The Dunedain?

[Bêthberry]

Indeed. As illustrated by the fact that, while HI uses " " to denote sarcasm, I use it to denote either exasperation or self-effacement, depending on the context. Danged smilies - can't rely on them ...

Oh dear, yes! As soon as I read that comment from HI I immediately worried that I have sent messages of sarcasm to people. I too tend to use that smiley for exasperation or self-effacement. Guess I should work on letting my words do the talking, even if it takes a thousand of 'em.

I tend to agree with Sauce's comment above that one must consider the films as movies (I make a distinction here, which I think might be one which derives from my northern North American dialect ) rather than as straight forward representation of the books. Sometimes I think it works best to omit passages if overall the general tone and tenor of the ethos of the books is respected. I think omitting Tom and the Barrow Downs is understandable but it placed certain restrictions on the Bree/ Prancing Pony scene.

To me, including Aragorn's kin would not have improved the depiction of Aragorn much to my mind because the actor did not create a stunning sense of 'a once and future king' to me. Seeing Aragorn awoken from his dream by his horse kissing him really ruined the character for me and I don't think any inclusion of details from the book could have helped.

And, welcome to the Downs, Elessar Telcontar. I almost read your screen name as Estelyn Telcontar at first!