The White Council

Re: Aragorn's Height (was Re: Weight of elves)

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : The Quendi are taller than men in general. It is said they, : : IIRC, averaged at 6' or more in the appendices. I take this : : average to be inclusive of both genders and all varietys (ie : : Noldo, Sinda, Silvan etc). Legolas was certainly much taller : : than six feet. In Letters of JRRT (IIRC) the professor said he : : was the tallest of the Fellowship saving Aragorn only. Aragorn : : was probably in the range of approaching 7' tall. I think there : : is something in UT implying, though not stating, Aragorn's : : great height in reference to his resemblace to Elendil and : : Isildur. Elendil was said to be more than 7.5' tall.

: [snip]

: Aragorn was nowhere near the height of Isildur and Elendil. The Dunedain had become diminished in stature since the end of the Second Age. "Elendil was said to be 'more than man-high by nearly half a ranga'" according to UNFINISHED TALES, and "man-high" is given as 2 rangar (2 * 38 inches, or 6 feet four inces, so Elendil was nearly 7 feet 9 inches tall -- elsewhere I've calculated his height incorrectly to be 7 feet 11 inches).

: I suspect Aragorn was no taller than either Celeborn or Galadriel, who were about the same height. I thought I could find a passage where Tolkien indicated Galadriel and Aragorn were about the same height, but if it exists it eludes me tonight.

I have no recollection of such a passage. If it exists in would likely be in RotK when they are travelling back towards Imladris together. In my above statement I was mis-remembering Isildur for Elendur. In UT it states that Elendur, son of Isildur was "...one of the greatest, the fairest of the seed of Elendil, most like to his grandsire", (ie Elendil the Tall). In reference to this it is stated "...in later days those (such as Elrond) whose memories recalled him [Elendur] were struck by by the great likeness to him, in body and mind, of King Elessar...". As I said above this (to me at least) implies that Aragorn is taller than 6'4". I still hold that he would be approaching 7' in height. Perhaps it should also be noted that Legolas (the second tallest of the Fellowship) describes Eomer as 'very tall' and the warriors of his Eored are also called 'tall'. It should be noted that the Rohirrim were generally shorter than the Dunedain (but probably still several inches taller than the more 'common' varieties of Men). Eomer was of a height like to that of Aragorn, but he was descended "... from Morwen, Thengel's wife, a lady of Gondor of high Numenorean descent." This could be interpreted to mean that the diminishing height of the Dunedain was due (in part at least) to the mingling of their blood with that of lesser Men. Those of purer descent (such as Aragorn) would still have characteristics approaching (though not equalling the Numenoreans of old). It should also be noted that two rangar, though called 'man-high' "... was not intended to be an accurate statement of the observed average of male stature among them [the Numenoreans]...".