Tales of Years registrerar för TA 2758-9:
The Long Winter follows. Great suffering and loss of life in Eriador and Rohan. Gandalf comes to the aid of the Shire-folk.
Det var elva år efter exploateringen av Bandobras ("Bullroarer"), som fortfarande var väl minnas i Bilbos och Frodos tid, så Gandalfs hjälp under den långa vintern skulle också komma ihåg.
Detta var också Gandalfs första huvudsakliga interaktion med Shire, som vi läser i Quest of Erebor (i ofärdiga tal):
And then there was the Shire-folk. I began to have a warm place in my heart for them in the Long Winter, which none of you can remember. They were very hard put to it then: one of the worst pinches they have been in, dying of cold, and starving in the dreadful dearth that followed. But that was the time to see their courage, and their pity one for another. It was by their pity as much as by their tough uncomplaining courage that they survived. I wanted them still to survive.