Fans who have read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books will know that there is a lot more to Arwen and Aragorn’s relationship, and his relationship to her father Elrond, than at first meets the eye. It was an interesting directorial decision on Peter Jackson’s behalf, to bring the story of Aragorn and Arwen into the body of the movies, as it only appears in the appendices of the original text, but due to the time constraints of the films, there was only so much that he was able to include.
The rest of their story is only hinted at in glimpses and extended edition scenes, which barely scratch the surface of the complicated past between these three key characters, including the hushed whispers that pass between the she-elf and her love on the night before Aragorn rides away with the fellowship, and the strain that appears between father and daughter when he tries to convince her to leave Middle Earth despite it meaning that his own grandson would not be born.
In one such extended scene, Aragorn can be seen tending to a white marble statue that has the similar appearance to an angel or a nun that you might find in a graveyard. He brushes the moss off of the tomb, and pulls aside the long overgrown vines to reveal a name in elven lettering below. At this moment, Elrond appears behind him, and says, in elvish “she wanted to protect her child. She thought in Rivendell you would be safe.”
These are very powerful words for two reasons, the first is because they echo Elrond’s own heart, and his desire to protect Arwen. His hope of her being safe in Rivendell is also fading as the perils of the world have arrived at his doorstep. The second reason is because it reveals that the statue is in fact of Aragorn's mother. Elrond then goes on to confirm this in the common tongue: “In her heart, your mother knew you’d be hunted all your life, that you’d never escape your fate.”
So who was this mighty mother of Aragorn, and why was she buried in Rivendell? Gilraen, like many of the women in Tolkien’s books, has a terrible and tragic story, full of loss, melancholy, and an endless struggle to stave off the cruelty of the world. When she first fell in love with Arathorn, Aragorn’s father, the match was deemed ill-fated from the start, because of his claim to the throne of Gondor.
Gilraen’s own mother feared that Arathorn would not live for long, because he was ever pursued by the enemy, ever targeted to make sure that he could never ascend to the throne and re-strengthen the kingdoms against Sauron. Gilraen knew that her time with Arathorn would be brief, and as Elrond said, that their son would suffer the same fate of the unbearble burden and responsibility that being the heir of Numenor encompasses. But she loved Arathorn enough to risk it all anyway, and when he did indeed die four short years later, at the hands of a ruthless hoard of orcs, she fled to Rivendell, carrying their two-year-old son.
Aragorn was raised under the name Estel, in order to keep him hidden and safe. He was raised by Elrond, taught to hunt in the wild with the Dunedain rangers, to fight in the armaments at Gondor, to be worthy of the throne that his mother tried so desperately to keep him away from, and when he fell in love with Arwen, it was feared that history would repeat itself, and that Arwen would pledge herself to the heri, just as Gilraen had done, and that he would be killed before his time like his father.
This is in part why both Gilraen and Elrond struggled with the match, but Gilraen more so than anyone, because it drove to her to a melancholy, and she began to fade to her grief and her suffering. This is a fate that many women in Middle Earth meet, including the young and innocent Eowyn’s mother, who also died from the grief of losing her husband to the orcs. The war brought about many premature deaths, and caused much suffering from grief and heartbreak, and Gilraen was brought back to Rivendell to be buried in a place of high honor, where Aragorn could visit her grave, and seek solace in her quiet council.
The elven words for star ‘Gil’ and ‘El’ can be found in many names across the Tolkien universe, including Gil-galad, Elrond himself, and his sons Elrohir and Eledan, but the link between stars ties Gilraen and Arwen Evenstar together even further, and binds them as two women who were willing to give up themselves for their loves, knowing full well that it would eventually end in mourning and loss, but that there would be hope and light along the way.