AUTHOR'S NOTES -
CHAPTER 5: ANGER AND TEARS
Captain Meriadoc and Captain Peregrin had obviously done great things, and maybe Sam, too. The Baggins had indicated as much anyway, but the Baggins himself had done nothing in the Battle of Bywater, by all accounts, except wring his hands.
The Return of the King, The Scouring of the Shire: “Frodo had been in the battle, but he had not drawn sword, and his chief part had been to stop the hobbits in their wrath at their losses, from slaying those of their enemies who threw down their weapons.” It would be easy for hobbits to misinterpret this as “doing nothing”.
It was not until Rethe that she had suddenly known, known for sure, that he was coming home, and she had started singing. Her mother had looked even more worried at her conviction, fussing over her and telling her he was not likely to ever come back.
The idea that Rosie knew Sam was coming back, and knew it moreover in March, at the time the quest was achieved, 8 months before he actually returned, is not mine but Tolkien’s:-
History of Middle-earth, vol. 9, Sauron Defeated, The Epilogue: “‘March the twenty-fifth!’ he said. ‘This day seventeen years ago, Rose wife, I didn’t think I should ever see thee again. But I kept on hoping.’
‘I never hoped at all, Sam,’ she said, ‘not until that very day; and then suddenly I did. About noon it was, and I felt so glad and I began singing. And mother said: “Quiet, lass! There’s ruffian’s about.’ And I said: “Let them come! Their time will soon be over. Sam’s coming back.” And you came.’”
Not only that, but your brother is a’ going to be married to his sister, and I will not have you making trouble between the two families.’
The Return of the King, Appendix C. The longfather tree of Master Samwise shows that his sister Marigold married Tom Cotton.
Sometimes I think it would have been better that way, with both of us dead together, but then that necromancer, Sauron, would have won.
Sauron is referred to as the Necromancer in The Hobbit and also in The Fellowship of the Ring, The Council of Elrond: “Some here will rememberthat many years ago I myself dared to pass the door of the Necromancer, in Dol Goldur, and secretly exposed his ways, and found thus that our fears were true, he was none other than Sauron...”
All that the Gaffer had been able to save was what he could carry or fit in his barrow.
The Fellowship of the Ring, The Mirror of Galadriel: “‘They’ve dug up Bagshot Row, and there’s the poor old Gaffer going down the Hill with his bits of things on a barrow...’”
‘I asked him... I asked him if you’d given satisfaction. And he said... he said...’ The Gaffer nearly choked at the memory.
Understanding dawned on Sam’s face and he started to laugh as well. ‘He said, “Perfect satisfaction, Mr. Gamgee.”’
A passage in The Return of the King, The Scouring of the Shire which warms the hearts of all slash lovers.