Waste

The Waste was a region that was located somewhere within Middle-earth,The Hobbit, Chapter XIX: "The Last Stage" possibly being somewhere to the east of the Misty Mountains.
== History ==
After the Battle of Five Armies, Bard gave a large amount of gold to the Master of Lake-town to help the Lake-men recover. However, the Master caught the dragon-sickness, stole most of the gold, and fled with it from Lake-town. After his companions had deserted him, he starved to death in the Waste, sometime between TA 2941 and TA 2949.
== In other versions ==
In an earlier version of the "The Last Stage" chapter, the Master was murdered by his companions for the gold and thrown into the waste afterwards. In a modification of this earlier version, the Master's companions simply left him and the Master died of starvation in the waste.The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, The Third Phase, "'And Back Again'" In a slightly later version, the Master died of starvation within the waste without any companions being mentioned.The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, The Third Phase, "The End of the Journey" The word waste was uncapitalized in all of those versions,
==Speculation==
It is possible that the capitalization of the word Waste within the published book may have been a mistake or a last minute change by J.R.R. Tolkien or by the publisher. Robert FosterRobert Foster, The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, entry "Waste", pg. 419 has suggested that Waste may possibly have been another name for the Desolation of Smaug, though how he came to this conclusion is unknown.
==References==
Category:Mystery
Category:Fields
Category:Plains
Category:Middle-earth
Category:Regions