[ EU ] A Gondor soldier tells his child a tale about the mighty warrior Aragorn , son of Arathorn .

“ Ay, a sea of black, leather and steel and wool dampened with the grime of man and orc. From the topmost parapet, near the decaying White Tree, you could almost forget there was an army down there so expansive were their borders. A mass of men so great, that any movement in their ranks looked like mere ripples in a vast ocean. ” 
 
 Araval sat on the floor, listening to his grandfather recount the story of the Battle of the Pellenor Fields. Too many times he had found himself there, legs crossed and ears eager, asking about the characters and the history of an Age gone by. Here sat a man with gnarled fingers, cloudy and swirling eyes that struggled to find their mark, and skin with as many wrinkles as the man had years, and yet once he had stood and looked out at the great expanse of man ’ s doom. A chasm of death had awaited him at the start of battle, but instead of a somber silence that would greet him now in old age, he had faced death then with the cacophony of man ’ s cries and clanging steel surrounding him. 
 
 “ Gandalf the White, backed by the soldiers of Gondor, faced the Witch-king of Angmar and denied him entry. And that is when the sea of black roiled and churned and spit forth the forces of Sauron upon us. Trebuchets hurled boulders to batter the walls of Minas Tirith, and in their wake left ruins of the city of the Sun. Boys, some even younger than you, pulled swords from their scabbards and fought alongside their fathers as orcs flooded over the crumbled stone and broken gates. One by one men, and women, and children, and babes born naught yesterday, fell to the crude metal of orc blade. ” 
 
 “ Men of the Rohirrim crested the hills of Gondor that dawn, horns held to pressed lips and songs of battle cascading down to the legion of the Lord of the Rings. King Theoden rode with valor and slammed his cavalry into the Haradrim and their mumakil swathed in saddles of war. But even then, even as the Witch-king fell to Eowyn ’ s hand, the tide of battle could not be turned. Their numbers were greater by far, and reserves from Osgiliath poured outwards onto the field to take the place of fallen comrades. Instead of bravery, men fought now with resignation in their hearts, spurred on not by the quest for glory or remembrance, but for the dignity of man taking its last breath in history. ” 
 
 Araval knew what was next to come, but tradition and respect kept him asking. 
 
 “ But Grandfather, how are we here now? Men still walk the white stones of Gondor today. ” 
 
 “ That is a most complicated question, Araval, for to answer it completely would mean another story entirely. But as for the people of Gondor that day, they were saved by a man thought long dead by the people of Middle Earth. A fleet of ships came, there at the last stand. Aragorn, son of Arathorn, Ranger of the North, and true King of Gondor, unfurled the ancient banners of his heritage. A wave of death swept outwards, death unleashed by men who were already dead, led by a commander who had risen from the death of his obscurity. Oathbreakers to Isildur had come to fulfill their pledges to the King and his heirs, to break the curse set upon them centuries ago that tied them lifeless to the cold mountains of Dunharrow. For a few nights at least, peace had come to us through the spirits of those long passed, and from the man who had summoned them and reigns still to this day. ” 
 
 His grandfather sat still then, the silence stretching miles. Underneath the opacity of his milky eyes, Araval could catch the glimmers of sorrow and of pride. And so ended every retelling of the Battle of Pellenor Fields. 

