I’d argue that in the lord of the rings they didn’t come back either. At least not the same as they were when they left. I think, for Tolkien, he may have been searching for some reason to justify the horrors he saw. To find something that mattered in it.
Frodo is very much haunted by his journey, by the things he faced and the weight he carried to the point of disability, to the point that he had to leave the world as it was to go to the world more perfect just to heal from his PTSD and his wounds. Tolkien lost so many friends, saw so many men broken. How many did he witness choose to go to that next world by their own hand?
And so many other characters, even the big heroes and mighty wizards were not unaffected. We see it in Eowyn come face to face with the harsh realities of war. That there is no glory here, no honor, only horror and blood and death. We see it in Boromir, adrift in the river, broken shield broken horn broken body never to return to his family or his city. We see it in the lament of the elves for a world that once was and will never come again. We see it in the dead marshes, that no man’s land of bloated corpses. We see it in the silmarillion, in broken heros and shattered lands.
I’ve said it before, but LOTR is anti-war. A common refrain in battle after battle after battle in his work is the toll it took, the blood that soaked the earth, the people who never come home. Unnumbered tears, shed for all those who have been lost.
But we also see the peace, the little joys, the reasons for hope, that there is light at the end of that long dark tunnel. Eowyn chooses to heal, not only others but herself. Faramir chooses to heal as well. And Sam, steady Sam, always a memory of what was left behind and what could await them at the end of the shadow.
What proves Aragorn the king is not his deeds in war, his strategy and tactics and prowess in combat; its his hands of healing. His ability to heal the wounds of others and see them through.
The heroes won, the world was saved, but the cost, oh the cost was so high. It would be nice, maybe if the war had actually been worth the price, and even then, the price was too high.
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