Aragorn and the story of The Hobbit

[Alcuin]

This isn’t properly a Hobbit issue, but…

Aragorn was born in SR 1331. When Thorin & Co passed through Rivendell going East (in SR 1341) to the Lonely Mountain, he would have been 10 years old. When Bilbo and Gandalf returned going West back to the Shire, he’d have been 11.

Now, Tolkien had no concept of Aragorn the Dúnadan when he wrote The Hobbit, but…

It would seem reasonable that:

• Estel, as young Aragorn was called, saw Thorin & Co (and Gandalf and Bilbo) passing through, though they most likely did not see him: I imagine Elrond and his household kept the boy quite secret from people outside Rivendell; and
• he should also have seen Gandalf and Bilbo returning.

[Valandil]

Possibly. However...

I think Rivendell was a pretty big place. And Elrond might have wanted to keep Estel and Gilraen away from the "main house" and the traffic that might occasionally come through it. So they might have been in a totally different part of it.

Also - though it's possible he saw Gandalf from afar as a boy, I don't think they met at this time. It was in 2956 that Appendix B says they met and became friends - when Aragorn was 25 and had been wandering in the wilds for the past five years.

Of course - that initial meeting might have been aided by Aragorn having seen Gandalf at Rivendell. Or maybe he had heard of him - either from Elrond or after he began his travels. And maybe Gandalf was looking for HIM.

The Appendix entry does not mention the place of their meeting. I wonder if it was a lonely spot somewhere, or someplace we would recognize: Bree, Weathertop, the ruins of either Fornost or Annuminas - or Tharbad, or at Sarn Ford.