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My favorite character, since the first time I read the books at age 8, was Aragorn. It seems I liked him for different reasons than those other readers give, though. I was drawn to the idea that this man wandered in the wilderness for the span of a normal human lifetime; the isolation, the idea of the pain of being separated from the one he loves and most likely believed he would never be with, and the fact that the people he spent his life defending spat on him, insulted him – I found all this deeply moving. I wasn’t raised Christian, but later I connected this ...the archetypes of wandering in the wilderness, sacrifice & humility... to Christ. I also found the whole idea of this rough-looking, even frightening figure being in truth a great king & hero very emotionally satisfying (probably because I liked to think I was better than I appeared to be, and would someday be recognized for it).
I also always had a great deal of affection & sympathy for (of all people) Smeagol. He’s such a tragic figure. It seems Frodo’s friendship nearly brings him back from the darkness he lived in so long, but then when he believes he was betrayed, the last glimmer of hope disappears. He seems like a character with very little control over his actions, yet still some good in him and he must have been tormented watching himself lie, steal and kill for the ring. When he remembers his life as one of the river folk (in The Hobbit & LOTR), how can anyone fail to pity him? It is very powerful, very moving to me that he is the one to destroy the ring in the end, and that he is destroyed with it.
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