TTT: Extended Question - Aragorns Age

[Tombfyre]

Hey .. this is a question for anyone REALLY familiar with LOTR books... i read them only once so far so i am not sure about this... Movie just said hes 87.... now is there anything in the book that states his age? I do recall reading about he lives longer then normal humans.. but was there a stated number?

Just a question for those Uber lotr knowledgable peeps cus i was just curious...

I am going to reread them after ROTK comes out

[Jack Stoney]

Yes, at least what I have read..
In the appendix, there is the story of Aragorn and Arwen (which was used for their story in the film) .
Many times in that story is said something like "twenty years past". I pretty much understand that he was pretty old during the War of the Ring

[Lafce]

Originally posted by Tombfyre
Hey .. this is a question for anyone REALLY familiar with LOTR books... i read them only once so far so i am not sure about this... Movie just said hes 87....

You are right, during the War of the Ring he was 87-88 years old. Aragorn was born on 1st March 2931 of the Third Age, and died in the year 120 of the Fourth Age. He lived 210 years.
The events described in 'The Lord of the Rings' took place in the year 3019 of the Third Age...and the Third Age ended in year 3021 (and the Fourth Age begun ).

[Tombfyre]

thanks! thats really interesting info!

[Wiretrip]

What's his secret for living so long?

[Unicron]

Cookies, Lotsa chocolate cookies i think

[Lafce]

Originally posted by Wiretrip
What's his secret for living so long?

Well, you have to read the books for that, especially 'The Silmarillion', but the short answer is: Aragorn is heir of Isildur through thirty-nine generations, and both are ancestors of the Numenoreans who were given a longer life by the Valars ('the gods').

Here's something about the race of Men, the Numenoreans and the 'gift of death' from a great website called The Encyclopedia of Arda (spoiler if you haven't read 'The Silmarillion'):

'Death; the gift of Iluvatar to his Younger Children, allowing them to go beyond the confines of the World. After death, Mortal Men were gathered in the Halls of Mandos, and then departed from the World for a destination unknown even to the Valar. Whereas all other beings in Arda, including the Valar themselves, were bound to the World and its fate, the Gift freed Men from this destiny, allowing them to shape their own lives as they wished.

Those Men with the greatest understanding treated death as the Gift it was originally intended to be, and when their time came gladly gave themselves up to it. We see this, for example, in the earlier Kings of Numenor, and Aragorn also accepted the Gift at the natural end of his life. For most Men, though, the Gift was tainted by Morgoth [the first 'bad guy' in Tolkien's world - comment by lafce ], and they came to fear it rather than embrace it. This fear reached its peak in the later years of Numenor, where even the long life given to the Numenoreans was not enough, and wise men did all they could to try to escape death altogether. In the end, this desperation led to Numenor's destruction when Ar-Pharazon led a battle fleet to the Undying Lands, falsely believing that they held the secret of everlasting life.

[wirm]

The Silmarillion is a great book to look over if you have a lot of extra time. But be prepared to read a lot of info that feels like a text book. There are just so many names, and the stories aren't always told in chronological order (because he has to give each story separately for coherance). But I recommend it for the die-hard fans.

Anyway, at the end of the RotK, Aragorn does mention that as a benefit of his race, his lifetime is 3 times the span of a man.

[Stormwalker]

i got given the books for my birthday but am yet to read them... i wanna watch the movies first.. and will probably save them until i am 70 and have a rocking chair ... and a front porch hehe

[Jake]

a thousand years in the future? Would be better if he made it in the year 300019, then the radical transformation of Earth and its races would not be so farfetched

[WorkShed]

Originally posted by Jake
a thousand years in the future? Would be better if he made it in the year 300019, then the radical transformation of Earth and its races would not be so farfetched

It's not supposed to be this world.