The Two Kings

  I'm not sure if you have noticed an interesting paralell involving two of the main characters of both " The Hobbit " and " The Lord Of The Rings " . I am speaking of Aragorn and Thorin Oakenshield, one a man and the other a Dwarf but both are seeking to regain their lost crowns and become the Kings they were born  to be. Aragorn is from a long line of Kings of men who had lost their crown when Aragorns ancestor very bravely and foolishly decided to contest the will of Sauron by himself and therefore his place was taken by a steward and the throne remained vacant awaiting the Kings ( Aragorns ) return which had been phrophecised in tale and song. Thorin Oakenshield was seeking the return to Erebor and the slaying of the Dragon ' Smaug " . He was directly descended from the first Dwarf , that is Durin , and his family had been cast from their ancestral homes not because of folly but by the arrival of the Smaug. Thorin and his father and grandfather fled Erebor that day and were forced into a long exile. Thorins Grandfather the last King under the mountain had tried to reclaim Moria and was slain by Orcs for his trouble and his Father was kidnapped by the necromancer because he had in his possession one of the great rings of power that the Necromancer ( Sauron ) had given as a gift to the Dwarves so very long ago. It gave no great special powers to the Dwarves as Bilbos ring did but place a great desire for wealth upo the bearer and  usually tragically so. They both regain their thrones, Aragorn very triumphantly returns to a long and glorious reign, no doubt due to the purity of his heart and the rightfulness of his ambitions in reclaiming his crown but Thorin Oakenshields triumph is brief due to his weakenesses and he dies tragically instead of triumphantly because of the flaws in his character. I guess the moral lessons to be drawn from the two different tales are the effects that ones ambitions and the reasons behind them lead to different ends. It is a tragic tale that of Thorin Oakenshield caught up in a desire for revenge instead of Aragorns desire for ending his peoples suffering at the hands of a would be Tyrant  and maybe that is the difference in the two. Desire and ambition versus love and pity. He may have been a fool in the end but maybe we can forgive his weaknesses and admire his desire to see an ancient wrong righted whatever the reason.