How Aragorn’s kingship reminds us of Jesus, the King of kings

Peter Jackson enthralled audiences the world over by bringing The Lord of the Rings novels to a new, vivid life on-screen. When a DVD edition of The Fellowship of the Ring was released, one of the special features included an audio commentary from the film’s cast.

In the commentary, Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf the Grey, refers to the vision and dialogue of the story as “the semi-religious language of Tolkien.” And, as scholars such as Joseph Pearce have been convinced, Tolkien’s masterpiece of fiction includes numerous archetypes for prominent Christian figures.

Gandalf himself can be seen as a Christ figure, a character who leads a group of followers, sacrifices his life for them, and is “resurrected” after fulfilling his destiny. However, there are many other significant ties which call Aragorn out as a Christ figure as well, and we will explore these elements presently.

The Lines of King David and of Isildur

Isildur, king of Gondor during the late Second Age and early Third Age, allowed himself to succumb to the Ring, seen here as an archetype to sin. The One Ring, Isildur’s Bane, looms over Isildur’s descendants as a dark cloud of potential doom. Aragorn, one such descendant of the line of Isildur, knows he has been cursed with this terrific obstacle.

But it is this greatest of threats which he must confront. The Ring, directly connected to the Dark Lord Sauron, must be overcome and with Sauron defeated, obliterated from the face of Middle-earth. Aragorn rises to the occasion, battles evil, and inevitably serves as a crucial aide in the triumph over Sauron and his dark forces.

For those who are even fairly acquainted with the historical context shared between the Old Testament and the New, this should feel familiar. Christ comes as Savior and Redeemer, the one to free us from the bondage of sin. Why does this have to be done? If we trace it back to its origins, it all began in the Garden of Eden with the consumption of the forbidden fruit. However, since then, the history of mankind has been one long chronicle of woe, war, and wanton devastation.

Even God’s chosen ones, some of his most loyal servants, betrayed him. Aaron, who would be called to the vocation of High Priest of God, was responsible for constructing (and not inhibiting) the Golden Calf and the pagan worship associated with it. Even Moses, who served faithfully for years, would lose faith during the incident of striking the rock to produce water (related in Numbers 20) and be prohibited by God from entering the Holy Land with the rest of the Israelite people.

Yet another fall of a virtuous leader comes in the story of King David, the Lord’s warrior and singer of his praises. David ultimately falls into the snare of lust and of committing adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. In other words, David falls victim to sin. God, being displeased with David’s sinfulness, puts the consequences of the sin on the offspring of this unlawful relationship. David’s son, who would have entered into the royal line, dies.

However, David’s line is renewed and saved in the vocation of Christ, who is directly descended from King David. From Adam to David and beyond, Christ’s sacrifice counters all of humanity’s sins, transcending time and offering the opportunity for the redemption of all. Similarly, Aragorn, a descendant of Isildur, redeemed his ancestor’s line when he conquers evil in the Third Age.

Physician and Priest

One of the many honorary titles with which we identify Christ is that of the Great Physician. It is only fitting to the God-Man who walked among the people, touching them, curing them of every kind of infirmity and affliction. More than this, it is Christ’s love which fully heals one’s soul. Human beings, being body-soul composites, are called to pursue health: the spiritual as well as the physical. And it is in Christ that our whole being finds fulfillment.

In a number of instances, Aragorn is seen displaying these Christ-like attributes of healer and consoler. The most obvious association with Aragorn’s role as a healer or physician comes during a sequence that’s played out in The Return of the King. In the chapter “The Houses of Healing,” we read of the tradition that the hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.

In the same chapter, the reader proceeds to see the knowledge, compassion, and devotion Aragorn displays toward his injured companions Faramir, Éowyn, and Merry. And his work does not end with his friends:

“At the doors of the Houses many were already gathered to see Aragorn, and they followed after him; and when at last he had supped, men came and prayed that he would heal their kinsmen or their friends whose lives were in peril through hurt or wound, or who lay under the Black Shadow. And Aragorn arose and went out, and he sent for the sons of Elrond, and together they laboured far into the night. And word went through the City: ‘The King is come again indeed.’”

Much later, in “The Steward and the King,” Faramir – the new steward – announces Aragorn’s triumphant entry into Gondor with a notable and lengthy introduction:

“’…Here is Aragorn son of Arathorn, chieftain of the Dunedain of Arnor, Captain of the Host of the West, bearer of the Star of the North, wielder of the Sword Reforged, victorious in battle, whose hands bring healing, the Elfstone, Elessar of the line of Valandil, Isildur’s son, Elendil’s son of Numenor.’”

Soon Aragorn is bestowed and accepts his royal title: King Elessar. Note the hands of Elessar bring healing, and all the scenery and symbolism in these sequences harkens to the image of Christ who walked among the crowds and healed their afflictions of body and spirit. It is evocative of Jairus’s pleading with Jesus for the healing of his daughter and so many other personal healing stories related in the Bible. Even his entrance and acceptance by his people offer a semblance of Christ’s entering into Jerusalem, which we celebrate on Palm Sunday.

In addition to the role of physician, another Christ-like role Aragorn takes on is that of priest. The priest, for which Christ is the ultimate and most perfect archetype, serves as a mediator between God and man. (Christ, being both wholly God and wholly man, thoroughly fulfills this role.) Priests assist the laity with what they cannot accomplish in and of themselves: salvation. Working toward salvation takes the Sacraments, and the institution of the priesthood is the backbone of propagating these graces.

Aragorn’s frequent displays of healing, consoling, and forgiving illustrate the Sacraments as provided by a priest. In The Two Towers, Aragorn’s few brief and final moments with a fading Boromir are ones of offering peace, reflecting the priestly duties in the situation of a deathbed conversion or of ministering the Last Rights. Elsewhere, most prominently in The Return of the King, Aragorn offers peace, forgiveness, and penitential instructions to those who are under his charge, reflecting the Sacrament of Reconciliation. These are some of the key ways in which Elessar is seen living out a priestly vocation.

Leader, Defender, King

Jesus is the epitome of humility: the God-Man brought into a grade of poverty so destitute that he was born in a manger, where animals were housed. Aragorn reflects Christ in his humble beginnings as well as his noble heritage. Strider is a ranger, a rough man dwelling in the wild not too unlike John the Baptist. Strider is skilled in tracking, in medicine, and in the protocol of his royal rank. When he starts off, his reputation is of little notoriety, but by the climax of this tale, he has come into his own, having won the glory of lordship over his kingdom.

Nevertheless, Aragorn has always had a sense of leadership about him. It comes naturally, and he serves as a just and virtuous commander both on the battlefield and off it. In The Fellowship of the Ring, he serves the hobbits as a steady guide to their destination: Rivendell. Aragorn shows them the way, speaks the truth, and strives to keep them alive just as Jesus told us that he himself is the way, the truth, and the life toward our final destination: happiness with God in heaven.

By the end of the first chapter of The Two Towers, in the aftermath of the Fellowship’s disintegration, Aragorn has made a decision as to what action should be taken next, and Legolas and Gimli follow his lead. He has chosen to go after the prisoners of the orcs, Merry and Pippin, and see to their rescue. Aragorn is going after his lost sheep as it were. He wholeheartedly lives out his vocation as a defender of the righteous just as he did in defending the hobbits at Weathertop.

Yet another terrific virtue Aragorn displays is that of courage. Recall the myriad of battles he fights in the LOTR saga alone, not to mention those he engaged in prior to the main plot of the story. The purpose behind his brutality in battle is the same for any righteous soldier: to protect the innocent and endeavor toward a reign of peace.

By The Return of the King, the highlight of the story shifts gears away from Frodo Baggins for a while, focusing instead on Aragorn, for whom this final novel is titled. It is here that we see Aragorn’s final transition into Elessar. All come to recognize him for who he truly is: Isildur’s redemptive heir.

In examining the symbolic Christology in Aragorn’s personality, his actions, and his calling, its purpose is ultimately to draw our attention back to Christ. Aragorn is meant to remind us of Christ. In the end, it is Jesus that our thoughts should be directed upon. Aragorn, in many ways modeled after Christ, is a token of man’s aspiration toward the vocation of priest, physician, and king.

*Dedicated to Joseph Tuttle