Part+Two-+The+Shire





The book that Bilbo is writing is his memoirs entitled: //There and Back Again: A Hobbit's Holiday by B. Baggins.// This would eventually become //The Red Book of Westmarch.// It is a collection of writings in which the events of //[|The Hobbit]// and //[|The Lord of the Rings]// were recounted by their characters, and from which Tolkien supposedly derived these and other works. The name of the book comes from its red [|leather] binding and casing, and also it having been housed in the [|Westmarch]. In //The Hobbit//, Tolkien writes of the protagonist and title character [|Bilbo Baggins] composing his memoirs. Bilbo thinks of calling his work "There and Back Again, A Hobbit's Holiday". In fact the author's preferred title for //The Hobbit// was //The Hobbit or There and Back Again//. In //The Lord of the Rings//, this record is said to be written in his red leather-bound [|diary]. Bilbo says to [|Gandalf] that his intended ending would be him living "happily ever after to the end of his days." This is in fact a rephrased line from the final chapter of //The Hobbit//, originally conveyed through third-person [|narrative voice]. Bilbo later expands his memoirs into a record of the events of //The Lord of the Rings//, including the exploits of his kinsman [|Frodo Baggins] and others. He later leaves the material for Frodo to complete and organize. Frodo writes down the bulk of the final work, using Bilbo's diary and "many pages of loose notes". At the close of Tolkien's main narrative the work is almost complete, and Frodo leaves the task to his gardener [|Samwise Gamgee]. Tolkien provides a "title page" inscribed with various titles that had been subsequently rejected; the final title is Frodo's:
 * < “ || //My Diary. My Unexpected Journey. There and Back Again. And//

//What Happened After.//

//Adventures of Five Hobbits. The Tale of the Great Ring, compiled by//

//Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends.//

//What we did in the War of the Ring.//

THE DOWNFALL

OF THE

LORD OF THE RINGS

AND THE

RETURN OF THE KING

(as seen by the [|Little People]; being the memoirs of Bilbo and

Frodo of the [|Shire], supplemented by the accounts of their friends

and the learning of the Wise.)

Together with extracts from Books of Lore translated by Bilbo

in [|Rivendell]. || As a memoir and history, the contents of the //Red Book// probably correspond to Tolkien's work as follows:
 * Bilbo's journey: //[|The Hobbit]//
 * Frodo's journey: //[|The Lord of the Rings]//
 * Background information: the [|Appendices] to //The Lord of the Rings//, as well as essays such as published in //[|Unfinished Tales]// and //[|The History of Middle-earth]//
 * Hobbit poetry and legends: //[|The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]// (in the //Red Book//, scattered throughout the margins of the text of Bilbo and Frodo's journeys)
 * Bilbo's translation of [|Elven] histories and legends: //[|The Silmarillion]//

For an amazing site on //The Red Book of Westmarch//, see: Indyprops' Page

Here are some pages from the actual book:













The song that Gandalf is singing is actually composed by Bilbo. The original version of the song is recited by [|Bilbo] in chapter 19 of //[|The Hobbit]//, at the end of his journey back to the [|Shire]. Coming to the top of a rise he sees his home in the distance, and stops and says the following:

//Roads go ever ever on,// //Over rock and under tree,// //By caves where never sun has shone,// //By streams that never find the sea;// //Over snow by winter sown,// //And through the merry flowers of June,// //Over grass and over stone,// //And under mountains in the moon.// //Roads go ever ever on// //Under cloud and under star,// //Yet feet that wandering have gone// //Turn at last to home afar.// //Eyes that fire and sword have seen// //And horror in the halls of stone// //Look at last on meadows green// //And trees and hills they long have known.//

The 1977 television version of The Hobbit adapts the song this way

There are three versions of "The Road Goes Ever On" in the novel //[|The Lord of the Rings]//. The first is in //The Fellowship of the Ring//, Book I, Chapter 1. The song is sung by [|Bilbo] when he leaves the [|Shire]. He has given up the [|One Ring], leaving it for [|Frodo] to deal with, and is setting off to visit Rivendell, so that he may finish writing his book.

//The Road goes ever on and on// //Down from the door where it began.// //Now far ahead the Road has gone,// //And I must follow, if I can,// //Pursuing it with eager feet,// //Until it joins some larger way// //Where many paths and errands meet.// //And whither then? I cannot say.//

//Here is a version by The Tolkien Ensemble//

The second version appears in Book One, Chapter 3. It is identical except for changing the word "eager" to "weary" in the fifth line. It is spoken aloud, slowly, by [|Frodo], as he and his companions pause at the borders of the Shire. The third version appears in //The Return of the King//, Book VI, Chapter 6. It is spoken by Bilbo in [|Rivendell] after the hobbits have returned from their journey. Bilbo is now an old, sleepy hobbit, who murmurs the verse and then falls asleep. //The Road goes ever on and on////Out from the door where it began.////Now far ahead the Road has gone,////Let others follow it who can!////Let them a journey new begin,////But I at last with weary feet////Will turn towards the lighted inn,////My evening-rest and sleep to meet.// Earlier, when leaving the Shire, Frodo tells the other hobbits Bilbo's thoughts on 'The Road': "He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step onto the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.'". This song is heard multiple times in [|//The Lord of the Rings// films]. The first time it is heard, the song is sung and hummed by Gandalf as he approaches Frodo and is just barely distinguishable. The later occurrences of this song are based on those in the books.

 This is a wonderful little reference to //The Hobbit//--the dragon being referred to is Smaug the Golden. Its ironic that Gandalf downplays his involvement since he is the one who pushed to have Bilbo included in Thorin's quest in the first place!
 * GANDALF: || //If you’re referring to the incident with the dragon, I was barely involved. All I did was give your uncle a little nudge out of the door.// ||


 * CHILDREN HOBBITS: || //Fireworks Gandalf! Gandalf! Fireworks Gandalf!// ||

It is a well known established fact that Gandalf the Grey is known for his fireworks. This is mentioned in //The Hobbit// and in //The Lord of the Rings//. The fireworks were all created and designed by [|Gandalf]. The fireworks include: Squibs, crackers, backarappers, sparklers, torches, [|Dwarf] candles, [|Elf] fountains, [|Goblin] barkers. Some were rockets like a flash of birds, green trees that transformed into possibly [|Mallorn] trees. And a red and [|gold] [|dragon] (possibly resembling [|Smaug]).

The fireworks were by Gandalf: they were not only brought by him, but designed and made by him; and the special effects, set pieces, and flights of rockets were let off by him. But there was also a generous distribution of squibs, crackers, backrappers, sparklers, torches,dwarf-candels, elf-fountains, goblin-barkers, and thunder-claps. They were superb.The art of Gandalf improved with age.

//"There were rockets like a flight of scintillating birds singing with sweet voices. There were green trees with trunks of dark smoke: their leaves opened like a whole spring unfolding in a moment, and their shining branches dropped glowing flowers down upon the astonished hobbits, disappearing with a sweet scent just before they touched their upturned faces. There were fountains of butterflies that flew glittering into the trees; there were pillars of coloured fires that rose and turned into eagles, or sailing ships, or a phalanx of flying swans; there was a red thunderstorm and a shower of yellow rain ; there was a forest of silver spears that sprang suddenly into the air with a yell like and embattled army, and came down again into the Water with a hiss like a hundred hot snakes. And there was also one last surprise, in honour of Bilbo, and it startled the hobbits exceedingly, as Gandalf intended. The lights went out. A great smoke went up. It shaped itself like a mountain seen in the distance, and began to glow at the summit. It spouted green and scarlet flames. Out flew a red-golden dragon- not life-size, but terribly life-like: fire came from his jaws, his eyes glared down; there was a roar, and he whizzed three times over the heads of the crowd. They all ducked, and many fell flat on their faces. The dragon passed like an express train, turned a somersault, and burst over Bywater with a deafening explosion.//" (J.R.R.Tolkien - The Fellowship of the Ring)



//**BILBO** (melodramatic) So, there I was...at the mercy of three monstrous trolls...Have you ever heard of a troll? Do you know what a Troll is? Great big nasty twenty foot high smelly things..and they're arguing...arguing about how they were going to cook us! **ANGLE ON: A LITTLE HOBBIT GIRL'S** upturned face...her eyes growing larger and larger. **BILBO** Whether it be turned on a spit or minced in a pie or whether they were going to sit on us one by one and squash us into jelly! But they spent so long arguing the whether-to's and why-for's that the sun's first light crept over the top of the trees...and turned them all to stone!//

Another great reference to a memorable scene in //The Hobbit.// The trolls were Burt, Tom, and William Higgins.

Bilbo: //It's the Sackville-Bagginses!//



Otho Sackville-Baggins is the first cousin of Bilbo Baggins. He and his wife Lobelia were never on good terms with Bilbo, always bitter that Bag End, the beautiful hole of the Baggins family upon the Hill in Hobbiton, had not come to them. When Bilbo was presumed dead after leaving on the Quest of Erebor with Thorin Oakenshield and Company, Otho and Lobelia moved into Bag End and started auctioning off Bilbo’s belongings; unfortunately for them, Bilbo returned just in time to stop them. Bilbo foiled the Sackville-Bagginses once again when he adopted Frodo, his young cousin who had been living with his Brandybuck relatives at Brandy Hall. It appeared that the Sackville-Bagginses would never again see the inside of Bag End, for the hole would go to Frodo when Bilbo left. Their luck changed, however, when Frodo made the strange decision to move away from Hobbiton to Crickhollow in Buckland, there to live with his friends Merry Brandybuck, Pippin Took, and Fatty Bolger. Otho had died by that time, but Lobelia and their son, Lotho, took ownership of Bag End. They play an important role in the novel when Frodo returns home to the Shire.

  Bilbo is referring to the death of Frodo's parents when Frodo was only 12 years old. Frodo's father was Drogo and his mother was Primula Brandybuck. Drogo drowned in the [|Brandywine River], but there was some debate as to why; some said that he and Primula went boating after dinner and his weight sunk the boat, while others maintained that his wife pushed him in and he pulled her in after him. An only child, Frodo stayed alone in Brandy Hall, until his ninety-nine year-old uncle, [|Bilbo Baggins], adopted Frodo in [|TA 2989]. Bilbo took Frodo to live with him in his home at [|Bag End] and made him his heir. The two grew very close in the following years; Frodo learned much of the [|Elvish] language during his time with Bilbo, as well as much of the lore of Middle-earth. The two shared the same birthdate (22 September).
 * BILBO: || **//Oh! Thank you my boy You're a good lad Frodo. I'm very selfish you know. (Frodo looks confused) Yes, I am. Very selfish. I don't know why I took you in after your mother and father died, but it wasn't out of charity. I think it was because, of all my numerous relations, you were the one Baggins that showed real spirit.//** ||

 
 * GANDALF: || **//Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took! I might have known!//** ||

Pippin and Merry are actually distant cousins of Frodo Baggins.



//**GANDALF** Bilbo...The ring is still in your pocket.// //Bilbo hesitates...reaches into his pocket.// //**BILBO** Oh, yes.// //CLOSE ON: Bilbo pulls out the ring...he stares at it in his palm. With all his will power, Bilbo allows the ring to slowly slide off his palm and drop to the floor. CLOSE ON: The tiny ring lands with a heavy thud on the wooden floor.//

It really is an amazing thing Bilbo does here. He actually has the willpower to give up the ring--something that Frodo, Isildur, and Gollum could not do.