Peter Jackson’s exclusion of the Scouring of the Shire from The Return of the King, the last film in the Lord of the Ring’s Trilogy, was a mistake, but not a fatal one.
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, the hobbits return to the Shire from the War of the Ring. The One Ring has been destroye and they expect to resume their untroubled lives. But they find out quickly that the Shire is now under occupation by a bunch of cruel Big People called Ruffians, who answer to a boss named Sharkey. Not only are the Ruffians running things, but they have corrupted other hobbits like Frodo’s slimy cousin Lotho and Ted Sandyman. To Sam’s horror, they’ve also cut down lots of the Shire’s beautiful trees, including the venerable Party Tree. The mill has become a monstrosity that belches smoke into the air and filth into the water. All of this expresses Tolkien’s horror at the industrialization of his beloved English countryside.
In the book, the hobbits muster up a hobbit army and drive the ruffians out and set about trying to restore the Shire. In the movie, they merely return to the Shire and listen to other hobbits talk about pumpkins. Jackson’s decision to not include the Scouring probably had something to do with the expense of filming it, the fatigue of the audience after watching the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and, as the writer China Mieville put it, the inappropriateness of staging another battle after “the Big Boss Battle.” But again, though many fans have complained, the exclusion of the Scouring isn’t fatal. The trilogy is already lauded as a classic for the ages.
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