Penn State Deluge - Vol. 2 No. 1 - Spring 2004

This new narrative direction is heralded by a subtle shift of narration style that begins with Bilbo's absentmindedness upon the protagonists' return to Rivendell. In this episode, the text begins to focus away from the quest, which Tolkien meticulously chronicled throughout the story, towards the future in which the hobbits will confront the changes that the War of the Ring brought to their homes and to their identities since the narrative's outset. Bilbo is the only other individual beside Frodo who knows the burden of bearing the One Ring, yet he offers no sympathy to the hobbits for their ordeals, and indeed shows little interest in their quest at all. His dialogue with Frodo features an unexpected tone of apathy towards the fellowship's travails of the past year:

'…what's become of my ring, Frodo, that you took away?'

'I have lost it, Bilbo dear,' said Frodo. 'I got rid of it, you know.'

'What a pity!' said Bilbo. 'I should have liked to see it again. But no, how silly of me! That's what you went for, wasn't it: to get rid of it? But it is all so confusing…'…And as Bilbo murmured the last words his head dropped on him chest and he slept soundly. (965)

The disinterested manner in which Bilbo refers to the quest is the first instance of this narrative shift. The quest fades rapidly from the narrative's foremost attention from this point forward as the narration itself leaves it behind. References to the events of the quest become vague and hazy, almost as if even the narrator has forgotten them as well. This shift reduces the quest's presence in the narrative, enabling the reader to perceive the significance of the text's final chapters by looking beyond the adventure itself towards its impact on the hobbits' identity. Even Frodo, whom the quest affects most severely, helps initiate this narrative shift with his casual and dismissive reference to the hardships that took a year of his life, and nearly ended it as well: "I have lost it, Bilbo dear…I got rid of it, you know" (965). Frodo tries to deny the severity of his ordeals, but ominous foreshadowing makes it doubtful that he will be able to reintegrate himself into his provincial home again.

Re-assimilation problems continue to confront the hobbits as they depart Rivendell on final leg of their journey home to the Shire. Their first unsettling encounter comes in the village of Bree, which has such a grim appearance that "their hearts sank a little, for they expected more welcome" (967). One inside the Prancing Pony Inn, Butterbur the proprietor welcomes their business, but his reactions to the travelers' news echo Bilbo's ambivalence in Rivendell: "Most of the things which they had to tell were a mere wonder and bewilderment to [Butterbur], and far beyond his vision; and they brought forth few comments other than: 'You don't say…Who'd have thought it in our times!'" (969-970). Butterbur's dismissal of any people or places beyond Bree's walls as comprising the vague, unsettling "Outside" (970) likewise distances the narrative from the places that it reveals to the reader at length throughout the novel. Butterbur's dismay helps transition the narrative away from the worldly tone of the novel hitherto to the provincial worldview that characterizes the Shire. In doing so, it also helps the reader see the significance of the quest—significance that the excitement of the quest's action tends to obscure.

The reference to the quest as "remote and less important affairs 'away south'" (973) carries great weight coming from the narrator, whose statements convey the impression of relative credibility and objectivity. By claiming these words and making the quest seem evermore distant and insignificant, the narrator validates and legitimizes the narrative shift that has narrowed the reader's view of the vast fantasy of Middle-earth throughout the hobbits' journey home. The unsettling effect of this ambivalence towards the War of the Ring impacts the reader as well as the hobbits because it devalues the endeavors through which the reader accompanies the characters for over 900 pages. Throughout the hobbits' home journey, the narrative continues to put the majesty and scope of the quest into the background, allowing the novel to become hobbit-sized again in a reversal of the progression found at the novel's outset, whereby Gandalf's teachings in "The Shadow of the Past" chapter wrest them from the innocence and obliviousness of their youth in the Shire.

Although the action of the quest fades from prominence in these passages, the hobbits must nonetheless come to terms with its impact on their identity. Their visit with Butterbur is their first opportunity to receive the appraisal of someone totally ignorant of the quest, and who consequently cannot understand the changes in identity it provoked. Butterbur's wonder at their appearance takes them aback:

…the hobbits suddenly realized that people had looked at them with amazement not out of surprise at their return so much as in wonder at their gear. They themselves had become so used to warfare and to riding in well-arrayed companies that they had quite forgotten that [their equipment] would seem outlandish in their own country. (970)

The hobbits realize that their quest had such an impact on their lives that their internal transformations manifest themselves visually as well. Butterbur confirms this suspicion in his parting words. He contrasts their new demeanors with his memory of them passing through Bree the previous year, before any of the ordeals of their quest befell them, and insists, "if I may be so bold, you've come back changed from your travels, and you look now like folks as can deal with troubles out of hand" (973).

Likewise, Gandalf provides definitive confirmation of the hobbits' growth as well, removing any doubt that their identities have thoroughly changed as a result of their experiences: "as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you" (974). Gandalf's words carry great authority here: he has witnessed the passage of many generations of hobbits, and has known these four intimately and long before they rose to meet the challenge of the quest. His confidence reassures them that the changes in their identities are positive developments that they need not fear. Gandalf's words not only mark the culmination of the changes they underwent throughout the quest. They also provide the necessary empowerment for the struggles they meet at home.

Gandalf foreshadows these struggles when he bids farewell to the hobbits at the border of the Shire. He leaves them with a cryptic excuse for not aiding and accompanying them further: "You must settle [the Shire's] affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for" (974). Gandalf's assertion reduces the hobbits' experience in the War of the Ring to a mere training exercise for a future obstacle. In doing so, Gandalf asserts that the changes that arose in the hobbits as a result of their contact with evil is the chief story in the text—the one for which the narrative of the quest hitherto serves to initiate. This moment, in which Gandalf depicts the quest not as an end unto itself, but as a preliminary learning experience from which the hobbits will gain strength necessary for upcoming challenges, is as close as Tolkien comes to overtly trivializing the heroic action that dominates the novel thus far. Gandalf's assertion that the post-quest action of the text is at least as important as the quest itself attests to the necessity of greater critical attention to these final chapters.

All distractions to criticism of these chapters disappear upon Gandalf's departure, which completes the shift in narrative focus away from the raw action and fantasy of the text hitherto towards a more hobbit-sized provinciality. As he leaves the hobbits, Gandalf explains, "My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so" (974). Now that the One Ring is destroyed, and the evil of Sauron forever vanquished, Gandalf's powers are no longer necessary, for the War of the Ring represents, as Elrond foresees at the quest's outset, "the end of [Gandalf's] labours" (268). Gandalf's departure is a significant moment for the hobbits: they have relied on the magical abilities of Gandalf and other allies throughout their quest. But upon the hobbits' return to their homeland, they must confront evil in the land dearest to them without the aid of these fantastic and supernatural powers. Continuing without Gandalf forces the hobbits to deflate the fantastic elements of the narrative in order to return to the Shire.

Merry does not expect a challenging homecoming, and he anticipates an easy conclusion to their journey with his nostalgic reflection, "Well here we are, just the four of us that started out together…We have left all the [other members of the Fellowship] behind, one after another. It seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded" (974). His words imitate the shallow and simplistic fairy-tale conclusions that Tolkien avoids with these final chapters. Frodo's reply subverts Merry's attempt to bring the narrative to an effortless ending: "To me [returning to the Shire] feels more like falling asleep again" (974). Having endured the traumatic impact of bearing the One Ring, more than any of his companions Frodo dreads the confrontation that his identity changes will initiate upon his return.

For Frodo, returning to the Shire is like entering a dream, and this uncertainty is the perfect conclusion to Chapter Seven of Book Six, "Homeward Bound", in which the first cracks appear in the hobbits' hope of returning to an unchanged Shire. Here, Tolkien rejects the trite formula of fairy-tale fantasy that Bilbo invokes at the Council of Elrond, explaining, "I am just writing an end to [my book]. I had thought of putting: and he lived happily ever afterwards to the end of his days. It is a good ending, and none the worse for having been used before" (263). This passage suggests that Tolkien was aware of the possibility of applying this ending to The Lord of the Rings. Instead, however, he demands more from the text, flatly denying his protagonists the boon of a fairy-tale ending. The conclusion Tolkien devises instead allows him to expose the quest's impact on the hobbits and the difficulty it ensures upon their return to the Shire. The ensuing chapter, "The Scouring of the Shire," reveals changes in hobbit society that highlight and counterpoint the changes within the hobbits themselves. The quest to destroy the One Ring is completely behind the narrative by the outset of this chapter. Having explored Middle-earth and chronicled a crusade against evil, the text now begins the more challenging task of exploring the nature of individuals that come in contact with that evil.

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