Red Book of Westmarch
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In J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Red Book of Westmarch (sometimes Red Book of the Periannath, and The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings, also known as the Thain's Book after its principal version) is the book in which the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were written. It is bound in red leather.
The Red Book was written by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his heir Frodo Baggins, and contained both their adventures, as well as a lot of background information which the Bagginses collected. The Book was started by Bilbo Baggins, and recounted his quest of Erebor, which he called There and Back Again. He gave the Book to Frodo at Rivendell after completing it, and Frodo organized Bilbo's manuscript and used it to write down his own quest during the War of the Ring. The title page was inscribed with various titles that had been subsequently crossed out:
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The original version did not include Bilbo's translations of legends from the Elder Days (Translations from the Elvish, by B.B.) or the extensive background information on the realms of Arnor, Gondor and Rohan: these were introduced in later copies. The original Red Book was a single volume, kept in a red case. In the same case were added Bilbo's three-volume Elvish Translations and a fifth volume containing genealogical tables and commentaries.
After Bilbo and Frodo left for Valinor, the Red Book passed into the keeping of Samwise Gardner, mayor of the Shire. The book was left in the possession of Sam Gamgee's eldest daughter, Elanor Fairbairn, and her descendants (the Fairbairns of the Towers or Wardens of Westmarch).
Several copies, with various notes and later additions, were made. One of these was brought to Gondor in F.A. 64 by Thain Peregrin I. The scribe Findegil made a copy of the Red Book at the behest of King Elessar, and it is in this version that the Elvish translations and much of the background material was finally added to the Red Book. Also added was an abbreviated version of The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen by Faramir's grandson Barahir. A copy of this work was returned to the Shire, and become known as the Thain's Book. This book was kept at the Took residence in Great Smials. It is copies of this version which are presumed to have survived until Tolkien's time: in the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien's foreword claimed he had translated the Red Book from the original Westron into English.
The contents of the Red Book probably correspond to Tolkien's work as follows:
- Bilbo's journey: The Hobbit
- Frodo's journey: The Lord of the Rings
- Background information: the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings, as well as essays such as published in the Unfinished Tales
- Hobbit poetry and legends: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (in the Red Book, scattered throughout the margins of the text of Bilbo and Frodo's journeys)
- Bilbo's translation of Elven histories and legends: The Silmarillion
The "original" version of the Red Book contained the story of Bilbo's journey as it originally stood in the first edition of the Hobbit: thus, Gollum willingly gives the One Ring to Bilbo, and there is no trace of the Ring's hold over Gollum. Beginning with the Thain's Book, later copies of the Red Book contained, as an alternative, also the true account (later written in by Frodo), where Bilbo comes across the Ring by accident (the story as it stands in the current edition of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings).
In Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, the Red Book appears at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, where Frodo entrusts the book to Samwise just before he leaves Middle-earth. It is also seen in the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, where Frodo is talking about Bilbo's adventure. In the film's extended version, Bilbo is seen writing in it in Bag End.
Tolkien's inspiration for this repository of lore was the real Red Book of Hergest, the early 15th century compilation of Welsh history and poetry that contains the manuscript of the Mabinogion. Bound (and rebound) in red leather, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the manuscript was well known to Tolkien.
