I did read an article where Stuart Townsend whinged a little about being replaced by an actor "twenty years older and a completely different type" .. which is a bit harsh on Viggo. But I guess we have to forgive a little pique since despite being physically not my idea of Aragorn, he so clearly was Aragorn mentally (if that makes sense) that the mere triviality of not being tall enough or having quite the right colouring paled into insignificance.
Maybe it helped that I hadn't seen him in any other role at that point - and those I have seen him in later were a little disappointing. He may not be a character actor as such, but he was surely born to play this character. I think the fact that he cared so much about the intellectual as well as physical aspects of the role really paid off (ie he and Hugo Weaving working as much elvish as possible into their scenes...) and of course his Danish/Irish ancestry may have helped him identfy particularly with the cultural significance of his role - his Aragorn is much more than an action hero.
I think in many ways he was the making of the films - not just because I feel that Aragorn's role holds the disparate threads together ( while at one level the film has to be Frodo's story as PJ said - I think an underplayed Aragorn would have been disastrous) - but because he so clearly inspired the rest of the actors.
The only plus point for Stuart Townsend is that I think he would have made a better pair with Liv Tyler ... who made Viggo look a bit short
