Aragorn II
Aragorn II, son of ARATHORN II and GILRAEN, also known as Elessar and Strider, Is the 16th Chieftain of the Dunedain of the North.
Aragorn was a descendant of Elros Tar-Minyatur through the line of the LORDS OF ANDUNIE to Elendil, High King of Arnor and Gondor. His ancestor ARVEDUI was wedded to FIRIEL, descended from Anarion, who bore their son ARANARTH, making Aragorn the last descendant of both ISILDUR and Anárion.
When he was only two years old, his father Arathorn was killed while pursuing Orcs. Aragorn was afterwards fostered in RIVENDELL by ELROND. At the request of his mother, his lineage was kept secret, as she feared he would be killed like his father and grandfather if his true identity as the descendant of Elendil and Heir of Isildur became known. Aragorn was renamed "Estel" and was not told about his heritage until 2951.
Elrond revealed to "Estel" his true name and ancestry when he was twenty, and gave to him the RING OF BARAHIR and the Shards of NARSIL. Elrond withheld the SCEPTRE OF ANNUMINAS from Aragorn until he "came of the right" to possess the item. It was also around this time that Aragorn met and fell in love with ARWEN, Elrond's daughter, newly returned from her mother's homeland of LOTHLORIEN where she had been visiting her grandmother GALADRIEL.
Aragorn thereafter assumed his proper role as the sixteenth Chieftain of the Dunedain and left the comforts of Rivendell for the wild, where he lived with the remainder of his people, the Rangers of the North, whose kingdom had been destroyed through division and the ANGMAR WARS centuries before.
Aragorn met Gandalf, the Grey in 2956 and they became close friends. Heeding Gandalf's advice, Aragorn and the Rangers began to guard a small land known as the SHIRE inhabited by the diminutive and agrarian HOBBITS, and he became known among the peoples just outside the Shire's borders as Strider.
From TA 2957 to TA 2980, Aragorn undertook great journeys, serving in the armies of King THENGEL of ROHAN, and Steward ECTHELION II of Gondor. Many of his tasks helped to raise morale in the West and counter the growing threat of Sauron and his allies, and he earned priceless experience. Aragorn served these lords in disguise and his name in Gondor and Rohan during that time was Thorongil ("Eagle of the Star"). With a small squadron of ships from Gondor, he led an assault on the long-standing Corsair city of UMBAR in 2980, burning many of the Corsairs' ships and personally slaying their lord during the battle. After the victory at Umbar, "Thorongil" left Gondor and, to the dismay of his men, went east.
Later in 2980, he visited Lothlórien, and there once again met Arwen. He gave her the heirloom of his House, the Ring of Barahir, and, on the hill of CERIN AMROTH, Arwen pledged her hand to him in marriage, renouncing her Elvish lineage and accepting the Gift of Men; death.
Elrond withheld from Aragorn permission to marry his daughter until such a time as his foster son should be king of "both" Gondor and Arnor. As both Elrond and Aragorn knew, to marry a mortal, Arwen would be required to choose mortality, and thus deprive the deathless Elrond of his daughter while the world lasted. Elrond was also concerned for Arwen's own happiness, fearing that in the end she might find death (her own and that of her beloved) too difficult to bear.
Aragorn has traveled widely through Middle-earth, entering the Dwarven mines of MORIA via the East-gate of Moria but exiting the same way. He also journeyed to HARAD, where (in his own words) "the stars are strange".
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