The Hands of a Healer

While I was reading the last part of book 5 I was drawn to the point made by Ioreth (a healer); "The hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known." (Chapter 8). 

I think it is interesting to look at this in the context of what Tolkien's vision of an ideal ruler is. We have seen how he values kings that ride into battle with their troops in Theoden and Aragorn, and now we see that he associates leadership with the ability to heal. 

Aragorn does a lot of healing throughout the Lord of the Rings; he helps to care for Frodo's wound from the Nazgul when they were traveling to Rivendell, he treats Frodo's bruise from the orcs in the Mines of Moria, and now he basically brings three people back from the dead. 

I also think it is interesting that he seems to heal more than just Eowyn, Faramir, and Merry's bodies' but he also heals their minds. In their unconscious state, he calls to them "each time more faintly to [the observers'] hearing, as if Aragorn himself was removed from them, and walked afar in some dark vale, calling for one that was lost." (chapter 8). Clearly, Aragorn possesses some form of magic. Whether it be from his Numenorean ancestry or from his role as king, I'm not sure. 

This idea could also stem from Tolkien's own religious background. To me, Aragorn is very reminiscent of Jesus Christ in these chapters as he heals. The prophecy is that the people will know the true king by his healing powers and the same was foretold of Christ before He came to earth.