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Enter the Ranger  by Larner

Author’s Notes

          As a girl of thirteen I became enamored of Aragorn son of Arathorn, and I remember scouring the Appendices regarding his heritage and further word of his doings.  When my dog Jill died in childbirth, I named her puppies Thorongil and Estel after him, and as I took my turns bottle-feeding them, I murmured to them tales of the greatness of Aragorn Elessar.

          Today I love Frodo, Sam, and Gandalf equally with Aragorn.  However, Aragorn has appeared in my computer wallpapers consistently for over twenty years, and dominates my avatars.  Certainly, when I began regularly reading fanfiction, it was stories of Aragorn I tended to seek out first.  I may write mostly Frodo- and Shire-centric stories, but I still love the King of the West.

          Many of the Aragorn stories I read at first were inspired by the apparent long friendship between him and Legolas pictured in the Peter Jackson films, each one a fantastic adventure shared between Man and Elf as they met and dealt with temptresses and dark magicians, dragons and other strange creatures and individuals hidden here and there throughout Middle-earth.  It was a while before I began encountering stories focused more on Aragorn’s Dúnedain ties and his possible early interactions with his own people.  It was easy for me to realize that those who wrote the former stories tended to be movie-firsters, while those who wrote about life in the Angle were more likely to have read the books first, many of them having scoured the Appendices even as I had.  Those whose knowledge of Aragorn’s life is primarily based on the movies often do not appreciate that Aragorn had kindred from the northern kingdom who came south to join him in Rohan so as to accompany him through the Paths of the Dead, to fight with him on the fields of the Pelennor and before the Black Gate.  I’ve been in discussions with such individuals who were surprised to learn that Haldir of Lórien did not lead a troop of Elves to fight alongside Aragorn and Théoden in the Battle of Helm’s Deep.  That Aragorn had a kinsman such as Halbarad whom he apparently loved as a brother surprised them.

          One of the first writers whose works I read on Stories of Arda who explored the manner in which Aragorn possibly rejoined life in the Angle, learning how to work with his parents’ people, was Radbooks in her work Closer than Brothers.  Here Aragorn finds his return is anticipated not only by his Uncle Halhigal, who has ruled the Northern Dúnedain in his nephew’s stead since the death of Arathorn, but by all of the residents of the Angle.  Halbarad, Halhigal’s son, finds himself Aragorn’s companion and often serves to mentor his cousin in how to interact with various members of the communities amongst whom they move and work.  Much the same model has been followed in other such stories I’ve read on SoA, the Henneth Annun Story Archive (now defunct, I’m sorry to say), and elsewhere, with Aragorn serving an apprenticeship of sorts under variously named uncles, his mother’s parents Dírhael and Ivorwen, and in one memorable case his father’s mother, who was still alive and ruling the Northern Dúnedain in her grandson’s stead until he should be ready to take on the role of Chieftain in his own right.  All of these make sense—I’d considered doing such a story myself until I realized just how popular an idea it is.  I found in the end that I didn’t wish to appear to be following a well-trod path in bringing Aragorn back to the Angle. 

          So, just how else might Aragorn have returned to the Northern Dúnedain?

          He had been gone for eighteen years, being only two when he was taken to Imladris into Elrond’s keeping.  His memories of his father would be fragmentary at best, and it would be unlikely he would have had detailed knowledge of the Man’s position that would be understandable by a toddler.  So, he would probably have the strongest memories of when his father returned from the patrols and military forays he took part in, and of the greetings he gave his wife and son at such times.  Maybe there were tickle fests such as my stepdad enjoyed with us when my sister and I were little.  Perhaps there were other family rituals he shared with his father.  But such would be the basis for his memories of the time before he found himself under Elrond’s care.

          He was raised in ignorance of his future role as ruler of the Northern Dúnedain, much less the possibility that under his rule the North and South Kingdoms might be reunited for the first time in three thousand years.  Yet, when he learned the name and rank of his father and his own possible future position, he was apparently not shocked at the idea that he could possibly be the King Returned.  Perhaps the admission of his heritage and parentage simply made sense in light of the education he must have received during his formative years.  That is why they saw to it that I memorized the names and reigns of all of the Kings, Chieftains, and Ruling Stewards of Númenor, Gondor, and Arnor.  That is why I was made to learn about the battles of the Last Alliance.  That is why they have trained me in how to keep and read records and in how to write contracts.  Why they have seen me made the best swordsman in Middle Earth.  Why I know Quenya as well as Sindarin, Adûnaic, and Westron.  Why I had to learn the laws of Gondor and Arnor, and how Pelendur’s decision not to recognize the claim of Arvedui and Fíriel for the throne of Gondor is important in my own life.  Why I have been made to study heraldry, protocol, and the purposes of governance.  Why I was allowed to serve in the sick rooms from a young age, and why I learned to use my abilities in healing as well as how to recognize, harvest, process, and use herbs.  Why I have stood beside my adar during judgments and why he schooled me to look beyond the surface of complaints to the core beliefs, wants, and prejudices of the litigants so as to make judgments that are productive as well as just.  Why I studied such a deep course of history….  Now I know WHY!

          And he would now appreciate the secrecy that had surrounded him all his life.  The Enemy had been seeking to destroy the heirs of Elendil for over three millennia, after all.  He had managed to destroy the realm of Eregion and had subdued much of Middle-earth during the latter half of the Second Age, and had brought about the downfall of Pharazôn and Númenor before returning to Middle-earth to find Elendil, his sons, and many of their followers had arrived first and were carving up the western lands into new realms that reflected the ideals of Elros Tar-Minyatur and the height of the culture of the Star Isle.  How that must have galled the spirit of Sauron!  Then, to have lost his Ring to Isildur wielding the shards of Narsil?  He would have hated all of Elendil’s progeny, but would have had the greatest antipathy for the heirs of Isildur in particular.  Certainly, he and his greatest slaves and surrogates would have spent much energy seeking to blot out the lineages of the Kings of the West from throughout the lands of Middle-earth!

          Just look at what they accomplished, after all:  several lines of the Kings of Gondor ended up failing, with the previous King being succeeded by his nephew or even his brother.  Eventually Ondoher and his two sons all died in battle, and a year later Eärnil II, another descendant of Ondoher’s great-grandfather, finally succeeded him, completely ignoring the claim of Ondoher’s daughter and her husband, King Arvedui of Arnor.  Arvedui’s claim should not have been ignored, as he was the direct descendant of Elendil via Elendil’s older son, Isildur.  Ondoher and Fíriel, his daughter, were descended from Isildur’s nephew Meneldil, son of Isildur’s younger brother Anárion, with whom Isildur had shared the rule of Gondor before the deaths of Anárion and Elendil in the war of the Last Alliance.  It was Isildur who decided to set Meneldil to rule Gondor while Isildur returned northward, intending to take up his father’s role of High King of the Dúnedain of Middle-earth and specifically to take on the rule of what had been his father’s personal kingdom of Arnor. 

          Only, Isildur did not make it back to Arnor, his party being ambushed as they crossed the Gladden Fields.  He and his three older sons were all slain, along with most of their companions.  By default, Valandil, Isildur’s youngest son, still a child when the War of the Last Alliance began, became King of Arnor now that both his grandfather and father had died.  Valandil grew up in Imladris under the care of his mother and those of Elrond’s people who cared for the valley while Elrond was gone to Mordor with Elendil, his sons, and his older grandsons.  Valandil was possibly in touch with those in leadership of Arnor while the High King Elendil was gone south and east to war, but how much appreciation of Men’s issues he would have is questionable since he grew up amidst Elves.  Much the same questions may well have been present three thousand years later when it was Aragorn son of Arathorn who emerged from Elrond’s home to take up the leadership of the Northern Dúnedain.

          It might have been expected that Valandil would be recognized as High King of the Dúnedain in Middle Earth now that he’d accepted the rule of Arnor, but his cousin Meneldil wasn’t going to accept this youthful relative as being his superior.  In this way the two realms were effectively sundered.

          In Arnor the Witch-king of Angmar did his best to destroy the northern realm, eventually killing off the ruling families of Cardolan and Rhudaur, leaving one ruling family seeking to keep together the integrity of the Northern Realm.  But the direct lineage of the oldest descendants of Valandil’s progeny in Arthedain continued in spite of the ruins of the other two lands into which Arnor had been split.  Angmar may have been unable to destroy this line, but it still managed to hollow out the realm piecemeal until finally there was but a husk of the once vibrant nation remaining north of Tharbad and the Greyflood.  In the wake of the Battle of Fornost, no matter it was a victory for the Northern Dúnedain assisted by Eärnur’s troops, Arvedui’s son Aranarth refused the title of King as there was little left of a kingdom to claim as ruler, instead simply styling himself and his heirs as “Chieftains” of the surviving Northern Dúnedain until there might be sufficient acceptance that Arnor again could be recognized as a valid kingdom.

          Sauron had little recognizable influence in the attempts to destroy the rule of the two Dúnedain realms, hiding as he was in Dol Guldur in the guise of the Necromancer and leaving his Nazgul the responsibilities of inspiring and implementing his programs of death and destruction throughout the lands of the Free Peoples.  Tolkien tells us that there were times of pestilence and disease during the years of Sauron’s apparent absence.  It is likely that these were inspired by Sauron’s malevolence, an early representation of germ warfare possibly spread by animals, mosquitoes, and other pests as well as by direct contact with human carriers.  Orcs and goblins were most likely inspired to carry out attacks on Men, Elves, and Dwarves, and particularly on recognized leaders and rulers; as were dragons and other creatures of evil.  It is plain that the lineage of the Northern Kings was often targeted by assassins and orc attacks.  Arador was taken in an assault by evil creatures, and his son Arathorn II died young, even as foreseen by his bride’s parents, slain in an altercation with orcs.  It was most likely inevitable that Arathorn’s toddler son would be seen as highly vulnerable to further attacks by evil enemies, especially as it was foretold that he, if anyone, could become the King Returned at some time in his maturity.  That he would be taken into sanctuary by Elrond within the hidden realm of Imladris is understandable.

          In his Poor Richard’s Almanac, Benjamin Franklin wrote, "Three May Keep a Secret if Two are Dead."  This is a truism that has held throughout human history.  It is therefore questionable as to just how many individuals would know for certain that the child was actually alive and living in Elrond’s house.  An open secret amongst the Dúnedain that Arathorn and Gilraen’s son was growing up amongst the Elves would not likely remain a secret for eighteen years.  If Aragorn’s grandfather was known to have been taken prisoner by hill-trolls, it is far too probable that others of the Dúnedain were also likely to have suffered a similar fate, and that this intelligence would have been swiftly passed on to Sauron’s personal spies and thus the Enemy himself.

          That being a likely occurrence, then how would the child’s true situation be successfully hidden?  The best chance for young Aragorn’s survival would be for him to be believed to be dead.  We know that Arador and Arathorn died within a few years of one another, and both by enemy incursions into Dúnedain territory.  This indicates that attempts to eradicate the specific Heir of Isildur likely to be the one to actively challenge Sauron’s intended return to power were accelerating. 

          We also have reason to suspect that Sauron experimented with germ warfare as noted above.  If, under his orders, his creatures and spies were indeed seeking to actively destroy the final line of Isildur’s Heirs, the chance that attacks by orcs, trolls, wargs and the like were being backed up by the release of some epidemic likely to target particularly pregnant women and young children is high. 

          So, in my line of storytelling, while Arathorn was out on his last patrol, fighting off incursions of orcs and wargs to the east, the villages of Eriador were suffering from just such an epidemic that caused Gilraen and her young child to both fall ill and be taken to her brother’s keep to be nursed.  As Elrond’s sons arrived to bring their news of woe, little Aragorn slipped into a comatose condition, causing one of the women attending on the mother and child to run from the room with the hysterical word that the last Heir of Isildur had just died, ending the direct lineage.  Elladan and Elrohir, however, were able to rouse the child and see both mother and son set on the course of healing, but with the idea in mind that this could be the perfect means of spiriting the boy away to be raised in the relative safety of their father’s household.  For this to work, however, there must be witnesses from among his own people who knew from the beginning that Aragorn survived the coma and who would have seen him growing up within the Last Homely House.

          The number of people who would know that the current Heir of Isildur had survived would have to be small, for as stated above, the more who share a secret, the greater the risk that the secret won’t remain a secret for long.     It would make sense that whoever had been working as Arathorn’s second, particularly whoever saw to the day-to-day administration of government for the Northern Dúnedain while Arathorn was seeing to the military defense of their lands, would necessarily be one of these witnesses.  In my stories it is Gilraen’s brother Halbaleg who does this, serving as Arathorn’s Steward and administrative assistant, and it is while she and her young son are under his protection that one of the attendants has become convinced that Arathorn’s son and heir did not long survive his father.  So it is that Halbaleg and his wife Anneth are two of the witnesses to the fact that the child didn’t die after all. 

          The other witnesses intended to verify Aragorn’s survival would have to have been carefully chosen, and would have been expected to be recognized for their integrity as well as probable leadership roles amongst the Northern Dúnedain.  However, it would be more believable on the day that Aragorn returned to his people if the other witnesses weren’t also close relatives to the boy.  I indicate that Gilraen’s parents and other siblings were not among those chosen to serve as witnesses for the child’s survival.  After all, deep grief is hard to simulate and sustain over time when someone knows that the loss grieved for is not true to begin with. 

          Having supposedly died as a result of an epidemic, performing a cremation would be an acceptable means of disposing of the “body,” making it impossible to later determine that the child actually died, much less allowing anyone to establish a cause of death.  Thus it would have made it easier to have the child moved to the sanctuary offered in Rivendell without detection, and offer a plausible reason for others, over time, to question whether or not Arathorn and Gilraen’s son had actually died.  I can see at a future point in time Elrond advising Halbaleg and others among the witnesses to begin planting suggestions that Aragorn might possibly have actually lived, allowing the reality to fester as hope in the hearts of their people so that when the day came that he did return as a young Man, they would more willingly accept that they’d been duped for years, but in a good cause.

          I suggest there were seven witnesses besides his mother and the Elves of Rivendell to Aragorn’s actual survival, and that all of Mannish descent save his mother were present at the time of his return, Midsummer atop Amon Sûl.  These would serve to convince the elders of the clan of the authenticity of the young Man’s claim to be the son of Arathorn and Gilraen.  If he returned already with the plan in mind to join the next training mission for would-be Rangers of Eriador, the chances are strong that few, if any, of his fellows would have had the chance to learn that the newcomer with Elven habits and appearance was the current Heir of Isildur.  He would have to overcome natural reluctance to accept the stranger, but would not get the automatic deference usually expected to be given to someone of that august bloodline.

          In other words, this would be the first test of Aragorn’s innate wisdom and ability to plan, choosing how to return to his people by birth.

          We know that two of the innate gifts known by those of the lineage of Tar-Minyatur were the gifts of healing and foresight.  “For it is said in old lore: the hands of the King are the hands of a healer.  And so the rightful King could ever be known."  So Ioreth says in ROTK, with Gandalf responding by going to the tents of those who came to the Battle of the Pelennor via the black ships to bring back Aragorn to offer healing first to Faramir, Éowyn, and Merry, only to find himself spending most of the night alongside his Elven brothers doing what they could to ease the suffering of many injured in the battle, and particularly those who also suffered from the Black Breath.  Elrond was known for his foresight, as was true also of his wife’s mother Galadriel, she of the Mirror.  This gift was also seen in the descendants of Elendil and Isildur.  Dírhael, Gilraen’s father, was known to be descended from Aranarth son of Arvedui; his wife Ivorwen, was also apparently descended from Elendil’s heritage; and both were renowned for the foreknowledge they showed forth.  Aragorn himself spoke to Elrond based on his own foresight that the day hastened when the Lord of Imladris must leave Middle-earth, noting that the day of decision must come to Arwen as to whether she would accept the suit of this Man who had come to love her or if she would choose to sail for Elvenhome with her father.  Thus, these two gifts specifically mentioned by Tolkien have been demonstrated by Aragorn, confirming his fitness for his future role as the King Returned.

          We know that the best of the Elves possessed a special sense for the health of the lands in which they found themselves, and that they would put forth their power to assist in healing any wounds they noted in said lands.  That those mortals descended from the unions between the First- and Second-born might know an amended form of this land-sense is likely, and so I have postulated that those of the Lines of the Kings would display an awareness of the particularly strong joys and griefs of those whose lives they’d touched and that touched them in return.  So I have young Aragorn/Peredhrion feeling the execution of the Southron taken in Bree for the murder of the one who’d found an ancient golden cup.  This gift I’ve detailed particularly in The Acceptable Sacrifice as well as indicating in this story that Aragorn knows it.  I have also indicated in several of my works that Frodo also shared this gift to an extent.

          The presence of such a gift would serve to temper reactions toward the choices and actions of others.  One who knows he will feel the results of an ordered execution is thus less likely to order such a punishment without overwhelmingly good reason.  He is not likely to be harsh toward his subjects, knowing he will feel their unhappiness and the anger directed at himself.  When natural disasters fall, he most likely will do his best to help all he can so as to make his people happier and more content, and thus he will also feel more comfortable.  Such a tendency toward receptive empathy would naturally support good governance.

 *******

          Several other details in this story are inspired by other works I’ve published in the past.  The black Dúnedain of Camaloa I first wrote of in Lesser Rings.  The idea of a smaller tenth ship that was driven further south than those that managed to follow the ships of Isildur and Anárion to the mouths of Anduin was inspired by the Ethiopian Jews.  During the Diaspora, many Jews were forced into Africa west of Egypt.  There they maintained their Jewish customs and culture even as they intermarried with people native to the land in which they found themselves.  In this manner there came to be a group of Africanized Jews with black skin and other Negroid features.  When Israel was reconstituted at the end of World War II, many of the Ethiopian Jews desired to follow other Jews to become Israeli citizens.  There was a good deal of controversy regarding whether or not these were “true” Jews until DNA testing became more commonplace.  It had become common knowledge that those known as the Cohenim, those Jews descended directly from Aaron, brother to Moses and the first High Priest of the Hebrew religion, have inherited a specific marker gene.  Those of the Ethiopian Jews who consider themselves to be Cohenim also possess the same marker gene.  Knowing that the marker gene of the Cohenim is shared with these Jews who are also black has solidified their identity as being Jewish in spite of their Negroid features.

          So, why couldn’t a similar situation have happened to the Dúnedain?  Their Adûnaic would have suffered some drifting in pronunciation from that spoken in Eriador or Umbar, but would probably have been mostly understandable to other native speakers of the language.  That they maintained historical knowledge of Elendil, Isildur, and Anárion, the folly of Pharazôn and the sinking of Númenor is likely, as well as their claims of relationship with the other Dúnedain peoples of Middle-earth.  That they would accept Elessar as their High King is also probable.  Abrami’s father is featured at the end of Lesser Rings.

          The story of the love of Gilthor and Arien is outlined in The King’s Commission, in which we meet their son Gilfileg, who travels through Gondor intent on fulfilling his promise to his mother that he will visit her kindred in Dol Amroth and let them know what became of her after she ran away to seek the northern mercenary she’d come to love.  I still wish to write the detailed story of their forbidden love and how after Gilthor was sent away he managed to learn of Arien’s flight from her father’s house, and how he found her and took her back with him to the Angle.

          I’ve written a couple of stories in which Eldarion and Faramir’s son Elboron took their first missions with the Rangers of Ithilien, the first time in company with their fathers and later as Ranger trainees. 

          The idea that Aragorn was intended to be one of three sons born to Gilraen, two of whom were lost to miscarriage, first appeared in Fostering, and is mentioned in several other stories, including The Ties of Family, The Choice of Healing, and Lesser Rings.  I have been working on an AU on this topic for years, and in the last two weeks have been looking to revisit it.  Maybe it will one day get finished and posted.

          Timriol son of Findrion is familiar to those who have read of the Elf he called Morgil and that Elf’s encounter with the new Queen of Gondor.

          The idea of a separate Mannish harbor opposite Mithlond on the Firth of Lhûn has appeared also in a variety of my short stories as well as in this longer tale.  I suspect that as more Elves from Círdan’s people chose to leave Middle-earth that Men were brought in to learn the Elves’ skills at shipbuilding and navigation, and that eventually they would become the primary traders between Eriador/Arnor and the rest of Middle-earth.  But certainly ships from Dol Amroth would also make the journeys between North and South Kingdoms, which is how Eldarion and Abrami chose to make their journey northward, allowed by this means to arrive at least somewhat incognito.

 *******

          I thank all who have read this story and especially all who have made comments on it.  Aragorn’s childhood and youth remain a fascinating topic for speculation and world-building.  May we continue to find excellent tales regarding these times.





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