The Big Picture

• Although Aragorn is a fan favorite character in The Lord of the Rings movies, his character has some distinct differences from the book version of him.
• Aragorn's introduction in The Fellowship of the Ring was so mysterious that even Tolkien didn't know who he was at first.
• Elrond played a significant role in his upbringing, becoming an adoptive father to him. Aragorn, Arwen, and Elrond are all related through the line of Numenorian kings. Making Arwen Aragorn's distant cousin.

There was once a time when The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series was rumored to be a “young Aragorn” story, telling the tales of the little-known past of the man who would be king. While it was later revealed that the series would focus on the Second Age of Middle-earth instead — and that it was actually Netflix that pitched the "young Aragorn" story to the Tolkien Estate — it is understandable that the rumor caught on for a time. Not only is Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) one of the most interesting characters of the main Lord of the Rings storyline, but to the avid reader he is also a fascinating character full of unexplored depth ripe for a good movie or TV series.

Fortunately enough for those who are enthralled by the world of Middle-earth, J. R. R. Tolkien left a mountain of notes and thousands of pages of drafts behind, many of which were published after his death. These writings and the extensive appendices at the end of The Lord of the Rings books help to flesh out some of the more important characters and events depicted in the main storyline, as well as including important notes on hobbit units of distance measurement and inflectional guides for invented languages, in case you were ever interested.

For the time being, we will have to wait on a full cinematic treatment of Aragorn’s story, but that doesn’t mean that there is nothing to explore in the life of the future king. In fact, there are a great number of interesting aspects to his story that the Lord of the Rings films were not able to tell. After all, for a man who was 87 at the time of the events of the films, he had lived quite an adventurous life. Here are nine of the most important and interesting facts about Aragorn that the movies didn’t have time to cover:

Aragorn Was Mysterious Even to Tolkien

The first time that Aragorn shows up in the books and the films is the same: he appears as the hooded stranger in the dark corner in the inn at Bree, casting an aura of danger and mystery about him. When Tolkien wrote the scene for the first time, however, even the author had no clue who he was. The character who ended up being the most powerful king in Middle-earth just sort of meandered into the story, and Tolkien had to figure out who he was with time. This mystery around the character of Strider was so complete that Tolkien actually initially wrote the character to be a roving hobbit named Trotter, who wore wooden shoes.

Elrond Was Essentially Aragorn's Father

In the films, there is a strained relationship between Aragorn and Elrond (Hugo Weaving), due to the fact that Elrond is unwilling to let his daughter marry a mortal. While this is also present to an extent in the books, the appendices also tell the story of Aragorn’s upbringing, in which Elrond plays quite a significant role. Aragorn barely knew his father, Arathorn, who was killed when Aragorn was only two years old. Soon after, his mother, Gilraen, took her son to Rivendell, where Elrond took the place of his father and raised Aragorn as one of his own sons.

Aragorn’s mother, interestingly, lived to be 100, and died only just before the main events of the story, between Bilbo’s party and the Council of Elrond. As the heir to the throne of Gondor the child Aragorn was in great danger, and Elrond kept his true name hidden, even from Aragorn himself, calling him “Estel” (Hope) instead. Elrond revealed his true identity only when Aragorn reached adulthood, and at that point gave him the heirlooms of his house: the ring of Barahir and the shards of the sword Narsil.

Aragorn, Arwen, and Elrond Are All Related

Distantly. Don’t make it weird. But yes, all three of them are members of the same family. The Cliff's Notes version of the story is this: Arwen is, of course, Elrond’s daughter, but Aragorn’s connection is more distant. Elrond, as was revealed in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, had a brother named Elros, who was in a unique situation in Middle-earth in that he had the choice of mortality or immortality. While his brother chose to be immortal, Elros decided to become mortal instead, and became the first king of Numenor, taking the epic name of Elros Tar-Minyatur. The line of the kings of Numenor eventually became the kings of Gondor and Arnor, and it is from that line that Aragorn is descended. Which makes Elrond his uncle and Arwen his cousin, an unholy number of generations back.

Númenorians Couldn’t Grow Beards

In a more recent revelation, The Nature of Middle-earth book published a note from Tolkien saying that the line of the kings of Númenor could not grow beards. While Aragorn was many generations removed from those kings, he represented a return to the line of kings in more than one way, and apparently this included their shaving habits (or lack thereof). So yes, Aragorn had no beard and couldn’t even grow one if he wanted to, whatever Viggo Mortensen’s alluring stubble may say.

Furthermore, Tolkien's notes about the Numenorean kings not having beards would also run counter to the epic Old Testament-style beard worn by Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) in the series, as he too is a descendant of the line of kings. So too with the bewitching whiskers of Lloyd Owen's Elendil. Alas, the beards that might have been...

He Met Denethor and Theoden Before 'The Lord of the Rings'

Aragorn engaged in a long series of adventures over a number of years, many of which were never fully explained, but two stories in particular stand out. He served under the king Thengel in Rohan and rode to battle with him, which would have happened while Theoden (Bernard Hill) was a child. He also then went from Rohan to Gondor and served as an aid to the steward Ecthelion II of Gondor, the father of Denethor. As he wished his status as heir to the throne to be unknown, he traveled under the name “Thorongil,” though Denethor was nonetheless suspicious of him. In a move he repeated decades later, he defeated the Corsairs of Umbar to nullify the growing threat to Gondor they presented, then promptly left.

He Traveled to Mordor

After leaving Gondor, what Aragorn did next is still shrouded in mystery, and probably will be forever. But the snippets and hints left by Tolkien are so intriguing that they indicate Aragorn was doing something extremely important, the extent of which is unknown. On leaving Gondor, Aragorn “took boat and crossed over Anduin, and there he said farewell to his companions and went on alone; and when he was last seen his face was towards the Mountains of Shadow.” He struck out for Mordor itself. Whether he went into the land itself or turned somewhere else is unknown, as is what he did there, but Aragorn traveling to Mordor is a tale of epic proportions of potential storylines.

He Was the One Who Caught Gollum

While the hunt for Gollum was only briefly referenced in the films, it was Gandalf and Aragorn together who started the search to find Gollum, and Aragorn alone who ultimately caught him. He found him in the Dead Marshes and brought him back to the elves in Mirkwood, from whom Gollum later escaped, but he tracked trails that had been cold for years to eventually find him.

His Marriage to Arwen Was Contingent on Him Becoming King

While Elrond gave Aragorn the heirlooms of his house when he reached adulthood, the one thing he withheld was the Scepter of Annuminas, which was the symbol of authority of the king of Arnor. Later, when Elrond found that his daughter had pledged herself to Aragorn, Elrond would not allow the marriage. Elrond gave Aragorn a challenge, saying that in order to be worthy of Arwen he must achieve his destiny, become king of Gondor, and reunite the kingdom to Arnor again, which was the old northern kingdom. This Aragorn successfully achieved, and Elrond gave the Scepter to Aragorn when he came to Minas Tirith with his daughter after the War of the Ring.

He Decided When He Would Die

While Aragorn lived to the ripe old age of 210 and reigned for 122 years, he still chose the time of his death. This was another peculiar ability of the kings of Numenor, and it has to do with a certain amount of Middle-earth philosophy and theology. Death was said to be the “Gift of Illuvatar” (the Creator God of Middle-earth), and that the appropriate understanding of mortality was to accept it as a gift, and not to fear it. This was not an injunction to suicide, but rather to an acceptance of death when it finally came, more akin to a decision to fall asleep when tired.

As such, the kings of Numenor were allowed to choose to go to their eternal rest if they desired. They could refuse, but that would eventually mean clinging on to life until the mind became corrupt, and the body died of its own accord. It was this particular problem that would eventually lead Pharazôn to the catastrophic folly that meant the downfall of Numenor itself. Rather than hold on indefinitely, and because he saw death as the Gift of Illuvatar, Aragorn also chose the time of his death. Arwen soon followed Aragorn. She lived only a year after him, and she too laid down and died, not in Minas Tirith, but in Lothlorien, at the hill of Cerin Amroth, in exactly the same place where she first pledged herself to Aragorn.

While we may not get a chance to see the full story of Aragorn on screen for years yet, there is plenty of material for fascinating stories and compelling characters. There is romance, family drama, war, peace, politics, destiny, tragedy, harmony, victory, and loss. All of this combines to make one of the most compelling and fascinating characters in the beloved book and film series, even though we may only ever get to see the tip of the iceberg that is the character of Aragorn.