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I believe we all met such a choice of 'trust/distrust' in real life, the bright mail underneath omitted. But than, it is Tolkien to let us see some ends, for Eomer on the 'green grass' there is no previously provided data. Bright mail, so what? One can be bought, stolen, faked, surely?
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Certainly, in this world of con artists and cult leaders, a true and pure leader like Aragorn is a dream of hope long given up to a cynical caricature. As a matter of fact, I imagine that, if Aragorn were to pursue his heritage in the modern Seventh Age Earth, he would be beset by both the lawful and lawless, avoided by mothers everywhere who didn't want
their kids following some ragged fool on something as ominous as the "Paths of the Dead," whether or not he said it was their own choice or not!
Yes, I can see how the "real world" and Middle Earth diverge in this way. If Aragorn popped up in the modern world, he would be a true anachronism. But there are Aragorns in this world; they just don't have as clear a path. I'd love to see someone write a fanfiction about Aragorn trying to fulfill his destiny in modern London...leading the Corsair ships up the Thames...oh, watch out for that barge! *SMASH!*
Anyway, it is a pleasure to read the peregrinations of this thread through truths, perceptions, meanings, etc. and realize just how many divergent and nearly convergent viewpoints there really are!
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Some 'voice' is speaking to us, & telling us things we need to hear, telling us what's wrong with ourselves & our world, & giving us a glimpse of 'Arda Unmarred'.
And I don't think that voice is Tolkien's, I think he's just passing on the words.
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I do get this impression, most strongly, strangely enough, from the
Lost Tales, which I have just found. The rudimentary construction of what would be pieced together later and finally set down for all time by Christopher Tolkien in
The Silmarillion hint at the lights as Tolkien saw them, the truths and fancies that drove him in his sub-creative fervor. He seemed more to be chasing fairy lights than moral absolutes. In a strange way, it seems to point to the path as being never-ending, perhaps not the back and forth of
davem's
Key of the Kingdom, or a convergence toward a single truth, but perhaps a path with a transcendant ending, or no ending, the Straight Path which none can pinpoint unless it be shown to them in a moment of revelation. The confusions and "splintering" of the modern world is something that is gladly thrown off by many who read Tolkien's tales, and indeed, as
Aiwendil pointed out, it would be confusing to take a modern world view into this second reality and apply comparisons; one could not enjoy the tale for all the interference.
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This is because I am a 'mere' reader. Tolkien's concept is his vision, and while I am utterly trapped within his world, and have been for most of my life, there's a small metaphorical hole in the ozone layer of that world, which shifts about.
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That is an interesting way to describe it,
Lalwende. Perhaps close to the applicability with age and experience idea you mentioned earlier with your new understanding of Frodo's suffering after your own accident. In a way, this applicability gives us a glimpse into the "other world," not only Middle Earth, but perhaps beyond, to Faerie, the source of it all, the light behind all things. In this way, Tolkien's Arda is a true reflection of a greater world than this one, one that can be communicated through text, but which become richer once applied to the reader and perhaps correlated to the author as well. (I think this concept is one reason autobiographies are so popular.)
Well, it is late, and I got myself in over my head by daring to post again in this thread...it is all
HI's fault, really!
Cheers!
Lyta