15 reasons Amazon’s Lord of the Rings will be the next Game of Thrones
By Corey Smith
2. If the rumors are true, Aragorn will make an excellent lead character
We all know of Aragorn’s exploits during the War of the Ring and his eventual ascension to the throne of Gondor, but for Middle-earth’s most interesting man, that’s just scratching the surface. If the rumors are true, Amazon has chosen to base its series on the adventures of a young Aragorn, and with good reason. The guy’s seen some stuff.
When we first meet Aragorn at the Inn of the Prancing Pony, the future king is already 87 years old! Blessed with a longer-than-usual lifespan thanks to his Numenorean heritage, Aragorn had been there and back again long before he ever met the Frodo and company, spending years secretly defending the Shire from outside threats as the leader of an entire tribe of rangers. In between, Aragorn served in disguise in the armies of both Rohan and Gondor, befriended Gandalf, and even captured Gollum in search of the One Ring. That’s quite a life.
If Amazon’s series does focus on Aragorn, it’s an excellent choice. Few other characters in Tolkien’s legendarium have so rich and potentially relatable a history. Through Aragorn, we could explore virtually every corner of Middle Earth, and meet all manner of characters in the process. And even if Amazon chooses to focus on another character in the same time frame, Aragorn could be an excellent secondary character. You gotta have him. You just gotta.