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Timeline Event

Aragorn rides for Dunharrow

Event Type: General

Age: 3rd Age - Ring War

Date: March 6, 3019

Description:

An event in the aftermath of the Parley with Saruman in Isengard; see that entry for an overview:
Aragorn rode to the Dike and watched till the king's men were far down the Coomb....

'There go three that I love, and the smallest not the least,' he said. 'He knows not to what end he rides; yet if he knew, he still would go on.'

'A little people, but of great worth are the Shire-folk,' said Halbarad. 'Little do they know of our long labour for the safekeeping of their borders, and yet I grudge it not.'

'And now our fates are woven together,' said Aragorn. 'And yet, alas! here we must part. Well, I must eat a little, and then we also must hasten away. Come, Legolas and Gimli! I must speak with you as I eat.'

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 2, The Passing of the Grey Company

'I have looked in the Stone of Orthanc, my friends.'....

'We must press our Enemy, and no longer wait upon him for the move.... [When] I had mastered the Stone, I learned many things. A grave peril I saw coming unlooked-for upon Gondor from the South that will draw off great strength from the defence of Minas Tirith. If it is not countered swiftly, I deem that the City will be lost ere ten days be gone.'....

'I have no help to send, therefore I must go myself,' said Aragorn. 'But there is only one way through the mountains that will bring me to the coastlands before all is lost. That is the Paths of the Dead.'....

'The Paths of the Dead!' said Gimli.... 'Can the living use such a road and not perish? And even if you pass that way, what will so few avail to counter the strokes of Mordor?'....

'[In] this dark hour the heir of Isildur may use it, if he dare.... This is the word that the sons of Elrond bring to me from their father in Rivendell...: Bid Aragorn remember the words of the seer, and the Paths of the Dead.'....

'[That] way I now shall take. But I do not go gladly; only need drives me. Therefore, only of your free will would I have you come, for you will find both toil and great fear, and maybe worse.'....

'I hope that the forgotten people will not have forgotten how to fight,' said Gimli....

'That we shall know if ever we come to Erech,' said Aragorn. 'But the oath that they broke was to fight against Sauron, and they must fight therefore, if they are to fulfil it....

'[The] terror of the Sleepless Dead lies about the Hill of Erech.... But that way I must go, since there are none living to help me.'

He stood up. 'Come!' he cried, and drew his sword, and it flashed in the twilit hall of the Burg. 'To the Stone of Erech! I seek the Paths of the Dead. Come with me who will!'

Legolas and Gimli made no answer, but they rose and followed Aragorn from the hall. On the green there waited, still and silent, the hooded Rangers.... Aragorn sprang upon Roheryn. Then Halbarad lifted a great horn, and the blast of it echoed in Helm's Deep; and with that they leapt away, riding down the Coomb like thunder....

And while Théoden went by slow paths in the hills, the Grey Company passed swiftly over the plain....

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 2, The Passing of the Grey Company

Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 3Sep06

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