Idril and Tuor

“I Have Looked in The Stone of Orthanc, My Friends.” Why Does Aragorn Choose This Moment to Reveal Himself to Sauron.

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The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien (Harper Collins 1991) pp. 761-765

in the last post on this blog we saw how Aragorn emerged from the disguise of Strider the Ranger that he has kept for many years to become Elessar the King. And when we heard him declare to Gimli, “You forget to whom you speak”, we felt the shock that his friends felt, friends who had become used to the disguise even though they knew deep in their hearts that he was more than the disguise. Perhaps it is worth reminding ourselves that when Pippin approached the throne room of Gondor with Gandalf in order to meet with Denethor that Pippin had to be warned not to speak about Aragorn to which Pippin replied, “What’s wrong with Strider?”. The disguise has been effective enough for Pippin to share in the surprise that Gimli and Legolas felt when Aragorn addressed them as the king.

But why has Aragorn chosen this moment to reveal himself to Sauron as king? Why has he done so even though Gandalf warned him not to be too hasty in using the Stone of Orthanc even though he is its rightful master?

I am going to offer my own understanding of this and would be delighted to read your thoughts about this in the comments section. I want to take you back a few pages from the passage that we are considering here because I think that in them we will find something that brings Aragorn out from his long crafted disguise. We read how the Dúnedain of the North overtook Théoden and his party as they rode from Isengard across Rohan to the fortress at Helm’s Deep, and how they brought messages from Rivendell to give to Aragorn, their captain. One message that we will think more about was from Elrond.

“The days now are short. If thou art in haste, remember the Paths of the Dead.”

And the other message, the message that I think brings Aragorn out from his disguise, comes from Arwen. It begins with a question that Aragorn asks of Halbarad.

“What is that you bear, kinsman?”

For Halbarad bears a “tall staff, as it were a standard, but it was close-furled in a black cloth bound about with many thongs.” And Halbarad answers his kinsman.

“It is a gift that I bring you from the Lady of Rivendell… She wrought it in secret, and long was the making. But she also sends word to you: The days now are short. Either our hope cometh, or all hopes end. Therefore I send thee what I have made for thee. Fare well, Elfstone.”

Note the way in which Arwen divides the word, farewell. Halbarad has done his duty as her messenger well in conveying her meaning exactly as she intended it. I cannot help but feel that she made it clear that he was to say, Fare Well. And think back to the moment in Lothlórien when Frodo heard Aragorn say to himself, Arwen, vanimelda, namarië.

Namarië. The word in the High-Elven tongue that means farewell. Here the word is not divided. Aragorn in Lothlórien has lost all hope after the fall of Gandalf in Moria. Here he is indeed bidding his beloved, his vanimelda, a last adieu “unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we must still tread, you and I.” (The Fellowship of the Ring pp. 341-343)

But not so Arwen. In secret and alone she has woven a banner for the man that she has chosen against the wishes of the father that she loves. She knows the words of her father: “She shall not be the bride of any Man less than the King of both Gondor and Arnor” (The Return of the King p. 1036). And so she has made for Aragorn the standard of the King.

“Fare well, Elfstone.”

Arwen knew of the stone, the Elessar, that Galadriel kept secretly in Lothlórien and together with Galadriel she held the secret of her hope that she would be united with Aragorn. It was the stone that Idril of Gondolin gave to Eärendil before he made his great journey into the west on behalf of the beleaguered peoples of Middle-earth who had fallen under the yoke of Morgoth. Eärendil was Arwen’s grandfather, the father of Elrond her father, and Elros, the distant ancestor of Aragorn. Eärendil was the keeper of the stone of hope and in Lothlórien Galadriel gives the same stone to Aragorn with the words, “In this hour take the name that was foretold for you, Elessar, the Elfstone of the House of Elendil.” (Fellowship pp. 364-367).

Galadriel may have given the name to Aragorn in Lothlórien but now it is clear that she shared this secret together with Arwen, that together they have given the name that was once given to Eärendil by Idril of Gondolin. And in Arwen’s message to her Elfstone, her Elessar, come the words, fare well. Not a goodbye, an adieu, but a call to action, and an expression of her hope that in all that he does Aragorn will indeed fare well, go well, do well. And it is as the Elessar, the heir of Isildur, Elendil and Eärendil, that Aragorn receives her gift, her standard, and so declares himself to Sauron, wresting control of the Stone of Orthanc from his grasp.

“Take The Name That Was Given to You. Elessar, the Elfstone of the House of Elendil.” The Gift of Galadriel to Aragorn.

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The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien (Harper Collins 1991) pp. 364-367

At last the feast on the green lawn near the meeting of the Silverlode and the Anduin draws to a close and it is time for partings. Galadriel speaks to the Fellowship.

“We have drunk the cup of parting,” she said, “and the shadows fall between us. But before you go, I have brought in my ship gifts which the Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim now offer you in memory of Lothlórien.”

As we shall see in the next few weeks these gifts differ greatly in significance depending upon the role that each member of the Fellowship will play in the story that is about to unfold and, in the case of Gimli, the gift will be one that he will choose himself, a token of a relationship that has been sundered for so long that its future is still uncertain. But the first gift is given to Aragorn and expresses a relationship that goes far back into history.

Readers of The Lord of the Rings will remember that when Bilbo chanted his Song of Eärendil in the House of Elrond that he remarked that Aragorn “insisted on my putting in a green stone”, and Bilbo does, though never knowing the reason why. Bilbo simply puts an emerald onto the breastplate of Eärendil and leaves it at that but here in this scene in Lothlórien we finally learn of its true importance.

“‘Maybe this will lighten your heart,” said Galadriel;”for it was left in my care to be given to you, should you pass through this land.’ Then she lifted from her lap a great stone of a clear green, set in a silver brooch that was wrought in the likeness of an eagle with outspread wings; and as she held it up the gem flashed like the sun shining through the leaves of spring. ‘This stone I gave to Celebrian, my daughter, and she to hers; and now it comes to you as a token of hope. In this hour take the name that was foretold for you, Elessar, the Elfstone of the house of Elendil!”

The story of the green stone in Tolkien’s legendarium took many forms over the years but in every source it was given first to Idril, daughter of Turgon, the founder and king of Gondolin, the hidden city and one of the great Noldor kingdoms in Beleriand in the First Age of Arda. Idril fell in love with Tuor, son of Huor, lord of one of the great houses of the Edain, the mortals who made alliance with the Elves in their great struggle against Morgoth. Turgon allowed Idril and Tuor to marry and Idril gave birth to Eärendil, the mighty hero who prevailed upon the Valar to come to the aid of Middle-earth as it lay prostrate before the might of the Dark Lord. Eärendil was the father of Elros and Elrond, and Elrond the father of Arwen Evenstar.

Idril and Tuor survived the fall of Gondolin and were able to rally the exiles of that city in the Havens of Sirion but when Tuor reached old age he took ship into the West with Idril and she gave the Elfstone to Eärendil with the words, “The Elessar I leave with thee, for there are grievous hurts to Middle-earth which maybe thou shalt heal.”

It is this power to heal that lies at the heart of the significance of Galadriel’s gift to Aragorn and this power is revealed in the prophetic words that she speaks to him in the giving of the gift. A prophecy, in its deepest meaning, is the revelation of a truth, one that lies hidden until the word is spoken. So just as the Elfstone of Idril and of Eärendil has lain secret in the care of the women who Aragorn names in his thanks to Galadriel for her gift and her words so too has the secret of the healing of Middle-earth through the heir of Eärendil, Elendil and Isildur, the one who is named Elessar, the embodiment of the true nature of the stone, who even as the stone is pinned to his breast is revealed in his kingly glory.