LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 9 - The Grey Havens

[davem]

Originally Posted by drigel

Davem, how this gets transcribes into the Red Book is one for the ages. TC is my only good answer for that!

The more I consider this, the odder it seems. Of course, it could simply be that Tolkien felt that ending was 'right' & so included it despite the 'Translator conceit', but we have to keep in mind that Tolkien begins (the Prologue) & ends (final section of Appendix F) LotR by emhasising that the book is a translation of a work by earlier writers/translators/redactors.

One possibility is that Sam, having been told by Frodo of his dream in Bombadil's house (or having read it in the Red Book) 'constructed' the ending. I like the mystery of it - was that Sam's hope for his friend? Did he so want it to be like that that he convinced himself (&/or sought to convince others) that that's 'what really happened'.

Whatever the explanation, the ending presents us with a difficulty - either Tolkien breaks the spell he has so carefully woven about LotR being a translation of an ancient book which is a true history of those times simply in order to provide a 'sentimentally satisfying' end to Frodo's story, or he is telling us something about Sam, & therefore we don't actually know what happened to Frodo.

What I 'like' about the latter option is that it makes the ending of the story even more poignant.

Of course, if read in conjunction with 'Frodo's Dreme' the ending becomes even more ambiguous. In effect we have two 'Frodo's Dremes' - the one in 'The House of Tom Bombadil' & the one in 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'. Which one came true?