The Return of the King

by J. R. R. Tolkien

  13. Frodo crosses the Bridge.

  18. Glorfindel finds Frodo at dusk. Gandalf reaches Rivendell.

  20. Escape across the Ford of Bruinen.

  24. Frodo recovers and wakes. Boromir arrives in Rivendell at night

  25. Council of Elrond.

  December

  25. The Company of the Ring leaves Rivendell at dusk.

  3019.

  January

  8. The Company reach Hollin.

  11, 12. Snow on Caradhras.

  13. Attack by Wolves in the early hours. The Company reaches the West-gate of Moria at nightfall. Gollum begins to trail the Ring-bearer.

  14. Night in Hall Twenty-one.

  15. The Bridge of Khazad-dûm, and fall of Gandalf. The Company reaches Nimrodel late at night.

  17. The Company comes to Caras Galadhon at evening.

  23. Gandalf pursues the Balrog to the peak of Zirak-zigil.

  25. He casts down the Balrog, and passes away. His body lies on the peak.

  February

  14. The Mirror of Galadriel. Gandalf returns to life, and lies in a trance.

  16. Farewell to Lórien. Gollum in hiding on the west bank observes the departure.

  17. Gwaihir bears Gandalf to Lórien.

  23. The boats are attacked at night near Sam Gebir.

  25. The Company pass the Argonath and camp at Parth Galen. First Battle of the Fords of Isen; Théodred son of Théoden slain.

  26. Breaking of the Fellowship. Death of Boromir; his horn is heard in Minas Tirith. Meriadoc and Peregrin captured. Frodo and Samwise enter the eastern Emyn Muil. Aragorn sets out in pursuit of the Orcs at evening. Éomer hears of the descent of the Orc-band from the Emyn Muil.

  27. Aragorn reaches the west-cliff at sunrise. Éomer against Théoden's orders sets out from Eastfold about midnight to pursue the Orcs.

  28. Éomer overtakes the Orcs just outside Fangorn Forest.

  29. Meriadoc and Pippin escape and meet Treebeard. The Rohirrim attack at sunrise and destroy the Orcs. Frodo descends from the Emyn Muil and meets Gollum. Faramir sees the funeral boat of Boromir.

  30. Entmoot begins. Éomer returning to Edoras meets Aragorn.

  March

  1. Frodo begins the passage of the Dead Marshes at dawn. Entmoot continues. Aragorn meets Gandalf the White. They set out for Edoras. Faramir leaves Minas Tirith on an errand to Ithilien.

  2. Frodo comes to the end of the Marshes. Gandalf comes to Edoras and heals Théoden. The Rohirrim ride west against Saruman. Second Battle of Fords of Isen. Erkenbrand defeated. Entmoot ends in after-noon. The Ents march on Isengard and reach it at night.

  3. Théoden retreats to Helm's Deep. Battle of the Horn-burg begins. Ents complete the destruction of Isengard.

  4. Théoden and Gandalf set out from Helm's Deep for Isengard. Frodo reaches the slag-mounds on the edge of the Desolation of the Morannon.

  5. Théoden reaches Isengard at noon. Parley with Saruman in Orthanc. Winged Nazgûl passes over the camp at Dol Baran. Gandalf sets out with Peregrin for Minas Tirith. Frodo hides in sight of the Morannon, and leaves at dusk.

  6. Aragorn overtaken by the Dúnedain in the early hours. Théoden sets out from the Hornburg for Harrowdale. Aragorn sets out later.

  7. Frodo taken by Faramir to Henneth Annûn. Aragorn comes to Dunharrow at nightfall.

  8. Aragorn takes the 'Paths of the Dead' at daybreak; he reaches Erech at midnight. Frodo leaves Henneth Annûn.

  9. Gandalf reaches Minas Tirith. Faramir leaves Henneth Annûn. Aragorn sets out from Erech and comes to Calembel. At dusk Frodo reaches the Morgul-road. Théoden comes to Dunharrow. Darkness begins to flow out of Mordor.

  10. The Dawnless Day. The Muster of Rohan: the Rohirrim ride from Harrowdale. Faramir rescued by Gandalf outside the gates of the City. Aragorn crosses Ringló. An army from the Morannon takes Cair Andros and passes into Anórien. Frodo passes the Cross-roads, and sees the Morgul-host set forth.

  11. Gollum visits Shelob, but seeing Frodo asleep nearly repents. Denethor sends Faramir to Osgiliath. Aragorn reaches Linhir and crosses into Lebennin. Eastern Rohan is invaded from the north. First assault on Lórien.

  12. Gollum leads Frodo into Shelob's lair. Faramir retreats to the Causeway Forts. Théoden camps under Minrimmon. Aragorn drives the enemy towards Pelargir. The Ents defeat the invaders of Rohan.

  13. Frodo captured by the Orcs of Cirith Ungol. The Pelennor is over-run. Faramir is wounded. Aragorn reaches Pelargir and captures the fleet. Théoden in Drúadan Forest.

  14. Samwise finds Frodo in the Tower. Minas Tirith is besieged. The Rohirrim led by the Wild Men come to the Grey Wood.

  15. In the early hours the Witch-king breaks the Gates of the City. Denethor burns himself on a pyre. The horns of the Rohirrim are heard at cockcrow. Battle of the Pelennor. Théoden is slain. Aragorn raises the standard of Arwen. Frodo and Samwise escape and begin their journey north along the Morgai. Battle under the trees in Mirkwood; Thranduil repels the forces of Dol Guldur. Second assault on Lórien.

  16. Debate of the commanders. Frodo from the Morgai looks out over the camp to Mount Doom.

  17. Battle of Dale. King Brand and King Dáin Ironfoot fall. Many Dwarves and Men take refuge in Erebor and are besieged. Shagrat brings Frodo's cloak, mail-shirt, and sword to Barad-dûr.

  18. The Host of the West marches from Minas Tirith. Frodo comes in sight of the Isenmouthe; he is over-taken by Orcs on the road from Durthang to Udûn.

  19. The Host comes to Morgul-vale. Frodo and Samwise escape and begin their journey along the road to the Barad-dûr.

  22. The dreadful nightfall. Frodo and Samwise leave the road and turn south to Mount Doom. Third assault on Lórien.

  23. The Host passes out of Ithilien. Aragorn dismisses the faint-hearted. Frodo and Samwise cast away their arms and gear.

  24. Frodo and Samwise make their last journey to the feet of Mount Doom. The Host camps in the Desolation of the Morannon.

  25. The Host is surrounded on the Slag-hills. Frodo and Samwise reach the Sammath Naur. Gollum seizes the Ring and falls in the Cracks of Doom. Downfall of Barad-dûr and passing of Sauron.

  After the fall of the Dark Tower and the passing of Sauron the Shadow was lifted from the hearts of all who opposed him, but fear and despair fell upon his servants and allies. Three times Lórien had been assailed from Dol Guldur, but besides the valour of the elven people of that land, the power that dwelt there was too great for any to overcome, unless Sauron had come there himself. Though grievous harm was done to the fair woods on the borders, the assaults were driven back; and when the Shadow passed, Celeborn came forth and led the host of Lórien over Anduin in many boats. They took Dol Guldur, and Galadriel threw down its walls and laid bare its pits, and the forest was cleansed.

  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, an
d 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-dûr to the end of the Third Age 56

  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 WhiteTree.

  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. 10 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,57 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 Hills (Emyn Beraid),58 is added to the Shire by the gift of the King. Many hobbits remove to it.

  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 year59 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 D

  SHIRE CALENDAR

  Every year began on the first day of the week, Saturday, and ended on the last day of the week. Friday. The Mid-year's Day, and in Leap-years the Overlithe, had no week-day name. The Lithe before Mid-year's Day was called 1 Lithe, and the one after was called 2 Lithe. The Yule at the end of the year was 1 Yule, and that at the beginning was 2 Yule. The Overlithe was a day of special holiday, but it did not occur in any of the years important to the history of the Great Ring. It occurred in 1420, the year of the famous harvest and wonderful summer, and the merry-making in that year is said to have been the greatest in memory or record.

  THE CALENDARS

  The Calendar in the Shire differed in several features from ours. The year no doubt was of the same length,60 for long ago as those times are now reckoned in years and lives of men, they were not very remote according to the memory of the Earth. It is recorded by the Hobbits that they had no 'week' when they were still a wandering people, and though they had 'months', governed more or less by the
Moon, their keeping of dates and calculations of time were vague and inaccurate. In the west-lands of Eriador, when they had begun to settle down, they adopted the King's Reckoning of the Dúnedain, which was ultimately of Eldarin origin; but the Hobbits of the Shire introduced several minor alterations. This calendar, or 'Shire Reckoning' as it was called, was eventually adopted also in Bree, except for the Shire usage of counting as Year 1 the year of the colonization of the Shire.

  It is often difficult to discover from old tales and traditions precise information about things which people knew well and took for granted in their own day (such as the names of letters, or of the days of the week, or the names and lengths of months). But owing to their general interest in genealogy, and to the interest in ancient history which the learned amongst them developed after the War of the Ring, the Shire-hobbits seem to have concerned themselves a good deal with dates; and they even drew up complicated tables showing the relations of their own system with others. I am not skilled in these matters, and may have made many errors; but at any rate the chronology of the crucial years S.R. 1418, 1419 is so carefully set out in the Red Book that there cannot be much doubt about days and times at that point.

  It seems clear that the Eldar in Middle-earth, who had, as Samwise remarked, more time at their disposal, reckoned in long periods, and the Quenya word yén, often translated 'year' (1, 491), really means 144 of our years. The Eldar preferred to reckon in sixes and twelves as far as possible. A 'day' of the sun they called ré and reckoned from sunset to sunset The yén contained 52.596 days. For ritual rather than practical purposes the Eldar observed a week or enquië of six days; and the yén contained 8,766 of these enquier, reckoned continuously throughout the period.

  In Middle-earth the Eldar also observed a short period or solar year, called a coranar or 'sun-round' when considered more or less astronomically, but usually called loa 'growth (especially in the north-western lands) when the seasonal changes in vegetation were primarily considered, as was usual with the Elves generally. The loa was broken up into periods that might be regarded either as long months or short seasons. These no doubt varied in different regions; but the Hobbits only provide information concerning the Calendar of Imladris. In that calendar there were six of these 'seasons", of which the Quenya names were tuilë, lairë, yávië, quellë, hrívë, coirë, which may be translated 'spring, summer, autumn, fading, winter, stirring'. The Sindarin names were ethuil, laer, iavas, firith, rhîw, echuir. 'Fading' was also called lasse-lanta 'leaf-fall', or in Sindarin narbeleth 'sun-waning'.

  Lairë and hrívë each contained 72 days, and the remainder 54 each. The loa began with yestarë, the day immediately before tuilë, and ended with mettarë, the day immediately after coirë. Between yávië and quellë were inserted three enderi or 'middle-days'. This provided a year of 365 days which was supplemented by doubling the enderi (adding 3 days) in every twelfth year.

  How any resulting inaccuracy was dealt with is uncertain. If the year was then of the same length as now, the yén would have been more than a day too long. That there was an inaccuracy is shown by a note in the Calendars of the Red Book to the effect that in the 'Reckoning of Rivendell' the last year of every third yén was shortened by three days: the doubling of the three enderi due in that year was omitted; 'but that has not happened in our time'. Of the adjustment of any remaining inaccuracy there is no record.

  The Númenoreans altered these arrangements. They divided the loa into shorter periods of more regular length; and they adhered to the custom of beginning the year in mid-winter, which had been used by Men of the North-west from whom they were derived in the First Age. Later they also made their week one of 7 days, and they reckoned the day from sunrise (out of the eastern sea) to sunrise.

  The Númenorean system, as used in Númenor, and in Arnor and Gondor until the end of the kings, was called King's Reckoning. The normal year had 365 days. It was divided into twelve astar or months, of which ten had 30 days and two had 31. The long astar were those on either side of the Mid-year, approximately our June and July. The first day of the year was called yestarë, the middle-day (I83rd) was called loëndë, and the last day mettarë, these 3 days belonged to no month. In every fourth year, except the last of a century (haranyë), two enderi or 'middle-days' were substituted for the loëndë.

  In Númenor calculation started with S.A. 1. The Deficit caused by deducting 1 day from the last year of a century was not adjusted until the last year of a millennium, leaving a millennial deficit of 4 hours, 46 minutes, 40 seconds. This addition was made in Númenor in S.A. 1000, 2000, 3000. After the Downfall in SA. 3319 the system was maintained by the exiles, but it was much dislocated by the beginning of the Third Age with a new numeration: S.A. 3442 became T.A. 1. By making TA. 4 a leap year instead of T.A. 3 (S.A. 3444) 1 more short year of only 365 days was intruded causing a deficit of 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds. The