All of the prebuscent girls on the site who only read the books after seeing the movies are going to vote for Legolas. I can hardly blame them, though; Orlando Bloom is so dreamy...


I know, my maturity is infinite!

I voted for Boromir because I wanted to ensure his place in Valhalla so he can carouse with the rest of the dead warriors of old, now that the heavy burden of responability has been removed from him.

By the time of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Dead had already been excused by Isildur's heir after they routed the Pirates of Umbar at Pelargir.

Only in Peter Jackson's mind did they fight anywhere near Minas Tirith, having had their geas lifted the day before, about 150 miles downriver.

However, just for the sake of discussion, I don't think the Witch-king would be frightened by the Multitude of Dead whose main weapon was fear, for that was his greatest weapon too; and his mace and sword probably would have just whiffed through them.

The true warrior in the list is Boromir. He fights for the glory of fighting and victory. Recall his rant at Amon Hen when he tried to take the ring from Frodo. Aragorn is a practically invincible warrior. But he fights to protect Gondor and its people and those of The Shire, etc.

I think the beauty of the prophecy is in its intended vagueness. Tolkien was forced to write Glorfindel's words of course, but they were spoken (in some language other than English obviously), and the prophecy plays upon the meanings of English Man and man.

The fulfillment rests on wordplay, which is why the Rohirrim do include both ’owyn and Merry with respect to the prophecy. Can a person who is dead be said to be not a man (spoken word) in some 'tricky' sense?

This prediction is supposed to be somewhat deceiving. Even someone 'from his mother’s womb untimely ripped’ is still technically 'of woman born' (Macbeth), just not in the usual way, but I hope no one on any Shakespeare boards today is complaining that the prophecy was 'really' not fulfilled! In any case I think the Dead slaying the Witch-king (assuming this was possible in the first place, noting what the story has to say about the Dead and their swords) would not be very satisfying.

Anyway, what was the topic again

There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever in the books to back Aragorn as a great warrior, the only thing mentioned is that "Boromir & Aragorn slew many" during the cafuffle in the Chamber of Mazarb’l (and then, it did not describe in which manner said slayings occurred). But beyond that, nothing. As far as warriors go, JRRT gives the attention to Boromir, who slew many Uruk-hai in his defense of Peregrin & Meriadoc, and Gimli, who slew many in his defense of Legolas at Helm's Deep.

Above all, Aragorn was a Ranger of Eriador, which is almost the exact opposite of a "warrior": always careful & calculating of one's chances in combat, opting subterfuge & stealth over setting one's hair on fire and running at the enemy and very keen on strategy rather than blind violence - not to mention always opting to end a stand-off with the art of persuasion rather than brawling. These characteristics are also why Aragorn was to be a King. His throne was won not by arms, but by careful plans.

Indeed, in JRRT's works warriors never fare well - there's a very long list of warriors, ranging from Fingolfin to Boromir who mayhap fought nobly, but ultimately always went down painfully and contributed nothing to the greater outcome of things - but whose actions instead proved detrimental and needed to be corrected.

Expanding further on this, the "changing of ’owyn's heart" near the end of ROTK is completely understandable: during her time languishing in the Houses of Healing the Lady spent many an hour contemplating her past ruinous course on the Path of the Warrior, and when comparing her path with Aragorn's she finally came to understood that arms could never accomplish what he had accomplished -- hence her turning away from the Path of the Warrior and turning over to the Path of Guile: marrying the future Steward of Gondor, who was clearly enamored of her and henceforth an easy tool to be utilized in future intrigues that would (as she hoped) lead to the throne of Gondor at Aragorn's side.

But because our Poll Archiver is broken Ammornil could no longer find that out. After a newer poll has been posted, the previous one is lost instead of archived.

I would vote for Aragorn ’

Virumor states

There is an overwhelming body of evidence (in the books) to suggest otherwise. If we are talking about simple body counts ’ not the way of the warrior ’ then Aragorn still racked up quite a score on the Pelennor and at the Black Gate, especially as in the true tradition of warriors and leaders he led from the front. Furthermore, according to the appendices he spent a number of years in the armies of Rohan and Gondor under the guise of Thorongil, since he didn’t want his true identity known, to prevent any dissent or jealousy. This still happened with Denethor who suspected him at the time. Indeed, whilst serving under Ecthelion he made remarkable achievements, and was revered as a great leader and warrior who slew the leaders of the opposition ’ always a mark of distinction. Tolkien’s idea of a Warrior( and my own) is that warriors do not simply slaughter mindlessly like some thug ’ otherwise we might as well vote for any number of Orcs. (not to JRRT’s taste I’m sure)
In conclusion, Aragorn embodies all the noble attributes of a warrior, and still racks up a good score, for those interested in those things

In his younger years, Aragorn was hired by Gondor and Rohan, there he was armed and dressed as a warrior; likewise on the Field of Pelennor he was armed and dressed as a warrior. In Eriador, the Misty Mountains, and in Mirkwood he was a ranger and dressed for the part: light armor and his bow was his main weapon with his sword as a secondary weapon. There he was dressed for stealth, a warrior's clanky armor is out of place in the wilds. We don't wear our suits when farming and we don't wear our bib-overalls at the office.

Farmers still wear bib overalls when they are repairing machinery; they are comfortable have lots of pockets and accept grease and dirt better than chinos, and blue jeans and levies are usually too tight. Of course this is just my opinion and may no longer be true for the younger generations.

I can't see Eomer in a pair of cast iron bib overalls going out to feed his horses, but I can see Sam in a bib overalls tending the garden at Bag End.

Eowyn disobeyed her king and I have to say that kind of gives me pause, disobedience is not to be taken lightly. But in the grand scheme of things it was what was necessary. Aragorn, however, did what needed to be done even though he didn't want to. He distrusted himself and would rather have lived life in obscurity but went to the forefront of the battle and became a leader (and king) anyway because it was what Middle Earth needed.

About overalls, my uncle who was a farmer often wore them. When I was younger I worked in a Yamaha parts warehouse one summer as a temp. Another temp was a young man who wore overalls and because it was very hot he had no shirt on with them. Then he decided to take down the straps too. This became quite a distraction and work slowed down significantly as the female workers waited for the rest of the outfit to hit the floor so the manager made him hitch up the straps again. Just an amusing memory.