If the distances in Karen Wynn Fonstad's atlas are correct, Undertowers was much closer to the part of Mithlond on the southern shore of the Gulf of Lune than to Hobbiton, and if there was a path crossing the Tower Hills by way of the White Towers, even closer than to Michel Delving. I could well imagine him handing this love of the Elves down to his children, especially Elanor, who settled at Undertowers quite close to the Grey Havens. I would think that Sam, in his way, was also considered an Elf-friend, as were Bilbo and Frodo. In Letter 246, Tolkien wrote that Arwen developed this plan of replacing her with Frodo. Gimli also died in Tol Eressëa: it was not Eldamar, on the mainland of Aman, but still received some of the air of Middle-earth ( Silmarillion, “…the Hiding of Valinor”: “all those of Elven-race … must breathe at times the outer air and the wind that comes over the sea from the lands of their birth…”). By that time, I believe all three Hobbits that had preceded them were dead. Then Legolas constructed a white ship and, accompanied by his friend Gimli, sailed into the West. It would be another sixty years before Aragorn Elessar gave up his life. I suspect this was also for the final healing of Frodo, who likely passed away among the Elves in Tol Eressëa not long after Sam arrived. How did Sam know that he could go? I think that there can be little doubt that Frodo told him that he could, if he wished, follow Frodo into the West. It was then that Sam, too, took leave of Middle-earth: the woman he loved, who kept him “solid and whole,” was gone, and he, like Frodo, was in pain. When Rose died, Elanor was already married and moved to Undertowers in Westmarch. I suspect his anchor was Rose, his beloved wife, and to a lesser extent his children, especially Elanor. In World War II, it was called “battle fatigue” Tolkien knew it in World War I as “shell shock”. I think there can be little argument that Frodo suffered what we now call “post-traumatic stress disorder” or PTSD. Here I will depart from the written text a bit. But he remained, as Frodo said, “solid and whole,” at least while Rose his wife lived. Sam expressed distress when he realized Frodo was also leaving with them. Frodo knew exactly when and where to meet Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and Bilbo: this knowledge was either given to Frodo in Rivendell or relayed to him by an Elf or (less likely) Dúnadan. I believe Tolkien says that this was conveyed to him in Rivendell during the two weeks Frodo and his companions were there, but again, I can’t find the passage tonight.Īfter that, Sam’s knowledge that he could also pass over the Sea to Tol Eressëa is easily understood. Somewhere – I cannot find the citation tonight – I believe Tolkien wrote that Frodo was told that he was welcome to accompany Gandalf and Elrond on the ship to Tol Eressëa. Frodo was reluctant to cross the ford, and when Gandalf asked if he were in pain, he replied that he was, to which Gandalf answered that “some wounds … cannot be wholly cured.” Frodo complained, “Where shall I find rest?” but “Gandalf did not answer.”Īt the end of the previous chapter, Elrond quietly told Frodo, “bout this time of the year, when the leaves are gold before they fall, look for Bilbo in the woods of the Shire. On the way home from Rivendell ( RotK, “Homeward Bound”), Frodo, Gandalf, Sam, Merry, and Pippin crossed the Ford of Bruinen on 6 October, a year from the day after Frodo was stabbed by the Witch-king. There is a question that precedes this: How did Frodo know he could sail into the West? The two questions are tied to one another, I believe. And that this Samwise Gamgee had the permission to take a ship from the Grey Havens to the undying lands should he wish to. So he could have told Cirdan that there is one Ring-bearer of the One Ring, only a short while but very crucially before the Orcs of the Tower of Cirith Ungol found Frodo, left in Middle-earth. My speculation, rather than Legolas, runs to Gandalf, who was after all an emissary of the Valar - and as Gandalf the White, as is implied, even from Eru himself. Off the cuff I don't remember that JRRT wrote anything later, finding its way into UT or volumes 6 to 9 of HoMe, that elaborated on this. Among them the tradition is handed down from Elanor that Samwise passed the Towers, and went to the Grey Havens, and passed over sea, last of the Ring-bearers. He comes to the Tower Hills, and is last seen by Elanor, to whom he gives the Red Book afterwards kept by the Fairbairns. On September 22 Master Samwise rides out from Bag End. In the last section "Later Events", interestingly given in Shire Reckoning years, the third from last entry reads a follows:ĭeath of Mistress Rose, wife of Master Samwise, on Mid-year's Day. At least in LoTR Appendix B, it is not stated as an "historical certainty".
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