The return of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin catalyzes the hobbits. The adventurers have grown on their journey, and they know the importance of defending their ideals against evil. They have fought and won the impossible battle against Sauron; a struggle against a real but abstract evil. Now they must fight evil again, this time at the very concrete level of their own homeland. On the journey home, Barliman Butterbur had been impressed by their military bearing, but "they themselves had become . . . used to warfare and riding in well-arrayed companies." Gandalf sums up the change: "You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high" — both literally and figuratively, because thanks to Treebeard's Ent-draught, Merry and Pippin have become the tallest hobbits on record.
The heroes' resolve inspires other hobbits, who overcome their fear and act together. The ruffians threaten to arrest a single hobbit, but "suddenly they were aware that Farmer Cotton was not all alone." Throughout the novel, isolation makes people vulnerable, but cooperation — whether it be on a large scale as when the Riders of Rohan aid Minas Tirith, or at the level of an individual, as when Sam carried Frodo up the slope of Mount Doom — leads to victory. For the hobbits, after they determine to act and decide to act together, the Scouring of the Shire can begin. The four heroes provide the expertise, while their country folk provide the support they need to succeed.
With determination and cooperation, the hobbits expel the invaders, destroy Saruman and his henchman Wormtongue, and eradicate the last vestige of Sauron's evil in Middle-earth. Then they apply the same energy to the restoration of their beloved homeland. "Now there were thousands of willing hands of all ages, from the small and nimble ones of the hobbit lads and lasses to the well-worn and horny ones of the gaffers and gammers." The result is not just an ideal restored, but surpassed: "a gleam of beauty beyond that of mortal summers that flicker and pass on this Middle-earth." As with the novel as a whole, the ending of evil means little without the assurance of continuation, that the life and land, once saved, will be preserved and remembered.
