The White Council

Re: Ranger Redux (was Re: Bah Stone!)

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: Why did the rangers have to cover so large an area? There are : very few settlements between Hobbiton and Rivendell, i.e. Bree, : The Smials. They could merely parol in and around these areas. : After all where were the rangers when Bilbo and the dwarves : were captured by the trolls.

Well, I can imagine several possible reasons, although all are speculative. Maybe sentimentality played a part in it. After all, they hoped to one day restore their kingdom. Maybe they were helped by the Wandering Companies of Elves, whom in turn they may also have given aid to. Maybe there were other towns which died out by the end of the Third Age but in earlier centuries still throve and required protection.

And it may also be that the strategic necessity of keeping Eriador as free of evil as possible demanded they clear out whatever strongholds of evil they found. If Orcs, Trolls, wolves, and other creatures used by Sauron were permitted to estbablish permanent havens throughout Eriador, the dwindling Elves and Dunedain would eventually be unable to defend themselves, let alone anyone else.

[snip]

: That is my point, the small number suggests that there were : only a few. However I do take your point on the coverage of : land, but see above. I think it comes down to the social : structures of the Dunedain and how much of their noble heritage : was a part of their social organisation. Did they meet : periodically in large numbers? Were they all in allegiance to : Aragorn's family? (unlikely)...

Aragorn was the Chieftain of the Dunedain of the North. To whom else would they have given their allegiance? Or are you postulating there must have been "sub-chiefs", equivalent to regional lords or something like that?

: ... Were they organised in a regional cell based style like a : resistance movement? Did they have secret settlements that were : permanent or rotational? These questions lead to how much : communication went on between them. If we look at how quickly : Gandalf was able to mobilise them in their search for the : Hobbits then it is probable that he had a means to contact : them. If so then they certainly had ways of communicating : between eachother in the wild that were probably more : successful than the markings at Weathertop but not necessarily : dissimilar.

Well, I can't speak about their organization -- not knowledgeably -- but I doubt they were organized like an underground or resistance movement. Even after the fall of Arnor (well, the demise of Angmar, technically) the Dunedain remained the dominant power in Eriador (if the Elves were not that power). The Breelanders, Shire-folk, and later the Bucklanders did not mobilize expeditionary forces to patrol the outer lands. Only the Dunedain undertook this sort of action. They worked openly as far as I can determine, even if the Shire-folk had no real idea of who they were.

For instance, there is mention of the "tall watchers" by Sarn Ford in one of the Bombadil poems. And in "The Hunt for the Ring" Tolkien makes it clear that the Rangers questioned Saruman's agents before permitting them to enter the Shire. The Hobbits of Southfarthing probably knew the Rangers were there making sure trouble stayed across the Baranduin, but they didn't seem to pass on that information. Frodo apparently had no clue as to what was going on in Southfarthing (or at the Ford).

The Bree-folk also knew about the Rangers, who came and went openly. The Rangers did not talk about their work with the Bree-folk, but they were obviously welcomed as customers at the Prancing Pony and undoubtedly were regarded as strange but generally trustworthy neighbors.

Tolkien indicates the Rangers who were known in Bree worked mostly in the lands to the south and east of Bree. I can't tell you what they would have been doing in the south, unless they were keeping tabs on the Barrow-wights, but they may have been patrolling the Greenway, which was still the main road of access into Eriador from the south. Obviously Saruman used it to engage in commerce with the Shire, and to spy upon it. Until Tharbad was destroyed there must have been some traffic between there and Bree (not much, but I would expect the occasional merchant or messenger to travel between the two lands).

If the Dunedain did live in the South Downs (east of the Greenway, and thus well away from the Barrow Downs), then that would be sufficient reason for the Rangers to be active there. They were protecting their own.

: I can't remeber for sure but in LOTR did Glorfindel suggest to : Aragorn that other rangers were running interference for them?

I can't find any mention of anything like that. Glorfindel did say there were few people even in Rivendell who could ride openly against the Nine, but that Elrond had sent out those whom he could call upon to do so, and they went north, west, and south to look for Aragorn and the Hobbits. Later, after the Council of Elrond, the Rangers helped track down the horses of the Nazgul and to scour the lands near Rivendell.

As an aside, Aragorn tells Bilbo (in "Many Meetings") that Elladan and Elrohir have just returned out of the wild. I have often wondered if they were not some of the powerful messengers dispatched by Elrond? Legolas does boast proudly of them later on that they seem like great Elven lords.

[snip]

: : : If the Dunedain had a population density of 1 person per : : : every 10 square miles you could still have 15,000 Dunedain : : : living scattered across Eriador, small clans or groups : : : occasionally picking up and moving to a new refuge every : : : few years. Because of their long lives (still probably in : : : excess of 100 years by the end of the Third Age) and the : : : fact they retained their vitality throughout most of their : : : adult lives most of those people would be adults -- perhaps : : : no more than 1 in 5 people would be children at any given : : : time, a very low ratio for normal men whose "breeding : : : years" tend to range from about 12 to 45 (give or take a : : : few years either way), but not necessarily bad for the : : : Dunedain whose "breeding years" might be more like 25 - 80.

: Estimations of pop. using this method relies on a permanent : state of being. Therefore it could prove highly valuable or : utterly useless.

Yes. And even if we could be sure that Halbarad's 30 men were all there were left of the Rangers (and his remark implies there were more still in Eriador), we still would not know if they constituted the total adult male population or were just a percentage.

What if only 1 of every 10 Dunadan men actually joined the Rangers? Just playing with my 15,000 figure (for the sake of convenience -- no one should attach any credibility to it), I would guess there were about 6,000 adult men among the Dunedain, which would mean there could be about 600 Rangers. If they were scattered across Eriador, Halbarad would indeed have accomplished much to have gathered 30 in haste. That would be 5% of the total strength of the force.

Now, where did the Rangers actually work? We know some of them guarded Sarn Ford. We know some were hanging around Bree. We know some operated east of Bree (as far as Weathertop). We know some operated south of Bree (either along the Greenway or in the South Downs). We know some operated near Rivendell, especially with the sons of Elrond.

I would guess the largest force would be stationed close to their homes, maybe half. Why? Because without a secure base of operations (even if the communities moved every generation or so) they would not be able to maintain an effective organization. They needed food, equipment, horses, and a safe place to train new recruits.

So, if we assume 300 Rangers stayed close to home, that leaves only 300 to handle affairs at Sarn Ford, Bree, the lands east of Bree, the lands near Rivendell, and the Greenway.

Gandalf says Rangers visited the ruins at Fornost Erain, so they apparently patrolled as far north as there. Evil creatures had often attacked Eriador from the north. Suppose Aragorn had sent the greater part of his Rangers north to delay or oppose any incursions by Orcs and wolves from the Misty Mountains (or other creatures such as Trolls)? That would account for the departure of the Rangers from the Shire and Bree as well as the limited number of men Halbarad could find. Maybe no more than 1/4 to 1/3 the normal force was available throughout northern Eriador.