The ability to use diplomacy and talk ones way out of trouble is perhaps
Odysseus’ greatest asset ( though he is of course far less strictly truthful
than Aragorn or Frodo) and the encounter with Eomer puts me in mind with
Odysseus’ meeting with Nausicaa. Now that I come to think of it there is
actually some scope for comparison between Aragorn and Odysseus. They are both
world weary wanderers who are trying, in different ways, to get home and
reclaim their rights. Both are kings who conceal themselves in humbler
guises. Obviously their quests do not arise from the same causes and
Aragorn is less the solo hero of the work but there seems to be at least the
parallel of Aragorn being a hero of the brains, not just brawn, type, of whom
Odysseus is the
paradigm.
