Letter 268

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 268
Recipient	Miss A.P. Northey
Date	19 January 1965
Subject(s)	Shadowfax

Letter 268 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Summary

A Miss A.P. Northey had enquired about the fate of Shadowfax. Tolkien told her that, because The Lord of the Rings was written by chroniclers (in this case Sam), not everything needed to be told. And Sam, emotional as he was from the departure of Frodo, omitted the fate of Gandalf's trusted steed. Therefore one can only guess what happened, argues Tolkien.

And Tolkien guessed that Shadowfax most certainly came with Gandalf to the Grey Havens, and did not stay behind. It would have been noticed if he did, and after all, Shadowfax was one of the Mearas. Those horses descended from Nahar, the horse of Béma, and thus had blood that came from the West.