An Essay

I wrote the following as my final essay for my author studies class of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I've incorporated the suggestions my professor made (mostly removing unnecessary citations) and thought I'd post it for you readers on the interweb. Let me know what you think, LotR fans!

One of the most dynamic characters the reader encounters in The Lord of the Rings is that of Aragorn, son of Arathorn. There are two senses in which this character develops throughout the series, the first being a sort of traditional character growth, most of which had already taken place well before the founding of the fellowship, and the second resembling more of an unveiling of the character to his companions, which takes place over the year or so from when he meets the hobbits to when he is crowned King of Gondor. Naturally, the two developments are related to one another, but the distinction is fairly significant, and becomes apparent if one realizes that much of Aragorn's development takes place long before he met Frodo and the Hobbits in Bree, and is recorded after the closing lines of the novel in its appendices.

Aragorn, we learn in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings, began his life under a false name with no knowledge of his true kingly lineage. He spent his first twenty years under the name Estel, or “Hope.” Little is said of this time, except that Elrond came to love him as a son, and that the period ended when Aragorn “returned to Rivendell after great deeds in the company of the sons of Elrond; and Elrond...saw that he was fair and noble and...would yet become greater in body and in mind.” At this point, Elrond rewarded Aragorn with his true name, true heritage, and many—though not yet all—of the heirlooms of his house. Shortly thereafter, Aragorn first sees Arwen, the daughter of Elrond, and falls immediately in love with her. This is perhaps the only brash action which is attributed to Aragorn, who throughout the novel itself makes every decision cautiously and thinking heavily of the consequences. However, even if Aragorn did not think fully through the repercussions of his love, he did stick by his decision, demonstrating even from an early age a genuine sense of commitment.

There are two major spans of time between Aragorn's first loving Arwen and his appearance in The Fellowship of the Ring. The first is a space of about thirty years, after which Arwen sees Aragorn come into his own and strong (not to mention clad in Elvish clothes). Though we are not told all of Aragorn's deeds in this time, we can gather from chronologies that it was in this time that he met and befriended Gandalf, and that he served both the King of Rohan and the Steward of Gondor in disguise. We learn four attributes of Aragorn's character from these facts. First of all, he keeps high company, since he manages to befriend a member of the Maiar. Secondly, though he knows his high birth and has been given such tokens as could prove his rank, he chooses to still serve until the time is right for his ascension. Thirdly, though he serves, he offers no one his allegiance, or else he would not have served two rival, though friendly, kingdoms of men. Fourth and finally, he has learned well the value of secrecy, following Elrond's lead in hiding his heritage. Arwen, seeing these changes in him, falls in love with him and the two commit to faithfulness to one another.

After receiving Arwen's pledge of love, Aragorn again turned to traveling and adventuring. He spent the next thirty-eight years protecting the North as a Ranger, taking time for such individual tasks as hunting and jailing Gollum, before meeting with the hobbits in Bree. At some point in this period, he also met Bilbo, and began his friendship. It is likely from this friendship that Aragorn learned to appreciate hobbits. This period more or less solidifies Aragorn's kingly nature, and the majority of his development after this point is the unveiling of which I spoke earlier.

When Aragorn first meets the hobbits, he is not trusted, having all but completely hidden his goodness beneath a rough exterior. Butterbur, who has seen him many times, mistrusts him and warns the Hobbits to avoid him out of genuine concern. He appears, at first, merely a gruff man of the wilderness, skilled in fighting and perhaps in hunting, but with few other attributes certain. After Frodo is stabbed at Weathertop, however, he shows himself also to know something of healing, even if it is only enough to slow the effect of the Nazgûl's blade until they could reach Elrond in Rivendell. He continues to quest throughout the world after they reach Rivendell, and reveals his true identity to more companions as they set out to destroy the Ring. But the next significant unveiling is that he was wiser even than Gandalf in at least one sense: he knew tragedy would befall the Fellowship if they travelled through Moria, and for lack of regard for his counsel, Gandalf was lost. However, this is also what forces the next change in Aragorn—whereas before he was able to rely on his wise friend for leadership, now he was forced to take his place as a true leader. Where at first he is hesitant, pulled by alternating desires, he ultimately makes a bold decision and begins to use his inborn authority to lead.

Aragorn, in leadership, continues to reveal his name at need, in such cases as when Éomer demands the company identify themselves in Rohan. When Gandalf returns from the dead, Aragorn yields leadership back to him, not so much out of reliance, as he apparently did at first, but more out of respect. When they must part ways next, Aragorn does not bemoan their fate. Indeed, very little is said of Aragorn at all, whose dialog is sometimes recorded even without a hearer. I would therefore consider it reasonable to say that he was entirely at peace with the parting.

Once Gandalf has departed, Aragorn takes possession of the palantír and takes it from Sauron's control, showing that he, unlike Saruman, could not only withstand but overpower the will of the Dark Lord. From this point on, few of his choices are really developments or unveilings for the reader, only the natural actions of a man who knows that the times are grim and his destiny is high. Even in his decision to rally the dead army and his decision to ride, perhaps to his death, against the gates of Mordor, seem in keeping with the man we have met already. After the victory, he seeks a sign by which to claim his rightful kingship and his queen, but he himself is already ready for this, it cannot be called “change.” The only real change that remains in him is long after the events concerning the Ring are over—in his final days, Aragorn chooses to meet his end as he grows weary, not staying even for his love for Arwen. This is the final and most important change, as it allows him to return to the legacy of his forebears, not only men of Gondor, but the mighty Númenoreans as well.

Dark Knight Review (As Many Spoilers As It Takes)

Before I get to the meat of the article, I have some small house-keeping matters to take care of. First of all, thank you to DVD 1138 for the reminder to post. In truth, I extended the week a couple days for the sake of a friend who planned to see the movie last night. No clue if he did, but I gave him all I could. Second, I have a confession and a proclamation to make, basically both at once. For those who don't know, I just haven't happened to ever read Lord of the Rings. I've meant to pretty much since I knew about it, but I never got around to it. Well, now I have, and I'm making my way through Tolkien's classic work. I know these have nothing to do with The Dark Knight, but I thought it worthwhile to mention. Now, on to the review!

*************************************************************************************
Spoilers may begin at any point beyond this line
*************************************************************************************
Section One: Things I Less-Than-Loved
I refuse to ever just say "I loved it" and go no further. If I can find an intelligent criticism to make, I'll make it. I was struck by a couple odd points in this film, and here are my thoughts on them.
1) The film took a little bit to grab me. Not long, mind you. Just a minute or two. By the time the Scarecrow showed up, I was in. And it could be that the people sitting right next to me had something to do with it too, because while they shut up as soon as the movie-proper began, they did talk right up to it, even into the logos. So I'll forgive this point and account it to unfavorable viewing conditions until I can afford to see the film again.
2) I knew it was coming. I saw it in the previews. It's not a big deal. But I love the classic Joker look, and wish it could've appeared in the movie.
3) Jim Gordon's speech at the end. WAY too cheesy. I can appreciate the point it was making, but first of all, it contradicts itself (he's the hero we deserve, but not the one we needed... he's not a hero, he's....), and second, he ended the movie by saying "he's... a DARK KNIGHT." Yes. Thank you for reminding us of the title of the movie. As if we couldn't see it coming with people constantly calling pre-Twoface Harvey Dent "Gotham's White Knight." We didn't need to be told "He's beginning to be Batman" in the first movie, and we don't need to be told to whom the name "Dark Knight" applies now.
Section Two: Things I Loved (In roughly linear order)
1) The Joker. Man-oh-man. I have always loved the Joker. He is my favorite all-time villain. No other character have I found who can believably embody pure evil and chaos so completely. And they did him right. Yes, he looks different, but I don't begrudge him his appearance, I only mourn that the look I know and love has never been put in a mainstream movie (for an indie film, go see PATIENT J at Batinthesun.com). And though I said it before, I must say it again: they put the Joker's soul in this film. This is actually what I love about Elseworlds is to see how much you can change in a character without disturbing who they really are, and this movie just shot up next to Red Son among my favorite Elseworlds. When he explains his father was the one who cut his face, I thought "Okay, at least it's terrible enough to really mess him up," but I was a little disappointed. When I heard him give another revelation to Rachel Dawes than to the crime-boss, I nearly exploded with wicked glee. They managed to maintain the Joker's questionable history, and inserted that he changes what he says to, I believe, whatever he thinks will scare his victims the most.
2) "No, no, no... I shoot the bus driver." No more appropriate scheme to present the Joker to the world exists than this.
3) Harvey Dent disarming a witness on the stand. Few times can anyone seem so incredibly badass while keeping their cool. I find myself incapable of disliking Aaron Eckhart in any role, and this was no exception.
4) 'The Magic Trick.' My father has commented more than once that some woman said of the movie "There ought to be some way to let parents know a guy get's a pencil through the forehead." I don't see what their problem is--parents tell children not to run with sharp objects, and now they have an object lesson to prove the point! Not to mention, further detail the pure random evil of the Joker.
5) Faking Jim Gordon's death. I honestly believed he'd done it. I didn't like it, and I shouldn't have fallen for it, but I believed it and respected Nolan for doing it. I think the fact that his son was named "Jim" too was what helped me accept it, because it was a possible work around. Had I thought, as my friend Drew did, of the fact that he wasn't yet "Commissioner Gordon" and there was no way he would die without it, I would've been less likely to fall for it. But it was masterfully done, either way.
6) The potato peeler. Anyone else notice it among Joker's Knives?
7) Joker's jailbreak. Only asking for a phone call. Using that call to simultaneously kill everyone with one of his crazy disciples and get away at the same time. Somehow defeating a cop while unarmed (or he snuck a knife into the holding cell, I don't know) and putting the cop under a knife. All further the Joker's fantastic evil.
8) Rachel Dawes's death. I never liked her. Most fans attributed this to Katie Holmes, but I was not one of them (though I admit Maggie Gyllenhaal did a better job). Batman simply cannot have a childhood friend, nor a longtime love waiting for him, and few moments of the film were quite so satisfying as when she died in a burst of flame and rubble. That this also created Twoface was the icing on the cake.
9) The corruption of Harvey Dent. Killing Joke, anyone? This was masterfully transferred from Gordon to Dent, and the fact that it succeeded where it had previously failed makes it all the more ominous (If you don't know what I'm talking about, read The Killing Joke. Those who know me personally may come over to read it anytime they like). This shows the essence of both Joker and Twoface. Joker, in his reckless abandon for anything and anyone, including himself, so long as he creates chaos, and Twofaces complete and utter subordination of himself to fate. Not to mention, he looked more like Twoface than I thought any live action version could ever achieve, even with prosthetics and/or CGI.
10) "This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object." This speech is the greatest single assessment of the Batman/Joker relationship. EVER.

I loved much more about the film, but figured I'd keep it to 10 things I love for both (relative) brevity and dramatic effect. There's a lot more I could say discussing the movie, but no review is perfect or complete. If I didn't mention it in the "less than love" section, just assume I liked it. For further reading about the movie, check out Criticinema (not sure if you guys capitalize the second "c") and their reviews.
************************************************************************************
No More Spoilers
************************************************************************************