😺😎Grettir the Strong vs. Aragorn II, son of Arathorn II (King Elessar Telcontar)😄😊

G

rettir the Strong and the Lord of the Rings go together like Oreos and milk. This is because, as multiple scholars have reiterated over the years, J.R.R. Tolkien drew from Viking sagas to create his enthralling works (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c4c5/814378fb305cff5511623c9c3c12ada0db7c.pdf). And why not? He was a genius linguist, an expert on Old English and Old Norse literature at Oxford University from 1925 to 1959 who “went to parties dressed as a polar bear, chased a neighbor dressed as an axe-wielding Anglo-Saxon warrior, and was known to hand shopkeepers his false teeth as payment” (http://mentalfloss.com/article/59736/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-jrr-tolkien). If anyone could use Viking culture to tell a good story, it was him!

So, unsurprisingly, a lot of characters in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, and in Peter Jackson’s fantastic early 2000s movie trilogy sharing the title, are clearly similar to certain mythical Viking figures. One example: Aragorn, a brooding loner fated to become a generous king, is very like his predecessor, the complicated lead Grettir in his namesake Icelandic saga. Antiheroes from shady beginnings, they are brothers in more aspects than one, though they come to drastically different ends.

An artist's rendition of Grettir the Strong being a boss:)

On the most basic level, Grettir and Aragorn each get pretty rough starts in life. Due to an unfortunate mix of uncontrollable temper and misunderstood positive intent, Grettir finds himself outlawed in both Norway and Iceland, which perhaps should be considered a feat in itself (Penguin Classics: 116-117). As a result, he spends the majority of his time house-hopping, running from the law under a false moniker (at one point, he refers to himself as “Gest”) and relying on the hesitant hospitality of family and friends agreeing to take him in for a short span until he can locate another place to stay (132). His literary pal Aragorn is equally familiar with transitory living. Although he is of royal descent (with a ridiculously long and awesome lifespan of around 140 to 250 years) in Middle-earth and retains the right to return to the city of Gondor as its king, he begins his tale as a Ranger (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Dúnedain). He is a chieftain of the Dúnedain people, the remnants of his family, after several wars—hiding his identity (he is called “Strider”) and protecting the communities he wanders through (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Rangers_of_the_North). Grettir and Aragorn know all too well how it feels to sleep outside in the rain and gather or hunt breakfast yourself.

An interesting component of Aragorn’s long-term traveling is his personal trepidation that, in addition to having to face the evil forces that attacked his ancestors in order to be able to reclaim the throne, he is not worthy of doing so (The Fellowship of the Ring). Being an heir of Isildur, a former monarch in Gondor infamous for refusing to destroy a Ring of Power belonging to Sauron, their world’s greatest villain, and capable of ruining all things living—he had fallen prey to its magical allure—Aragorn is afraid that he will make his scorned relative’s mistakes (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Aragorn_II_Elessar). In that regard, he and Grettir are in outlawry not only externally—physically, visibly—but also, in a sense, mentally. Their societies possess negative perceptions of them that are based in erroneous assumptions: for instance, that Grettir burned a home full of innocent men on purpose; and, in Aragorn’s case, that he will be as undependable as Isildur was (92).

How everyone feels watching Gandalf fall fighting the Balrog;)

Luckily, they are epic dudes and use their redeeming qualities to set the record straight. First: innate advantages. Grettir is stronger than anyone in the history of planet Earth, except possibly the Hulk, and carries full-grown oxen on his back (114). Aragorn, for his part, is magically endowed with healing abilities and can revive half-dead warriors (The Return of the King). Second: fighting prowess. Grettir saves a farm from bandits (48-49). Meanwhile, Aragorn saves little Hobbits from ghostly Ringwraiths (The Fellowship of the Ring). And, a final third: selfless sacrifice with attendant near-death experiences. Grettir battles monsters, including an undead creature—Glam—and a pair of trolls (85, 150-153). He takes these challenges to help plagued families and almost dies during them (85, 150). Aragorn, not to be outdone, pledges himself to a Hobbit whom a rather divided Middle-earth council selects to undertake a quest to throw the Ring into a pit of fire in Sauron’s territory and melt it (The Fellowship of the Ring). Jackson’s films illustrate two consequent harrowing moments when a gruesome Orc soldier and a towering troll just about do him in (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Return of the King). These heroes are hardcore.
               However, Grettir and Aragorn, for all their similarities, couldn’t finish their accounts more differently. Grettir is killed by ignominious sorcery, his head chopped off, and Aragorn, after successfully assisting Frodo in popping that Ring into Mount Doom, takes his kingdom back, marries his independent, gorgeous equestrian master of an Elvish bride, and settles into a peaceful reign (185, The Return of the King). What else would you expect for Grettir, a supposed “snake,” as opposed to Aragorn, a man of—his contrasting name states—“kingly valor” (68, https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-name-Aragorn-mean)? Maybe it’s Grettir’s selfishness—his cruelty to animals, his thefts—that earns him such a sad death (27, 117). Or maybe, since Glam curses him, he is simply the victim of an unjust fate (85). Either way, he and Aragorn are alike in the legacy that they leave: they are forever known as underdogs everyone saw overcome odds and rescue others, and they are not to be messed with.

…..........Who is Aragorn? He's like Batman, only better:D

**😀😁😂😃😉😋😛😜😬😲😺😹🙀😸**