Aragorn's mistake concerning the army raised from the Paths of the Dead

[Kuruharan]

I've often thought Aragorn should have kept the Dead around too, so perhaps I should leave it to the erudite wights who are less expediency driven than myself to answer, but I have one observation.

and even if Frodo failed, the worst thing that could happen was that Sauron would be vanished, not destroyed... and even probably Gandalf and the other forces of Good (Aragorn, Eomer, Elrond, Galadriel) would wip all the evil out of Mordor... And eventually destroy the One Ring after regaining it from Frodo...

I'm not entirely sure what would happen if Frodo failed and Sauron regained the Ring. I think it quite likely that a Sauron possessing the One Ring would fill all his minions with such fear and rage that it would wipe away any fear of the Dead, and the Dead could not exactly do too much in the way of fighting. The Dead operated by fear. If that fear is removed they are not so effective.

[ September 19, 2003: Message edited by: Kuruharan ]