not only his self-respect, his dignity and the way he chose to live his life, he could also disappoint his foster-father, lose the love of his life, as well as the respect of his friends. Not to mention that there is the burden of letting down his people, even though they don't even know that their true king is alive and kicking ass throughout the whole continent.
He could give in to temptation and thus become what he most fears.
He could let the people he loves down.

And don't forget that he's had a really hard life thus far.

Losing a parent is hard enough on its own, but think about it: he then gets taken to Rivendell where he grows up surrounded by immortal, seemingly perfect and infallible people who must have seemed larger than life when he was a young boy. He - the fallible, mortal man who bears the legacy of a line of people who did very often fall spectacularly - must have been way out of his depth there more often than not.
I'm sure that Elrond and his sons became his foster family over the years - they became the role-models he strove to make proud of him. What a hard act to follow! (Side note: If you haven't read the Mellon Chronicles I really urge you to do so NOW! I've accepted this history of Aragorn and Legolas' friendship as (head) canon, and there's enough room to imagine slash where there is just slashy sub-text ;) )
And then, when he found a way of living with the ghosts of his past, when he found a way of being there for his people and the people in Middle Earth in general, by taking up the role of guardian and Ranger of the North, he finds himself falling in love with not only the most beautiful woman walking the woods in Rivendell, but also his foster-father's precious daughter. Not a position I envy him for.
So what does Elrond do? He tells the poor guy that he has to man up and fulfil his real destiny instead of lurking in the shadows and protecting the people of Middle Earth in the blessing of anonymity in order to be allowed to marry his daughter.

Talk about burdening the poor man with another set of responsibilities and worries.

Well - and then a bunch of Hobbits come along and the long-lost bane of his ancestors makes a sudden reappearance. Not the best news for him, I'm sure. And then there's the small matter of getting along with the son of Gondor's steward, who not only wants to take the ring to his daddy instead of throwing it into the fires of Mt. Doom, but also isn't very ecstatic in face of the fact that this rugged nobody claims to be Gondor's real king and who might take daddy's job -and therefore his future job- sooner than later. Not a position you want to be in while travelling through a war-zone, chased by nine megalomaniac ghosts in black capes and not only one, but ultimately two warring armies of orcs/uruks.

But Aragorn being Aragorn rises to the occasion, sheds his doubts on the way and later willingly faces death and the army of the dead in order to save a city that he's sure won't welcome him. Having done that, he rallies the remaining guys for a suicide mission they ALL know is more likely than not going to ruin them in minutes rather than hours or days - and they follow him, because they all can see in him what he himself can't.

Aragorn is a complex, virtuous and ultimately good character who inspires loyalty and love in everyone he meets (well, we could probably safely say anyone but Wormtongue, Saruman and Sauron's Mouth).

I love him for his doubts, for his insecurities and his reluctance to take up a role he doesn't feel comfortable with. And I love him even more for gradually accepting that if he doesn't do it, nobody will, and finally taking on his destiny and making it his own.

He is the king Middle Earth and we need and deserve!