“The grey figure of the Man, Aragorn son of Arathorn, was tall, and stern as stone, his hand upon the hilt of his sword; he looked as if some king out of the mists of the sea had stepped upon the shores of lesser men.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien, in The Two Towers
Was Viggo Mortensen ever this archetypical? I don't think so.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Love those lines.
Love your blog.
Your point is well-taken. Though the movies were great, and Viggo did a splendid job as Aragorn, I was disappointed in Peter Jackson's changes to the character. In the book Aragorn accepts his destiny from the beginning, reforging Narsil before setting out from Rivendell. We see his early journeys and alliances with the Rohirrim and others as deliberate preparation for his eventual retaking of the crown.
Jackson has chosen to make Aragorn reject his destiny, question his worthiness, waffle and waver. He walks away from Narsil and Elrond must bring it to him. I understand how this creates more conflict and opportunities for growth/change but I must say I liked Tolkien's Aragorn better.
And don't get me started on what the films did to Faramir and Arwen! :)
John Dolan pointed out that Mortensen is fine as long as Aragorn is semi-disguised as Strider, but he never fully makes the transformation we find in the book.
Post a Comment