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Of Thegns and Kings and Rangers and Things - Page 11

© Michael Martinez

It thus seems most likely that Rangers constituted only a small part of the male population of the Dunedain of Arnor. Elrond was not wrong to say there were now few Dunedain left, but they probably numbered in the thousands, rather than the hundreds. When Frodo sat upon Amon Hen and beheld visions of a world moving toward war, he saw that "the Misty Mountains were crawling like anthills: orcs were issuing out of a thousand holes". Most of those orcs probably attacked the Beornings and Woodmen, or Lorien. But some of them had to turn toward Eriador. And it would have fallen to the Dunedain to defend Eriador against invasion. In such a time of need, the Rangers would have been called back to defend the homeland and patrol the frontier. Halbarad's ability to muster a company of Rangers would therefore have been hampered not by fewness of men, but by the necessity to leave his people (and Rivendell) defended. Some people are quick to point out, however, that Elrond had summoned Arwen back to Rivendell in order to protect her. True, but Lorien was threatened by even greater forces than Rivendell. Dol Guldur and the Misty Mountains presented formidable threats to Lorien, and Sauron controlled all the lands between Mirkwood and Mordor, as well as many lands to the east. Lorien was thus in considerably greater peril than Lorien. Sauron's ability to threaten Eriador was thus limited, but it was not non-existent. Gandalf pointed out to Frodo that Rivendell, the Shire, and similar enclaves would "soon become islands under siege, if things" were allowed to continue as they were proceeding prior to the Council of Elrond. Later on, after the Company of the Ring failed to cross over the Misty Mountains via the Redhorn Pass, Gandalf held out the prospect of returning to Rivendell. But he pointed out that "to go back is to admit defeat and face worse defeat to come. If we go back now, then the Ring must remain there: we shall not be able to set out again. Then sooner or later Rivendell will be besieged, and after a brief and bitter time it will be destroyed." So Rivendell was not a safe haven for anyone. It was simply farther removed from the front lines than Lorien. It therefore seems reasonable to infer that most of the Dunedain capable of wielding arms were busy during the War of the Ring, and the Rangers had been summoned to reinforce what was probably a capable but at best semi-professional folk-muster.

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