6. Bard the Bowman
It would be a disservice to Bard to draw comparisons between Bard and Aragorn. . . but I'm going to do it anyway. Both are archetypical heroic men that would be the central figure in many fantasy stories, but end up playing support to a less conventional hero. Both are characters who have something of a hidden nobility that shines through in their actions. Both men become king at the end of their respective tales. Bard is easily the most important human character in a story almost entirely about non-humans, and even though he's not introduced until late in the game, he plays a huge role in both the conflict with the dragon and the events that follow. The film-makers need to establish not just his place in the society of Laketown (the human port on the Long Lake south of the Lonely Mountain) and his skills with the bow, but they also have to fit in small-but-important details like his ability to talk to birds (no, really). I'm quite interested to see how this one is handled.