The Two Towers

by

J.R.R. Tolkien

Aragorn, the Chieftain of the Dúnedain and the heir to the throne of Gondor, embodies a dual identity in The Two Towers: he insists that he is both Strider (his Ranger moniker) and Aragorn (the heir of Isildur). He continues to struggle with the more difficult aspects of leadership when he is forced to decide between following Frodo and rescuing Merry and Pippin from a company of orcs. Aragorn decides to pursue the orc company, leading Legolas and Gimli on a fruitless chase across the fields of Rohan. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, Aragorn refuses to give up and abandon the hobbits. After reuniting with Gandalf, Aragorn spends time with Théoden, the king of Rohan, learning about kingship from his example and assisting him in leading the riders of Rohan during the battle of Helm’s Deep. Since The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn has grown as a leader in a way that’s obvious to others—when he draws his sword and declares his title, he looks more like a legendary king than a dusty Ranger. Humble and level-headed, Aragorn longs for the day he can return to Gondor but trusts the counsel of Gandalf and goes where he’s needed most.

Aragorn Quotes in The Two Towers

The The Two Towers quotes below are all either spoken by Aragorn or refer to Aragorn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Decline and Decay  Theme Icon
).
Book 3, Chapter 1 Quotes

Boromir opened his eyes and strove to speak. At last slow words came. ‘I tried to take the Ring from Frodo,’ he said. ‘I am sorry. I have paid.’ His glance strayed to his fallen enemies; twenty at least lay there. ‘They have gone: the Halflings: the Orcs have taken them. I think they are not dead. Orcs bound them.’ He paused and his eyes closed wearily. After a moment he spoke again.

‘Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.’

Related Characters: Boromir (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

‘Let me think!’ said Aragorn. ‘And now may I make a right choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day!’ He stood silent for a moment. ‘I will follow the Orcs,’ he said at last. ‘I would have guided Frodo into Mordor and gone with him to the end; but if I seek him now in the wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death. My heart speaks clearly at last: the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer. The Company has played its part. Yet we that remain cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left. Come! We will go now. Leave all that can be spared behind! We will press on by day and dark!’

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took , Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 2 Quotes

‘It is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. The world is all grown strange. Elf and dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times?’

‘As he has ever judged,’ said Aragorn. ‘Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.’

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Éomer (speaker), Gimli, Legolas, Galadriel
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 5 Quotes

‘You have not said what you know or guess, Aragorn, my friend,’ he said quietly. ‘Poor Boromir! I could not see what happened to him. It was a sore trial for such a man: a warrior, and a lord of men. Galadriel told me that he was in peril. But he escaped in the end. I am glad. It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir’s sake.’

Related Characters: Gandalf (speaker), Aragorn, Boromir, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took , Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:

‘I have spoken words of hope. But only of hope. Hope is not victory. War is upon us and all our friends, a war in which only the use of the Ring could give us surety of victory. It fills me with great sorrow and great fear: for much shall be destroyed and all may be lost. I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still.’

He rose and gazed out eastward, shading his eyes, as if he saw things far away that none of them could see. Then he shook his head. ‘No,’ he said in a soft voice, ‘it has gone beyond our reach. Of that at least let us be glad. We can no longer be tempted to use the Ring. We must go down to face a peril near despair, yet that deadly peril is removed.’

Related Characters: Gandalf (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Sauron, Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 108-109
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 7 Quotes

‘The end will not be long,’ said the king. ‘But I will not end here, taken like an old badger in a trap. Snowmane and Hasufel and the horses of my guard are in the inner court. When dawn comes, I will bid them sound the Helm’s horn, and I will ride forth. Will you ride with me then, son of Arathorn? Maybe we shall cleave a road, or make such an end as will be worth a song—if any be left to sing of us hereafter.’

‘I will ride with you,’ said Aragorn.

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Théoden (speaker)
Page Number: 156
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 4, Chapter 8 Quotes

‘All is lost. Even if my errand is performed, no one will ever know. There will be no one I can tell. It will be in vain.’ Overcome with weakness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge.

Then, at a great distance, as if it came out of memories of the Shire, some sunlit early morning, when the day called and the doors were opening, he heard Sam’s voice speaking. ‘Wake up, Mr. Frodo! Wake up!’

[…]

Frodo raised his head, and then stood up. Despair had not left him, but the weakness had passed. He even smiled grimly, feeling now as clearly as a moment before he had felt the opposite, that what he had to do, he had to do, if he could, and that whether Faramir or Aragorn or Elrond or Galadriel or Gandalf or anyone else ever knew about it was beside the purpose.

Related Characters: Frodo Baggins (speaker), Samwise “Sam” Gamgee (speaker), Aragorn, Gandalf, Faramir, Galadriel, The Wraith-king, Elrond
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 357-358
Explanation and Analysis:
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Aragorn Quotes in The Two Towers

The The Two Towers quotes below are all either spoken by Aragorn or refer to Aragorn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Decline and Decay  Theme Icon
).
Book 3, Chapter 1 Quotes

Boromir opened his eyes and strove to speak. At last slow words came. ‘I tried to take the Ring from Frodo,’ he said. ‘I am sorry. I have paid.’ His glance strayed to his fallen enemies; twenty at least lay there. ‘They have gone: the Halflings: the Orcs have taken them. I think they are not dead. Orcs bound them.’ He paused and his eyes closed wearily. After a moment he spoke again.

‘Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.’

Related Characters: Boromir (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

‘Let me think!’ said Aragorn. ‘And now may I make a right choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day!’ He stood silent for a moment. ‘I will follow the Orcs,’ he said at last. ‘I would have guided Frodo into Mordor and gone with him to the end; but if I seek him now in the wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death. My heart speaks clearly at last: the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer. The Company has played its part. Yet we that remain cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left. Come! We will go now. Leave all that can be spared behind! We will press on by day and dark!’

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took , Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 2 Quotes

‘It is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. The world is all grown strange. Elf and dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times?’

‘As he has ever judged,’ said Aragorn. ‘Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.’

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Éomer (speaker), Gimli, Legolas, Galadriel
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 5 Quotes

‘You have not said what you know or guess, Aragorn, my friend,’ he said quietly. ‘Poor Boromir! I could not see what happened to him. It was a sore trial for such a man: a warrior, and a lord of men. Galadriel told me that he was in peril. But he escaped in the end. I am glad. It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir’s sake.’

Related Characters: Gandalf (speaker), Aragorn, Boromir, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took , Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:

‘I have spoken words of hope. But only of hope. Hope is not victory. War is upon us and all our friends, a war in which only the use of the Ring could give us surety of victory. It fills me with great sorrow and great fear: for much shall be destroyed and all may be lost. I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still.’

He rose and gazed out eastward, shading his eyes, as if he saw things far away that none of them could see. Then he shook his head. ‘No,’ he said in a soft voice, ‘it has gone beyond our reach. Of that at least let us be glad. We can no longer be tempted to use the Ring. We must go down to face a peril near despair, yet that deadly peril is removed.’

Related Characters: Gandalf (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Sauron, Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 108-109
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 7 Quotes

‘The end will not be long,’ said the king. ‘But I will not end here, taken like an old badger in a trap. Snowmane and Hasufel and the horses of my guard are in the inner court. When dawn comes, I will bid them sound the Helm’s horn, and I will ride forth. Will you ride with me then, son of Arathorn? Maybe we shall cleave a road, or make such an end as will be worth a song—if any be left to sing of us hereafter.’

‘I will ride with you,’ said Aragorn.

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Théoden (speaker)
Page Number: 156
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 4, Chapter 8 Quotes

‘All is lost. Even if my errand is performed, no one will ever know. There will be no one I can tell. It will be in vain.’ Overcome with weakness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge.

Then, at a great distance, as if it came out of memories of the Shire, some sunlit early morning, when the day called and the doors were opening, he heard Sam’s voice speaking. ‘Wake up, Mr. Frodo! Wake up!’

[…]

Frodo raised his head, and then stood up. Despair had not left him, but the weakness had passed. He even smiled grimly, feeling now as clearly as a moment before he had felt the opposite, that what he had to do, he had to do, if he could, and that whether Faramir or Aragorn or Elrond or Galadriel or Gandalf or anyone else ever knew about it was beside the purpose.

Related Characters: Frodo Baggins (speaker), Samwise “Sam” Gamgee (speaker), Aragorn, Gandalf, Faramir, Galadriel, The Wraith-king, Elrond
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 357-358
Explanation and Analysis: