I think it comes down to two factors. The first is that Mortensen doesn’t match some fan’s mental image of Aragorn. The most common complaint I’ve seen is that he’s too short. The other reason is that they don’t like Peter Jackson’s interpretation of Aragorn and blame Viggo.
Aragorn is a difficult character to cast. Tolkien only gave the barest of descriptions of characters. And at the beginning Aragorn is weather-beaten from decades of life as a ranger. But by the end he appears noble.
I don’t remember Tolkien saying much about beards but Jackson chose to give facial hair to most of the men in the movie so that the audience could instantly tell who was a man and who was an elf. That may be an issue with Aragorn’s appearance.
Personally I thought that Mortensen did a fine job, especially considering the alternatives. Stuart Townsend was originally cast in the role.They quickly realized that he was too young and fresh-faced for the part and recast it.
I absolutely hated the Aragorn in Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings.
He looks too rough and that tunic is a joke.
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