The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King movie briefly touched on what happened to Frodo after he finished his journey, but there was so much more to the end of his story in Tolkien’s book. The hobbit did the impossible by destroying Sauron’s One Ring, but Peter Jackson’s movie revealed that this took an immense toll. Frodo was ultimately unable to continue in Middle-earth, so he traveled to the Grey Havens and set sail for the Undying Lands—but a great deal happened before and after this final journey.

Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King spent a lot more time tying up the loose ends of its story, and the ending spanned several more chapters than was implied by Jackson’s movies. The author went into some detail regarding the journey back to the Shire, the trials that awaited the four hobbits there, and what happened to many of the characters in the following decades. Then, the Appendices of Return of the King went into even further detail about the future of Middle-earth, and this all contributed to a complete picture of Frodo’s ending.

What Frodo Did In The Shire After Destroying The Ring

All Was Not Well In The Shire When Frodo & His Companions Returned

In Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, Frodo and his hobbit companions returned to the Shire, which was entirely untouched by Sauron’s war. There was a lot of emotional weight involved with this ending since the horror that Frodo had faced contrasted painfully with the disconnected peace of his home. However, this wasn’t the way that Tolkien wrote it. In the Return of the King book, the Shire had been all but destroyed during Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin’s absence, and their fellow Hobbits had become forced laborers under Saruman’s henchmen.

Before the four hobbits could return to their lives, they had to lead their people in a battle against the Men who had taken over and industrialized the Shire. During this time, Saruman was murdered by his servant, Grima Wormtongue, and the wizard’s influence over the region quickly waned. After regaining control over their home, the Hobbits worked tirelessly to regrow the orchards and fields, and, thanks to Sam’s green thumb and Galadriel’s gift, the Shire became more beautiful than ever.

After Sam married Rosie Cotton, Frodo invited them to move in at Bag End. It was a time of peace and renewal, and Frodo found great joy in watching Sam’s first child, Elanor (whom Frodo himself named), grow. However, the wounds left over from his journey with the One Ring, both physical and emotional, took too tremendous a toll. Despite the joy in his life, Frodo couldn’t find true peace, so he left Bag End to his dear Sam and set out for the Undying Lands.

Frodo Was Permitted Into Valinor After Lord Of The Rings

The Valar Allowed Frodo To Come To The Undying Lands Because He Was A Ring-Bearer

Valinor, or the Undying Lands, was part of the continent West of Middle-earth, where the god-like beings called the Valar lived. The passage to Valinor had long been limited to the immortal Elves, who were expected to travel there as the Light of the Eldar faded in Middle-earth. However, there were rare occasions in which the Valar permitted mortal beings to come to the Undying Lands as well. In the Third Age of Middle-earth, this was mostly limited to those who had carried Sauron’s One Ring at some point.

Since the Dark Lord’s weapon took such a toll on whoever carried it, the Valar invited those who had survived to live out the rest of their days in Valinor, where they could find relief from the pain rooted in Middle-earth. Though Bilbo Baggins didn’t take part in destroying the One Ring, he had kept it safe for decades and was, therefore, allowed to sail on one of the last boats to the Undying Lands. Frodo, who carried the most significant burden from the One Ring, was permitted to come as well, but he wasn’t the last Ring-bearer to sail to Valinor.

Frodo Potentially Reunited With Members Of The Fellowship

Other Fellowship Of The Rings Members Eventually Went To Valinor Too

About 60 years after Frodo left for the Undying Lands, Sam was permitted to travel there as well. The gardener Hobbit has served as mayor of the Shire for decades and had 13 kids (and countless grandchildren) with Rosie Cotton before she passed away naturally of old age. With nothing left for him in Middle-earth, Sam decided it was time for him to join Frodo in Valinor. So, he passed the Red Book of Westmarch (which contained Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam’s stories) to his daughter Elanor and headed for the Grey Havens.

This means that Frodo was likely reunited with his old friend, which would surely have been a heartwarming scene. Sam could have told Frodo about all his children, the long and ongoing reign of King Elessar (Aragorn), and the full lives of their friends, Merry and Pippin. After another 60 years, Legolas would have arrived in Valinor as well, and he brought Gimli along with him. So, Frodo might have been reunited with these members of the Fellowship of the Ring as well. However, it’s possible that the hero of The Lord of the Rings died in Valinor before any of his friends arrived.

Frodo Would Have Died In Valinor

Frodo Didn’t Live Forever, But He Likely Died Happy

Though the name of the Undying Lands implies that it is a place where no one dies, this isn’t technically true. Mortal beings cannot avoid death, no matter what they do, so Frodo would have eventually died in Valinor. The purpose of his sailing there wasn’t to live forever but to allow Frodo to live in peace, unplagued by the persistent pain of the wounds he had received during his journey with the One Ring. Of course, without pain or threat, Frodo should have been able to live to the older end of his life expectancy, which is a little beyond 100 years.

There has been some indication in Tolkien’s posthumously published essays that a mortal being living in Valinor would die more quickly “as moths in a light too strong.” However, this was only a hypothetical consideration from the author and doesn’t definitively note how long Frodo lived in the undying lands or whether he would have survived long enough to see his friends again. In this regard, we have no answer. All that can be concluded is that after all Frodo went through in The Lord of the Rings, he deserved to pass on peacefully in paradise, with Gandalf, at the very least, by his side.