Why was Aragorn fostered in Rivendell?

why was aragorn fostered at rivendell it certainly proved useful forging a strong bond with the elves and of course meeting arwyn but why was a human even a human king in exile fostered by the elves everyone this is robert welcome to in deep geek on this channel we cover the best in science fiction and fantasy books and tv shows the lord of the rings the song of ice and fire the witcher and so on if you like the sound of that there's a subscribe button in the bottom right of your screen so why was aragorn fostered at rivendell well the first bit of the answer is straightforward but tragic aragorn's father died when he was just two years old arathorne ii had only just inherited his title as chieftain of the dunadine and only recently married aragorn's mother before he was shot through the eye in the year 2933 of the third age aragorn's widowed mother then decided to take young aragorn to rivendell to be fostered there were lots of bits of prophecy and foresight surrounding this incidentally gilrian aragorn's mother's father had initially opposed her marriage to arathorn because he foresaw that arathorn would not live long he didn't but gilrion's mother foresaw that through gildrion's marriage to aerothorn would be born hope for the dunadine which through their son aragorn it was he was given the name estelle by the elves which means hope so that's why aragorn might have needed a foster father but why rivendell and why alrond as is often the case with tolkien the answer has to start way back in time in middle earth elrond was known as the half elven he and his twin brother elros were descended from both elves and humans their grandfather on one side being tour and great-grandfather on the other side being beren and elrond and elros were given a choice at the beginning of the second age of middle-earth to live as elves or men elrond chose to live as an elf and halfway through the second age established rivendell as his home west of the misty mountains elros elrond's brother chose to live the life of a man and became the first king of numenor this is important because allendyl and isildur and isildur's aragorn could therefore trace their direct ancestry back to elros many many generations had passed by aragorn's time but elrond elros's brother was still alive so aragorn was family of a sort elrond being aragorn's great great uncle well over 6 000 years and 60 something times removed the exact count depending on which branch of the family tree you trace it through and yes that does make arwen a distant relative of aragorns too a first cousin similarly removed in generations and herself around 2700 years young so aragorn had lost his father at a young age and elrond was family and added to that rivendell was right next door to the former kingdom of arnor that aragorn had inherited theoretically at least and arathorne aragorn's father had been friends with eledan and eldre here eldwan's twin sons he was out with them when he had been shot so it all makes sense but the truth is that this was no one-off aragorn almost certainly would have been fostered at rivendell even if his father had lived rivendell had been strong allies of the kings of arnold and the numenoreans before them for a long time during their time in numenor before its destruction elendil and isildur had been the leaders of the faithful the numenoreans that refused to fall into melkor worship and stuck by their friendship with the elves even when all things elven were banned in numenor during the last alliance of elves and men isildur's wife and youngest son sheltered at rivendell and when isilda's heirs reigned over arnold and the witch king of angmar threatened elrond and rivendell stood by them in fact when the witch king was finally driven off it was glorfindel from rivendell who was largely responsible but despite that help the kingdom of arnold was destroyed centuries of constant war in fighting and plague were just too much the royal line of isildur now styling themselves as chieftains of the dunadine though still in their hearts at least the kings of the lost kingdom of arnold and heirs to elendil and isildur as high king had no home they became what we know as the rangers of the north but they still had the inheritance of the kings the symbols of kingship we know about the shards of narcill the sword that was broken that cut the ring from sauron's hand and much later was reforged into anduril the sword aragorn carried into battle but there was also the scepter of a numinous which was the symbol of a lendl's lordly status back in numenor the alendelmere a star-shaped wiped gem set on a mithril fillet and the ring of barohere a ring so ancient it was forged in valinor and later passed down the line of allendyl all of these symbols of kingship needed a home and elrond provided it in rivendell they were held there against the day that they would be claimed by a true heir of alendil and the rightful king would rule again needless to say they all ended up with aragorn by the end of the lord of the rings symbolizing his ancient legitimacy to kingship and the chieftains of the dunadine also established a tradition that the heir to their line should be fostered in rivendell aragorn wasn't the first to get this not by a long way the dunadine lived in the shadows they didn't want to attract attention to themselves they knew that the enemy were always on the lookout and existing as they did in the fields and hills of their former kingdom without walls or armies to protect them they were vulnerable aragorn's father died a violent death as did his father and his father's father you get the picture fostering the heirs to isildu in rivendell not only kept them safe until they reached an age of maturity it kept up that ancient bond of friendship and unity of purpose between elendil's heirs and the elves and i'm sure it also helped to train them in the skills they would need as rangers such was the swirl of prophecy and foresight among the wise surrounding young aragorn that extra layers of protection were devised as we noted earlier he was brought up known as estelle an elvish name and wasn't told his true name or heritage until he reached 21. the wise were determined that no word of this king in exile was to reach the ears of the newly discovered and active sauron it was the very next day after he had been told the truth of his identity that aragorn first met aarwin and fell deeply in love we'll pick up on aragorn's later travels before the events of the lord of the rings in the next video but it's worth now just focusing on why aragorn needed to be fostered in rivendell from a plot perspective yes all of tolkien's plotting is enmeshed deeply in his world building we've been through the history of why aragorn had to have been fostered in rivendell but just imagine if he hadn't he wouldn't have met arwen for one and would he have known glorfindel well enough to trust frodo to his care west of rivendell and his relationship with elrond wouldn't have been so strong or his relationship with galadriel elrond's mother-in-law so he probably wouldn't have been received so easily by her and lothlorien she definitely wouldn't have given him the elfstone lsr which he later took as his kingly name would he have been given the symbols of kingship so early perhaps not would he even have been seeking the kingship of gondor but for elrond telling him he had to be king of arnold and gondor before he allowed him to marry arwin it's all conjecture but the importance of elrond arwin and rivendell in shaping aragorn as a man cannot be overestimated aragorn is human but he was raised by elves he is at one with nature wise and humble his children lived long lives as they were half elven like elvent to tolkien elves were fallible but ethereal otherworldly within touching distance of velano and within aragorn's lifetime the elves departed middle earth the wonder beauty and goodness of elves was gone and the dominion of man had begun but through aragorn and aarwin something true persisted something good tolkien knew and said often that any lineage of fallible humans would eventually degenerate into denethor and worse but aragorn and arwin retaining within them that spirit of rivendell and goodness ensured that humanity at least got off to a good start i think tolkien would tell us that it's up to us what we do with it now if you'd like to see more lord of the rings videos please click on the link on the left of your screen or if you'd like to support this channel or get access to some content i produce exclusively for my patrons please click on the link on the right of your screen that's all for this time thanks for watching and i'll see you again soon

Channel: In Deep Geek

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Keywords: in deep geek, deep geek, lord of the rings, lotr, the lord of the rings, aragorn, rivendell, elves, tolkien, why was aragorn fostered, why was aragorn, young aragorn, why was aragorn fostered at rivendell

Id: pqVlL0XRnwg

Length: 10min 0sec (600 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 19 2021