Aragorn

Isildur's heir

After the North-kingdom of Arnor fell, the heirs of Isildur did not rule anything. The last king of Arthedain, Arvedui, was drowned in the Ice Bay of Forochel in 1975, and his son Aranarth took the title of Chieftain of the Dúnedain. For more than a thousand years his descendants led a dwindling people in the wild lands of Eriador, kept the heirlooms of their house in Rivendell, and took names beginning Ara-, as the kings had.¹

Arathorn II was the fifteenth Chieftain. He married Gilraen the Fair, though her father Dírhael thought her too young, though her mother Ivorwen urged haste: Dírhael foresaw that Arathorn would be short-lived, and Ivorwen answered that if they delayed, hope for their people would not come while that age lasted. Their son was born on 1 March 2931. Two years later Arathorn rode with the sons of Elrond against Orcs and was killed by an arrow that pierced his eye.^3,2

Sauron was searching for the heir of Isildur, if any lived. So Gilraen took the boy to Rivendell, and Elrond took him in as a son and hid his name. He was called Estel, which is hope, and he did not know his own lineage until he was grown.³

Estel and Arwen

In his twentieth year (2951 in the printed Tale of Years, 2952 in the corrected editions), Elrond told him his true name and ancestry, and gave him the heirlooms of his house: the ring of Barahir, which Finrod Felagund had given to Beren's father in the First Age, and the shards of Narsil, the sword of Elendil. The sceptre of Annúminas he kept back, until Aragorn should earn the right to it.^3,2

The next day, walking in the woods of Rivendell, Aragorn sang part of the Lay of Lúthien, and saw a maiden walking among the trees. He called out to her by Lúthien's name, Tinúviel, as Beren had once done. She laughed and told him she was Arwen, daughter of Elrond, newly come back from her mother's kin in Lórien. He loved her from that hour.³

Elrond saw it, and grieved. Arwen was of the Eldar; if she bound herself to a mortal Man, she must share his fate and be parted from her father for ever. He told Aragorn that he should neither have a wife nor bind any woman to him in troth until his time came and he was found worthy. Aragorn went out into the Wild the next day.³

The figure below shows why this mattered to Elrond more than to any other father in Middle-earth. Aragorn and Arwen were kin. Both came down from Eärendil and Elwing, whose sons Elros and Elrond had made opposite choices at the end of the First Age.^8,9

Thorongil

For nearly thirty years Aragorn travelled. In 2956 he met Gandalf, and they became friends. He went in disguise into the service of Thengel, King of Rohan, and then of Ecthelion II, Steward of Gondor, under the name Thorongil, the Eagle of the Star, for the silver star he wore on his cloak.^15,2

In Gondor he was a great captain and counselled Ecthelion to trust Gandalf and to beware of Saruman. Ecthelion's son Denethor resented him, thinking that the stranger meant to supplant him. In 2980 Thorongil led a small fleet against the Corsairs of Umbar, burned a great part of their ships, and slew the Captain of the Haven on the quays. Then, at the height of his fame, he left Gondor and went alone into the East and the South.^15,2

In the same year he came to Lórien. Galadriel arrayed him in silver and white with a gem upon his brow, and on Midsummer Eve, on the hill of Cerin Amroth, Arwen and Aragorn plighted their troth. Arwen made there the choice of Lúthien, and Elrond, when he learned of it, set his condition: she should be the bride of no Man less than the King of both Gondor and Arnor.^3,2

The Ranger of the North

The Dúnedain of the North were few and grim, and they guarded Eriador without thanks. At the Council of Elrond Aragorn said that the Rangers had long kept the simple folk of the West free from care and fear, and that he would not have it otherwise: if they were to stay simple, the Rangers must be secret.¹⁶

Gilraen had stayed among the Dúnedain of Eriador, and when she and her son parted for the last time she spoke a single line of Sindarin verse, a play on his childhood name; she died in 3007.^3,2

Ónen i-Estel Edain, ú-chebin estel anim.

From 3009 he and Gandalf hunted Gollum at intervals, and in 3017 Aragorn caught him at last in the Dead Marshes, near the borders of Mordor, and brought him to Thranduil's halls in Mirkwood to be kept.^2,16

Strider

On 29 September 3018 Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin came to the Prancing Pony at Bree, and a weather-beaten stranger in the corner, whom the locals called Strider, warned Frodo that he had been careless and offered to be his guide. Frodo distrusted him until Butterbur at last produced a letter from Gandalf, three months late, which named Strider as a friend and described him in a verse.^17,18

All that is gold does not glitter, / Not all those who wander are lost;

Frodo said that he had already decided to trust him, because a spy of the Enemy would seem fairer and feel fouler. Strider answered him plainly.¹⁸

I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.

He led the hobbits out of Bree by wild ways. On Weathertop the Nazgûl attacked them by night, and Aragorn drove them off with fire, but not before their leader had stabbed Frodo with a Morgul-blade. He treated the wound with athelas, a healing herb that the Men of the West had brought to Middle-earth, and kept Frodo alive until Glorfindel met them on the road and Frodo was carried over the Ford of Bruinen.^19,20

The Fellowship

At the Council of Elrond, Boromir of Gondor heard for the first time who Strider was, and that the Sword that was Broken lay in Rivendell. Before the Company set out, the shards of Narsil were forged anew, and Aragorn named the blade Andúril, Flame of the West.^16,5

When Gandalf fell in Moria, the leadership of the Fellowship came to Aragorn. In Lórien, at the parting, Galadriel gave him a great green stone set in a silver brooch shaped like an eagle. It was the Elfstone of the house of Elendil, and with it she gave him the name foretold for him, Elessar.^21,22

At Parth Galen the Fellowship broke. Boromir died defending Merry and Pippin, and Aragorn, who found him dying, sent his body over the Falls of Rauros in a boat. Frodo and Sam had gone east alone. Aragorn chose to follow the Orcs who had taken Merry and Pippin rather than the Ring-bearer, judging that Frodo's fate was no longer in his hands.^23,24

Wingfoot

With Legolas and Gimli he ran across Rohan after the Uruk-hai, covering forty-five leagues in four days. When they met Éomer and his riders, Éomer named him Wingfoot for that running, and Aragorn declared himself openly as Isildur's heir.²⁵

In Fangorn the three met Gandalf, returned as the White Rider. At Edoras Aragorn laid Andúril down unwillingly at the doors of Meduseld, and he fought beside Théoden and Éomer in the defence of the Hornburg on the night of 3 March.^26,27,28

The Paths of the Dead

After the battle Aragorn did what no other of the Fellowship would have dared. He took the palantír of Orthanc, which had come into his keeping as Isildur's heir, and looked into it, and wrested it to his own will. He showed Sauron the sword of Elendil reforged, to draw the Enemy's eye and hurry his hand.²⁹

Thirty Rangers of the North rode south to find him, led by his kinsman Halbarad, with Elladan and Elrohir. Halbarad carried a staff wrapped in a black cloth, a gift that Arwen had made, and Elrohir brought word from Elrond: the days were short, and if Aragorn was in haste, he should remember the Paths of the Dead.²⁹

Under the White Mountains lay the oath-breakers of Dunharrow, who had sworn allegiance to Isildur and broken it, and were cursed to wait until they fulfilled their oath. Aragorn led the Grey Company through their mountain, and summoned the Dead to the Stone of Erech. They followed him south, and at Pelargir on the Anduin the terror of them drove the Corsairs from their ships. Aragorn held them released from their oath.^29,30

On 15 March, when the battle on the Pelennor Fields seemed lost and a fleet of black sails came up the river, the men of Gondor thought it was the Corsairs. Then the standard broke out on the leading ship: the White Tree, the Seven Stars and a high crown, the banner of Elendil, worked by Arwen.³¹

The hands of the king

After the battle Aragorn would not enter Minas Tirith as king. He set his tent outside the walls and went in only at Gandalf's urging, hooded, as the Captain of the Dúnedain of Arnor, to the Houses of Healing, where Faramir, Éowyn and Merry lay sick of the Black Breath.³²

The old wife Ioreth remembered a saying of the old lore, and the herb-master had to be sent searching for athelas, which he knew only as kingsfoil, a weed of no virtue. Aragorn healed all three.³²

The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.

In that night he gave his names. He said he would take for his house the name the people of Bree had given him, Strider, in the High Speech Telcontar, and that in the High Speech he was Elessar, the Elfstone, and Envinyatar, the Renewer.³²

The Black Gate

At the Last Debate the captains of the West agreed with Gandalf that they could not win by arms. They could only keep Sauron's eye turned away from his own land while the Ring-bearer, if he still lived, went on. So Aragorn led a small army to the Morannon as a challenge, knowing it might be destroyed.³⁰

Before the Black Gate the Mouth of Sauron came out to parley, carrying Frodo's mithril-coat, Sam's sword and an elven-cloak. The captains refused his terms. The army of Mordor came out against them, and they were near the end when the Ring was destroyed and Sauron's realm fell.^33,34

King Elessar

On 1 May 3019, before the gates of Minas Tirith, Faramir surrendered the white rod of the Stewards to Aragorn, and gave it back to him. Aragorn asked that the crown be brought to him by the Ring-bearer and set on his head by Gandalf. Before he received it he spoke the words his ancestor Elendil had spoken when he came out of the sea.^4,6

Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta!

They mean: out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come; in this place I will abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.⁴

With Gandalf he climbed Mindolluin above the city and found a sapling of the White Tree growing in the snows, a seedling of the line of Nimloth of Númenor, and planted it in the court of the fountain. Arwen came to the city with her father on Midsummer Eve, and on Midsummer Day they were married.^4,6

He reigned over the Reunited Kingdom for more than a hundred years. He pardoned the Easterlings and Haradrim who surrendered, came north in the fifteenth year of the Fourth Age to dwell at Annúminas, and forbade Men to enter the Shire, which he made a free land under his protection.^4,7

The death of the king

The Dúnedain had the gift of a long life, and Aragorn's was longer than any since the kings of old. At the age of 210 he felt the approach of age, and chose to give up his life before his mind and body failed, as the first kings of Númenor had done. He gave the sceptre to his son Eldarion and laid himself down in the House of the Kings on 1 March of the year 120 of the Fourth Age, his birthday.^3,7

Arwen, who had given up the life of the Eldar for him, begged him to stay a while, and he answered her with words of hope.³

In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.

After his death Arwen left the city and went alone to Lórien, which was empty and fading, and in the winter she laid herself down on Cerin Amroth, where they had plighted their troth.³

How Tolkien made him

Aragorn was not planned. In the early drafts of The Lord of the Rings, collected in The Return of the Shadow, the strange figure in the corner of the inn at Bree was Trotter, a hobbit who wore wooden shoes. Only over several rewritings did he become a Man, a Ranger, and the heir of Isildur.³⁵

Tolkien told W. H. Auden that the stranger at the inn had been as much a surprise to him as to Frodo: he had no more idea who Strider was than the hobbit did.³⁶

Interpretation Once he was the heir of Isildur, the story became in part an old one, the return of the hidden king. What keeps it from being simple is that his claim is made by service: he is a healer before he is a king, and he refuses to enter his own city until he is asked.^32,4

Timeline

1. T.A. 2931, 1 Mar.Aragorn is born, son of Arathorn II and Gilraen.²
2. T.A. 2933Arathorn is killed by Orcs. Gilraen takes her son to Rivendell.²
3. T.A. 2951 or 2952Elrond tells Aragorn his name and lineage. He meets Arwen and goes out into the Wild.²
4. T.A. 2956Aragorn meets Gandalf.²
5. T.A. 2957–2980His great journeys; as Thorongil he serves Thengel of Rohan and Ecthelion II of Gondor.²
6. T.A. 2980Thorongil burns the fleet of Umbar. In Lórien Aragorn and Arwen plight their troth.^2,3
7. T.A. 3007Gilraen dies.²
8. T.A. 3009–3017Aragorn and Gandalf hunt for Gollum. Aragorn captures him in 3017.²
9. T.A. 3018, 29 Sept.He meets Frodo at the Prancing Pony in Bree.⁶
10. T.A. 3018, 25 Dec.The Fellowship leaves Rivendell.⁶
11. T.A. 3019, 26 Feb.The breaking of the Fellowship and the death of Boromir.⁶
12. T.A. 3019, 3–4 Mar.The battle of the Hornburg.⁶
13. T.A. 3019, MarchHe looks into the palantír, takes the Paths of the Dead and seizes the fleet at Pelargir.^6,29
14. T.A. 3019, 15 Mar.He comes to the Pelennor Fields with the fleet of the Corsairs.⁶
15. T.A. 3019, 25 Mar.Before the Black Gate when the Ring is destroyed.⁶
16. T.A. 3019, 1 MayCrowned King Elessar.⁶
17. T.A. 3019, MidsummerMarries Arwen.⁶
18. F.A. 120, 1 Mar.His death in Minas Tirith. Eldarion becomes king.⁷

Names

Questions readers ask

How old was Aragorn?

He was 87 when he met Frodo at Bree in 3018, and 210 when he died. The Dúnedain of the North still lived far longer than other Men, a gift of their Númenórean descent.^2,3

Were Aragorn and Arwen related?

Yes, very distantly. Arwen's father Elrond and Aragorn's ancestor Elros were brothers, the sons of Eärendil and Elwing. The figure above follows the two lines.^8,9

Interpretation That kinship is the shape of the whole story of the Half-elven: one choice divided the family between the two kindreds at the end of the First Age, and a second choice, Arwen's, ended the division at the end of the Third.³

Why did he not claim the throne of Gondor earlier?

Gondor had already refused one such claim. In 1944, when the line of Anárion failed, Arvedui of Arthedain claimed the crown as heir of Isildur, and Gondor rejected him. The Stewards then ruled for nearly a thousand years in the name of a king who might return.¹⁵

Aragorn did not press his claim with words. Elrond's condition bound him not to marry Arwen until he was King of both realms, and he chose to make the claim by deeds, at the hour when Gondor needed him.^3,32

On screen

Where the best-known adaptation departs from the books. Nothing in this section is evidence for the books themselves.

In Jackson's films Elrond brings Andúril, newly forged, to Aragorn at Dunharrow. In the book the shards of Narsil are reforged in Rivendell before the Fellowship sets out, and Aragorn carries Andúril from the start.^38,5

In the films the Army of the Dead fights on the Pelennor Fields. In the book Aragorn releases them at Pelargir, and comes to the battle with the living men of the south coast aboard the captured fleet.^38,30

The Two Towers film has Aragorn fall from a cliff in a fight with Warg-riders on the road to Helm's Deep. There is no such fight in the book.^39,28

Sources

Citations name the chapter rather than the page, so they work in any edition. The colour of each note shows what kind of source it is.

• Published story The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as Tolkien published them.
• Appendices Tolkien's own appendices to The Lord of the Rings.
• Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and Tolkien's late writings on the Elder Days, assembled by Christopher Tolkien from his father's papers.
• Tolkien's letters Tolkien explaining his own work. Authoritative on intent, but private and sometimes provisional.
• Drafts Earlier versions Tolkien changed or abandoned. Evidence of how the story grew, not of what is true in it.
• Adaptation Films and other adaptations. Never evidence for the books.

1. Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I (iii), “Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur”
2. Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, “The Third Age”
3. Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I (v), “Here follows a part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen”
4. Published story The Return of the King, Book VI, ch. 5, “The Steward and the King”
5. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, ch. 3, “The Ring Goes South”
6. Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, “The Great Years”
7. Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, “Later Events Concerning the Members of the Fellowship of the Ring”
8. Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 24, “Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath”
9. Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I (i), “The Númenórean Kings”
10. Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 19, “Of Beren and Lúthien”
11. Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 22, “Of the Ruin of Doriath”
12. Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, “Akallabêth”
13. Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”
14. Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, “The Second Age”
15. Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I (iv), “Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion”
16. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, ch. 2, “The Council of Elrond”
17. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, ch. 9, “At the Sign of the Prancing Pony”
18. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, ch. 10, “Strider”
19. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, ch. 11, “A Knife in the Dark”
20. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, ch. 12, “Flight to the Ford”
21. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, ch. 5, “The Bridge of Khazad-dûm”
22. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, ch. 8, “Farewell to Lórien”
23. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, ch. 10, “The Breaking of the Fellowship”
24. Published story The Two Towers, Book III, ch. 1, “The Departure of Boromir”
25. Published story The Two Towers, Book III, ch. 2, “The Riders of Rohan”
26. Published story The Two Towers, Book III, ch. 5, “The White Rider”
27. Published story The Two Towers, Book III, ch. 6, “The King of the Golden Hall”
28. Published story The Two Towers, Book III, ch. 7, “Helm's Deep”
29. Published story The Return of the King, Book V, ch. 2, “The Passing of the Grey Company”
30. Published story The Return of the King, Book V, ch. 9, “The Last Debate”
31. Published story The Return of the King, Book V, ch. 6, “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”
32. Published story The Return of the King, Book V, ch. 8, “The Houses of Healing”
33. Published story The Return of the King, Book V, ch. 10, “The Black Gate Opens”
34. Published story The Return of the King, Book VI, ch. 4, “The Field of Cormallen”
35. Drafts The Return of the Shadow (The History of Middle-earth, vol. 6), the drafts of the Bree chapters
36. Tolkien's letters Letter 163, to W. H. Auden (1955)
37. Published story The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, ch. 1, “Many Meetings”
38. Adaptation Peter Jackson's film trilogy (2001–2003), The Return of the King (2003)
39. Adaptation Peter Jackson's film trilogy (2001–2003), The Two Towers (2002)