Tumblr crosspost (21 March 2020)
Nov. 7th, 2021 05:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineI get that most people like Aragorn more than I do, but the arguments about how him becoming “overlord” of Mordor’s allies doesn’t actually mean that he formed an imperial state, and Tolkien saying that Gondor would soon have imperial power doesn’t really mean that, and even if it did mean that, it would be fine, because those people were bad are just …
???
It's fine if people like Aragorn, and want to be "yeah, that's a dumbass decision and I'm choosing to ignore it," but arguing that it's a) not there or b) totally! fine!! is pretty bizarre IMO.
(Personally, I think Tolkien's work in the 60s-70s is a lot more nuanced than LOTR wrt this. The oddest take I've seen lately, though, is that Gondor is just too small and weak (?) to have managed it, ergo Aragorn is not an imperialist. Look, Aragorn and Éomer were at war in other countries for decades—this is right there in LOTR. Aragorn ultimately became overlord—right there in LOTR. Tolkien is not ambiguous about this.)
???
It's fine if people like Aragorn, and want to be "yeah, that's a dumbass decision and I'm choosing to ignore it," but arguing that it's a) not there or b) totally! fine!! is pretty bizarre IMO.
(Personally, I think Tolkien's work in the 60s-70s is a lot more nuanced than LOTR wrt this. The oddest take I've seen lately, though, is that Gondor is just too small and weak (?) to have managed it, ergo Aragorn is not an imperialist. Look, Aragorn and Éomer were at war in other countries for decades—this is right there in LOTR. Aragorn ultimately became overlord—right there in LOTR. Tolkien is not ambiguous about this.)