By Erin Free
“I’ve never played a character, no matter what the movie was, where I didn’t like that character,” Viggo Mortensen told FilmInk in 2003. “That’s part of my job; otherwise you’re just collecting a paycheck. It becomes part of me no matter where I go. I enjoy that journey.”
One of the greatest journeys that Mortensen has taken on screen has undoubtedly been the epic one that is The Lord Of The Rings. And in a film filled with hobbits, orcs, giant spiders, wizards and all manner of other fantastical creatures, it is ironically – for all intents and purposes – a simple man who anchors this weighty cinematic trilogy. Though ostensibly the journey of fearful hobbit, Frodo (Elijah Wood), it is Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn who slowly firms as the character with the greatest emotional arc. When we first meet him in The Fellowship Of The Ring, he’s a lone warrior, enigmatic in intent and foreboding in appearance. As the films continue, however, Aragorn becomes an increasingly noble and romantic figure. By the final film in the trilogy, he has become a saviour and benign ruler. Beautifully played by the charismatic Viggo Mortensen (ironically a late replacement for actor, Stuart Townsend, who was ultimately deemed “too young” for the role), and superbly adapted for the screen by writers, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, J.R.R. Tolkien’s compelling literary hero is even more so on the big screen.
“I see it all as one long story,” Mortensen told FilmInk upon the release of The Return Of The King. “From the beginning, Aragorn has shown a willingness to sacrifice for the good of the group. He has an understanding of the cultures and the races and the differences in Middle Earth, but despite all that, he’s underestimated as a leader because of his self-doubt. In the third part, he’s the one who has to convince the others to throw themselves in harm’s way, to willingly join him in marching to their deaths. Unless they respect him, unless they believe that his heart is in the right place, they will not follow. Aragorn is not comfortable with that because he has so much self-doubt. You can’t be a leader and question yourself! But rather than being a weakness, I see it as a strength. It’s too bad that more of the leaders in the world today don’t have that degree of hesitation before committing themselves and others in difficult situations.”
