3 November

3019

 * The Battle of Bywater fought. Gandalf takes the four Hobbits - Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Merry Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took - part way to the Shire but detours to have a long talk with Tom Bombadil. He assures the four that their training in the War of the Ring will be sufficient to settle the troubles, and what ensues is in some ways anti-climactic. When they discover that the evil they had fought in Mordor had come home to roost, they rouse the Shire and are able to kill or drive off the evil-doers that infested it. With the assistance of Farmer Cotton, Merry and Pippin lead the Battle of Bywater, the last battle in the War of the Ring, in which 19 hobbits died. Saruman and Gríma Wormtongue find their ends shortly thereafter, when Worm avenges a kick from his master by cutting his throat and is shot to death by Hobbits. An eerie column of smoke arises from Saruman's corpse and is blown away in the wind, a scene reminiscent of Sauron's demise. Frodo covers the suddenly shriveled skull of Saruman and turns away.