Aragorn and Sleep

Arnthro

Active Member
I know it doesn't mater in the bigger picture, but it's fun to contemplate and Tolkien does bring up the function of sleeping or lack thereof from time to time..... so....

Oh, this very likely has been brought up already, I'm not claiming this notion as mine own by any means :)


Because Dunedain retain their youth and live longer, etc. etc. do they simply not need to sleep as often due to their physical makeup? Being related, do the Dunedain have something similar to the dream like sleep state of the Elves?
 
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Just saw this, and it's an interesting question. In class, Corey has rejected the notion that Aragorn may be able to have walking dreams like the Elves do, through his distant elf heritage as a Numenorian. However, I wonder if his ancestry might make him more susceptible to such a state, and he could have picked up the trick from being brought up by the Elves of Rivendell.
 
I suspect he's a very light sleeper, and can go long periods with sleeping very lightly. Anyone with a sick newborn knows what it's like to sleep very lightly, with the slightest change in breathing causing mom or dad to spring awake. That can continue only so long, and even Aragorn's fatigue catches up with him in Helm's Deep, almost fatally.
 
Aragorn is a physically superior specimen compared to other Men of Middle-earth; I really see no issue with him simply needing less sleep than the others. In addition, as Croaker mentions, he might be a light sleeper when he does sleep, so he awakens more quickly than his companions.
 
I don't see any issue either at all...I was just bringing it up to contemplate the possible connection with Aragorn's Elvish lineage
 
This topic was actually brought up last night...and NOT by me!! (again, I'm Bilanxmond on discord)....and...again...I do not see any issue with Aragorn and sleep....I only brought it up as a curiosity.

Personally the function of sleep as a routine act similar to a bio break doesn't need to be included in stories. Dreams of course are another story.

I digress...somewhere someone did the math and it is something silly like 0.0000001% of elven blood in Aragorn. It is there. But hardly something to attribute to his ability to stay awake or have some sort of similar dream like state like the elves. Just thought I'd mention it.
 
Just saw this, and it's an interesting question. In class, Corey has rejected the notion that Aragorn may be able to have walking dreams like the Elves do, through his distant elf heritage as a Numenorian. However, I wonder if his ancestry might make him more susceptible to such a state, and he could have picked up the trick from being brought up by the Elves of Rivendell.

I was thinking similarly as I was just reading the Houses of Healing in ROTK, and Aragorn wishes he had Elrond with him, whose skill is so much greater. It made me think how Aragorn learned his skills in healing. Yes, he IS the king to be, and the hands of a king are the hands of a healer, but it cant be a just like that sort of thing. I cant help but think that someone who grew up in Rivendell had to have both learned things as well as been taught things.
 
I'm laughing at, ...yes at..., myself because months ago Lincoln stated what Prof. reiterated a couple classes ago to what I then re-restated unnecessarily, having liked and then apparently immediately forgetting Lincoln's aforementioned comment. Oh man.
 
Denethor and Faramir, too, operate well on less than normal sleep when the going gets tough. It's probably a Numenorian thing.
 
Aragorn's sleep patterns might come from Tolkien's time as a soldier, where sack time can be a rare commodity. Soldiers learn to nap in the most surprising circumstances, even while marching. All those little 30-second catnaps count in clearing lactic acid from the brain.

Even Thomas Edison was like that. He had a padded bench in his workshop where he would take catnaps all through the day and night, never sleeping for long periods in bed.
 
Denethor and Faramir, too, operate well on less than normal sleep when the going gets tough. It's probably a Numenorian thing.
We never know if they or Aragorn operate well without sleep. They might have made better disisions with a "normal" amount of sleep.
Aragorn himself thinks "all his disisions have gone wrong" up until the breaking of the fellowship
 
I don't have the books handy, but I recall at least once in the Two Towers (during the chase to Isengard) when Aragorn threw himself down on the ground and fell asleep instantly. Not sure how that fits in with this discussion; maybe that Aragorn is an efficient sleeper, able to control when he falls asleep and maybe when he wakes up as well.
 
I don't have the books handy, but I recall at least once in the Two Towers (during the chase to Isengard) when Aragorn threw himself down on the ground and fell asleep instantly. Not sure how that fits in with this discussion; maybe that Aragorn is an efficient sleeper, able to control when he falls asleep and maybe when he wakes up as well.
He's running on fumes is what it is
 
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