There and Back Again, Viggo Mortensen?

Will Aragorn return to play a part in The Hobbit: There and Back Again?

Are the rumors true? Will Viggo Mortensen indeed return to reprise his role of Aragorn in The Hobbit trilogy? Although he does not appear in the book The Hobbit, the screenwriters could find a way to include him in the script. Will this be the case, or is it all a groundless rumor created by hopeful but misled fans? 

Aragorn is a staple character to The Lord of the Rings, both in the book and, if possible, even more so in the movies. Ever since we received word that The Hobbit would indeed be adapted to the silver screen, rumors have been circulating concerning the cast and who would play the roles. Who will play Bilbo? Will it be the original Ian Holm, or is there going to be a new, younger actor? Will Ian McKellen return to be Gandalf? These are just a few of the many questions asked. Once it was revealed that Peter Jackson would not only film what was in The Hobbit, but also what was in the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings, even more questions began to be asked. Galadriel, Saruman, and even Frodo all returned to Middle-earth, so why not Aragorn?

I expect that a few people out there would laugh at this, asking how a man could still appear young and strong when he had participated in events that took place 76 years before. As far fetched as this seems, it is not at all unlikely. By the time The Lord of the Rings took place, most men lived about as long as they do now. Most. A few, specifically the remnants of the Numenorean race, known as the Rangers, lived much longer than that, even up and exceeding 200 years. Aragorn was born in the year 2931 of the Third Age. Bilbo left on his adventure in the year 2941. This presents a problem. Aragorn would only have been ten years old when the events in The Hobbit took place.

When he was just two years old, Aragorn's mother took him to Elrond, who received him as a foster-son and gave him a home in Rivendell. If we ever were to see Aragorn in the movie, it was at Bilbo's stay in Rivendell. Unfortunately, Aragorn never appeared, so, unless Peter Jackson completely goes against Tolkien's work, Aragorn will not appear in The Hobbit movies.