Why March 1st?

[inzilbeth]

I've been busy for most of today doing final preparations for lambing which all kicks off this week, and while I was setting up lambing pens and cleaning my kit, I was thinking about Aragorn! I tend to do that anyway [surprised?] but especially so as this is his special day being both his birthday and the day of his death.

I'm sure though, I'm not the only one to have wondered at the reason why Aragorn chose to die on his birthday. 1st March has no particular significance in any Middle-earth calendar. Nor does it relate to ours in the way that, for instance, 25th March does, which was  not only  the 1st day of the New Year in Gondor after the war, but it was also the 1st day of the New Year in England until 1752, something Tolkien, I'm sure, didn't arrange by accident [it was the Christian feast of Annunciation which he would surely have known].

There is no connection like this though for 1st March, yet it can be no accident that these dates are the same. This is after all  Middle-earth and Tolkien we are talking about! My take on it is that it was all tied up with Aragorn's decision to give up his life. Why not chose your birthday? There's a certain symmetry in doing so and I think it was Tolkien's way of reinforcing to the reader that Aragorn's death was a matter of conscious choice, not pot luck. The fact that Aragorn chose to give up his life is hugely significant to his status as one of the most important characters in all Tolkien's works. I think in Tolkien's eyes, it was the most important thing about him. Maybe not in ours though!

Any thoughts?

Here's my favourite Viggo/ Aragorn photo. 

       

Foot note:

Thanks to all who commented, this riddle is suddenly very clear to me and now quite obvious! Aragorn chose his birthday on which to die as he was effectively being born again into another existance. How simple, yet I never realised that until this morning, thinking about it while feeding the cows!

Comments

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are going to write that story, aren't you/ Hint, hint!

You've got the point exactly here, Roisin.

Aragorn is very much a throwback to his ancestors and the symbol of the 'good' man who could lay down his life without fear.

I've often wondered what this belief of Tolkien's about there being no need to fear death, tells us about his own Faith.

Yes, the more you read, the better it gets. There is a paper that someone did for a PhD called 'Tales of the heir of Isildur' [it's online at Viggo-works] and it starts off by saying that in order to fully understand Aragorn you have to read everything Tolkien ever wrote about Middle-earth. Good point, I think.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Yes, Aragorn is a very complex character. I get very irritated by texts which just gloss over him as the almost irrelevant traditional action hero. I certainly believe he was very important to Tolkien and it is an interesting thought that most of the Second Age history was written as a means of linking Aragorn to the First Age.

I think your group is a great idea and I hope more people join.

[shirebound]

That's a fascinating theory.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Glad you think so!

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

He was very important to Tolkien. In a draft of a letter to Ronah Beare, which was not sent, but was written in 1958, Tolkien compares Aragorn to unfallen Man.

"It was also the Elvish (and uncorrupted Númenórean) view that a 'good' Man would or should die voluntarily by surrender with trust before being compelled (as did Aragorn). This may have been the nature of unfallen Man; though compulsion would not threaten him: he would desire and ask to be allowed to 'go on' to a higher state." (The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, letter 212, p. 286, in a note added by Christopher Tolkien.

My pet theory is that when Aragorn showed up at the Prancing Pony Tolkien gradually fell in love with him, and hence Aragorn's increased importance in the tale.

I, myself, never considered Aragorn's death, within the context of Tolkien's universe, a sad event. And I think it's very fitting he chose his birth date as the date of his departure beyond the circles of the world.


Happy birthday Aragorn. May he live forever in our hearts.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Ah, I knew you would know the exact quote I was thinking of! That reference is going in my note book.

I love your theory about Tolkien and Aragorn. I tend to think you are right.

See my edited note aboue.

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

Likely minded as usual. *grin* Your note is spot on.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

After thinking on this for a while, one thought comes to me about his choosing to die on his birthdate: it symbolizes, in a way, that death is no less a cause for joy as birth. Aragorn believed there was more awaiting beyond life on Middle-earth, and so for him, death was a matter of moving from one part of life to another. I think perhaps Tolkien used his choosing March 1 may have been a way to underscore that belief.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

You are quite right! See my note above!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Amazing the wisdom that comes while feeding the cows! :)

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

LOL! They have their uses!

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

Cairistiona, I'm sure that was Tolkien's intent.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I cannot really add anything to what has already been said.I think it shows that Aragorn was as great as his ancestors and died in a state of grace full of hope for what was yet to come.When you are born you make a make big into a different existence and I think dying is is the same.
I always see the beginning of March as the first sign of spring.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

That hope should be born on the first day of spring does seem appropriate, doesn't it?

As I say in my edited note above, you have all help me come to the conclusion that Aragorn chose to die on his birthday as death to him was like being reborn.

[ainu-laire.livejournal.com]

Interesting interpretation. I always thought he did it because he's like me in the sense that he likes symmetry :P

My favorite Aragorn photo is the one that I drew.. scene in Helm's Deep, right before he and Legolas argue... he looks sooo lovely :D

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

That was very much my initial intrepretation too!

I love your drawing of Aragorn. This is my favourite photo though as to me this IS sad and grim Aragorn!