When Frodo and his Hobbit companions set out from the Shire in The Lord of the Rings, they had no idea what was ahead of them. Shortly after departing, they encountered the Nazgûl, and those evil monsters perused them all the way to the Elven haven of Rivendell. Luckily, they met Aragorn in Bree because, without him, the Nazgûl would've definitely killed them and taken the One Ring to Sauron.
After leaving Rivendell, things didn't get any easier. The Fellowship tried to take the Pass of Caradhras, but Saruman was too strong. So, they tried to enter Moria, and the Lovecraftian Watcher in the Water nearly gobbled Frodo up. After escaping that, they were forced to face the deserted halls of Moria and the awful fires of Durin's Bane. However, Aragorn said something of particular note while trekking through the darkness. Here's what he said and how it's one of the weirdest things in The Lord of the Rings.
Aragorn Knew About Queen Berúthiel's Cats in Lord of the Rings
As the Fellowship began making its way through Moria, the Hobbits began to get nervous. Granted, they had every right to be nervous because Nazgûl, Nameless Things and countless Orcs remained on their trail. At that moment, though, the scariest thing was the dark and the prospect of getting lost. That's when Aragorn says, "[Gandalf] has led us in here against our fears, but he will lead us out again, at whatever cost to himself. He is surer of finding the way home in a blind night than the cats of Queen Berúthiel."
That quote didn't make it into the movies, but it's definitely known among Tolkien diehards because Berúthiel was an extremely odd queen. She never appeared on screen because she lived well before the LOTR films. So, here's a look at who she was and why Aragorn knew about her cats.
Lord of the Rings' Queen Berúthiel Was an Evil Cat Lady
Queen Berúthiel ruled Gondor from T.A. 830 until T.A. 913 as the wife of King Tarannon Falastur. She wasn't born in Gondor, though, and supposedly hailed from an inland city South of Umbar. Tarannon never gave an official reason, but everyone surmised that their marriage was solely for diplomatic advantages. That was an obvious conclusion because even Christopher Tolkien described Berúthiel as "nefarious, solitary and loveless" in Unfinished Tales. She didn't even want to live in the city of Pelargir because she hated the ocean.
Berúthiel was one of the Black Númenórean. They were colonizing Middle-earth during the Fall of Númenor, so they survived. But they weren’t like Elendil and the realms in Exile. The Black Númenóreans loved evil knowledge and worshiped the superior Lord Sauron, which led to their decline after the success of the Last Alliance.
All that to say, Berúthiel didn't come from a happy culture, so it makes sense that she lived a dark and secluded life. In fact, her only real companions were her ten cats. At first, she hated cats, but they were attracted to her. So, Berúthiel made the best of it and trained them to do her bidding so that they would spy on her enemies. Eventually, King Tarannon had enough. He exiled Berúthiel by setting her adrift on a ship and removed her from the Book of Kings. Even still, Berúthiel's cats had become a thing of dark legend and evil association. And clearly, they left a mark because Aragorn knew about their dark legend centuries later.