What if Aragorn had died at the ⚔️Battle of the Black Gate?

[BalrogRingDestroyer]

People really take it as a given that Pippin, Gandalf, and Aragorn would be able to walk away from the Battle of the Black Gate. Sauron's forces greatly outnumbered them. Even though the war would have been won by the destruction of the Ring, it could easily have transpired that say, Aragorn, was killed in the distraction of the Dark Tower. That's really all it was. They had no hope of winning against Sauron's forces outside the Black Gate, let alone getting inside and assaulting the Dark Tower itself like the Last Alliance had.

So, if the Ring gets destroyed, but Aragorn dies in the battle, what happens?

A.) Faramir, the last Steward of Gondor, becomes king in his place, and there are no more Stewards.
B.) There are no more Kings and the Stewards rule forever, with Faramir as the new Steward.
C.) Gondor finds a successor from one of the surviving "Rangers" to be the new king.
D.) Gondor ends up in a civil war over the throne, making the victory against Mordor short-lived

 

[Ent]

D.
Evil is not gone from M-e, even though Melkor and Sauron are. Evil survives. Melkor infused it into the very earth itself.

Even should Aragorn survive, the nature of Man and it being the Age of Man will see evil, civil war, strife, etc. rear its head in every way.

Aragorn will do much cleaning up, and trying to stabilize the realms... but in the end, the lust and greed of man will drive him to do just as we have seen through all history.

As George Washington said when his presidency ended, "well, that's the end of unity." (or something very similar.) Even by the 2nd president, the opinions of man, the greed of man, and the lust for power, was rearing its head.

Aragorn is, in any event, just a 'forestalling' of dire things to come. A temporary 'seeming' of peace.

But in Tolkien's vision and work, evil exists and continues until Eru remakes it all when the 'song is sung correctly'.

 

[Ent]

After further study over time and much pondering, I'd add to the above with these comments more directly related to the Thread's question.

With regard to the 'specific choices' A through D provided, A and B are the same. So we're down to 3 choices.

Regarding "C", Faramir IS a ranger, one from the 'rangers of the South' line, if I recall correctlhy from my earlier research on the rangers.
Given he's well favored by all of Gondor, and among the 'rangers', the likelihood Gondor would look elsewhere is about slim to none.

So we're really down to 2 choices.

With regard to D, a civil war is hardly likely. Gondor is war-torn, weary, and has long wanted peace. There seems to be no one given among Tolkien's field of characters 'vieing for power.' And again, Faramir is 'The Peop[le's Fave', so should there be a 'civil war' it seems it would be quite one-sided.

So really, we're still down to one choice.

Aragorn, having decided to give his life (and throne) for the benefit of the Free Peoples - (which is what he did - he has to have taken 'the cost' of his going into account in his decision to go) - also undoubtedly well-weighed the consequences, concluding the opportunity for potential elimination of Sauron, though 'evil would remain,' outweighed his 'claim to the throne.' (Score 10 points for Aragorn..!!)

Final answer: Faramir would serve both as the Last Steward of the Throne, and also the First King from a new line.

(or so my perspective would state it all - however astray I might be.)

 

[Deimos]

Gondor has a state funeral for him, and Arwen has to find a new beau.
(That was easy....Any other questions?)

 

[Maeglin]

What about Imrahil? Didn’t he have royal lineage and Numenorean blood? He may have had a decent claim to the throne, though I don’t know if it would have outweighed Faramir’s.

 

[ZehnWaters]

People really take it as a given that Pippin, Gandalf, and Aragorn would be able to walk away from the Battle of the Black Gate. Sauron's forces greatly outnumbered them. Even though the war would have been won by the destruction of the Ring, it could easily have transpired that say, Aragorn, was killed in the distraction of the Dark Tower. That's really all it was. They had no hope of winning against Sauron's forces outside the Black Gate, let alone getting inside and assaulting the Dark Tower itself like the Last Alliance had.

So, if the Ring gets destroyed, but Aragorn dies in the battle, what happens?

A.) Faramir, the last Steward of Gondor, becomes king in his place, and there are no more Stewards.
B.) There are no more Kings and the Stewards rule forever, with Faramir as the new Steward.
C.) Gondor finds a successor from one of the surviving "Rangers" to be the new king.
D.) Gondor ends up in a civil war over the throne, making the victory against Mordor short-lived

I say option B.

Halbarad is dead so there's no leader of the Rangers of the North.

 

[TrackerOrc]

Option B.
Plus with the wedding of Faramir and Eowyn the ties between Gondor and Rohan could be even stronger in the future.

 

[Halasían]

Probably B because of tradition, but I think A would be feasible since there would never be a king from the line of Elendil. The House of Hurin would become the new ruling line.

At this point we venture into the realm of fanfic, and if there was other direct-line sons out there we don't know of, one or more may come forth with a claim they are of the line of Elendil, which makes C a possibility, and could also lead to D happening.

 

[Hisoka Morrow]

D.
Evil is not gone from M-e, even though Melkor and Sauron are. Evil survives. Melkor infused it into the very earth itself.

Even should Aragorn survive, the nature of Man and it being the Age of Man will see evil, civil war, strife, etc. rear its head in every way.

Aragorn will do much cleaning up, and trying to stabilize the realms... but in the end, the lust and greed of man will drive him to do just as we have seen through all history.

As George Washington said when his presidency ended, "well, that's the end of unity." (or something very similar.) Even by the 2nd president, the opinions of man, the greed of man, and the lust for power, was rearing its head.

Aragorn is, in any event, just a 'forestalling' of dire things to come. A temporary 'seeming' of peace.

But in Tolkien's vision and work, evil exists and continues until Eru remakes it all when the 'song is sung correctly'.

I beg your pardon that Gondor Military had stayed politically neutral since Castamir's Uprising. The so-called "Greed Of Men" required it's breeding bed to burst into civil wars. What could be your "breeding bed" to instigate the potential explosives, such as economic problems caused by wars, racial discrimination, or so on? 😮

 

[Ent]

@Hisoka Morrow - you seem to limit your thought to the 'military' above, and staying neutral.
And I would ask there - was ALL the military 'neutral' ? Or just the part we were provided by Tolkien. (Since we're talking purely speculatively in any case.)
And, as to Greed, has man's greed, lust for power, and selfishness-self-interest EVER needed any breeding ground other than itself, to foment strive?

Evil remains. It remains buried into the very makeup of Arda itself. It remains in many, many 'evil' forces still existing. It remains in the Mouth of Sauron, whom we know nothing of after the battle, but obviously a key figure in Sauron's forces.

And it remains in the corrupted hearts of men.

Economic problems? Have they stopped? Or have they just begun.
And economic problems are not caused (just) by wars.
Racial discriminations? Always present and prevalent. What has stopped these in Middle-earth?
Sectional problems? Have the Southrons simply vanished somehow, that they no longer figure?

To say nothing of the hearts of man himself. Not all are necessarily "happy" a long lost Ranger has returned to claim the throne.

And of course Rohan's makeup is now shaken as well, given the death of Theoden King.

Oh, no.
There is plenty of evil left in the heart of man, and plenty of evil force and forces left to work on that 'breeding ground' as you might put it, to deliver a great deal of strife.

The Age of Man in Middle-earth marks no great turning point toward good.
Man is simply not 'inherently good.' Never has been. Never will be.

Tolkien left innumerable clues to this effect in many ways.

 

[Vardarianna]

What if Aragorn had died at the Battle of the Black Gate?​

People really take it as a given that Pippin, Gandalf, and Aragorn would be able to walk away from the Battle of the Black Gate. Sauron's forces greatly outnumbered them. Even though the war would have been won by the destruction of the Ring, it could easily have transpired that say, Aragorn, was killed in the distraction of the Dark Tower. That's really all it was. They had no hope of winning against Sauron's forces outside the Black Gate, let alone getting inside and assaulting the Dark Tower itself like the Last Alliance had.

So, if the Ring gets destroyed, but Aragorn dies in the battle, what happens?

A.) Faramir, the last Steward of Gondor, becomes king in his place, and there are no more Stewards.
B.) There are no more Kings and the Stewards rule forever, with Faramir as the new Steward.
C.) Gondor finds a successor from one of the surviving "Rangers" to be the new king.
D.) Gondor ends up in a civil war over the throne, making the victory against Mordor short-lived

First off; if Aragorn had dies before the Black Gate, I would not have been conceived.
Second, Faramir would rule as Steward in place of a king as had been done since King Eärnur. At some point there would probably be ruling that nobody of the line of Elendil could be found and it became recognized that the line of Faramir would be the 'king' even if the title of Steward was kept.

Third, which falls in line to the aforementioned 'D'; and since it is speculation, maybe there is an unbroken line of male heirs from the younger son/sons of Arvedui and Firiel? Appendix A in the section 'The North-kingdom and the Dunedain' it says that:

'He (The Witchking) captured Fornost, and drove most of the remaining Dunedain over the Lune; among them were the sons of the king.'​

We know the eldest was Aranath in the line of Aragorn, but there could have been a second line, or more since the number of sons that Arvedui and Firiel had is not mentioned. it will make for an interesting fanfic!

 

[Beleg_Cúthalion]

If Aragorn died, I think that the men would have civil war over who would be the king of Gondor, and it would delay the peace of Middle Earth significantly, not to mention it would cause a great deal of pain for Aragorn's friends like Gimli, Legolas, and Arwen. It is likely Legolas would have departed to Valinor with Gimli sooner, and Frodo as well. Ithilien wouldn't have been established, and Minas Tirith would have stayed ruined longer or gotten more ruined with the men fighting over the throne.