The Lord of the Rings: Put Aside the Ranger

Insecure is, admittedly, over the top when referring to Aragorn. He is fearless, he is wise, he is a born leader who has no qualms about taking the reins. Men follow him to their deaths, and he bears this weight honorably and responsibly.

Yet there is one position of leadership that he does not seem to covet. His greatest title, King of Gondor, is not one that he uses. In fact, he himself never concerns himself with making sure his companions know his high lineage. It is always others who do so. ("Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth;" - Proverbs 27:2a)

It is almost as if he is comfortable with his nomadic, disdained life as a Ranger. Quietly protecting those who give him no credit, skilled beyond belief in woodcraft and fighting, he holds a strange honor as leader of the foresters. Despite the dirt and grime, the lack of close friendship and fellowship, he goes by the nothing-name of Strider and is content. Of course the fact that he is a king lingers in his eyes, but seek out the throne he does not.

Humility it may be or seem, but I venture to wonder if it is something more realistic. Something akin to fear and disbelief that he, Ranger of the North, could ever hope to wear the crown of Gondor. Something that allows him to accept Legolas' announcement that he is king and yet forces him to quiet his longtime friend. Yes, he hopes for the throne. Yes, he knows his lineage. Perhaps he even knows that he has been carefully groomed by the king of elves for the very hour when he shall become the Lord of the Citadel.

You know you are chosen. Perhaps you even believe that someday, somehow, you shall attain whatever it is that God has promised you. Yet you do not mention it, and you go about your life as if it were something imaginary. Something you can see, but whenever you grasp for it, it slips through your fingers. You believe, yet you ignore.

Aragorn looked into the mountain of death and felt drawn, yet he did not go. He waited, restless, feeling that it was his time, yet unsure that it could really be true. Unsure that the destiny that had called was really going to come to him this day. Now.

A rider cloaked in black ascended the hilltop, and he brought with him something that Aragorn had wished for, dreamnt of, hoped for, but never truly believed in. No longer the shards of Narsil, it was the reforged sword called Anduril. It was a sword that only a king could weild. Aragorn had to accept his destiny before he could honestly call the sword his own.

And accepting one's destiny, however beautiful, splendid, and hoped for, is a very, very difficult thing. Even when it is handed to you, ready and waiting, going forth into it is something only you can do. The fact that it is there does not change the fact that you must accept it and go.

You would think, that after 87 years of being told he was king, should be king, would be king, Aragorn would grasp it and nod his head in readiness. You would think that the fire in his eyes would burn as he imagined the crown upon his brow already. But he did not. He held the sword - his dream - with wonderment and a hint of disbelief, and Elrond had to push him over the edge,

"Put aside the Ranger. Become who you were born to be."

In order to become who he was born to be, Aragorn had to first put off who he was. He could not be both ranger and king. You cannot be both humdrum and passionate. You were born to be something - God saw to that - yet you cannot remain who you are today if you are to grasp your destiny that has been handed to you.

Aragorn did. He wore the sword, he wielded it, and he took upon himself the responsibility that came with it. Despite the fact that kingship was his destiny, it still entailed things he didn't want to do. He was much less than thrilled than entering the mountain of death, a place where fear abided and his heart felt drawn. He knew what he must do, and he banished fear from his mind. He was Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir of Elendil and king of Gondor, and he "did not fear death."

Acting on one's destiny does not mean that trials will no longer come, that the road will be clear and battles few. No, no, my friend! For the instant Aragorn took the sword, he plunged himself into a danger more dark than anything anyone in the fellowship had yet encountered in their quest. His first act was to go into the valley.

It was because he finally believed in his destiny - believed in its reality - that he feared nothing in the mountain. It was because he put aside the ranger that he was allowed to pass unscathed through hordes of the dead. It was because he became who he was born to be that he had the honor needed to call the treacherous armies to his aid and win a vital battle for Middle-Earth.

Put aside the Ranger. Become who you were born to be.