My local smial (aka, my Tolkien buddies) read the last four chapters of The Lord of the Rings this month. It’s a tough section to read, because it’s sad, and because after the destruction of Sauron, there are lots of loose ends to tie up, despite the fact that Tolkien devoted roughly eighty pages to his ending without answering all our questions. The interesting thing is, he didn’t mean to.
After the words, “Well, I’m back,” Tolkien in fact wrote more, jumping ahead to show us Sam with his slew of children, including his now 15-year-old daughter, Elanor. Surrounding by adorable hobbit children, Sam is busy trying to answer all their questions, like what happened to Legolas and Gimli and whether or not Treebeard ever found the Entwives.
I remembered reading this scene and thought it was in one of my volumes by Tolkien. But I finally realized where I had come across it: in the massive The History of Middle-Earth, a twelve-volume collection of Tolkien’s drafts annotated by his son to illuminate the development of Tolkien’s fantasy world.
Tolkien didn’t want to end the book where he did. He was forced to. He explained in a letter to Naomi Mitchison [1] that his epilogue was “universally condemned,” which is unfortunate. I understand that it’s not a necessary part of the story, but it’s still enjoyable, especially to someone who cannot get enough of hobbits. I wish it had been included in the Appendices.
In the second version of the epilogue, while talking to his oldest daughter, Sam says something that touched my heart. Elanor is fifteen, and just as her father was, in love with stories about elves. She knows that the elves are leaving Middle-earth and is afraid that they will all be gone before she can see one. She also laments that without elves, the world will be different. Her father consoles her with these words:
“I know,” said Sam. “The light is fading, Elanorellë. But it won’t go out yet. It won’t ever go quite out, I think now, since I have had you to talk to. For it seems to me now that people can remember it who have never seen it.” p. 124, Sauron Defeated (The History of Middle-Earth, Volume IX), by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
Once again, Tolkien reminds us through Sam of the value of stories — by telling them to others, we keep magic and beauty alive.
I wish I could include all the great stuff that’s in the two drafts of the ultimately rejected Epilogue. If you are curious, get Volume IX of The History of Middle-Earth from your local library and read it for yourself. Along with delightful dialog, answers to some unanswered questions, and a sweet scene between Sam and his wife Rosie, there are two facsimiles of a letter from the king, written in tengwar.
Tolkien wrote that “One must stop somewhere” [2] when explaining why this material wasn’t in the book. I know he is right, but I still prefer this ending with Sam, Rosie, and his children, to the one they published. Because you can never have too many hobbits.
Do you wish The Lord of the Rings included more hobbits?
[1, 2] Letter 144, p. 179, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter.
