# "Well, I'm Back" - WTF? \[Lord of the Rings ending\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 26, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596 "2014-09-26T05:03:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596/41 "2014-09-28T23:04:23Z")
The OP leaves me mystified. Whaddaya want? Gamgee leaps onto a raft and yells to his friends that he’s rowing into the West? …or "The being who had once been Saruman, now lay dying in the road, mortally wounded by his former servant. His body shook, his eyes widen,“The horror. The horror.” Whaddaya want? I don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596/42 "2014-09-29T00:57:47Z")
A soliloquy? “These are the fruits of madness and ambition, brought low by the fires of their own greed, a tribute to o’erweening envy and inanition, mirror’d in woe, disregarding Hobbits’ need…” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596/43 "2014-09-29T03:46:18Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > The OP leaves me mystified. Whaddaya want? > > Gamgee leaps onto a raft and yells to his friends that he’s rowing into the West? > > …or "The being who had once been Saruman, now lay dying in the road, mortally wounded by his former servant. His body shook, his eyes widen,“The horror. The horror.” > > Whaddaya want? I don’t understand. WhaddoI want? I want a proper ending after several thousand pages of plot, not an anti-climax that reads like the publisher lost a few pages. And I trust that JRRT is smarter than I am, and most likely DID give me a proper ending, but I just wasn’t smart enough to “get it.” That’s why I asked the good people of The Dope for their interpretations. Thanks to all that supplied them. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596/44 "2014-09-29T04:23:08Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > WhaddoI want? I want a proper ending after several thousand pages of plot, not an anti-climax that reads like the publisher lost a few pages. No snark intended, but I’m still mystified. The earth is saved from eternal evil, a quest is accomplshed against impossible odds, the ancient line of kings is restored and Sam & Frodo are celebrated in the court, all villians are overthrown, the lead character is transported into a semi-mystical realm, the world enters a less magical era-- and you think the book doesn’t have a proper ending? Everything gets wrapped up about as thoroughly as can be imagined, but you’re confused because Tolkien mentions that life goes on? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596/45 "2014-09-29T05:52:08Z")
“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.” T. S. Eliot “Little Gidding” ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596/46 "2014-09-29T14:40:59Z")
“Forget it, Gaffer. It’s Hobbiton.” ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596/47 "2014-09-29T14:48:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Stories never end; they just become someone else’s story. Like life, IOW. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596/48 "2014-09-29T15:05:54Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > “Forget it, Gaffer. It’s Hobbiton.” I believe that I shall write that in my copy of _The Two Towers._ 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-im-back-wtf-lord-of-the-rings-ending/699596.md?page=2)