Question about LotR: RotK

Jun 4, 2005
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In Return of the King, Aragorn commands the dead to fight for him, but why doesn't he just send them to Mordor? They're dead, what coupld possibly stop them?
 

OdiN

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Mar 1, 2000
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Originally posted by: LoKe
In Return of the King, Aragorn commands the dead to fight for him, but why doesn't he just send them to Mordor? They're dead, what coupld possibly stop them?

Read the book.
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: FleshLight
Blah blah if they fight for him he'll forgive them of their treason blah blah.

He could have commanded them to fight against Mordor directly, and forgive them, etc etc.

Originally posted by: OdiN
Originally posted by: LoKe
In Return of the King, Aragorn commands the dead to fight for him, but why doesn't he just send them to Mordor? They're dead, what coupld possibly stop them?

Read the book.

I own three copies of each, and I've read them a good number of times. I don't recall any mention of why they can't go directly to Mordor.
 

potato28

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2005
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Originally posted by: OdiN
Originally posted by: LoKe
In Return of the King, Aragorn commands the dead to fight for him, but why doesn't he just send them to Mordor? They're dead, what coupld possibly stop them?

Read the book.

 

OdiN

Banned
Mar 1, 2000
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Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: FleshLight
Blah blah if they fight for him he'll forgive them of their treason blah blah.

He could have commanded them to fight against Mordor directly, and forgive them, etc etc.

Originally posted by: OdiN
Originally posted by: LoKe
In Return of the King, Aragorn commands the dead to fight for him, but why doesn't he just send them to Mordor? They're dead, what coupld possibly stop them?

Read the book.

I own three copies of each, and I've read them a good number of times. I don't recall any mention of why they can't go directly to Mordor.

Reading comprehension, FTL!
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: potato28
Originally posted by: OdiN
Originally posted by: LoKe
In Return of the King, Aragorn commands the dead to fight for him, but why doesn't he just send them to Mordor? They're dead, what coupld possibly stop them?

Read the book.

Originally posted by: LoKe
I own three copies of each, and I've read them a good number of times. I don't recall any mention of why they can't go directly to Mordor.

 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
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I thought it came off rather cheesy in the movie (and was probably my one complaint about the movie).
 

azazyel

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2000
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Because if they were sent directly to Mordor then the current battle of Gondor (?) would have been lost thus killing most of the relm of man.

/just a guess
//only read the book once
 

ElFenix

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Mar 20, 2000
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because he didn't command them, he let them fulfill the promise to come to aid that they'd broken (and left them stuck in limbo because of the broken promise)
 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
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They only had to be there for him once, he chose to fight the Battle outside of mordor... hell mordor was mostly emptied out.... tough choice? a mostly empty mordor (hence how frodo and gaffy sam could sneak around inside) or the entire forces of the enemy including outside allies in defence of Aragorns city, he was King remember?

not a tough choice.



They only would fight one battle for him
 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
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Originally posted by: ElFenix
because he didn't command them, he let them fulfill the promise to come to aid that they'd broken (and left them stuck in limbo because of the broken promise)

aiding him is ambiguous though, aiding him might have been killing everyone in mordor so sam and frodo could complete their mission
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: dxkj
They only had to be there for him once, he chose to fight the Battle outside of mordor... hell mordor was mostly emptied out.... tough choice? a mostly empty mordor (hence how frodo and gaffy sam could sneak around inside) or the entire forces of the enemy including outside allies in defence of Aragorns city, he was King remember?

not a tough choice.



They only would fight one battle for him

Makes a good bit of sense to me. I just figure he could have sent them to ensure that Frodo and Sam made it to Mordor, which would undoubtedly work thus destroying Sauron for good.
 

Queasy

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Aug 24, 2001
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Originally posted by: Astaroth33
I thought it came off rather cheesy in the movie (and was probably my one complaint about the movie).

Heh...the ghost/dead SFX was straight from The Frighteners.

I actually thought the cheesiest part was how Aragorn got his sword. In the book, he accepted it and the task to go see the dead as part of his duty as king. In the movie, he did it for the girl. :roll:
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
I thought it came off rather cheesy in the movie (and was probably my one complaint about the movie).

Heh...the ghost/dead SFX was straight from The Frightners.

I actually thought the cheesiest part was how Aragorn got his sword. In the book, he accepted it and the task to go see the dead as part of his duty as king. In the movie, he did it for the girl. :roll:

I really liked that part, how it was transported and no one really knew what it was and all that. But I like how Elrond presented it in the movie, gives me chills each time.
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
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Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
I thought it came off rather cheesy in the movie (and was probably my one complaint about the movie).

Heh...the ghost/dead SFX was straight from The Frightners.

I actually thought the cheesiest part was how Aragorn got his sword. In the book, he accepted it and the task to go see the dead as part of his duty as king. In the movie, he did it for the girl. :roll:

I really liked that part, how it was transported and no one really knew what it was and all that. But I like how Elrond presented it in the movie, gives me chills each time.

It was a good scene but it was one of the changes from the book that I didn't care for. In the book, Aragorn received and accepted the sword before they left Rivendell when the Fellowship was formed.
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
I thought it came off rather cheesy in the movie (and was probably my one complaint about the movie).

Heh...the ghost/dead SFX was straight from The Frightners.

I actually thought the cheesiest part was how Aragorn got his sword. In the book, he accepted it and the task to go see the dead as part of his duty as king. In the movie, he did it for the girl. :roll:

I really liked that part, how it was transported and no one really knew what it was and all that. But I like how Elrond presented it in the movie, gives me chills each time.

It was a good scene but it was one of the changes from the book that I didn't care for. In the book, Aragorn received and accepted the sword before they left Rivendell when the Fellowship was formed.

Are you sure about that? I pulled out ROTK and Halbarad brought it to him, saying that the Lady of Rivendell wrought it in secret, but Aragorn didn't want it yet.
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
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Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
I thought it came off rather cheesy in the movie (and was probably my one complaint about the movie).

Heh...the ghost/dead SFX was straight from The Frightners.

I actually thought the cheesiest part was how Aragorn got his sword. In the book, he accepted it and the task to go see the dead as part of his duty as king. In the movie, he did it for the girl. :roll:

I really liked that part, how it was transported and no one really knew what it was and all that. But I like how Elrond presented it in the movie, gives me chills each time.

It was a good scene but it was one of the changes from the book that I didn't care for. In the book, Aragorn received and accepted the sword before they left Rivendell when the Fellowship was formed.

Are you sure about that? I pulled out ROTK and Halbarad brought it to him, saying that the Lady of Rivendell wrought it in secret, but Aragorn didn't want it yet.

I thought so. I may be wrong. It seemed like Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo were bringing up the names of their swords incessantly through the first two books.
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: Queasy
I thought so. I may be wrong. It seemed like Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo were bringing up the names of their swords incessantly through the first two books.

I'll look over them, maybe my newer copies have had some modifications, so I'll grab my old ones (printed in 1976, IIRC.)
 
Mar 11, 2004
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Yeah, he didn't get it until later on in the books. He doubted his blood for much of them, but then realized that there was nothing to lose and much to gain if he accepted his role (whereas if he didn't accept his place, they would almost certainly fail). He knew that if his blood was bad that the sword would be meaningless in its power.

Maybe I was just stupid when I originally read them, but it seemed to me that Aragorn being the true heir of Gondor wasn't really revealed until much later in the story. In the movies they made a big deal out of it starting halfway through the first. I think that would've been a lot better for it to be a surprise later on.

Its been too long since I read the books.
 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
11,772
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Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
I thought it came off rather cheesy in the movie (and was probably my one complaint about the movie).

Heh...the ghost/dead SFX was straight from The Frightners.

I actually thought the cheesiest part was how Aragorn got his sword. In the book, he accepted it and the task to go see the dead as part of his duty as king. In the movie, he did it for the girl. :roll:

I really liked that part, how it was transported and no one really knew what it was and all that. But I like how Elrond presented it in the movie, gives me chills each time.

Gave me shivers too "Hello Aragorn, we've been expecting you to accept this sword for some time now."
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
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Narsil - Aragorn's Sword

The Shards of Narsil became one of the heirlooms of the Kings of Arnor, and after the Northern Kingdom was destroyed they remained an heirloom of the Rangers of the North. It was finally reforged in Rivendell in 3019 TA during the War of the Ring, in celebration of the rediscovery and capture of the Ring with which it had become associated as its symbolic antithesis. The reforging was named Andúril, (Sindarin for "Flame of the West"), for Aragorn, the heir of Isildur. He carried the sword during his journey south as part of the Fellowship of the Ring, and it featured prominently at several points in the story, where it was sometimes referred to as the Sword that was Broken or The Sword Reforged.

Boromir, son of the Steward of Gondor, travelled to Rivendell in time for the Council of Elrond because of the prophetic dream of his brother Faramir, in which he was told to "seek for the Sword that was broken". Aragorn often uses the sword to help establish his credentials and it also enables him to gain command over the army of undead soldiers, cursed to a living death, who help Aragorn to defeat the Corsairs of Umbar during the siege of Minas Tirith.

Narsil (broken and reforged as Andúril) acts as a symbol of the kingship of Arnor and Gondor, and by extension, the stewardship of law over evil. As the Chieftain of the Rangers of the North, Aragorn is the heir to the fragments of the ancient sword. The reforging of the broken sword into Andúril prior to the Fellowship of the Ring leaving Rivendell is one of many important prophesied events leading up to the downfall of Sauron and the restoration of the line of Elendil as kings of Arnor and Gondor.
 
Jun 4, 2005
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In the book, Narsil was reforged when Aragorn first brought the hobbits to Rivendell (following a prophecy that the reforging could only take place after "Isildur's Bane", the Ring, was found).

Seems you were rightm however, I'm don't believe he receives it until much, much later, which I made reference to earlier.

EDIT: Just so I'm clear; the shards of Narsil were forged in the FotR, but Aragorn knew not of it until RotK?
 

azazyel

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2000
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Originally posted by: LoKe
In the book, Narsil was reforged when Aragorn first brought the hobbits to Rivendell (following a prophecy that the reforging could only take place after "Isildur's Bane", the Ring, was found).

Seems you were rightm however, I'm don't believe he receives it until much, much later, which I made reference to earlier.

I know he had it when he went to Rohan. When the guard made them give up their weapons I know he said that this was Andúril yadda yadda yadda. And the guard was all WTFBBQ!
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
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Originally posted by: LoKe
In the book, Narsil was reforged when Aragorn first brought the hobbits to Rivendell (following a prophecy that the reforging could only take place after "Isildur's Bane", the Ring, was found).

Seems you were rightm however, I'm don't believe he receives it until much, much later, which I made reference to earlier.

Nope, he received it prior to leaving Rivendale with the other members of the Fellowship. If I remember correctly, he even brings it up when he, Gandalf and Legolas are trying to get into the great hall of Rohan.