[Formendacil]

The emotional response begun for me in "The Steward and the King" continues in "Many Partings," which is a bittersweet journey backward through the lands we covered in the previous books, all the way back to Rivendell. It's a farewell to all the non-Hobbit (and non-Gandalf) characters we've met: Faramir and Eowyn, Theoden, Eomer and Rohan, Treebeard, Saruman and Wormtongue (seemingly), Galadriel and Celeborn. To me, this chapter is as bittersweet as "The Grey Havens," which it foreshadows.

Its title is an echo of "Many Meetings," and it is very much full-circle from that point. "Many Meetings" opened Book II, and it's possible to argue that, structurally, Book I is sort of a different story: a prologue or a prequel: the adventure of the Hobbits getting to Rivendell. If that is so, then "The Lord of the Rings" begins with "Many Meetings," and I would argue it ends with "Many Partings." With the next chapter, we'll be moving, geographically, back into the realm of Book I and towards the conclusion of the overarching story begun with "The Shadow of the Past"--and to the conclusion of the whole saga (this long, complex story has several beginnings and consequently several ends).

"Many Meetings" begins with the Hobbits' arrival in Rivendell and "Many Partings" ends with their preparation to depart. "Many Meetings" introduced us to Arwen in thebhouse of her father and introduces us to an Aragorn as "the Dunadan"; "Many Partings" shows us Aragorn and Arwen wed and his kingdom established--and Arwen parting from him. "Many Meetings" begins the story of the pan-Free Peoples Fellowship by introducing Gloin and Gimli at supper while "Many Partings" shows the end of the same story as Gimli and Legolas ride off for Fangorn.