Was Aragorn fleeing from the law?

[Orcrist]

I don't think the issue was Aragorn hiding from the law. After all, what did he do wrong? Wasn't he always helping people? Maybe all his names were given to him because of his many talents. I think though, that he was trying to hide from his destiny (sort of). In RotK, he didn't want people to recognize him in the Houses of Healing, so he went in his Ranger outfit. I think he might be reluctabt to accept his role as King.

Just a thought...

[The Saucepan Man]

Hmm. So many posts identifying Aragorn's various names, and so few considering why he acquired so many.

I don't think the issue was Aragorn hiding from the law.

No, not from "the law", but from he who would seek dominion of Middle-earth and in effect become "the law", namely Sauron.

While recuperating in Dol Guldur, and particularly after his return to Mordor, Sauron was not seeking only for the Ring. He was also seeking Isildur's heir, with whom he had a score to settle, and whom he feared. Sauron feared the return of the king - hence he was provoked into playing his hand sooner than he would have liked when Aragorn revealed to him his true identity in the Palantir.

Certainly, it made sense for Aragorn to assume an alias while in Ecthelion's service. To have revealed himself as Isildur's heir, and therefore the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor, at that stage (before the time was right for him to assume the kingship) would have destabilised Gondor and possibly led to civil war (a second kinslaying). It would probably have provoked Sauron into an immediate attack on Gondor too.

So, it was in Aragorn's interests not to let his identity slip before the time was right. It would have placed him in great personal danger, and it would probably have sealed the fate of Gondor, if not the entirety of Middle-earth, too.

While I agree with Gorwingel that the fact that Aragorn was so widely travelled led to the variety of names given to him (and this is certainly true of Gandalf too), the fact that he needed to travel incognito in the first place is, I believe, attributable to the need to conceal his true identity from Sauron and his minions.

[bilbo_baggins]

I agree with Saucepan Man (who doesn't? ) in that going many places gave Aragorn his many names, not necessarily hiding from the law.

I have moved over 15 times in my life, so I meet hundreds of thousands of people, (really, I do) and all these people give me different names; here's a few:

Fred
William wallace
wierdo(I'm still called this one)
Brian Boru
Robert Bruce
Bob
Billy-Bob
...

The list goes on with the more people I meet.

Does anyone else get multiple names, like Aragorn?

[symestreem]

Building on what Saucepan said about Aragorn's need to be incognito, I think that he had so many names because he kept getting recognized as a noble lord, no matter what he did. The hobbits saw it in him, and certainly Denethor did. It seems that Aragorn's drawn to nobleness like a moth to flame...
So anyway, as soon as one name became recognized as a 'noble lord', he had to become someone else because he couldn't risk them dwelling on that line of thinking too long. This seems to be the especially the case with 'Thorongil' and 'Strider'.