It hadn't occurred to me that it might have been a ploy to let Gandalf keep his staff--by drawing all the attention to the "Heir of Isildur" and his legendary sword, it's easy to downplay Gandalf's staff as just a walking stick.
I don't find the argument convincing, but it's certainly one I've seen! In general any suggestion that Aragorn has any flaws whatsoever will be met with something similar.
Arvedui's claim was rejected. However, Aragorn is also descended from the Kings of Gondor by way of Firiel, Arvedui's wife and widow. By Numenorian law, inheritance through the female line is entirely valid.
I've also seen this point made many times, but I disagree, both in terms of Gondorian law c. the War of the Ring and how Aragorn represents his claim to Gondor's throne in LOTR.
Gondor is not Númenor, and neither Gondor nor Arnor/Arthedain followed Númenórean law in this respect. The heirship of Isildur, for instance, passes exclusively through a line of sons not because each heir only ever had a single son and no other children (which would beggar belief and canonically cannot actually be the case), but because only the firstborn son "counts" under the male-line primogeniture that the Dúnedain of Middle-earth attempt to follow for their entire history (whereas on Númenor, the firstborn child would inherit regardless of gender, even if there was a younger son—Gondor and Arnor are very definitely not operating according to Númenórean law).
In addition, Arvedui claimed the throne as both heir of Isildur (which he wasn't at the time) and as Fíriel's husband on the basis of Númenórean rather than Gondorian law. His argument about Númenórean law is not true; Fíriel herself would be the heir under Númenor's law, not Arvedui, and her birthright could be transmitted to her son Aranarth and his descendants according to gender-blind seniority, but Arvedui would be a usurper if he ruled in her place or Aranarth's. And if Númenórean law were actually being followed by the Northern Dúnedain, the heirship of Isildur would not pass through the "firstborn sons only" club but through firstborn daughters as well, and Aragorn likely wouldn't even be the heir.
Regardless of that complication, though, Gondor not only ruled against the heirs of Isildur, and not only rejected Arvedui's claim through Fíriel, but explicitly ruled that the crown of Gondor could not pass through the female line in any way, since neither Arnor/Arthedain nor Gondor had ever permitted royal claims to be made through the female line. And indeed, at no point do we know of any successful royal claim ever made by or through a woman in Gondor or Arnor or Arthedain (the Stewards did manage it a couple of times within their own dynasty, but not according to the specifics of Númenor's law and they only got away with it because technically they're not royalty).
I do think the decision wrt Fíriel and Aranarth was obviously incorrect (though Gondor was right that Arnor and Arthedain had never followed the law themselves until they wanted to try to make a power grab through it). But legally speaking, Gondor's formal rejection also definitely encompassed the claims of Fíriel and her descendants. Under a thousand years of Gondorian legal precedent, Aragorn is not the heir of Anárion and cannot make a claim through that line. And Aragorn himself appears to consider the Fíriel claim the weaker one; he doesn't press it or talk about it at all in LOTR, and his formal claim towards the end of the story only mentions Valandil -> Isildur -> Elendil, not Fíriel (though she is a far more recent royal ancestor). This makes pragmatic sense given the institutional misogyny of Dúnadan society, but is rather regrettable IMO.
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ninetydegrees
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on 2024-04-02 02:42 am (UTC)I don't find the argument convincing, but it's certainly one I've seen! In general any suggestion that Aragorn has any flaws whatsoever will be met with something similar.
Arvedui's claim was rejected. However, Aragorn is also descended from the Kings of Gondor by way of Firiel, Arvedui's wife and widow. By Numenorian law, inheritance through the female line is entirely valid.
I've also seen this point made many times, but I disagree, both in terms of Gondorian law c. the War of the Ring and how Aragorn represents his claim to Gondor's throne in LOTR.
Gondor is not Númenor, and neither Gondor nor Arnor/Arthedain followed Númenórean law in this respect. The heirship of Isildur, for instance, passes exclusively through a line of sons not because each heir only ever had a single son and no other children (which would beggar belief and canonically cannot actually be the case), but because only the firstborn son "counts" under the male-line primogeniture that the Dúnedain of Middle-earth attempt to follow for their entire history (whereas on Númenor, the firstborn child would inherit regardless of gender, even if there was a younger son—Gondor and Arnor are very definitely not operating according to Númenórean law).
In addition, Arvedui claimed the throne as both heir of Isildur (which he wasn't at the time) and as Fíriel's husband on the basis of Númenórean rather than Gondorian law. His argument about Númenórean law is not true; Fíriel herself would be the heir under Númenor's law, not Arvedui, and her birthright could be transmitted to her son Aranarth and his descendants according to gender-blind seniority, but Arvedui would be a usurper if he ruled in her place or Aranarth's. And if Númenórean law were actually being followed by the Northern Dúnedain, the heirship of Isildur would not pass through the "firstborn sons only" club but through firstborn daughters as well, and Aragorn likely wouldn't even be the heir.
Regardless of that complication, though, Gondor not only ruled against the heirs of Isildur, and not only rejected Arvedui's claim through Fíriel, but explicitly ruled that the crown of Gondor could not pass through the female line in any way, since neither Arnor/Arthedain nor Gondor had ever permitted royal claims to be made through the female line. And indeed, at no point do we know of any successful royal claim ever made by or through a woman in Gondor or Arnor or Arthedain (the Stewards did manage it a couple of times within their own dynasty, but not according to the specifics of Númenor's law and they only got away with it because technically they're not royalty).
I do think the decision wrt Fíriel and Aranarth was obviously incorrect (though Gondor was right that Arnor and Arthedain had never followed the law themselves until they wanted to try to make a power grab through it). But legally speaking, Gondor's formal rejection also definitely encompassed the claims of Fíriel and her descendants. Under a thousand years of Gondorian legal precedent, Aragorn is not the heir of Anárion and cannot make a claim through that line. And Aragorn himself appears to consider the Fíriel claim the weaker one; he doesn't press it or talk about it at all in LOTR, and his formal claim towards the end of the story only mentions Valandil -> Isildur -> Elendil, not Fíriel (though she is a far more recent royal ancestor). This makes pragmatic sense given the institutional misogyny of Dúnadan society, but is rather regrettable IMO.