" It isn't that Gandalf thinks the Shire is not worth looking after, but rather that in order for any land to be kept from utter darkness for many ages to come, the quest to destroy the ring must succeed, and in the darkness into which they are all walking, it is better to trust to the loyalty of friends than to the power of well-meaning strangers "

― Mark Eddy Smith , Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of the Lord of the Rings