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Originally Posted by Hilde Bracegirdle
Beside acknowledging his skill, is Aragorn counting Elrond’s half-human side here? I had to go pull out my pristine ‘newer’ copy of RoTK to check if this ‘race’ hadn’t been changed to ‘races’ in the interval between printings. No change. But then Aragorn has his own drop or two of elven blood, as well. Still this and the comparison to Gandalf is making Aragorn seem somewhat superhuman, if you’ll excuse the term, one giant step better than your typical man of Westernesse, or perhaps closer to its roots.
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I've always assumed that by "race", Aragorn here means the descendents of Luthien- that special breed of part-Men, part-Elves in whom flowed the blood of the Maiar, and who derived special powers from it... Of course, I COULD be wrong.
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Originally Posted by Hilde Bracegirdle
Another question that I’d like to place before this group concerns Aragorn’s removal of the Star of the North-kingdom from his banner as he set up his camp outside the gate. What does this mean to you? Is it simply an outward sign that Aragorn did not wish to challenge Denethor?
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I've always seen it in the light of humility. Much like not entering the city, Aragorn is doing his best to not stir up any discord. The Elendilmir, after all, was emblematic of the Kingship of Arnor, as it says in a footnote to Appendix A iii:
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that was also so in Arnor, whose kings were no crown, but bore a single white gem, the Elendilmir, Star of Elendil, bound on their brows with a silver fillet.
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As the symbol of the Kingship of Arnor, it is a clear statement about Aragorn's lineage as Heir of Isildur, and an obvious reminder of his claim, through him, to the Throne of Gondor. If Aragorn wished to be appear only "a captain of Rangers, who are unused to cities and houses of stone", he was wise to remove such an obvious sign of royalty.