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Where Are the Aragorn and Arwen Web Sites?

Sep 23, 1999 - © Michael Martinez

of Dunedain who could claim descent from Isildur. Aragorn had the distinction of being descended generation-to-generation through the eldest sons of Isildur's heirs. Tolkien said the Dunedain of the North were a wandering people. Many have taken that to mean they were nomadic, but Eriador is not very good territory for nomads. It's possible the Dunedain simply moved their camps or villages every generation or so to maintain their secrecy. They may have lived very much like Elves from Wandering Companies, whose lifestyle was not well documented by Tolkien. It is probably safe to assume there were a few secret refuges, probably in the North Hills, where the Dunadan companies would live for a time. These refuges would have gardens and comfortable housing (but no great halls, no lembas). They may have been stockades or simply surrouned by hedges and trees, hidden from well-known paths and roads. Butterbur placed the Rangers east of Bree, and they appear to have visited the Weather Hills often. Their watch over the Shire and Bree must have required the Rangers to travel far from their homes and kin. They probably also visited the South Downs in northern Cardolan, the lands through which Aragorn led the Hobbits and where he found some athelas, which he said grew only in or near old camps and settlements of his people. It was due largely to the vigilance of the Rangers that Orcs, Trolls, and other fell creatures from the lands of north of Imladris did not trouble Bree and the Shire (much -- on some occasions the evil creatures won past the Rangers). But the Rangers performed this work secretly. And the thanks they got was the scorn born of misunderstanding. Aragorn was called "Strider" by the Men of Bree because he was tall and long-legged, and always walking around quickly as if in some great hurry, but he didn't explain what his hurry was. Because Frodo and the other Hobbits were introduced to him as "Strider", and most often called him that, the name took on a new aspect for Aragorn, and when he became King of Gondor and Arnor he took it as the name for his family, but in the Quenya (High-elven) form, "Telcontar". Through the years many people have asked if this was a literal translation. I don't believe so. "Strider" is an English construction, a noun devised by Tolkien from the verb "stride", "to walk with long steps,
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