The Scouring of the Shire

The returning travellers found the Shire in the hands of a rule they did not know. At the Brandywine Bridge the gate was barred; the orders came from "the Chief" at Bag End, Lotho Sackville-Baggins, who had hired ruffians out of the wild and behind whom stood Sharkey. Trees had been felled, ugly new houses stood along Pool Side, and a brick chimney poured black smoke over Hobbiton — "this is Mordor", said Frodo, "just one of its works". Merry and Pippin roused the Shire-folk; the fighting itself was the Battle of Bywater on 3 November 1419, and with it came the passing of Saruman and the end of the War of the Ring.