Hello, Inzilbeth, that was beautifully put. I couldn't agree with you more.
Lalaeth you have a good point there about what Denethor suffered, "and that pride increased together with despair" (Rotk Appendix A, Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion). But the point is that it increased. Denethor was always proud and for him the greater good always would have to include himself in the position of utmost power. Hence his rivalry with Thorongil.
You're also right in that Aragorn never put aside his main ambition to became King of the United Kingdom and marry Arwen. But he would never sacrifice public good for his sole personal ambition. You never see him in the entire book coveting the Ring, now, do you do? When he was Thorongil in Gondor, popular as he was, if he were the type of man to put his personal ambition in front of everything else, he would have tried to claim the throne there and then, and risk civil war. He didn't. In Tolkien's own words "...in the hour of victory he passed out to the knowledge of Men of the West, and went alone far into the East and deep into the South, exploring the hearts of Men, both evil and good, and uncovering the plots and devices of the servants of Sauron" (Appendix A 'The Story of Aragorn & Arwen")
Yes, Aragorn's ambition depended on defeating Sauron, but so did Middle-earth's well being in a way. And when he and the few who followed him went to the Morannon they didn't really expect to come back. Their hope was too slender. They went because they had to, expecting almost certain death, because it was the only chance they saw for Gondor and the free lands, even if ultimately, they did not survive the gambit.
Ambition in itself is not a bad thing as isn't a certain modicum of pride. But self-centered, overweening pride and ambition are. Too my mind that's what separates Aragorn from Denethor.
Sorry, Inzilbeth. Here am I babbling again and on your live journal too. I am indeed hopeless.
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Lalaeth you have a good point there about what Denethor suffered, "and that pride increased together with despair" (Rotk Appendix A, Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion). But the point is that it increased. Denethor was always proud and for him the greater good always would have to include himself in the position of utmost power. Hence his rivalry with Thorongil.
You're also right in that Aragorn never put aside his main ambition to became King of the United Kingdom and marry Arwen. But he would never sacrifice public good for his sole personal ambition. You never see him in the entire book coveting the Ring, now, do you do? When he was Thorongil in Gondor, popular as he was, if he were the type of man to put his personal ambition in front of everything else, he would have tried to claim the throne there and then, and risk civil war. He didn't. In Tolkien's own words "...in the hour of victory he passed out to the knowledge of Men of the West, and went alone far into the East and deep into the South, exploring the hearts of Men, both evil and good, and uncovering the plots and devices of the servants of Sauron" (Appendix A 'The Story of Aragorn & Arwen")
Yes, Aragorn's ambition depended on defeating Sauron, but so did Middle-earth's well being in a way. And when he and the few who followed him went to the Morannon they didn't really expect to come back. Their hope was too slender. They went because they had to, expecting almost certain death, because it was the only chance they saw for Gondor and the free lands, even if ultimately, they did not survive the gambit.
Ambition in itself is not a bad thing as isn't a certain modicum of pride. But self-centered, overweening pride and ambition are. Too my mind that's what separates Aragorn from Denethor.
Sorry, Inzilbeth. Here am I babbling again and on your live journal too. I am indeed hopeless.