During Peter Jackson’s 2001 film adaptation of theFellowship of the Ring,the fellowship depart from the woodland realm of Lothlorien, having received many gifts, including elven daggers, starlight, and the long-keptsecret food of Lembas bread. As they climb into their beautifully carved elven boats, and row down the river Anduin, they pass underneath two colossal statues looming overhead. Who exactly are these figures, and why were statues erected of them?
At first, the imposing statues strike fear into the hearts of the hobbits, and for good reason. They stand with their arms outstretched, in a foreboding power stance, each with a weapon in their right hands. They were meant to be a deterrent for any enemy considering an attack upon the lands beyond the Great River, and their might and majesty demonstrate the regal strength of the peoples who built them. Aragorn quickly soothes the concern of his comrades, informing them that the might of the Argonath is there for their protection. The etymology of their name stems from the Elvish language Sindarian, in which ‘ar’ can be translated as ‘royal’ and ‘gond,’ in the common tongue means ‘stone’.
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The key to the identity of these monuments lies in Aragorn’s words as the fellowship passes beneath them. During an extended edition scene, he states ‘Long have I desired to look upon the kings of old, my kin’ with such reverence and awe in his voice that it is clear these figures hold great importance and significance withinhis own personal past. That is because the two great statues are each carved in the likeness of a former king of Gondor, the noble bloodline to which Aragorn himself was born. This explains why Boromir too is left speechless in the wake of these tremendous beings, as they also speak somewhat to his own lineage as a son of the white city.
However, which kings the two statues portray differ between book and film adaptation. In Tolkien’s original text, the two persons portrayed within the carvings are Isildur, and Anarion. Isildur features prominently in the films, as the king of Gondor who was unable to cast the One Ring into the Fires ofMount Doom where it was created. The ring then betrayed Isildur to his death, where he was shot with three orc arrows in the back before floating downstream. The other figure, Anarion, was Isildur’s younger brother, and a key instigator in the resistance against the evil Lord Sauron. The siblings were the two founders of Gondor.
For the purposes of the film adaptation, the crew made the executive decision to change the second figure to that of Elendil, who is a prolific character in the history of Numenore. Although his role and purpose within the film adaptations aren’t explicit, he was the king responsible for the creation of theDunedain Rangers in Middle Earth, and the father of Isildur and Anarion.Within his statue carving, there is another significant change between his portrayal in the chapter ‘The Great River’ in the original book, and in his on-screen design. In the book, the two figures are depicted holding great axes, weapons once formerly wielded by their human counterparts, but in the movies, Elendil is pictured holding Narsil, the blade that is broken in the first battle, depicted in the prologue scene of the trilogy. The famous sword is later reforged, andbecomes Aragorn’s weapon Anduril.
Many Lord of the Rings fans have noticed an interesting comparison between the kings of old and the two members of the fellowship. Elendil, wielding the sword that cut the ring fromthe evil Lord Sauron’s hand, arguably one of themost powerful weapons of Middle Earth, has obvious parallels to Aragorn, who will also later wield the same sword. They are both members of the Dunedain also. The second statue, Isildur, is remembered as a noble and formidable king, but one whose will was too weak to resist the temptation of the ring.
As Boromir tries to take the ring from Frodo towards the end of the film, the same can be said of him. Both kings had the desire to use the ring for good, and to restore the strength of their kingdom and bring prosperity to their suffering people, but the ring only has one master, and cannot be bent to the will of another. Interestingly, although Isildur and Boromir have similarities, Isildur dies with 3 arrows to the back as aforementioned, whereasBoromir, who was never actually evil, redeems himself by and bravely fighting to save his hobbit companions Merry and Pippin. Subsequently, he dies with 3 arrows in the front of his body, a far more honorable and valiant end.
As for the Argonath, like much of the rest of Gondor, they have fallen into disrepair over the years as the line of kings has vanished, and the Stewards, who are lesser because they don’t have the same connection to the Numenorian blood of old, have taken over rule. They are eventually restored to their original glory alongside the white city when Aragorn returns to his rightful place on the throne.
