[Galadriel55]

You say that Aragorn was predestined and that he didn't have a choice. I think that everybody - always - has a choice. Maybe not much of a choice to someone as noble (and even less so) as Aragorn, but it's still there. What stopped all of ME from becoming orc-like beings? Their choice not to be such.

I don't realy like the word "predestined", because it sounds like "your fate is predetermined and everything that you may or may not do is already taken into account and it won't change anything". Which contradicts my above statement.

In other words, Aragorn was "meant" to rule the Reunited Kingdom... just as much as Arvedui was. The latter's prophecy mentioned the "other choice", and Aragorn's didn't - there were just a bunch of things from everywhere: Malbeth's words about the Pths of the Dead, Galadriel's advise, Ioreth's poem... But Aragorn didn't need to go through the Paths because of the words of someone long dead. He went because of a number of reasons - saving ME, saving his country and city, wanting to help ad put his full contribution into the War, etc.

He didn't need to go there, but he went. And that is one example of the many deeds that IMO make him a hero, and extraordinary.


So, my point -

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – ... You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.”

In order to become that hero, you first need to actually do the things.