This time through reading the Lord of the Rings, I’ve been especially moved by Aragorn’s story. As the rightful king of Gondor, there is never a point where he forces the realization of his role. As the rightful king, the circumstances of his life lead him there.
He lives in the grit of being a ranger, is faithful to that life and the needs in front of him. It’s the need of Frodo that gets him connected with the company. It’s the need of the company in the wake of the loss of Gandalf that raises him to lead them. It’s the need of his friends the hobbits that leads him toward Gondor. It’s always the need of the real people in his real life, and he throws himself into serving them with his whole heart. Often in the midst of grief, in the crucible of the need of the people he’s with, he is raised to leadership by the moment. And it makes him. He never stops growing through the whole story, because he simply is faithful and present to the need of the moment. Not only does it take him to the role, it makes him the gift of a man he was made to be.
I’m very moved by his response to Boromir’s death—Boromir, the closest thing to his rival, and the man who’s just betrayed everything Aragorn is giving his life to, but who has also just had the humility to open his failings to him. Aragorn hears his confession and blesses him with peace, affirming his valor. He restores the man’s death from one of shame to one of nobility.
Later the Gondor prophecy is shared: the hands of the king are the hands of a healer.
