In The Return of the King film, our hobbit heroes return home to find the Shire just
as they left it. It’s citizens completely unaware of their mighty deeds that kept them
safe. But this isn’t the actual ending of the Lord of the Rings story. In actuality,
the hobbits returned to find their home destroyed and under the control of an evil force presumed
defeated. After the battle for Middle-earth, they would fight the battle for the shire.
Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we cover the Scouring of the Shire.
After the One Ring is destroyed the hobbits stay for a time in Minas Tirith, before making
their way home. They stop in Edoras for the funeral of King Theoden. Then continue north,
arriving at Isengard. Here, they discover that Saruman, who was earlier expelled from
the order of the Istari by Gandalf, has been allowed to leave his fortress by Treebeard.
The fellowship finally comes to an end, as Aragorn returns to Gondor, Gimli and Legolas
leave for Fangorn, and Gandalf and the Hobbits accompany Elrond returning to Rivendell.
On the sixth day since their parting from the King they journeyed through a wood climbing
down from the hills at the feet of the Misty Mountains that now marched on their right
hand. As they came out again into the open country at sundown they overtook an old man
leaning on a staff, and he was clothed in rags of grey or dirty white, and at his heels
went another beggar, slouching and whining.
'So you have come to gloat too, have you, my urchins?' he said. 'You don't care what
a beggar lacks, do you? For you have all you want, food and fine clothes, and the best
weed for your pipes. Oh yes, I know! I know where it comes from. You would not give a
pipeful to a beggar, would you?'
'I would, if I had any,' said Frodo.
Despite all the damage that Saruman had done by attempting to overthrow Rohan, Frodo still
shows the fallen wizard kindness. As the hobbits spend time in Rivendell before leaving for
Bree, Saruman arrives in the Shire on September 22, 3019. By this time, his ruffians have
controlled the Shire for nearly a year.
Gandalf leaves the hobbits at the borders of the Shire, traveling to the home of Tom
Bombadil. Frodo, Sam, Merry, & Pippin come to the Brandywine bridge where it is closed
with a large spiked gate. The gatekeeper tells them that at the command of the Chief at Bag
End, no one is permitted entrance between sundown and sunrise. Merry and Pippin scale
the structure and force Bill Ferny to open the gate. The hobbits begin their journey
to Hobbiton. On their way, they encounter a group of Hobbit Shirriffs
said the leader of the Shirriffs, a two-feather hobbit: ‘You’re arrested for Gatebreaking,
and Tearing up of Rules, and Assaulting Gate-keepers, and Trespassing, and Sleeping in Shire-buildings
without Leave, and Bribing Guards with Food.’ ‘And what else?’ said Frodo. ‘That’ll
do to go on with,’ said the Shirriff-leader. ‘I can add some more, if you’d like it,’
said Sam. ‘Calling your Chief Names, Wishing to punch his Pimply Face, and Thinking you
Shirriffs look a lot of Tom-fools.’
Undaunted, the hobbits continue on their way, coming across a group of ruffian men who say
they answer not to a hobbit chief, but to a boss named Sharkey. When Sam, Merry, and
Pippin draw their swords, the men flee to gain reinforcements. Pippin rides to summon
the Tooks, while Sam rides to the Cotton homestead, where Farmer Cotton and his sons gather their
entire village to fight. After a brief skirmish between hobbits and ruffians, the men surrender.
The next morning, Pippin returns with his relatives as a group of nearly 100 men approach
Hobbiton. Thus begins the Battle of Bywater, where 70 men and 19 hobbits would lose their
lives in the battle for the Shire. The hobbits march on to Bad End itself to deal with this
chief Sharkey. Along the way, they see the devastation that has been wrought throughout
their homeland. The party tree is cut down, and signs of wanton destruction are everywhere.
As they arrive at Bag End, it is revealed that Sharkey is Saruman.
Merry looked round in dismay and disgust. ‘Let’s get out!’ he said. ‘If I had
known all the mischief he had caused, I should have stuffed my pouch down Saruman’s throat.’
‘No doubt, no doubt! But you did not, and so I am able to welcome you home.’ There
standing at the door was Saruman himself, looking well-fed and well-pleased; his eyes
gleamed with malice and amusement. A sudden light broke on Frodo. ‘Sharkey!’ he cried.
Saruman laughed. ‘So you have heard the name, have you? All my people used to call
me that in Isengard, I believe. A sign of affection, possibly. * But evidently you did
not expect to see me here.’ ‘I did not,’ said Frodo. ‘But I might have guessed. A
little mischief in a mean way: Gandalf warned me that you were still capable of it.’ ‘Quite
capable,’ said Saruman, ‘and more than a little. You made me laugh, you hobbit-lordlings,
riding along with all those great people, so secure and so pleased with your little
selves. You thought you had done very well out of it all, and could now just amble back
and have a nice quiet time in the country. Saruman’s home could be all wrecked, and
he could be turned out, but no one could touch yours. Oh no! Gandalf would look after your
affairs.’ Saruman laughed again. ‘Not he! When his tools have done their task he
drops them. But you must go dangling after him, dawdling and talking, and riding round
twice as far as you needed. “Well,” thought I, “if they’re such fools, I will get
ahead o f them and teach them a lesson. One ill turn deserves another.” It would have
been a sharper lesson, if only you had given me a little more time and more Men. Still
I have already done much that you will find it hard to mend or undo in your lives. And
it will be pleasant to think of that and set it against my injuries.’ ‘Well, if that
is what you find pleasure in,’ said Frodo, ‘I pity you. It will be a pleasure of memory
only, I fear. Go at once and never return!’
Frodo declares that Saruman should be allowed to leave unharmed, banished from the Shire.
Many among the hobbit crowd believe Saruman should be put to death for the wanton destruction
he has caused, shouting Kill him, kill him.
Saruman looked round at their hostile faces and smiled. ‘Kill him!’ he mocked. ‘Kill
him, if you think there are enough of you, my brave hobbits!’ He drew himself up and
stared at them darkly with his black eyes. ‘But do not think that when I lost all my
goods I lost all my power! Whoever strikes me shall be accursed. And if my blood stains
the Shire, it shall wither and never again be healed.’ The hobbits recoiled. But Frodo
said: ‘Do not believe him! He has lost all power, save his voice that can still daunt
you and deceive you, if you let it. But I will not have him slain. It is useless to
meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing. Go, Saruman, by the speediest way!’
Saruman calls Wormtongue so that they may turn to the road. As he passes by Frodo, Saruman
springs into action, stabbing the hobbit. But the mithril coat broke the blade, and
Frodo is unharmed. Even then, Frodo insists on showing mercy to Saruman. He says that
Saruman was once great, of a noble kind. “He is fallen, and his cure is beyond us; but
I would still spare him, in the hope that he may find it.”
Saruman reveals his hatred of Frodo’s mercy
'You have grown, Halfling,' he said. 'Yes, you have grown very much. You are wise, and
cruel. You have robbed my revenge of sweetness, and now I must go hence in bitterness, in
debt to your mercy. I hate it and you! Well, I go and I will trouble you no more. But do
not expect me to wish you health and long life. You will have neither. But that is not
my doing. I merely foretell.'
He also reveals that it was Wormtongue who killed Lotho. Driven by Saruman’s words
and cruelty, Wormtongue stabs the wizard and flees with a yell, but is struck down by three
hobbit arrows.
To the dismay of those that stood by, about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered,
and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it
loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered, looking to the West; but out of the West came
a cold wind, and it bent away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing.
Thankfully, Saruman’s words that that it would take many years to restore the shire
if he were killed would prove false. Sam spreads the soil from the box of Galadriel around
the Shire, helping bring the beauty of the shire to its former glory. The mallorn seed
he also received from Galadriel is planted where the Party Tree once stood. And that
year, 3020 of the TA, the very year after Saruman’s defeat, would be one of the greatest
harvest years in the history
of the Shire.