Aragorn

In Tolkien's legendarium, the son of Arathorn II and his wife Gilraen, Aragorn was born on 1 'March', T.A. 2931.[T 1] Through his ancestor Elendil (whom he closely resembled)[T 2] Aragorn was a descendant of the first king of Númenor, Elros Tar-Minyatur; the twin brother of Elrond.

When Aragorn was two years old, his father was killed while pursuing orcs. Aragorn was afterwards fostered in Rivendell by Elrond. 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. He was not told about his heritage until he came of age in 2951.[T 1]

Elrond revealed to Aragorn his true name and ancestry, and delivered to him the shards of Elendil's sword Narsil, and also the Ring of Barahir. He withheld the Sceptre of Annúminas from him until he earned the right to possess it. Aragorn met and fell in love with Arwen, Elrond's daughter (whom he mistook for Lúthien), when she returned from Lothlórien, her mother's homeland.[T 1]

Aragorn thereafter assumed his role as the sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain, the Rangers of the North, and went into the wild, living with the remnants of his people, whose kingdom had been destroyed through civil and regional wars centuries before.[T 1]

Aragorn met Gandalf the Grey in 2956, and they became close friends.[T 1] The Rangers help to guard the Shire, inhabited by the diminutive, agrarian Hobbits. He became known as "Strider" in the areas around the Shire and Bree.[T 3]

From 2957 to 2980, Aragorn undertook great journeys, serving in the armies of King Thengel of Rohan (King Théoden's father) and of Steward Ecthelion II of Gondor (father of Denethor). 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. Aragorn served his lords during that time under the name Thorongil (Eagle of the Star). With a small squadron of ships from Gondor, he led an assault on Umbar in 2980, burning many of the Corsairs' ships and personally slaying their lord during the Battle of the Havens. After the victory at Umbar, "Thorongil" left the field, to the dismay of his men, and went East.[T 1]

Aragorn also travelled through the Dwarves' mines of Moria and to Rhûn and Harad, where (in his own words) "the stars are strange".

In 2980, he visited Lórien, and there again met Arwen. He gave her an heirloom of his House, the Ring of Barahir,[T 4] and, 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 such time as his foster son should be king of Gondor and Arnor reunited. To marry a mortal, Arwen would be required to choose mortality and thus eventually separate the immortal Elrond from his daughter; and Elrond feared that in the end Arwen might find the prospect of death too difficult to bear.[T 1]

Gandalf grew suspicious of the ring belonging to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, which was later discovered to be Sauron's One Ring.[T 5] Gandalf asked Aragorn to track Gollum, who had previously possessed the Ring. This hunt led Aragorn across Rhovanion, and he finally captured Gollum in the Dead Marshes northwest of Mordor and brought him captive to King Thranduil’s halls in Mirkwood, where Gandalf questioned him.[T 6]

Aragorn joins Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's adopted heir, and three of Frodo's friends at the Inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree; a letter from Gandalf convinces Frodo to trust Aragorn. The four hobbits have set out from the Shire to bring the One Ring to Rivendell. Aragorn, going by the nickname "Strider", was then 87-years-old, nearing the prime of life for one of Númenórean descent. With Aragorn's help the Hobbits escape the pursuing Nazgûl and reach Rivendell. There, Frodo volunteers to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, and Aragorn is chosen as a member of the Fellowship of the Ring to accompany him, along with Gandalf, Legolas the elf, Gimli the dwarf, Boromir of Gondor, and the hobbits Pippin, Merry, and Frodo's faithful gardener Samwise Gamgee. Elven-smiths reforge 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 renames the sword Andúril.[T 7]

Aragorn accompanies the group through their attempt to cross the pass of Caradhras, and subsequently through the mines of Moria. After Gandalf is killed in a battle with a Balrog, Aragorn leads the company to Lothlórien and then down the river Anduin to the Falls of Rauros. He planned to go to Gondor to aid its people in the war, but after the loss of Gandalf he becomes increasingly concerned about his responsibilities to Frodo and the quest.[T 7]

The Fellowship then quickly falls apart: Frodo has decided to continue his journey accompanied only by Sam. Boromir is killed while defending Merry and Pippin, who are captured by orcs. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (calling themselves the Three Hunters) set off to track the Uruk-hai, hoping to rescue Merry and Pippin. They encounter Éomer, who is pursuing rumours of an orc raid in the area. From Éomer, Aragorn learns that the orcs who kidnapped Merry and Pippin had been slaughtered, and that no hobbits were found among the remains. Dejected, he leads Legolas and Gimli to the site of the battle. Clues lead Aragorn to believe that the hobbits are still alive, prompting him to lead the party into Fangorn Forest. They find not the hobbits, but Gandalf the White (whom they initially mistake for Saruman), sent back from death to continue his duties in Middle-earth. Gandalf tells them that the hobbits are in the care of the Ents of Fangorn.

Together, the four traveled to Edoras in Rohan, where Gandalf frees Théoden from Saruman's enchantment and helps him muster the Rohirrim against Saruman.[T 8] Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli then help the people of Rohan at the Battle of the Hornburg, in which Saruman's army of Uruk-hai is destroyed.[T 9]

Aragorn uses a palantír to reveal himself to Sauron as the heir of Isildur, so as to distract Sauron's attention from Frodo, who is approaching Mordor, and to draw Sauron's forces out of Mordor.[T 10] Sauron subsequently makes his assault on Minas Tirith prematurely and without adequate preparation. In order to reach the city in time to defend it, Aragorn enters the Paths of the Dead, and summons the Dead Men of Dunharrow to the Stone of Erech. The Dead Men owe allegiance Aragorn as the heir of Isildur; it had been prophesied by Isildur and Malbeth the Seer that the Dead would be summoned to pay their debt for betraying Gondor millennia before. With their aid the Corsairs of Umbar are defeated at the port of Pelargir; Aragorn then releases the oathbreakers from their long subjection to Isildur's curse, and uses the Corsairs' ships to sail up the Anduin to Minas Tirith with a small force of Rangers and a large contingent of men and soldiers from the southern regions of Gondor. As they approach Minas Tirith, Aragorn unfurls the royal standard that Arwen has 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 rally and defeat Sauron's army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.[T 11]

To continue to distract Sauron's attention from Frodo's quest, Aragorn leads the armies of the West to the gates of Mordor, where Sauron attacks with overwhelming force. But at that moment the Ring is destroyed, and Sauron and his forces are vanquished.[T 11]

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, had been left unclaimed for centuries. Although Isildur and his brother Anárion had ruled Gondor jointly, the royal house of Gondor descended from Anárion and not from Isildur. After Isildur's departure, Meneldil, son of Anárion, ruled Gondor alone, although the formal title of High King remained with the northern line, as Isildur was Elendil's elder son. When Gondor's throne became vacant in T.A. 1944, the separation of the kingdoms had been reinforced when Gondor under Steward Pelendur rejected the claim of the northern prince Arvedui. (Eärnil, a lateral member of the House of Anárion, was eventually chosen king instead.) But Arvedui's wife was also of the House of Anárion, so Aragorn descended not only from Elendil and Isildur but also from the ruling family of Gondor. By the time of the Lord of the Rings, however, Gondor had been under the rule of the Stewards of Gondor for centuries, as it was widely doubted that any of the royal line still lived.[T 1]

In The Return of the King, the Steward Denethor, who years before had seen "Thorongil" as a rival for his father's favour, declared that he would not bow to a descendant of Isildur. Aragorn healed Faramir, Denethor's heir, who had been expected to die; Faramir, unlike his father, recognized Aragorn as his lord and the rightful heir to the throne. Aragorn's humility and self-sacrifice gained him the hearts of the inhabitants of Gondor's capital city. His healing abilities were noted also by the people of Gondor: 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 Aragorn as King that same evening.[T 11]

Despite his immediate success and popularity, however, 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.[T 11]

In order to ensure safe passage across Mordor for Frodo to fulfil his quest, Aragorn led the Army of the West from Minas Tirith to make a diversionary feint on the Black Gate of Mordor 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.[T 11]

Upon Sauron's defeat, Aragorn was crowned as King Elessar (a Quenya name given to him by Galadriel, translated as Elfstone), and he married Arwen soon thereafter. He became the twenty-sixth King of Arnor, thirty-fifth King of Gondor, and the first High King of the Reunited Kingdom. His line was called the House of Telcontar (Quenya for "Strider": his name in Bree). The Appendices of Return of the King explain that 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[T 4] years as king. The graves of Merry and Pippin (who had died in Gondor 58 years prior) were set beside his. He was succeeded on the throne by his son, Eldarion. Arwen, gravely saddened by the loss of her husband, gave up her mortal life shortly afterward in Lothlórien. Arwen and Aragorn also had at least two daughters. Upon hearing of Aragorn's death, Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien and sailed to the Undying Lands along with Gimli: "And when that ship passed, an end was come in Middle-earth of the Fellowship of the Ring."[T 1]

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 also 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.[T 16]

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).[T 17] The latter suggestion was linked to an early comment of Bingo: "I keep on feeling that I have seen him somewhere before".[T 18] Tolkien considered that Trotter might be Bilbo Baggins himself, but soon rejected that idea after Aragorn identified himself.[T 17]

Another suggestion was that Trotter was Fosco Took (Bilbo's first cousin), who "vanished when a lad, owing to Gandalf".[T 17] 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,[T 19] 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.[T 20]

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".[T 21]

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".[T 21] While the history of Númenor and the descendants of Elros and Elendil was not yet fully developed, the germs of it were in existence, and would come to be connected with The Lord of the Rings as the character of Aragorn developed.

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 "when Sauron raised a rebellion".[T 22] 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.[T 23]

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.[T 24]

The first mention of Elrond's daughter, named Finduilas, was made in reference to the banner she made for Aragorn,[T 25] but Tolkien did not give any hint whether she had any further part to play. The references to her marriage with Aragorn came later,[T 26] but it was explicitly stated only near the completion of the book.[T 27] Only in his work on the appendices for The Lord of the Rings did Tolkien record the full Tale of Aragorn and Arwen.[T 28]

A passing idea was that Galadriel gave her Ring to Aragorn, and that he would accordingly be titled the "Lord of the Ring".[T 26]

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).[T 29] Before the later title "the Dúnadan" emerged, Tarkil (Quenya for 'noble Man') was used, as a synonym for Númenórean.[T 30]

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 does not suit a Man, and thus altered it from Aragorn via Elfstone to Ingold, an Old English name with ing- representing "west". Later, however, a new plot element was introduced: Galadriel's gift of a green stone, and Tolkien reverted to Elfstone in order to make an additional connection.[T 31] This was retained into the final version of the legendarium as a translation of Elessar.

Among other names Tolkien considered Elfstan, Elfmere, Elf-friend, Elfspear, Elfwold and Erkenbrand, with various 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; Elfhelm and Eldakar with Elfstone and Eldamir; and Ingrim with Ingold.[T 31]

Max Adams suggested that Tolkien based Aragorn on the saint and king Oswald of Northumbria.

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, and who returned years later with a raised army of Anglian exiles and retook his kingdom slaying Cadwallon in the process.[5]

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".[6][7] 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, paralleling Aragorn's gathering of the Oathbreakers at the Stone of the Dead, and defeating the Danes at the Battle of Edington.[8]

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.[9] It has been suggested that some of the Christian themes extrapolated from Tolkien's work were not intentional, but result from the interplay between the background he grew up in and the myths that inspired him.[10] However, aspects of Aragorn's character - his ability to heal, his sacrificial journey, his experiences with death and the dead - have long been seen as clues to overt Messianic overtones.[11][4]

The Tolkien critic 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, even, like Bilbo, "Ironic". But Aragorn, he states, while not being a "Mythic" figure, is superior to his environment, pointing out that he can run 135 miles in three days, and lives "in full vigour" for over 200 years. This puts him in Frye's "Romantic" mode. Tolkien does come close to myth, Shippey suggests, as 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, he writes, a crowing cock signalled the Resurrection to Simon Peter in the Bible.[12]

Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi’s animated version of The Lord of the Rings

Aragorn was voiced by John Hurt in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film version of The Lord of the Rings. Bakshi's Aragorn, unlike all other portrayals that were to follow to date, has no beard. This actually conforms to a statement appearing in Unfinished Tales that implicitly says that Aragorn was not supposed to have one, due to his Elvish ancestry (Elves did not grow beards).[lower-alpha 1] However, Tolkien actually wrote elsewhere that Elves did have beards; in The Lord of the Rings itself Círdan is described as having a beard.[T 32] Some viewers and critics have also said that this version of Aragorn looks Native American.[13][14][15]

Aragorn in the Rankin/Bass animated production of The Return of the King

Aragorn was voiced 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.

Viggo Mortensen gave an outstanding[16] performance as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

In the Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) directed by Peter Jackson, Aragorn is played by Danish-American actor Viggo Mortensen who took over the role from Stuart Townsend after four days of shooting because Jackson felt Townsend was too young for the role. In these movies, Aragorn begins his journey with the Fellowship with no desire to claim the kingship; he only arrives at such a decision in the third film after spending much time battling his own self-doubt. This specific element of self-doubt is not present in Tolkien's book, where Aragorn intends to claim the throne from the time he enters the story, with the additional motivation that he must do so to marry Arwen. Another notable difference in Jackson's films is that Aragorn does not at first wield Andúril. Instead he uses a different, unnamed sword throughout the first two films and receives his ancestor's reforged sword in the third film. Mortensen's portrayal of Aragorn won him the title of 15th greatest movie characters of all time (in 2015) by Empire.[16]

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.[17]

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."[18]

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.[19] In the London production the role was played by Jérôme Pradon, and the role was taken over by Robbie Scotcher on 23 June 2008. In the United States, Aragorn was portrayed by Josh Beshears in the Cincinnati, Ohio production of The Return of the King (2003) for Clear Stage Cincinnati. At Chicago's Lifeline Theatre, Aragorn was played by Robert McLean in the 1999 production of The Two Towers and the 2001 production of The Return of the King.

In the parody Bored of the Rings, Aragorn is portrayed as 'Arrowroot son of Arrowshirt' and nicknamed 'Stomper' and is quite deranged. He is also rather inept at actual fighting and disables an entire battalion of 'Nozdrul' simply with his combative ineptitude and random shouting of nonsensical battle-cries (which induces uncontrollable laughter and allows the group to successfully disable the Nozdrul while they are incapacitated with hysteria).[20]

This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.