Aragorn's son

[HobbitGirl]

King Elessar and Arwen had a son. Does anyone know his name??????

 

[Ponte]

His name was Eldarion.

 

[HobbitGirl]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I have been looking for that forever.

 

[Galadhwen]

Sorry to hijack ur thread Hobbit girl, but does anyone know the names of his daughters?

 

[Ceorl]

He had daughters?

I have never heard mention of any.

Then going to the House of Kings in the Silent street, Aragorn laid him down on the bed that had been prepared for himThen he said farewell to Eldarion, and gave into his hands the winged crown of Gondor and the sceptre of Arnor;...

It is difficult to believe that he would say goodbye to his son but not daughter(s) therefore I have always assumed that he had none.

 

[Galadhwen]

Sorry I haven't got a book 2 hand so I can't give an exact quote but Aragorn and Arwen had "several daughters and Eldarion"

 

[HobbitGirl]

I would love to see the quote proving that Aragorn had daughters. I never knew he did.

 

[Galadhwen]

Try the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen in the Appendix A of TROTK

Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters,

 

[Halasían]

Try the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen in the Appendix A of TROTK.

Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters

So there were at least two. No mention of names or how many.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Bet they were babes.

I am ashamed of myself.

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

Bet they were babes.

I am ashamed of myself.

Too royal for us bro, I wouldn't dare it whilst Aragorn is alive or even after.


I don't want to get to close to Eldarion's ire.


CL







P.S. Hello!

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Oh, I'd only 'worship from afar'!

 

[Halasían]

I'm sure with their lineage, Aragorn and Arwen's daughters were 'babes'!
Being a Dunedain Ranger, I know not to mess with the boss's daughters.
But being entrusted to keep watch over them would be an interesting duty indeed.

 

[Ithilethiel]

How far afield we wander...so pleased I am to have such noble and wise companions with which to share my time...

 

[Halasían]

How far afield we wander...so pleased I am to have such noble and wise companions with which to share my time...

Yes.... it is so easy to take a passing mention of someting by the Professor and delve deeper into the various posibilities of tale.

 

[Vardarianna]

Being heavily invested in Aragorn and Arwen's children (my whole fanfic revolves around them) I kind of gotten into a um ... 'discussion' on another Tolkien site with a couple respected people there ... who were happy to loudly proclaim that my character and timelines are 'not canon'. I said she was obviously an OC based on the quoted line in Appendix A - Tale of Aragorn and Arwen:

Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters,​

I noted that any OC is technically 'non-canon' even if they 'colored within the lines of canon'. They came back with 'Eldarion was born in year 1 of the fourth age, so he can't have an elder sister'.' I know it is just text, but the whole 'vibe' I was picking up from these two people were they being haughty and it felt they were using their proclamations about canon and my character in a derogatory/degrading manner. I mean, the site's whole theme is centered on roleplaying and writing character fanfic. I was polite and asked them for their citations of the 'year 1' claim to canonicity. Of course, they could not give me any citations on the birth-year of Eldarion other than it was what had gotten edited into the Tolkien wikis (Tolkien Gateway and LotR Wiki) with no direct citations there either. So I did the legwork...


I would like to note that in creating my character and fanfic story, I used three online non-wiki sourced information about Eldarion:

• Middle-Earth Encyclopedia (estimated birth year 30 IV
• Encyclopedia of Arda (Year not stated)
• The Thain's Book (states 'sometime in the early 4th age)

At the time there was no stated birth year or order of birth of Aragorn and Arwen's children.


From what I could find, it seems the only citation I could find where Tolkien mentions Eldarion being born in year 1 of the 4th age is published in Nature of Middle Earth which came out in 2021. I got the book around then but only read parts of it.

In the twelfth note to a text written around 1959 and published in The Nature of Middle-earth, it is said that either the slow maturity of the Half-elven, or the "choice of kindred"[4]:78 extended to the third generation, suggesting that Eldarion, and Tar-Amandil, were among the Half-elven.[4]:82 However, this was changed to the second generation in the actual text.[4]:78 In the same text, Tolkien wrote that Eldarion had lived until the age of 125, most likely having passed away in Fo.A. 126.[4]:79​

Footnote 4 - J.R.R. Tolkien, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), The Nature of Middle-earth, "Part One. Time and Ageing: XI. Ageing of Elves"

The mention of Eldarion being born in year 1 was at the end if a detailed mathematical explanation of ageing of the half-Elven. It got to Arwen where it says her ageing changes from elven to mortal with the birth of Eldarion in year 1:

In (3A) 3019 at the wedding she (Arwen) was nearly 37 [life-years] (but Aragorn 43). She then acquired the lifespan of her husband after the birth of Eldarion in 4A 1. In 4A 100 therefore she was 33 [Numenorean life] years older or 73. ​

The aforemention in passing is where the Eldarion year 1 birth is stated. The text goes on from there discussing Eldarion's life:

Eldarion was mortal and was not by promise included in the "grace of Earendil", but he had in fact a long youth; which took the form of remaining like a young man from maturity at 20 until 60 without change. He then lived another 65 years; making him 125, but in life-age 20 = 65 = 85. His descendants became normal, but long-lived (80-90).​

The discussion on Eldarion's birth year now moves on to what is considered 'canon' in Tolkien's work.

There was no further mention of the two or more daughters Aragorn and Arwen had, but if we are to take this NoME bit as 'canon', then the (2 or more) daughters of Aragorn and Arwen would have aged similarly as Eldarion (remained 20 year old 'hot' and start to show ageing at age 60), and Eldarion, having been born in year 1 of the 4th age; lived to be 125; and ascended to the throne upon King Aragorn's death in 120 of the 4th age when Aragorn tells Arwen in Appendix A - Tale of Aragorn and Arwen:

"And Eldarion our son is a man full-ripe for kingship".​

So according to that part from NoME, he was 119 when Aragorn lays down his life, and Eldarion dies at 125 in 126 of the 4th Age; having ruled for 6 years. It would be one of the shortest reigns of a king.

 

[Tar-Elenion]

The discussion on Eldarion's birth year now moves on to what is considered 'canon' in Tolkien's work.

There was no further mention of the two or more daughters Aragorn and Arwen had, but if we are to take this NoME bit as 'canon', then the (2 or more) daughters of Aragorn and Arwen would have aged similarly as Eldarion (remained 20 year old 'hot' and start to show ageing at age 60), and Eldarion, having been born in year 1 of the 4th age; lived to be 125; and ascended to the throne upon King Aragorn's death in 120 of the 4th age when Aragorn tells Arwen in Appendix A - Tale of Aragorn and Arwen:

"And Eldarion our son is a man full-ripe for kingship". ​

So according to that part from NoME, he was 119 when Aragorn lays down his life, and Eldarion dies at 125 in 126 of the 4th Age; having ruled for 6 years. It would be one of the shortest reigns of a king.

This is mixing first and second edition LotR.
When this note was written (in the context of first edition LotR), Aragorn died in 4A 100.

 

[Vardarianna]

This is mixing first and second edition LotR.
When this note was written (in the context of first edition LotR), Aragorn died in 4A 100.

I guess I'm confused. Let's see if I got this right...

So this is 1st edition → If Eldarion was born in year 1 and lived to be 125, and Aragorn dies in year 100, then Eldarion ruled for 25 years?

The second edition is no birth year given for Eldarion (estimated to be anywhere from year 30 to 46) and Aragorn dies in year 120, and Eldarion rules until his death in ... year 226?

I seem to find all these dates in various sources. I found a good workaround for my fanfic through all this.

 

[Tar-Elenion]

So this is 1st edition → If Eldarion was born in year 1 and lived to be 125, and Aragorn dies in year 100, then Eldarion ruled for 25 years?

Essentially correct (though, of course, Tolkien does not give a birth or death year for Eldarion in LotR, only in sources outside it).

The second edition is no birth year given for Eldarion (estimated to be anywhere from year 30 to 46) and Aragorn dies in year 120, and Eldarion rules until his death in ... year 226?

As with first edition, correct no birth year or death year is given in second edition LotR for Eldarion. The years given outside of LotR are more difficult as they are taken from possibly contradictory or inconsistent writings on the subject of the abandoned 'The New Shadow' text. That is the very late Letter 338: "I have written nothing beyond the first few years of the Fourth Age. (Except the beginning of a tale supposed to refer to the end of the reign of Eldarion about 100 years after the death of Aragorn...), from 1972, compared to the (pre-second edition) Letter 256 ("I did begin a story placed about 100 years after the Downfall [of Mordor]...") from 1964. And the The New Shadow manuscripts themselves which variously have "less than 120 years" and "nearly 110 years", for pre second edition, and then in 1968 Tolkien copies one of the manuscripts keeping the 110, and then making another copy changing it to 105 years after the Downfall of Mordor. CT says he is at loss to explain the second (105), while the first (110) is likely that Tolkien was simply taking up the text as already written. See PoMe, The New Shadow.

 

[Vardarianna]

Essentially correct (though, of course, Tolkien does not give a birth or death year for Eldarion in LotR, only in sources outside it).


As with first edition, correct no birth year or death year is given in second edition LotR for Eldarion. The years given outside of LotR are more difficult as they are taken from possibly contradictory or inconsistent writings on the subject of the abandoned 'The New Shadow' text. That is the very late Letter 338: "I have written nothing beyond the first few years of the Fourth Age. (Except the beginning of a tale supposed to refer to the end of the reign of Eldarion about 100 years after the death of Aragorn...), from 1972, compared to the (pre-second edition) Letter 256 ("I did begin a story placed about 100 years after the Downfall [of Mordor]...") from 1964. And the The New Shadow manuscripts themselves which variously have "less than 120 years" and "nearly 110 years", for pre second edition, and then in 1968 Tolkien copies one of the manuscripts keeping the 110, and then making another copy changing it to 105 years after the Downfall of Mordor. CT says he is at loss to explain the second (105), while the first (110) is likely that Tolkien was simply taking up the text as already written. See PoMe, The New Shadow.

Thanks for this wise @Tar-Elenion !!!
I was yesterday years old when I discovered there were two editions of Lord of the Rings! The Tolkien Gateway Wiki is very confusing on the subject, and it appears whoever edited it last tried to incorporate all of these outside sources into the narrative.