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Was aragorn a numenorean? I'm pretty sure he was. he was 87 when he met Frodo in bree, but he looks a lot younger than Theoden.
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Of course he was, we know that, but
he was of
pure Nuemnorean blood -- the blood of the kings of Arnor, what's more. (And he was 99, not just 87, when he met Frodo in Bree. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img])
It is said that to pass the centennial mark is pretty good, at the end of the Third Age, for a Gondorian. Theoden was only half Gondorian, but I would think that he would in fact have lived to a great age (perhaps one hundred years) had he not been killed. 200 years is a bit unrealistic by this stage, although the ruling house certainly tended to live significantly longer.
But Theoden certainly aged remarkably well. To fight as mightily in battle as he did, at the venerable age of around seventy? Can you think of a seventy year old who you might know, who could ride into battle to fight with Isengard and with the Haradrim ('felling the black serpent', indeed) like that? I don't think so. Think about it. After he recovered from his Wormtongue-induced decrepancy, he certainly found a young strength within him.
Just a thought.... that Eldacar was actually a ruling King of Gondor, and thus the fact that he seems to have inherited total Numenorean longevity is perhaps due to this as well. As King of Rohan, Theoden had to be more Rohirrimish than Eldacar did -- doesn't fit in with the rules of inheritance, but the workings of Middle-Earthian fates and, especially,
themes is strong (not surprisingly, as it is after all a work of written fiction).
[ September 16, 2003: Message edited by: Gwaihir the Windlord ]