Wk7 Bk5 Ch9: Aragorn, Grey Host, Pelargir

[Stormrider]

From: Stormridr (Original Message) Sent: 4/27/2003 9:54 PM

The Grey Host by Darell Sweet

"Copyright Darell Sweet. All Rights Reserved"

Legolas related the events at Pelargir to Merry and Pippin:

The Shadow Host grew stronger as they moved along with Aragorn. Although they were silent, they had a gleam in their eyes and seemed to be anxious to fulfill their oath to the Heir of Isildur. In their eagerness, they started to pass up Aragorn, but he commanded them and they fell back. The Shadow Host instilled such fear into the enemy's forces that it seemed as if the battle was easily won. Whether their blades would "still bite" was not determined because the fear was the only weapon they needed. The enemies either drowned or fled in fear. Then Aragorn spoke to the Dead Men and told them their oath was fulfilled and to be at rest.

In reference to Aragorn's ability to command the dead, Legolas says this: "Strange indeed, in that hour I looked on Aragorn and thought how great and terrible a Lord he might have become in the strength of his will, had he taken the Ring to himself. Not for naught does Mordor fear him. But nobler is his spirit than the understanding of Sauron; for is he not of the children of Lúthien? Never shall that line fail, though the years may lengthen beyond count."

Gimli still will not speak of his journey with the dead and allowed Legolas to relate the tale. The overthrow of the enemy's ships and the fulfillment of the oath of the dead seems to me to be a good experience in the long run. Why can't Gimli put his feeling of dread behind him and shake off his shame and face it?

Why does Legolas say that the line of Lúthien will never fail?

Just how powerful would Aragorn have been had he taken the Ring?

Do you think that Aragorn was ever tempted to take the Ring himself or did his "nobler spirit" control that urge in him?

[Stormrider]

From: Merlin the mad Sent: 4/28/2003 2:48 PM
Aragorn was surely tempted to take the Ring: all men are who look upon it. (Tom Bombadil is not a "Man.") As for how powerful he would have become: his reign of terror would have rivaled Sauron's; but in the end the Ring would have corrupted Aragorn as surely as it had Sauron himself, creator of it though he was.

His line is of Luthien, therefore he has Maiar lineage: this gives his descendents spiritual powers, like healing, and great integrity. This "never failing" line must still be in the world of today (according to Tolkien's reasoning). Elves too are in the world, far less numerous now than ever, because so few of them return in physical form from the severed Undying Lands, which are nevertheless bound invisibly (to us) by unseverable ties which will not be broken until the world is ended. Ergo, it seems to me that most of these elvish people are "hidden" from common view: they hide in plain sight as it were. Who are Aragorn's seed today? Surely they must be in positions of great responsibility, though not necessarily as leaders of nations. And by now their life spans must have decreased until they are little more than the common span of men.

I speak this way, as though this were all real, because to J. R. R. Tolkien, his mythology was an explanation (imaginative though it is) of HOW the early unwritten history of the earth could have had its mythical beginnings: he leaves us an undetermined stretch of centuries (eons or ages, even) between the Fourth Age of Middle-earth and our own earliest recorded history of mankind. During all that time the seed of Aragorn and Arwen continued.

MtM