T.A. 3021

T.A. 3021 stands as the terminal point of the Third Age of Middle-earth, the year in which the last of the great Elven rings lost their power and the age that had begun with the defeat of Sauron's first incarnation drew to a close. It is the year of the final departure of the Ring-bearers from the Grey Havens, an event that closes the narrative arc of the War of the Ring and marks the transition to the Fourth Age and the Dominion of Men. The annals of the Red Book of Westmarch record this year as the last of the Third Age, a designation that carries both chronological and spiritual weight, for it signifies the end of the long struggle against the Shadow and the beginning of a new epoch in which the Elves, who had sustained Middle-earth through the ages, at last withdraw from it.

The Last Year of the Third Age

The Third Age, which had endured for over three thousand years, is formally concluded in T.A. 3021. This age had witnessed the rise and fall of the Last Alliance, the defeat of Sauron at the hands of Elendil and Gil-galad, the founding of the realms in exile, and the long watch of the Rangers of the North. It had also seen the discovery of the One Ring by Bilbo Baggins in the tunnels beneath the Misty Mountains, an event that set in motion the quest that would ultimately destroy Sauron and bring the age to its end. The annals note that the year 3021 is the last of the Third Age, a fact that is recorded with the same matter-of-fact precision as the birthdays and illnesses that fill the Shire-reckoning, yet it carries an epochal significance that those domestic entries do not. The age ends not with a battle or a coronation, but with a quiet departure, as the bearers of the Three Rings and the One Ring leave Middle-earth forever.

The Departure of the Ring-bearers

The central event of T.A. 3021 is the departure of the Ring-bearers from the Grey Havens. This departure, which occurs in the autumn of the year, sees Frodo Baggins, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, and the Elven lords Elrond and Galadriel board a ship that carries them across the sea to the Uttermost West. The departure is the culmination of the quest that began with Bilbo's finding of the Ring and Frodo's decision to carry it to Mount Doom. For Frodo, the departure is a release from the wounds and burdens that the Ring inflicted upon him, wounds that continued to trouble him even after the Ring's destruction. The annals record that Frodo was again ill on March 13 of this year, a recurrence of the sickness that had plagued him since his ordeal, and this illness serves as a reminder that the Ring's effects could not be fully healed in Middle-earth. The departure of the Ring-bearers is thus not merely a farewell but a necessary act of healing, a recognition that the age of the Elves and the age of the Ring had passed, and that those who had borne the burden of the Ring could only find peace beyond the circles of the world.

The End of the Elven Rings

T.A. 3021 also marks the end of the power of the Three Rings of the Elves. Nenya, Vilya, and Narya, which had been used to preserve the realms of Lothlórien, Rivendell, and the havens of the Elves, lost their power with the destruction of the One Ring, for the Three were bound to the One. The departure of the Ring-bearers is thus also the departure of the Elves from the lands they had long held, as the fading of the rings meant that the Elven realms could no longer be sustained. The year 3021 is therefore a year of endings, not only for the Third Age but for the Elven presence in Middle-earth, as the last of the great Elven lords and ladies take ship for the West, leaving the world to the Dominion of Men. The annals record this transition with the same understated precision that marks the rest of the Red Book, but the significance of the event is immense, for it closes the chapter of Elven history in Middle-earth and opens the age of Men.

The Shire in the Last Year

The Shire, which had been the starting point of the great quest, also experiences the passage of time in T.A. 3021. The annals record that September 22 of this year is Bilbo's hundred and thirtieth birthday, a remarkable age even for a Hobbit, and one that is only possible because of the Ring's influence on his lifespan. Bilbo, who had found the Ring and carried it for sixty years, had aged slowly during that time, and even after giving it up, he retained a vitality that was unusual for a Hobbit of his years. His birthday in this final year of the Third Age is a quiet marker of the extraordinary life he led, from his adventure with the Dwarves to his long residence in Rivendell, and it serves as a reminder of the personal scale of the great events that shaped the age. The Shire itself, which had been scoured and restored in the previous year, settles back into its accustomed rhythms, but the departure of the Ring-bearers means that the Shire, like the rest of Middle-earth, is now part of a new age, one in which the old powers and the old dangers have passed away.

The Transition to the Fourth Age

The end of T.A. 3021 marks the beginning of the Fourth Age, a new epoch in which the Dominion of Men is established and the Elves and other ancient peoples fade from the world. The transition is recorded in the annals with the same precision as the other events of the year, but it is a transition of profound significance, for it marks the end of the long struggle against the Shadow and the beginning of a new era of peace and human rule. The departure of the Ring-bearers is the final act of the Third Age, and it is an act that is both a farewell and a beginning, as the world is left to the Men who will shape its future. The annals of the Red Book, which record these events, are themselves a product of this transition, for they were written in the Fourth Age by Hobbits who sought to preserve the memory of the great events in which their ancestors played a part. T.A. 3021 is thus not merely a year but a boundary, a line drawn between the age of the Elves and the age of Men, and the departure of the Ring-bearers is the event that marks the crossing of that boundary.