June 23, 2003

Re: Aragorn's Age
Anteru

Okay, Paradox, here's my two cents. I'm not an expert or anything (certainly as far from it as is possible), but I don't believe that Aragorn's age is actually stated in the books themselves. However (coincidence: I was just looking at this exact section Saturday night), in Appendix B at the end of The Return of the King, a timeline is given of all the events of the Second and Third ages of Middle-earth, carrying some into the Fourth Age. On March 1, 2931 T.A., Aragorn son of Arathorn II was born. Start your counting. When the Aragorn & Co. were in Rohan, the year was 3019 T.A. The dates in which they were in Rohan were from late February up to March 8. Therefore, when first they entered Rohan, Aragorn was 87 years old. But the day Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli met Gandalf the White was March 1, 3019. Aragorn then became 88...lookin' pretty good for pushing a century! :) So, for the majority of time spent in Rohan, Aragorn was 88 years old. As an add-on, King Elessar died on March 1, 1541 T.A. reckoning; he was (experts, correct me please...this is confusing) 210 years old? I know he lived pretty long, so that sounds about right. The reason for his long life was not Elvish delicacies. He was a descendent of the kings of Numenor. These Numenoreans were men gifted by the Valar, known in the Second Age as the Edain (the Elves were the Eldar, if that might cause confusion). Since they were Men, they of course were mortal (a gift from Iluvatar Himself), but they were gifted with long life. However, they fell away and their blood was spent, causing the majority of their descendents to live a normal lifespan. Don't ask me why Aragorn was a true-blooded Edain. I guess he just got the recessive gene or something. Well, I'm sorry if this geneology lesson bored you to death. And if anyone has anything to add to or detract from my post, feel free!