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the lord of the rings - Does Aragorn wear pants?



Back when I was reading LOTR in Russian, I remember fans arguing over the issue of whether Aragorn wore pants (or rather, using the British term, trousers), or not - what I later learned was a major topic of discussion in Soviet Tolkien fandom. The typical argument for "not" was that the book text never mentions pants[1].


Apparently the latter point of view wasn't unique to Soviet fans, as the animated movie had clearly come down on "No pants" side:


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Of course, Peter Jackson added not only Elves at Helm's Deep, but pants on Aragorn as well:


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[1] - this was an extremely fun topic for Soviet fans, because a decade earlier, the seminal Soviet SFF book "Monday Begins on Saturday" by Strugatsky Brothers made lighthearted fun of fiction books characters described by the writers as 'wearing a pair of slippers and a hat'.




Answer



It's hard to tell, but I'd be inclined to suggest he probably wore breeches, which are more like pants than like kilts.


Tolkien was actually asked in a letter about what kinds of clothes the people of Middle-earth wore, and he confessed that it wasn't a subject that really interested him. One of the few things he said in any level of detail was this:




[M]ales, especially in northern parts such as the Shire, would wear breeches, whether hidden by a cloak or long mantle, or merely accompanied by a tunic.


The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 211: To Rhonda Beare. October 1958



Considering Aragorn (and the Rangers generally) spend a fair portion of his time in the north, it seems reasonable to conclude that this statement would apply to him as well. But it's really only a guess.


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