Aragorn
Aragorn > Aragorn
Aragorn II was an heir of Isildur and the
twenty-sixth Chieftain of the Dunedain. He was the son of Arathorn
II and Gilraen the Fair. Aragorn never really got to know his
father, for he died two years after Aragorn was born. Arathorn
went hunting for orcs one day and never returned, for he was shot
through the eye and died.
Gilraen knew if Aragorn was going to grow up to
become a great chieftain like so many of his ancestors, he would need a
father. So she took him to Imladris to be fostered by Elrond
Half-elven.
There he was named Estel, "Hope", at the bidding of
Elrond, for he was hunted by the Enemy, and his true name and lineage
could not fall into their hands.
Eighteen years after, Estel had done many good
deeds with the sons of
Elrond [Elladan and Elrohir], and Elrond was pleased. Elrond took him to his chamber
and told him of his name and who he was, and who his father was.
"Here is the ring of Barahir," Elrond said as he
gave
the token of his kinship to him. Aragorn also received the shards
of Narsil, the sword once used by Isildur to cut the One Ring from the hand
of Sauron, which had been passed down from heir to heir.
But the Sceptre of Annúminas Elrond kept, "For he
has yet to earn it."
The next day, Aragorn saw and heard what he believed
to be Luthien. "Tinuviel, Tinuviel," he called and the elf maiden
looked at him curiously. She told him she was Arwen Undomiel, daughter
of Elrond, and Aragorn believed surely that she had been locked up in
her father's chamber.
She had actually been visiting her mother's kin in Lothlorien, for her
mother was Celebrian, the daughter of the Lord and Lady of the Wood.
From then on Aragorn II loved Arwen Undomiel,
daughter of Elrond.
Elrond soon learned of this and told Aragorn that he
would not have a wife till he had earned it, for he and his mother
doubted Aragorn would ever reach so high as to receive Arwen Evenstar
as a wife. So Aragorn said farewell to his mother, Elrond, and Arwen.
For the next thirty years he worked in the cause
against Sauron, and doing so, met Gandalf the Wise, from whom he gained
much wisdom. He always went into different lands in different
names and won much renown in all his guises. He served in the
hosts of the Rohirrim and fought for the Lord of Gondor. Then he
went South-east and explored the hearts of men, good and evil, and the
devices of Sauron.
Thus he learned much, and became the most hardy of
living men, skilled in crafts and lore. He knew much of the elves
and kindled light in his eyes where few could endure.
It came to pass when Aragorn was [forty-nine] years
old that he became weary and
traveled back to Rivendell, and on his way came to Lothlorien and was
allowed entrance by the Lady Galadriel.
There she clothed him in silver and white, and
placed a gem on his brow. Then it seemed he was more than a
chieftain, yes, more than a man. He appeared to Arwen, whom he
did not know was watching him, as an Elf-Lord, and under Caras Galadon
Arwen's doom was appointed. And it soon came to pass that Aragorn had
to depart, and the two sat upon the fair hill, Cerin Amroth, at
twilight and talked of their love.
"'But neither, lady, is the Twilight for me; for I
am mortal, and if you will cleave to me, Evenstar, then the Twilight
you must also renounce'. And she stood then as still as a white tree,
looking into the West, and at last she said: 'I will cleave to you,
Dunadan, and turn from the Twilight. Yet there lies the land of
my people and the long home of all my kin'"
When Elrond learned of his daughter's decision he
was silent, and he grieved. Aragorn soon returned to Rivendell
and Elrond told him that if he were to ever receive Arwen, he would
have to become High King of both Gondor and Arnor.
Sauron grew in Barad-dur, and Aragorn went out,
while Arwen remained in Rivendell.
Aragorn returned to Rivendell every so often, and on
a time his mother, Gilraen, told him that her time to leave
Middle-earth was coming. Aragorn asked her to stay and see the light
after the darkness, but she replied, "Onen i-Estel Edain, u-chebin
estel anim" ("I gave Hope to the Dunedain, I have kept no hope for
myself") and she died the next spring.
The year then was 3007, and Aragorn had received
word from Gandalf that he might have found the One Ring and needed his
help to find Gollum, the Third Ring Bearer. In 3009 and the
following
seven years Aragorn and Gandalf searched for Gollum throughout the
Vales of
Anduin, Mirkwood, and Rhovanion without luck. Finally, in 3017,
Aragorn caught Gollum in the Dead Marshes and brought him to
Mirkwood.
A year after Gandalf returned to the Shire and
informed
Frodo that he must bear the One Ring to Rivendell, and perhaps
farther. Mirkwood was attacked and Gollum ran free again.
Aragorn II went to Bree and waited for Frodo.
Under the name "Strider" he found them and led them to Rivendell.
In this small journey, he evaded and defended the Hobbits from five
nazgul. When Frodo was wounded, Aragorn healed him as well as he
could, before handing him to Glorfindel, an Elf-lord of Rivendell.
Aragorn came to the Council of Elrond and Legolas
exclaimed that he was Aragorn II, Heir of Isildur [Legolas states this in the movie version for greater conflict. In the book, The Fellowship of the Ring, Elrond answers Boromir's question about who Aragorn is.] Aragorn joined The
Fellowship of the Ring, and helped with his sword and his great wisdom
and lore.
When Gandalf fell into the pits of Moria, Aragorn
led the Fellowship to Lothlorien, and was welcomed.
When Boromir was slain by orcs, Aragorn took an oath
to not fail the people and kingdom of Gondor, and pursued the orcs in
the evening with Legolas and Gimli to save Merry and Pippin. It
was Aragorn who found the first clues to which direction the orcs went,
and without his great tracking abilities, the remaining Fellowship
would have never gotten as far as they did. They soon came upon a
host of Rohirrim, and Aragorn met Eomer, Third Marshall of the Mark,
for the first time. Eomer became a good friend to Aragorn, and
they fought bravely together at the Battle of Hornburg.
Soon Aragorn made it to Isengard with Legolas,
Gimli, Eomer, Gandalf, Theoden, and the large army of Rohan.
There he found it had been torn apart by the Ents, and he was greeted
merrily by Pippin and Merry, instigators of the attack.
Pippin
rode to Gondor after he talked with Sauron through the Palantir, but
Merry and Theoden and the rest of Rohan's army went back to Edoras.
Aragorn, being advised to hurry by a message from
Elrond delivered by a host of 30 Dunadain plus Elrohir and
Elladan, sons of Elrond, took the quicker Paths of the Dead. There he
found many dead men who followed him, for he was the Heir of Isildur,
the one they betrayed so many years before, and redemption required
they help Aragorn. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and the Dunadain came
upon the ships of the Corsairs, sailing to Minas Tirith to aid the evil
army of the Enemy. He assailed it with the help of those who had
come with him
and the dead men. He took men from that part of Gondor with him
and sailed to Minas Tirith.
At first it seemed to the soldiers of Gondor that
reinforcements from Umbar had anchored and were coming to help the
Enemy's forces, and if that were the case, Gondor would have certainly
lost Minas Tirith, and soon the rest of their land. But Aragorn
and his followers came out and slew many orcs, easterlings,
haradrim, corsairs and southrons.
The King Elessar had returned.
He marched to the Black Gate, and there he fought in
the last battle of the War of the Ring, distracting Sauron from the
potentially lethal thrust by Frodo.
Just when the forces of Good were about to lose,
Gollum fell into the Cracks of Mount Doom with the One Ring around
Frodo's bitten-off finger in his hand. Confusion took over
everyone in Mordor.
Sauron was vanquished and Aragorn became the King of
Arnor and Gondor. The Shire, he permitted only Hobbits to dwell
in, and he and his wife, Arwen Undomiel, lived happily as King and
Queen, till the end of their days.
References: The Fellowship of the
Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King
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