: I'm not sure there weren't any areas of "imminent danger". If the Dunedain had not settled in the Angle, then who would have stood between them and the Orcs and Trolls of the Misty Mountains? The evil creatures could have spread westward.

How well does logistics of Orks and Trolls work??

: : : ...It is far from the traditional homelands of the Faithful
: : : and far from the areas that needs guarding the most (Bree and
: : : the Shire)...

: True. But then, keeping the perils far from these lands would require fewer Rangers on their borders.

Would it? The perils that had the logistics to get there would be few (if more dangerous).
Also there is the question of flanking, The Angle does not cover against invasions from The Trollshaws, The coldfells, Northern Misty Mountains or Angmar (Mt. Gram and Golfimbul). Living closer would.

: : : ... and far from the Elves of Lindon and their support (I
: : : believe they are more numerous than those of Rivendell??).

: We don't have any population numbers, but both Rivendell and Lindon fielded armies in the Third Age. Elrond usually if not always got help from Amroth, of course.

After the fall of Arthedain??? I can only recall one or two instances before but after? What motivation would they have to cross the Hithaeglir, at their peril, and go to war in an almost empty Eriador? The Elves of Rivendell or Lindon on the other hand had plenty of reason- such as defence of their homes.

: : : Now those factors more or less outweighs eachother (IMNSHO),
: : : but, as stated belopw, Aragorn "The Ranger" does not seem to
: : : know the lands around the Great East Road very well, however
: : : much he has bimpled around outside Eriador, I do not think
: : : that he would have forgotten the well-trodden paths of his
: : : childhood and youth (I know I have not, though many would
: : : claim that I am still young at 29)...

: I tried to point out that Aragorn was not unfamiliar with the Trollshaws region. He stated he was not familiar with the Ettendales farther north. But the lands he is most closely associated with (according to Tolkien) are the lands south of Rivendell. That's a strong factor for accepting that he probably lived in the Angle (and, remember, it was largely because of this point that I shifted my thinking to the Angle just before David Salo produced that note from the archives at Marquette University).

As far as I know, Aragorn (or Estel) lived only in Imladris and on the road/in the wilderniss, but I may be mistaken.

: : : Further, where are the Rangers patrolling and guarding the
: : : road? Their logistics bases? and even the tracks of them
: : : (Aragorn would probably have been able to track even his
: : : skilled compatriots)? And why is Glorfindel not accompanied
: : : by a small patrol of them?

: Why should the Rangers be patrolling the road? I don't understand the thinking behind your question. But given what happened to the Rangers who were guarding Sarn Ford, I don't see that Glorfindel could have been helped by the Rangers.

Because numbers help, in a skirmish with something else than Nazgûl Rangers could be of great assistance, and even in one with those foul depredations- they did not much care for fire as I recall. Glorfindel could possibly be the extra power the ones at Sarn Ford could have used (I seem to remember it being indicated that had their captain been there, they may have resisted though probably not). The rangers could, of course, not be patrolling the road expecting the Ringbearer (if they would even know of him) and Glorfindel to turn up, but for the simple reason of keeping the few wayfarers safe.

: There were traces of Rangers at Weathertop. I think that's sufficient to show that there were Rangers wandering far from home. Eriador was a big land. It would take a lot of Rangers for them to cover it completely and be so common as to have Aragorn running into them all the time. And if they had those kinds of numbers, then why be a secret people at all? They should have been able to maintain their kingdom.

Never claimed that he should run into them all the time, just that they would probably mount frequent patrols so near their homelands instead of merely bimbling about in all of Eriador and leaving their logistics base wide open to raids.

: Also, keep in mind that there was rain on the journey after they crossed the Last Bridge (and it had rained there a couple of days previously). There could indeed have been Ranger traffic on the road in previous days and Aragorn would have no way of knowing it.

Never done much tracking have you? rain creates soft earth/mud. It is very easy to leave tracks in mud: those tracks are, believe me, only erased by other tracks or the unlikely event of the entire track (in this case road) turning into a torrent that washes them away and leaves silt.

: : : Anyway, where else could they possibly live?
: : : I believe En Egladil likely enough, but I believe that the
: : : Hills around Lake Nenuial are even more likely. A central
: : : base in the traditional heartlands of the Faithful, close to
: : : their zone of operations and close to logistic support from
: : : the Shire and Bree, as well as close enough to the Elves of
: : : Lindon to be able to gain support from these, and far enough
: : : away from the Misty Mountains that the Orks would have a hard
: : : time mounting a campaign (Golfimbul- or whatever his name was
: : : learned the hard way).

: Although I used to think this was likely as well, I was always troubled by Tolkien's statement that there were no other settled communities of men (besides the Breeland villages) within 100 leagues of the Shire. That rules out the Hilsl of Evendim, the North Downs, and the South Downs. And, in effect, you are arguing with the author to say it should have been otherwise.

: : : Another possibility is the lands adjacent to Lindon where
: : : they could dwell in the peace and "healthy elven spirit" of
: : : that realm.

: Those lands, too, were within 100 leagues of the Shire.

: : : Tolien's express statement can concievably have been made
: : : without consideration, and he would have been later forced to
: : : much pondering on the matter and to make repancy in his
: : : statements, the impressions of LotR, and the genral history
: : : of Eriador. This has happened before (Glorfindel and, IMO,
: : : Númenorans/Egyptians and probably many others)

: I don't see how Tolkien's connection between Numenoreans and Egyptians seems like a later contrivance, but you may be correct in that his conclusion on where to put the Dunedain could have come after he wrote "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony".

I have stated my case of the Egyptian- Númenoran thing elsewhere, and said in that thread that I believed it to have been a spur-of-the-moment comment/answer/statement from the author that was then later forced to try and bring harmony in what he had written and stated. I think this might have been the case here, and I am trying to build an argument why it would be so, in contradiction to Ronald's statement that, frankly, seems somewhat illogical to me, as I said elsewhere. As I also said elsewhere, these are mere halfformed and incoherent thoughts that i posted to get them straight- a method I sometimes use as I consider this board the only place to harvest good theories and either disband or fine-tune my own.
NT

: : : Comments and thoughts???
: : : NT
: : : Any comments and thoughts are welcome.

: : I think it possible that they lived in all three areas.

: : How about on or near the South Downs? Or in Minhiriath?

: See above.