 The medievalist Elizabeth Solopova comments that unlike Aragorn, Denethor is incapable of displaying what Tolkien in "" called "northern courage", namely, the spirit to carry on in the face of certain defeat and death.Denethor was voiced by William Conrad in Rankin/Bass's 1980 animated adaptation of "The Return of the King", and by Peter Vaughan in BBC Radio's 1981 serialization.Denethor is played by John Noble in Peter Jackson's film "".