While Dunharrow’s phantom army had been of great help to him during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, why didn’t Aragorn ask the dead to lend him a hand at the gates of Mordor? Peter Jackson responds.
We are in the middle of the Return of the King. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields is drawing to a close. After a violent clash against the formidable armies of Mordor, which dealt a severe blow to the soldiers of Gondor and the horsemen of Rohan, the sinister troops of Sauron – and in particular their imposing oliphants – are finally routed by the intervention of Aragorn.
Unexpected delay, the heir of Isildur indeed lands on the shores of Minas Tirith accompanied by Legolas, Gimli … and a huge army of ghosts who destroy everything in their path. These “dead”, whom Aragorn had gone to recruit under the mountains of Dunharrow, had indeed been condemned to wander endlessly in the darkness by the former king of Gondor, to whom they had once broken their oath of allegiance.
Once their fault is repaired and the army of Mordor is exterminated, in the feature film by Peter Jackson, Aragorn finally grants them rest, and they can therefore go in peace, disappearing from the world to the afterlife.
But given their great efficiency, why not keep them for a few more days? Just enough time to pay Sauron a visit for the last battle of the film?
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Indeed, many are the spectators who were able to reflect upon seeing Aragorn give early leave to his formidable army:
“This scene was written to answer an obvious question”, explains Peter Jackson in the audio commentary of Return of the King. “Any bystander who sees this is like, ‘Well, they’re rushing into Mordor to take out Sauron, so why not keep all these ghosts with them? They can bust anyone, with this army by their side.’ “
As the director points out, it is through a line from Gimli – when the Dwarf suggests to Aragorn not to immediately release these “very practical aides-de-camp, even if they are dead” – that the film formulates the legitimate questioning of the fans:
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“We got rid of the ghosts by giving Gimli the voice of the audience: ‘Aragorn, they can be useful. Why don’t we keep them?’ Aragorn has vowed to free them if they help him. But the King of the Dead is not a great soul. Nobility, he does not care. Him, what he wants is that Aragorn keep his word, so he pushes him to play it honorable. Aragorn promised and he does. So we wrote this to solve a problem with the logic of the story. “
When the King of the Dead reminds him of his commitment, once the battle is over, Aragorn decides to keep his word immediately, as if to demonstrate to his people – shortly before ascending the throne of Gondor – that his honor cannot be negotiated. and that his promises are unshakeable.
Note also that in the original work of JRR Tolkien, the army of the dead disappeared much earlier, and did not even participate in the Battle of the Fields of Pelennor. Indeed, after helping the heir of Isildur to defeat the pirates of Umbar, the ghosts were freed by Aragorn, who was then sailing towards Minas Tirith at the head of an army of living men.
(Re) discover our video dedicated to Aragorn …
