Red Book of Westmarch

The ***Red Book of Westmarch*** (sometimes the ***Thain's Book*** after its principal version) is a fictional manuscript written by hobbits, related to the author J. R. R. Tolkien's frame stories. It is an instance of the found manuscript conceit, a literary device to explain the source of his legendarium. In the fiction, it is a collection of writings in which the events of *The Hobbit* and *The Lord of the Rings* were recounted by their characters, and from which Tolkien supposedly derived these and other works. The name of the book comes from its red leather binding and casing, and from its having been housed in the Westmarch, a region of Middle-earth next to the Shire.

In reality, Tolkien modelled its name on the *Red Book of Hergest*. By using the conceit of a found manuscript, he was following a tradition in English literature established by Samuel Richardson in the 18th century. He was also attempting, according to the scholar Gergely Nagy, to fit *The Lord of the Rings* into his presentation of his legendarium as a genuine-seeming collection of tales and myths, by ascribing the documents to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

## Fictional development[edit]

Further information: Tolkien's frame stories

The *Red Book of Westmarch* is part of Tolkien's framing of *The Hobbit* as part of a long tradition of manuscripts, which he happened to have found.

### *There and Back Again*[edit]

In *The Hobbit*, Tolkien writes of the protagonist and title character Bilbo Baggins composing his memoirs. Bilbo thinks of calling his work *There and Back Again, A Hobbit's Holiday*. Tolkien's full name for the novel is indeed *The Hobbit or There and Back Again*.

In *The Lord of the Rings*, this record is said to be written in his red leather-bound diary. Bilbo says to Gandalf that his intended ending would be him living "happily ever after to the end of his days". This is in fact a rephrased line from the final chapter of *The Hobbit*, originally conveyed through third-person narrative voice.

### *The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings*[edit]

Bilbo expands his memoirs into a record of the events of *The Lord of the Rings*, including the exploits of his kinsman Frodo Baggins and others. He leaves the material for Frodo to complete and organize. Frodo writes down the bulk of the final work, using Bilbo's diary and "many pages of loose notes". At the close of Tolkien's main narrative, the work is almost complete, and Frodo leaves the task to his gardener Samwise Gamgee.

In the last chapter of *The Return of the King*, Tolkien provides a "title page" for the *Red Book of Westmarch* inscribed with a succession of rejected titles. The final title is Frodo's:

*~~What Happened After.~~*
   *~~Adventures of Five Hobbits.~~ ~~The Tale of the Great Ring, compiled by~~*
*~~Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends.~~*
*~~What we did in the War of the Ring.~~*
THE DOWNFALL
OF THE
LORD OF THE RINGS
AND THE
RETURN OF THE KING
(as seen by the Little People; being the memoirs of Bilbo
and Frodo of the Shire, supplemented by the accounts of
their friends and the learning of the Wise.)
Together with extracts from Books of Lore translated by
Bilbo in Rivendell.

### *Translations from the Elvish*

Bilbo had translated material from Elvish lore from the Elder Days. This work, *Translations from the Elvish, by B.B.*, comprised three volumes, also bound in red leather. After the defeat of Sauron (the Lord of the Rings) Bilbo gives these volumes to Frodo. These four volumes were "probably" (according to Tolkien) kept in a single red case.

### *Red Book*

The volumes then pass into the keeping of Samwise Gamgee, Frodo's servant and later mayor of the Shire. In time, the volumes are left in the care of Sam's eldest daughter, Elanor Fairbairn, and her descendants (the *Fairbairns of the Towers* or *Wardens of Westmarch*). A fifth volume containing Hobbit genealogical tables and commentaries is composed and added at unknown dates, presumably over a long period of time, by unknown hands in Westmarch. This collection of writings is collectively called the *Red Book of Westmarch*.

### *Thain's Book*

Tolkien states that the original *Red Book of Westmarch* was not preserved, but that several copies, with various notes and later additions, were made. The first copy was made on the request of King Elessar of Arnor and Gondor, and was brought to Gondor by Thain Peregrin I, who had been one of Frodo's companions. This copy was known as *The Thain's Book* and "contained much that was later omitted or lost". In Gondor it underwent much annotation and correction, particularly regarding Elvish languages. Also added was an short version of *The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen* by Faramir's grandson Barahir.

The story then runs that a copy of a revised and expanded *Thain's Book* was made probably by request of Peregrin's great-grandson and delivered to the Shire. It was written by the scribe *Findegil* and stored at the Took residence in *Great Smials*. Tolkien says this copy was important because it alone contained the whole of Bilbo's *Translations from the Elvish*.

This version somehow then survives until Tolkien's time, and he translates the *Red Book* from the original languages into English and other representative languages or varieties, such as Old English for Rohirric.

### Related works

A similar work in some respects was the fictional *Yearbook of Tuckborough*, the annals of the Took family of hobbits of Tuckborough. It was described as the oldest known book in the Shire, and was most likely kept at the Great Smials of Tuckborough. The story runs that it was begun around the year T.A. 2000 and chronicled events dating from the foundation of the Shire in T.A. 1601 onwards. For comparison, the narrative in *The Lord of the Rings* commences in the year T.A. 3001.

The *Yearbook* recorded births, deaths, marriages, land-sales, and other events in Took history. Much of this information was later included in the *Red Book of Westmarch*. Tolkien wrote that it was also known as the *Great Writ of Tuckborough* and *the Yellowskin*, suggesting that it was bound in yellow leather or some other yellow material. Tolkien mentions several other supposedly historical documents related to the *Red Book*, but it is unclear whether these were integrated into editions. These works include the *Tale of Years* (part of which was used as the timeline for *The Lord of the Rings*) and *Herblore of the Shire*, supposedly written by Frodo's contemporary Meriadoc Brandybuck, used for information about pipe-weed.

## Connections to the real book

 Hobbit poetry and legends,
scattered throughout the margins
of the text of Bilbo and Frodo's journeys
histories and legends

### Subdirectories in this directory

Bilbo's Journey

Frodo's Journey

Hobbit Poetry

Elvish Legend Translations