Tolkien's Abandoned Lord of the Rings Epilogue

The Lord of the Rings was the first time I felt nostalgia for a time and a place that never was.

Sam deserves everything he got at the end. He went through terrible hardships and challenges, fought beasts and monsters, and went to one of the most dangerous places in the world. He deserves nothing but a loving family and a warm home.

That mentioning of Sam hearing the sound of the sea at the end is so beautiful

Something about the "Well, I'm back." line always felt so strangely humble and final. It also always felt like a wonderful reference to "There and Back Again: A Hobbits Tale". Coming back, and bringing an end to another hobbits tale.

As a soldier returned from war I find the simplest family time and connections to be the richest healing of the scars of war. Much, I feel, as Prof Tolkien must have found.

I’m a grown man and this I made me cry like a lass. Such is the power of Tolkien’s writings and this supremely well crafted saga that I feel these are real people I have a deep emotional bond with.

"Well, I'm back". An ending that hits you in the feels & makes you reflect. And an wnding to one of the greatest stories ever told. Thank You Professor Tolkien! 🙌🏻

All of Tolkien’s epilogues to his universe are very bittersweet now that I think about it, between this abandoned epilogue, the state of the world in The New Shadow, and the Dagor Daggorath.

I live in Evesham, UK. Where Tolkien’s mother was from and where his brother had a horticultural garden and is buried in the graveyard next to the river. Nearby is his aunts farm called Bag End. Looming over Evesham is Breedon Hill, which for all the world matches the description of Weathertop. 10 miles away is The Bell in Morton in Marsh otherwise known as the Prancing Pony. I’m from Oxford, LOTR was seeped in our bones. The Bird and Baby (Eagle & Child) pub was unchanged until it recently closed (how did that happen). Tolkien lore was just, well ‘normal’ when I was growing up. Peter Jackson films…brilliant. Sad that Amazon have mangled it all beyond recognition but I guess so long as the books are in print it really doesn’t matter. But seriously how did they turn Galadriel from the Queen of the Elves into the Gnome Queen.

There are so many small details in this epilogue that are great: Frodo Lad liking the parts with Sam the most (fulfilling his namesake’s prediction of readers in the future wishing to hear of Sam’s exploits as well as his master’s), Elanor inheriting Sam’s longing to see the elves, and Pippin being referenced as a prince as the men of Minas Tirith did

Even at 63, the wonderment of these stories still fills me with a child’s curiosity, and enchantment. You have done well my young Hobbit! Keep it up, and one day you may even surpass the Greatest of Wizards……Gandalf.

I can imagine that Sam is very happy with his wife and his family and children

hearing Elanor wonder about her namesake and Sam and Rosie's conversation in the end was so lovely.

I love both versions of the epilogue. Tolkien shows so much love and warmth in Sam's family. Also appreciate the glimpses of Elanor as a child and teenager that round out her mentions as an adult in the appendix. Lovely and moving. Thank you for the narration!💛

When the last elves finally left Lorien did someone say Elvish has left the building?

I love the epilogue, but I'm glad it was cut. The book closes on Sam without taking the focus off of Frodo's departure.

"night-folded" I love Tolkien's vocabularies.

I cannot put my finger on it why it is that everytime I read or hear about the hobbits in Lord of the Rings I get teary-eyed. Something in them is so deep-routed to the reality of being alive and loving nature that it always touches my heart very deeply. This is one of the most important of the many reasons why I so deeply love this story.

there's something very special about an epilogue for sam. while the other members of the fellowship went on, establishing realms and kingdoms, ruling with a just and kind heart, sam lived out his days in the calm and peaceful beauty among those he loved in a place he loved. after seeing so much horror and enduring so much evil, this was as much a happy ending as any war-weary soul could hope for: a quiet place to settle into and call home and sigh, setting down the burdens of his journey.

I would love it if they published this epilogue as a short story along with tales about Merry and Pippin as well as the rest of the characters in more depth than what we got in the appendicies.