The Lord of the Rings (187 page)
Read The Lord of the Rings Online
Authors: J. R. R. Tolkien
Tags: #Middle Earth (Imaginary place), #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #General, #Fiction, #Fantasy, #Literary Criticism, #Baggins; Frodo (Fictitious character), #Epic, #Fantasy Fiction; English
In the North also there had been war and evil. The realm of Thranduil was invaded, and there was long battle under the trees and great ruin of fire; but in the end Thranduil had the victory. And on the day of the New Year of the Elves. Celeborn and Thranduil met in the midst of the forest; and they renamed Mirkwood
Eryn Lasgalen,
The Wood of Greenleaves. Thranduil took all the northern region as far as the mountains that rise in the forest for his realm; and Celeborn took the southern wood below the Narrows, and named it East Lórien; all the wide forest between was given to the Beornings and the Woodmen. But after the passing of Galadriel in a few years Celeborn grew weary of his realm and went to Imladris to dwell with the sons of Elrond. In the Greenwood the Silvan Elves remained untroubled, but in Lórien there lingered sadly only a few of its former people, and there was no longer light or song in Caras Galadhon.
At the same time as the great armies besieged Minas Tirith a host of the allies of Sauron that had long threatened the borders of King Brand crossed the River Carnen, and Brand was driven back to Dale. There he had the aid of the Dwarves of Erebor; and there was a great battle at the Mountain’s feet It lasted three days, but in the end both King Brand and King Dáin Ironfoot were slain, and the Easterlings had the victory. But they could not take the Gate, and many, both Dwarves and Men, took refuge in Erebor, and there withstood a siege.
When news came of the great victories in the South, then Sauron’s northern army was filled with dismay; and the besieged came forth and routed them, and the remnant fled into the East and troubled Dale no more. Then Bard II, Brand’s son, became King in Dale, and Thorin III Stonehelm, Dáin’s son, became King under the Mountain. They sent their ambassadors to the crowning of King Elessar; and their realms remained ever after, as long as they lasted, in friendship with Gondor; and they were under the crown and protection of the King of the West.
The chief days
from the fall of the Barad-dűr to the end
of the Third Age
3019
S.R. 1419
March 27.
Bard II and Thorin III Stonehelm drive the enemy from Dale.
28
Celeborn crosses Anduin; destruction of Dol Guldur begun.
April 6.
Meeting of Celeborn and Thranduil.
8
The Ring-bearers are honoured on the Field of Cormallen.
May 1.
Crowning of King Elessar; Elrond and Arwen set out from Rivendell.
8
Éomer and Éowyn depart for Rohan with the sons of Elrond.
20
Elrond and Arwen come to Lórien.
27
The escort of Arwen leaves Lórien
.
June 14.
The sons of Elrond meet the escort and bring Arwen to Edoras.
16
They set out for Gondor. 25 King Elessar finds the sapling of the White Tree.
1 Lithe.
Arwen comes to the City.
Mid-year’s Day.
Wedding of Elessar and Arwen.
July 18.
Éomer returns to Minas Tirith.
19
The funeral escort of King Théoden sets out.
August 7.
The escort comes to Edoras. 70 Funeral of King Théoden.
14
The guests take leave of King Éomer.
18
They come to Helm’s Deep. 22 They come to Isengard; they take leave of the King of the West at sunset.
28
They overtake Saruman; Saruman turns towards the Shire.
September 6.
They halt in sight of the Mountains of Moria.
13
Celeborn and Galadriel depart, the others set out for Rivendell.
21
They return to Rivendell. 22 The hundred and twenty-ninth birthday of Bilbo. Saruman comes to the Shire.
October 5.
Gandalf and the Hobbits leave Rivendell. 6 They cross the Ford of Bruinen; Frodo feels the first return of pain.
28
They reach Bree at nightfall.
30
They leave Bree. The Travellers’ come to the Brandywine Bridge at dark.
November 1.
They are arrested at Frogmorton. 2 They come to Bywater and rouse the Shire-folk.
3
Battle of Bywater, and Passing of Saruman. End of the War of the Ring.
3020
S.R. 1420: The Great Year of Plenty
March 13.
Frodo is taken ill (on the anniversary of his poisoning by Shelob).
April 6.
The mallorn flowers in the Party Field.
May 1.
Samwise marries Rose.
Mid-year’s Day.
Frodo resigns office of mayor, and Will Whitfoot is restored.
September 22.
Bilbo’s hundred and thirtieth birthday.
October 6.
Frodo is again ill.
3021
S.R. 1421 The Last of the Third Age
March 13.
Frodo is again ill
25
Birth of Elanor the Fair, daughter of Samwise. On this day the Fourth Age began in the reckoning of Gondor.
September 21.
Frodo and Samwise set out from Hobbiton.
22 They
meet the Last Riding of the Keepers of the Rings in Woody End.
29
They come to the Grey Havens. Frodo and Bilbo depart over Sea with the Three Keepers. The end of the Third Age.
October 6.
Samwise returns to Bag End.
Later events concerning the members of the Fellowship of the Ring
S.R. | |
1422 | With the beginning of this year the Fourth Age began in the count of years in the Shire; but the numbers of the years of Shire Reckoning were continued. |
1427 | Will Whitfoot resigns. Samwise is elected Mayor of the Shire. Peregrin Took marries Diamond of Long Cleeve. King Elessar issues an edict that Men are not to enter the Shire, and he makes it a Free Land under the protection of the Northern Sceptre. |
1430 | Faramir, son of Peregrin, born. |
1431 | Goldilocks, daughter of Samwise, born. |
1432 | Meriadoc, called the Magnificent, becomes Master of Buckland. Great gifts are sent to him by King Éomer and the Lady Éowyn of Ithilien. |
1434 | Peregrin becomes the Took and Thain. King Elessar makes the Thain, the Master, and the Mayor Counsellors of the North-kingdom. Master Samwise is elected Mayor for the second time. |
1436 | King Elessar rides north, and dwells for a while by Lake Evendim. He comes to the Brandywine Bridge, and there greets his friends. He gives the Star of the Dúnedain to Master Samwise, and Elanor is made a maid of honour to Queen Arwen. |
1441 | Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the third time. |
1442 | Master Samwise and his wife and Elanor ride to Gondor and stay there for a year. Master Tolman Cotton acts as deputy Mayor. |
1448 | Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the fourth time. |
1451 | Elanor the Fair marries Fastred of Greenholm on the Far Downs. |
1452 | The Westmarch, from the Far Downs to the Tower Hill ( |
1454 | Elfstan Fairbairn, son of Fastred and Elanor, is born. |
1455 | Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the fifth time. At his request the Thain makes Fastred Warden of Westmarch. Fastred and Elanor make their dwelling at Undertowers on the Tower Hills, where their descendants, the Fairbairns of the Towers, dwelt for many generations. |
1463 | Faramir Took marries Goldilocks, daughter of Samwise. |
1469 | Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the seventh and last time, being in 1476, at the end of his office, ninety-six years old. |
1482 | Death of Mistress Rose, wife of Master Samwise, on Mid-year’s Day. On September 22 Master Sam-wise rides out from Bag End. He comes to the Tower Hills, and is last seen by Elanor, to whom he gives the Red Book afterwards kept by the Fairbairns. 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. |
1484 | In the spring of the year a message came from Rohan to Buckland that King Éomer wished to see Master Holdwine once again. Meriadoc was then old (102) but still hale. He took counsel with his friend the Thain, and soon after they handed over their goods and offices to their sons and rode away over the Sam Ford, and they were not seen again in the Shire. It was heard after that Master Meriadoc came to Edoras and was with King Éomer before he died in that autumn. Then he and Thain Peregrin went to Gondor and passed what short years were left to them in that realm, until they died and were laid in Rath Dínen among the great of Gondor. |
1541 | In this year on March 1st came at last the Passing of King Elessar. It is said that the beds of Meriadoc and Peregrin were set beside the bed of the great king. Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf. And when that ship passed an end was come in the Middle-earth of the Fellowship of the Ring. |
APPENDIX C
Family Trees
The names given in these Trees are only a selection from many. Most of them are either guests at Bilbo’s Farewell Party, or their direct ancestors. The guests at the Party are underlined. A few other names of persons concerned in the events recounted are also given. In addition some genealogical information is provided concerning Samwise the founder of the family of Gardner, later famous and influential.
The figures after the names are those of birth (and death where that is recorded). All dates are given according to the Shire-reckoning, calculated from the crossing of the Brandywine by the brothers Marcho and Blanco in the Year 1 of the Shire (Third Age 1601).
