A believe it is said in the LotR (I forget who is speaking) that the War of the Ring is Gandalf's war against Sauron. Is that mistaken? Gandalf the Grey, and yet more as the White, serves as the mediator between all the Free Peoples, be they Men, Elves, Dwarves, Ents, or Hobbits, for he is the only one who is on good terms with all of them. Thus it is he who brings the alliance together, and by having Gandalf crown him, Aragorn is saying (probably among other things) that it is indeed Gandalf's right as priest-after-a-fashion (thinking archeypically here) to crown the King of the New Age. For Aragorn is not merely crowned King of Gondor, but of the reunited realms of Men in the west of Middle Earth. Suddenly all Dwarves and Elves find their realms surrounded by that of King Elessar. So this is also an olive branch of sorts to all Free Peoples who are not Human, saying "I humble myself before the one you know as the Bringer of our alliance and our peace, for he has been my guide and friend and I therefore will be your friend." Maybe I'm finding more implications than are actually there, but this seems to me to be latent in Tolkien's resolution of the War.
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