Interesting, interesting! Thanks for the considered responses.
Hail, Kuruharan, and may your beard grow ever longer!
Greetings and well met, Phrim. May your deadness be most enjoyable.
I must confess that being a writer (of debatable ability), I look at this from a writer's point of view. That is to say, constantly thinking in terms of plot 'what-ifs'. It is, admittedly, highly speculative, but part of the writer's craft, and helpful to me in terms of working out creative possibilities in a realistic way. Who knows? Maybe Tolkien thought about this stuff.
I agree that Aragorn would not have been given the slip, and that he instead of Gollum would have led Frodo and Sam - and the whole company - as far as Henneth Anun. There Aragorn would meet Faramir. THAT, my freinds, at that TIME and in that PLACE, would have been an interesting meeting. Is it possible that Aragorn could have been moved in heart to (1) go with Faramir to Minas Tirith (2) move toward the Kingship in Minas Tirith as prophesied by Arwen (3) remember the Paths of the Dead as prophesied by Galadriel? What would happen then? Would Aragorn go with Faramir to Gondor? If he did, would Legolas and Gimli have gone with him to Gondor? I can't imagine that the hobbits could have been separated by anything short of capture or death. So what would Legolas and Gimli have done if Aragorn went to Gondor to fulfill his fate - assuming that's what he would have done?
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