Author: Suiren-chan
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Middle Earth has no sorrows the Undying Lands cannot heal, even if one is a hobbit, and a mortal. A story of endings and new beginnings…
Pairing: F/S
Warnings: WIP! There will be many parts to this story. Major ANGST but happy ending. General like the books, extended to slash later.
AN: This is a continuation on the story of Frodo and Sam after the quest and beyond the appendices that was never descriptive in the books and left unfinished in the movie. The time interpretation and life in Valinor is my own based on true information by Tolkien.
Disclaimer: Frodo and Sam belong to each other, and both belong to Tolkien. "Into the West" is a beautiful song by Annie Lennox, Howard Shore, and Fran Walsh.
FACTS BEHIND THE STORY
Author's Note: My story "Into the West" is written based on factual information on an underdeveloped part of the "Lord of the Rings."
This information is taken from the Encyclopedia of Arda.
If you have any more questions after reading this, refer to and type in any of the red-bold words.
Suiren-chan
TO START: In the language of the Elder Days, 'Arda' signified the World and all that is in it.
THE CONTINENT OF AMAN:
Aman is the continent on which the Valar made their home after the destruction of Almaren. There they founded Valinor, and there dwelt the Calaquendi; the Vanyar, the Noldor and those of the Teleri who journeyed from Middle-earth long before the First Age. There were dwellers in Aman before the Valar, though; Ungoliant had long existed in the southern land of Avathar.
THE LAND OF VALINOR / THE BLESSED REALM / THE UNDYING LANDS:
From the most ancient times, the Valar (the Powers of the World) had dwelt in the land of Valinor, in Aman beyond the Great Sea, called the Blessed Realm and the Undying Lands. Their lands of peace and plenty had once been part of the World, and they welcomed the first Elves there to enjoy their lives of immortal bliss. Through a chain of tragic events, though, some of the Elves rebelled against the Valar, and exiled themselves from Valinor by returning to Middle-earth. Among them were Galadriel and the ancestors of Elrond.
GEOGRAPHY:
To protect their realm from Melkor, the Valar raised a great range of mountains along the borders of Aman; the Pelóri or Mountains of Defence. They also filled the seas eastwards with shadows and Enchanted Isles. There were green hills, greener than the Shire land.
THE HISTORY:
These exiled Elves fought a centuries-long war against the first Dark Lord, Sauron's master Morgoth, in which they were aided by certain houses of Men. After Morgoth's defeat, these Men were rewarded with a new home - the island of Númenor in the middle of the Sea, where they built the greatest and most powerful nation of Men to have ever existed.
In II 3319, King Ar-Pharazôn of Númenor, having been seduced and corrupted by Sauron, sailed on Aman with a great fleet. The King and his armies were destroyed, as was the land of Númenor, and Aman was taken out of the World. After that catastrophe, only the Elves could reach the Blessed Realm.
Ultimately they became too great even for Sauron to meet in battle, so instead he used the power of his Ring to seduce the already corrupt King of Númenor, and persuaded him to launch an invasion of Aman itself. As Sauron had foreseen, the result of this foolish act was utter disaster for the Númenóreans, and their entire island home was destroyed. A few survivors, led by Elendil, escaped the destruction and returned to Middle-earth.
The land founded by the Valar after Melkor's destruction of their ancient dwelling of Almaren. Originally part of the World, Valinor could be reached by ship from Middle-earth. After the rebellion of King Ar-Pharazôn of Númenor in 3319 (Second Age), Valinor and the lands of Aman were removed from the circles of the World, and could only be reached by the Elves, following the straight road that was kept open to them.
WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW:
A ship sailed from the Grey Havens into the Uttermost West, carrying the Ring-bearers to Aman. Its departure marked the end of the Third Age. On the White Ship sailed Elrond, and Galadriel, and Gandalf the White, who had been the Keepers of the Three Rings. With them went the two Hobbits who had kept Sauron's Great Ring, Bilbo the Ring-finder and Frodo the Ring-bearer. They were accompanied to the Grey Havens by Gildor Inglorion and many other Elves besides, but whether any of these others went aboard the ship with them is not told. It does seem, though, that Gandalf's horse Shadowfax did make the journey: we see him waiting at the quayside in The Lord of the Rings, and in his Letters, Tolkien makes it clear that he sailed away with Gandalf.
Letter #246 discusses Frodo's "failure" and guilt as well as his journey into the West and eventual death.
For most of the travelers, the voyage to the Undying Lands was a journey into the unknown, but not for all. Gandalf had originally come to Middle-earth from Aman, some two thousand years before, and so the White Ship was carrying him home to the place where he was known as Olórin, the wise Maia. For Galadriel, too, it was a homecoming, but of a quite different sort. She had been born in Aman long ago, and in the courts of Tirion she had listened to the words of Fëanor, following him willingly into exile in Middle-earth in defiance of the Valar. For her, the granting of a return from exile was a pardon for her past misdeeds, and a reward for her aid in the War against Sauron.
The Grey havens were a port on the northwestern coast of Middle-earth. The Grey Havens were west of the Shire beyond the Tower Hills. The Havens were located where the River Lune emptied into the Gulf of Lune, which in turn opened onto the Sea. The ships of the Elves left Middle-earth from the Grey Havens and sailed westward across the Sea to the Undying Lands, where the spirits called the Valar dwelled. The Grey Havens were founded by the Elves in the year 1 of the Second Age. The harborage in the Gulf of Lune was good and held many ships. The Great East Road ran from the Grey Havens across Eriador to Rivendell. Cirdan the Shipwright was the Lord of the Havens and a number other Elves lived there with him including Galdor. Many Elves also dwelled in Lindon, a green land on the shores of the Sea on either side of the Gulf of Lune.
HOW THE WORLD BECAME ROUND
Before the Downfall of Númenor, the realm of the Gods in Valinor was still present in the world, and those Elves who wished to reach it could do so by sailing on into the West. After the Downfall, Valinor was taken away, and the World took on the round shape we know today. Mortals sailing into the West simply circled the globe and eventually returned to their starting place.
For the Elves, however, a way was left open to return to Valinor; the Straight Road. An elven-ship sailing into the West left the Bent World, and traveled through the air 'as it were on a mighty bridge invisible', until they came to Tol Eressëa and the Undying Lands.
The Straight Road was not entirely closed to Mortals; some by the special grace of the Valar could use it, as did the ring-bearers at the end of the Third Age. Other mortal mariners too, it was said, would sometimes find the Road and come to the shores of Aman before they died.
REASONS FOR LEAVING MIDDLE-EARTH
The time of the elves had ended and a shadow fell over their hearts that could only be taken away in their native land – much like the shadow over Frodo's own heart from bearing the ring. It was the time of autumn for the elves – a time of ending. The age of men was come; they were cursed from ever stepping foot on Aman/Valinor again since the death of the King of Numenor. Hobbits (and later, dwarf) were not men and only the three who had carried the ring were granted permission. Gimli fought in the War of the Ring and was deemed a friend of elves and so was given passage. If Merry and Pippin had wished to go too, they probably would have been able to due to their involvement.
It is to the Undying Lands that the White Ship sails at the end of The Lord of the Rings. The Ring-bearers, Bilbo and Frodo, were the first mortal beings to set foot on the shores of the Undying Lands. Tolkien is careful to point out, though, that even in Aman, mortals remain mortals. Tolkien's conception was that a creature's natural lifespan was intrinsic to its spiritual and biological nature, and that this could not be altered save by a direct intervention of the Creator. There were three occasions when this did happen (Luthien, Tuor, Arwen), but it did not in the cases of Frodo & Co. Tolkien stated explicitly in more than one letter that Frodo's journey over the Sea was only a temporary healing, and that when the time came he and the others would die of their own free will.
(My interpretation - It is to be understood that time passes slower in Aman and those mortals who came from over the sea probably had an extended life. For the hobbits, this is added to the years they received from carrying the ring, and added to their longer hobbit-lifespan of no more than 130 years. It's clear that Frodo, Bilbo, and Sam were the longest living hobbits, and even then, were able to decide when they would pass away out of the World.)
IN CONCLUSION:
It's to Aman, then, that the Elves are traveling in The Lord of the Rings, never to return to Middle-earth. This explains Arwen's burden of regret and the difficulty of her choice - by refusing to sail from the Grey Havens, she gives up an eternity in paradise to stay with Aragorn. The choice of those Elves who sailed on the White Ship was a simple one, then - indeed, for Galadriel, this would be a homecoming: she had been born in Valinor, and been among those exiled millennia before. It would be a homecoming for Gandalf, too, because the Wizards were actually Maiar, immortal beings of the same kind as the Valar themselves.
For Frodo, the two years he spent in the Shire after the Downfall of Barad-dûr were filled with suffering and regret. The wounds he had received on the journey continued to pain him, but worse than this was the memory of the Ring, which during the Quest had taken hold of his mind. "'It is gone for ever,' he said, 'and now all is dark and empty.'" (The Return of the King VI 9). Across the Sea, he could be freed from all this, so his decision to sail into the West is not perhaps so surprising. Being mortal, neither Frodo nor Bilbo could enjoy the unending lives of the other peoples of the Undying Lands, but they could live out their days free of the burden of the Ring.
FACTS OF THE FUTURE – THE SUMMARIZED EPILOGUE
Though the story of The Lord of the Rings ends with the White Ship sailing from the Grey Havens, and Sam returning to Rose, the history of Tolkien's universe doesn't stop there. We have enough extra information, coming especially from the Appendices to the books, to describe most of the major characters' lives after the end of the story. (Note that this list doesn't include the characters who sailed into the West at the end of the story, as nothing is know of what happened to them: Bilbo, Elrond, Frodo, Galadriel and Gandalf).
Aragorn enjoyed a long and prosperous rule over the western lands of Middle-earth, including not only Gondor, but also the lost kingdom of Arnor in the north. His Númenórean descent meant that he enjoyed a lifespan far beyond that of normal Men, and reigned as King of the Reunited Kingdom for one hundred and twenty years. He was succeeded as King by his son Eldarion.
Arwen was Aragorn's Queen throughout his long reign. As Elrond had foreseen, she outlived the King, and after his death she took leave of Eldarion, her son, and wandered away from Gondor. She came to Lórien, which had become an empty land after Galadriel's departure, and there she gave up her life on the green mound of Cerin Amroth.
Éomer succeeded his uncle Théoden to become the eighteenth King of Rohan. He lived to the age of ninety-three, ruling Rohan for sixty-five of those years, and maintained the strong alliance between his country and Gondor. His queen was Lothíriel of Dol Amroth, and he was succeeded as King by their son, Elfwine the Fair.
Éowyn married Faramir, and dwelt with him among the hills of Emyn Arnen, so becoming Lady Éowyn of Ithilien (Ithilien being the lands held by Gondor east of the Great River, where Frodo had met Faramir in The Two Towers). Her age was unknown.
Faramir inherited the role of Steward from his father, though he now served the King, rather than ruling the kingdom of Gondor directly. He was also made Prince of Ithilien and Lord of Emyn Arnen by Aragorn, and it was in Emyn Arnen that he dwelt with Éowyn. He had a measure of the blood of the Dúnedain, though to a lesser degree than Aragorn, and he lived to the age of one hundred and twenty.
Gimli brought a part of the people of his homeland of Erebor, and came to the Glittering Caves of Aglarond that lay behind Helm's Deep. There he dwelt as Lord of the Glittering Caves as long as Aragorn's reign lasted. After this time, he seems to have passed into the West with his friend Legolas: probably the only Dwarf to ever do so.
Legolas, like his friend Gimli, removed from his northern home and came into the south. He dwelt with his people in Faramir's wooded land of Ithilien. After the passing of Aragorn, he built himself a ship and sailed into the West, apparently taking Gimli with him.
Saruman's fate is harder to explain, because the key events surrounding it simply don't happen in the movie version. In the book, Gandalf ejects him from the Order of Wizards, but he later escapes from Isengard with Gríma, and they travel north, where his agents have already been at work bringing the Shire under their control. When Frodo and the others return, they succeed in driving him out. In a sudden fit of madness, Gríma turns on his master and cuts his throat. The last we see of Saruman is his disembodied spirit looking back to its original home in the West '...but out of the West came a cold wind, and it bent away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing.' (The Return of the King VI 8).
Merry dwelt happily in the Shire, where he married Estella Bolger, and quite uncommonly for hobbits, had no children. Eleven years after his return from the War, he inherited the title of Master of Buckland from his father Saradoc, and became one of the most important hobbits in the Shire. As a Knight of Rohan, he often traveled on call. In the last years of his life, he went traveling with his friend Pippin.
Pippin also lived happily in the Shire for many years. He married Diamond of Long Cleeve, and they named their son after Prince Faramir. Soon after Merry became Master of Buckland, Pippin also inherited an important title, that of Thain of the Shire, from his father Paladin. Also a knight, only one of Gondor, Pippin too spent time outside the Shire. In their old age, Pippin and Merry journeyed together into the south, passing through Rohan and coming at last back to Minas Tirith, where they lived out their last years together.
Sam married Rose Cotton soon after he returned to the Shire, and together they had no fewer than thirteen children: Elanor, Frodo (Frodo-lad), Rose (Rosie-lass), Merry, Pippin, Goldilocks, Hamfast, Daisy, Primrose, Bilbo, Ruby, Robin, and Tolman (Tom). The family's last name had been changed from Gamgee to Gardner by popular confusion, as he had established himself as the most famous gardener through his efforts of replanting the Shire. Sam was the elected Mayor of the Shire for seven years, and together with Merry and Pippin became one of the northern councilors of the King. His marriage to Rose lasted sixty-two years, but at last she died, and Sam traveled away from the Shire. He was thought to have gone to the Grey Havens, but no one saw his departure and no one heard from him again after he left the Shire from Tower Hills. He visited his daughter Elanor and told her that he would pass over the Sea himself, perhaps to be reunited at last with Frodo in the Blessed Realm. Here, he gave her the Red Book of Westmarch that he had used to educate the Shire hobbits of the Third Age. Copies were made of the book, and it traveled as far as Gondor. The original book didn't last due to how often it was read, but the story stayed alive.