Tumblr crosspost (20 May 2019)
Jun. 4th, 2019 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineMy ambivalence about Aragorn is, um, well-documented, but one of the things that really works for me is that he does not lead the dead to a glorious victory at Minas Tirith.
Although he is not himself Gondorian, he uses them to assist the southern Gondorians (aka the bulk of Gondor’s population) and to liberate the people enslaved by the Corsairs, rather than leaving them all to their fates to rush to Minas Tirith.
He doesn’t show up in Gondor as The Chosen King (in fact, he’s careful not to do that). He shows up as a chieftain of fellow Dúnedain who rescued Gondor’s people and leads a primarily Gondorian army to Gondor’s capital. And after helping turn the tide of the battle in Minas Tirith, he goes about using his special kingly powers to save the lives of the wounded, starting with the person who could easily be all that stands between him and the kingship.
Plot-wise, the defeat of the Corsairs can seem like an incidental detour (that’s why it’s all offstage!), but I think it matters (immensely) that Aragorn uses his trump card to save the people he means to rule, at enormous risk. Gondor isn’t just the price of marrying Arwen or something he’s entitled to by birth. He has to be there for its people—and he is.
(His motives for all this are complex, but he cares about Gondor in its own right. He bursts into song about it! And ... if he's going to be king he better damn well care about it. But it's so much more complex than 'rightful king.' His claim to the throne is complicated; his reasons for wanting it are complicated; how he gets there is complicated. At the end of the day, though, he was there where and when Gondor needed him. And this is the reason I am moderately okay with Aragorn's rise where a lot of kingship narratives do ... not work for me.)
Although he is not himself Gondorian, he uses them to assist the southern Gondorians (aka the bulk of Gondor’s population) and to liberate the people enslaved by the Corsairs, rather than leaving them all to their fates to rush to Minas Tirith.
He doesn’t show up in Gondor as The Chosen King (in fact, he’s careful not to do that). He shows up as a chieftain of fellow Dúnedain who rescued Gondor’s people and leads a primarily Gondorian army to Gondor’s capital. And after helping turn the tide of the battle in Minas Tirith, he goes about using his special kingly powers to save the lives of the wounded, starting with the person who could easily be all that stands between him and the kingship.
Plot-wise, the defeat of the Corsairs can seem like an incidental detour (that’s why it’s all offstage!), but I think it matters (immensely) that Aragorn uses his trump card to save the people he means to rule, at enormous risk. Gondor isn’t just the price of marrying Arwen or something he’s entitled to by birth. He has to be there for its people—and he is.
(His motives for all this are complex, but he cares about Gondor in its own right. He bursts into song about it! And ... if he's going to be king he better damn well care about it. But it's so much more complex than 'rightful king.' His claim to the throne is complicated; his reasons for wanting it are complicated; how he gets there is complicated. At the end of the day, though, he was there where and when Gondor needed him. And this is the reason I am moderately okay with Aragorn's rise where a lot of kingship narratives do ... not work for me.)