Even though it is not the main focus of the story, parts of The Lord of the Rings are also about love. The most well-known couple is Arwen and Aragorn. But did you know that they are already connected through their family history?
Are Aragorn and Arwen related? Yes. At least distantly. The family story of the two is not greatly addressed in the films, but they are related. The most important junction for their kinship is Eärendil, the father of Elrond, thus the grandfather of Arwen.
Things become a bit more complicated with Aragorn, as he is also related to Eärendil, but over significantly more generations.
The Complicated Family Tree of Aragorn and Eärendil
How are Eärendil and Aragorn related? Eärendil himself was already a half-elf. His mother was Idril, an elf, and his father was the man Tuor. Together with the half-elf Elwing, Eärendil had the twins Elros and Elrond (who is played by Hugo Weaving in the trilogy).
After the war against the villain Morgoth, Eärendil’s two sons had the choice of whether to live a mortal life or remain immortal as elves. While Elrond chose the elven life, Elros opted for mortality (even though he lived significantly longer than one would expect with mortality
).
In the Second Age, the island of Númenor was created by the Valar. It was gifted to the Edain, the first men, because they fought in the war against Morgoth. In the 32nd year of the 2nd Age, Elros landed on the island with some Edain and founded a kingdom. Over the following years, more and more people settled there, who were called Númenóreans
or Dúnedain
. Observant viewers of the films know: Aragorn is also a Dúnedain.
Many Generations
So how do you get from Elros to Aragorn? The first important junction is Valandil (Source: tolkiengateway.net).
- Elros had four children: Vardamir Nólimon, Tindómiel, Manwendil, and Atanalcar
- Vardamir Nólimon also had four descendants: Tar-Amandil, Vardilmë, Aulendil, and Nolondil
- Tar-Amandil had three children: Tar-Elendil Parmaitë, Eärendur, and Mairen
- Tar-Elendil Parmaitë also had three descendants: Silmarien, Isilmë, and Tar-Meneldur
- Tar-Elendil’s daughter Silmarien had Valandil with Elatan
Valandil was the first prince of Andúnië, a port city in Númenor. From him descend the next generations of princes, up to specifically mentioning Eärendur, the 15th prince of Andúnië.
Eärendur had Amandil as a son, who was the last prince of Andúnië. In the year 3319 of the 2nd Age, Númenor was destroyed. Amandil’s son, Elendil, survived and founded the kingdoms of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth, namely Arnor and Gondor.
Elendil then had the sons Isildur and Anárion. Here begins another significant generational leap to Aragorn (Source: tolkiengateway.net), which we will summarize roughly by starting with Isildur’s son Valandil and then listing the ancestors in the correct order:
- Valandil (the third king of Arnor)
- Eldacar
- Arantar
- Tarcil
- Tarondor
- Valandur
- Elendur
- Eärendur
After Eärendur, Arnor was divided into three kingdoms and his eldest son Amlaith became the king of Arthedain. His descendants continued the line of Isildur:
- Belegg
- Mallor
- Celpharn
- Celebrindor
- Malvegil
- Argeleb the 1st
- Arveleg the 1st
- Araphor
- Argeleb the 2nd
- Arvegil
- Arveleg the 2nd
- Araval
- Araphant
- Arvedui
- Aranarth
In the year 1974 of the Third Age, the Witch-King of Angmar destroyed the kingdom of Arthedain, which is why the next descendants were no longer kings (Source: tolkiengateway.net):
- Arahael
- Aranuir
- Aravir
- Aragorn the 1st
- Araglas
- Arahad the 1st
- Aragost
- Aravorn
- Arahad the 2nd
- Arassuil
- Arathorn the 1st
- Argonui
- Arador
- Arathorn the 2nd
Arathorn the 2nd then had the son Aragorn the 2nd with Gilraen in the year 2931 of the Third Age, whom we all know as Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings. By the way, Aragorn’s mother Gilraen is also descended from Aranarth.
Thus, both Aragorn and Arwen are descended from Eärendil, but they are separated by over 60 generations. Arwen was born in the year 241 of the Third Age, that is, 2690 years before Aragorn the 2nd. Like her grandfather Eärendil, she gave up her immortality to marry Aragorn.
Together with Aragorn, she had a son named Eldarion in the 1st year of the Fourth Age.
As you can see, the story of Middle-earth is quite vast, and in the films, you only catch a small part of it. The lore behind the world, its creatures, and heroes offers many exciting stories. A selection of them can be found here: The Lord of the Rings: Everything about the lore and history of Middle-earth
