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.
