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[Raven Crowking]

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[Philosopher]

But it isn't power that corrupts in Middle Earth; it's not knowing your place.

Correct. If power corrupts, then Iluvatar, Middle Earth's supreme being, would be more corrupt than Morgoth and Sauron put together.

 

[jonesy]

In JRRT, Aragorn was worthy to be king by birth. His entire life is spent waiting for the time when he will actually become king.

I never saw it as him seeing it that way. I think Aragorn worked hard to become worthy of the title in spite of others thinking he already was. I think he he thought he had to earn it for real, and not just mope around.

 

[Raven Crowking]

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[jonesy]

(And, no, he doesn't sit on his hands while waiting, but he is waiting nonetheless....all that he wishes for himself is dependent upon that day, including the right to wed Arwen.)

< I cut that part because my point was that I didn't really see it as him waiting to become king. Arwen, certainly.

To me it was like, you're this guy, and you have the right to this throne. But instead of waiting for that you decide to do something else more currently valuable. So you set aside the whole king-thing, and head out into the world to do good deeds. And if the king-thing happens, then it happens. But you're this ranger, and you're already the man.

 

[Raven Crowking]

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[MarkB]

Aragorn cannot become king until the time is right. He does much that demonstrates that he is worthy, yes, but he was worthy from birth.

Except that Aragorn's own line shows that it takes more than birth to be worthy. His greatest fear is that he carries the legacy of Isildur's weakness in his veins, and that in the end he will falter as Isildur did. It is true that, as presented, there are things that only Aragorn can do - but he still must have the strength of character to prove that he can, indeed, do them.

There's a difference between being eligible from birth and being worthy from birth, and - at least as I read the stories - the latter was by far the greater factor than the former.

 

[Raven Crowking]

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[jonesy]

Is that actually said somewhere by him? He was a royalist, after all. You might be reading a bit too much into the knowing ones place idea.

Sam, alone of all creatures in Middle Earth, hands the One Ring freely to another, because Sam well and truly knows his place.

Don't forget Frodo. He tried giving it away, but the people he offered it to declined. Also, Bilbo.

 

[Raven Crowking]

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