LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 10 - Strider

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

The points that Lalwende raises about Aragorn's name reminds me of something that I posted to another thread earlier this summer. I will indulge myself and reprint a bit of that post here:

• ‘Ar’ is Old English (the language that Professor Tolkien devoted his professional life to studying and teaching) and has several meanings. When applied to a person it denotes a messenger, in particular a servant or herald of God (angel or apostle). When presented as a quality it means glory, honour, reverence, dignity, grace, favour or pity.

• ‘agorn’ (in OE) means to have or possess, or to deliver and restore; it can also mean to come forth, grow, or approach.

Aragorn’s name therefore has been very carefully chosen by Tolkien to mean the possession, approach and restoration of all that ‘ar’ denotes.

It didn't occur to me at the time, but Strider's characterisation in this chapter brings all this out nicely: his heroic nature is not immediatly apparent but is instead allowed to "come forth, grow" throughout the chapter. He also introduces himself to the Hobbits as a friend of Gandalf (and thus as an 'angelic' herald?) and it is, pointedly, only when the hobbits meet Aragorn and begin to trust him that they do get the letter from Gandalf (and thus truly an angelic message, that is attesting to the heroism -- ar -- of Aragorn).