[Lalwendë]

I agree that Aragorn is a skilled politician. He makes use of patience and respect in order to gain the trust and devotion of the people of Gondor. He leads by example, going into battle himself, even going where no-one else would dare to go, through The Paths of the Dead. He is very much a ‘hands-on’ leader and in a war which is seen by all as ‘just’ then military skill and courage contributes a great deal towards engendering the respect of the population.

Shown against the actions of Denethor, Aragorn is humble and respectful beyond measure. He considers other opinions and listens before speaking. Denethor on the other hand always seems to use his power of veto and have the final say, for good or ill; this has not gone unnoticed amongst those who he is responsible for, the population of Gondor:

And now Faramir was gone again. 'They give him no rest,' some murmured. 'The Lord drives his son too hard, and now he must do the duty of two, for himself and for the one that will not return.'

Yet superlative military leadership is not all. Drawing an example from history, Churchill has been voted as the greatest Briton of all time following his wartime leadership which might lead you to expect that he would have had massive support following the end of WWII, and yet in the election of 1945 he was dealt a crushing defeat by Attlee with his welfare reform agenda. Aragorn as a leader obviously has something extra to support him, and that is Gandalf.

I see Gandalf as the perfect mentor to Aragorn, who relies on his counsel a great deal. When the Fellowship are passing the Pillars of Argonath, not long after losing Gandalf, Aragorn is struck by his destiny enough to give a stirring oration on his ancestry and destiny, but soon a lack of self-confidence brings him down:

Then the light of his eyes faded, and he spoke to himself: 'Would that Gandalf were here! How my heart yearns for Minas Anor and the walls of my own city! But whither now shall I go?'

He is seemingly ‘lost’ without his mentor, and unable to make a clear decision which he trusts will be the best choice. At the Last Debate, where the decision is taken to ride to the Black Gate, Aragorn is quiet at first, and Gandalf effectively takes on the role of chief strategist and chairman.

Gandalf sometimes appears to be something of a consummate spin-doctor. He is not respected by every leader. Theoden, influenced by the machinations of Grima, does not trust the wizard, and nor does Denethor. Yet his ‘charge’, Aragorn, is content to let him impart his considerable wisdom, and Gandalf certainly has the ear of the ‘common people’, the inhabitants of Minas Tirith and The Shire.

And yet, it becomes clear that as time has gone by, Aragorn has learned much from his mentor, as displayed in his expert use of propaganda when he appears in the Palantir to Sauron, to lead him into believing that the Ring may in fact still be in the hands of Men, rather than Hobbit ‘spies’ sneaking into his land right under his nose.

At the end of The Last Debate Aragorn’s ‘politics’ are neatly summed up when he speaks with the tone and authority of a leader, without issuing command but commanding respect, and acknowledging the influence of his mentor:

They were silent for a while. At length Aragorn spoke. 'As I have begun, so I will go on. We come now to the very brink, where hope and despair are akin. To waver is to fall. Let none now reject the counsels of Gandalf, whose long labours against Sauron come at last to their test. But for him all would long ago have been lost. Nonetheless I do not yet claim to command any man. Let others choose as they will.'