Lincoln Alpern
Active Member
A conversation with Ambrosius Aurelianus during last night's episode recording (Session 138) led me to a realization about the Aragorn poem. I hope you'll indulge me recapping the thought process that brought me to this new understanding.
We were discussing the final line, "The crownless again shall be king," and in the course of our conversation, it became clear this has two possible interpretations:
1): as has happened before, somebody who never had a crown will ascend to kingship;
2): somebody who previously lost a crown will regain their kingship;
Up until last night, the first interpretation had never occurred to me. I've always taken "again" to imply reclaiming, rather than a recapitulation of events that have transpired previously. I've always taken interpretation 2) for granted.
Hold on, how does that make sense? Aragorn didn't lose the Crown of Gondor, he never had it. This interpretation only works if we take the noun "crownless" to mean the Dunedain, the line of Isildur, as a whole; they were once kings, are now crownless, but will be kings once again.
Except, the line says "king" singular, not plural. Nor does it say "again shall rule," or something else that implies a group of people. I think the use of a singular noun here is not just a matter of "king" making the best rhyme. The whole point of the poem is that it's meant for Aragorn specifically, not a generic Dunedain.
How, then do I reconcile interpretation 2)? Here comes the new insight: the poem is about Aragorn, but it's not just about Aragorn. It's about Aragorn as the restoration of the Dunedain as a whole. His ascension to kingship is not solely a victory for Aragorn the individual, the poem tells us: it's also the validation of the line of Isildur, from Valandil down to Arathorn. Aragorn will be the one to reclaim the kingship, but when he does so, it will not be for his own sake, but for the sake of all the heirs of Isildur, past and future.
(Without venturing into outright allegory, there's probably a lot of metaphorical insight to be gained from comparing this facet of Aragorn's story with the return of Christ, but it'll take someone with more knowledge of and a better head for theology than myself to tease that out.)
We were discussing the final line, "The crownless again shall be king," and in the course of our conversation, it became clear this has two possible interpretations:
1): as has happened before, somebody who never had a crown will ascend to kingship;
2): somebody who previously lost a crown will regain their kingship;
Up until last night, the first interpretation had never occurred to me. I've always taken "again" to imply reclaiming, rather than a recapitulation of events that have transpired previously. I've always taken interpretation 2) for granted.
Hold on, how does that make sense? Aragorn didn't lose the Crown of Gondor, he never had it. This interpretation only works if we take the noun "crownless" to mean the Dunedain, the line of Isildur, as a whole; they were once kings, are now crownless, but will be kings once again.
Except, the line says "king" singular, not plural. Nor does it say "again shall rule," or something else that implies a group of people. I think the use of a singular noun here is not just a matter of "king" making the best rhyme. The whole point of the poem is that it's meant for Aragorn specifically, not a generic Dunedain.
How, then do I reconcile interpretation 2)? Here comes the new insight: the poem is about Aragorn, but it's not just about Aragorn. It's about Aragorn as the restoration of the Dunedain as a whole. His ascension to kingship is not solely a victory for Aragorn the individual, the poem tells us: it's also the validation of the line of Isildur, from Valandil down to Arathorn. Aragorn will be the one to reclaim the kingship, but when he does so, it will not be for his own sake, but for the sake of all the heirs of Isildur, past and future.
(Without venturing into outright allegory, there's probably a lot of metaphorical insight to be gained from comparing this facet of Aragorn's story with the return of Christ, but it'll take someone with more knowledge of and a better head for theology than myself to tease that out.)
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