Forsaken Lands

Aragorn intriques me, not because of his power as a ruler or decisions as a man, but because of what the psychology of such a man must be.

In my imaginings of him, I see him juggling monumental pent-up rage at the situations he was dealt, and his lack of choices in how to make a way through them; orphaned, raised by an entirely different people for most of his life, in love with a woman that he cannot have if he does not, essentially, "save the world" by robbing her people of a place in it...

it is his restraint and sense of honor that I respect.

We see both in this scene, concocted as much by the wind in New Zealand as the cinematography of Peter Jackson in the film version of the Two Towers.

And because under it all I'm a history and science nerd that's lousy at math, an article explaining canker: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=2782

Essentially, it's a smelly bacterial infection in the bed of the hoof, the part akin to the roots of our toenails. It has killed horses when left untreated with antibiotics, but does so rarely now.

ETA: Title a spin on "But do not trust to hope, it has forsaken these lands," which Eomer says to Aragorn unaware that his elvish name is, actually, "hope".