One of my Christmas presents was Sauron Defeated, the second part of the draft version of The Return of the King. One of the surprising things I found about this early draft of the finale was that The Lord of the Rings originally contained an epilogue that focused on Sam and his children.
Now there were a couple of different versions of the epilogue that Tolkien wrote. One version focused on Sam reading from the Red Book to all (or nearly all) of his children with the little Gamgees asking a variety of questions about what happened to the Fellowship after the War of the Ring. Sam also informs his children that King Elessar and Queen Arwen will be visiting the borders of the Shire, and the whole family is invited to see them. As the children get ready for bed, Sam reflects with Rosie about how full and happy their lives are, but in spite of this, Sam can still hear the Sea calling to him.
In another version, it’s just Sam and Elanor talking about the aftermath of the War, and Sam is adding a Q&A section to the back of the Red Book to answer some of his children’s most-asked questions, things like “What happened to the Rohirrim’s horses?” and “Will we ever get to see Elves?” Sam also says that he expects a day will come when he will sail West like Frodo and Bilbo, and Elanor declares that she will go with him so they do not have to part like Elrond and Arwen. Sam gently advises her not to make so important a decision so early in her life as she may want to change her mind later. In the end, they decide instead to focus on the upcoming visit of King Elessar and Queen Arwen.
It was a very interesting read, but I can kind of see why Tolkien decided to eliminate it. The idea that Sam can still hear the call of the Sea and is already planning to sail West one day seems to contradict Frodo’s declaration that Sam will be “one and whole”. To think that Sam wasn’t really happy after all is kind of disappointing, so I think that Tolkien ended things in a good place.
And speaking of Tolkien…happy birthday to the Professor!