[ksen]

...for it was spoken of old among us that it should be made again when the Ring, Isildur's Bane, was found. Now you have seen the sword that you have sought, what would you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?'

This question Aragorn asks makes me think back to the time of Christ. When He first came He offered Himself as King. He too was rejected, as Aragorn was rejected by Boromir at first.

I wonder if that was in the back of Tolkien's mind while he was writing, being a Catholic and all.

-Kevin

[Penny1]

This question Aragorn asks makes me think back to the time of Christ. When He first came He offered Himself as King. He too was rejected, as Aragorn was rejected by Boromir at first.

I wonder if that was in the back of Tolkien's mind while he was writing, being a Catholic and all.

I would think it was there, either consciously or subconsciously. Aragorn as king acting similar to the way Christ did when he came is pretty striking in ROTK in particular, IMO. For example, when he came to Minas Tirith the first time, he didn't want his identity revealed yet.

I think Tolkien mentions in his letters or somewhere that LOTR was at its heart a "catholic" work, at first unconsciously and later on consciously (I have mangled that terribly, my memory just isn't what it used to be). So I think it's fair to see some of these parallels. They are wonderfully subtle, which I think was important to Tolkien--he didn't want anyone to have the parallels forced on them as allegory does.