Aragorn - Strider or King?

[PiRaTeGiRl]

Aragorn in his nature is a ranger, known as strider. He lived in the wild, proteciting people of Middle-Earth.

After this, as we know, he became a King. So what do you think is better for him to be a ranger or to be a king? I believe that he is much better as a ranger, Strider. But, I do believe that for his hard work for years he had to be the real king. He is the King.

Here are pictures of Aragorn, as a King and as a Ranger:

http://www.geocities.com/nzmermaid2003/TTaragorn.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/AragornCrown.jpg


I really like him as a ranger. ^^

[Emmie]

Agreed - the role of a ranger suits him better. But, someone had be king (since Middle Earth didn't have an elections system worked out yet :p) and he was probably as good a person as any to do it.

When I think of Aragorn it's never as a king, though. He was Strider for 95% of the films and books and that's the image that stuck in my mind.

[Elven]

I personally think the two go hand in hand. He has a regal quality about him as a ranger that makes him a good leader, and when he's king, he has the wisdom of his ranger experience so I don't think that either one is 'better'. They're just different roles in his life, the person to me is essentially the same.

Except he gets a shiny crown. :D

[Clarett]

I like Strider more than King ;)

[jimmyboy]

Aragorn's royal family name is Telcontar, which is a fancy way of saying Strider. So yeah, he really is Strider, or rather, a Ranger. As the Ranger he was always a man of kingly quality, and was just as much the king of the Dunedain then as he was as Ellasar Telcontar, King of the Reunited Kingdoms. It was his quality that defined him, not some shiny trinket set on his head. I think he even hated wearing that thing, and probably much preferred nothing on his head except for maybe a hood on rainy days.

He was in his element not on a throne in some high tower, but out in the field, hunting the enemy and out-thinking him, then facing him head-on and defeating him. That's where he was most effective. And I dare say without this particular Chieftain of the Rangers, Gandalf would have ultimately failed his mission.

In Unfinished Tales, we read that for decades, since he was around eighteen years old, Strider travelled many times with Gandalf, and for Gandalf, on many important and dangerous missions. Not the least of which was when he was sent to find and retrieve Gollum, before the Enemy could make use of him. He travelled, alone, for nearly 900 miles, over a time of 50 days, into, around, through, and out of enemy territory, and finally did capture and retrieve Gollum. Only to have those smug elves of Mirkwood lose him again. Man, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself...

I kid, I kid.

Yet through all of those decades he always displayed true kingly quality. I think he's best described by Tolkien in "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen":

Then Aragorn took leave lovingly of Elrond; and the next day he said farewell to his mother, and to the house of Elrond, and to Arwen, and he went out into the wild. For nearly thirty years he labored in the cause against Sauron; and he became a friend of Gandalf the Wise, from whom he gained much wisdom. With him he made many perilous journeys, but as the years wore on he went more often alone.

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 honor, 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. He rode in the host of the Rohirrim, and fought for the Lord of Gondor by land and by sea; and then in the hour of victory he passed out of the knowledge of Men of the West, and went alone far into the East and deep into the South, exploring the hearts of Men, both evil and good, and uncovering the plots and devices of the servants of Sauron.

Thus he became at last the most hardy of living Men, skilled in their crafts and lore, and was yet more than they; for he was elven-wise, and there was a light in his eyes that when they were kindled few could endure. His face was sad and stern because of the doom that was laid upon him, and yet hope dwelt ever in the depths of his heart, from which mirth would arise at times like a spring from the rock.

That's a man I'd want as my King! A real man's man. Even dwarves and elves would love him and follow him. That says something right there. It also says a lot that THE elven princess still in the world gave her heart to him early on, and would never give up on him, even choosing a mortal life to live with him.

[PiRaTeGiRl]

Yeah, he is just a hero! He left all he had and just gone to fight the enemy.