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Ranger For Hire: Have Horse, Will Travel

© Michael Martinez

Recently people on The White Council: Discussion and FAQs for fans of Tolkien and the Inklings have been wondering where, exactly, Aragorn and his Rangers might have lived. The lifestyle and community of the Rangers is virtually a complete mystery, but these dedicated wanderers managed to watch over Eriador for more than a thousand years after the Fall of Arnor in the Third Age year 1975. Well, technically, the Rangers didn't appear before 1979, the year when Aranarth, the elder son of Arvedui, last King of Arnor, decided not to re-establish his kingdom. The Dunedain of Arnor had had a pretty rough time for at least a thousand years prior to the destruction of their kingdom. The original Kingdom of Arnor was divided into three kingdoms in the year 861 by the sons of King Earendur, last of the High Kings descended from Elendil. Earendur's oldest son Amlaith retained control over the northwestern part of the kingdom, then renamed to Arthedain, but he abandoned the ancient city of Annuminas and settled in the more eastern city of Fornost Erain (the North Fortress of the Kings). Amlaith's heirs feuded with their cousins in Rhudaur and Cardolan for the next several hundred years until the rise of the Kingdom of Angmar in the northeast presented them with a common threat. The Dunedain of Rhudaur were thrown out of power when the line of their kings failed, and under the rule of a hill lord Rhudaur allied itself with Angmar. But Rhudaur was destroyed in the war of 1409. Its people either fled or were destroyed by the Dunedain and Eldar. Cardolan's kings died out, too, but the Dunedain of Cardolan seemed more willing to ally themselves with Arthedain. After the War of 1409 Cardolan effectively merged back into Arthedain and Arnor was formally re-established, but the kings did not reclaim their former title of High King, they were just kings. So the Dunedain of Arnor were now diminished in both numbers and heritage. Worse, they were unable to match the power and glory of their sister realm in the south, Gondor (which was by this time starting its long decline). Arnor held out against Angmar for another 566 years after the War of 1409. The kingdom suffered terribly in the Great Plague of 1636, and Cardolan became virtually deserted, but the Dunedain and their subject peoples (Men of Bree, Hobbits, and probably some other Men descended from ancient Edainic peoples who had never left Middle-earth) began to recover their numbers in the following generations. Unfortunately, Angmar recovered as well and in the 1800s it resumed attacks upon Arnor. King Araval won a war with Angmar in 1851 and he attempted to recolonize Cardolan, but evil wights had been sent by the Witch-king of Angmar to inhabit northwestern Cardolan's hills (called Tyrn Gorthad, later the Barrow Downs) and the colonization failed.

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