Aragorn's Ancestry

Nathan Dessonville

Nathan Dessonville

New Member
How meaningful would the revelation of Aragorn's ancestry be to the original reading audience? There certainly are references throughout the first book to the men of Numenor and the Kingdom of Arnor, but I think it is subtle enough that Tolkien's first time LOTR readers wouldn't catch on. I suppose that Frodo's reaction of awe would still be enough for the reader to know that it is SOMETHING important, even if they don't know what's going on.

For that matter, how much would the hobbits (besides Frodo) know of the lore of the northern kingdom and Numenor?
 
Numenor may not mean much particularly, but I think it's less about what he's heir to, and more the fact that this rascally ranger is actually a king!
 
JJ48 said:
Numenor may not mean much particularly, but I think it's less about what he's heir to, and more the fact that this rascally ranger is actually a king!
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Technically, he’s only a chieftain for most of the story. Even when they get to Minas Tirith he doesn’t claim the right of succession straight away. That humility probably goes a long way to moderating any realization on the part of others.
I think one part of the corruption of Denethor through the Palantir would include bolstering the fear that some ragtag chieftain from the North would come and arrogantly claim the throne and that Gondor would lose its shine and glory in the process.
If Denethor had met Aragorn (at least openly announced) he might have been more accepting of the situation, but we can’t know as we never see him pre-corruption, and the descriptions of him from others tend to focus on his pride and that he keeps his own counsel, so he seems unlikely to have been pleased at his legacy being “usurped”
 
Anthony Lawther said:
If Denethor had met Aragorn (at least openly announced) he might have been more accepting of the situation, but we can’t know as we never see him pre-corruption, and the descriptions of him from others tend to focus on his pride and that he keeps his own counsel, so he seems unlikely to have been pleased at his legacy being “usurped”
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I tend to think that if they had met, and Denethor recognised his old rival Thorongil, things wouldn't have gone much better…
 
Anthony Lawther said:
Technically, he’s only a chieftain for most of the story. Even when they get to Minas Tirith he doesn’t claim the right of succession straight away. That humility probably goes a long way to moderating any realization on the part of others.
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As far as position and authority, he's not technically a king, but he exhibits all the traits one would expect of a king in his inner being.
 
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