The White Council

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

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: 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).

According to UNFINISHED TALES (see the last part of the appendix on Numenorean measurements for "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields") "the dwindling of the Dunedain was not a normal tendence, shared by peoples whose proper home was Middle-earth; but due to the loss of their ancient land far in the West, nearest of all mortal lands to the Undying Lands...."

This note is stated to refer specifically to the stature of the Dunedain (the full note concerns the dwindling stature of the Dunedain and Hobbits, which were due to unrelated causes).

Aragorn's "likeness in body" to Elendur, therefore, could not include a likeness in stature, though he may indeed have been taller than Galadriel and Celeborn.

Your citation about the Rangar was incomplete:

   ...Thus two Rangar was often called 'man-high', which   at thirty-eight inches gives an average height of about six   feet four inches; but this was at a later date, when the   stature of the Dunedain appears to have decreased, and also   was not intended to be an accurate statement of the observed   average of male stature among them, but was an approximate   length expressed in the well-known unit ranga.... 

The 'man-high' measurement, thus is not an indication of anything regarding height among the Dunedain, except that it was close enough to be used as an approximation in a later period (late in the Third Age, apparently).