Amazon’s Prime’s The Rings of Power sets the stage for J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings books, as well as the Peter Jackson-directed movie trilogy. Like LOTR, Rings of Power includes an ensemble cast with various stories shown. Presumably, the stories will converge in the end, paving the way for the future.
LOTR was unique in that there was no single lead character, but there were plenty of stand-out characters, one notably being Aragorn. The true king of Gondor and Arnor, he takes his rightful place during the climax of both the third book and movie. Fans wonder, is there a way for Viggo Mortensen to reprise his career-defining role? Short answer, yes. Long answer, let’s find out. Be warned, there are spoilers, so if knowing what will sully your viewing pleasure, stop reading now.
Aragorn’s family history
Aragorn enters The Fellowship of the Rings by saving Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin from the Nazgul. He introduces himself as a mere ranger named Strider. It is revealed that Strider is far from an ordinary ranger, but the rightful king of Gondor.
Aragorn leads an army to face Sauron’s forces and distracts him as Sam and Frodo head to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. Aragorn’s lineage is described in the books and movies in bits and pieces.
Lúthien, the daughter of an elven king and a Maiar—a spiritual race of wizards—marries Beren, a royal descendant of a man. Later, a human named Tuor married Idril, another elven princess. Tuor and Idril’s son then married Beren and Lúthien’s granddaughter, solidifying the union of men, elves, and wizards. The couple, Elwing and Eärendil, have two sons named Elrond and Elros.
With the blood of man and elf, the brothers must choose how they want to live their lives as mortals or immortals. Elrond chose immortality, while Elros chose to be mortal. Elros founded and ruled the island of Númenor, seen in The Rings of Power after Galadriel and Halbrand are rescued at sea and brought to the island kingdom by Elendil, a direct descendant of Elros.
The island nation will eventually be destroyed by a great flood or other catastrophe that causes it to sink into the ocean. As people flee to Middle Earth, Elendil, the leader of the Faithful—a group who remain loyal to elves—takes fruit from the White Tree of Númenor, along with the covenant stone, before escaping by ship.
Elendil establishes the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor as home for the Númenórean survivors. While he rules both kingdoms, he settles in Arnor and leaves Gondor in the care of his two sons, Isildur and Anárion. Seeds from the White Tree are planted in Gondor, becoming the first White Tree of Gondor. Isildur places the aforementioned stone in Erich and establishes a covenant with the king of the men of the mountains, who swears allegiance to Isildur on the covenant stone.
As Sauron ravages Middle Earth, an army of men and elves come together to fight. Isildur calls upon the men of the mountains to fulfill their oath, but they break their allegiance and hide in the mountains, cursing themselves. The armies battle at the foot of Mount Doom, but as Sauron enters the battle, slaughtering men right and left, including Elendil, all hope seems lost.
“It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father’s sword,” Galadriel says in the prologue of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.
Sauron steps on the blade, breaking it into pieces. In an act of desperation, Isildur uses the broken sword to cut the one ring off of Sauron’s hand, taking away his source of power and putting an end to the battle. Saving the broken pieces of his father’s now-legendary sword, Isildur takes his place as the king of Gondor and Arnor. He also kept the One Ring—“the precious,” as Gollum called it. Instead of destroying the Ring, he became corrupted by its darkness.
In his final battle, Isildur is attacked by orcs. While trying to hide by using the Ring, it slips off his finger into the Anduin River, and sinks to the bottom as Isildur is shot in the back with arrows.
After Arnor falls, Isildur’s descendants go into hiding, passing Elendil’s sword from king to king. Meanwhile, Gondor is left in the care of stewards, who swear to protect the land until the rightful king returns. It will still be another 3,000 years before the broken blade is repaired, the ghosts of the men of the mountain are freed from their curse, the One Ring is finally destroyed, and Aragorn takes the throne as the ruler of Gondor.
The possibilities
Knowing Aragorn’s backstory helps provide some context for a possible Viggo Mortensen onscreen return. There are three logical ways the story could allow the award-winning actor to return to the franchise. For one, filmmakers do like to use actors to play their ancestors, so that is a definite possibility. Another way is through a vision of the future, showing Aragorn on the throne. The most logical scenario is a flash forward though.
The look-alike
Elendil and Isildur are both already in The Rings of Power, portrayed by Lloyd Owen and Maxim Baldry, respectively, so it cannot be either of them. Isildur is still very young and is not married.
By the end of the show’s run, Isildur should find a wife, whose father could be played by Mortensen. The actor is currently 63 years old, so he could believably have adult children.
Vision of the future
Gandalf has not been introduced to ROP yet, but it would not be beyond the realm of possibilities for him to have a vision of the future, showing Aragorn. Of course, if the showrunners do that, they would not even need to film new scenes. They could show flashes of future battles, with the rightful king leading the charge. That’s a possibility but would not excite fans as much as him portraying a new character or perhaps Aragorn himself.
Flash forward
The most likely scenario could come in the climax of the entire series. As the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor are being built, there could be a time lapse depicting the construction of the massive Dol Amroth. As it shows battles fought throughout time, it finally reaches 3,000 years into the future, revealing King Aragorn and Queen Arwen. This could be an extraordinary scene, one that would completely tie the movies and series together.
Published: Oct 8, 2022 10:40 am