The Waste was a region somewhere in Middle-earth,[1] possibly to the east of the Misty Mountains.
History[]
After the Battle of Five Armies, Bard gave a large amount of gold to the Master of Lake-town to help the Lake-men recover. However, the Master caught the dragon-sickness, stole most of the gold, and fled with it from Lake-town.[1] After his companions had deserted him, he starved to death in the Waste,[1] sometime between TA 2941 and TA 2949.
In other versions[]
In an earlier version of the "The Last Stage" chapter, the Master was murdered by his companions for the gold and thrown into the waste afterwards. In a modification of this earlier version, the Master's companions simply left him and the Master died of starvation in the waste.[2] In a slightly later version, the Master died of starvation within the waste without any companions being mentioned.[3] The word waste was uncapitalized in all of those versions.[2][3]
Speculation[]
It is possible that the capitalization of the word Waste within the published book may have been a mistake or a last minute change by J.R.R. Tolkien or by the publisher. Robert Foster[4] has suggested that Waste may possibly have been another name for the Desolation of Smaug, though how he came to this conclusion is unknown.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Hobbit, Chapter XIX: "The Last Stage"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, The Third Phase, "'And Back Again'"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, The Third Phase, "The End of the Journey"
- ↑ Robert Foster, The Complete Guide to Middle-earth: The Definitive Guide to the World of J.R.R. Tolkien, entry "Waste", pg. 419