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12-26-2010, 02:50 PM | #1 |
Wight
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Aragorn's first visit to Moria
As the Company approached Moria, Aragorn stated that he had been in Moria once before.
Any ideas on why he might have gone there before ? |
12-26-2010, 07:48 PM | #2 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
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Maybe he was accompanying Gandalf when he went there?
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12-26-2010, 10:02 PM | #3 |
Haunting Spirit
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Aragorn had entered Moria from the east, through the Great Gates in Dimrill Dale. When he did this, we are not told. I have read some speculation that he might have lost a companion, such as another Ranger, in Moria. In any event, when the Company of the Ring fled after Gandalf fell into the abyss, there was a company of orcs guarding the entrance. We do not know if this was typical after the orcs re-established themselves following the Battle of Azanulbizar: perhaps they were watching for travelers through the Mines (i.e., the Company of the Ring), or perhaps it was normal procedure. Somehow, Aragorn got in, alone or (more likely) with others; but he escaped only with difficulty, and the memory of the experience was so black, he was willing to attempt crossing the Redhorn Pass in the dead of winter knowing that his transit was probably being watched.
Gandalf said that only he had passed completely through the Mines. Since he exited through the Doors of Durin, he must also have entered from Dimrill Dale. And since he alone had transited the Mines, Aragorn cannot have accompanied him, giving us the additional information that Aragorn also entered and left through Dimrill Dale. I cannot recall reading in Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Letters, History of Middle-earth, or Reader’s Companion of any further exposition of Aragorn’s (mis)adventures in Moria. If anyone is aware of anything else Tolkien wrote about this, please post it! -|- added: After Boromir carped about opening the Doors of Durin to enter Moria, Gandalf told him he had entered from the east. Last edited by Alcuin; 12-26-2010 at 10:09 PM. |
12-27-2010, 07:36 AM | #4 | |||
Gruesome Spectre
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Quote:
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However, where does it say that only Gandalf had made the full journey through Moria? Aragorn says of his encounter there: Quote:
As for the original question of why Aragorn entered Moria, ask yourself, 'Why did Gandalf"? Lacking an exploratory motive, both would have merely been looking for a shortcut through the Mountains at some point, for whatever reason of needing haste.
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12-27-2010, 01:33 PM | #5 | |
Wight
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12-27-2010, 02:23 PM | #6 | ||||
Gruesome Spectre
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Quote:
Quote:
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When the Company was debating whether to go through Moria, Gandalf says this: Quote:
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12-27-2010, 06:02 PM | #7 |
Haunting Spirit
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Location: Nurn
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The Orcs in Moria had been sent there from Dol Guldur. Aragorn was an expert on Orcs, hunted them, and may have entered the Mines as part of a scouting expedition to learn about their movements, either on his own or in cooperation with Lórien. After all, Lórien was an obvious target for an attack from either Dol Guldur or Moria or both simultaneously. Since we don’t know anything else about when Aragorn entered Moria before III 3019 or his reasons for going there, I would venture that this is the single most likely reason.
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12-27-2010, 06:17 PM | #8 | |
Gruesome Spectre
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12-27-2010, 07:01 PM | #9 | ||
Haunting Spirit
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Quote:
According to the Tale of Years, Aragorn was in Lórien in 2980. Then he met Arwen there, and their engagement began (they “plighted their troth”). Balin did not enter Moria for another 9 years. If Aragorn entered Moria around 2980 to scout the situation there, and Balin entered sometime afterwards, Gandalf would have had the better information. Nor does it seem likely that Aragorn entered Lórien again before he came there with the Company of the Ring. Celeborn hints that this was the situation. Haldir indicated that the Elves were aware that there were again Orcs in Moria, or at least encroaching from the direction. Maybe the Elves did not know they were coming from Moria, but only from the Misty Mountains. (It seems obvious to me, but then, I’m not a couple of thousand years old: maybe I’m being “too hasty,” as Treebeard would put it.) A better question might be why Elrond was unaware of the presence of Orcs, since he had been recently in communication with Galadriel and Celeborn through Elladan and Elrohir, who traveled to Lórien and returned following the Council of Elrond. Perhaps we should consider that the presence of Orcs in Moria was taken as a given – if Balin and his colony from Erebor were not there to keep them at bay in some section or another of the Mines, a possibility Gandalf suggested. His only mention of Orcs in connection with Moria was that ([FotR], “Journey in the Dark”) Quote:
But maybe Aragorn wasn’t looking for Orcs in Moria at all: maybe he was just “an adventurer”, though that would strike me as very “un-Aragorn”. Mere darkness would not have daunted Aragorn. If he didn’t meet Orcs in Moria, do you suppose he got an early glimpse of Durin’s Bane? I vote for Orcs. |
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12-28-2010, 01:31 PM | #10 | |
Wight of the Old Forest
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12-29-2010, 07:01 AM | #11 | |
Pile O'Bones
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Trotter in Moria
Aragorn's reference to having visited Moria earlier is one of the remnants of the story of Trotter — the Hobbit ranger (and at some point Bilbo himself) that Tolkien originally intended the Hobbits to meet in Bree.
Trotter had been kept captive by ‘Black Riders’ in Moria, which is also the history behind Aragorn's painful memory in Bree as they talk about the Black Riders, Aragorn having announced that ‘They are terrible!’: Quote:
We can, of course, begin to make some guesses based on the earlier history. Trotter, the Hobbit, was caught by Sauron's emissaries. In the first version he was, IIRC, caught in or near Mordor, and there tortured, but later the place of his capture and torture changed to Moria. This was while he was tracking Gollum, and it would, perhaps, not be illogical to presume that Aragorn had also entered Moria while tracking Gollum — it would certainly not be unreasonable to search for news of Gollum in Moria, and so that might have warranted Aragorn's sojourn. However, I don't think we can simply allow Aragorn to adopt all of Trotter's story, since I am sure that Aragorn was not caught and tortured in Moria, and most certainly not by Nazgûl. |
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12-29-2010, 11:02 AM | #12 | |
Haunting Spirit
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Hence this thread. |
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