ARAGORN
Aragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R Tolkien's Middle-earth
legendarium. He is first introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring, and becomes a
central character in the story of The Lord of the Rings.
According to the appendices of The Return of the King, Aragorn, named for his
ancestor Aragorn I, was born on March 1 in 2931 of the Third Age, the son of
Arathorn II and his wife Gilraen. Through his ancestor Elendil (whom he closely
resembled) Aragorn was a descendant of Elros Tar-Minyatur, Lord Elrond Half-elven's
twin brother and the first king of Namenor. Argorn is descended from both of
Elendil's sons, from Isildur through Arvedui, last King of Arthedain, and from
Anarion through Arvedui's wife Fariel.
When Aragorn was only two years old, his father was killed while pursuing Orcs.
Aragorn was afterwards fostered in Rivendell by Elrond. At the request of his
mother, his lineage was kept secret, as she feared he would be killed like his
father and grandfather if his true identity as the descendant of Elendil and
Heir of Isildur became known. Aragorn was renamed Estel and was not told about
his heritage until he came of age in 2951.
Elrond revealed to "Estel" (hope in Sindarin) his true name and ancestry when he
came of age, and delivered to him the shards of Elendil's sword, Narsil, and the
Ring of Barahir. He withheld the Sceptre of Annaminas from him until he "came of
the right" to possess it. It was also around this time that Aragorn met and fell
in love with Arwen, Elrond's daughter, who had newly returned from her mother's
homeland of Lorien.
Aragorn thereafter assumed his proper role as the sixteenth Chieftain of the
Dúnedain, the Rangers of the North, and went into the wild, where lived the
remnants of his people, whose kingdom had been destroyed through civil and
regional wars centuries before.
Aragorn met Gandalf the Grey in 2956, and they became close friends. At Gandalf's
advice he and his followers began to guard a small land known as the Shire,
inhabited by the diminutive and agrarian Hobbits, and he became known among the
peoples just outside the Shire's borders as Strider.
From 2957 to 2980, Aragorn undertook great journeys, serving in the armies of
King Thengel of Rohan, and Steward Ecthelion II of Gondor. Many of his tasks
helped to raise morale in the West and counter the growing threat of Sauron and
his allies, and he acquired invaluable experience which he would later put to
use in the War of the Ring. Aragorn served his lords in disguise and his name in
Gondor and Rohan during that time was Thorongil (Eagle of the Star). With a
small Gondorian squadron of ships, he led an assault on the long-standing rebel
province of Umbar in 2980, burning many of the Corsairs' ships and personally
slaying their lord during the battle on the Havens. After the victory at Umbar,
"Thorongil" left the field and to the dismay of his men, went East.
Later in 2980, he visited Lórien, and there once again met Arwen. He gave her
the heirloom of his House, the Ring of Barahir, and, on the hill of Cerin Amroth,
Arwen pledged her hand to him in marriage, renouncing her Elvish lineage and
accepting the Gift of Men: death.
Elrond withheld from Aragorn permission to marry his daughter until such time as
his foster son should be king of both Gondor and Arnor. To Elrond's as well as
Aragorn's knowledge, to marry a mortal his daughter would be required to choose
mortality, and thus deprive the deathless Elrond of his daughter while the world
lasted. Elrond was also concerned for Arwen's own happiness, fearing that in the
end she might find death (her own and that of her beloved) too difficult to bear.
Before the events of The Lord of the Rings proper take place, Aragorn also
travelled through the Dwarven mines of Moria, and to Harad, where (in his own
words) "the stars are strange". Tolkien does not specify when these travels
occurred.
In 3009, Gandalf grew suspicious of the ring belonging to the Hobbit Bilbo
Baggins, which later turned out to be the One Ring, the source of the Dark Lord
Sauron's evil power. Aragorn went at his request into Rhovanion in search of
Gollum, who had once possessed the Ring. He caught the creature in the Dead
Marshes near Mordor, and brought him as a captive to Thranduil's halls in
Mirkwood, where Gandalf questioned him.
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn joined Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's adopted
heir, and three of his friends at the Inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree. These
four had set out from the Shire to bring the One Ring to Rivendell. Aragorn was
aged 87 at that time, nearing the prime of life for one of royal Númenórean
descent. With Aragorn's help the Hobbits escaped the pursuing Nazgûl and reached
Rivendell. There, Aragorn was chosen to join the Fellowship of the Ring that was
formed to guard Frodo, who was charged with destroying the Ring in the fires of
Mount Doom in Mordor. Besides Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo, the company included
Frodo's cousins Pippin and Merry, Frodo's faithful servant Samwise Gamgee,
Legolas the Elf , Gimli the Dwarf, and Boromir of Gondor. Before the group set
out, the shards of Narsil were reforged, and the restored blade was named
Anduril.
Aragorn accompanied the group through an attempt to cross the pass of Caradhras
and through the mines of Moria. He became their leader after Gandalf was lost in
battle with a Balrog. Aragorn led the company to Lorien and then down the river
Anduin to the Falls of Rauros. Originally he had planned to go to Gondor and aid
its people in the war, but after the loss of Gandalf he also was responsible for
Frodo. When Frodo continued his quest alone, Aragorn, together with Legolas and
Gimli, went to Rohan to free Merry and Pippin, who had been captured by the
wizard Saruman's Uruk-hai.
In The Two Towers, the Three Hunters (as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were ever
after known) encountered Aomer, who had recently been pursuing rumours of an Orc
raid in the area. From Aomer Aragorn learned that the Orcs who had kidnapped
Merry and Pippin had been destroyed and that the Hobbits had not been found.
Dejected, he led Legolas and Gimli to the site of the battle. Clues led Aragorn
to believe that the Hobbits might still be alive, and he led the Three Hunters
into Fangorn forest. They did not find the Hobbits, but they did find Gandalf
the White, sent back from Valinor to continue his struggle against Sauron.
Gandalf told the Three Hunters that the Hobbits were safe with the Ents of
Fangorn. Together, Gandalf and the Three Hunters travelled to Edoras, where
Gandalf freed Theoden from Saruman's enchantment and helped him muster the
Rohirrim against Saruman.
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli then helped the people of Rohan in the Battle of the
Hornburg, in which they conclusively defeated Saruman's army. In order to
distract Sauron's attention from Frodo, who had gone into Mordor, Aragorn used a
palantir and revealed himself as the heir of Isildur to Sauron. Sauron probably
believed that the One Ring had come into Aragorn's hands; therefore he made his
assault on Minas Tirith prematurely and without adequate preparation.
In order to defend the city, Aragorn entered the Paths of the Dead, and summoned
the Dead Men of Dunharrow who owed allegiance to the king of Gondor. It had been
prophesied by Isildur and Malbeth the Seer that the Dead would be summoned once
more to pay their debt for betraying Gondor millennia before. With their aid the
Corsairs of Umbar were defeated. Aragorn, a small force of Rangers, and a large
contingent of men and soldiers from the southern regions then sailed up the
Anduin to Minas Tirith. When they arrived at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields,
Aragorn unfurled a standard that Arwen had made for him which showed both the
White Tree of Gondor along with 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.
The restoration of the line of Elendil to the throne of Gondor is a subplot of
The Lord of the Rings; Aragorn's adventures not only aid Frodo in his Quest, but
also bring him closer to his own kingship which, though his by right and
lineage, has been left open for centuries due to historical, legal, and military
circumstances. The people of Gondor have been under the rule of the Stewards of
Gondor for centuries, as it was widely doubted that any of the royal line still
lived. Shortly after Isildur's departure, Meneldil, son of Anirion, had severed
Gondor from Arnor politically, although the formal title of High King remained
with the northern line (as Isildur was Elendil's eldest son). This arrangement
had been reinforced by the Steward Pelendur in nearly 2,000 years before when he
rejected Arvedui's claim to the Throne of Gondor during a Gondorian succession
crisis (Eornil, a member of the House of Anirion, was eventually chosen as King
instead). It is worth noting, however, that Arvedui had also based his claim on
the fact that he had married a descendant of Anirion: thus, Aragorn was
technically a descendant of not only Elendil and Isildur but of Elendil's other
younger son and Isildur's brother, Anorien, as well).
In Return of the King, the Steward Denethor declared that he would not bow to a
descendant of Isildur (years before, he had seen "Thorongil" as a rival to his
father's favour). Aragorn healed Faramir, Denethor's heir, who had been expected
to die; this won him the immediate recognition of Faramir as the rightful heir
to the throne, and his humility and self sacrifice gained him the hearts of the
inhabitants of Gondor's capital city (Aragorn's healing abilities, however, were
a sign to the people of Gondor of the identity of their true king; as Ioreth
said, "The hands of the King are the hands of a healer, and so shall the
rightful king be known"). The people hailed him as King that same evening.
Despite his immediate success and popularity, however, and despite his claim to
the throne through raising the royal banner, Aragorn decided to lay aside his
claim for the time being. He knew that if he aggressively promoted his claim,
rival claimants or debates as to his legitimacy were not out of the question,
and this could be a fatal distraction for Gondor at a time when the West needed
to be united against Sauron. So, to avoid conflict, after he had healed people
during the night of March 15/16, he left Minas Tirith and symbolically refused
to enter it again until he was crowned King on May 1st.
In order to ensure safe passage across Mordor for Frodo to fulfil his quest,
Aragorn then led the Army of the West out from Minas Tirith to make a
diversionary feint on the Black Gate of Mordor itself in the Battle of the
Morannon. Gandalf had been given supreme command of the war effort after the
Pelennor Fields, and acted as chief spokesman in the parley with the Mouth of
Sauron; but Aragorn commanded the Allied troops during the battle and its
aftermath.
Upon Sauron's defeat, Aragorn was crowned as King Elessar (translated as
Elfstone in Tolkien's invented language of Quenya), a name given to him by
Galadriel. (In Sindarin, another of Tolkien's languages, this becomes Edhelharn.)
He became the twenty-sixth King of Arnor, thirty-fifth King of Gondor and the
first High King of the Reunited Kingdom, though it would be several years before
his authority was firmly restablished in Arnor. His line was referred to as the
House of Telcontar (Telcontar being Quenya for "Strider" which was the name he
was known by at Bree and the name which he was introduced with to the hobbits ).
Aragorn married Arwen shortly afterwards, and ruled the Kingdom of Gondor and
Arnor until 120 of the Fourth Age. His reign was marked by great harmony and
prosperity within Gondor and Arnor, and by a great renewal of cooperation and
communication 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. He was succeeded on the throne by his
son, Eldarion. Arwen, gravely saddened by the loss of her husband, gave up her
now mortal life shortly afterwards. Arwen and Aragorn also had at least two
unnamed daughters.
Aragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R Tolkien's Middle-earth
legendarium. He is first introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring, and becomes a
central character in the story of The Lord of the Rings.
According to the appendices of The Return of the King, Aragorn, named for his
ancestor Aragorn I, was born on March 1 in 2931 of the Third Age, the son of
Arathorn II and his wife Gilraen. Through his ancestor Elendil (whom he closely
resembled) Aragorn was a descendant of Elros Tar-Minyatur, Lord Elrond Half-elven's
twin brother and the first king of Namenor. Argorn is descended from both of
Elendil's sons, from Isildur through Arvedui, last King of Arthedain, and from
Anarion through Arvedui's wife Fariel.
When Aragorn was only two years old, his father was killed while pursuing Orcs.
Aragorn was afterwards fostered in Rivendell by Elrond. At the request of his
mother, his lineage was kept secret, as she feared he would be killed like his
father and grandfather if his true identity as the descendant of Elendil and
Heir of Isildur became known. Aragorn was renamed Estel and was not told about
his heritage until he came of age in 2951.
Elrond revealed to "Estel" (hope in Sindarin) his true name and ancestry when he
came of age, and delivered to him the shards of Elendil's sword, Narsil, and the
Ring of Barahir. He withheld the Sceptre of Annaminas from him until he "came of
the right" to possess it. It was also around this time that Aragorn met and fell
in love with Arwen, Elrond's daughter, who had newly returned from her mother's
homeland of Lorien.
Aragorn thereafter assumed his proper role as the sixteenth Chieftain of the
Dúnedain, the Rangers of the North, and went into the wild, where lived the
remnants of his people, whose kingdom had been destroyed through civil and
regional wars centuries before.
Aragorn met Gandalf the Grey in 2956, and they became close friends. At Gandalf's
advice he and his followers began to guard a small land known as the Shire,
inhabited by the diminutive and agrarian Hobbits, and he became known among the
peoples just outside the Shire's borders as Strider.
From 2957 to 2980, Aragorn undertook great journeys, serving in the armies of
King Thengel of Rohan, and Steward Ecthelion II of Gondor. Many of his tasks
helped to raise morale in the West and counter the growing threat of Sauron and
his allies, and he acquired invaluable experience which he would later put to
use in the War of the Ring. Aragorn served his lords in disguise and his name in
Gondor and Rohan during that time was Thorongil (Eagle of the Star). With a
small Gondorian squadron of ships, he led an assault on the long-standing rebel
province of Umbar in 2980, burning many of the Corsairs' ships and personally
slaying their lord during the battle on the Havens. After the victory at Umbar,
"Thorongil" left the field and to the dismay of his men, went East.
Later in 2980, he visited Lórien, and there once again met Arwen. He gave her
the heirloom of his House, the Ring of Barahir, and, on the hill of Cerin Amroth,
Arwen pledged her hand to him in marriage, renouncing her Elvish lineage and
accepting the Gift of Men: death.
Elrond withheld from Aragorn permission to marry his daughter until such time as
his foster son should be king of both Gondor and Arnor. To Elrond's as well as
Aragorn's knowledge, to marry a mortal his daughter would be required to choose
mortality, and thus deprive the deathless Elrond of his daughter while the world
lasted. Elrond was also concerned for Arwen's own happiness, fearing that in the
end she might find death (her own and that of her beloved) too difficult to bear.
Before the events of The Lord of the Rings proper take place, Aragorn also
travelled through the Dwarven mines of Moria, and to Harad, where (in his own
words) "the stars are strange". Tolkien does not specify when these travels
occurred.
In 3009, Gandalf grew suspicious of the ring belonging to the Hobbit Bilbo
Baggins, which later turned out to be the One Ring, the source of the Dark Lord
Sauron's evil power. Aragorn went at his request into Rhovanion in search of
Gollum, who had once possessed the Ring. He caught the creature in the Dead
Marshes near Mordor, and brought him as a captive to Thranduil's halls in
Mirkwood, where Gandalf questioned him.
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn joined Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's adopted
heir, and three of his friends at the Inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree. These
four had set out from the Shire to bring the One Ring to Rivendell. Aragorn was
aged 87 at that time, nearing the prime of life for one of royal Númenórean
descent. With Aragorn's help the Hobbits escaped the pursuing Nazgûl and reached
Rivendell. There, Aragorn was chosen to join the Fellowship of the Ring that was
formed to guard Frodo, who was charged with destroying the Ring in the fires of
Mount Doom in Mordor. Besides Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo, the company included
Frodo's cousins Pippin and Merry, Frodo's faithful servant Samwise Gamgee,
Legolas the Elf , Gimli the Dwarf, and Boromir of Gondor. Before the group set
out, the shards of Narsil were reforged, and the restored blade was named
Anduril.
Aragorn accompanied the group through an attempt to cross the pass of Caradhras
and through the mines of Moria. He became their leader after Gandalf was lost in
battle with a Balrog. Aragorn led the company to Lorien and then down the river
Anduin to the Falls of Rauros. Originally he had planned to go to Gondor and aid
its people in the war, but after the loss of Gandalf he also was responsible for
Frodo. When Frodo continued his quest alone, Aragorn, together with Legolas and
Gimli, went to Rohan to free Merry and Pippin, who had been captured by the
wizard Saruman's Uruk-hai.
In The Two Towers, the Three Hunters (as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were ever
after known) encountered Aomer, who had recently been pursuing rumours of an Orc
raid in the area. From Aomer Aragorn learned that the Orcs who had kidnapped
Merry and Pippin had been destroyed and that the Hobbits had not been found.
Dejected, he led Legolas and Gimli to the site of the battle. Clues led Aragorn
to believe that the Hobbits might still be alive, and he led the Three Hunters
into Fangorn forest. They did not find the Hobbits, but they did find Gandalf
the White, sent back from Valinor to continue his struggle against Sauron.
Gandalf told the Three Hunters that the Hobbits were safe with the Ents of
Fangorn. Together, Gandalf and the Three Hunters travelled to Edoras, where
Gandalf freed Theoden from Saruman's enchantment and helped him muster the
Rohirrim against Saruman.
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli then helped the people of Rohan in the Battle of the
Hornburg, in which they conclusively defeated Saruman's army. In order to
distract Sauron's attention from Frodo, who had gone into Mordor, Aragorn used a
palantir and revealed himself as the heir of Isildur to Sauron. Sauron probably
believed that the One Ring had come into Aragorn's hands; therefore he made his
assault on Minas Tirith prematurely and without adequate preparation.
In order to defend the city, Aragorn entered the Paths of the Dead, and summoned
the Dead Men of Dunharrow who owed allegiance to the king of Gondor. It had been
prophesied by Isildur and Malbeth the Seer that the Dead would be summoned once
more to pay their debt for betraying Gondor millennia before. With their aid the
Corsairs of Umbar were defeated. Aragorn, a small force of Rangers, and a large
contingent of men and soldiers from the southern regions then sailed up the
Anduin to Minas Tirith. When they arrived at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields,
Aragorn unfurled a standard that Arwen had made for him which showed both the
White Tree of Gondor along with 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.
The restoration of the line of Elendil to the throne of Gondor is a subplot of
The Lord of the Rings; Aragorn's adventures not only aid Frodo in his Quest, but
also bring him closer to his own kingship which, though his by right and
lineage, has been left open for centuries due to historical, legal, and military
circumstances. The people of Gondor have been under the rule of the Stewards of
Gondor for centuries, as it was widely doubted that any of the royal line still
lived. Shortly after Isildur's departure, Meneldil, son of Anirion, had severed
Gondor from Arnor politically, although the formal title of High King remained
with the northern line (as Isildur was Elendil's eldest son). This arrangement
had been reinforced by the Steward Pelendur in nearly 2,000 years before when he
rejected Arvedui's claim to the Throne of Gondor during a Gondorian succession
crisis (Eornil, a member of the House of Anirion, was eventually chosen as King
instead). It is worth noting, however, that Arvedui had also based his claim on
the fact that he had married a descendant of Anirion: thus, Aragorn was
technically a descendant of not only Elendil and Isildur but of Elendil's other
younger son and Isildur's brother, Anorien, as well).
In Return of the King, the Steward Denethor declared that he would not bow to a
descendant of Isildur (years before, he had seen "Thorongil" as a rival to his
father's favour). Aragorn healed Faramir, Denethor's heir, who had been expected
to die; this won him the immediate recognition of Faramir as the rightful heir
to the throne, and his humility and self sacrifice gained him the hearts of the
inhabitants of Gondor's capital city (Aragorn's healing abilities, however, were
a sign to the people of Gondor of the identity of their true king; as Ioreth
said, "The hands of the King are the hands of a healer, and so shall the
rightful king be known"). The people hailed him as King that same evening.
Despite his immediate success and popularity, however, and despite his claim to
the throne through raising the royal banner, Aragorn decided to lay aside his
claim for the time being. He knew that if he aggressively promoted his claim,
rival claimants or debates as to his legitimacy were not out of the question,
and this could be a fatal distraction for Gondor at a time when the West needed
to be united against Sauron. So, to avoid conflict, after he had healed people
during the night of March 15/16, he left Minas Tirith and symbolically refused
to enter it again until he was crowned King on May 1st.
In order to ensure safe passage across Mordor for Frodo to fulfil his quest,
Aragorn then led the Army of the West out from Minas Tirith to make a
diversionary feint on the Black Gate of Mordor itself in the Battle of the
Morannon. Gandalf had been given supreme command of the war effort after the
Pelennor Fields, and acted as chief spokesman in the parley with the Mouth of
Sauron; but Aragorn commanded the Allied troops during the battle and its
aftermath.
Upon Sauron's defeat, Aragorn was crowned as King Elessar (translated as
Elfstone in Tolkien's invented language of Quenya), a name given to him by
Galadriel. (In Sindarin, another of Tolkien's languages, this becomes Edhelharn.)
He became the twenty-sixth King of Arnor, thirty-fifth King of Gondor and the
first High King of the Reunited Kingdom, though it would be several years before
his authority was firmly restablished in Arnor. His line was referred to as the
House of Telcontar (Telcontar being Quenya for "Strider" which was the name he
was known by at Bree and the name which he was introduced with to the hobbits ).
Aragorn married Arwen shortly afterwards, and ruled the Kingdom of Gondor and
Arnor until 120 of the Fourth Age. His reign was marked by great harmony and
prosperity within Gondor and Arnor, and by a great renewal of cooperation and
communication 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. He was succeeded on the throne by his
son, Eldarion. Arwen, gravely saddened by the loss of her husband, gave up her
now mortal life shortly afterwards. Arwen and Aragorn also had at least two
unnamed daughters.