Q: Who Blessed the Shire after the Fall of Sauron?
ANSWER: This question was submitted by a reader in March of 2020. I apologize for waiting nearly 2 years to address it but it asks for pure opinion and I’ve never quite felt comfortable answering these kinds of questions.
Who do you think was responsible for all the good and fortunate things that happened in the Shire after the downfall of Sauron and the death of Saruman? Like more babies being born fair and strong and with blond hair, the perfect amounts of sunshine and rain, the great harvests of fruit, corn, and barley, the “air of richness and growth, and a gleam of a beauty beyond that of mortal summers that flicker and pass upon this Middle-earth.” And all that other stuff described in The Grey Havens.
I always assumed that these good things were a reward for the sacrifices of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin. But, who do you think caused it to happen? Was this the doing of the Valar, or Eru himself?
I think ultimately we can say that Ilúvatar was showering blessings across Middle-earth. But that’s the quick, cheap answer.
On the other hand, when Frodo and Sam met up with the departing Elves, Galadriel had something to say:
Elrond greeted them gravely and graciously, and Galadriel smiled upon them. ‘Well, Master Samwise,’ she said. ‘I hear and see that you have used my gift well. The Shire shall now be more than ever blessed and beloved.’ Sam bowed, but found nothing to say. He had forgotten how beautiful the Lady was.
So it would seem that the blessing Galadriel had placed on the small box of soil she gave to Sam was at least in part responsible for all the wonderful things that happened in the Shire. One could say this was a testimony to her considerable power.
Tolkien doesn’t specifically attribute much to Galadriel’s “magic”. He uses her character to deflect reader attention away from her power. And because she was an Elven ring-bearer, we don’t know how much of her pre-fall power (as seen through the magic subtext in the story) was the result of that ring. But we do know that after Sauron’s fall (and the destruction of the One Ring) it was Galadriel who laid bare the pits of Dol Guldur. She did that on her own.
So I think Galadriel’s blessing was an open-ended gift to Sam, to do with as he pleased. And Tolkien describes Sam’s decision in fine detail:
‘Use all the wits and knowledge you have of your own, Sam,’ said Frodo, ‘and then use the gift to help your work and better it. And use it sparingly. There is not much here, and I expect every grain has a value.’
So Sam planted saplings in all the places where specially beautiful or beloved trees had been destroyed, and he put a grain of the precious dust in the soil at the root of each. He went up and down the Shire in this labour; but if he paid special attention to Hobbiton and Bywater no one blamed him. And at the end he found that he still had a little of the dust left; so he went to the Three-Farthing Stone, which is as near the centre of the Shire as no matter, and cast it in the air with his blessing. The little silver nut he planted in the Party Field where the tree had once been; and he wondered what would come of it. All through the winter he remained as patient as he could, and tried to restrain himself from going round constantly to see if anything was happening.
In the end, Sam added his own blessing. And here is where one can argue (if so desired) that perhaps the Valar or Ilúvatar himself enhanced and extended Sam’s blessing, lending to it not only Galadriel’s own power but their own.
In my view the reward would have been for Sam because of his labors on behalf of all Middle-earth, but also because he was selfless at the end, keeping none of Galadriel’s gift for himself. It’s as close as Sam would have come to being in a state of grace, as Tolkien might have suggested, as he could be. Sam wasn’t perfect. Tolkien blamed him for Gollum’s regression. But Sam lived in hope and a certain amount of faith. His selfless act was an act of faith, and I’ve always felt it had some quasi-religious overtones.
If we think of Galadriel’s blessing as a prayer for benefit, and Sam’s sacrifice of the gift as another prayer for benefit, neither prayer being self-centered in any way, then these blessings are like appeals for God’s good grace on the Shire. And isn’t that what people seek when they ask a priest to bless a house, a piece of land, or a family?
That is why I think ultimately it was Ilúvatar’s gift to Sam and the Shire. Yes, the Valar could have gently rewarded Sam (and Galadriel) but I think this is another of Ilúvatar’s subtle interventions in events.
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“Tolkien blamed him for Gollum’s regression.” Really? This never crossed my mind. I assumed it was the Ring working on Gollum.
The book somewhat hints at it. Gollum is on the verge of unburdening himself several times, most notably the last night before Sam and Frodo went into Cirith Ungol. Every time, Sam says something nasty to him, and the gleam comes back into Gollum’s eye. On that last occasion, Gollum sees Frodo sleeping and is overcome with pity. For the only time in the book, Gollum is described as a hobbit, a very old and worn and tired hobbit. Then Sam slaps Gollum and calls him a sneak, and Gollum immediately becomes Gollum again and goes off “sneaking” to betray Frodo and Sam to Shelob.
It does seem the most reasonable answer that the blessings placed on the gift of soil in the box from Galadriel would be potent enough, this can be attributed to ‘elven magic’ as Galadriel:
“‘For you little gardener and lover of trees,’ she said to Sam, ‘I have only a small gift.’ She put into his hand a little box of plain grey wood, unadorned save for a single silver rune upon the lid. ‘Here is set G for Galadriel,’ she said; ‘but also it may stand for garden in your tongue. In this box there is earth from my orchard, and such blessing as Galadriel has still to bestow is upon it. It will not keep you on your road, nor defend you against any peril; but if you keep it and see your home again at last, then perhaps it may reward you. Though you should find all barren and laid waste, there will be few gardens in Middle-earth that will bloom like your garden, if you sprinkle this earth there. Then you may remember Galadriel, and catch a glimpse far off of Lórien….’
Sam went red to the ears and muttered something inaudible, as he clutched the box and bowed as well as he could.”
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 8, Farewell to Lórien
‘Catch a gllimpse far off of Lorien’ may have more meaning, plus the ”though you should find all barren and laid waste there will be few gardens that will bloom like your if you sprinkle this earth there” that definitely is responsible for entire increase of fertility in the Shire as Sam basically spread it all across the land, maybe that’s how the elves do things, their ‘elven magic’ or whatever we may call it, influences the land and it’s inhabitants, in the end the elf countries do seem some ‘wholesome air’ about them like Eregion did even after roughly five thousand years since elves left and those were not even that closely connected to plants etc.
How much power of Galadriel is owed to the ring she bears is in any case inconsequential, for the ring also enhances what’s already there and Galadriel was powerful even without it. Though the one feat of Galadriel that I like is actually in UT:
” In part this was due to events unknown to them, which had come to pass since Borondir set out; but other powers also were at work. For when at last the host drew near to Dol Guldur, Eorl turned away westward for fear of the dark shadow and cloud that flowed out from it, and then he rode on within sight of Anduin. Many of the riders turned their eyes thither, half in fear and half in hope to glimpse from afar the shimmer of the Dwimordene, the perilous land that in legends of their people was said to shine like gold in the springtime. But now it seemed shrouded in a gleaming mist and to their dismay the mist passed over the river and flowed over the land before them.
Eorl did not halt. “Ride on!” he commanded. “There is no other way to take. After so long a road shall we be held back from battle by a river-mist?”
As they drew nearer they saw that the white mist was driving back the glooms of Dol Guldur, and soon they passed into it, riding slowly at first and warily; but under its canopy all things were lit with a clear and shadowless light, while to left and right they were guarded as it were by white walls of secrecy.
“The Lady of the Golden Wood is on our side, it seems ,” said Borondir.
“Maybe,” said Eorl. “But at least I will trust the wisdom of Felaróf. 28 He scents no evil. His heart is high, and his weariness is healed: he strains to be given his head. So be it! For never have I had more need of secrecy and speed.”
This was always one of the most interesting ‘magical feats’ of Galadriel.
I agree that a lot of the “blessing” was due to how Sam used his gift from Galadriel. But I think it was also because the hobbits were able to defeat their enemies without betraying their own better natures. They were as humane as possible with the ruffians and Saruman, and a lot of that was due to Frodo’s spiritual leadership. The hobbits never forgot their true place in the world, so they continued to fit well within it.
To those blessings (all of which I like), I’d speculate that the Shire may have been visited by several more.
The Red Book was written from the Shirefolk’s perspective. Leaving Sam’s gift aside for a moment, It seems that Gondor and Arnor were also blessed to some degree following the victory over Mordor and the restoration of the King. As ever-loyal subjects of the King the Hobbits would likely share in that warm glow.
Middle-earth was rid of the malign spirits of Sauron, Saruman, the Ringwraiths, Fred/Durin’s Bane, and countless lesser evils. That boon would have had a positive impact well beyond the bounds of Aragorn’s realm. Assuming the presence of those evils had obscured/suppressed some of the blessings bestowed upon Middle-earth by the Valar during its creation, it seems reasonable to suggest that all of Middle-earth would have enjoyed a new spring.
Closer to the Shire, I harbor the hope that Bombadil would have taken the opportunity to rid the Barrow Downs of the Ringwraiths’ handiwork. Ding, dong, the Witch King’s dead! Or perhaps the Barrow Wights evaporated once the power of the Nine was destroyed. Either way, removal of that nearby shadow (which conceivably influenced the behavior of the Old Forest and a certain willow) could have further contributed to halcyon days in the Shire.
On a more secular level, the restoration of the North Kingdom including Elessar’s visits to restored Annúminas, an enhanced Ranger force riding openly to make the great roads safe for travel and commerce (which undoubtedly would expand the market for pipe-weed)… To quote Gandalf (speaking to Butterbur), “Then the Greenway will be opened again, and his messengers will come north, and there will be comings and goings, and the evil things will be driven out of the waste-lands. Indeed the waste in time will be waste no longer, and there will be people and fields where once there was wilderness.”
All these effects would likely be cumulative, so we might see the Shirefolk as being (at least) thrice-blessed.