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This is the single chapter in Tolkien's masterpiece where it is brought home to the reader that the Quest has ended, the day has been won by the forces for good, and this glorious tale is coming to an end. The very title, "Many Partings" is a precursor to the dissolving of the Fellowship as each member meets his hard earned fate. There is an innate sense of sadness. Each member of the Fellowship has been irrevocably changed by their experience, and now goes on to take up the tasks of the rest of their lives, conceivably in the far flung places of the World. It is the beginning of the end and it starts today.

On this day in particular we see the young King of Rohan return to Minas Tirith in the regal manner that befits his new stature. There is a magnificent feast in Merethrond (the Great Hall of Feasts), and it is here that King Éomer son of Éomund confronts Gimli son of Gloin to settle an old score.

If the destruction of the Ring and the coronation and wedding of Aragorn mark the apogee of the story arc in The Lord of the Rings, then Tolkien certainly lets us down gently in the rest of the story. We are now in the first part of the Journey Home, where all the places that we passed through in violence and fear are revisited in leisure and peace. The memory of the redemption and heroism of Theoden is one to be especially savored and cherished during this journey, given that it might all easily not have happened at all and Rohan would have been lost to dark forces.

Another small part of the story is wrapped up for us in this journey:

"Without haste and at peace they passed into Anorien, and they came to the Grey Wood under Amon Din; and there they heard a sound as of drums beating in the hills, though no living thing could be seen. Then Aragorn let the trumpets be blown; and heralds cried:

'Behold, the King Elessar is come! The Forest of Druadan he gives to Ghan-buri-ghan and to his folk, to be their own for ever; and hereafter let no man enter it without their leave!'

Then the drums rolled loudly, and were silent."

Leave it to Tolkien the philologist to emphasize the cultural differences in communication styles!

The funeral of Theoden serves to bridge the past and the future for the people we have loved and followed through their journeys. Theoden is the last of the major heroes to be honored, and his final rites, with all their ceremony and song, symbolize both his and Rohan's greatness; his story of personal redemption and courage is also that of his people. Yet there are small glimpses of personal bereavement in Tolkien's description--Theoden's minstrel Gleowine never sings again after farewelling his master, and Merry, drawn from the first to serve and love the Rohirric king-cries for him from the heart, lamenting the loss of one who was a father to him, "if only for a little while."

At the funeral feast, newly crowned Eomer presides over a company that puts aside sorrows of the past to look forward to a new era of close relations between Gondor and Rohan. His own deep love for Aragorn is part of that bond, and the ties are royally and permanently cemented in the ceremony which trothplights Eowyn of Rohan with Faramir, Prince of Ithilien. " Thus, said Eomer, is the friendship of the Mark and of Gondor bound with a new bond, and the more do I rejoice." Eowyn and Faramir, having emerged from their own personal darknesses into the light, are living symbols of a brand new world.

For Eowyn, the troth plighting is especially liberating, for she is now free from the sorrow of the unrequited love she bore Aragorn. And he is free of the pain it caused him

This is a day that is marked by partings, and some of them are very final.

Today is that foreseen, but no less poignant day when Arwen takes her final leave of her father and grandparents, where Tolkien calls it "bitter...that should endure beyond the ends of the world". One can only surmise that she would meet her brothers again in the future since they have chosen to remain in Middle-earth. Perhaps that brings her some small solace today.

But even in parting, there are those who are hopeful and destined for meetings and reunions in the future. Merry's parting from Éomer and Éowyn is one of those that forbodes many joyous meetings in days to come.