title: Methodism

text: British Methodists, in particular the Primitive Methodists, took a leading role in the temperance movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Methodists saw alcoholic beverages, and alcoholism, as the root of many social ills and tried to persuade people to abstain from these. Temperance appealed strongly to the Methodist doctrines of sanctification and perfection. To this day, alcohol remains banned in Methodist premises, however this restriction no longer applies to domestic occasions in private homes (i.e. the minister may have a drink at home in the manse). The choice to consume alcohol is now a personal decision for any member.


title: Methodism

text: British Methodism does not have bishops; however, it has always been characterised by a strong central organisation, the Connexion, which holds an annual Conference (the church retains the 18th-century spelling "connexion" for many purposes). The Connexion is divided into Districts in the charge of the chair (who may be male or female). Methodist districts often correspond approximately, in geographical terms, to counties—as do Church of England dioceses. The districts are divided into circuits governed by the Circuit Meeting and led and administrated principally by a superintendent minister. Ministers are appointed to Circuits rather than to individual churches, although some large inner-city churches, known as "central halls", are designated as circuits in themselves—of these Westminster Central Hall, opposite Westminster Abbey in central London, is the best known. Most circuits have fewer ministers than churches, and the majority of services are led by lay local preachers, or by supernumerary ministers (ministers who have retired, called supernumerary because they are not counted for official purposes in the numbers of ministers for the circuit in which they are listed). The superintendent and other ministers are assisted in the leadership and administration of the Circuit by circuit stewards– laypeople with particular skills who, who with the ministers, collectively form what is normally known as the Circuit Leadership Team.


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Council also helps to run a number of schools, including two public schools in East Anglia: Culford School and the Leys School. It helps to promote an all round education with a strong Christian ethos.


title: Methodism

text: Other Methodist denominations in Britain include: the Free Methodist Church, the Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches, the Church of the Nazarene, and The Salvation Army, all of which are Methodist churches aligned with the holiness movement, as well as the Wesleyan Reform Union, an early secession from the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and the Independent Methodist Connexion.


title: Methodism

text: John Wesley visited Ireland on at least twenty-four occasions and established classes and societies. The Methodist Church in Ireland () today operates across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on an all-Ireland basis. , there are around 50,000 Methodists across Ireland. The biggest concentration–13,171–is in Belfast, with 2,614 in Dublin. , it is the fourth-largest denomination in Northern Ireland, with Methodists accounting for 3% of the population.


title: Methodism

text: Eric Gallagher was the President of the Church in the 1970s, becoming a well-known figure in Irish politics. He was one of the group of Protestant churchmen who met with Provisional IRA officers in Feakle, County Clare to try to broker peace. The meeting was unsuccessful due to a Garda raid on the hotel.


title: Methodism

text: In 1973, the Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches (FIMC) was established as a number of theologically conservative congregations departed both the Methodist Church in Ireland and Free Methodist Church due to what they perceived as the rise of Modernism in those denominations.


title: Methodism

text: The Italian Methodist Church () is a small Protestant community in Italy, with around 7,000 members. Since 1975, it is in a formal covenant of partnership with the Waldensian Church, with a total of 45,000 members. Waldensians are a Protestant movement which started in Lyon, France, in the late 1170s.


title: Methodism

text: Italian Methodism has its origins in the Italian Free Church, British Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, and the American Methodist Episcopal Mission. These movements flowered in the second half of the 19th century in the new climate of political and religious freedom that was established with the end of the Papal States and unification of Italy in 1870.


title: Methodism

text: Bertrand M. Tipple, minister of the American Methodist Church in Rome, founded a college there in 1914.


title: Methodism

text: In April 2016, the World Methodist Council opened an Ecumenical Office in Rome. Methodist leaders and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, jointly dedicated the new office. It helps facilitate Methodist relationships with the wider Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.


title: Methodism

text: The "Nordic and Baltic Area" of the United Methodist Church covers the Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland) and the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). Methodism was introduced to the Nordic countries in the late 19th century. Today the United Methodist Church in Norway () is the largest annual meeting in the region with 10,684 members in total (). The United Methodist Church in Sweden () joined the Uniting Church in Sweden in 2011.


title: Methodism

text: The French Methodist movement was founded in the 1820s by Charles Cook in the village of Congénies in Languedoc near Nîmes and Montpellier. The most important chapel of department was built in 1869, where there had been a Quaker community since the 18th century. Sixteen Methodist congregations voted to join the Reformed Church of France in 1938. In the 1980s, missionary work of a Methodist church in Agen led to new initiatives in Fleurance and Mont de Marsan.


title: Methodism

text: Methodism exists today in France under various names. The best-known is the Union of Evangelical Methodist Churches () or UEEM. It is an autonomous regional conference of the United Methodist Church and is the fruit of a fusion in 2005 between the "Methodist Church of France" and the "Union of Methodist Churches". , the UEEM has around 1,200 members and 30 ministers.


title: Methodism

text: In Germany, Switzerland and Austria, "Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche" is the name of the United Methodist Church. The German part of the church had about 52,031 members . Members are organized into three annual conferences: north, east and south. All three annual conferences belong to the "Germany Central Conference". Methodism is most prevalent in southern Saxony and around Stuttgart.


title: Methodism

text: A Methodist missionary returning from Britain introduced (British) Methodism to Germany in 1830, initially in the region of Württemberg. Methodism was also spread in Germany through the missionary work of the Methodist Episcopal Church which began in 1849 in Bremen, soon spreading to Saxony and other parts of Germany. Other Methodist missionaries of the Evangelical Association went near Stuttgart (Württemberg) in 1850. Further Methodist missionaries of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ worked in Franconia and other parts of Germany from 1869 until 1905. So Methodism has four roots in Germany.


title: Methodism

text: Early opposition towards Methodism was partly rooted in theological differences — northern and eastern regions of Germany were predominantly Lutheran and Reformed, and Methodists were dismissed as fanatics. Methodism was also hindered by its unfamiliar church structure (Connectionalism), which was more centralised than the hierarchical polity in the Lutheran and Reformed churches. After World War I, the 1919 Weimar Constitution allowed Methodists to worship freely and many new chapels were established. In 1936, German Methodists elected their first bishop.


title: Methodism

text: The first Methodist mission in Hungary was established in 1898 in Bácska, in a then mostly German-speaking town of Verbász (since 1918 part of the Serbian province of Vojvodina). In 1905 a Methodist mission was established also in Budapest. In 1974, a group later known as the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship seceded from the Hungarian Methodist Church over the question of interference by the communist state.


title: Methodism

text: , the United Methodist Church in Hungary, known locally as the Hungarian Methodist Church (), has 453 professing members in 30 congregations. It runs two student homes, two homes for the elderly, the Forray Methodist High School, the Wesley Scouts and the Methodist Library and Archives. The church has a special ministry among the Roma.


title: Methodism

text: The seceding Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship () also remains Methodist in its organisation and theology. It has eight full congregations and several mission groups, and runs a range of charitable organisations: hostels and soup kitchens for the homeless, a non-denominational theological college, a dozen schools of various kinds, and four old people's homes.


title: Methodism

text: Today there are a dozen Methodist/Wesleyan churches and mission organisations in Hungary, but all Methodist churches lost official church status under new legislation passed in 2011, when the number of officially recognized churches in the country fell to 14. However, the list of recognized churches was lengthened to 32 at the end of February 2012. This gave recognition to Hungarian Methodist Church and the Salvation Army, which was banned in Hungary in 1949 but had returned in 1990, but not to the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship. The legislation has been strongly criticised by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe as discriminatory.


title: Methodism

text: The Hungarian Methodist Church, the Salvation Army and the Church of the Nazarene and other Wesleyan groups formed the Wesley Theological Alliance for theological and publishing purposes in 1998. Today the Alliance has 10 Wesleyan member churches and organisations. The Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship does not belong to it and has its own publishing arm.


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Church established several strongholds in Russia—Saint Petersburg in the west and the Vladivostok region in the east, with big Methodist centres right in the middle, in Moscow and Ekaterinburg (former Sverdlovsk). Methodists began their work in the west among Swedish immigrants in 1881 and started their work in the east in 1910. On 26 June 2009, Methodists celebrated the 120th year since Methodism arrived in Czarist Russia by erecting a new Methodist centre in Saint Petersburg. A Methodist presence was continued in Russia for 14 years after the Russian Revolution of 1917 through the efforts of Deaconess Anna Eklund. In 1939, political antagonism stymied the work of the Church and Deaconess Anna Eklund was coerced to return to her native Finland.


title: Methodism

text: After 1989, the Soviet Union allowed greatly increased religious freedoms and this continued after the USSR's collapse in 1991. During the 1990s, Methodism experienced a powerful wave of revival in the nation. Three sites in particular carried the torch—Samara, Moscow and Ekaterinburg. , the United Methodist Church in Eurasia comprised 116 congregations, each with a native pastor. There are currently 48 students enrolled in residential and extension degree programs at the United Methodist Seminary in Moscow.


title: Methodism

text: Methodism came to the Caribbean in 1760 when the planter, lawyer and Speaker of the Antiguan House of Assembly, Nathaniel Gilbert (c. 1719–1774), returned to his sugar estate home in Antigua. A Methodist revival spread in the British West Indies due to the work of British missionaries. Missionaries established societies which would later become the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA). The MCCA has about 62,000 members in over 700 congregations, ministered by 168 pastors. There are smaller Methodist denominations that have seceded from the parent church.


title: Methodism

text: The story is often told that in 1755, Nathaniel Gilbert, while convalescing, read a treatise of John Wesley, "An Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion" sent to him by his brother Francis. As a result of having read this book Gilbert, two years later, journeyed to England with three of his slaves and there in a drawing room meeting arranged in Wandsworth on 15 January 1759, met the preacher John Wesley. He returned to the Caribbean that same year and on his subsequent return began to preach to his slaves in Antigua.


title: Methodism

text: When Gilbert died in 1774 his work in Antigua was continued by his brother Francis Gilbert to approximately 200 Methodists. However, within a year Francis took ill and had to return to Britain and the work was carried on by Sophia Campbell ("a Negress") and Mary Alley ("a Mulatto"), two devoted women who kept the flock together with class and prayer meetings as best as they could.


title: Methodism

text: On 2 April 1778, John Baxter, a local preacher and skilled shipwright from Chatham in Kent, England, landed at English Harbour in Antigua (now called Nelson's Dockyard) where he was offered a post at the naval dockyard. Baxter was a Methodist and had heard of the work of the Gilberts and their need for a new preacher. He began preaching and meeting with the Methodist leaders, and within a year the Methodist community had grown to 600 persons. By 1783, the first Methodist chapel was built in Antigua, with John Baxter as the local preacher, its wooden structure seating some 2,000 people.


title: Methodism

text: In 1785, William Turton (1761–1817) a Barbadian son of a planter, met John Baxter in Antigua, and later, as layman, assisted in the Methodist work in the Swedish colony of St. Bartholomew from 1796.


title: Methodism

text: In 1786, the missionary endeavour in the Caribbean was officially recognized by the Methodist Conference in England, and that same year Thomas Coke, having been made Superintendent of the church two years previously in America by Wesley, was travelling to Nova Scotia, but weather forced his ship to Antigua.


title: Methodism

text: In 1818 Edward Fraser (1798 – Aft. 1850), a privileged Barbadian slave, moved to Bermuda and subsequently met the new minister James Dunbar. The Nova Scotia Methodist Minister noted young Fraser's sincerity and commitment to his congregation and encouraged him by appointing him as assistant. By 1827 Fraser assisted in building a new chapel. He was later freed and admitted to the Methodist Ministry to serve in Antigua and Jamaica.


title: Methodism

text: Following William J. Shrewsbury's preaching in the 1820s, Sarah Ann Gill (1779–1866), a free-born black woman, used civil disobedience in an attempt to thwart magistrate rulings that prevented parishioners holding prayer meetings. In hopes of building a new chapel, she paid an extraordinary £1,700-0s–0d and ended up having militia appointed by the Governor to protect her home from demolition.


title: Methodism

text: In 1884 an attempt was made at autonomy with the formation of two West Indian Conferences, however by 1903 the venture had failed. It was not until the 1960s that another attempt was made at autonomy. This second attempt resulted in the emergence of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas in May 1967.


title: Methodism

text: Francis Godson (1864–1953), a Methodist minister, who having served briefly in several of the Caribbean islands, eventually immersed himself in helping those in hardship of the First World War in Barbados. He was later appointed to the Legislative Council of Barbados, and fought for the rights of pensioners. He was later followed by renowned Barbadian Augustus Rawle Parkinson (1864–1932), who also was the first principal of the Wesley Hall School, Bridgetown in Barbados (which celebrated its 125th anniversary in September 2009).


title: Methodism

text: In more recent times in Barbados, Victor Alphonso Cooke (born 1930) and Lawrence Vernon Harcourt Lewis (born 1932) are strong influences on the Methodist Church on the island. Their contemporary and late member of the Dalkeith Methodist Church, was the former secretary of the University of the West Indies, consultant of the "Canadian Training Aid Programme" and a man of letters – Francis Woodbine Blackman (1922–2010). It was his research and published works that enlightened much of this information on Caribbean Methodism.


title: Methodism

text: Most Methodist denominations in Africa follow the British Methodist tradition and see the Methodist Church of Great Britain as their mother church. Originally modelled on the British structure, since independence most of these churches have adopted an episcopal model.


title: Methodism

text: The Nigerian Methodist Church is one of the largest Methodist denominations in the world and one of the largest Christian churches in Nigeria, with around two million members in 2000 congregations. It has seen exponential growth since the turn of the millennium.


title: Methodism

text: Christianity was established in Nigeria with the arrival in 1842 of a Wesleyan Methodist missionary. He had come in response to the request for missionaries by the ex-slaves who returned to Nigeria from Sierra Leone. From the mission stations established in Badagry and Abeokuta, the Methodist church spread to various parts of the country west of the River Niger and part of the north. In 1893 missionaries of the Primitive Methodist Church arrived from Fernando Po, an island off the southern coast of Nigeria. From there the Methodist Church spread to other parts of the country, east of the River Niger and also to parts of the north. The church west of the River Niger and part of the north was known as the Western Nigeria District and east of the Niger and another part of the north as the Eastern Nigeria District. Both existed independently of each other until 1962 when they constituted the Conference of Methodist Church Nigeria. The conference is composed of seven districts. The church has continued to spread into new areas and has established a department for evangelism and appointed a director of evangelism. An episcopal system adopted in 1976 was not fully accepted by all sections of the church until the two sides came together and resolved to end the disagreement. A new constitution was ratified in 1990. The system is still episcopal but the points which caused discontent were amended to be acceptable to both sides. Today, the Nigerian Methodist Church has a prelate, eight archbishops and 44 bishops.


title: Methodism

text: Methodist Church Ghana is one of the largest Methodist denominations, with around 800,000 members in 2,905 congregations, ministered by 700 pastors. It has fraternal links with the British Methodist and United Methodist churches worldwide.


title: Methodism

text: Methodism in Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the Gold Coast in 1835. Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Protestant background. Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century. A school was established in Cape Coast by the Anglicans during the time of Philip Quaque, a Ghanaian priest. Those who came out of this school had Bible copies and study supplied by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. A member of the resulting Bible study groups, William De-Graft, requested Bibles through Captain Potter of the ship "Congo". Not only were Bibles sent, but also a Methodist missionary. In the first eight years of the Church's life, 11 out of 21 missionaries who worked in the Gold Coast died. Thomas Birch Freeman, who arrived at the Gold Coast in 1838 was a pioneer of missionary expansion. Between 1838 and 1857 he carried Methodism from the coastal areas to Kumasi in the Asante hinterland of the Gold Coast. He also established Methodist Societies in Badagry and AbeoKuta in Nigeria with the assistance of William De-Graft.


title: Methodism

text: By 1854, the church was organized into circuits constituting a district with T. B. Freeman as chairman. Freeman was replaced in 1856 by William West. The district was divided and extended to include areas in the then Gold Coast and Nigeria by the synod in 1878, a move confirmed at the British Conference. The district were Gold Coast District, with T.R. Picot as chairman and Yoruba and Popo District, with John Milum as chairman. Methodist evangelisation of northern Gold Coast began in 1910. After a long period of conflict with the colonial government, missionary work was established in 1955. Paul Adu was the first indigenous missionary to northern Gold Coast.


title: Methodism

text: In July 1961, the Methodist Church in Ghana became autonomous, and was called the Methodist Church Ghana, based on a deed of foundation, part of the church's "Constitution and Standing Orders".


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Church operates across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, with a limited presence in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It is a member church of the World Methodist Council.


title: Methodism

text: Methodism in Southern Africa began as a result of lay Christian work by an Irish soldier of the English Regiment, John Irwin, who was stationed at the Cape and began to hold prayer meetings as early as 1795. The first Methodist lay preacher at the Cape, George Middlemiss, was a soldier of the 72nd regiment of the British Army stationed at the Cape in 1805. This foundation paved the way for missionary work by Methodist missionary societies from Great Britain, many of whom sent missionaries with the 1820 English settlers to the Western and Eastern Cape. Among the most notable of the early missionaries were Barnabas Shaw and William Shaw. The largest group was the Wesleyan Methodist Church, but there were a number of others that joined to form the Methodist Church of South Africa, later known as the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Church of Southern Africa is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in South Africa—7.3% of the South African population recorded their religious affiliation as 'Methodist' in the last national census.


title: Methodism

text: Methodism was brought to China in the autumn of 1847 by the Methodist Episcopal Church. The first missionaries sent out were Judson Dwight Collins and Moses Clark White, who sailed from Boston 15 April 1847, and reached Foochow 6 September. They were followed by Henry Hickok and Robert Samuel Maclay, who arrived 15 April 1848. In 1857, it baptised the first convert in connection with its labours. In August 1856, a brick built church, called the "Church of the True God" (真神堂), the first substantial church building erected at Foochow by Protestant Missions, was dedicated to the worship of God. In the winter of the same year another brick built church, located on the hill in the suburbs on the south bank of the Min, was finished and dedicated, called the "Church of Heavenly Peace" (天安堂). In 1862, the number of members was 87. The Foochow Conference was organized by Isaac W. Wiley on 6 December 1867, by which time the number of members and probationers had reached 2,011.


title: Methodism

text: Hok Chau 周學 (also known as Lai-Tong Chau, 周勵堂) was the first Chinese ordained minister of the South China District of the Methodist Church (incumbent 1877–1916). Benjamin Hobson (1816–1873), a medical missionary sent by the London Missionary Society in 1839, set up a highly successful Wai Ai Clinic (惠愛醫館) Liang Fa (Leung Fat in Cantonese, 梁發, 1789–1855, ordained by the London Missionary Society), Hok Chau and others worked there. Liang (age 63) baptized Chau (quite young) in 1852. The Methodist Church based in Britain sent missionary George Piercy to China. In 1851, Piercy went to Guangzhou (Canton), where he worked in a trading company. In 1853, he started a church in Guangzhou. In 1877, Chau was ordained by the Methodist Church, where he pastored for 39 years.


title: Methodism

text: In 1867, the mission sent out the first missionaries to Central China, who began work at Kiukiang. In 1869, missionaries were also sent to the capital city Peking, where they laid the foundations of the work of the North China Mission. In November 1880, the West China Mission was established in Sichuan Province. In 1896, the work in the Hinghua prefecture (modern-day Putian) and surrounding regions was also organized as a Mission Conference.


title: Methodism

text: In 1947, the Methodist Church in the Republic of China celebrated its centenary. In 1949, however, the Methodist Church moved to Taiwan with the Kuomintang government.


title: Methodism

text: Methodism came to India twice, in 1817 and in 1856, according to P. Dayanandan who has done extensive research on the subject. Thomas Coke and six other missionaries set sail for India on New Year's Day in 1814. Coke, then 66, died en route. Rev. James Lynch was the one who finally arrived in Madras in 1817 at a place called Black Town (Broadway), later known as George Town. Lynch conducted the first Methodist missionary service on 2 March 1817, in a stable.


title: Methodism

text: The first Methodist church was dedicated in 1819 at Royapettah. A chapel at Broadway (Black Town) was later built and dedicated on 25 April 1822. This church was rebuilt in 1844 since the earlier structure was collapsing. At this time there were about 100 Methodist members in all of Madras, and they were either Europeans or Eurasians (European and Indian descent). Among names associated with the founding period of Methodism in India are Elijah Hoole and Thomas Cryer, who came as missionaries to Madras.


title: Methodism

text: In 1857, the Methodist Episcopal Church started its work in India, and with prominent evangelists like William Taylor the Emmanuel Methodist Church, Vepery, was born in 1874. The evangelist James Mills Thoburn established the Thoburn Memorial Church in Calcutta in 1873 and the Calcutta Boys' School in 1877.


title: Methodism

text: In 1947, the Wesleyan Methodist Church in India merged with Presbyterians, Anglicans and other Protestant churches to form the Church of South India while the American Methodist Church remained affiliated as the Methodist Church in Southern Asia (MCSA) to the mother church in USA- the United Methodist Church until 1981, when by an enabling act the Methodist Church in India (MCI) became an autonomous church in India. Today, the Methodist Church in India is governed by the General Conference of the Methodist Church of India headed by six bishops, with headquarters at Methodist Centre, 21 YMCA Road, Mumbai, India.


title: Methodism

text: Missionaries from Britain, North America, and Australia founded Methodist churches in many Commonwealth countries. These are now independent and many of them are stronger than the former "mother" churches. In addition to the churches, these missionaries often also founded schools to serve the local community. A good example of such schools are the Methodist Boys' School in Kuala Lumpur, Methodist Girls' School and Methodist Boys' School in George Town, and Anglo-Chinese School, Methodist Girls' School, Paya Lebar Methodist Girls School and Fairfield Methodist Schools in Singapore.


title: Methodism

text: Methodism in the Philippines began shortly after the United States acquired the Philippines in 1898 as a result the Spanish–American War. On 21 June 1898, after the Battle of Manila Bay but before the Treaty of Paris, executives of the American Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church expressed their desire to join other Protestant denominations in starting mission work in the islands and to enter into a Comity Agreement that would facilitate the establishment of such missions. The first Protestant worship service was conducted on 28 August 1898 by an American military chaplain named George C. Stull. Stull was an ordained Methodist minister from the Montana Annual Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church (later part of the United Methodist Church after 1968).


title: Methodism

text: Methodist and Wesleyan traditions in the Philippines are shared by three of the largest mainline Protestant churches in the country: The United Methodist Church in the Philippines, "Iglesia Evangelica Metodista En Las Islas Filipinas" ("Evangelical Methodist Church in the Philippine Islands", abbreviated IEMELIF), and The United Church of Christ in the Philippines. There are also evangelical Protestant churches in the country of the Methodist tradition like the Wesleyan Church of the Philippines, the Free Methodist Church of the Philippines, and the Church of the Nazarene. There are also the IEMELIF Reform Movement (IRM), The Wesleyan (Pilgrim Holiness) Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Bible Methodist Church, Inc., the Pentecostal Free Methodist Church, Inc., the Fundamental Christian Methodist Church, The Reformed Methodist Church, Inc., The Methodist Church of the Living Bread, Inc., and the Wesley Evangelical Methodist Church & Mission, Inc.


title: Methodism

text: There are three episcopal areas of the United Methodist Church in the Philippines: the Baguio Episcopal Area, Davao Episcopal Area and Manila Episcopal Area.


title: Methodism

text: A call for autonomy from groups within the United Methodist Church in the Philippines was discussed at several conferences led mostly by episcopal candidates. This led to the establishment of the "Ang Iglesia Metodista sa Pilipinas" ("The Methodist Church in the Philippines") in 2010, led by Bishop Lito C. Tangonan, George Buenaventura, Chita Milan and Atty. Joe Frank E. Zuñiga. The group finally declared full autonomy and legal incorporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission was approved on 7 December 2011 with papers held by present procurators. It now has 126 local churches in Metro Manila, Palawan, Bataan, Zambales, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Aurora, Nueva Ecija, as well as parts of Pampanga and Cavite. Tangonan was consecrated as the denomination's first Presiding Bishop on 17 March 2012.


title: Methodism

text: The Korean Methodist Church (KMC) is one of the largest churches in South Korea with around 1.5 million members and 8,306 ministers. Methodism in Korea grew out of British and American mission work which began in the late 19th century. The first missionary sent out was Robert Samuel Maclay of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who sailed from Japan in 1884 and was given the authority of medical and schooling permission from emperor Gojong. The Korean church became fully autonomous in 1930, retaining affiliation with Methodist churches in America and later the United Methodist Church. The church experienced rapid growth in membership throughout most of the 20th century—in spite of the Korean War—before stabilizing in the 1990s. The KMC is a member of the World Methodist Council and hosted the first Asia Methodist Convention in 2001.


title: Methodism

text: There are many Korean-language Methodist churches in North America catering to Korean-speaking immigrants, not all of which are named as Methodist.


title: Methodism

text: In 1947, the Methodist Church in the Republic of China celebrated its centenary. In 1949, however, the Methodist Church moved to Taiwan with the Kuomintang government. On 21 June 1953, Taipei Methodist Church was erected, then local churches and chapels with a baptized membership numbering over 2,500. Various types of educational, medical and social services are provided (including Tunghai University). In 1972, the Methodist Church in the Republic of China became autonomous, and the first bishop was installed in 1986.


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Church in Brazil was founded by American missionaries in 1867 after an initial unsuccessful founding in 1835. It has grown steadily since, becoming autonomous in 1930. In the 1970s it ordained its first woman minister. In 1975 it also founded the first Methodist university in Latin America, the Methodist University of Piracicaba. , the Brazilian Methodist Church is divided into eight annual conferences with 162,000 members.


title: Methodism

text: The father of Methodism in Canada was William Black (1760–1834) who began preaching in settlements along the Petitcodiac River of New Brunswick in 1781. A few years afterwards, Methodist Episcopal circuit riders from the U.S. state of New York began to arrive in Canada West at Niagara, and the north shore of Lake Erie in 1786, and at the Kingston region on the northeast shore of Lake Ontario in the early 1790s. At the time the region was part of British North America and became part of Upper Canada after the Constitutional Act of 1791. Upper and Lower Canada were both parts of the New York Episcopal Methodist Conference until 1810 when they were transferred to the newly formed Genesee Conference. Reverend Major George Neal began to preach in Niagara in October 1786 and was ordained in 1810 by Bishop Philip Asbury, at the Lyons, New York Methodist Conference. He was Canada's first saddlebag preacher and travelled from Lake Ontario to Detroit for 50 years preaching the gospel.


title: Methodism

text: The spread of Methodism in the Canadas was seriously disrupted by the War of 1812 but quickly gained lost ground after the Treaty of Ghent was signed in 1815. In 1817, the British Wesleyans arrived in the Canadas from the Maritimes but by 1820 had agreed, with the Episcopal Methodists, to confine their work to Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) while the latter would confine themselves to Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). In the summer of 1818, the first place of public worship was erected for the Wesleyan Methodists in York, later Toronto. The chapel for the First Methodist Church was built on the corner of King Street and Jordan Street, the entire cost of the building was $250, an amount that took the congregation three years to raise. In 1828, Upper Canadian Methodists were permitted by the General Conference in the United States to form an independent Canadian Conference and, in 1833, the Canadian Conference merged with the British Wesleyans to form the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. In 1884, most Canadian Methodists were brought under the umbrella of the Methodist Church, Canada.


title: Methodism

text: During the 19th century, Methodism played a large role in the culture and political affairs of Toronto. The city became known for being very puritanical with strict limits on the sale of alcohol and a rigorous enforcement of the Lord's Day Act.


title: Methodism

text: In 1925, the Methodist Church, Canada and most Presbyterian congregations (then by far the largest Protestant communion in Canada), most Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec congregations, Union Churches in Western Canada, and the American Presbyterian Church in Montreal merged to form the United Church of Canada. In 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren Church's Canadian congregations joined after their American counterparts joined the United Methodist Church.


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Church came to Mexico in 1872, with the arrival of two Methodist commissioners from the United States to observe the possibilities of evangelistic work in México. In December 1872, Bishop Gilbert Haven arrived to Mexico City, and he was ordered by M. D. William Butler to go to México. Bishop John C. Keener arrived from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in January 1873.


title: Methodism

text: In 1874, M. D. William Butler established the first Protestant Methodist school of México, in Puebla. The school was founded under the name "Instituto Metodista Mexicano". Today the school is called "Instituto Mexicano Madero". It is still a Methodist school, and it is one of the most elite, selective, expensive and prestigious private schools in the country, with two campuses in Puebla State, and one in Oaxaca. A few years later the principal of the school created a Methodist university.


title: Methodism

text: On 18 January 1885, the first Annual Conference of the United Episcopal Church of México was established.


title: Methodism

text: Wesley came to believe that the New Testament evidence did not leave the power of ordination to the priesthood in the hands of bishops but that other priests could ordain. In 1784, he ordained preachers for Scotland, England, and America, with power to administer the sacraments (this was a major reason for Methodism's final split from the Church of England after Wesley's death). At that time, Wesley sent Thomas Coke to America. Francis Asbury founded the Methodist Episcopal Church at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784; Coke (already ordained in the Church of England) ordained Asbury deacon, elder, and bishop each on three successive days. Circuit riders, many of whom were laymen, travelled by horseback to preach the gospel and establish churches in many places. One of the most famous circuit riders was Robert Strawbridge who lived in the vicinity of Carroll County, Maryland, soon after arriving in the Colonies around 1760.


title: Methodism

text: The First Great Awakening was a religious movement in the 1730s and 1740s, beginning in New Jersey, then spreading to New England, and eventually south into Virginia and North Carolina. George Whitefield played a major role, traveling across the colonies and preaching in a dramatic and emotional style, accepting everyone as his audience.


title: Methodism

text: The new style of sermons and the way people practiced their faith breathed new life into religion in America. People became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner. People began to study the Bible at home. The effect was akin to the individualistic trends present in Europe during the Protestant Reformation.


title: Methodism

text: The Second Great Awakening was a nationwide wave of revivals, from 1790 to 1840. In New England, the renewed interest in religion inspired a wave of social activism among Yankees; Methodism grew and established several colleges, notably Boston University. In the "burned over district" of western New York, the spirit of revival burned brightly. Methodism saw the emergence of a Holiness movement. In the west, especially at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, and in Tennessee, the revival strengthened the Methodists and the Baptists. Methodism grew rapidly in the Second Great Awakening, becoming the nation's largest denomination by 1820. From 58,000 members in 1790, it reached 258,000 in 1820 and 1,661,000 in 1860, growing by a factor of 28.6 in 70 years, while the total American population grew by a factor of eight. Other denominations also used revivals, but the Methodists grew fastest of all because "they combined popular appeal with efficient organization under the command of missionary bishops." Methodism attracted German immigrants, and the first German Methodist Church was erected in Cincinnati, Ohio.


title: Methodism

text: Disputes over slavery placed the church in difficulty in the first half of the 19th century, with the northern church leaders fearful of a split with the South, and reluctant to take a stand. The Wesleyan Methodist Connexion (later renamed the Wesleyan Methodist Church) and the Free Methodist Churches were formed by staunch abolitionists, and the Free Methodists were especially active in the Underground Railroad, which helped to free the slaves. In 1962, the Evangelical Wesleyan Church separated from the Free Methodist Church. In 1968 the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Pilgrim Holiness Church merged to form the Wesleyan Church; a significant amount dissented from this decision resulting in the independence of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and the formation of the Bible Methodist Connection of Churches, both of which fall within the conservative holiness movement.


title: Methodism

text: In a much larger split, in 1845 at Louisville, the churches of the slaveholding states left the Methodist Episcopal Church and formed The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The northern and southern branches were reunited in 1939, when slavery was no longer an issue. In this merger also joined the Methodist Protestant Church. Some southerners, conservative in theology, opposed the merger, and formed the Southern Methodist Church in 1940.


title: Methodism

text: The Third Great Awakening from 1858 to 1908 saw enormous growth in Methodist membership, and a proliferation of institutions such as colleges (e.g., Morningside College). Methodists were often involved in the "Missionary Awakening" and the Social Gospel Movement. The awakening in so many cities in 1858 started the movement, but in the North it was interrupted by the Civil War. In the South, on the other hand, the Civil War stimulated revivals, especially in Lee's army.


title: Methodism

text: In 1914–1917 many Methodist ministers made strong pleas for world peace. President Woodrow Wilson (a Presbyterian), promised "a war to end all wars," using language of a future peace that had been a watchword for the postmillennial movement. In the 1930s many Methodists favored isolationist policies. Thus in 1936, Methodist Bishop James Baker, of the San Francisco Conference, released a poll of ministers showing 56% opposed warfare. However, the Methodist Federation did call for a boycott of Japan, which had invaded China and was disrupting missionary activity there. In Chicago, 62 local African Methodist Episcopal churches voted their support for the Roosevelt administration's policy, while opposing any plan to send American troops overseas to fight. When war came in 1941, the vast majority of Methodists strongly supported the national war effort, but there were also a few (673) conscientious objectors.


title: Methodism

text: The United Methodist Church (UMC) was formed in 1968 as a result of a merger between the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) and The Methodist Church. The former church had resulted from mergers of several groups of German Methodist heritage; however, there was no longer any need or desire to worship in the German language. The latter church was a result of union between the Methodist Protestant Church and the northern and southern factions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The merged church had approximately nine million members as of the late 1990s. While United Methodist Church in America membership has been declining, associated groups in developing countries are growing rapidly. Prior to the merge that led to the formation of the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Methodist Church entered into a schism with the Methodist Church, citing modernism in its parent body as the reason for the departure in 1946.


title: Methodism

text: American Methodist churches are generally organized on a "connectional" model, related, but not identical to that used in Britain. Pastors are assigned to congregations by bishops, distinguishing it from presbyterian government. Methodist denominations typically give lay members representation at regional and national Conferences at which the business of the church is conducted, making it different from most episcopal government. This connectional organizational model differs further from the congregational model, for example of Baptist, and Congregationalist Churches, among others.


title: Methodism

text: In addition to the United Methodist Church, there are over 40 other denominations that descend from John Wesley's Methodist movement. Some, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Free Methodists and the Wesleyan Church (formerly Wesleyan Methodist), are explicitly Methodist. There are also independent Methodist churches, many of which are affiliated with the Association of Independent Methodists. Others do not call themselves Methodist, but grew out of the Methodist movement: for example, The Salvation Army and the Church of the Nazarene. Some of the charismatic or Pentecostal churches such as the Pentecostal Holiness Church and the Assemblies of God USA also have roots in or draw from Wesleyan thought.


title: Methodism

text: The Holiness Revival was primarily among people of Methodist persuasion, who felt that the church had once again become apathetic, losing the Wesleyan zeal. Some important events of this revival were the writings of Phoebe Palmer during the mid-1800s, the establishment of the first of many holiness camp meetings at Vineland, New Jersey in 1867, and the founding of Asbury College, (1890), and other similar institutions in the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century.


title: Methodism

text: In 2020, United Methodists announced a plan to split the denomination over the issue of same-sex marriage. The Global Methodist Church, a conservative denomination that opposes same-sex marriage, was launched on May 1, 2022.


title: Methodism

text: In 2022, Texas megachurch White’s Chapel United Methodist Church, voted to disaffiliate with the United Methodist Church. As a result, White’s Chapel hopes to create what they call a Methodist Collegiate College, which has a vision to create a new form of connectionalism which is on the standard of "one of shared ministry, equal accountability, and practical governance.”


title: Methodism

text: In the 19th century there were annual conferences in each Australasian colony (including New Zealand). Various branches of Methodism in Australia merged during the 20 years from 1881. The Methodist Church of Australasia was formed on 1 January 1902 when five Methodist denominations in Australia – the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christian Church, the United Methodist Free and the Methodist New Connexion Churches came together. In polity it largely followed the Wesleyan Methodist Church.


title: Methodism

text: In 1945 Kingsley Ridgway offered himself as a Melbourne-based "field representative" for a possible Australian branch of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America, after meeting an American serviceman who was a member of that denomination. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia was founded on his work.


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Church of Australasia merged with the majority of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Congregational Union of Australia in 1977, becoming the Uniting Church. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia and some independent congregations chose not to join the union.


title: Methodism

text: Wesley Mission in Pitt Street, Sydney, the largest parish in the Uniting Church, remains strongly in the Wesleyan tradition. There are many local churches named after John Wesley.


title: Methodism

text: From the mid-1980s a number of independent Methodist churches were founded by missionaries and other members from the Methodist Churches of Malaysia and Singapore. Some of these came together to form what is now known as the Chinese Methodist Church in Australia in 1993, and it held its first full Annual Conference in 2002. Since the 2000s many independent Methodist churches have also been established or grown by Tongan immigrants.


title: Methodism

text: As a result of the early efforts of missionaries, most of the natives of the Fiji Islands were converted to Methodism in the 1840s and 1850s. According to the 2007 census, 34.6% of the population (including almost two-thirds of ethnic Fijians), are adherents of Methodism, making Fiji one of the most Methodist nations. The Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma, the largest religious denomination, is an important social force along with the traditional chiefly system. In the past, the church once called for a theocracy and fueled anti-Hindu sentiment.


title: Methodism

text: In June 1823 Wesleydale, the first Wesleyan Methodist mission in New Zealand, was established at Kaeo. The Methodist Church of New Zealand, which is directly descended from the 19th-century missionaries, was the fourth-most common Christian denomination recorded in the 2018 New Zealand census.


title: Methodism

text: Since the early 1990s, missionaries and other Methodists from Malaysia and Singapore established Methodist churches around major urban areas in New Zealand. These congregations came together to form the Chinese Methodist Church in New Zealand (CMCNZ) in 2003.


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Church is the third largest denomination throughout the Samoan Islands, in both Samoa and American Samoa. In 1868, Piula Theological College was established in Lufilufi on the north coast of Upolu island in Samoa and serves as the main headquarters of the Methodist church in the country. The college includes the historic Piula Monastery as well as Piula Cave Pool, a natural spring situated beneath the church by the sea.


title: Methodism

text: Methodism had a particular resonance with the inhabitants of Tonga. In the 1830s Wesleyan missionaries converted paramount chief Taufa'ahau Tupou who in turn converted fellow islanders. Today, Methodism is represented on the islands by the Free Church of Tonga and the Free Wesleyan Church, which is the largest church in Tonga. 48% of Tongans adhered to Methodist churches. The royal family of the country are prominent members of the Free Wesleyan Church, and the late king was a lay preacher. Tongan Methodist minister Sione 'Amanaki Havea developed coconut theology, which tailors theology to a Pacific Islands context.


title: Methodism

text: Many Methodists have been involved in the ecumenical movement, which has sought to unite the fractured denominations of Christianity. Because Methodism grew out of the Church of England, a denomination from which neither of the Wesley brothers seceded, some Methodist scholars and historians, such as Rupert E. Davies, have regarded their 'movement' more as a preaching order within wider Christian life than as a church, comparing them with the Franciscans, who formed a religious order within the medieval European church and not a separate denomination. Certainly, Methodists have been deeply involved in early examples of church union, especially the United Church of Canada and the Church of South India.


title: Methodism

text: Also, a disproportionate number of Methodists take part in inter-faith dialogue. For example, Wesley Ariarajah, a long-serving director of the World Council of Churches' sub-unit on "Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies" is a Methodist.


title: Methodism

text: In October 1999, an executive committee of the World Methodist Council resolved to explore the possibility of its member churches becoming associated with the doctrinal agreement which had been reached by the Catholic Church and Lutheran World Federation (LWF). In May 2006, the International Methodist–Catholic Dialogue Commission completed its most recent report, entitled "The Grace Given You in Christ: Catholics and Methodists Reflect Further on the Church," and submitted the text to Methodist and Catholic authorities. In July of the same year, in Seoul, South Korea, the Member Churches of the World Methodist Council (WMC) voted to approve and sign a "Methodist Statement of Association" with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, the agreement which was reached and officially accepted in 1999 by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation and which proclaimed that:


title: Methodism

text: "Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works... as sinners our new life is solely due to the forgiving and renewing mercy that God imparts as a gift and that we receive in faith, and never can merit in any way," affirming "fundamental doctrinal agreement" concerning justification between the Catholic Church, the LWF, and the World Methodist Council.


title: Methodism

text: This is not to say there is perfect agreement between the three denominational traditions; while Catholics and Methodists believe that salvation involves cooperation between God and man, Lutherans believe that God brings about the salvation of individuals without any cooperation on their part.


title: Methodism

text: Commenting on the ongoing dialogues with Catholic Church leaders, Ken Howcroft, Methodist minister and the Ecumenical Officer for the Methodist Church of Great Britain, noted that "these conversations have been immensely fruitful." Methodists are increasingly recognizing that the 15 centuries prior to the Reformation constitute a shared history with Catholics, and are gaining new appreciation for neglected aspects of the Catholic tradition. There are, however, important unresolved doctrinal differences separating Roman Catholicism and Methodism, which include "the nature and validity of the ministry of those who preside at the Eucharist [Holy Communion], the precise meaning of the Eucharist as the sacramental 'memorial' of Christ's saving death and resurrection, the particular way in which Christ is present in Holy Communion, and the link between eucharistic communion and ecclesial communion.


title: Methodism

text: In the 1960s, the Methodist Church of Great Britain made ecumenical overtures to the Church of England, aimed at denominational union. Formally, these failed when they were rejected by the Church of England's General Synod in 1972; conversations and co-operation continued, however, leading in 2003 to the signing of a covenant between the two churches. From the 1970s onward, the Methodist Church also started several Local Ecumenical Projects (LEPs, later renamed Local Ecumenical Partnerships) with local neighbouring denominations, which involved sharing churches, schools and in some cases ministers. In many towns and villages Methodists are involved in LEPs which are sometimes with Anglican or Baptist churches, but most commonly Methodist and United Reformed Church. In terms of belief, practice and churchmanship, many Methodists see themselves as closer to the United Reformed Church (another Nonconformist church) than to the Church of England. In the 1990s and early 21st century, the British Methodist Church was involved in the Scottish Church Initiative for Union, seeking greater unity with the established and Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the United Reformed Church in Scotland.


title: Methodism

text: The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a member of several ecumenical organisations, including the World Council of Churches, the Conference of European Churches, the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, Churches Together in England, Action of Churches Together in Scotland and Cytûn (Wales).


title: Methodism

text: Methodist denominations in the United States have also strengthened ties with other Christian traditions. In April 2005, bishops in the United Methodist Church approved "A Proposal for Interim Eucharistic Sharing." This document was the first step toward full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA approved this same document in August 2005. At the 2008 General Conference, the United Methodist Church approved full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The UMC is also in dialogue with the Episcopal Church for full communion. The two denominations are working on a document called "Confessing Our Faith Together".


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". Aragorn was a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of Arnor and Gondor. Aragorn was a confidant of the wizard Gandalf, and played a part in the quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. As a young man, Aragorn fell in love with the immortal elf Arwen, as told in The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen. Arwen's father, Elrond Half-elven, forbade them to marry unless Aragorn became King of both Arnor and Gondor.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn led the Fellowship of the Ring following the loss of Gandalf in the Mines of Moria. When the Fellowship was broken, he tracked the hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took with the help of Legolas the elf and Gimli the dwarf to Fangorn Forest. He then fought in the battle at Helm's Deep and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. After defeating Sauron's forces in Gondor, he led an army of Gondor and Rohan against the Black Gate of Mordor, distracting Sauron's attention and enabling Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee to destroy the One Ring. Aragorn was acclaimed as King by the people of Gondor, and crowned King of both Gondor and Arnor. He then married Arwen and ruled for 122 years.


title: Aragorn

text: Tolkien developed the character of Aragorn over a long period, beginning with a hobbit nicknamed Trotter and trying out many names before arriving at a Man named Aragorn. Commentators have proposed historical figures such as King Oswald of Northumbria and King Alfred the Great as sources of inspiration for Aragorn, noting parallels such as spending time in exile and raising armies to retake their kingdoms. Aragorn has been compared to the figure of Christ as King, complete with the use of prophecy paralleling the Old Testament's foretelling of the Messiah. Others have evaluated his literary status using Northrop Frye's classification, suggesting that while the hobbits are in "Low Mimetic" mode and characters such as Éomer are in "High Mimetic" mode, Aragorn reaches the level of "Romantic" hero as he is superior in ability and lifespan to those around him.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn has appeared in mainstream films by Ralph Bakshi, Rankin/Bass, and the film trilogy by Peter Jackson, and in the fan film "The Hunt for Gollum". He has featured, too, in the BBC radio dramatisation of "The Lord of the Rings".


title: Aragorn

text: Sauron, the Dark Lord, had made the One Ring, a Ring of Power, to enable him to take control of the whole of Middle-earth. Isildur and his brother Anarion--together with their father Elendil, High King of Gondor and Arnor--joined the Last Alliance of Elves (under Gil-galad) and Men against Sauron. The Alliance defeated Sauron at the Battle of Dagorlad, and laid siege to Sauron's Dark Tower, Barad-dûr, in Mordor. After seven years, Sauron came out to challenge the Alliance. During the final battle on the slopes of Mount Doom, Elendil and Gil-galad were both killed. Isildur took up the hilt-shard of Narsil, Elendil's sword, and cut the One Ring from the hand of Sauron. Despite the urging of Elrond Half-elven and Círdan, Gil-galad's lieutenants, Isildur did not destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom; rather, he kept the Ring for himself. The Second Age ended, and Isildur became King of both Arnor in the North and Gondor in the South. Isildur was killed by orcs soon afterwards at the Gladden Fields beside the River Anduin, and the Ring was seemingly lost forever.


title: Aragorn

text: Following the defeat of Sauron and the deaths of Elendil, Anarion, and Isildur, Anarion's son, Meneldil, became king of Gondor and Isildur's son, Valandil, became king of Arnor. Many years later, the kingdom of Arnor was lost in battle with the evil land of Angmar, and Arvedui, the king of Arnor, died in a shipwreck. After that, the line of the kings of Arnor was maintained by the Chieftains of the Dúnedain, who were raised in Rivendell. The kingdom of Gondor continued, but years later, after the childless King Earnur was lost, Gondor was ruled by stewards. Eventually, Sauron returned to the land of Mordor and openly declared himself.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn was the son of Arathorn II and his wife Gilraen. Gilraen's mother, Ivorwen, prophesied that if Arathorn II and Gilraen "wed now, hope may be born for our people; but if they delay, it will not come while this age lasts". Aragorn was the heir to the throne of Gondor and of the lost realm of Arnor. When he was two years old, his father was killed while pursuing orcs. Aragorn was fostered in Rivendell by Elrond, who was still living in Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. At the bidding of Elrond, his lineage was kept secret, as Elrond feared he would be killed like his father and grandfather if his true identity as Isildur's heir became known. Aragorn was renamed "Estel" ("hope" in Sindarin) to hide his existence from Sauron and his servants. During his childhood, he was not told about his heritage.


title: Aragorn

text: At the age of 20, after Aragorn had done great deeds in the company of Elrond's sons, Elrond told him of his ancestry and his true name, and gave him the shards of Elendil's sword, Narsil, and another ancient heirloom, the Ring of Barahir. He withheld the Sceptre of Annúminas from him until he had earned the right to possess it. The following day, Aragorn met and fell in love with Elrond's daughter, the beautiful elf-maiden Arwen, who had recently returned to Rivendell from her grandparents' home in Lothlorien. Thereafter, Aragorn assumed his role as the sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain, also known as the Rangers of the North. He went into the wild and lived with the remnants of his people, whose kingdom (Arnor) had been destroyed centuries before. The Rangers helped to guard the Shire, a land inhabited by the diminutive hobbits. He became known as "Strider" in the areas around the Shire and Bree. Aragorn also met and befriended Gandalf the wizard.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn undertook great journeys, serving in the armies of King Thengel of Rohan and of Ecthelion II, the Steward of Gondor. During this period, Aragorn concealed his true name and identity and was known by various aliases. His tasks helped to raise morale in the West and to counter the growing threat of Sauron and his allies, and he acquired experience that he would later put to use in the War of the Ring. With a small squadron of ships from Gondor, he led an assault on Umbar, burning many of the Corsairs' ships and personally killing their lord during the Battle of the Havens. After the victory at Umbar, he ventured alone to the east and south of Middle-earth and continued to work against Sauron.


title: Aragorn

text: At the age of 49, Aragorn visited Lothlórien, and there again met Arwen. He gave her the Ring of Barahir. On the hill of Cerin Amroth, Arwen pledged her hand to him in marriage, renouncing her Elvish lineage and accepting mortality (the "Gift of Men"). Elrond withheld from Aragorn permission to marry his daughter until he had become the king of both Gondor and Arnor. Arwen's choice to embrace mortality would eventually require her to be separated from her immortal father Elrond. Elrond feared that in the end, Arwen might find the prospect of death too difficult to bear.


title: Aragorn

text: Years later, Gandalf grew suspicious of a magic ring belonging to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, which he later found to be Sauron's One Ring. Gandalf asked Aragorn to find Gollum, a creature who had previously possessed the Ring. This hunt led Aragorn across Rhovanion, and he finally captured Gollum in the Dead Marshes northwest of Mordor. Aragorn brought Gollum to King Thranduil's halls in Mirkwood, where Gandalf questioned him.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn met Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's adopted heir, and three of Frodo's friends at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree. The four hobbits had set out from the Shire to bring the One Ring to Rivendell. Frodo and his friends were hoping to meet Gandalf at the Prancing Pony, but he was not there. A letter from Gandalf helped convince Frodo to trust Aragorn. Aragorn was then 87 years old, nearing the prime of life for a Númenórean. With Aragorn's help, the hobbits reached Rivendell despite being pursued by the Nazgûl, servants of Sauron.


title: Aragorn

text: At Rivendell, Aragorn was chosen as a member of the Fellowship of the Ring to accompany Frodo in his quest to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom in the land of Mordor. Elven-smiths reforged the shards of Narsil into a new sword, setting into the design of the blade seven stars (for Elendil) and a crescent moon (for Isildur), as well as many runes. Aragorn renamed the sword Andúril, "Flame of the West".


title: Aragorn

text: The Fellowship attempted to cross the Misty Mountains via the pass of Caradhras. Their attempt failed due to bad weather. Instead, the Fellowship travelled through the mines of Moria. When Gandalf was killed fighting a Balrog, Aragorn led the company to Lothlórien and down the River Anduin to the Falls of Rauros. He planned to go to Gondor to aid its people in the war against Sauron. The Fellowship was then broken: Frodo continued his journey to Mordor and was accompanied only by his gardener and friend, Samwise Gamgee. Two other hobbit members of the Fellowship, Merry and Pippin, were captured by orcs. Aragorn and two others set off to track the orcs, hoping to rescue Merry and Pippin. They learned that the orcs who kidnapped Merry and Pippin had been killed, and that no hobbits had been found among the remains. Nevertheless, clues led Aragorn to believe that the hobbits were still alive, prompting him to take the party into Fangorn Forest. They did not find the hobbits, but met Gandalf, sent back from death to continue his duties in Middle-earth. Gandalf told them that the hobbits were in the care of the Ents of Fangorn.


title: Aragorn

text: Together, Gandalf and the Three Hunters travelled to Edoras in Rohan, where Gandalf freed King Théoden from the enchantment of the treacherous wizard Saruman and helped him prepare the Rohirrim to fight against Saruman. Aragorn fought with the men of Rohan at the Battle of Helm's Deep, in which Saruman's army of orcs was destroyed. Aragorn used a "palantír"--a seeing stone--to reveal himself to Sauron as the heir of Isildur. He did this to distract Sauron's attention from Frodo, who was approaching Mordor, and to draw Sauron's forces out of Mordor. Aragorn's action caused Sauron to launch his assault on the city of Minas Tirith prematurely. To reach the city in time to defend it, Aragorn took the Paths of the Dead, summoning the Dead Men of Dunharrow. The Dead Men owed allegiance to Aragorn as the heir of Isildur; it had been prophesied by Isildur and Malbeth the Seer that the Dead would one day be summoned to pay their debt for betraying Gondor. With their aid, Aragorn defeated the Corsairs of Umbar at the port of Pelargir; Aragorn then released the Dead Men and used the Corsairs' ships to sail up the Anduin to Minas Tirith with his Rangers and a large contingent of men from the southern regions of Gondor. As they approached Minas Tirith, Aragorn unfurled the royal standard that Arwen had made for him, showing both the White Tree of Gondor and the jewelled crown and seven stars of the House of Elendil. With the help of the southern forces, the armies of Gondor and Rohan rallied and defeated Sauron's army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn's daring and success had brought him closer to his own kingship, which was his by right as a direct descendant of Isildur but had been left unclaimed for centuries by Aragorn's ancestors. Gondor had been under the rule of the Stewards of Gondor for centuries, and it was widely doubted that any of the royal line still lived. The Steward Denethor, who years before had seen Aragorn (then known as Thorongil) as a rival for his father's favour, declared that he would not bow to a descendant of Isildur. Believing that it was futile to battle Sauron, Denethor had himself burned on a funeral pyre. Aragorn healed Faramir, Denethor's heir, who had been wounded in battle and was expected to die, using the herb athelas. Faramir, unlike his father, recognized Aragorn as his lord and the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor. Aragorn's humility and self-sacrifice gained him the hearts of the inhabitants of Gondor's capital city. His healing abilities were noted by the people of Gondor; as the wise-woman and healer Ioreth said, "The hands of the King are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known". The people hailed Aragorn as King that same evening.


title: Aragorn

text: Despite his immediate success and popularity, Aragorn decided to lay aside his claim to the throne for the time being. To avoid conflict, he left Minas Tirith and refused to enter it again until he was crowned King. To give Frodo the best chance of fulfilling his quest, Aragorn led an army to make a diversionary feint on the Black Gate of Mordor in the Battle of the Morannon. The army had no realistic chance of victory; the purpose of the battle was to draw Sauron's armies out of Mordor, thus aiding Frodo and Samwise as they sought to secretly journey through Mordor to destroy the Ring. Sauron attacked with overwhelming force. During the battle, the Ring was destroyed, and Sauron and his forces were utterly vanquished.


title: Aragorn

text: Upon Sauron's defeat, Aragorn was crowned as King Elessar ("Elfstone", a Quenya name given to him by Arwen's grandmother, Galadriel), and he married Arwen at midsummer. He became the twenty-sixth King of Arnor, the thirty-fifth King of Gondor, and the first High King of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor. His line was called the House of Telcontar (Quenya for "Strider": his name in Bree). Aragorn ruled the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor until year 120 of the Fourth Age. His reign was marked by great harmony and prosperity within Gondor and Arnor and by a renewal of communication and cooperation between Men, Elves, and Dwarves, fostered by his vigorous rebuilding campaign following the war. Aragorn led the forces of the Reunited Kingdom on military campaigns against some Easterlings and Haradrim, re-establishing rule over much territory that Gondor had lost in previous centuries. He died at the age of 210, after 122 years as king. The graves of the hobbits Merry and Pippin (who had died in Gondor 58 years earlier) were set beside his. He was succeeded on the throne by his son, Eldarion. Arwen, heartbroken by the loss of her husband, died shortly afterwards in Lothlórien.


title: Aragorn

text: The "first germ" of the character that later evolved into Aragorn or Strider was a peculiar hobbit met by Bingo Bolger-Baggins (precursor of Frodo Baggins) at the inn of "The Prancing Pony". His description and behaviour, however, was already quite close to the final story, with the difference that the hobbit wore wooden shoes, and was nicknamed Trotter for the "clitter-clap" sound that they produced. He was accounted to be "one of the wild folk – rangers", and he played the same role in Frodo's journey to Rivendell as in "The Lord of the Rings".


title: Aragorn

text: Later Tolkien hesitated about the true identity of "Trotter" for a long time. One of his notes suggested that the Rangers should not be hobbits as originally planned, and that this would mean that Trotter was either a man, or a hobbit who associated himself with the Rangers and was "very well known" (within the story). The latter suggestion was linked to an early comment of Bingo: "I keep on feeling that I have seen him somewhere before". Tolkien considered that Trotter might be Bilbo Baggins himself, but soon rejected that idea after Aragorn identified himself.


title: Aragorn

text: Another suggestion was that Trotter was Fosco Took (Bilbo's first cousin), who "vanished when a lad, owing to Gandalf". This story was further elaborated, making Trotter a nephew of Bilbo, named Peregrin Boffin, and an elder cousin of Frodo. He was said to have run away after he came of age, some 20 years before Bilbo left the Shire, and had helped Gandalf in tracking Gollum later. A hint was also given as to why Trotter wore wooden shoes: he had been captured by the Dark Lord in Mordor and tortured, but saved by Gandalf; a note was added by Tolkien in the margin, saying that it would later be revealed that Trotter had wooden feet.


title: Aragorn

text: The conception of Trotter as a hobbit was eventually discarded. Another short-lived idea was to make Trotter "a disguised elf-friend of Bilbo's in Rivendell," and a scout from Rivendell who "pretends to be a ranger". It was not until after Book I was written that Tolkien finally settled on making Trotter a man, introducing him from the beginning as "Aragorn", a "descendant of the ancient men of the North, and one of Elrond's household".


title: Aragorn

text: The development of Aragorn's connection to Gondor was long and complex, as was his association with Boromir. Initially, it is said that Aragorn's forefathers were the exiles of Númenor who ruled over the people of "Ond" (the early name of Gondor) but were driven out by the Witch-king of Angmar "when Sauron raised a rebellion". The story of the two branches of Elendil's descendants ruling over two kingdoms of Men through many generations only emerged gradually; at one time, Tolkien even seems to have conceived only three generations between Isildur and Aragorn.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn's relationship with Arwen was established very late in the writing. When Tolkien first introduced Éowyn, the interest she showed towards Aragorn was not one-sided, with suggestions in notes that they would marry at the end of the story. Another proposal was that Éowyn would die to save or avenge Théoden, and Aragorn would never marry after her death.


title: Aragorn

text: The first mention of Elrond's daughter, named "Finduilas", was made in reference to the banner she made for Aragorn, but Tolkien did not give any hint whether she had any further part to play. The references to her marriage with Aragorn came later, but it was explicitly stated only near the completion of the book. Only in his work on the appendices for "The Lord of the Rings" did Tolkien record the full Tale of Aragorn and Arwen.


title: Aragorn

text: A passing idea was that Galadriel gave her Ring to Aragorn, and that he would accordingly be titled the "Lord of the Ring".


title: Aragorn

text: The original nickname "Trotter" was retained for a long time, and Tolkien decided to change it to "Strider" only after the story was completed. There were also several experimental translations of "Trotter" to Sindarin: "Padathir", "Du-finnion", and "Rimbedir", with "Ethelion" possibly an equivalent of "Peregrin" (Boffin). Before the later title "the Dúnadan" ("Man of the West") emerged, "Tarkil" (Quenya for "noble Man") was used, as another synonym for "Númenórean".


title: Aragorn

text: Tolkien hesitated for some time over Strider's "real" name. Although "Aragorn" was the first suggestion when his Mannish descent was determined, the name was changed a number of times. At one point Tolkien decided that an Elvish name did not suit a Man, and thus altered it from "Aragorn" via "Elfstone" to "Ingold", an Old English name with "ing-" representing "West". Later he introduced a new plot element: Galadriel's gift of a green stone, and Tolkien reverted to "Elfstone" to make an additional connection.


title: Aragorn

text: Among other names, Tolkien considered "Elfstan", "Elfmere", "Elf-friend", "Elfspear", "Elfwold" and "Erkenbrand", with Elvish forms: "Eldamir", "Eldavel", "Eledon", "Qendemir". The name of Aragorn's father also passed through many transient forms: Tolkien paired "Aramir" or "Celegorn" with "Aragorn" before settling upon "Arathorn"; among the various pairings were "Elfhelm" and "Eldakar" with "Elfstone" and "Eldamir"; and "Ingrim" with "Ingold".


title: Aragorn

text: The Catholic author Joseph Pearce and others have conjectured, without direct evidence, that Aragorn's name is derived from the Kingdom of Aragon, and leaders such as Catherine of Aragon whose heritage is linked to the crown of Castile and crown of Aragon.


title: Aragorn

text: The archaeologist Max Adams suggests that Tolkien may have based Aragorn on Oswald, a prince of the Northumbrian royal house exiled to the Kingdom of Dál Riata after Cadwallon King of Gwynedd and Penda King of Mercia laid waste to his ancestral homelands. Oswald returned years later with a raised army of Anglian exiles and retook his kingdom, slaying Cadwallon in the process.


title: Aragorn

text: The French medievalist Alban Gautier, and separately the historian Christopher Snyder, suggest a connection with a different Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred of Wessex, described by Snyder as "an unexpected monarch (he had four elder brothers) and inspirational leader who united disparate peoples". The Dutch medievalist Thijs Porck writes that Alfred, like Aragorn, spent time in exile. Danes attacked him in Chippenham, and he took refuge in the wilds before gathering an army at Egbert's Stone and defeating the Danes at the Battle of Edington. Alfred's history parallels Aragorn's gathering of the Dead, the Oathbreakers, at the Stone of Erech.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn has been called a Christ-as-King character; Tolkien's use of prophecy has been compared to the Old Testament's foretelling of the coming of the Messiah. It has been suggested that some of the Christian themes extrapolated from Tolkien's work were not intentional, but resulted from the interplay between the background he grew up in and the myths that inspired him. However, aspects of Aragorn's character - his ability to heal, his sacrificial journey, and his experiences with death and the dead - have long been seen as clues to overt Messianic overtones.


title: Aragorn

text: Karen Nikakis writes that Aragorn fits a "sacrificial king" archetype, noting the multiple sacrifices that Aragorn makes for the benefit of those around him and for his future people. Those sacrifices include waiting to claim his throne and to marry Arwen until the One Ring had been destroyed.


title: Aragorn

text: The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey evaluates the literary status of Aragorn and "The Lord of the Rings" using Northrop Frye's "Anatomy of Criticism". He writes that figures like Éomer of Rohan and Faramir of Gondor are, in Frye's terms, "superior in degree to other men but not to their natural environment", which places them in Frye's "High Mimetic" literary mode. The hobbits are often in "Low Mimetic" mode, or even (like Bilbo) "Ironic". Aragorn, Shippey states, while not being a "Mythic" figure, is superior to his environment; Shippey points out that he can run 135 miles in three days and lives "in full vigour" for over 200 years. This places him in Frye's "Romantic" mode. Tolkien does come close to myth, Shippey suggests, when Gandalf confronts the leader of the Nazgûl at the gate of Minas Tirith and a cock crows "as if" signalling the arrival of the Rohan cavalry, just as a crowing cock signalled the Resurrection to Simon Peter in the Bible.


title: Aragorn

text: The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger contrasts the warrior-hero Aragorn with the suffering hero Frodo Baggins. Aragorn is, like Beowulf, an epic/romance hero, a bold leader and a healer-king. Frodo is "the little man of fairy tale", the little brother who unexpectedly turns out to be brave. But the fairy tale happy ending comes to Aragorn, marrying the beautiful princess (Arwen) and winning the kingdom (Gondor and Arnor); while Frodo, who returns home miserable, with neither Ring nor appreciation by the people of the Shire, gets "defeat and disillusionment—the stark, bitter ending typical of the "Iliad", "Beowulf", the "Morte D'Arthur"". In other words, the two types of hero are not only contrasted, but combined, halves of their legends swapped over. Flieger comments that the two together mark the end of the old, with Frodo's bitter end and the disappearance of the Ring, the Elves, and much else that was beautiful; and the start of the new, with Aragorn's rise to the throne of Gondor and Arnor, and a world of Men.


title: Aragorn

text: Aragorn was voiced by John Hurt in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film version of "The Lord of the Rings", and by Theodore Bikel in the 1980 Rankin/Bass animated version of "The Return of the King", made for television. Kari Väänänen portrayed him in the 1993 Finnish television miniseries "Hobitit".


title: Aragorn

text: In Peter Jackson's the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, Aragorn was played by the Danish-American actor Viggo Mortensen. He received acclaim for the portrayal, and Aragorn was ranked No. 15 in "Empire"s 2015 survey of greatest film characters.


title: Aragorn

text: In the 2009 fan film "The Hunt for Gollum", Aragorn is portrayed by Adrian Webster. The film is set during the time of "The Fellowship of the Ring". It takes place after Gandalf has discovered the true nature of Bilbo's ring and just before Frodo leaves the Shire for Rivendell. Another fan film, Kate Madison's 2009 "Born of Hope", imagines a time in the life of Aragorn's parents from shortly before they are married to his father's early death.


title: Aragorn

text: The film scholar Maria Alberto writes that such fan films reveal one way that readers engage with Tolkien's writings. In her view, "Born of Hope", six years in the making, comes close to a canonical narrative, while "Hunt for Gollum" expands a canonical incident. Alberto notes, too, that "Born of Hope" nods to Mortensen's physical appearance as Aragorn in both casting and costume. As for "Hunt for Gollum", Alberto writes, the narrative arc requires the viewer to know from the "Lord of the Rings" why Aragorn would be searching for Gollum, while his meeting Gandalf in a pub plainly recalls "both Tolkien's and Jackson's" "Prancing Pony". Alberto states that the widely-scattered locations, from north Wales to Epping Forest and Hampstead Heath are meant to be seen as a measure of how far Aragorn travels, and in which part of the world, as he seeks Gollum. She cites the scholar Robin Anne Reid's remark that ""Hunt" is 'imitative' where "Hope" is transformative", meaning that the former attempts to mimic Jackson and Tolkien, whereas the latter sees fans interpreting and adding to the canon.


title: Aragorn

text: In Brian Sibley's 1981 BBC radio dramatisation of "The Lord of the Rings", Aragorn was played by Robert Stephens. Sibley writes that Stephens gave "a mercurial performance, combining nobility and humanity in his portrayal of the returning king whose fate, along with that of all Middle-earth, [hung] on the success or failure of Frodo's quest."


title: Aragorn

text: On stage, Aragorn was portrayed by Evan Buliung in the three-hour production of "The Lord of the Rings," which opened in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Sophie Rundle (born 21 April 1988) is an English actress, best known for portraying Ada Thorne in the BBC One historical crime drama television series "Peaky Blinders", Ann Walker in BBC One and HBO's period drama "Gentleman Jack", Vicky Budd in the BBC television series "Bodyguard", code-breaker Lucy in the ITV drama series "The Bletchley Circle" and Labia in the British/American television sitcom "Episodes". She also played Alice in Sky One's 2017 drama "Jamestown".


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. She has two brothers. She attended Bournemouth School for Girls. In 2011, Rundle graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree in Acting.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle started her career in the British horror comedy film "Small Town Folk" in 2007 opposite Warwick Davis. Later in 2012, she starred in the ITV four-part television miniseries period drama, "Titanic", created by producer Nigel Stafford-Clark and written by Julian Fellowes, which is based on the sinking of the RMS "Titanic". Later that year, she guest-starred as Labia in the British/American television sitcom "Episodes" opposite Matt LeBlanc and Stephen Mangan, which aired on Showtime and BBC Two.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Also in 2012, Rundle appeared in "Great Expectations" directed by Mike Newell. The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the UK on 30 November 2012.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle also played Sefa in the two-part episode "Arthur's Bane" of the final season of the BBC TV series "Merlin".


title: Sophie Rundle

text: She played a lead role in the ITV mystery drama series "The Bletchley Circle", about four women who investigate a series of murders, and ended on 27 January 2014. On the series' cancellation, Rundle stated:


title: Sophie Rundle

text: She also appears as Ada Shelby in the BBC Two period crime drama series "Peaky Blinders", based on the memoirs of the Shelby family, whose many brothers, sisters, and relatives make up the fiercest gang of all in interwar Birmingham. On mastering the Brummie accent during production, Rundle said that she and the rest of the cast had struggled with it at first because it is not heard much on television, but managed to master the accent after a set visit in Birmingham. Also, in an interview with "Radio Times", in regards to her casting in the series, Rundle stated:


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle played the lead role of Fiona Griffiths, a young detective constable in the Sky Living two-part crime series "Talking to the Dead", based on the eponymous novel by Harry Bingham. It was adapted by Golden Globe Award-nominee Gwyneth Hughes. On playing Fiona Griffiths, Rundle did some research on Cotard's Syndrome to portray Griffiths accurately. She agrees that her character in the series is a little "loopy": "Well, yes. Part of the mystery of the show is trying to work out what is going on with her. You know that there is a history of trauma there and you are trying to figure that out. It is being fed to you in little bits. She has a history of mental health issues too, which gives her an affinity with the dead."


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle guest-starred as Pamela Saint, a young mother who suffers mental health problems after delivering her child, in the seventh episode of the third series of the BBC medical period drama series "Call the Midwife", which aired on 2 March 2014. She also starred in the six-part BBC One police procedural series "Happy Valley" as Kirsten McAskill, a rookie policewoman who stops Lewis (played by Adam Long) for speeding and is then run over by his accomplice in a recent kidnapping, Tommy (portrayed by James Norton), a convicted drug offender, thus killing her. On the dramatic development for her character throughout the series, Rundle hinted that she [Kirsten], "is so young and eager and enthusiastic about her job, it's a real shock when what happens happens — and it's quite exciting as well." The series debuted on 29 April 2014, and was created by Sally Wainwright which stars Sarah Lancashire and Steve Pemberton.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: On 4 October 2014, Rundle appeared in the live cooking programme "Saturday Kitchen" presented by James Martin as an interviewed guest.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle starred as Eva Smith/Daisy Renton in Helen Edmundson's BBC adaptation of J.B. Priestley's "An Inspector Calls", which also starred David Thewlis portraying the title role, Ken Stott and Miranda Richardson. The drama was directed by Aisling Walsh and was broadcast on BBC One on 13 September 2015. In June 2015, Rundle starred as Jenny in the Channel 4 sitcom "Not Safe for Work" alongside Zawe Ashton, Tom Weston-Jones, Samuel Barnett, Sacha Dhawan and Anastasia Hille. The series was created and written by playwright D. C. Moore and was broadcast on 30 June 2015.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle also portrayed Honoria Barbary in BBC's 20-part "Dickensian", a reworking of an ensemble of characters created by Charles Dickens, which aired on BBC One on 26 December 2015.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: In 2016, Rundle starred in the ITV's six-part series titled "Brief Encounters", which is loosely based on Gold Group International CEO, Jacqueline Gold's 1995 memoir, "Good Vibrations". Asked about her opinion of her character in the series (set in the 1980s) during an interview with "i", Rundle explained that she would be restless and excited on her sexuality if she was a teenager during that era.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle also starred in Sky 1's drama "Jamestown" as Alice Kett, one of the '"maids to make wives" who sailed 3,700 miles across the Atlantic to marry a stranger in the New World'. What made Rundle to be interested in her role in the series is her opportunity to portray women of bravery and dynamism, in an interview with "i". Also in an article with the "Irish Examiner", Rundle insisted that her character in the series is the sort of person audience want to watch as stated:


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle appeared in the six-part thriller, "Bodyguard" created by Jed Mercurio, with Keeley Hawes and Gina McKee, broadcast on BBC One. The series tells the fictional story of a war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch (RaSP) of London's Metropolitan Police.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: In 2018, Rundle portrayed wealthy heiress Ann Walker, in the joint production between BBC One and HBO biographical drama series about a real-life lesbian couple living in the North of England in the 19th century, titled "Gentleman Jack", alongside Suranne Jones and Timothy West. As the series is created by Sally Wainwright, whom Rundle has worked with in "Happy Valley", Rundle explained that she was used to Wainwright's writing and intended to be involved before receiving an email regarding the offer to be cast in the series, and was enthused after reading the scripts. On portraying the character, Rundle shared that she has to engage her feelings and emotions in order to fit of those of Ann Walker:


title: Sophie Rundle

text: In 2019, Rundle portrayed Princess Diana in an episode of the Sky Arts' "Urban Myths" series, with David Avery as Freddie Mercury and Mathew Baynton as Kenny Everett.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: In 2020, Rundle starred alongside Martin Compston in BBC One programme, "The Nest", a five-part psychological drama about a husband and wife who meet an 18-year-old woman who agrees to be their surrogate after years of their trying for a baby. She also appeared in Netflix's "The Midnight Sky", playing Jean Sullivan. She also starred in the film Rose as the titular character with her husband Matt Stokoe who also wrote the film.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle will star in the upcoming Alibi political thriller "The Diplomat" as Laura Simmonds, a British diplomat who is determined to protect British nationals who are involved in a series of conflicts in Barcelona.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: In February 2013, Rundle played Bunty Mainwaring in Stephen Unwin's production of Noël Coward's "The Vortex" at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: In December 2014, she played Lucia Kos in a new play titled "3 Winters" by London-based Croatian playwright Tena Štivičić, about the Kos family, living at three crucial periods in Croatian history. The play is directed by Howard Davies at the National Theatre.


title: Sophie Rundle

text: Rundle is engaged to actor Matt Stokoe, whom she met on the set of "Jamestown." They have a son born in 2021.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: The Matrix Revolutions is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the third installment in "The Matrix" film series, released six months following "The Matrix Reloaded". The film stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Jada Pinkett Smith.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: The film was released simultaneously in 108 territories on November 5, 2003, by Warner Bros. Pictures. While being the final entry in the original trilogy of the series, the "Matrix" storyline was continued in "The Matrix Online" video game. It was the first live-action feature film to be released in both regular and IMAX theaters at the same time. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film grossed $427.3 million worldwide. A fourth film, titled "The Matrix Resurrections", began production in February 2020, and was released on December 22, 2021.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: Picking up immediately where "Reloaded" ended, Neo and Bane still lie unconscious in the medical bay of the ship "Hammer". Inside the Matrix, Neo is trapped in a subway station named Mobil Ave, a transition zone between the Matrix and the machine world. He meets a "family" of programs, including a girl named Sati. The "father" tells Neo the subway is controlled by the Trainman, a program loyal to the Merovingian. When Neo tries to board a train with the family, the Trainman refuses and overpowers him.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: Seraph contacts Morpheus and Trinity on behalf of the Oracle, who informs them of Neo's confinement. Seraph, Morpheus and Trinity enter Club Hel, where they confront the Merovingian and force him to release Neo. Troubled by visions of the Machine City, Neo visits the Oracle, who reveals that Smith intends to destroy both the Matrix and the real world. She tells him that "everything that has a beginning has an end." After Neo leaves, a large group of Smiths assimilates Sati and Seraph. The Oracle does not resist assimilation, and Smith gains her powers of precognition.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: In the real world, the crews of the "Nebuchadnezzar" and the "Hammer" find and reactivate Niobe's ship, the "Logos". They interrogate Bane, who says that he has no recollection of the earlier massacre. As the captains plan their defense of Zion, Neo requests a ship to travel to the Machine City. Motivated by her encounter with the Oracle, Niobe offers him the "Logos". Neo departs, accompanied by Trinity. Bane, who has stowed away on the "Logos", takes Trinity hostage. Neo realizes that Bane has been assimilated by Smith, and a fight ensues. Bane burns Neo's eyes with a power cable, blinding him. Neo discovers that he can still "see" machine source code in the real world and uses this ability to kill Bane. Trinity pilots them to the Machine City.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: Niobe and Morpheus rush toward Zion in the "Hammer" to aid the human defenses. Zion's shipyard is overwhelmed by a horde of Sentinels, and the fatally wounded Captain Mifune instructs Kid to open the gate for the "Hammer", which he does with the aid of Zee. When it arrives, it discharges its EMP, disabling all the Sentinels present but also Zion's remaining defenses. The humans are forced to retreat and wait for the next attack, thinking it will be their last stand.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: The "Logos" is attacked by a wave of machines outside of the Machine City. To avoid the onslaught, they fly above them to open sky, and then crash into a building, fatally wounding Trinity. Neo enters the Machine City and encounters the leadership of the machines in the form of the "Deus Ex Machina." Neo warns that Smith plans to conquer both the Matrix and the real world and offers to stop Smith in exchange for peace with Zion. The Deus Ex Machina agrees, and the Sentinels shut down, stopping the attack on Zion.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: The Machines plug Neo into the Matrix, whose population has now been entirely assimilated by Smith. The Smith with the Oracle's powers steps forth, telling Neo that he has foreseen his victory against Neo. After a protracted fight, Neo appears to concede defeat and allows himself to be assimilated. Outside the Matrix, the machines send a surge of energy into Neo's body, which inside the Matrix causes the Neo-Smith clone, then all the other Smith clones, to be destroyed, leaving the Oracle lying there and causing Neo's life to be sacrificed. The Sentinels withdraw from Zion, Morpheus and Niobe embrace, and Neo's body is carried away by the machines.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: The Matrix is rebooted, and the Architect meets the Oracle in a park. They agree that the peace will last "as long as it can" and that those humans who desire it will be offered the opportunity to leave the Matrix. The Oracle tells Sati (who created a beautiful sunrise for Neo) that she thinks they will see Neo again. Seraph asks the Oracle if she knew this would happen. She replies that she did not know, but she believed.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: Filming occurred concurrently with its predecessor, "The Matrix Reloaded", and live-action sequences for the video game "Enter the Matrix". This took place primarily at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia. Most notably, the subway scenes were filmed at the disused tunnels of St James railway station, and the end sequence with the Oracle and the Architect was filmed in the Royal Botanic Garden. Carrie-Anne Moss injured her ankle during the shooting in Australia.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: In contrast to its predecessors, very few "source" tracks are used in the film. Aside from Don Davis' score, again collaborating with Juno Reactor, only one external track (by Pale 3) is used. Although Davis rarely focuses on strong melodies, familiar leitmotifs from earlier in the series reappear. For example, Neo and Trinity's love theme—which briefly surfaces in the two preceding films—is finally fully expanded into "Trinity Definitely"; the theme from the Zion docks in "Reloaded" returns as "Men in Metal", and the energetic drumming from the "Reloaded" tea house fight between Neo and Seraph opens "Tetsujin", as Seraph, Trinity and Morpheus fight off Club Hel's three doormen. The climactic battle theme, named "Neodämmerung" (in reference to Wagner's "Götterdämmerung"), features a choir singing extracts (shlokas) from the Pavamana Mantra, introduced in the Upanishads. The chorus can be roughly translated from Sanskrit as follows: "lead us from untruth to truth, lead us from darkness to light, lead us from death to immortality, peace peace peace". The extracts were brought to Davis by the Wachowskis when he informed them that it would be wasteful for such a large choir to be singing simple "ooh"s and "aah"s (according to the DVD commentary, Davis felt that the dramatic impact of the piece would be lost if the choir was to sing 'This is the one, see what he can do' in plain English). These extracts return in the film's denouement, and in "Navras", the track that plays over the closing credits (which may be considered a loose remix of "Neodämmerung").


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: "The Matrix Revolutions" was released in theaters roughly three weeks after "The Matrix Reloaded" arrived on DVD, October 14, 2003.


title: The Matrix Revolutions

text: The film had the widest release ever opening simultaneously in 108 territories at 1400 Greenwich Mean Time on November 5, 2003.