Τρίτη 16 Δεκεμβρίου 2008

HEROES OF TOLKIEN-ARAGORN'S FRAME Part 5

Sorry for being so horribly late to upload but I have to read for school.
So here we are with the portrait of who else but Aragorn? :).
Aragorn is also known as Strider. he was born on March 1 in 2931 of the Third Age, the son of Arathorn the Second and his wife Gilraen.Through his ancestor Elendil (whom he closely resembled), Aragorn was a descendant of Elros Tar-Minyatur , Lord Elrond's Half-Elven twin brother and the first king of Númenor. Aragorn is descended from both of Elendil's sons, from Isildur through Arvendui, last King of Arthendain, and from Anarion through Arvedui's wife Firiel.
When Aragorn was only two years old, his father was killed while pursuing Orcs. Aragorn was afterwards fostered in Rivendell (Imlandris in the Elvish tongue) by Elrond. After his mother's request, his lineage was kept secret, as she feared that he would possibly be killed like both his father and grandfather
if his true identity as the descendant of Elendil and Heir of Isildur became known. Aragorn was renamed Estel and was not told about his heritage and his "burden" until he came of age in 2951.Elrond revealed to "Estel" (which means "Hope" in the Sindarin tongue) his true name and ancestry when he came of age, and delivered to him the shards of Elendil's sword, Narsil, (the legendary sword that deprived Sauron of the One Ring and its power) and the Ring of Barahir. He withheld the Sceptre of Annuminas from him until he "came of the right" to possess it. It was also around this time that Aragorn met and fell in love with Arwen, Elrond's daughter, who had newly returned from her mother's homeland of Lorien.
Aragorn thereafter assumed his proper role as the sixteenth Chieftain of the Dunedain, the Rangers of the North, and went into the wild, where lived the remnants of his people, whose kingdom had been destroyed through civil and regional wars centuries before.
Aragorn met Gandalf the Grey (Mithrandir in the elven tongue) in 2956, and they became close friends. At Gandalf's advice he and his followers began to guard a small land known as the Shire , inhabited by the diminutive Hobbits, and he became known among the peoples just outside the Shire's borders as Strider.
From 2957 to 2980, Aragorn undertook great journeys, serving in the armies of King Thengel of Rohan , and Steward Ecthelion II of Gondor. Many of his tasks helped to raise morale in the West and counter the growing threat of Sauron and his allies, and he acquired invaluable experience which he would later put to use in the War of the Ring. Aragorn served his lords in disguise and his name in Gondor and Rohan during that time was Thorongil (Eagle of the Star). With a small Gondorian squadron of ships, he led an assault on the long-standing rebel province of Umbar in 2980, burning many of the Corsairs' ships and personally slaying their lord during the battle on the Havens. After the victory at Umbar, "Thorongil" left the field and to the dismay of his men, went East.
Later in 2980, he visited Lórien, and there once again met Arwen. He gave her the heirloom of his House, the Ring of Barahir, and, on the hill of Cerin Amroth, Arwen pledged her hand to him in marriage, renouncing her Elvish lineage and accepting the Gift of Men: death.
Elrond withheld from Aragorn permission to marry his daughter until such time as his foster son should be king of both Gondor and Arnor. To Elrond's as well as Aragorn's knowledge, in order to marry a mortal his daughter would be required to choose mortality, and thus deprive the deathless Elrond of his daughter while the world lasted. Elrond was also concerned for Arwen's own happiness, fearing that in the end she might find death (her own and that of her beloved) too difficult to bear.
Before the events of The Lord of the Rings proper take place, Aragorn also travelled through the Darwen mines of Moria, and to Harad (where wild people lived).
Tolkien gives a brief but detailed description of Aragorn in The Fellowship of the Ring: lean, dark and tall, with shaggy dark hair "flecked with grey", grey eyes, and a stern pale face. In "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" in the Appendices, he was said to be often grim and sad, with unexpected moments of levity. Some time after the publication of the books, Tolkien wrote that he was 1.98 m tall.
Aragorn possessed Elven wisdom due to his childhood in Rivendell with Elrond and the foresight of the Dúnedain. He was a skilled healer, notably with the plant Athelas (also known as Kingsfoil). He was also a mighty warrior and an unmatched commander; after the Battle of the Pelennor Field, he, Eomer and Imrahil were said to be left unscathed, even though they had been in the thick of the fighting. Due to his position as Isildur's heir, Aragorn had impressive powers for a Man, and, as the rightful owner of the Palantiri could use the Orthanc stone unhampered by Sauron.
Though there is no indication of him ever doubting his role and destiny as one of the leaders of the war against Sauron and the future king of the Reunited Kingdom he was not immune to self-doubt, as he doubted the wisdom of his decisions while leading the Fellowship after the fall of Gandalf in Moria, and blamed himself for many of their subsequent misfortunes.
On one occasion, his pride (or reverence for his heritage) led to complications, as he refused to disarm and leave his sword Andúril (a priceless heirloom of Númenor and one of the weapons which slew Sauron) at the door of Edoras, as Théoden had required, and only did so after Gandalf left his own sword (also of high lineage) behind. Even so, he swore that death would come to anyone else who touched it (whether by his own hand or by some magic is left unsaid).
Aragorn, son of Arathorn was called the Dúnadan ("Man of the West/Numenorian", given by Bilbo in Rivendell), Longshanks (given by Bill Ferny in Bree), Strider, called so by Butterbur, and Wingfoot (given by Eomer after discovering that Aragorn had travelled forty-five leagues in four days in pursuit of Pippin, Merry, and their Uruk-hai captors). He was the founder of the House of Telcontar (Telcontar is "Strider" in Quenya, after the mistrustful nickname given him by the rustics of the North), which ruled Gondor well into the Fourth Age of Middle-earth; in records, his full ruling name is given as Elessar Telcontar ("Elfstone Strider"). Envinyatar (meaning "the renewer") is another name by which he referred to himself when he claimed the elfstone. He was known as Estel ("hope") to protect his true lineage from the Enemy when they were seeking the heir of Isildur. He was also known as Thorongil ("Eagle of the Star") in his younger days when he travelled around Middle-earth and performed services in Rohan and Gondor often by protecting camps and raiding enemy strongholds like he did when he crossed the Corsairs of Umbar. Initially it is said that Aragorn's forefathers were the exiles of Númenor who ruled over the people of Ond (early name of Gondor), but were driven out by the Wizard King"when Sauron raised a rebellion".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.
One significant feature which was not established until late stages was Aragorn's relationship with Arwen. When Tolkien first introduced Éowyn, the interest which 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 done soon, that Éowyn would die to save or avenge Théoden, and Aragorn would never marry after her death.
Arangorn is an extremely complex character. He is a combination of everything worthy uppon Middle-Earth at that time. He is valiant, trustworthy, wise and smart. He leads one of the most basic roles in the History of Middle-Earth and he becomes immediately beloved even by his very first appearance in the story of the Ring!

Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια: