LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 10 - Strider

[Texadan]

Originally Posted by alatar

the phantom has provided the clue that remained obscure to me all of these years. Whether or not Aragorn carried another weapon or fought more like Jackie Chan, I'll leave for another day. The reason, now obvious, that Aragorn was carrying Narsil was that he and the rest of (what will make up) the council were in an endgame. Sauron's Ring had reappeared. Either Sauron would be vanquished, or he would overrule all of Middle Earth. Sure, Narsil might increase the number of visitors at Michel Delving, but it might be of better service in the hands of the heir of the Sauron-bane. Why not? Was the idea to see how the Sword would react (and vice versa) to the Ring when the two were proximal? That's an experiment I'd like to see.

Aragorn told Boromir at the Council of Elrond, "For the Sword that was Broken is the Sword of Elendil that broke beneath him when he fell. It has been treasured by his heirs when all other heirlooms were lost; for it was spoken of old among us that it should be made again when the Ring, Isildur's Bane, was found." I imagine Aragorn began carrying Narsil when he learned from Gandalf that the ring *had* been found.