Skip to main content

tolkiens legendarium - Why did the Elves respect Aragorn yet consider Isildur to be weak?


After watching the first movie of the series a lot I realized how much "dislike", almost "hate", Elrond has for Man when he starts with "I was there when it happened" as he tells the story of Isildur.


But also in the Council when Boromir belittles Aragorn, Legolas introduces him in a proud manner, stating that Aragorn is the true heir to the throne. In the second movie the Elvish Army is commanded by Aragorn. It seems the Elves see him as a respected leader there as well.


Why do the Elves have a different opinion of Aragorn? And after the Isildur issue why did they tend to have extreme respect for him?



Answer





While Peter Jackson's films are based on the books by Tolkien, some of the characters were altered. The most notable change was Faramir, although Isildur's character was altered quite significantly as well. While in the books Isildur was accepted as having been corrupted by the Ring, the films portray a slight hatred for Isildur due to his selfishness and willingness to keep the Ring. Elrond blames the entirety of Sauron's survival on Isildur and the race of Men.


Elrond's outburst of anger is in response to Gandalf claiming that it is "in Men that we must place our hope". Elrond remembers that it was in fact Men that had failed to destroy the Ring and allowed Sauron to live this long (and indeed supported Sauron and let him corrupt them on Numenor). Gandalf's claims are however in line with the books as it was the waning of the Third Age, the Elves were departing and as is said often in both the books and the films "The Age of Men is beginning".


Aragorn, however, was raised in Imladris amongst the Elves after the death of his Father:



‘Then Aragorn, being now the Heir of Isildur, was taken with his mother to dwell in the house of Elrond; and Elrond took the place of his father and came to love him as a son of his own. But he was called Estel, that is “Hope”, and his true name and lineage were kept secret at the bidding of Elrond; for the Wise then knew that the Enemy was seeking to discover the Heir of Isildur, if any remained upon earth.
The Return of the King - Book 7, Appendix A: (v) Here Follows a Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen



The Dunedain of the North were quite close to the Elves of Imladris, and at the time were known to go hunting with the sons of Elrond. We have no reason to believe this information is different in the films. In fact, when the Grey Company arrives, Elladan and Elrohir are amongst them, with their Army of Elves.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more