Tar Elenion :
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And? I was correcting the quote. It does not say that Aragorn was "the greatest tracker who ever lived" (or even the greatest traveller and huntsman who ever lived).
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Sorry if I misunderstood you Tar, but this is a discussion, and as such I assumed that you were laying down the actual quote and dwelling on the semantics in order diminish Aragorns reputation as being one of the greatest trackers that ever lived (in the books). Hunting, tracking and traveling are all crucially interwoven elements of woodcraft per se, so going on Gandalfs quote, he for one is in no doubt of Aragorns skill and hard earned reputation in this field.
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Do you imply that the outlaws were perhaps unskilled at evasion and hiding their tracks?
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No, but they learned and massively improved upon such matters under Turins guidance, Beleg himself says of him on P.91 of UT:
“Too well did I teach this child of Men craft in wood and field! An Elvish band almost one might think this to be”
One other thing you stated Tar:
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Once he learned that Turin was with the outlaw band Beleg was able to find them despite Turin's (and the outlaw's) skill.
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Beleg only caught up due to the fact that Orcs came south and Turin was coerced by circumstance and his men to spy on them instead of moving on like he wanted, all too “aware that they were being trailed by some tireless pursuer”. When Turin ended up being separated (due to the Orcs) from his now stationary band for over 3 days, this alone gave Beleg the chance to find them as prior to that:
“he came often near, but always their lair was deserted when he came to it…at any rumour of approach they were swiftly up and away” UT.
Now I’m not bad-vibing Beleg at all Tar, on the contrary he is (along with Finrod) my favourite Elf in the HoME, I’m just pointing out that despite the fact that Elves have superior natural senses to Men, the fundamentals of tracking and woodcraft can be learned and utilized to an Elvish level of mastery by Menfolk too, specifically Rangers. I agree with Gwaihir in his summary:
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a good tracker is a good tracker
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