Master of Middle Earth (20 page)

After their escape
from Moria, for all the survivors of the Company Lórien is a timeless land of
rest, which yet harbors secret tests of purity of heart. One can find himself
there, like Gimli, or lose himself, like Boromir. But Aragorn alone has passed
that way before. There, years ago, he and Arwen plighted their troth, standing
on the grave mound of King Amroth, who died for hopeless love, rejecting in
favor of mortal life both the Shadow of Sauron in the East and the everlasting
twilight of the elven lands in the West. Frodo sees Aragorn standing quietly,
remembering her, "and he seemed clothed in white, a young lord tall and
fair; and he spoke words in the Elvish tongue to one whom Frodo could not see.
Arwen vanimelda, namárië!
he said . . ." And to Frodo smiling: ".
. . here my heart dwells ever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads
that we must still tread, you and I."

The loss of
Gandalf has left Aragorn as head of the Fellowship, but it is a tenuous
headship that is limited by the free choices of its members and exercisable
only by persuasion, if at all. He has acquitted himself well at the crisis
caused by Gimli's absolute refusal to be blindfolded on entering the woods of
Lórien. His statesmanlike solution of putting them all on an equal footing by
asking that all be blindfolded has pacified the dwarf's stubborn pride. A man
who can bring this off will make a fair and wise king. He is bound by Elrond's
instructions, however, not to try to order what each person will do next for
the future of the Quest. Boromir clearly is still going to Minas Tirith. But
Aragorn himself can no longer say with his first happy assurance that he is
going with Boromir, as at heart he still longs to do. Gandalf is not there to
go with the Ring-bearer, as Aragorn suspects he would have done. Must Aragorn
now take his place, or is his first duty still to his city of Minas Tirith? He
rather inclines to interpret the prophecy of the dream to mean the latter. Of
course, Frodo may decide to approach Mordor either directly from the north or
indirectly through Minas Tirith from the west. If from the west, there is no
problem until Frodo leaves the city, and meantime Aragorn can proceed there
with a clear conscience. But Frodo has expressed no preference, and Aragorn
cannot escape the feeling that the Ring-bearer must be left to make up his own
mind. Should not Aragorn at least offer the best advice he can, though? And has
he not some obligations now to the others who compose the Company? They also are
undecided, and such indications as they give show that they are divided.

Accordingly, when
asked by Celeborn during their farewells whether they are all going with
Boromir,

Aragorn can only
answer, "We have not decided our course ... I do not know what Gandalf
intended to do." Boromir speaks up for the route to his city but "the
others said nothing, and Aragorn looked doubtful and troubled." Celeborn
carefully refrains from influencing them and instead gives them boats in which
to float south downriver, a method of travel which Aragorn welcomes "not
least because there would now be no need to decide his course for some days.
The others, too, looked more hopeful." They leave with Celeborn's warning
ringing in their ears that in the end they will have to face up to a choice,
though Galadriel thinks perhaps the path of each one is already laid out for
him without his seeing it yet.

They all live with
the dilemma for many days during the voyage down Anduin, coming to no
conclusions and hoping for outer events to give them a sign, until they reach
the meadows at Parth Galen above the falls of Rauros. There Aragorn calls them
together and, not voicing any preference of his own, puts the question to all:
"What shall now become of our Company that has travelled so far in
fellowship?" Shall all go to Mordor, all go to Minas Tirith, or some to
one, some to the other? Nobody has a word to say. Aragorn then lays the burden
on Frodo: "You are the Bearer appointed by the Council. Your own way you
alone can choose. In this matter I cannot advise you." He thinks that even
if Gandalf were present the decision would still be Frodo's. "Such is your
fate."

While Frodo walks
aside alone for an hour to make up his mind, his companions talk over the
situation and make up theirs. They would all prefer to go to Minas Tirith, but
if Frodo heads for Mordor now they all think they should go with him. Aragorn
then argues that in so desperate a venture a smaller group has a better chance
than a larger one, and suggests himself, Sam, and Gimli as companions for Frodo
in Mordor. He thereby renounces his opportunity to fight for Gondor's capital,
and all that goes with it— Arwen, the throne, the hope of leading an army
cleanly against Sauron—for a share in what reason tells him is a hopeless enterprise.
He has taken his stand. But he is dealing with a group of free agents who will
have none of his proposal to leave them behind. Sam is sure that Frodo is
screwing up his courage to go directly to Mordor as he knows he should. Pippin
is all for stopping him. But Aragorn stands by a basically religious conviction
that they not only should not but cannot force Frodo in either direction.
"There are other powers at work far stronger."

In this he happens
to be right, for at that moment Sauron and Gandalf are contending for Frodo's
soul on the summit of Amon Hen. Frodo's resolve to steal away secretly from his
companions to almost certain death in Mordor is his moral salvation, but his
disappearance throws them into a confusion which Aragorn's best efforts cannot
control. As they scatter in all directions he runs to the top of the mound to
scan the surroundings, only to find that this move puts him too far away to
help Boromir hold off the ores who are carrying off Pippin and Merry, too late
to save Boromir's life or share his death. Aragorn suffers a stab of self-blame
even before Boromir dies: "Alas! An ill fate is on me this day, and all
that I do goes amiss." When Boromir dies in his arms confessing failure
and begging him to save Minas Tirith, this pain deepens into an anguish in
which he holds himself responsible for what he considers the whole sorry
collapse of his leadership: "This is a bitter end. Now the Company is all
in ruin. It is I that have failed. Vain was Gandalf's trust in me. What shall I
do now? Boromir has laid it on me to go to Minas Tirith, and my heart desires
it; but where are the Ring and the Bearer? How shall I find them and save the
Quest from disaster?"

Typically, Aragorn
shifts none of the blame to Boromir, whose sincere repentence and heroic death
in battle with the ores completely redeem him in Aragorn's eyes. His grief for
the fallen man is notably tender and generous, his funeral lament heavy with a
sense of loss. It is much more than a conventional elegy for a brave stranger.
Boromir was a subject of Aragorn's, and died on a mission to save the city they
both love. The farewell song does not try to invest the dead man with virtues
he never had but simply pictures the sorrow of the people of Minas Tirith as
they wait in vain for the return of the captain they hold dear. After the
burial, however, Aragorn does not let the pain of his self-reproach undo the
mastery of his will over emotion or cloud the powers of observation and
deduction by which he unravels the whereabouts of the other members of the
expedition. Once these are known it is clear to him that his choice is either
to take the remaining boat and follow Frodo into Mordor or else to pursue the
ores on foot. Aragorn does not ask the opinions of Legolas and Gimli but makes
the decision for all: "Let me think! . . . And now may I make a right
choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day! ... I will follow the
Ores." He would have gone with Frodo and Sam into Mordor but the
Ring-bearer has decided otherwise. He cannot abandon the other two hobbits to
torment and death. "My heart speaks clearly at last." He does not
even mention Minas Tirith, where his personal advantage calls him to go.

As the pursuit
begins, Aragorn shows again his appreciation of the ties binding different
intelligent species together that will make him a trusted King. He knows how to
bend to him his companion elf and dwarf: "We will make such a chase as
shall be accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds: Elves, Dwarves, and
Men." This is the same breadth of understanding that will emerge in his
statement to Éomer of the great moral imperative of Middle-earth: "Good
and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves
and Dwarves and another among Men." Aragorn seems to have risen from his
crisis of self-confidence all the stronger on its account, for when Gimli and
Legolas cannot agree on the advisability of resting at night during the pursuit
they spontaneously leave the matter up to him. He settles it neatly. When
across the plains of Rohan he catches sight of the White Mountains beckoning
him south to Minas Tirith, he has no trouble turning his eyes away.

The meeting with
Éomer and his troop just returning from wiping out the ores Aragorn also
handles with great skill. He understands the Rohirrim well, having ridden
anonymously in their ranks many years before: "They are proud and
wilful," he has told Gimli, "but they are true-hearted, generous in
thought and deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned . .." The
touchiness of his two companions at a slur against Galadriel's reputation
almost precipitates a suicidal fight with the suspicious Riders of Rohan, but
Aragorn springs between with a timely apology. Challenged to give his true
name, he responds with one of those magnificent roll calls of his royal titles
which sometimes blaze from him. He draws Anduril, shouting his battle cry:
"Elendil! ... I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and am called Elessar, the
Elfstone, Dunadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor. Here is the
Sword that was Broken and is forged again!" He takes the offensive,
"Will you aid me or thwart me? Choose swiftly!" With the bold be
bold. The stance he takes appeals perfectly to the warrior Rohirrim. Corner is
impressed, even awed enough to accept the identification claimed and thereafter
to listen to Aragorn's inquiries and news with the respect due to a man of
royal blood, the more so since he finds Aragorn condemning the neutralist
policy that King Théoden has adopted toward Sauron and which he himself thinks
wrong. Aragorn gives him a message to Théoden as from one king to another:
"You may say this to Théoden son of Thengel: open war lies before him,
with Sauron or against him . . . But of these great matters we will speak
later. If chance allows, I myself will come to the king." After hearing
about the alliance being formed against Sauron, and the loss sustained in the deaths
of Boromir and Gandalf,

Éomer begs him to
come straight to Théoden as the present law of Rohan demands of all visitors.
But Aragorn's insistence that he will fight the whole band if necessary to
continue his search for the hobbits wins from Éomer permission to pass,
together with a loan of prized horses, in exchange for a promise to come to
court immediately afterward. Éomer risks his rank as Marshal, and perhaps his
life, in going so far.

Éomer is moved by
more than mere considerations of policy; he is moved by affection. He will tell
Aragorn at the climax of events that he had loved him ever "since you rose
up out of the grass before me." This love is reciprocated. Aragorn,
looking after Éomer, Merry, and Théoden as they ride away from Helm's Deep some
days afterward, tells his kinsman Halbarad, "There go three that I
love." In this first encounter with Éomer Aragorn gains a close friend and
ally who will become King of Rohan in the battle of the Pelennor Fields and
will unhesitatingly support his title to the crown of Gondor. He also begins
the realignment of Rohan against Mordor, which is soon to be completed by
Gandalf in person.

It would be
improper for Aragorn to thrust himself into the limelight in the scenes at
Edoras and Helm's Deep, and he holds himself in the background with reserved
power. The awakening of Théoden to Saruman's treachery belongs to Gandalf, who
has uncovered it. Aragorn does no more than make known to the Rohirrim almost
casually that he is Elendil's heir wearing Elendil's sword. The defense of
Helm's Deep against Saruman's armies belongs to Théoden and his thanes. Aragorn
merely lends the weight of his arm to repelling attacks on the walls and to
leading sorties with Éomer. He does not try to be more than a hard-fighting
ally who knows his place. At only one point, on an errand of mercy, does he
step out of that subordinate role to stand alone upon the battlements at dawn
and warn the enemy, "Depart, or not one of you will be spared . . . You do
not know your peril." He is giving the enemy, particularly the hillmen in
their ranks, a last chance to escape. His senses as a Ranger tell him that
Fangorn huorns, which will engulf them, are already arriving. At Isengard he
takes no prominent part either. While the royal party goes off to survey the
ruins he stays behind for a friendly chat with Merry and Pippin and, invited by
Gandalf to broaden his experience by listening to the wiles of the captured
Saruman, he listens without a word.

Aragorn begins to
stir with the recovery of the
Palantír
of Orthanc, which is his by right
of inheritance from Elendil. When Gandalf offers it to him merely for
safekeeping since it is a "dangerous charge," he asserts his title to
it as the rightful owner: "Dangerous indeed, but not to all. There is one
who may claim it by right .... Now my hour draws near. I will take it."
Acknowledging the claim, Gandalf hands it to him with a bow and respectful
caution: "Receive it, lord, in earnest of other things that will be given
back. But if I may counsel you in the use of your own do not use it—yet! Be
wary!" Gandalf distrusts his own strength to challenge Sauron by looking
into the
Palantír
which Sauron has warped to his own uses, and thinks
its possession should be kept secret. Aragorn thinks otherwise. When he is joined
that same night by his band of Dúnedain from the North bearing a hand-woven
banner and message from Arwen, and by the two sons of Elrond reminding him of
the prophecy that he must summon the faithless dead to his aid, he decides to
disregard Gandalf's advice. After a struggle of wills he breaks Sauron's hold
over the
Palantír
and purposely reveals himself as Elendil's heir about
to take the throne of Gondor. His aim of alarming Sauron is fulfilled.
Remembering his defeat by Elendil, the enemy hurries to launch his attack on
Gondor before it is quite ready. This anxiety and haste make possible his
repulse. Most important, they keep Sauron from discovering that Frodo and Sam
are slipping quietly into Mordor under his very eyes.