Battle of Bywater

2011-09-11T08:17:30Z

196.2.126.175: /* Prelude */

{{battle
| name=Battle of Bywater
| image=[[File:Ted Nasmith - Storming the Bank.jpg|298px]]
| conflict=[[War of the Ring]]
| date=[[3 November]] {{TA|3019}}
| result=Freedom for the Hobbits
| place=The Bywater Road, Bywater, [[the Shire]]
| side1=Hobbits
| side2=[[Sharkey]]'s men
| commanders1=[[Meriadoc Brandybuck]], [[Peregrin Took]], [[Farmer Cotton]]
| commanders2=[[Saruman]] †
| forces1=*200 [[Buckland|Bucklanders]]
*100 [[Took Family|Tooks]]
*[[Samwise Gamgee]]
*[[Tolman Cotton Junior|Young Tom]], [[Wilcome Cotton II|Jolly]] and [[Bowman Cotton|Nick Cotton]]
*Unknown number of [[Hobbiton]] residents
| forces2=100 [[Ruffians]]
| casual1=19 Hobbits killed, 30 wounded
| casual2=70 Ruffians killed (including [[Gríma Wormtongue]]), 12 captured
|}}
{{wotr}}

The '''Battle of Bywater''' was the last military engagement of the [[War of the Ring]], and the second battle to have been fought in [[the Shire]].

==History==
the hobbits died the end

===Battle===
As twenty Men from [[Hobbiton]] marched towards Bywater, 200 Bucklanders answered the call of Captain Merry's horn. In Bywater, barricades were set up at the command of Merry. Meanwhile, the Cottons also joined the group.

When the Men came, they did not expect a trap. They walked up [[Bywater Road]], to the point where [[Tolman Cotton Senior|Farmer Cotton]] was standing. They threatened him, but found themselves heavily outnumbered, and as the hobbits closed the barricade behind them, also surrounded. Their leader fell by arrows as he tried to strike at Merry. The rest surrendered.

The larger group of Men from Waymeet arrived the following day. In the meantime, Pippin had set up a rebellion in [[Tookland]], and returned with one hundred Tooks. Merry set up a defensive pocket on a heavily banked part of the Bywater Road. The Men walked straight into the pocket. Some surrendered, some escaped, and about twenty broke out. Six men and two hobbits were killed. The others now became desperate, and didn't care about escaping, only killing. The banks proved too steep to climb, and many fell before Hobbit axes. Merry and Pippin charged from the eastern bank, and Merry killed the leader.<ref name="Scouring"/>

===Aftermath===
In the end, nearly seventy Men were killed and twelve were taken prisoner, while nineteen Hobbits died and about 30 were wounded. The dead Men were buried in a nearby sand-pit that came to be called the [[Battle Pit]]. The Hobbits were buried separately, and a stone was placed on their grave with a garden around it. A Roll was made of the names of all the Hobbits who fought in the Battle of Bywater, with Captains Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took listed at the top.

After the victory at Bywater, the Hobbits marched on to [[Bag End]], where they found Sharkey. It was not [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins|Lotho]] as had been thought, but rather [[Saruman]]. Saruman was ordered away by Frodo, and Saruman revealed that his servant [[Gríma Wormtongue|Gríma]] killed Lotho. Gríma cut Saruman's throat in a rage for years of oppression and abuse, but was himself shot by Hobbit archers. As the spirit of Saruman rose from its bodily form, it was blown away by a wind from the West; [[Manwë]] did not want him back.<ref name="Scouring"/>

The following year, preparations were made to restore the damage done by Saruman. Sam spread the blessed soil from [[Sam's garden box|the box of Galadriel]], and planted the [[mallorn]]-seed where once the [[The Party Tree]] had stood. 1420, by Shire Reckoning, became one of the best harvest years ever.<ref>{{RK|Havens}}</ref>

==Portrayal in adaptations==
'''1981: ''[[The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)]]'':'''
:The Scouring of the Shire appeared in abridged form. The arrest by the Shirriffs is omitted, as is the second part of the battle.

{{references}}

[[Category:Conflicts of the War of the Ring]]
[[Category:History of the Shire]]
[[de:Schlacht von Wasserau]]
[[fi:Virranvarren Taistelu]]

Tolkien Gateway - User contributions [en]

Battle of Bywater