Lord of the Rings: What Each Fellowship Member Did Afterwards
The Fellowship might've gone their separate ways, but their adventures didn't come to an end after The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's Middle-earth epic encompasses many different characters hailing from a broad range of races, but mostly revolves around the nine members of the Fellowship. Representatives from across Middle-earth congregate in Rivendell at the behest of Elrond and Gandalf, deciding how to respond to Sauron's return and the remergence of the One Ring. After a period of disagreement (and a bit where everyone shouts out their favorite weapon), it's agreed that only Frodo the Hobbit can slip behind the gates of Mordor and destroy the Ring.
But the noble races of Middle-earth will be damned if they're going to let the halfling go alone. Along with his four companions from The Shire and the wizard who got Frodo involved in the first place, Elijah Wood is accompanied by two men (Aragorn and Boromir), an elf (Legolas) and a proud Dwarf (Gimli). The full complement of the Fellowship only lasts until the Mines of Moria, then breaks completely at the end of the first book. But though the group embark on separate missions, they all play a vital role in defeating Sauron.
The Return of the King reunites the Fellowship in a celebration of victory before each bids farewell once again, but most of the main group continue to have adventures even after The Lord of the Rings concludes. Some of these are documented in the movie adaptations, others are not. Some characters continue to influence Middle-earth in the Fourth Age, while others do important things like grow potatoes and marry barmaids, but all of them have another story to tell. Apart from Boromir.
When Frodo returns from his epic journey, he and the other three Hobbits discover The Shire ransacked by Saruman, and they set about wrestling their home from the evil, weakened wizard in a sub-plot that was ditched entirely for Peter Jackson's movie trilogy. Following the Scouring of the Shire, Frodo ensured the future of his homeland by serving as Deputy Mayor, made arrangements for his best friend, Samwise Gamgee, and followed Bilbo's example by documenting his adventures in a book to sit alongside "There & Back Again." Unfortunately, Frodo didn't stick around the sell the movie rights. After attempting to resume his old Shire life for two years, the emotional and physical scars from the Quest of the Ring proved too great.
As seen in Return of the King, Frodo was invited to sail west to the Undying Lands - the realm where Eru's children, the Valar, reside. Few of mortal composition are allowed to step foot in such a holy place, but Frodo and Bilbo were granted special permission by virtue of being Ring-bearers. After all, the evil of Sauron was nurtured by Morgoth, who was a Vala himself. In the Undying Lands, Frodo spent the rest of his days in comfort and rest, but the exact time of his death isn't known.
Frodo's ever-faithful companion, the friendship between the pair only grew stronger after their return to The Shire. Sam Gamgee was also instrumental in Saruman's defeat at Bywater, and as revealed in the movie adaptation, he marries the girl of his dreams in Rosie Cotton, the local barmaid. The newlyweds move into Bag End with Frodo and have 13 children together, naming four of them after old friends - Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Bilbo. After Frodo's departure, Sam inherited his best friend's estate and continued to dwell in Bag End, this time without a third wheel pottering around. During this time, Samwise Gamgee rose to become a prominent figure among the Hobbits, and served as the popular Mayor of the Shire for an impressive 49 years.
Following Rosie's death, Sam decided to make his own way to the Undying Lands, since he was technically another Ring-bearer. Sam looked after the cursed trinket briefly while Frodo was captured in Mordor, and he was permitted passage to the sacred realm on this basis. According to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings appendices, Sam and Frodo were reunited in this land during the twilight of their lives.
Upon returning to the Shire, all of the four Hobbits were changed by their experiences. Tolkien notes that each of them had become more physically imposing, and took on a more regal air than when they left, but it was Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck who stood out the most. By virtue of drinking the draught of the Ents, Merry became taller than any other Hobbit in the land. As well as an uncanny new ability to peek over hedges, Merry's future would closely mirror that of Samwise Gamgee. He married Estella Bolger (sister of Fatty Bolger, who actually accompanies Frodo through the first part of his journey in the original book) and the couple had children, although it's not known how many. Like Sam, he also rose to a leadership position, becoming the Master of Buckland, but Merry also took Frodo's cue of writing a book. Titled "Old Words & Names In The Shire," the tome examined how Hobbit-speak correlated with other languages beyond the borders Hobbits usually dared not pass
While he probably would've loved to join Frodo and Sam, Merry instead spent his final years in Gondor and Rohan, meeting old friends and seeing the beauty of those lands without the constant shadow of death that marred his first visit. After dying in Gondor, Merry's final resting place would be alongside Aragorn.
Peregrin "Pippin" Took joined the other three Fellowship Hobbits in giving Saruman a rough eviction from The Shire, and from there, he and Merry followed very similar paths. After all, if it ain't broke...
Pippin married a woman called Diamond (who can be glimpsed briefly in the final moments of Return of the King), and they had a son named after Faramir, echoing back to Pippin's time with Denethor's least favorite son. Faramir Jr. would later marry one of Sam and Rosie's daughters, bringing the families of the Fellowship even closer together, although many Hobbits were already distantly related in one way or another. Where Sam was Mayor and Merry was Master, Pippin took the title of Thain of the Shire - another honorary title that afforded more clout than the average Hobbit. Naturally, Pippin accompanied Merry on his final journeys to Rohan and Gondor, and was buried along with his closest friend in Aragorn's tomb. Not bad for a fool of a Took.
The Return of the King shows Gandalf accompanying Frodo to the Undying Lands, but the wizard's situation is a little different to that of his companions. Before his incarnation into Middle-earth as a wizard tasked with fighting Sauron, Gandalf was known as Olorin the Maia, and originally resided in the Undying Lands with the rest of his kind. Therefore, Gandalf's final journey west is more of a return home than an entirely new adventure. Before this, however, Gandalf has one last conversation with Tom Bombadil - the strange, all-powerful folk figure the Hobbits meet in Tolkien's original The Fellowship of the Ring book. The true nature of Tom Bombadil is one of The Lord of the Rings' greatest lingering mysteries, but Gandalf's decision to visit Tom before leaving Middle-earth suggests he knew more about the forest-dweller than was revealed to his Hobbit friends.
With his mission complete, Gandalf become Olorin once more in the Undying Lands. Despite reverting to his true form, the Maiar had a certain license to roam, and could seemingly change their form. As such, it's possible that Olorin was able to keep company with his old friends Frodo, Bilbo, Sam, etc., and might've even taken a form that would be familiar to them - the form of Sir Ian McKellen.
For many of the Fellowship, the years following the War of the Ring involved settling down and enjoying their fruits of victory. For Aragorn, however, the fight was only just beginning. Taking his rightful position on the throne of Gondor, Aragorn was titled King Elessar, and he too started a family after wedding Arwen. But Aragorn made it his mission to unify the lands of men under a single banner, restoring Gondor to its former glory. The first years of his reign were spent making reparations in the aftermath of Sauron, building what was destroyed and repopulating deserted locales. Aragorn also ensured his people developed closer relations with the elves and dwarves after years of mistrust between the three races.
Alas, the true challenge of King Elessar was bringing to heel the countries of men that had sided with Sauron in the War of the Ring. Under his command, Gondor attacked the Easterlings, forced the Corsairs of Umbar into submission, and settled things with the Haradrim (them with the big elephants) to bring the men of Middle-earth under a one, peaceful umbrella. Meanwhile, realms such as The Shire and Rohan were treated as allied, but independent, lands. Having essentially fixed Gondor (and renamed it the Reunited Kingdom), Aragorn passed away after 120 years of rule, to be buried in a tomb alongside Merry and Pippin.
Much like his ranger friend, Legolas had an important part to play in the restoration of Middle-earth, specifically healing the woodland realms from the darkness left behind by Sauron and his minions. Before that, however, Legolas and Gimli deepened their bond by embarking on a journey across Middle-earth, fulfilling their earlier promise that the elf should witness the wonder of caves, and the dwarf would view the splendor of an elvish forest.
After the trip, Legolas settled in Ithilien - the land neighboring Mordor where Frodo and Sam first encounter Faramir. As King, Aragorn put Ithilien under the charge of Faramir and his wife, Éowyn, and Leglolas later arrived with a small group of elves from Mirkwood, who established their own settlement there. As seen in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies, Ithilien's proximity to Mordor turned it into a desolate wasteland, but Legolas helped Faramir and his people undo the damage of Sauron. When his work was done, Legolas chose to follow the likes of Galadriel, Elrond, and many others of his kind to the Undying Lands. Frodo and Sam almost certainly would've died by this point, by Legolas could've united with Gandalf at least. As the first children of Eru, the elves have an open invitation to the holy realm.
The elves might've been granted a pass to the Undying Lands, but that didn't include a plus-one - especially when said plus-one was a dwarf. Undeterred, when Legolas set sail for Valinor, he requested Gimli come along too. In the immediate aftermath of The Lord of the Rings, Gimli and Legolas ventured around Middle-earth to fulfill the vow they made during the War of the Ring. When Legolas relocated to Ithilien, Gimli went his own way, doing for the dwarves what Legolas did for the elves. Gimli led a company of dwarves to the Glittering Caves near Helm's Deep, where they established a new settlement, taking on the vast amount of rebuilding jobs that had suddenly become available. Gimli became the Lord of the Glittering Caves, and strong ties were developed with the nearby people of Rohan. Dwarves also resumed mining operations in the now Balrog-free Moria.
But when Gimli's work was done, he accepted Legolas' invitation to go west. Not only are dwarves prohibited from entering the Undying Lands, but Gimli was never a Ring-bearer, therefore has no obvious right to be accepted into the Valar's home. Perhaps the blessings of Legolas, Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel was enough to get the dwarf a ticket into the party. Although Tolkien writes that friendship with Legolas is what took Gimli away from Middle-earth, he also acknowledges the dwarf's desire to see Galadriel again after their first meeting in The Lord of the Rings.
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