Middle Earth History: Aragorn's Biography

Aragorn had an interesting life long before the events of The Lord of the Rings. In this video I give a brief biography of this major character, including events both before and after the story we all know.

[KeldorDAntrell]

Fantastic video. I love to listen to these while doing other stuff. This one really hit the mark because last night I was watching Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring and it'd been a long time since I saw the part when the fellowship got to the Argonath and it was exactly as you said, Aragorn remarking on the colossal statues as if he was merely on a tour and had got to see something he'd always wanted to see which, like you, I felt didn't seem at all believeable for any ranger who lived in that area much less the most famous one of all. Not knowing what you know, I myself wondered who had made such things since they looked like something only the dwarves could possibly make which at once reveals a shortcoming in Jackson's decision not to offer any explanation for the audience. It may well be the case that everyone is Middle-earth knows all about the Argonath but do the viewers? How about a comment from at least Gimli to the effect that he admires the skill and technological prowess to construct such things? More importantly of course, this was the perfect opportunity to let Aragorn shine and clue the audience in a bit more about his heritage.

On the manner of Aragorn and the way everyone immediately falls to his wishes, I would suggest that he carries with him the aura of a man who was born to be king. The role-playing game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons has nicely defined the characteristics of any person into 6 categories of which the last is Charisma, which is in the intangible personal magnetism of a character and, fittingly, the character known as the Paladin, which was certainly created precisely for players who want to play a character like Aragorn, has a minimum charisma of 17 out of 18 (a score that is rolled, typically, using 3d6 i.e. 3 six sided dice). This is because the Paladin is described as a born leader of men, a character who naturally exudes such a high degree of personal magnetism that people are naturally inclined to be favourably disposed to them, to want to trust them, to want to be liked by them, and consequently inclined to obey and serve them. Obviously highly charismatic evil characters would be extremely dangerous, a real-world example being Adolf Hitler who was apparently by all accounts 'extraordinarily charming' in person, a Middle-earth example being Saruman with his dangerously hypnotic powers of persuasion.

It's of further note that the Paladin character class is one of the most demanding of all in terms of the high scores the player has to have rolled, their prime requisites being precisely what Aragorn has in spades i.e. a *minimum* Strength of 12 (which equates to 'very strong') necessary for a warrior who is to weild weapons in battle and wear armour, a min. Constitution (which is health and fitness) of 9 (average, no warrior and leader of men i.e. battle commander or war chief, could be imagined in a sickly character who easy gets out of breath); a min. Wisdom (willpower and cunning) of 13 (very good, able to assert himself over or at least withstand attempts to domineer him from other powerful figures, and able to lead his followers *well* in battle coming up with winning strategies (for what loser could convince men to follow him?)), and the aforementioned 'genius' level Charisma. Aragorn certainly has significantly higher than minimum scores in all of his prime requisites. He wouldn't have earned the name Wingfoot if he didn't have astonishing stamina (one of the two aspects of strength (the other being muscle power)), his fantastic wisdom was demonstrated numerous times especially, perhaps, when he confronted Sauron through the Palantir undaunted and uncontrolled and also when he strode fearlessly through the Paths of the Dead (and remember that he was leading others through there so he was *obliged* to show no fear for *their* benefit); and he demonstrated his wisdom in numerous ways not least with his compassionate words to Eowyn knowing that she loved him unrequited i.e. dealing with her in a way that got the best results without hurting her feelings; a lesser man might have fumbled for words and caused her extra grief and embarrassment on top of it. Furthermore, one of the special powers of the Paladin is the ability to 'Lay on Hands' once per day i.e. heal himself or others congruent with the saying in TLOTR about Aragorn that 'the hands of a king are the hands of a healer' which as we know, Aragorn demonstrated.

Yet Aragorn is also a Ranger which character class has the *most* demanding minimum scores of any in the game (min. Str. 13, min. Dexterity (balance and hand-eye coordination) 13, min. Constitution 14, min. Wisdom 14). The game allows for characters with exceptional scores to be duel classed so that the Paladin/Ranger that is Aragorn is fully possible - if one happens to generate a miraculously gifted character.
Aragorn has in fact been converted into AD&D format and he was given 18 (75) strength (the number in parentheses is out of 100 and indicates an additional category of exceptional strength only available to warriors), 16 Intelligence (memory and reasoning power, exceptional), 18 Wisdom (genius), 18 Dexterity (genius, like Robin Hood at archery etc.), 18 Constitution (genius, like Rasputin i.e. it would take a heck of a lot to kill him even if he had both hands tied behind his back), and - Surprise! Surprise! - 18 Charisma. Note that one of the main abilities of the Ranger is tracking at which Aragorn is, of course, a master, and moving silently and invisibly in cities but particularly in wilderness settings. In the book, Aragorn entered Bree by climbing unseen over the gate - something I wish Jackson has shown in his film since it better worked to build up the sense of menace in the hobbits' first encounter with him but also gave more of an insight into how rangers operate i.e. they don't protect the people for glory or reward but do so unobtrusively and humbly which is a measure of their integrity and strength of character for it is a much greater thing to do good in the service of others for the sake of goodness' sake itself than to do so in a manner that might be mistaken for self-aggrandisement.

I hope you don't mind my long comments or references to the game which TLOTR inspired but, like you, I enjoy sharing my appreciation of this book and the great characters and I also love AD&D for how it enables ordinary people to express the imagination that characters such as Aragorn inspire as well as the wonderful way it can distil down to their essentials the attributes of any great character from fiction.

[danicecreager]

Thank you for this video, and all the others. I'm still trying to get caught up. There's one thing that I still can't grasp. What is Aragorn's direct lineage to being King of Gondor, and why didn't Gondor seem to know it?

[klutttmuttsprutt]

Dúnadan maybe, if you need another name?