What happened after the end

The return of the king Provides an epic conclusion to JRR Tolkien’s trilogy, but what happens next The Lord of the Rings is something many fans have speculated over for decades. After stealing the One Ring and fighting Frodo (Elijah Holtz), Gollum (Andy Serkis) fell into the fiery pit, and the One Ring was finally destroyed. The destruction of the ring triggered the death of Sauron, Mordor collapsed, and the war was finally over. Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) becomes the king of Gondor. While peace seems to have returned, there is still some question about what comes next.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy takes place at the end of the Third Age of Middle-earth, with the Fourth beginning immediately afterwards. There were multiple films and books depicting what happened before these Lord of the Rings Trilogy, included The HobbitReference books and appendices written by Tolkien, and Amazon Rings of power Series set during the Second Age. However, there are fewer hints about what happened next, but that doesn’t mean Tolkien didn’t give readers an idea of ​​what happens next. Lord of the Rings and the events of the fourth age of Middle-earth.

The post-return of the king period became the fourth age

Thanks to Tolkien’s literary work, some light has been shed on the future of Middle-earth after The return of the king. The Lord of the Rings Has an almost fairytale ending, making a refreshing break from bleak modern day fantasies like Game of Thrones. Sauron’s defeat allowed for a happy ending for the surviving members of the Fellowship of the Ring as they moved on with their lives. Frodo and Sam (Sean Astin) returned to the Shire at last, and Sam started a family.

Some of this is shown in The return of the king And more is covered in the extended editions. What most viewers know is that Frodo is unhappy with his life in the Shire, partly due to injuries he sustained in The Lord of the Rings. As seen at the end of Return of the KingFrodo left Middle-earth for the Undying Lands.

Meanwhile, also seen in the movie adaptation, Aragorn took his rightful place as the King of Gondor. He married the elf, Arwen (Lib Tyler), who willingly gave up her elven immortality in order to share a life with Aragorn. Aragorn lived a long, full life with Arwen for many years after The Lord of the Ringsand died at the age of 210 years.

Most of these events took place in an era known as the third age. The timeline of Middle-earth is broken into several long eras, and the Third Age is just one of them. The second age is Amazon’s focus Lord of the Rings tv series, The rings of power. Tolkien wrote a surprisingly large amount about the second age in his appendices and books like The Silmarillion.

The third age, which lasted for a period of 3021 years, is the setting for both The Hobbit And The Lord of the Rings Trilogies. Soon after the conclusion of The return of the kingThe fourth age of Middle-earth began. This period of Middle-earth’s timeline, unlike its pre-Lord of the Rings History, is not covered in great detail. However, there are some confirmed details.

Aragorn created the reunited kingdom

The time of men is well

For Aragorn, life after Sauron’s defeat was about returning the kingdoms of men to their former glory. Located in the north, Arnor was a prominent kingdom in the Second Age of Middle-earth. Arnor was ruled by elves, hobbits and men, and it thrived for centuries, but in the early part of the Third Age, Arnor was not such a prosperous place. Political unrest and fraud divided the kingdom into three smaller kingdoms, and over time the civil war brought them to their knees.

There were attempts at unification. For a time Gondor and Arnor were one kingdom, but that did not last. After her fall, what remained of the people of Arnor moved to other regions. One of the kings of Arnor’s descendants is Aragorn. This meant that Aragorn, who was already the king of Gondor, was also entitled to the throne of Arnor.

As a result, a key event that happens after Lord of the Rings is that Aragorn rebuilt Arnor and became its 26th king. This allowed Aragorn to assume the position of High King of Arnor and Gondor, a title not held since Isildur in the Second Age. After centuries of being apart, Aragorn made the split between Arnor and Gondor and created the reunited kingdom.

Under Aragorn’s control, the United Kingdom became the most dominant power in the northwestern region of Middle-earth. During this time, the reunited kingdom set out to reclaim all the lands previously occupied by Arnor and Gondor. Only certain territories were left alone, because the United Kingdom fought to take back what once belonged to them.

The fourth age and the dominion of men began

Elves returned to the Unsullied Lands after Sauron’s defeat

The elves are the most widespread race in the first and second ages of Middle-earth. This began to change in the third age when the power of the elves began to wane. At the beginning of the Third Age, the elves began to leave for their homeland, Valinor, although many of them remained in various regions of Middle-earth. What was next for the elves and the fate of Middle-earth after Return of the King is teased by Gandalf:

“For the time comes of the dominion of men, and the elder Kindred shall fade or depart.”

Gandalf’s prediction was proven correct when the remaining elves left Middle-earth for the Undying Lands when the Three Rings lost their power as a result of Sauron’s defeat. The departure of the elves ushered in the dawn of the fourth age, which is characterized by the dominion of men. also, The dwarves began to die off in the fourth ageBecause women only made up a third of their population, and dwarven females often chose not to marry. So, over time, the contributions of the dwarves to the world were forgotten, leaving humanity as the most important race remaining on the face of Middle-earth.

The Shire became a sanctuary for the hobbits

Aragorn has banned people from the Shire

in The Hobbit And The Lord of the RingsThe Shire is the homeland of the Hobbits and a region located in the northwestern part of Middle-earth. The Shire was famously visited by Gandalf and a company of Dwarves The Hobbit And again by Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. Although it is only occupied by hobbits, it has seen its fair share of visitors over the centuries. Both elves and dwarves have been known to pass through.

While the fellowship was off on their adventure, A group of people called the Ruffians became a threat to the Shire And the hobbits’ way of life. The ruffians were treated once Frodo and the others returned home. That changed for the Shire people when Aragorn – known as “King Elizaar” in the Fourth Age of Middle Earth – formed the United Kingdom.

The lands he gains as the High King give him some level of control over the Shire’s destiny. Knowing that people like the ruffians would always be a problem for the Shire, He explained that the Shire was a shrine to the Hobbits that should never be visited by humans, including himself. Aragorn’s intention in banning people from the Shire was to ensure that the hobbits could live peacefully without intervention from outsiders.

Which Tolkien books are set after Lord of the Rings?

The New Shadow was Tolkien’s intended follow-up

While Tolkien wrote several stories and appendices set during or about lord of the rings fourth age, There was never a full novel-length sequel to Lord of the Rings. Tolkien began writing a Lord of the Rings Sequel in the 1960s, which has this title The New Shadow. However, it was only nine pages of history, and they were all published in The peoples of Middle-earth – The twelfth and final volume in The history of Middle-earth series, featuring unpublished Tolkien appendices, letters, notes, and previously unpublished manuscripts compiled and published by his son, Christopher Tolkien.

It is from The peoples of Middle-earth and the extract from The New Shadow That almost all details on the fourth age of Middle-earth are drawn. Tolkien abandoned the novel, however, because he found it too uncomfortable a setting. If it was completed, The New Shadow Would have been set a century after the fall of Mordor and would have shown more of the kingdoms of men and what happens next The Lord of the Rings. For his part, Christopher Tolkien noted The peoples of Middle-earth That the unfinished The New Shadow:

“[The New Shadow] would nevertheless have been a very remarkable ‘thriller’, and one can well see its early abandonment with regret.“

Will the new Lord of the Rings movie take place after The Return of the King?

An animated adventure is the next continuation of the Middle-earth story

Warner Bros. has announced that it will return to the Lord of the Rings Film series with new titles in the future. The first film as a result of this project will be The Lord of the Rings: The War of the RohirrimAn animated feature directed by anime veteran Kenji Kamiyama and featuring the voices of Brian Cox and Miranda Otto. The War of the Rohirrim Will take place 183 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings.

An animated Lord of the Rings Movie based on Rohan is a talking point in itself, but many are wondering if a new one Lord of the Rings Movie could be a sequel set in the fourth age of Middle-earth. While few concrete plans for Warner Bros’ Lord of the Rings Announced, it would seem like the franchise continues to blast Tolkien’s writing about Middle-earth’s past rather than its future.

Creating a movie or series in the fourth age of Middle Earth would present many challengesHow would it be necessary to create from scratch and deal with the disappearance of many magical and fantastic elements of Tolkien’s world in favor of a more modern society. However, given the continued popularity of Middle Earth, it seems inevitable that at some point viewers will see an on-screen retelling of what happens next. The Lord of the Rings.

What happened to each of the main characters after Lord of the Rings

Frodo

Of all the main characters in the series, what happened to Frodo after Lord of the Rings is perhaps the most well documented, and is even covered in the Peter Jackson movie trilogy. None of the Fellowship suffered as much in the war against Sauron as Frodo, and his time as the Ringbearer took its toll on him both physically and mentally. While it was possible for the likes of Sam, Merry, and Pippin to return to a somewhat normal life, the same was not true of the Hobbit who brought the One Ring all the way from the Shire to Mordor.

how so Frodo is given an honor that almost none who are not elves have received in the history of Middle-earth – passage to the Undying Lands. Here Frodo would live a long and peaceful life. While the Undying Lands would not make him immortal, they would give him an extended life, although since Tolkien did not write much about the Fourth Age, it is unknown exactly how old Frodo was when he died.

Sum

Samwise Gamgee was the real hero of Lord of the Rings In the eyes of many, as it is all-but-certain that Frodo would never have reached Mordor without him. Tolkien may have recognized this as well, because Sam got an incredibly happy ending after the events of The return of the king. Like Frodo, the final movie in the LotR Trilogy showed some of what happened to Sam once he returned to the Shire. to the delight of the viewers, Sam settled down and married Rosie Cotton, the female hobbit he had been in love with for years. (As shown in The Fellowship of the Ring before he and Frodo left the Shire).

Sam would eventually go on to become mayor of the shire, holding the office for a total of 49 years. He and Rosie also had 13 children, so he spent the last decade of his life surrounded by a large and loving family. The only sad note in Sam’s tale is that he outlived his beloved, although living through the loss of Rosie would have been much less painful with his many children there to comfort and console him.

Merry & Pippin

Merry and Pippin are almost inseparable throughout the events of the lord of the rings And in the time they spent apart, it is clear that they missed each other very much. Thanks to Tolkien’s notes and supplements, it is known that this very close friendship lasted until they both passed away. Touchingly, they both died together in Gondor around the age of 100, and were buried side-by-side (and later, Aragorn would also be buried alongside them).

Like Sam, both Merry and Pippin wielded political influence in the poem after Return of the King. Merry became lord of Buckland, and Pippin was lord of the shire. Thanks to their time with the Ents, they are also noticeably taller than other hobbits when they return. It is known that both Merry and Pippin had at least one son each. Merry married Estella Bolder, while Pippin settled down with Diamond of Long Clive. While the names of Merry’s children were unknown, Pippin named his son Faramir. Faramir went on to Mary Goldilocks Gamge, one of Sam and Rosie’s daughters.

Gimli

Gimli’s adventures did not stop after the destruction of the One Ring and Sauron’s defeat. The dwarf has an incredibly emotional journey despite being the comic relief in the movies, such as when he discovers his family was wiped out in Mori. Perhaps in response to this, Gimli’s next step was to travel to the glittering caves of Aglarond beneath Helm’s Deep, taking many dwarves with him and establishing a new colony there – earning him the title “Lord of the Glittering Caves”. .

The dwarven settlement in the kingdoms of men brings many benefits to both races, as Gimli and his subjects lend their skills in masonry, construction, and metalworking to Aragorn’s men. For example, the broken gate of Minas Tirith was replaced by one of dwarf construction and design, made up of metal and steel. However, Gimli did not remain in Middle-earth until his death. He was replaced The first dwarf to travel to the Undying Lands, heading there with his lifelong friend Legolas once Aragorn died.

Legolas

Much like Merry and Pippin, Gimli and Legolas remained dear friends after the events of The return of the king. Legolas didn’t have an event for a while after the destruction of the One Ring like Gimli did, although he did accomplish a few things before finally sailing west to the Undying Lands. Legolas led Gimli through Fangorn Forest to fulfill a promise the two had made to one another at the Battle of Helm’s Deep, and then fulfilled his end of the bargain by accompanying Gimli to the Glittering Caves. Once Gimli became lord of the dwarves who settled there, Legolas returned to visit often.

As for his own people, Legolas led a contingent of sylvan elves (forest or wood-elves) south, where they settled in a region of Gondor. Legolas stayed in Gondor (or Ithilien, as the elves called it) for about a century with the elves, finally traveling west with Gimli after the death of Aragorn.

Gandalf

The end of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Shows Gandalf traveling west to the Undying Lands with Frodo. While this is true to the books, Tolkien’s writing gives a few more details about what Gandalf gets up to in the time between crowning Aragorn as the new king of Gondor and leaving Middle-earth forever with Frodo. There are about two years between both events in the source material, somewhat the final movie in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy gloss over.

Gandalf travels back to the Shire with Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin after the celebrations in Gondor are over. However, he leaves them at the border, and then goes to meet Tom Bombadil, an incredibly powerful individual who was cut from the movies. After spending two years conversing with Tom Bombadil, Gandalf travels to the Undying Lands with Frodo, Bilbo, Elrond and Galadriel. It is worth nothing that, once he arrives, Gandalf reverts to a younger version of himself and takes the name Olorin.

Aragorn

like The return of the king Shown, Aragorn is crowned the High King of Arnor and Gondor after the death of Sauron, taking the title King Elessar (Elessar is the name bestowed on him by Galadriel). He then married Arwen soon after, and the two had a son, Eldarion, as well as an unknown number of unnamed daughters. Aragorn’s reign was, as expected, one of great prosperity for Gondor, and it is safe to say that he laid solid foundations for the dominion of men in the fourth age of Middle-earth.

Aragorn died of old age, living to 210. He reigned as king for 122 years, and after he passed, he was buried next to Merry and Fip. Arwen died at the same time, although he slightly outlived Aragorn, as Tolkien wrote that she died of a broken heart. The throne of Gondor then passed to Aragorn’s son Eldarion in the year 120 of the Fourth Age, over a century later. The Lord of the Rings carried out.

What challenges might await Middle-earth in the fourth age?

The era of people is unlikely to be peaceful

JRR Tolkien never got the chance to write much about the fourth age of Middle-earth. However, this does not mean that it is impossible to predict how the so-called “burnings of man” would be for the various races and peoples of the fantasy realm. Whether intentional or not, JRR Tolkien’ actually sowed the thematic seeds for what the Fourth Age could potentially be like. While Sauron was defeated, Saruman was gone, and Middle-earth finally shook the long-lived stewardship of the Elves, the Age of Men to come after Lord of the Rings It is set to be a turbulent time.

If there is one theme when it comes to humanity in JRR Tolkien’s work, it is that humans are easily corrupted. Even with the threat of the Orcs of Mordor continuing, rulers like Denethor have been far-from-noble rulers for Gondor, and Rohan has seen more than his fair share of troubles not caused by the forces of darkness. . What’s more, Sauron’s main henchmen, the Nazul, were all once human kings, and the Dark Lord found them all too easy to corrupt (an especially notable point since he was unable to do the same to the elves and dwarves, even with the rings of power).

After the death of Aragorn, his son Aldarion ascended the throne. It seems inevitable that the descendants of Aragorn would see a challenge to their rule sooner or later. As the events of the war against Sauron faded from living memory, there would likely be many who saw fit to have a claim to the throne. The likelihood of this would also increase with time, as Aragorn and Arwen’s family tree expands over the decades and centuries, there are more branches of the family tree that could see themselves as the true claimants to the throne of Minas Tirith.

Tolkien already revealed in his teaching that the human kingdoms of Middle-earth have a tendency to leave politics and become a force for self-destruction. One of Aragorn’s first tasks was to unite Arnor and Gondor. It is worth noting that the once mighty united kingdom of humans was not split due to the machinations of Sauron, Saruman or some similar figure, but due to the kind of political infighting that would not be out of place in the Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones.

As a veteran of the trenches of World War 1, JRR Tolkien did not see humanity in a positive light. He would personally witness some of the worst that humans are capable of, and this is something that thematically bleeds into Lord of the Rings. There’s a reason Tolkien wrote the elves as distant-yet-benevolent stewards of Middle-earth, and their departure is considered a tragic event. For Tolkien, humanity is far from fit to govern itself. Even Aragorn, the first leader to lead the race of men into their own age of dominance, is not cut from the same cloth as the rest of his mortal family.

Aragorn being one of the Dunedain was a clear message from Tolkien – mankind is not capable of being its own saviour. Once Aragorn dies, humanity will be left to its own devices. With Gandalf and the elves gone, the only powerful beings capable of ensuring that the race of humans stayed on a (somewhat) stable path were the likes of Tom Bombadil or the remaining Istari such as Radagast, none of them seem anywhere near as interested in the affairs of men.

Unless another great external evil of the likes of Sauron emerges in the Fourth Age, it is highly likely that Middle-earth will still Lord of the Rings Would be defined by civil war and the stagnation of prosperity and peace, Aragorn helped arrived in. It’s impossible to know for sure, of course, but Tolkien’s own writings seem to suggest this as the likely outcome for the Age of Man.