Gilraen the Fair was the daughter of Dírhael, a descendant of Aranarth, and the wife of Arathorn, Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North. Their son Aragorn was born in the year 2931 of the Third Age.1,2
Two years later Arathorn was slain by Orcs, and Gilraen took her son to Rivendell. Elrond received them, and took the child as his foster-son. To keep his lineage secret from Sauron's spies he was called Estel, which is Hope, and the name was Aragorn's in Rivendell until he was twenty.1
She returned to her own people in Eriador, and her son went into the wild. When Aragorn left her for the last time she told him she would not live to see his hope fulfilled, and gave him a saying in the Elvish tongue.1
Ónen i-Estel Edain, ú-chebin estel anim.
It means "I gave Hope to the Dúnedain; I have kept no hope for myself". She died in the year 3007, still in the north, some years before the War of the Ring.1,2
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.
- Appendices Tolkien's own appendices to The Lord of the Rings.
- Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I (v), “Here follows a part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen”
- Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, “The Third Age”