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Samwise Gamgee was a very lonely hobbit. Being an immortal was not fun.
‘Mortal men’ they say, ‘Oh how lucky are those elves, an immortal life they get to live’ but Sam knew this wasn’t true, Sam knew being immortal did more wreckage than a short lived life could ever do. This was because he was living one, he wished he’d never set foot on that stupid adventure. Never took that step out of the Shire into the more dangerous territories of Middle-Earth where Orcs roamed and you could hear voices in the trees.
Frodo always used to speak of going on an adventure, he said it would be fun, that was since his uncle Bilbo told him about his. But theirs was much more perilous than ones they had heard stories of, only imagining and not living them theirself. But also because they did not have to return the one ring to mount doom - because they didn’t have trickery deceiving them - because they weren’t weighed down with such tasks that would forever destroy your life. Forever it was for Sam Gamgee, as now he lived an immortal life.
‘’It’s a gift, Samwise Gamgee of The Shire, being immortal - and we are giving it to you.’’
‘No, it’s not a gift at all’ Sam thought, the loneliness creeping up on him once again. If it is so precious then why did he have it? Or why did Merry and Pippin not get it, surely they deserved it more? Anyways, that did not matter now, they were dead. As they had been for 8,000 years.
Sam went up to his room, dragging himself up the steps as he now lived in Rivendell as he had immigrated there on his 111th Birthday.
The white pillars stood majestically in the evening sunlight as vines wrapped around them, young and green. The steps shone brightly like a new piece of cutlery or a freshly made piece of jewellery - all the Elves around him shone like stars in their elegant robes with their silvery hair flowing gracefully down their back. But Sam was just a Hobbit. And Hobbits weren't meant to be immortal.
He sat on his balcony, overlooking the buildings below and staring into the distance where mountains and fog overlapped each other. Sam let out a big sigh and relaxed back into his chair, blowing a smoke ring and watching it as it danced off into the fresh evening air.
Most days he would do this, watching his smoke rings dance under the moonlight, sipping his drink and thinking about his old friends. Not even Gandalf was around now - and Sam just wasn’t sure anymore. Not of anything. He continued to ponder over his thoughts as soft but regal music travelled its way through Rivendell, eventually reaching Samwise’s ears.
‘’You’ve left out one of the chief characters - Samwise the brave. I want to hear more about Sam. Frodo wouldn’t have gotten far without Sam.’’
And Sam couldn’t get far without Frodo either, but he had to, because Sam was immortal where Frodo was not.
After about an hour Sam went back inside - the warmth comforting him like a blanket as he stepped into his room. Even though he was tired Sam did not go to bed yet, instead he walked over to his desk and placed himself on his rocking chair, opening the battered and worn book titled:
A Hobbit’s tale
- Or There and Back Again
By Bilbo Baggins
&
The Lord of the Rings
By Frodo Baggins (with an ending by Samwise Gamgee)
Though it hadn’t necessarily been completed yet as he felt there was one more thing he had to write, felt something was missing. Or maybe it was just something from him that was and not actually the book itself.
Yet again Sam was lost in his thoughts, too many of them for him to withhold.
I mean I guess you’d have that problem too if you were immortal, if you’d been alive for as long as this little Hobbit who was not born to live this life. Or rather this long a life. What was he going to do with himself?
Eventually, Sam made his way over to his bed and lay under the covers, which were embellished with Elven thread. The room was dark as he snuggled down against his pillow, the only light coming from the moon outside. But the moon was not very bright that night, not dazzling like it usually does, even for the winter. A strange ending to a strange day Samwise thought. So off to sleep he went, maybe things would be better tomorrow.
‘’Mr. Frodo?’’ Sam croaked , ‘’what are you doing here?’’
‘’Oh hello Sam, I just came to pay my dear old friend a visit - I have been missing you very much after all.’’ he replied gently.
‘’B-but I haven't seen you in so long, what are you doing here? I don’t understand.’’
‘’Oh Sam, I’ve just come to give you one last goodbye, atleast while we’re like this. I’ll see you again one day.’’
‘’But Mr. Frodo, I just don’t understand, you’ve been gone for so long.’’
‘’But I haven’t been gone Sam, I've been alongside you the whole time. However else do you think you would’ve managed these past thousands of years? All alone by yourself?.’’
‘’I wouldn’t,’’ he replied softly, cracking a smile.
‘’I’m glad to be here with you Samwise Gamgee, at the end of all things,’’ said Frodo, before going off into the distance.
That next morning it was very, very quiet. As Sam never woke up. Or maybe he did? In some other way, with other people, in another life, where he wouldn’t be immortal and the one ring was never created.