So I’m reading LOTR yet again, and one thing always bothers me-Aragorn, is the heir of Ilsidor, and the true King of Gondor. And yet, why didn’t his family before him simply do the same? Just show up and say, “Here I am, the hell off my throne!” Or did they not know until Aragorn became acquainted with Elrond, who told him the truth?
Could be. Or maybe the royal family had simply become sufficiently obscure that the Stewards felt they could get away with threatening to denounce the family as “frauds”, and have them killed, if they came forward. Aragorn’s service in the Rangers may have made him the first in the family with the political capital to declare himself openly without danger from supporters of the Stewardship. Also, of course, the corruption and weakness of the last Steward may well have soured the populate on that whole system, easing the transition back to traditional monarchy.
I’m totally guessing here, of course - I’ve only seen the movies. Perhaps the good Mercotan could slither off the hull and address this?
I’m sure QtheM will offer up something definitive, but in the meanwhile I’ll speculate that
(a) until the One Ring was known by Sauron to have been found, the need wasn’t as great for one of Isildur’s heirs to come forward; and/or
(b) the ancient blood ran “truer” in Aragorn’s veins than any/most of his ancestors.
The latter is one of many examples of the one thing about LOTR that makes me squirm: the repeated theme of someone’s being simply superior by virtue of birth.
Because everyones reaction would have matched Denethors. The only reason Aragorn got accepted as king was because he arrived as a savior of the city, some random smelly dude would have been laughed out of the city no matter what his credentials were.
Also there was the sword that had to be reforged, and I don’t think it could have been done just anytime- to be more than just a piece of metal, the portents had to be right.
The sword did have to be reforged before he could claim the birthright.
I believe Aragorn’s family were aware of their birthright. They were the Chiefs of the Rangers of the North for generations, since the breaking of Arthedain and the death of Arvedui. They were generally content to remain so. Aragorn was motivated by circumstances beyond just knowledge of his lineage or even the events of the War of the Ring. By Elrond’s decree, he had to claim the throne in order to win Arwen.
Ah, the royal house of Arnor. The first king of Arnor was Elendil, who was simultaneously high king of all faithful Numenorians in exile. His sons Isildur and Anarion were co-kings of Gondor. When Isildur rode north to Arnor after defeating Sauron, it was to take up the Scepter in Annuminas and rule as High King over both realms, with his nephew as king in Gondor. But since he never made it back to Arnor, things didn’t go as planned. after the fall of all 3 of those individuals, Valandil was being groomed to rule in Arnor, Meneldil was king in Gondor, and noone was claiming to be high king.
For many centuries, both kingdoms had their kings, and muddled along, with continued communication and acknowledgment of their shared heritage. Noone in Arnor tried to reassert their right to rule in Gondor until Arvedui (Last-King) of Arnor, when the throne of Gondor became vacant and there was no clear-cut heir.
Arvedui had argued that Isildur had never intended to give up the royal status of himself or his line in Gondor, but rather to be High King over Gondor and Arnor, as his father Elendil had been.
Arvedui also laid claim based on his marriage to Firiel, daughter of Ondoher, King of Gondor who’d just died in battle.
But the High Lords of Gondor weren’t buying it. They believed that the throne of Gondor belonged to the house of Anarion exclusively, and that furthermore, any of Firiel’s offspring would not be eligible due to the need to pass the kingship via the male line in the land of exile. Things had been done differently in Numenor, they admitted (there were several ruling queens in Numenor) but life was too uncertain in Middle-Earth to do such things there.
Arvedui was in no position to go against the wishes of the Dunedain of the south, so he didn’t press his claim. The throne of Gondor was given to Earnil, a direct male descendent of Anarion. His son Earnur was to be the last king of Gondor.
By the time Earnur died, the northern realm had been reduced terribly, and Arvedui’s descendents had too many other things to worry about (like surviving) to press a claim again, which had already been rejected.
Finally, as others have pointed out, Aragorn had to not only show up, but do such remarkable deeds that he would be remembered along with the likes of Beren, Earendil, and Elendil before he would be accepted High King of the Reunited Kingdom.
Bilbo takes credit for writing this prose. QtM: is it based on anything more venerable, that predicted the sword would need to be reforged? I don’t recall any likely source material, so I’m guessing renewing the Blade was a fancy of Bilbo’s.
::: climbs up on uncle Qadgop’s knee and listens intently :::
happy sigh
And this, my friends, is why the good doctor here is my very own personal hero.
That doesn’t strike me as being in character for Bilbo. He had a gift for presenting his grasp of lore in a more, let’s say, “user-friendly” tone, but I don’t think he would have taken it upon himself to invent a portent out of whole cloth.
And by the way, the dear Professor Tolkein’s disclaimer notwithstanding, if you don’t hear in the story of Arvedui and Earnur some vestige of the pissing match between the Plantagenets and the Valois, you just don’t like French/English history. 
In the OP Guinistasia says …“Or did they not know until Aragorn became acquainted with Elrond, who told him the truth?” Did QtM mention that Elrond pretty much raised Aragorn as a foster father. I always thought that was an interesting plot point, making Elrond’s dilemma (having a daughter in love with a mortal) that much more poignant. And not covered in the films, obviously. And Elrond won’t give allow Arwen to marry him until he’s the king of the reunified kingdom. His bloodline is important, but not enough. He was to prove himself by deeds also.
**QtM ** as usually gave the definitive and detailed answer. He is our lore master after all. I just wanted to comment on this.
a) Has nothing really to do with it but b) is true and did not hurt him in his claim. It also helped that Denethor & Boromir were dead and Faramir supported Aragorn’s claim. If Faramir resisted the claim, it might of played out differently.
Denethor would never have quietly ceded rule back over to this upstart from the north.
Jim
They kept meaning to, but something always came up, and they never got around to it.
Aragorn STILL hasn’t cleaned out the garage.
And indeed Denethor told Gandalf so (in the book), accusing Gandalf of using him and Gondor as a shield against Sauron while all the time sneaking in this “upstart” to supplant him. Denethor derided Gandalf as wanting to be the power behind every throne in Middle-Earth, and Aragorn as the last remnant of a discredited line; and rather than hand over the kingdom, he would sooner see it razed.
I was under the impression that Isildur’s heirs were stained by his fall and were not considered worthy enough to claim the throne.
That would not be based on anything I have ever read. I think you picked up the wrong impression somewhere.
That is, if anything, disproved by the fact that the northern line retained more of the Numenorean nobility, strength, and lifespan than the southern line did. The Gondorian nobility were a race in decline at the time of the War of the Ring.
That doesn’t contradict what I said, though. They could have been actually worthy while at the same time not be considered worthy.
Which would contribute to Aragorn’s ability to reclaim the throne, but, again, wouldn’t contradict my theory.
That was certainly the impression left by Jackson’s movie version of LOTR, but in JRRT’s writings that particular theme is pretty much absent.