"If by my life or death I can protect you, I will."
While Frodo and Sam pick their way slowly towards Mordor through the labyrinthine Emyn Muil, Merry and Pippin are captives of the brutal Uruk-hai. Snatched during the raid at Amon Hen, the Hobbits are slung like luggage on the broad backs of the tireless Uruks, who run day and night through broken hills and across the rolling plains of Rohan.
Faced with the choice of who to follow, Aragorn chooses to let the Ring of Power go in Frodo’s care; vowing instead to pursue Merry and Pippin’s captors and rescue the Hobbits, if he can. With him go Gimli and Legolas: Man, Dwarf, and Elf. Three kindreds united in purpose; three hunters, whose chase across the plains would become the stuff of legend and song in years to come.
Barely stopping for breath as he beats a relentless pace across the plains, Aragorn leads his friends over rock and grass, smashed flat by iron-shod boots, single-minded in his determination to run down their quarry. Yet the pursuit drags on; where Orcs might usually seek shelter from the sun, these run unafraid under the open sky, driven by some unseen force… for great powers have begun to move in Middle-earth. As war looms and the race to secure the Ring quickens, the enemy’s reach extends ever closer.
ARAGORN, HUNTER OF THE PLAINS
With the loss of Gandalf and the breaking of the Fellowship, many would be forgiven for falling to despair, but not Aragorn. Most would call it a fool’s errand, chasing down the roving band of elite Uruk-hai to rescue Merry and Pippin, but not Aragorn.
Brave, tenacious, and kind-hearted, Aragorn proved time again the worth and strength of his character. Solidifying his position as a defender of peace within Middle-earth.
