Q: How Much of the Fourth Age of Middle-earth Did Tolkien Write About?
ANSWER: You can learn more about the Fourth of Age of Middle-earth by reading “Exploring Tolkien’s Fourth Age” but there are a few facts that I did not include or only alluded to in that essay.
For one thing, in The Peoples of Middle-earth a previously unpublished draft for the “Tales of Years” states that the Fourth Age lasted about 2500 years. There are few details about events in the Fourth Age but all the documented events seem to occur before the year 250.
The most details are provided for the years up to Sam Gamgee’s departure from the Shire. The last recorded date in The Lord of the Rings is Fourth Age 172. In The Peoples of Middle-earth, the conflicting dates of events might place the story (at the latest) around the year Fourth Age 220.
Tolkien says in one text that Aragorn and Eomer fight many battles in foreign lands but the chronological tables don’t provide any indication of when or where these battles would have been found. The Peoples of Middle-earth says that Eomer’s rule was extended to include all of Dunland. Did Eomer and Aragorn have to conquer Dunland or did the Dunlendings simply go quietly into the Rohirrim’s fold?
The Fourth Age began in Shire Year 1422 (the year after Elrond’s departure from Middle-earth).
In Fourth Age year 10 (SY 1432) Meriadoc became Master of Buckland and Eomer and Eowyn sent him gifts. The bestowal of gifts from Rohan and Ithilien does not reveal anything about Eomer’s martial activities (or Aragorn’s).
2 years later in FA 12 upon Pippin’s succession to the Thainship Aragorn makes the Thain, the Master of Buckland, and the Mayor of the Shire counsellors of the North Kingdom.
2 years after that in FA 14 Aragorn visits Arnor, living for a while by Lake Evendim (at Annuminas?) and greets many hobbits at Brandywine Bridge. Elanor is made a handmaid of Queen Arwen.
6 years afterward in FA 20 Sam, Rose, and Elanor visit Gondor for a year.
In FA 30 (SY 1452) Aragorn bestows the Westmarch upon the Shire.
In FA 33 Thain Peregrin exercises his authority and makes Elanor’s husband Fastred of Greenholm Warden of Westmarch.
In FA 60 (SY 1482) Rose died and Sam passed over Sea.
2 years later in FA 62 (SY 1484) Eomer sent for Merry, who was accompanied by Pippin to Rohan. Eomer dies in the autumn.
In FA 119 (SY 1541) Aragorn surrendered his crown to Eldarion and passed away peacefully. Arwen went to Lorien and died there the next year.
So when could Aragorn and Eomer have fought their various wars? One likely period would have been early in Aragorn’s reign, before he visited Arnor. Another likely period would have been after FA 20. Maybe by the year FA 40 Eomer would have been too old to ride to battle. In Letter No. 244 (a fragment) Tolkien writes of Faramir that:
…to be Prince of Ithilien, the greatest noble after Dol Amroth in the revived Númenórean state of Gondor, soon to be of imperial power and prestige, was not a ‘market-garden job’ as you term it. Until much had been done by the restored King, the P. of Ithilien would be the resident march-warden of Gondor, in its main eastward outpost – and also would have many duties in rehabilitating the lost territory, and clearing it of outlaws and orc-remnants, not to speak of the dreadful vale of Minas Ithil (Morgul). I did not, naturally, go into details about the way in which Aragorn, as King of Gondor, would govern the realm. But it was made clear that there was much fighting, and in the earlier years of A.’s reign expeditions against enemies in the East. The chief commanders, under the King, would be Faramir and Imrahil; and one of these would normally remain a military commander at home in the King’s absence….
So unfortunately we only learn a little bit about the Fourth Age from Tolkien. It is left to readers to infer what might have happened. He did begin writing the unfinished sequel, The New Shadow, and in Letter No. 338 he summarized what he saw of the Fourth Age while composing that fragment:
…I have written nothing beyond the first few years of the Fourth Age. (Except the beginning of a tale supposed to refer to the end of the reign of Eldaron about 100 years after the death of Aragorn. Then I of course discovered that the King’s Peace would contain no tales worth recounting; and his wars would have little interest after the overthrow of Sauron; but that almost certainly a restlessness would appear about then, owing to the (it seems) inevitable boredom of Men with the good: there would be secret societies practising dark cults, and ‘orc-cults’ among adolescents.)…
See Also:
Exploring Tolkien’s Fourth Age
Could the Fourth Age Have Ended with the Noachian Flood?
What Did Faramir Do in the Fourth Age?
Were There Any Elves Left in Lindon?
What Happened to the Elves Who Remained in the East?
Did Gondor Ever Re-inhabit Minas Morgul?
How Many Ships Sailed Over the Sea after Elrond Left?
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