I. GANDALF'S DELAY. In The Return of the Shadow, after citing and discussing the remark- able notes and plot-outlines bearing the date August 1939 (Chapter XXII: 'New Uncertainties and New Projections'), I turned to the continuation of the story at Rivendell and after, as far as Moria. But at this time (towards the end of 1939) my father was also engaged in substantial further revision to what ultimately became Book I of The Fellowship of the Ring (FR), arising primarily from a changed story of Gandalf's movements, and an explanation of his delay. I doubt that it would be possible to deduce a perfectly clear and coherent, step-by- step chronology of this period in the narrative evolution, or to relate precisely the development of the early chapters of what became Book II to the new work on Book I; for my father moved back and forth, trying out new conceptions and then perhaps abandoning them, and producing such a tangle of change as cannot always be untied: and even if it could be, it would require a vast amount of space to make it all remotely comprehensible without the manuscripts. However, granting that many uncertainties remain, I do not think that they constitute a real impediment to understanding the development in all essentials. Most of this new work on the story as far as Rivendell can be treated in terms of the individual chapters, but some outlines, time-schemes, and notes are best collected together, though I cannot certainly determine the order in which they were set down. These are the subject of this chapter. (1). This slip of paper begins 'State of Plot assumed after XI. (Much of explanation in XII and of incident in Bree chapter will have to be rewritten.)' The reference is clearly to Chapter XII 'The Council of Elrond', which at this stage included the narrative afterwards separ- ated off as 'Many Meetings' (see VI.399-400). Then follows: Bilbo gives Party and goes off. At that time he does not know anything about the ring's powers or origin (other than invisibility). Motive writing book (bring in his wry expression about 'living happily to end of [his] days') - and a restlessness: desire to see either Sea or Mountains while his days last. Confesses to a slight re- luctance to leave the ring, mixed with an oddly opposite feeling. Says to Gandalf he sometimes feels it is like an eye looking at [him]. These two things give Gandalf food for thought. He helps Bilbo therefore with his preparations - but keeps an eye on the Ring. (Cut out a lot of the genealogical stuff and most of the Sackville- Baggins stuff.) Then Gandalf goes off and is absent for 3 and 7 years. At the end of the last absence (14 - 15 years after Bilbo's disappearance) Gandalf returns and actually stays with Frodo. Then he explains what he has discovered. But he does not advise Frodo yet to go off, though he does mention the Cracks of Doom and the Fiery Mountain. He departs again; and Frodo becomes restless. As Gandalf does not come back for a year and more Frodo forms the idea of going perhaps to the Cracks of Doom, but at any rate to Rivendell. There he will get advice. He finally makes his plans with his friends Merry and [Folco >] Faramond' (no Odo) and Sam. They go off just as the Black Riders come to Hobbiton. Gandalf finds out about the Black Riders but is delayed, because the Dark Lord is hunting him (or because of Treebeard). He is alarmed at finding Frodo gone and immediately rides off to Buckland, but is again too late. He loses their trail owing to the Old Forest escapade, and actually gets ahead. He falls in with Trotter. Who is Trotter? At the end of this sketch my father for a moment contemplated an entirely novel answer to this question: that Trotter was 'a disguised elf - friend of Bilbo's in Rivendell.' He was one of the Rivendell scouts, of whom many were sent out, and he 'pretends to be a ranger'. This was struck out, probably as soon as written. If this is compared with the note dated August 1939 given in VI.374 it will be seen that a passage in the latter bears a distinct similarity to what is said here: Gandalf does not tell Frodo to leave Shire ... The plan for leaving was entirely Frodo's. Dreams or some other cause [added: restless- ness] have made him decide to go journeying (to find Cracks of Doom? after seeking counsel of Elrond). Gandalf simply vanishes for years.... Gandalf is simply trying to find them, and is des- perately upset when he discovers Frodo has left Hobbiton. That Treebeard was a hostile being, and that he held Gandalf in captivity during the crucial time, appeared in the 'third phase' Chapter XII (VI.363); cf. also VI.384, 397. (2) In another undated scrap is seen the actual emergence of 'Trotter's' true name - as a Man: Aragorn. Trotter is a man of Elrond's race descendant of [struck out at once: Turin] the ancient men of the North, and one of Elrond's house- hold. He was a hunter and wanderer. He became a friend of Bilbo. He knew Gandalf. He was intrigued by Bilbo's story, and found Gollum. When Gandalf went off on the last perilous quest - really to find out about Black Riders and whether the Dark Lord would attack the Shire - he [> Gandalf and Bilbo] arranged with Trotter (real name [other unfinished names struck oat in the act of writing: Bara / Rho / Dam] Aragorn son of Aramir) to go towards the Shire and keep a lookout on the road from East (Gandalf was going South). He gives Aragorn a letter to Frodo. Aragorn pretends he is a Ranger and hangs about Bree. (He also warns Tom Bombadil.) Reason of wooden shoes - no need in this case because Aragorn is a man. Hence there is no need for Gandalf... The cache of food at Weathertop is Aragorn's. Aragorn steers them to Weathertop as a good lookout. But how could Trotter miss Gandalf? What delayed Gandalf? Black Riders or other hunters. Treebeard. Aragorn did not miss Gandalf and arranged tryst on Weathertop. At the end is written very emphatically and twice underlined: NO 0 D O. The likeness of what is said of Trotter/Aragorn here (he was a man of Elrond's race and household, he became a friend of Bilbo's, and he 'pretends he is a Ranger') to the proposal at the end of $1 (Trotter was 'a disguised elf', one of the Rivendell scouts, a friend of Bilbo's in Rivendell, and he 'pretends to be a ranger') may suggest that the one arose directly from the other. On the other hand, my father had still not finally decided the question; for on the reverse of this piece of paper and undoubtedly at the same time he wrote: Alternative function for Trotter. Trotter is Peregrin Boffin that Bilbo took away with him or who ran off with Bilbo - but this rather duplicates things - unless you cut out all Frodo's friends. If Trotter is Peregrin Boffin then Bilbo must go off quietly and Peregrin simply vanish about the same time. This is followed by a brief passage sketching a rough narrative on these lines: There was peace in Hobbiton for many years. Gandalf came seldom and then very quietly and mainly to visit Bilbo. He seemed to have given up trying to persuade even [?young] Tooks to go off on mad adventures out of the Shire. Then suddenly things began to happen. Bilbo Baggins disappeared again - that is hardly exact: he walked off without saying a word except to Gandalf (and to his nephews Peregrin and Frodo, it may be supposed). It was a great blow to Frodo. He found Bilbo had left everything he possessed to himself and Peregrin. But Peregrin also disappeared, leaving a will in which his share Here these notes end, the idea abandoned. Perhaps it was here that Trotter ceased finally to be a hobbit, Peregrin Boffin. (3) A page of clear notes in ink, agreeing in part with features of $1 and $2, is headed optimistically Final decisions. Oct. 8 1939. This was subsequently emended in pencil, but I give it first as it was written. (1) General plot as at present. Bilbo vanishes at party (but all that chapter will have to be reduced, especially the Sackville-Baggins business). (Begin with a conversation between Bilbo and Frodo?) (2) Gandalf not expected by Frodo. Gandalf had not been seen for 213 years. Frodo grew restless and went off - although Gandalf had really not wished him to go till he returned. (3) When Bilbo went Gandalf not sure of nature of Ring. Bilbo's longevity had made him suspicious - and he induced Bilbo not to take Ring with him. Bilbo had no idea that Ring was dangerous - hence simplify all Bilbo's motives, and remove the difficulty of his burdening Frodo with it. (4) Frodo's friends are Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Boffin called Merry and Perry (only; no Odo). Peregrin drops off at Crickhollow. Merry at Rivendell. Sam only goes on to end. (5) Trotter is not a hobbit but a real ranger who had gone to live in Rivendell after much wandering. Cut out shoes. In (4) it is seen that despite the decision - which was indeed final - that Trotter was a Man, 'Peregrin Boffin' survived the loss of his alter ego, remaining an intimate of the owner of Bag End in a later generation; and for a brief moment may be said to step into the shoes of Odo Bolger - since he 'drops off at Crickhollow'. Pencilled emendations were made to (4) and (5). To (4) was first added: 'Peregrin stays at Hobbiton and tells Gandalf.' This was struck out, and the first sentence of the note was changed to read: 'Frodo's friends are Meriadoc Brandybuck and Ham [ilcar] Bolger and Fara- mond Took, called Merry, Ham, and Far', with the further addition: 'Ham drops off at Crickhollow, but is picked up by Gandalf and used as a decoy.?' (On this see under $6 below, p. 13.) Thus once more 'Odo Bolger' will bounce back, but now under the name of Hamilcar of that ilk. 'Hamilcar' has appeared hitherto only in a note dated August 1939, where it is proposed that 'Odo' be changed to 'Hamilcar' or 'Fredegar' (VI.373). 'Peregrin Boffin' disappears again - but only temporarily. To (5) was added in pencil, after 'a real ranger': 'descendant of Elendil. Tarkil.' The name Tarkil appears in the Etymologies in V.364 (stem KHIL 'follow'): * tara-khil, in which the second element evi- dently bears the sense mortal man (Hildi the Followers, an Elvish name for Men, V.245). (4) A page of very rough notes in pencil, covered with emendations and additions, is dated 'Autumn 1939* and headed New Plot. There now enters a very important development: a far more explicit account of what had caused Gandalf s delay than anything that has been said hitherto; and the evil figure of 'Giant Treebeard', his captor, dis- appears - though not for good (see p. 72). Time Scheme won't work out for Gandalf to be ahead. (1) Crickhollow scene - only Hamilcar [struck out: or Folco](9) there. He blows horn and startles the Riders' horses, which bolt. They run out of the house, and find a way (10) as the hue and cry wakes. (2) Gandalf is behind at Bree. He knows Trotter (real name Aragorn). Trotter helped him track Gollum. He brings Trotter back in April 1418 to keep watch especially S.E. of Shire. It was a message of Trotter's in July (?) that took Gandalf away (11)-fearing Black Riders. He meets Trotter at Sarn Ford.(11) He then tells him of Frodo's intended departure on Sept. 22. Begs him to watch East Road in case anything happens to Gandalf himself. He visits Bree on way back to Shire on Sept. [date illegible]. But is pursued and tries to get round to west of Shire. Black Riders pursue them [read him] - Gandalf has insufficient magic to cope with Black Riders unaided, whose king is a wizard. They pursue him over Sarn Ford and he cannot (or dare not) go back to Shire. Eventually he is besieged in the Western Tower. He cannot get away while they guard it with five Riders. But when Black Riders have located Frodo and found that he has gone off without Gandalf they ride away. Three are ahead. Three follow Frodo, but miss him and get ahead at Bree. Three come behind.(13) Gandalf follows after - meets Peregrin [written above: news from Gaffer]. The remainder of this outline is a very rough and much corrected chronology of Gandalf's subsequent movements, which is best con- sidered together with other chronologies of this time ($6). A remarkable feature of this 'New Plot' is the date April 1418, for this is the first appearance of any 'exterior' chronology; moreover 1418 is the year in LR, Appendix B - according to the Shire Reckoning, i.e. 3018 of the Third Age. At the present time, at any rate, I am unable to cast any light on the chronology underlying this date, or to make any suggestion as to the process by which it had arisen. (5) On the reverse of the page bearing this 'New Plot' is a series of notes on unconnected topics. (1) Some mention of Bill Ferney's pony. Does this remain at Rivendell? [The question is answered 'Yes'.] (2) Real name of Trotter? [Pencilled against this: 'Aragorn'. See $$ 2,4.) (3) Elrond should tell more of Gilgalad? (4) New name of Dimrilldale (now transferred to South). River Hoarwell flowing out of ? Hoardale. Nen fimred. Wolfdale [written above: Entishdale]. The region west of the Misty Mountains north of Rivendell is called the Entishlands - home of Trolls.(14) (5) Gandalf says Tom Bombadil never leaves his own ground. How then known to Butterbur? Tom's boundaries are from Bree to High Hay?(15) [Against the words 'How then known to Butterbur?' my father pencilled 'Not'.] (6) Trotter is a Ranger - descendant of Elendil? - he is known to Bilbo, and Gandalf. He has previously been to Mordor and been tormented (caught in Moria). Gandalf brought him back towards borders of Shire in April. It was a message from Trotter that fetched Gandalf away in summer before Frodo left. (7) Note Frodo's red sword is broken. Hence he accepts Sting.' A final note was added in pencil: '(8) Not Barnabas Butterbur.' - In the remarks about Trotter here the only point that has not appeared in notes already given is that Trotter was captured in Moria: cf. the original story of the Council of Elrond (VI.401): 'Trotter had tracked Gollum as he wandered southwards, through Fangorn Forest, and past the Dead Marshes, until he had himself been caught and imprisoned by the Dark Lord.' It is seen here that the story of Trotter's capture and torturing survived his change from hobbit to man. Since Trotter's real name is not yet known these notes evidently preceded those in $2 and $4; but no doubt they all come from the same time. (6) Time-schemes. In this section I attempt to present four chronolo- gies of Gandalf's movements, which I label A, B, C, D. A is the conclusion of the 'New Plot' given in $4 above, and was probably the first to be set down. The schemes vary among themselves, each one giving slightly different chronologies; and it is hard to be sure to what extent the story differed in each, since my father was more explicit and less explicit at different points in the different schemes. They were working chronologies, much confused by alternatives and additions, and they cannot be usefully reproduced as they stand, but in the table on p. 12 I set out comparatively the (final) dates in each, with statements in the original wording or closely based on it. The dates of Frodo's journey from Hobbiton to Weathertop remain of course unchanged, but I repeat them here for convenience: Thurs. Sept. 22. Frodo's party Fri. 23. Frodo and his friends leave Hobbiton Sat. 24. Night with the Elves Sun. 25. Farmer Maggot; reach Crickhollow Mon. 26. Old Forest; first night with Bombadil Tues. 27. Second night with Bombadil. Wed. 28. Leave Bombadil; Barrow-downs. Thurs. 29. Reach Bree. Fri. 30. Leave Bree; in Chetwood. Sat. Oct. 1. In Chetwood. Sun. 2. In the Midgewater Marshes. Mon. 3. Second day in the Marshes. Tues. 4. Camp by stream under alders. Wed. 5. Camp at feet of the hills. Thurs. 6. Reach Weathertop; attack at night. Notes on the Time-schemes (table on p. 12). The relative chronology of Gandalf's movements is much the same in all four, though the actual dates differ; but in C he takes longer from Hobbiton to Crickhollow, and in D he takes a day less from Bree to Weathertop. In A and B the date of Gandalf s escape from the Tower was first given as 24 September, the night that Frodo and his companions passed with the Elves in the Woody End, and in B there is a suggestion, struck out, that Frodo 'dreamt his dream at night with the Elves'; as is seen from the other schemes, he dreamed of Gandalf in the Western Tower. In C it is said that Frodo dreamt of the Tower when 'with the Elves near Woodhall', but against this my father wrote: 'No - at Crickhollow'; he also noted here that the attack on Crickhollow should be told on the night of The Prancing Pony (whence the 'doubled' opening of FR Chapter 11, 'A Knife in the Dark'). In D the placing of Frodo's 'vision of Gandalf' or 'Dream of the Tower' hesitates between the night he spent with the Elves, the night at Crickhollow, and the first night at Bombadil's house. - For the remarkable history of the dream see pp. 33-6. The mention in A and B of Gandalf's meeting with Peregrin Boffin (Perry) at Hobbiton after his escape belongs with the addition made to the 'final decisions' given in $3 above: 'Peregrin stays at Hobbiton and tells Gandalf.' This was a short-lived idea - indeed already in the 'New Plot' ($4) my father scribbled in here 'news from Gaffer': a reference to the story that will appear in the next phase of work on 'The Council of Elrond' (p. 135; FR p. 276). Scheme A makes no mention of what happened at Crickhollow, but the 'New Plot' that precedes it begins with the statement that only Hamilcar Bolger was there, and that the horses of the Riders bolted when he blew a horn: which presumably means that the attack took place before Gandalf arrived. An addition to B (contradicting the chronology of that scheme) says that The Black Riders creep into Buckland, but too late to see Frodo depart. They track him to Crickhollow and guard it, and see Gandalf enter. But Gandalf (and Ham pretending to be Frodo) burst out on night of Sept. 29. Journeys of Gandalf. A Sun. Escapes from Tower. Sept. 25. Tues. Sept. 27 Wed. Reaches Hobbiton; sees. Sept. 28 Perry Boffin. Thurs. Crickhollow. Sept. 29 Fri. Leaves Crickhollow, Sept. 30 goes to Bombadil. Sat. Leaves Bombadil; Oct. 1 reaches Bree. Sun. Leaves Bree in morning. Oct. 2 Mon. Oct. 3 Tues. Breaks through Riders. Oct. 4 and reaches. Weathertop. B. Escapes from Tower at dawn. Reaches Hobbiton; sees Perry Boffin (morning). Reaches Crickhollow late. Leaves Crickhollow early, goes to Bombadil. Leaves Bombadil, reaches Bree late, 'very tired'. Leaves Bree early. Reaches Weathertop late. Pursued by Riders leaves Weathertop early. C. Leaves White Tower at dawn. Reaches Hobbiton. Reaches Crickhollow via Bridge, evening. Riders attack at night. Dawn: breaks out with Ham and 'rides off' to Bombadil. Reaches Bree in evening. Leaves Bree. Reaches Weathertop in evening. Leaves during night. D. Returns to Shire. Riders attack Crickhollow; carry off Ham, pursued by Gandalf (midnight). Early morning: rescues Ham, goes to Bombadil. Leaves Bombadil early, reaches Bree. Leaves Bree with Ham early. Reaches Weathertop in evening. Holds out during night. Flies from Weathertop pursued by Riders. With this d. the addition to $3 above: 'Ham drops off at Crickhollow, but is picked up by Gandalf and used as a decoy.' Scheme C says that it was at dawn on the 30th (the morning on which the hobbits left Bree with Trotter after the attack on the inn) that 'Gandalf broke out with Ham'; he then 'rode off to Tom' (which way did he go?). A different story is seen in D, in which it is told that at midnight on the 29th/30th Black Riders crossed the Brandywine by the Ferry, attacked the house at Crickhollow, and carried off Ham, 'pursued by Gandalf'; and that in the early morning of the 30th Gandalf rescued Ham, the Black Riders fled in terror to their King, and Gandalf went on to visit Tom. For narrative drafts reflecting these versions of the events at Crickhollow see pp. 53-6, 68-70. All the schemes agree that Gandalf went from Buckland to visit Tom Bombadil; cf. the original version of 'The Council of Elrond', VI.401, where Gandalf says that 'when I had chased the Riders from Crickhollow I turned back to visit him.' Scheme D has a note that 'Trotter reaches the Shire border Sept. 14 and hears ill news on morning of 25th from Elves.' This scheme also provides an account of the movements of the individual Riders, who are identified by the letters A to r. It was n who came to Hobbiton on 23 September, the night on which Frodo left, and it was n and z who trailed the hobbits in the Shire, while G H I were on the East Road and was to the southward. On the 25th, the day that Frodo reached Crickhollow, DEGHI assembled at the Brandywine Bridge; c waited there while H and I passed through Bree on Monday the 26th. On the 27th n and E 'got into Buckland and looked for Baggins'; on the 28th they 'located' him and went to get the help of c. On the night of the 29th DEG crossed the River by the Ferry; and on the same night H and 1 returned and attacked The Prancing Pony. Pursued by Gandalf from Crickhollow DEG fled to the King. ABCDEFG 'rode East after Gandalf and the supposed Baggins' on 1 October; F and c were sent direct to Weathertop, and the other five, together with H and I, rode through Bree at night, throwing down the gates, and from the inn (where Gandalf was) the noise of their passage was heard like a wind. F and G reached Weathertop on the 2nd; Gandalf was pursued North from Weathertop by C D E, while A B F G H I patrolled the East Road. Of these four time-schemes only D treats fully the chronology from Weathertop to the Ford. A mentions that Gandalf went North 'via Entish Lands' and reached Rivendell on 14 October; two Riders pursued him 'towards Entish Dale; these are they that came from the flank at the Ford. ' B also has Gandalf reach Rivendell on the 14th, and says: But messages from the Elves of the Shire have travelled swiftly since Sept. 24. Already Elrond has heard in Rivendell that the Ring had set out alone, and that Gandalf is missing, and the Ringwraiths are out. He sends out scouts North, South, and West. These scouts are Elves of power. Glorfindel goes along the Road. He reaches the Bridge of Mitheithel (18) at dawn on Oct. 12 and drives off the Black Riders and pursues them West till they escape. On Oct. 14 he turns and searches for traces of Frodo*s party for several days (2/3), finds them, and then comes after them, catching them up on the evening of Oct. 18. In Scheme D the final chronology for this part of the story, agreeing (except in one point) with that in LR Appendix B though fuller, was attained. For earlier phases of the development see VI.219, 360. October. Wed. 5. Camp near hills. Thurs.6. Attack on camp at Weathertop. Fri. 7. Frodo leaves Weathertop. Sat. 8. News reaches Elrond. Sun. 9. Glorfindel leaves Rivendell. Mon. 10. Frodo in the Cheerless Lands. Tues. 11. Gandalf at Hoarwell (Mitheithel). Rain. Glorfindel at Bridge of Mitheithel. Wed. 12. Frodo and Trotter see Road and rivers. Thurs. 13. Frodo crosses Last Bridge. Fri. 14. Frodo in hills. Glorfindel finds tracks. Sat. 15. Hills (wet). Sun. 16. Hills (shelf) [See FR p. 214:'a stony shelf']. Mon. 17. Troll-ridge. Tues. 18. Trolls. Gandalf and Ham reach. Rivendell Glorfindel finds Trotter etc. Wed. 19. Bend [See FR p. 224: 'the Road bent right']. Thurs. 20. Battle at Ford of Bruinen (19) Fri. 21. Sat. 22. Frodo unconscious. Sun. 23. Mon. 24. Frodo wakes. Tues. 25. Wed. 26. Council of Elrond. The only point in which this differs from the final chronology is that a whole day passes between Frodo's waking and the Council of Elrond, which thus takes place here on the 26th of October, not on the 25th. But this is not a slip, for the same appears in other closely related chronologies of this period. NOTES. 1. Faramond Took replaced Folco Took in the original version of 'The Council of Elrond', VI.406 and subsequently. 2. Turin of course had no descendants. Possibly Turin was a slip for Tuor, grandfather of Elrond. 3. That it was Trotter who found Gollum appears in the original version of 'The Council of Elrond' (VI.401 and note 20). 4. The meaning of this very elliptical remark is possibly that when Trotter was a hobbit the injury to his feet caused him to wear shoes, which for a hobbit was highly unusual; but if he was a man that would not be the case. 5. From its appearance the illegible word could well be otiose, but that does not seem likely. If however this is what it is, 'Hence there is no need for' must be a sentence left in the air, followed by 'Gandalf otiose' - i.e. Gandalf need have nothing to do with Weathertop: Aragorn 'steered them to Weathertop' simply be- cause it was 'a good lookout'. But the whole passage is very obscure. 6. I.e., if Bilbo went off with Peregrin Boffin there would be a duplication when Frodo in his turn went off with younger companions. 7. Cf. the story of Peregrin Boffin in VI.385-6: there Peregrin and Frodo stood in the same relationship (first cousins once removed) to Bilbo. 8. The bracketed sentence was struck out, with the note: 'No, because that would give away suspense.' On the same piece of paper as these 'final decisions' there is a sketch of such a conversation, although in this there is no suggestion of a party: 'I am going for a holiday, a long holiday!' said Bilbo Baggins to his young 'nephew' Frodo. 'What is more, I am going tomorrow. It will be April 30th, my anniversary and a good day to start on. Also the weather is fine! ' Bilbo had made this announcement a great many times before; but each time he made it, and it became plainer that he really meant it, Frodo's heart sank lower. He had lived with Bilbo for nearly 12 years and known him longer, and he was devoted to him. 'Where are you going?' he asked, but he did not expect any answer, as he had also asked this question often before and got no satisfactory reply. 'I would tell you if I knew myself for certain - or perhaps I would,' answered Bilbo as usual. 'To the Sea maybe, or the Mountains. Mountains, I think; yes, Mountains,' he said, as if to himself. 'Could I come with you?' asked Frodo. He had never said that before; and he had not really any desire to leave Bag-End or the Shire that he loved; but that night with Bilbo's departure so near Here this fragment ends. 9. or Folco: cf. $3 (4): 'peregrin [Boffin] drops off at Crickhollow.' 10. find a way is clear, but my father possibly intended ride away, or flee away, or something similar. 11. In the 'third phase' version Gandalf still left Bag End 'one wet dark evening in May' (VI.323). In FR (p. 76) he left at the end of June. 12. The name Sarn Ford is here met for the first time. It is found on the most original part of the original LR map (pp. 299, 305). 13. The numbers were first written two ahead, four following Frodo, three behind. The passage was bracketed with a note: 'No, see Black Riders' movements': this is a reference to the full account in Scheme D (see p. 13). 14. For the transference of Dimrill-dale to the South and the other side of the Misty Mountains and its replacement by Hoardale see VI.432-3, notes 3 and 13. The present note is very probably where the River Hoarwell (see VI.192, 360) rising in Hoardale, and the Entish Lands, first emerged. No doubt it was at this time that Hoardale was written on the manuscript of the first version of 'The Ring Goes South' (VI.432, note 3); but Entish Dale evidently soon replaced it - it is found in one of the Time-schemes (p. 13) and was written in on the present note. On Ent as used in these names, in the sense of Old English erst 'giant', the Ents of Fangorn not having yet arisen, see VI.205. 15. In the 'third phase' narrative Tom Bombadil was still thought of as visiting The Prancing Pony (VI.334), but in the first version of 'The Council of Elrond' (VI.402) Gandalf says that 'the mastery of Tom Bombadil is seen only on his own ground - from which he has never stepped within my memory.' 16. Bilbo's gift to Frodo of Sting is first mentioned in the initial draft for 'The Council of Elrond' (VI.397), and Frodo's possession of it in the sketch for the Moria story (VI.443). - Why is Frodo's sword called 'red'? In another isolated note, written much later, this reappears: 'What happened to the red sword[s] of the Barrows? In Frodo's case it is broken at the Ford and he has Sting.' In the 'third phase' version of 'Fog on the Barrow-downs' they were 'bronze swords, short, leaf-shaped and keen' (VI.128, 329); at some later time the reading of FR (p. 157), according to which they were 'damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold', was entered on that manuscript. 17 On Entish Dale see note 14. - In the 'third phase' version of the story there were six Riders in ambush at the Ford (VI.361); in FR there were four (cf. p. 62). 18. This is the first appearance in the texts of the Elvish name Mitheithel of the River Hoarwell (see note 14) and of the Last Bridge, by which the East Road crossed the river (but they are found on the sketch-maps redrawn in Vol. VI, p. 201). 19. This is the first occurrence of the name Bruinen, other than on one of the sketch-maps mentioned in note 18. II. THE FOURTH PHASE (1): FROM HOBBITON TO BREE. The rethinking and rewriting of this period led to an extremely complex situation in the actual constituent chapter-manuscripts of the book as it stood. Some of the manuscripts of the 'third phase' were now in their turn covered with corrections and deletions and inters- persed with inserted riders, so that they became chaotic (cf. VI.309). In this case, however, since substantial parts of those manuscripts were in no need of correction, or of very little, my father wrote out fair only those parts of the chapters that had been much affected by revision, and added to these the unaffected portions of the original 'third phase' texts. For this 'fourth' phase, therefore, some of the manuscripts are textually hybrids, while others remain common to both 'phases' (no doubt a somewhat artificial conception). The rejected parts of the 'third phase' manuscripts were separated and set aside and in a sense 'lost', so that when the 'fourth phase' series was sent to Marquette University some eighteen years later these superseded pages - and a good deal of preliminary draft writing for their replacement - remained in England. To put it all together again, and to work out the intricacies of the whole complex become so widely separated, has been far from easy; but I have no doubt that in the result the history of these texts has been correctly ascertained.' Where necessary to distinguish rough revision in draft and the fair copy manuscript based on it I shall call the former 'A' and the latter 'B' for the purpose of this chapter. The revision of this period came very near to attaining the text of FR Book I through a great part of its length, though with certain major and notable exceptions; and in what follows a host of minor changes is to be presupposed, since there would be little purpose in spelling them out. It is indeed remarkable to see that by the end of 1939 the story as far as Rivendell had been brought, after so many and such meticulous revisions, to a point where one could read the greater part of it and scarcely suspect any difference from FR without careful comparison; yet at this time my father was without any clear conception of what lay before him. In my account chapter by chapter of the 'fourth phase' I shall concentrate on the major elements of reconstruction that belong to this time. Chapter I: 'A Long-expected Party'. The sixth or 'third phase' version of this chapter (VI.314-15) was heavily reworked in certain passages, bringing the story at almost all points virtually to the form in FR. The substantial rider added at the beginning, introducing the story of the youth of Peregrin Boffin or Trotter (see VI.384-6), was rejected when the decision was finally taken that Trotter was a Man, and does not appear in the fair copy B. Many changes reflect suggestions in the notes dated August 1939 given in VI.370 ff., and some new features derive from the notes and outlines given in Chapter I of this book. Thus Bilbo took with him 'a bundle wrapped in old cloths': his 'elf-armour' (see VI.371-2). Now, just as in FR (p. 40), he put the envelope on the mantlepiece (but suddenly took it down and stuck it in his pocket), and Gandalf entered at that moment (changing the previous story, in which Gandalf met Bilbo at the bottom of the hill, VI.315). Their conversation (for the form of it before this revision see VI.238-40) becomes exactly as in FR, as far as 'It's time he was his own master now' (p. 41), and this clearly derives from the 'August 1939' note given in VI.374: 'Neither Bilbo nor Gandalf must know much about the Ring, when Bilbo departs. Bilbo's motive is simply tiredness, an unexplained restless- ness...' Bilbo's words about his book, which Gandalf says nobody will read, are taken up from the note given in VI.371. But here this 'fourth phase' version shows a significant difference from FR: for there is no quarrel between them as yet,' though it hovers on the verge of being devised (on the first germ of the quarrel see VI.378 - 9). I give the passage in the form of the fair copy B (which the draft A approaches very closely): 'Everything?' said Gandalf. 'The ring as well?' 'Well, or yes I suppose so,' stammered Bilbo. 'Where is it?' 'I put it in an envelope for him, and put it on the mantle - well no! Isn't that odd now! Here it is in my pocket!' Gandalf looked again very hard at Bilbo, and his eyes glinted. 'I think, Bilbo,' he said quietly, 'I should leave it with him. Don't you want to? 'Well yes - and yet it seems very difficult to part with it somehow. Why do you want me to leave it behind?' he asked, and a curious note of suspicion came into his voice. 'You are always worrying about it lately, but you have never bothered me about the other things I got on my journey.' 'Magic rings are - well, magic,' answered Gandalf; 'and they are not, nowadays, very common. Let's say that I am profes- sionally interested in your ring, and would like to know where it is. Also I think you have had it long enough. You won't want it any more, Bilbo, unless I am quite mistaken.' 'Oh, very well,' said Bilbo. 'It would be a relief, in a way, not to be bothered with it. It has been rather growing on my mind lately. Sometimes I have felt that it was like an eye looking at me;(3) and I am always wanting to put it on and disappear, don't you know, or wondering if it is safe and pulling it out to make sure. I tried leaving it locked up, but I found I couldn't rest without it in my pocket. I don't know why. Well! Now I must be starting, or somebody else will catch me. I have said good-bye, and I couldn't bear to do it all over again.' He picked up his bag and moved towards the door. 'You have still got the ring in your pocket,' said the wizard. 'So I have, and my will and all the other documents too!' cried Bilbo. 'I had better give them to you to deliver to Frodo. That will be safest.' He held out the envelope, but just as Gandalf was about to take it, Bilbo's hand jerked and the envelope fell on the floor. Quick as lightning the wizard stooped and seized it, before Bilbo could pick it up. An odd look passed over the hobbit's face, almost like anger. Suddenly it gave way to a look of relief and a smile. 'Well, that's that!' he said. 'Now I'm off!' From this point the revision brings the narrative almost to the final form. The dwarves, now three and no longer named, play only the same role as in FR; and when Frodo returns to Bag End he finds Gandalf sitting in the dark, whereupon the conversation between them in FR (pp. 44-5) follows. A minute but characteristically subtle difference remaining is that it is not said, in the passage just cited, that when the envelope fell to the floor Gandalf 'set it in its place' on the mantlepiece; and now Gandalf says to Frodo: 'He left a packet with me to give to you. Here it is!' Then Frodo took the envelope from the wizard. In FR Gandalf pointed to it on the mantelpiece; he would not sit waiting for Frodo with the envelope containing the Ring in his hand. Once again the list of Bilbo's labelled legacies changes (see VI.247), in that Uffo Took now receives the final name Adelard, while the somnolent Rollo Bolger, recipient of the feather-bed, makes his last appearance, his first name changed to Odovacar, in A; in B he has gone. The conversation between Gandalf and Frodo at Bag End on the following day (see VI.242-3) now becomes precisely as in FR with, of course, the one major difference that there is no reference to the variant stories which, Bilbo had told concerning his acquisition of the Ring (p. 49). The rewriting of this conversation again clearly springs from the note of August 1939 (VI.374) referred to above, to the effect that Gandalf still did not know very much about the Ring at this time; for Gandalf now knows less about it than he had done. He no longer warns Frodo against allowing it to gain power over him, nor is there now any mention in their conversation of Bilbo's state of 'preserva- tion', and his restlessness, as concomitants of his possession of the Ring. The revision got rid of the Dwarf Lofar, who had previously remained at Bag End after Bilbo's departure with the other Dwarves, but at first provided no dear substitute for Frodo's aide-de-camp whose task (as it turned out) was to receive the Sackville-Bagginses. In the fair copy B this is Merry, as in FR; but in the draft revision A my father replaced Lofar by one scribbled name after another: 'Merry' > 'Peregrin Boffin' > 'Folco Took'; at subsequent occurrences in this episode 'Peregrin Boffin' > 'Folco', and once 'Peregrin' retained. 'Peregrin Boffin' had been moved from the role of Trotter in his youth, but survived as one of Frodo's intimates: as such we have already met him (pp. 8, 11). See further pp. 30-2. Chapter II: 'Ancient History' This chapter (ultimately one of the most worked upon in all The Lord of the Rings) underwent very substantial rewriting at this time in certain passages, but remained still in important respects far different from 'The Shadow of the Past' in FR. The 'third phase' manuscript (VI.318 ff.), not much changed in substance from the second version (VI.250 ff.), was reduced to a wreck in the process; and here again my father made a new text (B) of the chapter, taking up all this rough correction and new writing (A), but incorporated into the new manuscript those parts of the old that were retained more or less intact, so that the new version is again textually a hybrid. In draft revision of the beginning of the chapter Frodo's 'closest companions were Folco Took [pencilled above: Faramond] and Meriadoc Brandybuck (usually called Merry), both a few years younger than himself' (cf. VI.318); in B his companions become Faramond Took, Peregrin Boffin, and Hamilcar Bolger, while his closest friend was Merry Brandybuck. With this cf. the notes given on p. 8. In the drafts (A) the names Folco, Faramond, Peregrin, shift and replace each other at every occurrence, and it is scarcely possible to say whether characters or merely names are in question. Otherwise, the new version reaches the final form in most respects for a long stretch. The chronology of Gandalf s visits to Bag End, from the Party to the time of this chapter, becomes precisely that of FR (p. 55); but the passage (FR pp. 52-3) concerning the 'rumours of strange things happening in the world outside' was at this stage left virtually unchanged - which means that it still essentially took the form it had in the second version, VI.253- The first part of the conversation between Gandalf and Frodo now takes a great step towards that in FR (pp. 55-6; cf. VI.319), but Gandalf as yet says nothing of the making of rings 'in Eregion long ago', nor does he speak here of the Great Rings, the Rings of Power. Though his words are the same as in FR, they apply only to the ring in Frodo's possession: thus he says 'Those who keep this ring do not die,' &c. His account of Bilbo's knowledge of and feeling about his ring are very much as in FR, but he says here that Bilbo 'knew, of course, that it made one invisible, if it encircled any part of the body.' In rejected drafts for this passage occur the following: He certainly had not yet begun to connect his long life and 'good preservation' with the ring - but he had begun to feel the restless- ness that is the first symptom of the stretching of the days. On that last evening I saw plainly that the ring was trying to keep hold of him and prevent his parting with it. But he was not yet conscious of it himself. And certainly he had no idea that it would have made him permanently invisible, nor that his long life and 'good preservation' - how the expression annoyed him! - had anything to do with it. From Frodo's question at the end of Gandalf s remarks about Bilbo, the new version retains the existing text (VI.319) concerning Gandalf's memories, but is then developed quite differently, though still far from that of FR (p. 57): 'How long have you known?' asked Frodo again. 'I knew very little of these things at first,' answered Gandalf slowly, as if searching back in memory. The days of Bilbo's journey and the Dragon and the Battle of Five Armies seemed dim and far off, and many other dark and strange adventures had befallen him since. 'Let me see - it was after the White Council in the South that I first began to give serious thought to Bilbo's ring. There was much talk of rings at the Council: even wizards have much to learn as long as they live, however long that may be. There are many sorts of ring, of course. Some are no more than toys (though dangerous ones to my mind), and not difficult to contrive if you go in for such things - they are not in my line. But what I heard made me think a good deal, though I said nothing to Bilbo. All seemed well with him. I thought he was safe enough from any evil of that sort. I was nearly right but not quite right. Perhaps I should have been more suspicious, and have found out the truth sooner than I did - yet if I had, I don't know what else could have been done. 'Then, of course, I noticed that he did not seem to grow older. But the whole thing seemed so unlikely that I did not get seriously alarmed, never until the night he left this house. He said and did things then that were unmistakeable signs of something wrong. From that moment my chief anxiety was to get him to go and give up the ring. And I have spent most of the years since in finding out the truth about it.' 'There wasn't any permanent harm done, was there?' asked Frodo anxiously. 'He would get right in time, wouldn't he - be able to rest in peace, I mean?' 'That I don't know for certain,' said Gandalf. 'There is only one [added: Power] in this world who knows all about the ring and its effects. But I don't think you need fear for him. Of course, if anyone possessed the ring for many years, it would probably take a long while for the effects to wear off. How long is not really known. He might live for ages. But not wearily, I think. He would, I now believe, just stop as he was when he parted with the ring; and would be happy, if he parted with it of his own accord and with good intent. Though as far as I know that has only happened once. I was not troubled about dear Bilbo any more, once he had let the ring go. It is for you that I feel responsible...'(5) There is of course no reference here to Bilbo's 'two stories' of how he came by the Ring; nor does Saruman appear. Yet Gandalf's mention of the discussion of Rings at the White Council, and his suggestion that there are wizards who, unlike himself, 'go in for such things', prepares the place that Saruman would fill when he had arisen - although, characteristically, he did not arise in order to fill that place. The new version introduced no changes into Gandalf s account of the Ruling Ring and its history (for the text as it had developed through the three preceding versions see VI.78, 258-61, 319-20): indeed almost all of this part of the chapter is constituted from pages taken out of the 'third phase' manuscript (see p. 18). Before the new version of the chapter was completed, however (see note 12), my father changed Gollum's original name from Digol (through Deagol) to Smeagol, and introduced a rider telling the story of Deagol and his murder: He had a friend called Deagol, of similar short, sharper-eyed but not so quick and strong. They were roaming together, when in the mud of a river-bank, under the twisted roots of an ancient thorn-tree,(6) Deagol found the Ring. Smeagol came up behind him, just as he was washing the mud off, and the Ring gleamed yellow. 'Give us that, Deagol my love,' said Smeagol over his friend's shoulder. 'Why?' said Deagol. 'Because it's my birthday... The remainder of the inserted text is virtually word for word as in FR (p. 62). On this new story see pp. 27-8. Very substantial rewriting begins again with Gandalf's discussion of Gollum's motives (FR pp. 63-6; for the previous versions see VI.79- 80, 261-2, 320-2). Here there is more than one draft preceding the new manuscript B, and the relations between these texts are not entirely clear, though they differ chiefly only in the placing of certain elements. I give this passge in the form of B, with some variants from the drafts A recorded in the notes. 'Gollum!' said Frodo. 'Do you mean the very Gollum- creature that Bilbo met? Is that his history? How loathsome!' 'I think it is a sad story,' said the wizard, 'and it might have happened to others, even to some hobbits I have known.' 'I can't believe Gollum was connected with hobbits, however distantly,' said Frodo with some heat. 'What an abominable idea!' 'It is true all the same,' replied Gandalf. 'It is suggested even by Bilbo's own account; and partly explains the very curious events. There was a lot in the background of their minds and memories that was very similar: Bilbo and Gollum understood one another (if you think of it) better than hobbits have ever understood dwarves or goblins, or even elves. Think of the riddles they both knew, for one thing!' 'But why did Gollum start the Riddle-game, or think of giving up the Ring at all?' asked Frodo.(7) 'Because he was altogether miserable, and yet could not make up his wretched mind. Don't you realize that he had possessed the Ring for ages, and the torment was becoming unendurable? He was so wretched that he knew he was wretched, and had at last understood what caused it. There was nothing more to find out, nothing left but darkness, nothing to do but furtive eating and regretful remembering. Half his mind wanted above all to be rid of the Ring, even if the loss killed him. But he hated parting with it as much as keeping it. He wanted to hand it on to someone else, and to make him wretched too.' 'Then why didn't he give it to the Goblins?' 'Gollum would not have found that amusing! The Goblins were already beastly and miserable. And anyway he was afraid of them: naturally he had no fancy for an invisible goblin in the tunnels. But when Bilbo turned up half his mind saw that he had a marvellous chance; and the other half was angry and fright- ened, and was thinking how to trap and eat Bilbo. So he tried the Riddle-game, which might serve either purpose: it would decide the question for him, like tossing up. Very hobbit-like, I call that. But of course, if it had really come to the point of handing the Ring over, he would have immediately desired it terribly, and have hated Bilbo fiercely. It was lucky for Bilbo that things were arranged otherwise.' 'But how was it that Gollum did not realize that he had got rid of it, if Bilbo had the Ring already?' 'Simply because he had only lost it for a few hours: not nearly long enough for him to feel any change in himself. And also he had not given it away of his own free will: that is an important point. All the same I have always thought that the strangest thing about Bilbo's whole adventure was his finding the Ring like that: just putting his hand on it in the dark. There was something mysterious in that; I think more than one power was at work. The Ring was trying to get back to its master. It had ruined Gollum, and could make no further use of him; he was too small and mean. It had already slipped from one owner's hand and betrayed him to death. It now left Gollum: and that would probably have proved Gollum's death, if the finder had not been the most unlikely creature imaginable: a Baggins all the way from the Shire! But behind all that there was something at work beyond any design of the Ringmaker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you were also meant to have it, and that may be an encouraging thought, or it may not.' 'It isn't,' said Frodo, 'though I am not sure that I understand you. But how have you learned all this about the Ring, and about Gollum? Do you really know it all, or are you guessing?' 'I have learned some things, and guessed others,' answered Gandalf. 'But I am not going to give you an account of the last few years just now. The story of Gilgalad and Isildur and the One Ring is well known to the learned in Lore. I knew it myself, of course, but I have consulted many other Lore-masters. Your ring is shown to be that One Ring by the fire-writing, quite apart from other evidence.' 'And when did you discover that?' asked Frodo interrupting. 'Just now in this room, of course,' answered Gandalf sharply. 'But I expected to find it. I have come back from many dark journeys to make that final test. It is the last proof, and all is now clear. Making out Gollum's part, and fitting it into the gap in the history, required some thought; but I guessed very near the truth. I know more of the minds and histories of the creatures of Middle-earth than you imagine, Frodo.' 'But your account does not quite agree with Bilbo's, as far as I can remember it.' 'Naturally. Bilbo had no idea of the nature of the Ring, and so could not guess what was behind Gollum's peculiar behaviour. But though I started from hints and guesses, I no longer need them. I am no longer guessing about Gollum. I know. I know because I have seen him.'(9) 'You have seen Gollum!' exclaimed Frodo in amazement. 'The obvious thing to try and do, surely,' said Gandalf. 'Then what happened after Bilbo escaped from him?' asked Frodo. 'Do you know that?' 'Not so clearly. What I have told you is what Gollum was willing to tell - though not, of course, in the way I have reported it. Gollum is a liar, and you have to sift his words. For instance, you may remember that he told Bilbo that he had been given the Ring as a birthday present long ago when such rings were less uncommon.(10) Very unlikely on the face of it: no kind of magic ring was ever common in his part of the world. Quite incredible, when one suspects what ring this one really was.(11) It was a lie, though with a grain of truth. I fancy he had made up his mind what to say, if necessary, so that the stranger would accept the Ring without suspicion, and think the gift natural. And that is another hobbit-like thought! Birthday present! It would have worked well with any hobbit. There was no need to tell the lie, of course, when he found the Ring had gone; but he had told that lie to himself so many times in the darkness, trying to forget Deagol,(12) that it slipped out, whenever he spoke of the Ring. He repeated it to me, but I laughed at him. He then told me more or less the true story, but with a lot of snivelling and snarling. He thought he was misunderstood and ill-treated... In the third version of this chapter Gandalf had said (VI.321): 'Very unlikely on the face of it: incredible when one suspects what kind of ring it really was. It was said merely to make Bilbo willing to accept it as a harmless kind of toy' (i.e., Gollum, speaking - according to Gandalf s elaborate theory - from that part of his mind that wished to get rid of the Ring, said off the top of his head that it had been a birthday present in order to get Bilbo to accept it more readily). While drafting a new version of this passage, my father was struck by a perturbing thought. He stopped, and across the manuscript he wrote: 'It must be [i.e. It must have been] a birthday present, as the birthday present is not mentioned by Gollum until after he finds the ring is lost'.(13) In other words, if the story of its being a birthday present was a fabrication pure and simple, why should Gollum only trot it out when there was no longer any use for it? Apparently in order to counter this, Gandalf s words were changed: It was a lie, though with a grain of truth. But how hobbit-like, all that talk of birthday-presents! I fancy he had made up his mind what to say, if it came to the point of giving, so that Bilbo would accept the Ring without suspicion, and think it just a harmless toy. He repeated this nonsense to me, but I laughed at him. The implication of this seems to be that Gollum brought out this story of the Ring having been a birthday present to him long ago only when he found that he had it no longer, because it had 'a grain of truth'; and it was because it had 'a grain of truth' that he had decided on this story. But there is no suggestion in the draft of what this grain of truth might be. Only with the fair copy B does it appear - and there only by implication: 'There was no need to tell the lie, of course, when he found the Ring had gone; but he had told that lie to himself so many times in the darkness, trying to forget Deagol, that it slipped out, whenever he spoke of the Ring.' This shows of course that the Deagol story (pp.23-4) had already entered; but my father made the point clearer by pencilling on the fair copy after the words 'though with a grain of truth': He murdered Deagol on his birthday. He was being driven to more and more intricate shifts to get round what had been said in The Hobbit. But it seems to me very likely that it was precisely while he was pondering this problem that the story of the murder of Deagol (and incidentally the changing of Gollum's true name to Smeagol) arose. That Gollum had lied about its being a birthday present was an obvious necessity, from the story of the Ring that had come into being; but Gandalf's theory in the third version that Gollum told this lie to Bilbo in order to get him to accept the Ring had a serious weakness: why did Gollum only do so (as the story was told in The Hobbit) after he found that he had lost it? The answer to this was that it was an invention of Gollum's that he had come partly to believe, quite independently of Bilbo's arrival; but why was that? And this story of the murder of Deagol on Smeagol's birthday, the ground of Smeagol's 'lie with a grain of truth', became a permanent element in the tale of Gollum; surviving when, years later, the story of 'Riddles in the Dark' was recast and the very difficulty that (if I am right) had brought it into being was eliminated. From 'He thought he was misunderstood and ill-treated' (p. 26) this fourth version of 'Ancient History' scarcely differs for a long stretch from the third, whose pages were largely retained;(14) and since the third version closely followed the second, this part of the conversation of Gandalf and Frodo preserves, apart from detail of expression, the text given in VI.263-5. But from 'The Wood-elves have him in prison, if he is still alive, as I expect; but they treat him with such kindness as they can find in their wise hearts' the new version reaches the form in FR (p. 69) with almost no difference to the end of the chapter. Gandalf's words about the fire that could melt and consume the Rings of Power (FR p. 70) remain however nearer to the earlier form: It has been said that only dragon-fire can melt any of the Twenty Rings of Power; but there is not now any Dragon left on earth in whom the old Fire is hot enough to harm the Ruling Ring. I can think of only one way: one would have to find the Cracks of Doom in the depths of Orodruin, the Fire-Mountain, and cast the Ring in there, if he really wished to destroy it, or put it beyond all reach until the End. The name Orodruin is met here for the first time.(15) In another point also the former version is retained: Gandalf still says when he goes to the window and draws aside the curtain (VI.322): 'In any case it is now too late. You would come to hate me and call me a thief; and our friendship would cease. Such is the power of the Ring. Keep it, and together we will shoulder the burden that is laid on us.' Lastly, Gandalf does not in this version give Frodo a 'travelling name' ('When you go, go as Mr. Underhill', FR p. 72). The subsequent history of this chapter, traced in detail, would itself almost constitute a book, for apart from the marvellous intricacies of the route by which the story of Gollum and the 'birthday present' was ultimately resolved, Gandalf's conversation with Frodo became the vehicle for the developing history of the Rings of Power, afterwards removed from this place, and the chapter could not be treated separately from 'The Council of Elrond'. But the great mass of this work, and probably all of it, belongs to a later time than we have reached; and in any case the attempt to trace in 'linear' fashion the history of the writing of The Lord of the Rings cannot at the same time take full account of the great constructions that were rising behind the onward movement of the tale. So far as the story of Bilbo and Gollum is concerned it seems that this fourth version of 'Ancient History', in which my father was still constrained within the words of the original story told in The Hobbit, remained for some time as the accepted form. Chapter III: 'Three is Company'. The third version of this chapter, described in VI.323 - 5, was also revised at this time. The title was now changed from 'Delays are Dangerous' to 'Three is Company' (cf. the original title, 'Three's Company and Four's More', VI.49 and note 2); and the order of the opening passages was reversed, so that the chapter now begins as in FR with ' "You ought to go quietly, and you ought to go soon," said Gandalf', and his conversation with Frodo precedes the speculations in the Ivy Bush and Green Dragon (see VI.274 and note 1). This reorganisation and rewriting was very roughly done on the pages of the third phase manuscript and on inserted riders ('A'); the revised opening was then written out fair ('B'), as far as Gaffer Gamgee's conversation with the Black Rider in Bagshot Row, and the remainder of the existing text added to it, to form textually speaking a hybrid, just as in the case of the first two chapters. The draft revision A of Gandalf s departure from Bag End takes this form: Gandalf stayed at Bag-End for over two months. But one evening, soon after Frodo's plan had been arranged, he sud- denly announced that he was going off again next morning. 'I need to stretch my legs a bit, before our journey begins,' he said. 'Besides, I think I ought to go and look round, and see what news I can pick up down south on the borders, before we start.' He spoke lightly, but it seemed to Frodo that he looked rather grave and thoughtful. 'Has anything happened? Have you heard something?' he asked. 'Well, yes, to tell you the truth,' said the wizard, 'I did hear something today that made me a bit anxious. But I won't say anything, unless I find out more for certain. If I think it necessary for you to get off at once, I shall come back immediately. In the meanwhile stick to your plan...' The remainder of his farewell words are as in FR (p. 76), except that he says 'I think you will need my company on the Road', not that 'after all' Frodo 'may' need it. As written in the fair copy B the passage is the same as this, except that Gandalf no longer refers to 'our journey - he says: I need to stretch my legs a bit. There are one or two things I must see to: I have been idle longer than I should'; and his last words are: 'I think after all you will need my company on the Road.' Frodo's friends, who came to stay with him to help in the packing up of Bag End, are now (as also in the contemporary rewriting of 'Ancient History', p. 21) Hamilcar Bolger, Faramond Took,(16) and his closest friends Peregrin Boffin and Merry Brandybuck. It is now Hamilcar Bolger who goes off to Buckland with Merry in the third cart.(17) In the draft revision A 'Peregrin Boffin went back home to Overhill after lunch', whereas in B 'Faramond Took went home after lunch, but Peregrin and Sam remained behind', and Frodo 'took his own tea with Peregrin and Sam in the kitchen.' At the end of the meal 'Peregrin and Sam strapped up their three packs and piled them in the porch. Peregrin went out for a last stroll in the garden. Sam dis- appeared.' Throughout these manuscripts 'Pippin' appears as a later correction of 'Folco'; and in the passage referred to above, naming Frodo's four friends who stayed at Bag End, 'Faramond Took' was changed subsequently to 'Folco Boffin', 'Peregrin Boffin' to 'Pippin Took', and 'Hamilcar Bolger' to 'Fredegar Bolger'. These, with Merry Brandy- buck, are the four who are present on this occasion in FR (p. 76). But such corrections as these prove nothing as to date: they could have been entered on the manuscript at any subsequent time. Nonetheless, it must have been at this stage, I think, that 'Peregrin Took' or 'Pippin' at last entered. Under Chapter V 'A Conspiracy Unmasked' below, it will be seen that in a rewritten section of the manuscript from this time (as distinct from mere emendation to the existing 'third phase' text) not only does 'Hamilcar' appear, as is to be expected, but 'Pippin' appears for the first time as the text was written. This rewritten section of 'A Conspiracy Unmasked' certainly belongs to the same time as the rewritten ('fourth phase') parts of 'Ancient History' and 'Three is Company'. The correction of 'Folco (Took)' to 'Pippin' in these manuscripts therefore does in fact belong to the same period; though they are carefully written texts, the final stage in the evolution of the 'younger hobbits' was taking place as my father wrote them; and though at the beginning of the B text of 'Three is Company' Frodo's friend was Peregrin Boffin, he may have already been Peregrin Took by the time he took his last stroll in the Bag End garden. The question is not perhaps worth spending very long on, since it is now very largely one of name simply, but I have followed the tortuous trail too long to leave it without an attempt at analysis at the end. What happened, I think, was as follows. Folco Took of the 'third phase' (who had an interesting and complex genesis out of the original 'young hobbits', Frodo (Took) and Odo, see VI.323-4) was renamed Faramond Took (p. 15, note 1). At this time 'Peregrin Boffin', who had first entered as the 'explanation' of Trotter, became one of Frodo's younger friends. This is the situation in the rewritten or 'fourth phase' portions of Chapters II and III (pp. 21, 30). In Chapter III Faramond Took 'went home after lunch', and he is then out of the story. 'Peregrin' and Sam stayed on at Bag End, and it is clear that they are going to be Frodo's companions on the walk to Buckland. 'Peregrin' (Boffin) is thus stepping into the narrative place of Folco (briefly renamed Faramond) Took; or rather - since the narrative was now in a finished form - this name takes over the character. Just why Folco/Faramond Took would not do I cannot say for certain. It may have been simply a preference of names. But if Faramond Took is got rid of and Peregrin Boffin made the third member of the party walking to Buckland, there would be no Took at all: my father would have left himself with a Baggins, a Boffin, a Brandybuck, and a Gamgee. Perhaps this is why the Boffin was changed into a Took, and the Took into a Boffin: Peregrin Boffin became Peregrin (or Pippin) Took, and Faramond Took, reverting to his former name Folco, became Folco Boffin (who 'went home after lunch' in FR, p. 77). These corrections to the new text of Chapter III were evidently made before my father rewrote the ending of Chapter V, where 'Pippin' first appears in a text as written and not by later correction. Thus it is that Peregrin Took of LR occupies the same genealogical place as did Frodo Took of the earliest phases (see VI.267, note 4): and thus 'Folco' of the 'third phase' manuscripts is corrected every- where to 'Pippin'. It would be legitimate, I think, to see in all this a single or particular hobbit-character, who appears under an array of names: Odo, Frodo, Folco, Faramond, Peregrin, Hamilcar, Fredegar, and the very ephemeral Olo (VI.299) - Tooks, Boffins, and Bolgers. Though no doubt a very 'typical' hobbit of the Shire, this 'character' is in relation to his companions very distinct: cheerful, nonchalant, irrepressible, commonsensical, limited, and extremely fond of his creature comforts. I will call this character 'X'. He begins as Odo Took, but becomes Odo Bolger. My father gets rid of him from the first journey (to Buckland), and as a result Frodo Took (Merry Brandybuck's first cousin), who had been potentially a very different character (see VI.70), becomes 'X', while retaining the name Frodo Took. Odo, however, reappears, because he has gone on ahead to Buckland with Merry Brandybuck while the others are walking; he may be called 'XX'. He will have a separate adventure, riding with Gandalf to Weathertop and ultimately turning up again at Rivendell, where (for a very brief time in the development of the narrative) he will rejoin 'X', now renamed 'Folco Took' (since Bingo Baggins has taken over the name Frodo). In the 'third phase' of the narrative, then, 'X' is Folco Took, Merry's cousin; and 'XX' is Odo Bolger. But now 'X' is renamed Faramond Took, and 'XX' is renamed Hamilcar Bolger. A new character called Peregrin Boffin appears: beginning as a much older figure, originally a hobbit of the Shire who became through his experiences a most unusual person, known as 'Trotter', he, or rather his name, survives to become one of Frodo's younger friends. 'Faramond Took' is pushed aside and left with scarcely any role at all, becoming the shadowy Folco Boffin; and 'Peregrin Boffin', becoming 'Peregrin Took' or 'Pippin', becomes 'X' - and Merry's first cousin. Looking back to the beginning, therefore, 'Pippin' of LR will largely take over 'Odo's' remarks; but as I said (VI.70), 'the way in which this came about was strangely tortuous, and was by no means a simple substitution of one name for another.' For Pippin is Merry's first cousin, and is derived through Folco/Faramond from the original Frodo Took: he is not derived from Odo, who was moved sideways, so to speak, becoming Hamilcar (Fredegar). But Pippin is derived from Odo, in the sense that he like Odo is 'X'. For the rest, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins' son, while keeping his name Cosimo, loses his pimples and gains 'sandy-haired' as his defining epithet. Gaffer Gamgee's observation on the subject of having Lobelia as his neighbour is recorded: ' "I can't abide changes at my time of life, said he (he was 99),(18) "and anyhow not changes for the worst. In FR the Gaffer's complaint was reported by Gandalf to the Council of Elrond (p. 276). From the point where my father merely retained the manuscript of the 'third phase', and in subsequent chapters, 'Folco' was corrected to 'Pippin'. Chapter IV: 'A Short Cut to Mushrooms'. In this case the third phase manuscript was retained intact (apart from 'Peregrin' or 'Pippin' for 'Folco' throughout), the final form having already been attained (see VI.325). Chapter V: 'A Conspiracy Unmasked' (with 'The Dream of the Tower'). A rough draft of a rewriting of the end of this chapter survives (for the previous forms of the passage see VI.104-5, 301 - 2, 326). Odo has become Hamilcar, and the conversation proceeds now almost exactly as in FR p. 118: that Hamilcar should stay behind was part of the original plan. Frodo no longer gives a letter to Odo/Hamilcar (VI.326), but says: 'It would not have been safe to leave a written message: the Riders might get here first, and search the house.' The only elements in FR that are still lacking are that Hamilcar's family came from Budgeford in Bridgefields,(19) and that 'he had even brought along some old clothes of Frodo's to help him in playing the part.' This rewriting stops before the account of Frodo's dream that night, of a sea of tangled trees and something snuffling among the roots (VI.302), but it is clear that at this stage it remained unchanged. It is necessary here to turn aside for a moment from the end of 'A Conspiracy Unmasked' and to bring in a remarkable brief narrative of this time, extant in several texts, which may be called 'The Dream of the Tower'. In the narrative outline dated 'Autumn 1939' given on p. 9 Gandalf is 'besieged in the Western Tower. He cannot get away while they guard it with five Riders. But when Black Riders have located Frodo and found that he has gone off without Gandalf they ride away.' This is what Frodo saw in his dream. My father was much exercised about the placing of it (see p. 11). In the Time-schemes A and B the date of Gandalf's escape from the Western Tower was first given as 24 September, and there is a suggestion that Frodo dreamt his dream of the event that night, when with the Elves in the Woody End. The date was then changed to the 25th, when Frodo was at Crickhollow, and so appears in schemes A, B, and C. Scheme D gives no date for Gandalf's escape, and places the 'Dream of the Tower' variously on the 24th, 25th, or 26th. For some reason, however, my father decided to place it after the event, on the night of the 29th, when Frodo was at Bree, and Gandalf was at Crickhollow. The text of Frodo's dream at-Bree is found in three forms, two preparatory drafts and a finished manuscript.(20) I give it here in the third form, since the only significant difference from the drafts is that in them the figure who summons the watchers from the Tower is seen by the dreamer ('another dark-robed figure appeared over the brow of the hill: it beckoned and gave a shrill call in a strange tongue'). The narrative begins almost exactly as in FR p. 189, with Frodo waking suddenly in the room at The Prancing Pony, seeing Trotter sitting alert in his chair, and falling asleep again. Frodo soon went to sleep again; but now he passed at once into a dream. He found himself on a dark heath. Looking up, he saw before him a tall white tower, standing alone upon a high ridge. Beyond it the sky was pale, and far off there came a murmur like the voices of the Great Sea which he had never heard nor beheld, save in other dreams. In the topmost chamber of the tower there shone dimly a blue light. Suddenly he found that he had drawn near and the tower loomed high above him. About its feet there was a wall of faintly shining stones, and outside the wall sat silent watchers: black-robed figures on black horses, gazing at the gate of the tower without moving, as if they had sat there for ever. There came at last the soft fall of hoofs, climbing up the hill. The watchers all stirred and turned slowly towards the sound. They were looking towards Frodo. He did not dare to turn, but he knew that behind him another dark figure, taller and more terrible, had appeared: it beckoned, and called out in a strange tongue. The horsemen leaped to life. They raised their dark heads towards the lofty chamber, and their mocking laughter rang out cruel and cold; then they turned from the white wall and rode down the hill like the wind. The blue light went out. It seemed to Frodo that the riders came straight towards him; but even as they passed over him and beat him to the ground, he thought in his heart: 'I am not here; they cannot hurt me. There is something that I must see.' He lifted his head and saw a white horse leap the wall and stride towards him. On it rode a grey-mantled figure: his white hair was streaming, and his cloak flew like wings behind him. As the grey rider bore down upon him he strove to see his face. The light grew in the sky, and suddenly there was a noise of thunder. Frodo opened his eyes. Trotter had drawn the curtains and had pushed back the shutters with a clang. The first grey light of day was in the room. The vision of his dream faded quickly, but its mingled fear and hope remained with him all the day; and for long the far sound of the Sea came back to him whenever great danger was at hand. As soon as Trotter had roused them all he led the way to their bedrooms. The manuscript continues a little further, almost word for word as in FR, and ends with Butterbur's 'Guests unable to sleep in their beds, and good bolsters ruined and all! What are we coming to?' Taking into account the words of the outline given on p. 9 that Gandalf, pursued by the Riders, tried to get round to the west of the Shire, and the mention of the sound of the Sea in the text, it is seen that Gandalf had fled to the Elf-towers (21) on the Tower Hills beyond the west marches of the Shire - those towers which, at the very beginning of the writing of The Lord of the Rings, Bingo said that he had once seen, shining white in the Moon: 'the tallest was furthest away, standing alone on a hill' (VI.93; cf. VI.312 and FR p. 16). Turning back to 'A Conspiracy Unmasked': my father now rewrote the ending again, on the basis of the draft already referred to, and added it to the 'third phase' manuscript, rejecting the existing conclusion of the chapter.(22) In this new text he still kept the original dream, but now combined with it the 'Dream of the Tower', transfer- ring it back from Frodo's night at Bree to his night at Crickhollow (see p. 33). Thus Frodo has the vision of Gandalf's escape from the Western Tower on the night of the event itself, the 25th of September. The new version reads thus, in part: When at last he got to bed, Frodo could not sleep for some time. His legs ached. He was glad that he was riding in the morning. Eventually he fell into a vague dream, in which he seemed to be looking out of a high window over a dark sea of tangled trees. Down below among the roots there was the sound of creatures crawling and snuffling. He felt sure they would smell him out sooner or later. Then he heard a noise in the distance. At first he thought it was a great wind coming over the leaves of the forest. Then he knew that it was not leaves, but the sound of the Sea far-off: a sound he had never heard in waking life, though it had often troubled other dreams. Suddenly he found he was out in the open. There were no trees after all. He was on a dark heath, and there was a strange salt smell in the air. Looking up he saw before him a tall white tower, standing alone on a high ridge. In its topmost chamber a blue light shone dimly. As he drew nearer the tower loomed high above him. About its feet there was a wall of faintly gleaming stones, and outside the wall sat silent watchers: there seemed to be four blackrobed figures seated on black horses, gazing at the tower without moving, as if they had sat there for ever. He heard the soft fall of hoofs climbing up the hill behind him. The watchers all stirred... From this point the vision is told in practically the same words as in the previous text, and ends in the same way: 'A light grew in the sky, and there was a noise of thunder.' When Frodo had dreamt the dream at Bree, the light in the sky and the noise of thunder were associated with Trotter's opening the shutters with a clang and the light of morning entering the room. In this text 'Pippin' is the name that was first written, not a subsequent correction of 'Folco'; see p. 30. Later (see p. 139, note 36), when the story of Gandalf had been further changed, the description of the Western Tower and the siege of the Riders was largely,-but not entirely, struck out on this manuscript: the opening was retained, as far as 'Looking up he saw before him a tall white tower, standing alone on a high ridge.' At the same time a brief new conclusion was added: A great desire came over him to climb the tower and see the Sea. He started to struggle up the ridge towards the tower; but suddenly a light came in the sky, and there was a noise of thunder. Thus altered, this is the text of FR, pp. 118 - 19. And so the tall white tower of Frodo's dream at Crickhollow in the final tale remains from what was the precursor of Orthanc; and the thunder that he heard goes back to the interruption of his dream by Trotter's thrusting back the shutters at The Prancing Pony. But Frodo would still dream of Gandalf imprisoned in a tower: for as he slept in the house of Tom Bombadil he would see him standing on the pinnacle of Isengard. Chapter VI: 'The Old Forest'. The existing 'third phase' manuscript of this chapter was retained, but with a good deal of correction, evidently deriving from different times. To this period belong the alteration of 'Odo' to 'Hamilcar' at the beginning of the chapter, and 'Folco' to 'Pippin'; I would ascribe to it also the attainment of the final form of the hobbits' descent out of the forest to the Withywindle (see VI.327), and the final ascription of the parts in the encounter with Old Man Willow, with Merry exchanging roles with Frodo as the one trapped in the tree and the one pushed into the river (ibid.). Chapter VII: 'In the House of Tom Bombadil' In this chapter as in the last, the existing manuscript was retained intact. As the story stood in that text, Gandalf came to Crickhollow and routed the Riders on the night of Monday 26 September, the first night spent by the hobbits in the house of Tom Bombadil, and the account of the attack on Crickhollow was introduced as a short separate narrative in the body of Chapter VII (see VI.303 - 4, 328). But this had now been changed, and the attack by the Riders delayed by three days, with the postponement of Gandalf's coming to Bree. My father therefore wrote on the manuscript at this point: 'This did not occur till Sept. 29', i.e. the night passed by the hobbits at Bree (see the time-schemes tabulated on p. 12). The episode was now in the wrong chapter, and was struck from the text here. It is often difficult or impossible to say with certainty when changes to the manuscripts that are unrelated to movements in the narrative structure (or to movements in names) were made. Thus the introduc- tion of Frodo's dream of Gandalf on Orthanc is obviously later; but the striking out of 'I am Ab-Origine, that's what I am' (and the substitution of Tom s words in FR, p. 142: Don t you know my name yet?...'), and of 'He saw the Sun rise in the West and the Moon following, before the new order of days was made' (see VI.329) may well belong to this time. Chapter VIII: 'Fog on the Barrow-downs'. The original manuscript was again retained, and most of the changes that were made to it were from a later time (notably those introducing Carn Dum and Angmar, FR pp. 154, 157). The final page of the 'third phase' manuscript was however rejected and replaced by a new ending to the chapter, most of which is found also in a preparatory draft, marked 'Revised ending of VIII to fit revised plot (concerning Gan- dalf's delay and Trotter's knowledge of the name Baggins)'. Now Frodo says, 'Please note - all of you - that the name Baggins must not be mentioned again. I am Mr Green, if any name must be given.' In the narrative of the third phase, as in that of the second, Frodo took the name of 'Mr Hill of Faraway' (VI.280, 334). 'Green' as a pseudonym (for Odo) goes back to the original version (VI.135 etc.). At this time Tom's words (VI.329) 'he [Butterbur] knows Tom Bombadil, and Tom's name will help you. Say "Tom sent us here", and he will treat you kindly' were rejected, and Tom's parting words in FR appear: 'Tom's country ends here: he will not pass the borders.' In this connection see the note given on p. 10 concerning the boundaries of Tom's domain: there my father was thinking of harmonising Gandalf's remark at the Council of Elrond that Bombadil never left his own ground with the story that he was known to Butterbur by supposing that Tom's 'boundaries' extended to Bree. But he concluded that Tom Bombadil was not in fact known to Butterbur, and the changes here reflect that decision. NOTES. 1. The texts in such a situation are often very tricky to interpret, for there are these possible ingredients or components: (1) a page from the 'third phase' manuscript corrected but retained; (2) a page from the 'third phase' manuscript rejected and replaced; (3) draft version(s) for replacement of rejected 'third phase' manu- script; (4) fair copy replacement of rejected 'third phase' manu- script (with or without preceding draft). A correction, say of a name, made in a case of (1) will stand on the same footing in the textual history as the name first written in a case of (3) or (4), but the latter provide more certain indication of the relative dating. 2. With Bilbo's remark 'I have thought of a nice ending for it: and he lived happily ever after to the end of his days' (FR p. 41) cf. the outline $1 on p. 5. With the passage that follows, in which Bilbo says of Frodo He would come with me, of course, if I asked him. In fact he offered to once, just before the party. But he does not really want to, yet. I want to see the wild country again before I die, and the Mountains; but he is still in love with the Shire... cf. the fragment of narrative given in note 8 to the preceding chapter (p. 15). 3. Cf. the outline $1 on p. 5: 'Says to Gandalf he sometimes feels it is like an eye looking at him.' 4. Gandalf's words 'He said and did things then that were unmis- takeable signs of something wrong' refer of course to his parting conversation with Bilbo in this 'phase', given on pp. 19 - 20, where Bilbo's behaviour was still not violently out of character as it afterwards became. 5. This is the form of the text in B. The draft A has no reference to the discussion of Rings at the White Council. 6. At this stage the old story of how the Ring was found 'in the mud of the river-bank under the roots of a thorn tree' (VI.78) was retained. 7. In the later form of 'Riddles in the Dark' in The Hobbit there was no question of Gollum's giving up the Ring, of course: Bilbo's prize if he won the competition was to be shown the way out, and Gollum only went back to his island in the lake to get the Ring so that he might attack Bilbo invisibly. 8. This passage, from 'But of course...', was added to the text, but it takes up a draft passage against which my father had written 'Omit?': Yet I wonder what would have happened in the end, if he had been obliged to hand it over. I don't think he would have dared to cheat openly; but I am sure he would have tried to get the Ring back. He would have immediately desired it terribly, and have hated Bilbo fiercely. He would have tried to kill him. He would have followed him, visible or invisible, by sight or smell, till he got a chance.' 9. The draft text still retained the curious passage, going back through the third to the second version of the chapter (VI.263), in which Gandalf has Frodo quote the first riddle that Gollum asked, and then says, in this version: 'Roots and mountains: there's a good deal of Gollum's mind and history in that.' 10. This was said in the original story of Gollum in the first edition of The Hobbit: 'in the end Bilbo gathered that Gollum had had a ring - a wonderful, beautiful ring, a ring that he had been given for a birthday present, ages and ages before when such rings were less uncommon.' 11. Draft texts still retain the wording of the third version (VI.321): 'what kind of ring it really was.' 12. The words trying to forget Deagol are a part of the text B as written, and show that the passage (pp. 23-4) concerning the murder of Deagol was inserted before this version was com- pleted. 13. In the original story in The Hobbit it was only when Gollum came back from his island in the lake, where he had gone to get the 'present', that Bilbo learnt - from Gollum's 'tremendous spluttering and whispering and croaking' - about the ring and that it had been a birthday present; see note 10. 14. The change noted in VI.320, whereby Gandalf ceases to be the one who actually tracked Gollum down, belongs to this 'fourth phase'. 15. Above -ruin was pencilled -naur, sc. Orodnaur. 16. In the draft revision A of this passage Faramond is called 'Faramond II and the heir apparent'; cf. VI.251, where Fara- mond's precursor Frodo Took is called 'Frodo the Second... the heir and rather desperate hope of the Hole of Took, as the clan was called.' 17. In the draft revision A at this point 'Ham (that is Hamilcar)' was replaced by 'Freddy (that is Fredegar)', but Ham/Hamilcar was then restored. Cf. the note dated August 1939 given in VI.373: 'Odo > Fredegar Hamilcar Bolger'. 18. In the genealogy in LR, Appendix C, Gaffer Gamgee was 92, and he died at the age of 102. 19. Neither Budgeford nor Bridgefields appear on my father's orig- inal map of the Shire (frontispiece to Vol. VI). On my large map of the Shire made in 1943 (VI.107) both names were lightly pencilled in by him, Budgeford being the crossing of the Water by the road (pencilled in at the same time) to Scary. See note 22. 20. The second version stands as the opening of a chapter, numbered 'X' and without title (corresponding to the 'second opening' of Chapter XI 'A Knife in the Dark' in FR, after the 'Crickhollow episode'); the third likewise, but numbered 'XI' (because by then the 'Bree' chapter had been divided, see p. 40), and with an erased title 'The Way to Weathertop'. 21. In some rough chronological workings there is a reference to Gandalf's being besieged in 'the West Towers', which is what Trotter called the Elf-towers in VI.155, 159. 22. Hamilcar's family now comes from Bridgefields in the Eastfar- thing. Budgeford was written in later, perhaps much later. See note 19. III. THE FOURTH PHASE (2): FROM BREE TO THE FORD OF RIVENDELL. Chapter IX: 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony (i). The Cow Jumped over the Moon'. The 'third phase' version of this chapter (VI.331 ff.) had been developed in two forms, in the first of which the story of the coming of Gandalf and Odo to Bree was told by Butterbur, while in the second (the 'red version' as my father called it) it was told by the narrator (VI.344 - 7); and in the second the coming of the four Riders to the west gate of Bree on the evening of Wednesday 28 September was described (VI.347 - 8). The already complex manuscript was then used for a rough, drastic recasting of the narrative, the 'blue version' (see VI.343): this belongs with the new plot, and all reference to a visit of Gandalf to Bree in the days immediately preceding Frodo's arrival is cut out. A 'blue' rider to the original 'third phase' manuscript is written on the back of a calendar page for September 1939. So far as it went, this was effectively a draft ('A') for a new version of this always crucial chapter; and in this case my father set aside the now chaotic 'third phase' manuscript entirely (though taking from it the pages containing the text of The Cat and the Fiddle), and it got left behind in England many years later; the 'fourth phase' version is a new manuscript ('B'), and this went to Marquette. Notably, this bears a date on the first page: 'Revised Version Oct. 1939'. It remained at this time a single, very long chapter, extending through FR Chapter 10 'Strider'; but my father decided (doubtless on account of its length) to divide it into two chapters, 'IX' and 'X', both called 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony', but with sub-titles; and these names remained for a long time. This arrangement was apparently made soon after the new text was completed, and it is convenient to follow it here. The new version, to the point where the hobbits returned from the common room of the inn after Frodo's 'accident', now reaches, except in a few features, the final form, and variation even from the precise wording of FR is infrequent. The most notable respect in which it differs is that at this stage my father preserved the account of the black horsemen who spoke to Harry Goatleaf the gatekeeper on the evening of the 28th of September: The fog that enveloped the Downs on Wednesday afternoon lay deep about Bree-hill. The four hobbits were just waking from their sleep beside the Standing Stone, when out of the mist four horsemen rode from the West and passed through the gates at dusk.... The episode closely follows that in the 'red version' of the 'third phase' (VI.347 - 8), but of course Harry Goatleaf no longer refers to 'a hobbit riding behind an old man on a white horse, last night', and his conversation with the Rider takes this form: 'We want news!' hissed a cold voice through the key-hole. 'What of?' he answered, shaking in his boots. 'News of hobbits, riding on ponies out of the Shire. Have they passed?' Harry wished they had, for it might have satisfied these riders if he could have said yes. There was a threat in the cold voice; but he dared not risk a yes that was not true. 'No sir!' he said in a quavering voice. 'There's been no Shire-hobbits on ponies through Bree, and there isn't likely to be any.' A hiss came through the key-hole, and Harry started back, feeling as if something icy cold had touched him. 'Yes, it is likely!' said the voice fiercely. 'Three, perhaps four. You will watch. We want Baggins. He is with them. You will watch. You will tell us and not lie! We shall come back.'(1) This episode was struck from the text, but I cannot say when this was done. The conversation between Frodo and Merry and the gatekeeper is as in FR. The gatekeeper still however calls out to 'Ned' (his brother, presumptively) to watch the gate a while, since he has 'business up at The Pony' (as in VI.349); then follows: 'He had been gone only a moment, and Ned had not yet come out, when a dark figure climbed in quickly over the gate and vanished in the dark in the direction of the inn.' The reference to Harry Goatleaf's visit to the inn was afterwards struck out, and does not appear in FR (see below). There is now, as is to be expected, no reference to Tom Bombadil when the hobbits arrive at The Prancing Pony, and Frodo's pseudonym is 'Mr Green' (see p. 37); the reference in FR (p. 167) to the Underhills of Staddle is of course absent. Folco is still Folco, corrected to Pippin, which shows that this text was written before the revised ending of Chapter V (pp. 30, 35).(2) Frodo still noticed the gatekeeper among the company in the common room of the inn, wondering whether it was his night off duty, but this was struck out, and does not appear in FR. Folco/Pippin now tells the story of the collapse of the 'Town Burrow' in Michel Delving, though the fat Mayor is unnamed. Trotter is of course a Man, but the description of him is that of the old versions (VI.137, 334): he is still, as he was when he was a hobbit, 'queer-looking, brown-faced', with a short-stemmed pipe under his long nose, and nothing is said of his boots (FR p. 168). When Bill Ferney and the Southerner left the common room, 'Harry the gatekeeper went out just behind them.' This, like the other references to the gatekeeper's presence at the inn noted above, was struck out. An isolated note of this time proposes: 'Cut out Harry - he is unnecessary': clearly referring to his visit to the inn after the arrival of the hobbits and his vaguely sinister association with Bill Ferney, not to his function as gatekeeper, which is certainly necessary. It is curious therefore that in the typescript that followed the present manuscript this last reference, though very clearly crossed out in the manuscript, was reinstated, and so appears in FR (p. 172), but quite anomalously, since all the references to his presence at the inn up to this point had been removed. Chapter X: 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony (ii). All that is gold does not glitter'. In the 'blue version' recasting of the 'third phase' narrative, or 'A', the story of Trotter's 'eavesdropping' beside the Road reaches the final form, in association with the new ending to Chapter VIII (p. 37): he hears the hobbits talking with Bombadil, and Frodo declaring that he is to be called 'Mr Green' (for the previous story, in which Trotter overheard Gandalf and Odo talking, see VI.337). After Trotter's 'I should advise him and his friends to be more careful what they say and do' (FR p. 176) there follows in A: 'I have not "left my name behind", as you put it,' said Frodo stiffly. 'My reason for taking another here is my own affair. I do not see why my real name should interest anyone in Bree; and I have still to learn why it interests you. Mr Trotter may have an honest reason for spying and eavesdropping; but if so I should advise him to explain it!' 'That's the line to take! ' laughed Trotter. 'But you wait till old Butterbur has had his private word with you - you'll soon find out how your real name could be guessed, and why it may be interesting in Bree. As for myself: I was looking for Mr Frodo Baggins, because I had been told to look for him. And I have already given you hints, which you have understood well enough, that I know about the secret you are carrying.' 'Don't be alarmed!' he cried, as Frodo half rose from his seat, and Sam scowled. 'I shall take more care of the secret than you do. But now I had better tell you some more about myself.' At that moment he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Mr Butterbur was there with a tray of candles... Butterbur now has only news of the Black Riders to communicate. The story he tells is as before (VI.338-40), but the first Rider passed through Bree on the Tuesday, not the Monday, preceding, three not four of them came to the inn-door, and of course he does not refer to Gandalf and 'Baggins' (Odo) having gone off eastwards. The con- versation continues: ' "Baggins!" said I. "If you are looking for hobbits of that name, you'd best look in the Shire. There are none in Bree. The last time one of that name came here was nigh on a score of years back.(3) Mr Bilbo Baggins he was, as disappeared out of Hobbiton: he went off East long enough ago. 'At that name he drew in his breath and sat up. Then he stooped at me again. "But there is also Frodo Baggins," said he,(4) in a whisper like a knife. "Is he here? Has he been? Do not lie to us!" 'I was all of a twitter, I can tell you; but I was angry as well. "No is the answer," said I; "and you'll get no lies here, so you'd best be civil. If you have any message for any party, you may leave it, and I'll look out for them." "The message is wait," said he. "We may return." And with that the three of them turned their horses and rode off into the fog. Now, Mr Green, what do you say to that?' 'But they asked for Baggins, you say, not Green,' said Frodo warily. 'Ah!' said the landlord with a knowing wink. 'But they wanted news of hobbits out of the Shire, and such a party doesn't come here often. It would be queer, if there were two different parties. And as for Baggins: I've heard that name before. Mr Bilbo was here more than once, in my dad's time and mine; and some funny tales have come out of the Shire since he went off: vanished with a bang while he was speaking, they say. Not that I believe all the tales that come out of the West - but here you go vanishing in the middle of a song by all accounts, right in my house. And when I have time to scratch my head and think, I remember noticing your friends call you Frodo, and I begin to wonder if Baggins should not come next. "Maybe those black men were right," I says to myself. Now the question is, what shall I say, if they come back? Maybe you want to see them, and more likely not. They mean no good to anyone, I'll wager. Now you and your friends seem all right in spite of your pranks, so I thought I had best tell you and find out what you wish.' 'They mean no good at all,' said Frodo. 'I did not know they had passed through Bree, or I should have stayed quiet in this room, and I wish I had. I ought to have guessed it, from the way the gatekeeper greeted us - and you, Mr Butterbur; but I hoped perhaps Gandalf had been here asking for us. I expect you know who I mean, the old wizard. We hoped to find him here or have news of him.' 'Gandalf!' said the landlord. 'Know him! I should think I do. He was here not so long back, in the summer. A good friend of mine is Gandalf, and many a good turn he has done me. If you had asked after him sooner I should have been happier. I will do what I can for any friends of his.' 'I am very grateful,' said Frodo, 'and so will he be. I am sorry I can't tell you the whole story, but I assure you we are up to no mischief. I am Frodo Baggins, as you guess, and these - er - Black Riders are hunting for me, and we are in danger. I should be thankful for any sort of help, though I don't want you to get into trouble on my account. I only hope these Riders won't come back.' 'I hope not indeed,' said the landlord with a shiver. 'But spooks or no spooks, they'll have to mend their manners at my door.' The latter part of this version is in hasty pencil, and soon after this point it peters out without further significant development. Obviously Gandalf's letter will still come from Trotter, not from Butterbur. As I have said, this revision belongs with the new conception of Gandalf's movements: he only got ahead of Frodo and his friends by racing on horseback to Weathertop while they were toiling through the Midgewater Marshes. In the outline given on p. 9 there is mention of a visit of Gandalf to Bree before Frodo set out, and before his captivity in the Western Tower; and Butterbur says in this draft that he saw him 'not so long back, in the summer' (cf. also note 1). This led, I think, to the bringing back of the story (present in one of the alternative versions of the original 'Bree' chapter, VI.156) that it was Butterbur and not Trotter who had the letter from Gandalf; and this in turn led to refinement of the scene at the inn where Trotter proves that he is a friend. As in the draft A above (p. 42), in the new or 'fourth phase' manuscript B Trotter says: 'I was looking for Mr Frodo Baggins, because I had been told to look for birn.' But an important change in the structure now enters. In A Trotter has just said 'But now I had better tell you some more about myself' when he is interrupted by Mr Butterbur's knock on the door - an interruption at this point that goes back through the earlier versions: see VI.338 ('third phase'), VI.150 (original text). In the new account, Trotter is not interrupted at this point. After saying that he will take more care of the secret than they do, the story now proceeds thus: '... But now I had better tell you some more.' He leaned forward and looked at them. 'Black horsemen have passed through Bree,' he said in a low voice. 'On Tuesday morning one came up the Greenway; and two more appeared later. Yester- day evening in the fog three more rode through the West-gate just before it was closed. They questioned Harry the gatekeeper and frightened him badly. I heard them. They also went eastward.' There follows a passage quite closely approaching that in FR (pp. 176 - 7, from 'There was a silence'), with Frodo's regret that he had gone to the common room of the inn, and Trotter's recounting that the landlord had prevented him from seeing the hobbits until it was too late. But to Frodo's remark that the Riders 'seem to have missed me for the present, and to have gone on ahead' Trotter replies: 'I should not be too sure of that. They are cunning, and they divide their forces. I have been watching them. Only six have passed through Bree. There may be others. There are others. I know them, and their proper number.' Trotter paused and shivered. 'Those that have passed on will probably return,' he went on. 'They have questioned folk in the village and outlying houses, as far as Combe [> Archet], trying to get news by bribes and threats - of a hobbit called Baggins. There were others beside Harry Goatleaf in the room tonight who were there for a purpose. There was Bill Ferney. He has a bad name in the Bree-land, and queer folk call at his house sometimes. You must have noticed him among the company: a swarthy sneering fellow. He was very close with one of the southern strangers, and they slipped out together just after your "accident". Harry is an old curmudgeon, and he is frightened; but he won't do anything, unless they go to him.(5) Ferney is a different matter - he would sell anything to anybody; or make mischief for the fun of it.' From this point (Frodo's 'What will Ferney sell?') the text of FR is largely achieved, as far as Trotter's question: 'Will you have him?' Then follows: Frodo made no answer. He looked at Trotter: grim and wild and rough-clad. It was hard to know what to do, or to feel sure of his good will. He had been successful in one thing at any rate: he had made Frodo suspect everybody, even Mr Butterbur. And all his warnings could so well apply to himself. Bill Ferney, Trotter: which was the most likely to betray them? What if Trotter led them into the wild, to 'some dark place far from help'? Everything he had said was curiously double-edged. He had a dark look, and yet there was something in his face that was strangely attractive. The silence grew, and still Frodo found no answer. 'There is one obvious question you have not put,' said Trotter quietly. 'You have not asked me: "Who told you to look out for us?" You might ask that before you decide to class me with Bill Ferney.' 'I am sorry,' stammered Frodo; but at that moment there came a knock at the door. Mr Butterbur was there with candles... The interruption by Mr Butterbur takes place at structurally the same point as in FR (p. 178), though the conversation he interrupts is quite different. Trotter now withdrew into a dark corner of the room, and when Nob had gone off with the hot water to the bedrooms, the landlord began thus: 'I've been asked to look out for a party of hobbits, and for one by the name of Baggins in particular.' 'What has that got to do with me, then?' asked Frodo warily. 'Ah!' said the landlord with a knowing wink. 'You know best; but old Barnabas can add up two and two, if you give him time. Parties out of the Shire don't come here often nowadays, but I was told to look out for one at just about this time. It would be queer, if there was no connexion, if you follow me. And as for Baggins, I've heard that name before. Mr Bilbo was in this house more than once, and some funny stories have come out of the Shire since he went off: vanished with a bang, while he was speaking, they say. Not that I believe all the tales that come from the West - but here you go vanishing in the middle of a song by all accounts, right in my house. Maybe you did, and maybe there was some mistake, but it set me thinking. And when I have time to scratch my head, I remember noticing how your friends call you Frodo; so I begin to wonder if Baggins should not come after it.(6) For it was Frodo Baggins I was told to look for; and I was given a description that fits well enough, if I may say so.' 'Indeed! Let's hear it then!' said Frodo, a little impatient with the slow unravelling of Mr Butterbur's thoughts. 'A round-bellied little fellow with red cheeks,' answered the landlord with a grin. 'Begging your pardon; but he said it, not me.' Folco [> Pippin] chuckled, but Sam looked angry. 'He said it? And who was he?' asked Frodo quickly. 'Oh, that was old Gandalf, if you know who I mean. A wizard they say he is, but he is a right good friend of mine, whether or no. Many a good turn has he done me. "Barney," he says to me, it would be a matter of a month and more ago, in August,(7) if I recollect rightly, when he came in late one evening. Very tired he was, and uncommon thirsty. "Barney," he says, "I want you to do something for me." "You've only to name it," said I. "I want you to look out for some hobbits out of the Shire," said he. "There may be a couple, and there may be more. Nigh the end of September (8) it will be, if they come. I hope I shall be with them, and then you'll have no more to do than draw some of your best ale for us. But if I'm not with them, they may need help. One of them will be Frodo Baggins, if it is the right party: a great friend of mine, a round-bellied..." ' 'All right!' said Frodo, laughing in spite of his impatience. 'Go on! We've heard that already.' Mr Butterbur paused, put out of his stride. 'Where was I?' he said. 'Ah yes. "If this Frodo Baggins comes," said he, "give him this"; and he handed me a letter. "Keep it safe and secret, and keep it in your mind, if your head will hold anything so long," says he. "And don't you mention all this to anybody." I've kept that letter by me night and day, since he gave it to me.' 'A letter for me from Gandalf!' interrupted Frodo eagerly. 'Where is it?' 'There now!' cried Mr Butterbur triumphantly. 'You don't deny the name! Old Barney can put two and two together. But it's a pity you did not trust me from the beginning.' Out of an inner pocket he brought a sealed letter and handed it to Frodo.(9) On the outside it was inscribed: TO F. B. FROM G. ( ) 'There's another thing I ought to say,' Mr Butterbur began again. 'I guess you may be in trouble, seeing how Gandalf isn't here, and they have come, as he warned me.' 'What do you mean?' said Frodo. 'The black horsemen,' said Butterbur. ' "If you see horsemen in black," says Gandalf to me, "look out for trouble! And my friends will need all the help you can give." And they have come, sure enough: yesterday and the day before.(10) The dogs all yammered, and the geese screamed at them. Uncanny, I call it. They've been asking for news of a hobbit called Baggins, I hear. And that Ranger, Trotter, he has been asking questions, too. Tried to get in here, before you had had bite or sup, he did.' 'He did!' said Trotter suddenly, coming forward into the light. 'And a lot of trouble would have been saved, if you had let him in, Barnabas.' The landlord jumped with surprise. 'You!' he cried. 'You're always popping up. What do you want?' 'He's here with my leave,' said Frodo. 'He's offering us his help.' 'Well, you know best, maybe,' said Mr Butterbur, looking doubtfully at Trotter. 'Of course, I don't know what's going on, or what these black fellows want with you. But they mean no good to you, I'll swear.' 'They mean no good to anyone,' answered Frodo. 'I am sorry I can't explain it all. I am tired and very worried, and it is a long tale. But tell Gandalf everything, if he turns up, and he will be very grateful, and he may tell you more than I can. But I ought at least to warn you what you are doing in helping me. The Black Riders are hunting me, and they are perilous. They are servants of the Necromancer.' 'Save us!' cried Mr Butterbur, turning pale. 'Uncanny I knew they were; but that is the worst bit of news that has come to Bree in my time! ' This version now attains the form in FR (p. 181) as far as Butterbur's departure to send Nob out to look for Merry with scarcely any deviation. Trotter speaks of 'the Shadow in the South', not 'in the East', and refers of course to 'Mr Green', not 'Mr Underhill', and after Butterbur's remark that there are others in Bree quicker in the uptake than Nob is, he adds: 'Bill Ferney was here tonight, and he's an ugly customer.' - It will be seen that with the structural change in the ordering of the chapter (bringing the landlord to the hobbits' room at a later point) the information about the Black Riders (itself very brief) is now given by Trotter, while Butterbur himself is left with only a few words on the subject.(11) In previous versions his account of the coming of the Riders to the inn door was a chief element in the conversation; now there is no mention of it (though it reappears briefly in FR, p. 180). In this version, the landlord before leaving the room asks if Trotter is going to stay there, to which Trotter replies: 'I am. You may need me before the morning.' 'All right, then,' said the landlord, 'if Mr Green is willing.' When Butterbur has gone: 'Well, now you ought to guess the answer to the question I spoke of before he came in,' said Trotter. 'But aren't you going to open the letter?' Frodo looked carefully at the seal before he broke it. It seemed certainly to be Gandalf's. Inside, written in the wizard's thin long-legged script,(12) was the following message. Frodo read it aloud.(13) The Prancing Pony, Bree,. Tuesday, September 12th.(14) Dear F. I am starting back tomorrow, 6' should reach you in a day or two. But things have become very dangerous, and I may not get through in time. (He has found the Shire: the borders are watched, and so am I.) If I fail to come, I hope that will be sufficient warning to you, @' you will have sense to leave Shire at once. If so, there is just a chance you will get through as far as Bree. Look out for horsemen in black. They are your worst enemies (save one): they are Ringwraiths. Do not use It again: not for any reason at all. Do not move in the dark. Try and find Trotter the ranger. He will be looking out for you: a lean, dark, weatherbeaten fellow, but one of my greatest friends. He knows our business. He will see you through, if any one can. Make for Rivendell as fast as possible. There I hope we may meet again. If not, Elrond will advise you. Yours ..................... . PS. You can trust Barnabas Butterbur and Trotter. But make sure it is really Trotter. The real Trotter will have a sealed letter from me with these words in it All that is gold does not glitter, all that is long does not last, All that is old does not wither, not all that is over is past. PPS. It would be worse than useless to try and go beyond Bree on your own. If Trotter does not turn up, you must try and get Butterbur to hide you somewhere, and hope that I shall come. PPPS. I hope B. does not forget this! If he remembers to give it to you, tell him I am very grateful, 6' still more surprised. Fare well wherever you fare. 35 'Well, that is from Gandalf all right, quite apart from the hand and the signature,' said Frodo as he finished. 'What about your letter, Trotter?' 'Do you need it? I thought you had made up your mind about me already! If not, you ought not to have let me stay; and you certainly ought not to have read that aloud to me.' 'I haven't made up my mind,' said Sam suddenly. 'And I am not going to see Mr Frodo made fun of and put upon. Let's see that letter, or Sam Gamgee'll take a hand!' 'My good Sam,' said Trotter. 'I've got a weapon under my cloak, as well as you! And I don't mind telling you that if I was not the real Trotter, you would not have a chance, not all three of you together. But steady there!' he said, as Sam sprang up. 'I have got a letter, and here it is!' Onto the table he tossed another sealed letter, outwardly exactly like the other. Sam and Folco [> Pippin] looked at it, as Frodo opened it. Inside there was a small paper in Gandalf's hand. It said: All that is gold does not glitter; all that is long does not last; All that is old does not wither; not all that is over is past. This is to certify that the bearer is Aragorn son of Celegorn,(15) of the line of Isildur Elendil's son, known in Bree as Trotter; enemy of the Nine, and friend of Gandalf. ...................: (X):-. Frodo stared at the words in amazement. 'Of the line of Elendil!' he said, looking with awe at Trotter. 'Then It belongs to you as much as to me, or more!' 'It does not belong to either of us,' said Trotter; 'but you are to keep it for a while. For so it is ordained.'(16) 'Why didn't you show this to us sooner? It would have saved time, and prevented me, and Sam, from behaving absurdly.' 'Absurdly! Not at all. Sam is very sensible: he doubted me to the last, and I think he still does. Quite right, too! If you'd had more experience of your Enemy, you would not trust your own hands, except in broad daylight, once you knew that he was on your track. I had to make sure of you, too. That was one reason why I delayed. The Enemy has set snares for me before now. But I must admit that I tried to persuade you to take me as a friend, for my own sake without proofs. A hunted wanderer wearies sometimes of distrust, even while he is preaching it.(17) But there, I fear my looks are against me.' There follows the ill-judged intervention of Folco/Pippin - 'Hand- some is as handsome does we say in the Shire', which had remained unchanged from Odo's original remark in VI.155; then follows: Folco [> Pippin] subsided; but Sam was not daunted, and he still eyed Trotter dubiously. 'You could make yourself look like you do, if you were play-acting,' he said. 'What proof have we had that you are the real article, I should like to know?' Trotter laughed. 'Don't forget Butterbur's letter, Sam! ' he said. 'Think it out! Butterbur is certainly the real Butterbur, unless the whole of Bree is bewitched. How could the words all that is gold appear in Butterbur's letter and in mine, unless Gandalf wrote them both? You may be sure Gandalf did not give a spy a chance of knowing that Butterbur's letter existed. Even if he did, a spy could not know the key-words, without reading the letter. How could that have been done without Butterbur's knowledge?' Sam scratched his head long and thoughtfully. 'Ah!' he said at last. 'I dessay it would have been difficult. But how about this: you could have done in the real Trotter and stolen his letter, and then popped it out, like you did, after hearing Butterbur's and seeing how the land lay? You seem mighty unwilling to show it. What have you got to say to that?' 'I say you are a splendid fellow,' said Trotter. 'I see why Gandalf chose you to go with your master. You hang on tight. I am afraid my only answer to you, Sam, is this: if I had killed the real Trotter, I could kill you, and I should have killed you already without so much talk. If I was after the Ring, I could have it - now! ' He stood up, and seemed suddenly to grow taller. In his face there gleamed a light, keen and commanding. They did not move. Even Sam sat still, staring dumbly at him. 'But I am the real Trotter, fortunately,' he said, looking down at them with a sudden kindly smile. 'I am Aragorn son of Celegorn, and if by life or death I can save you, I will.' There was a long silence. At last Frodo spoke hesitatingly. 'Did those verses of Gan- dalf's apply to you, then?' he asked. 'I thought at first they were just nonsense.' 'Nonsense, if you will,' answered Trotter. 'Don't worry about them. They have served their turn.' 'If you want to know,' said Frodo, 'I believed in you before Butterbur came in. I was not trying to trust you, but struggling not to trust you, to follow your own teaching. You have frightened me several times tonight, but never in the way that servants of the Enemy would, or so I imagine. I think one of those would... would, well, seem fairer and feel fouler. You... well, it is the other way round with you.' 'I look foul and feel fair, is it?' laughed Trotter. 'We'll leave it at that, and say no more about round bellies!' 'I am glad you are to be our guide,' said Folco [> Pippin). 'Now that we are beginning to understand the danger, we should be in despair without you. But somehow I feel more hopeful than ever.' Sam said nothing. Afterwards my father abandoned this spider's web of argumenta- tion, arising from there being two letters from Gandalf, and handled the question of the verse of recognition All that is gold does not glitter and Aragorn's knowledge of it extremely adroitly by making Aragorn use the words himself (not having seen or heard Gandalf's one letter) a propos Frodo's remark (already present in this version) about 'foul and fair' (FR p. 184). But the complication of the two letters survived the crucial decision that Gandalf's letter to Frodo was written to be received by him before he left Bag End and failed in delivery through Butterbur's forgetfulness. After 'Sam said nothing' this version is the same as FR (p. 184), with Trotter's words about the leaving of Bree and the making for Weathertop. But his answer to Frodo's question about Gandalf is much slighter: Trotter looked grave. 'I don't know,' he said. 'To tell you the truth, I am very troubled about him - for the first time since I have known him. He meant to arrive here with you two days sooner than' this. We should at least have had messages. Something has happened. I think it is something that he feared, or he would not have taken all these precautions with letters.' From Frodo's question 'Do you think the Black Riders have anything to do with it?' the remainder of FR Chapter 10 was now attained except in a few minor particulars, the chief of which occurs in Merry's account of his experience. This story now returns to the original version (VI.161-2), according to which the Rider went eastwards through the village and stopped at Bill Ferney's house (whereas in the 'third phase' version, VI.353-4, it went in the other direction to the West-gate); but it differs from FR (p. 185) in that when Merry was about to bolt back to the inn 'another black shape rose up before me - coming down the Road from the other gate - and ... and I fell over.' In this version Trotter says: 'They may after all try some attack before we leave Bree. But it will be dark. In the light they need their horses.'(18) For the subsequent history of this chapter see pp. 76 - 8. Chapter XI: 'A Knife in the Dark'. This chapter was another of those that my father at this time reconstituted partly from the existing 'third phase' text (the latter part of Chapter X and the first part of Chapter XI, see VI.359) and partly from new manuscript pages, and as with the previous chapters in this form some rejected pages of the older version became separated and did not go to Marquette. The new text opens with the attack on Crickhollow, which with the change in its date had been moved from its original place in Chapter VII (see p. 36). For the previous form of the episode see VI.328; this was almost identical to the original text, VI.303 - 4. To both of these my father pencilled in glimpses of the story that Odo left with Gandalf as he rode after the Black Riders - a story that seems only to have entered the 'third phase' narrative when the 'Bree' chapter was reached: see VI.336. But in the second version Crickhollow was not empty: a curtain moved in a window - for Odo had stayed behind. I give first a preliminary draft of the attack on Crickhollow written for its new place in the story. As they slept there in the inn of Bree, darkness lay on Buckland. Mist strayed in the dells and along the river-bank. The house at Crickhollow stood silent. Not long before, when evening had just fallen, there had been a light in a window. A horse came quickly up the lane, and halted. Up the path in haste a figure walked, wrapped in a great cloak, leading a white horse. He tapped on the door, and at once the light went out. The curtain at the window stirred, and soon after the door was opened and he passed quickly in. Even as the door closed a black shadow seemed to move under the trees and pass out through the gate without a sound.(19) Then darkness slowly deepened into night, a dead and misty night: no stars shone over Buckland. There came the soft fall of hoofs, horses were drawing near, led slow and cautiously. The gate in the hedge opened, and up the path filed three shapes, hooded, swathed in black, and stooping low towards the ground. One went to the door, one to each corner of the house-end on either side; and there they stood, silent as the black shadows of stones, while time went slowly on, and the house and the trees about it seemed to be waiting breathlessly. There was a faint stir in the leaves, and a cock crowed. The cold hour before dawn had come.(20) Suddenly the figure by the door moved. In the dark, without star or moon, the blade that was drawn gleamed, as if a chill light had been unsheathed. There was a blow, soft but heavy, and the door shuddered. 'Open in the name of Sauron!' said a voice, cold and menacing. At a second blow the door yielded, and fell back with its lock broken and timbers burst. The black figures passed swiftly in. At that moment, nearby among the trees a horn rang out. It rent the night like fire on a hill-top, echoing over the land. Awake! Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake! Someone was blowing the Horn-call of Buckland, which had not been sounded for a hundred years, not since the white wolves came in the Fell Winter when the Brandywine was frozen. Far away (21) answer- ing horns were heard. Distant sounds of waking and alarm came through the night. The whole of Buckland was aroused. The black shapes slipped swiftly from the house. In the lane the sound of hoofs broke out, and gathering to a gallop went racing into the darkness. Behind them a white horse ran. On it sat an old man clad in grey, with long silver hair and flowing beard. His horn still sounded over hill and dale. In his right hand a wand flared and flickered like a sheaf of lightning.(22) Behind him, clinging to his cloak, sat a hobbit. Gandalf and Hamilcar were riding to the North Gate, and the Black Riders fled before them. But they had found out what they wished to know: Crickhollow was empty and the Ring had gone. The story here must be that Gandalf and Hamilcar left the house by the back door, as Fredegar Bolger did in FR (p. 188), but then waited among the trees surrounding the open space in which the house stood. A note added to the time-scheme B (p. 11) seems to fit this version: 'The Black Riders creep into Buckland, but too late to see Frodo depart. They track him to Crickhollow and guard it, and see Gandalf enter. But Gandalf (and Ham pretending to be Frodo) burst out on night of Sept. 29.' Another short text, written on the same slip of paper and obviously at the same time as that just given, provided only the end of the episode; and in this text, which was later struck through, there is no mention of Gandalf: Ham Bolger was blowing the Horn-call of Buckland, which had not been sounded for a hundred years... [@ c. as before] The black shapes slipped swiftly from the house. In the lane the sound of hoofs broke out and gathering to a gallop raced off madly northwards into the dark. The black riders had fled, for their concern was not yet with the little folk of the Shire, but only with the Ring. And they had discovered what they wished to know: Crickhollow was empty and the Ring had gone. This perhaps goes with the outline $4 on p. 9: 'Crickhollow scene - only Hamilcar there. He blows horn...' The version of the story that appears in the 'fourth phase' manu- script changes again. It begins thus: As they slept there in the inn at Bree, darkness lay on Buckland: mist strayed in the dells and along the river-bank. The house at Crickhollow stood silent. A curtain stirred in a window and for a moment a light gleamed out. At once a black shadow moved under the trees and passed out through the gate without a sound. The night deepened. There came the soft fall of hoofs... The draft text given on p. 53 is then followed closely; but from 'The black figures passed swiftly in' there is a new story: The black figures passed swiftly in. In a moment they came out again; one was carrying a small bundled figure in an old cloak: it did not struggle. Now they leaped upon their horses without caution; in the lane the noise of hoofs broke out, and gathering to a gallop went hammering away into the darkness. At the same moment, [struck out: from the direction of the Ferry,] another horse came thundering along the lane. As it passed the gate a horn rang out.(23) It rent the night like fire on a hill-top... [@ c. as before] Far away answering horns were heard; the alarm was spreading. Buckland was aroused. But the Black Riders rode like a gale to the North Gate. Let the little people blow! Sauron would deal with them later. In the meanwhile they had earned his thanks: Baggins was caught like a fox in a hole. They rode down the watchmen, leaped the gate, and vanished. And that is how Hamilcar Bolger first crossed the Brandywine Bridge. This version evidently belongs with the story in the time-scheme D (p. 12), where on September 29 'the Riders attack Crickhollow and carry off Ham, pursued by Gandalf' - although there this took place at midnight, whereas here it was 'the cold hour before dawn'. Gandalf arrived just too late, and (and as will appear later) thought that it was Frodo who had been taken; but the further story of Hamilcar Bolger must be briefly postponed (see pp. 68 ff.). Frodo's 'dream of the tower' had been removed from the night at Bree to the night at Crickhollow (see pp. 33 - 6), and his sleep at Bree is now described as it is in FR: 'his dreams were again troubled with the noise of wind and of galloping hoofs ... far off he heard a horn blowing wildly.' New writing (i.e. replacement of the 'third phase' manuscript) continues as far as the departure of the hobbits with Trotter from Bree and their coming into open country. At this stage Folco was still Folco, not Pippin; but the text of FR (pp. 189 - 93) was reached in all but trifling details.(24) The later story of Merry's ponies now appears, changed from the earlier (VI.164) in which Tom Bombadil, when he found them, went to the inn at Bree to find out what had happened to the hobbits, and paid Mr Butterbur for the ponies; the relationship between Bombadil and Butterbur had been abandoned (pp. 10, 37). From the point where the companions saw the houses and hobbit- holes of Staddle on their left (FR p. 193) the 'third phase' manuscript was retained, and lightly corrected, as far as the arrival of Trotter, Frodo, and Merry on the summit of Weathertop. As the manuscript stood at this stage the text of FR was very nearly attained, but some additions were later: such as the lights in the eastward sky seen from the Midgewater Marshes, the burnt turf and blackened stones on the summit of Weathertop, and the ring of ancient stonework about it; apparently the alteration of Trotter's remark that 'not all the rangers are to be trusted, nor all the birds and beasts', which goes back to the original form of the story (VI.167), to 'not all the birds are to be trusted, and there are other spies more evil than they are' was also a much later change. Strider's account in FR (p. 197) of the great watchtower on Weathertop and its ruin is not entered on the manuscript at all, an J the text remains here unchanged from its earliest form (VI.169, 355). Sam's song of Gil-galad was written at this time, and entered into the manuscript.(25) On the summit of Weathertop the old story underwent an impor- tant change. Gandalf's message on a paper that fluttered from the cairn of stones (VI.170, 355) has gone, and the text of FR (p. 199) is reached (without, as already noted, any mention of a fire: the stone on which the marks were found was not 'flatter than the others, and whiter, as if it had escaped the fire', but 'smaller than the others, and of different colour, as if it had been rubbed clean'). The scratches on the stone were X: IIII (the Old English G-rune still being used), interpreted to mean that Gandalf had been there on 4 October. The marks were however changed to read X: I.III, and a new passage was inserted (and subsequently rejected): 'But there's a dot between the first 1 and the next three,' said Sam poring over the stone. 'It doesn't say G.4, but G.1.3.' 'Quite right!' agreed Trotter. 'Then if Gandalf made these marks, it might mean that he was here from the first to the third; or perhaps that he and another were here on the third.' This is odd, because Sam stayed down in the dell and did not go up to the summit of Weathertop; moreover this inserted discussion takes place at the summit, so that it is no help to suppose that Trotter brought the stone down with him to the dell. - Later, the marks were changed again to X:III. To Frodo's 'It would be a great comfort to know that he was on the way to Rivendell' Trotter replies simply: 'It would indeed! But in any case, as he is not here himself, we must look after ourselves, and make our own way to Rivendell as best we can.' In answer to Merry's question 'How far is Rivendell?' Trotter at first replied very much as in the original version (VI.171), but distinguished between three weeks in fair weather and a month in foul weather from Brandywine Bridge to the Ford, and concludes: 'So we have at least twelve days' journey before us,(26) and very likely a fortnight or more.' This was rejected in the act of writing and the text of FR substituted, in which Trotter states the time it took from Weathertop to the Ford without comput- ing it so elaborately: 'twelve days from here to the Ford of Bruinen, where the Road crosses the Loudwater that runs out of Rivendell.' In the 'third phase' the chapter ended with Trotter, Frodo, and Merry slipping down from the summit, and the next chapter began with 'Sam and Folco had not been idle' (in the dell). In the new version the chapter continues, and as in FR includes the attack by the Black Riders. The passage opens exactly as in FR (p. 201), and Gandalf s supplies of cram, bacon, and dried fruits (VI.357) have gone, but Trotter has different things to report from his examination of the tracks in the dell, and he does not assert that Rangers had been there recently, and that it was they who had left the firewood. 'It is just as I feared,' he said when he came back. 'Sam and Folco [) Pippin] have trampled the soft ground, and the marks are spoilt or confused. There has been somebody here in boots lately, which means somebody who is not a Ranger, but that is all I can say for certain. But I don't quite like it: it looks as if there had been more than one pair of boots.' To each of the hobbits there came the thought of the cloaked and booted riders. If they had already found the dell, the sooner Trotter took them somewhere else the better. But Trotter was still considering the meaning of the footprints. 'There was also something even more strange,' he went on: 'I think there are hobbit-tracks, too: only I can't now be sure that there is a third set, different from Folco's [> Pippin's] and Sam's.' 'But there aren't any hobbits in this part of the world, are there?' said Merry. 'There are four here now,' answered Trotter, 'and one more can't be called impossible; but I have no idea what that would mean.' 'It might mean that these black fellows have got the poor wretch as a prisoner,' said Sam. He viewed the bare dell with great dislike... Sam's remark is of course a mere surmise, and he speaks without any particular reference: boots and hobbit-tracks merely suggest the possibility that the Riders might have a hobbit with them. But though Trotter's remarks are inconclusive, and within the narrative inten- tionally so, it is obvious that the story of Hamilcar Bolger's ride with Gandalf is present here. Merry's question to Trotter beginning 'Can the Riders see?' now takes the same form as in FR (p. 202), and Trotter's reply is similar but less elaborate.(29) In this text, as noted above, Trotter does not say anything about its being a Rangers' camp in the dell, and the firewood is left unexplained. Where in FR he says simply: 'Let us take this wood that is set ready for the fire as a sign', here he adds: 'Whoever left it, brought it and put it here for a purpose; for there are no trees near. Either he meant to return, or thought that friends in need might follow him. There is little shelter or defence here, but fire will make up for both. Fire is our friend in the wilderness.'(30) The passage in the previous version (VI.358) describing Trotter's tales as they sat by the fire in the dell was changed, presumably at this time, to its reduced form in FR (p. 203); and his story of Beren and Luthien now appears in the form that it has in FR (pp. 205 - 6). The song itself is missing; but the final form was apparently achieved at this time, since it is found written out roughly but in finished composition among draft papers of this period.(31) Chapter XII: 'Flight to the Ford'. This chapter was constituted from the existing text, with replacement of some pages; but in this case the whole manuscript was kept together. Folco is still Folco in the passages of new writing, but was corrected to Pippin or Peregrin throughout. The River Hoarwell or Mitheithel, and the Last Bridge, have now emerged, and the Ettenmoors and Ettendales (32) of FR (the Dimrill- dale(s) of the 'third phase') are now the Entish Lands and Entish Dales (see p. 10 and note 14, and p. 14 and note 18). The 'Riven River' or 'Rivendell River' of the 'third phase' (VI.360) is now the Loudwater or Bruinen (note 27); and Trotter tells his companions that the Hoarwell joins the Loudwater away in the South: 'Some call it the Greyflood after that' (FR p. 212). Trotter finds the elf-stone in the mud on the Last Bridge; but the passage in which he speaks of the country to the north of the Road remains virtually as it was in the earliest form of the story (VI.192 - 3; cf. FR p. 214): he does not say that he once dwelt in Rivendell, and the history of Angmar and the North Kingdom had not emerged (cf. pp. 37, 56). The removal of the names 'Bert' and 'William' from the Stone Trolls was also a later decision; but it was now that Sam's 'Troll Song' was introduced (after some hesitation). My father's original intention had been to have Bingo sing it at The Prancing Pony (see VI.142, notes 11 and 12), and he had made a rough, uncompleted version for that occasion, developed and much changed from the original Leeds song The Root of the Boot of the 1920s (given in Vol. VI, see pp. 142 - 4).(33) The 'Troll Song' is found here in three distinct and carefully written versions, beside much rough working; the third version was taken up into the manuscript. The 'Bree' version, which I did not print in Vol. VI, was already much closer to the first of these than to The Root of the Boot, from which my father rejected all such references as 'churchyard', 'aureole', 'wore black on a Sunday', etc. I give the first text here, in the form in which it was written out fair in ink; there are many pencilled variants, here ignored. For the development of the second and third versions see note 35. In The Root of the Boot the Troll's opponent was named Tom, and his uncle John; in the 'Bree' version he was John, and his uncle Jim, with John changed back to Tom while the text was being worked on. In all three of the present texts the names are John and Jim, as they still were when my father sang the song to Mr and Mrs George Sayer at Malvern in 1952;(34) in FR they are Tom and his uncle Tim. A troll sat alone on his seat of stone, And munched and mumbled a bare old bone; For many a year he had gnawed it near, And sat there hard and hungry. Tongue dry! Wrung dry! For many a year he had gnawed it near And sat there hard and hungry. Then up came John with his big boots on. Said he to the troll: 'Pray, what is yon? For it looks like the shin o' my nuncle Jim, As went to walk on the mountain. Huntin'! Countin'! It looks like the shin o' my nuncle Jim, As went to walk on the mountain.' 'My lad,' said the troll, 'this bone I stole; But what be bones that lie in a hole? Thy nuncle were dead as a lump o' lead, Before I found his carkis. Hark'ee! Mark'ee! Thy nuncle were dead as a lump o' lead, Before I found his carkis.' Said John: I doan t see why the likes o thee Without axin' leave should go makin' free With the leg or the shin o' my kith and my kin, So hand the old bone over! Rover! Trover! So give me the shin o' my kith and my kin, And hand the old bone over!' 'For a couple o' pins,' says the troll, and grins, 'I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins. A bit o' fresh meat will go down sweet, And thee shall join thy nuncle! Sunk well! Drunk well! A bit o' fresh meat u ill go down sweet, And thee shall join thy nuncle.' But just as he thought his dinner was caught, He found his hands had hold of naught; But he caught a kick both hard and quick, For John had slipped behind him. Mind him! Blind him! He caught a kick both hard and quick, For John had slipped behind him. The troll tumbled down, and he cracked his crown; But John went hobbling back to town, For that stony seat was too hard for feet, And boot and toe u ere broken. Token! Spoken! That stony seat was too hard for feet, And boot and toe were broken. There the troll lies, no more to rise, With his nose to earth and his seat to the skies; But under the stone is a bare old bone That u as stole by a troll from its owner. Donor! Boner! Under the stone lies a broken bone. That was stole by a troll from its owner.(35) At the end of the recital Frodo says of Sam: 'First he was a conspirator, now he's a jester. He'll end up by becoming a wizard - or a toad!' - The stone that marked the place where the trolls' gold was hidden is still marked with Old English G and B runes in a circle, and the text remains as in the 'third phase' (VI.360). Glorfindel now hails Trotter, not as in the previous version with Ai, Du-finnion! but with Ai, dennad Torfir! A short preparatory draft for the passage beginning with Glorfindel's greeting to Frodo (VI.361, FR p. 222) is found, as follows: 'Hail, and well met at last! ' said the elf-lord to Frodo. 'I was sent from Rivendell to look for your coming. Gandalf feared that you might follow the Road to the Ford.' 'Gandalf has reached Rivendell then?' cried Frodo joyfully. 'More than five days ago,' answered Glorfindel. 'He rode out of the Entish Dales over the Hoarwell springs.' 'Out of the Entish Dales!' exclaimed Trotter. 'Yes,' said Glorfindel, 'and we thought you might come that way to avoid the peril of the Road. Some are seeking you in that region. I alone have come this way. I rode as far as the Bridge of Here the text breaks off. That Glorfindel should have set out after Gandalf reached Rivendell is at variance with the time-schemes (p. 14) and this brief draft must have preceded them. Abandoned in mid- sentence, it was replaced by another very close to what Glorfindel says in FR: he had left Rivendell nine days before; Gandalf had not then come; and Elrond had sent out from Rivendell not on account of Gandalf but because he had had news from Gildor's people - 'some of our kindred journeying beyond the Branduin (which you turned into Brandywine)'. This was taken up into the manuscript of the chapter (without the reference to the hobbits' name for the river: the moment was too urgent for such reflections).(36) It may be that this change in the story came about from the consideration that too little time was allowed for Gandalf's great detour northward through the Entish Dales. In any case, the time-scheme D reflects the revised text: Glorfindel left Rivendell on 9 October and found Trotter and the hobbits nine days later, on the 18th, while Gandalf and Ham Bolger only reached Rivendell on that same day, having taken a full fortnight from Weathertop. In the new version, Sam's protective fierceness when Frodo was attacked by pain and swayed is more bitterly expressed: ' "My master is sick and wounded, though perhaps Mr Trotter has not told you that," said Sam angrily.' Much later, the latter part of this was struck out. At the end of the chapter the three Riders who came out of the tree-hung cutting become, by correction to the existing manuscript, five, and the six who came from ambush away to the left become four. This change goes of course with the change of three Riders to five in the attack on Weathertop (see note 31). NOTES. 1. In the draft A there is also a rejected version of the words between the Rider and the gatekeeper: 'Have you seen Gandalf?' said the voice after a pause. 'No sir, not since midsummer,' said Harry. 'You will watch for him,' said the voice slowly. 'You will watch for hobbits. We want Baggins. He is with them....' 2. In the fair copy B of the end of Chapter V (pp. 34-5); in the draft A (p. 32) the name is still Folco. 3. 'nigh on a score of years back' refers to Bilbo's passage through Bree after his Farewell Party, on his way to Rivendell. Butterbur had therefore seen Bilbo since he 'vanished with a bang while he was speaking', as the landlord goes on to say. See p. 83. 4. This development, showing the Riders to be well informed about the Bagginses of Bag End, was not retained. 5. On Trotter's references to Harry Goatleaf see pp. 41 - 2. 6. This speech of Butterbur's is largely derived from the draft text A (p. 43), where however it stands in a different context: there, it was on account of the questions of the Black Riders at the inn door, whereas here Butterbur has not mentioned the Riders. 7. 'a month' was corrected to 'a fortnight', and at the same time 'in August' was struck out. The date on Gandalf's letter (p. 49) is 12 September, showing that these changes were made while the chapter was in progress. 8. 'September' was corrected to 'this month'; see note 7. 9. The relations between the versions in respect of Gandalf's letter are: 'Third phase' o f the 'Bree' chapter: Butterbur tells Frodo of Gandalf's visit two days before, and of his message to hurry on after him (VI.338 - 9) Trotter has the letter from Gandalf (VI.343) Draft revision A of the 'third phase' version: Butterbur has nothing to communicate from Gandalf, who has not recently been in Bree (p. 43) Trotter has the letter from Gandalf (p. 44) The present text: Butterbur tells Frodo of Gandalf's visit to Bree (in August >) on 12 September (p. 47 and note 7) Butterbur has the letter from Gandalf (p. 47) The Fellowship of the Ring: Butterbur tells Frodo of Gandalf's visit at the end of June, leaving with the landlord a letter to be taken to the Shire, which was not done (p. 179). 10. 'yesterday and the day before': i.e. Tuesday and Wednesday, 27 and 28 September. Similarly in A the first Rider passed through Bree on the Tuesday (p. 43), not as in the previous versions on the Monday (VI.151, 339). In FR (pp. 176, 180) the first appearance of the Black Riders in Bree was again on Monday the 26th. 11. This is in fact a reversion to the alternative text 'B' of the original 'Bree' chapter (see VI.159), where Butterbur does not encounter the Riders and has nothing to say about them. 12. 'thin long-legged script': 'strong but graceful script' FR. In the earlier versions Gandalf's handwriting is 'trailing' (VI.154, 352). 13. There are two very rough draft versions of the letter. The first reads: The Prancing Pony Aug. 30. Tuesday. Dear F. I hope you will not need this. If you get this (I hope old Butterbur will not forget) things will be far from well. I hope to get back in time, but things have happened which make it doubtful. This is to say: look out for horsemen in black. Avoid them: they are our worst enemies (save one). Don't use It again, not for any reason whatever. Make for Rivendell as fast as you possibly can; but don't move in the dark. I hope, if you reach Bree, you will meet Trotter the Ranger: a dark rather lean weather-beaten fellow, but my great friend, and enemy of our enemies. He knows all our business. He has been watching the east borders of the Shire since April, but for the moment has disappeared. You can trust him: he will see you through if it can be done. I hope we may meet in Rivendell. If not Elrond will advise you. If I don't come I can only hope that will be sufficient warning for you, and that you (and Sam, too, at least) will leave the Shire as soon as possible. The other draft is the very close forerunner of the letter in the present manuscript, and scarcely differs from it, but it bears no date. - For previous forms of the letter see VI.154, 158, 352. 14. On the date 12 September (beside 30 August in the draft, note 13) see notes 7 and 8. 15. 'Aragorn son of Celegorn' is certainly later than 'Aragorn son of Aramir' (p. 7). - The original form of the name of the third son of Feanor was Celegorm, but this was changed to Celegorn in the course of the writing of the Quenta Silmarillion (V.226, 289). Later it became Celegorm again. 16. These words of Frodo and Aragorn were afterwards used in 'The Council of Elrond' (see p. 105, note 3). 17. There is much initial drafting in exceedingly rough form for this part of the chapter. The first form of this passage was: The Enemy has set snares for me before now. Of course I did not really doubt you after seeing you with Tom Bombadil, and certainly not after hearing Frodo's song. Bilbo wrote that, and I don't see how servants of the Enemy could possibly have known it. But I had to teach you caution and convince you that I was personally to be trusted all the same - so that you should have no doubts or regrets later. Also a wanderer, an old ranger, had a desire to be taken as a friend for his own sake for once, and without proofs. For the origin of this speech of Trotter's see VI.155. 18. With 'In the light they need their horses' cf. Strider's words on Weathertop (FR p. 202): the black horses can see, and the Riders can use men and other creatures as spies'; for earlier forms of this see VI.178, 357, and p. 58 and note 29. 19. I take the significance of this to be that the one Rider who had stood sentinel under the trees went to fetch the other two. 20. These two sentences replaced, soon after the time of writing, 'A curtain in one of the windows moved' (cf. VI.328). 21. 'Far away answering horns were heard': in all the variant forms of the 'Crickhollow episode' the reading is 'Far away' (adverbial). The reading of FR (p. 189), 'Far-away answering horns' (adjec- tival), which appears already in the first impression of the first edition, is I think an early error. 22. The expression a sheaf of lightning, going back to the earliest form of the episode (VI.304), seems not to be recorded. The Oxford English Dictionary gives a meaning of sheaf 'a cluster of jets of fire or water darting up together', with quotations from the nineteenth century, but I doubt that this is relevant. Conceivably my father had in mind a 'cluster' or 'bundle' of lightnings', like a 'sheaf of arrows'. 23. These sentences (from 'At the same moment...') were a replace- ment, made as I think at or very soon after the time of composition, of 'Nearby among the trees a horn rang out.' 24. Some corrections made to attain it were put in subsequently, as is seen at once from the fact that in one of them 'Pippin' is the name written, not changed from 'Folco'; but I doubt that they were much later, and the question has here no importance. 25. The original workings of Sam's song of Gil-galad are extant, with the original form of the dialogue that followed his recital: The others turned in amazement, for the voice was Sam's. 'Don't stop! ' said Folco. 'That's all I know, sir,' stammered Sam blushing. 'I learned it out of an old book up at Mr. Bilbo's, when I was a lad. I always was as one for elves: but I never knew what that bit was about, until I heard Gandalf talking. Mr. Frodo'll remember that day.' 'I do,' said Frodo; 'and I know the book. I often wondered where it came from, though I never read it carefully.' 'It came from Rivendell,' said Trotter. 'That is part of Here the text breaks up into a mass of rough variants, including 'It comes from "The Fall of Gilgalad", which is in an old tongue. Bilbo must have been translating it', and 'I know the book you mean (said Frodo). Bilbo wrote his poems in it. But I never thought of them as true.' 26. 'at least twelve days' journey before us': i.e. 21 less 9 (2 from the Brandywine Bridge to Bree, 7 from Bree to Weathertop). 27. Bruinen occurs in the time-scheme D, p. 14; Loudwater is first met here (but is found also on one of the sketch-maps redrawn in VI.201). 28. In draft fragments there are many versions of the passage concerning the problem of provisions that now beset the travellers, and in these there are still several mentions of 'the additional supplies left by Gandalf.' 29. The passage in the final form 'but our shapes cast shadows in their minds... they smell the blood of living things, desiring and hating it' is lacking. The final text is found in this manuscript, but whether added at this time or later I cannot say. 30. Aragorn's remark in FR about the Riders and fire ('Sauron can put fire to his evil uses...') was added to the manuscript. - In a draft for the earlier passage where he examines the traces in the dell he says: 'The wood is interesting. It is beech. There are no trees of that sort for many miles from this place, so the wood was brought from a distance. It must have been hidden here for a purpose: that is, either the campers meant to stay or to return, or they thought friends were likely to follow.' 31. Two differences from FR that remained in the 'third phase' were corrected on this manuscript: 'three tall figures' to 'five', and Frodo's cry to 0 Elbereth! Gilthoniel! (see VI.358). 32. The Ettenmoors and Ettendales of FR (pp. 212, 215) were written into this manuscript, but certainly at some later time - replacing Entish Lands and Entish Dales when the word Ent had acquired its special meaning. It may be that Etten- from Old English eoten 'giant, troll' (Grendel in Beowulf was an eoten), Middle English eten, was first devised on this manuscript, in the passage where Trotter says 'If we keep on as we are going we shall get up into the Entish Dales far north of Rivendell' (FR p. 215), for my father wrote here Thirs before he wrote Etten- dales. He must have been thinking of using the Old English word pyrs, of the same general meaning as ent, eoten, Middle English thirs (and other forms). On the other hand a note on the First Map (see p. 306) seems also to show Etten- at the moment of its emergence. 33. There was also a fleeting idea that it would be Bilbo's song at Rivendell (see VI.412, note 6). 34. See Humphrey Carpenter, Biography, p. 213; Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien no. 134 (29 August 1952). The tape-recording of the 'Troll Song' made by Mr. Sayer on that occasion is heard on the Caedmon record (TC 1477) issued in 1975. The version sung by my father was the third of the present texts. 35. The second text is much closer to that in FR, but still distinct: in the first verse And sat there hard and hungry stands in place of For meat was hard to come by, in the third Before I found his carkis for Afore I found his shin-bone, and in the fifth Thee'll be a nice change from thy nuncle! for I'll try my teeth on thee now. In this text the fifth, sixth, and seventh lines of each verse were omitted, but were pencilled in later, mostly as they appear in FR. The third text changed And sat there hard and hungry in the first verse to And seen no man nor mortal (with rhyming words Ortal! Portal!), which goes back to The Root of the Boot in Songs for the Philologists (VI.143), but this was corrected on the manuscript to the final line For meat was hard to come by (and was so sung by my father in 1952, see note 34). The third verse preserved Afore I found his carkis (with the last line He's got no use for his carkis), and the fifth preserved Thee'll be a nice change from thy nuncle! 36. But the information that the Baranduin was the Brandywine survived as a footnote at this point in FR (p. 222). - This is no doubt the first occurrence of B(a)randuin in the narrative, origin of the 'popular etymology' Brandywine among the hobbits. Both Branduin and Baranduin are given in an added entry in the Etymologies in Vol. V (stem BARAN, p. 351). - As the passage appears in the manuscript, the name of the river was written Branduin, corrected to Baranduin, and (much later) to Malevarn. IV. OF HAMILCAR, GANDALF, AND SARUMAN. On 5 August 1940 the Registrar of Oxford University wrote to my father enclosing examination scripts that had been received from an American candidate in the Honour School of English. These provided a good quantity of paper, and my father used it for the continuation of the interrupted story of the Mines of Moria and for revisions of the story already in existence; he was still using it when he came to the departure of the Company from Lothlorien.(1) In the Foreword to the Second Edition of The Lord of the Rings he said that he 'halted for a long while' by Balin's tomb in Moria; and that 'it was almost a year later' when he went on 'and so came to Lothlorien and the Great River late in 1941.' I have argued (VI.461) that in saying this he erred in his recollection, and that it was towards the end of 1939, not of 1940, that he reached Balin's tomb; and the use of this paper, received in August 1940, for the renewed advance in the narrative seems to support this view.(2) Of course it may be that he did not begin using it until significantly later, though that does not seem particularly likely. At any rate, for the attempt to deduce a consecutive account of the writing of The Lord of the Rings this was a most fortunate chance, since the use of a readily recognisable paper the supply of which was limited makes it possible to gain a much clearer idea of the develop- ment that took place at this time than would otherwise be the case. I shall refer to this paper as 'the August 1940 examination script'. It is not, to be sure, clear whether my father meant that he put the whole thing away for the better part of a year, or whether he distinguished between 'new narrative' - the onward movement of the story from the Chamber of Mazarbul - and the rewriting of existing chapters. Dates in the latter part of 1939 have appeared in the preceding chapters: the 'final decisions' of 8 October 1939 (p. 8), the 'New Plot' of Autumn 1939 (p. 9), and the date October 1939 of the 'fourth phase' version of the long 'Bree' chapter (p. 40). A 'New Plot', given in the present chapter, is dated August 1940. It may be much oversimplified to suppose that nothing at all was done between the last months of 1939 and the late summer of 1940, but at least it is convenient to present the material in this way, and in this chapter I collect together various texts that certainly belong to the latter time. In the 'fourth phase' version of 'A Knife in the Dark' the story of the attack on Crickhollow took this form (p. 55): the Black Riders carried Hamilcar Bolger out of the house as an inert bundle, and as they rode away 'another horse came thundering along the lane. As it passed the gate a horn rang out.' I noted that this story belongs with what is said in the time-scheme D (p. 12: Thursday 29 September: 'Riders attack Crickhollow and carry off Ham, pursued by Gandalf'). A very rough manuscript written on the August 1940 examination script described above gives a version of the event as recounted later at Rivendell by Gandalf and Hamilcar Bolger. This text takes up at the point where Frodo, leaving his bedroom at Rivendell, goes down and finds his friends in the porch (for the previous state of this part of the story see VI.365); but I do not think that anything has been lost before this point - it was a particular passage of the 'Many Meetings' chapter rewritten to introduce the new story. There seemed to be three hobbits sitting there with Gandalf. 'Hurray!' cried one of them, springing up. 'Here comes our noble cousin!' It was Hamilcar Bolger. 'Ham!' cried Frodo, astounded. 'How did you come here? And why?' 'On horseback; and representing Mr. F. Baggins of Crick- hollow, and late of Hobbiton,' answered Ham. Merry laughed. 'Yes,' he said. 'We told him so, but he didn't believe it: we left poor old Ham in a dangerous post. As soon as the Black Riders had found Crickhollow, where Mr. Baggins was popularly supposed to be residing, they attacked it.' 'When did that happen?' asked Frodo. 'Before dawn on Friday morning,(3) four days nearly after you left, said Ham. They got me - he paused and shuddered - but Gandalf came in the nick of time.' 'Not quite the nick,' said Gandalf. 'A notch or two behind, I am afraid. Two of the Riders must have crept into Buckland secretly, while a third took the horses down the other side of the River inside the Shire. They stole the ferryboat from the Buckland shore on Thursday night, and got their horses over. I arrived too late, just as they reached the other side. Galeroc had to swim the river. Then I had a hard chase: but I caught them ten miles beyond the Bridge. I have one advantage: there is no horse in Mordor or in Rohan that is as swift as Galeroc.(4) When they heard his feet behind them they were terrified: they thought I was somewhere else, far away. I was terrified too, I may say: I thought it was Frodo they had got.' 'Yes!' said Hamilcar with a laugh. 'He did not know whether he was relieved or disgusted when he found it was only poor old Ham Bolger. I was too crushed to mind at the time: he bowled the Rider that was carrying me clean over; but I feel rather hurt now.' 'You are perfectly well now,' said Gandalf; 'and you have had a free ride all the way to Rivendell, which you would never have seen, if you had been left to your own sluggishness. Still, you have been useful in your way.' He turned to Frodo: 'It was from Ham that I heard you had gone into the Old Forest,' he said; 'and that filled me with fresh anxiety. I turned off the Road at once, and went immediately to visit Bombadil. That seems to have proved lucky; for I believe the three Riders reported that Gandalf and Baggins had ridden East. Their chieftain was at Amrath, far down the Greenway in the south, and the news must have reached him late on Friday. I fancy the Chief Rider was sorely puzzled when the advance guard reported that Baggins and the Ring had been in Bree the very night when they thought they had caught him in Crickhollow! Some Riders seem to have been sent straight across country to Weathertop. Five (5) came roaring along the Road. I was safe back at the Pony when they passed through Bree on Saturday night. They leaped the gates and went through like a howling wind. The Breelanders are still shivering and wondering what is happening to the world. I left Bree next morning, and rode day and night behind them, and we reached Weathertop on the evening of the third.' 'So Sam was right!' said Frodo. 'Yes, sir, seemingly,' said Sam, feeling rather pleased;(6) but Gandalf frowned at the interruption. 'We found two Riders already watching Weathertop,' he went on. 'Others soon gathered round, returning from the pursuit further east along the Road. Ham and I passed a very bad night besieged on the top of Weathertop. But they dared not attack me in the daylight. In the morning we slipped away northwards into the wilds. Several pursued us; two followed us right up the Hoarwell into the Entishlands. That is why they were not in full force when you arrived, and did not observe you at once.' Here the text ends, but it is followed by another version of the last part, following on from 'we slipped away northwards into the wilds': þ .. not too secretly - I wanted to draw them off. But the Chief Rider was too cunning: only four came after us, and only two pursued us far; and they turned aside when we reached the Entishlands and went back towards the Ford, I fancy. Still, that is why they were not in full force when you arrived, and why they did not at once pursue [you] in the wild/Still, that is why they did not immediately hunt for you in the wilderness, or observe your arrival at Weathertop; and why they were not in full force for the attack on you. Comparison of this account with the time-scheme D (pp. 12-13) will show that the narrative fits the scheme closely. In both, the Riders crossed the Brandywine by the Ferry on the night of Thursday 29 September; Gandalf rescued Ham from the Riders on Friday morning; two Riders (as the narrative was first written, see note 5) were sent direct to Weathertop, and (again as first written) seven rode through Bree, throwing down or leaping the gates, on the night of Saturday 1 October, while Gandalf and Ham were at The Prancing Pony; two Riders were already at Weathertop when Gandalf and Ham got there in the evening of Monday 3 October, after riding day and night; and Gandalf and Ham left Weathertop on the following morning. Gandalf's horse is now named Galeroc, replacing earlier Narothal (VI.345); and the name Amrath appears, of the place where the chief of the Riders remained, far down the Greenway in the south.'(7) This narrative seems to belong also with the 'fourth phase' version of 'A Knife in the Dark' (p. 55): the horse that came racing up the lane as the Riders rode off with Ham Bolger was bearing Gandalf from the Ferry, 'a notch or two behind' the nick of time, as he said at Rivendell. Yet there is a difficulty, or at any rate a difference; for the story of the attack on Crickhollow in this version, as in all those preceding it, described a long period ('time went slowly on') between the coming of the Riders into the garden of Crickhollow and the breaking into the house. If Gandalf came to Bucklebury Ferry just as the Riders with their horses reached the other side, and he at once put Galeroc to swim the river, he cannot have been more than a matter of minutes behind them. A new narrative outline, written roughly and rapidly on two sides of a single sheet, is headed: 'New Plot. Aug. 26 - 27, 1940'. This outline was subsequently altered and added to, but I give it here as first written. I have expanded contractions and in other small ways slightly edited the text to make it easier to follow. The wizard Saramond the White [written above at the same time: Saramund the Grey] or Grey Saruman sends out a message that there is important news: Trotter hears that Black Riders are out and moving towards the Shire (for which they are asking). He sends word to Gandalf, who leaves Hobbiton at the end of June. He goes S.E. (leaving Trotter to keep an eye on the Shire-borders) towards Rohan (or Horserland). Gandalf knows that 9 Black Riders (and especially their king) are too much for him alone. He wants the help of Saramund. So he goes to him where he lived on the borders of Rohan at Angrobel (or Irongarth). Saramund betrays him - having fallen and gone over to Sauron: (either) he tells Gandalf false news of the Black Riders, and they pursue him to the top of a mountain; there he is left standing alone with a guard (wolves, orcs, etc. all about) while they ride off with mocking laugh; (or else) he is handed over to a giant Fangorn (Treebeard) who imprisons him? Meanwhile the Black Riders attack the Shire, coming up the Greenway and driving a crowd of fugitives among which are one or two evil men, Sauronites.(8) The King of the Black Riders encamps at Amrath to guard Sarn Ford and Bridge. 6 Riders (DEFGHI) go ahead and invade the Shire. The vanguard Rider (D) reaches Bag-End on Sept. 23 (night). Two (DE) then trail Frodo etc. to the Ferry (Sept. 25). F G HI are on the main road. D E, foiled at the Ferry (Sept. 25), ride off to Brandywine Bridge and join F c H t (dawn on Sept. 26). HI then ride along scouring both sides of the Road and reach Bree up and down Greenway [sic] on Tuesday Sept. 27.(9) On night (cockcrow) of Sept. 26 - 27 D E F attack Crickhollow. There they carry off Ham. c was left guarding the Bridge but now comes with them. HI go on through Bree asking for news, to make sure 'Baggins' has not escaped and got ahead. They get in touch with Bill Ferney. DEFG with poor Ham now ride to Greenway (does Harry see them? Probably not). At Amrath they meet the King (A) and BC, on Wednesday 28th, leaving for the moment the Road deserted. The King is angry at this. He is suspicious of a plot since Ham has no Ring. DE are sent back to Bree, arriving late on Thursday 29th. (Meanwhile the hobbits have got to the Inn.) FG go back to the Shire. DE get in touch with Bill Ferney, and hear of news at the Inn. [Struck out at once: They attack the Inn but fail (and get the idea that Green'(10) has gone off?)] They fear Trotter', but get Bill Ferney and the Southerner to burgle the Inn and try and get more news, especially of the Ring. (They are puzzled by two Bagginses.) The burglary fails; but they drive off all the ponies. FG bring news to the King that Gandalf has escaped and is in the Shire (which he reached on Wednesday 28th [> Thursday 29th night], and visited Bag-End and the Gaffer). DE return to the King and report (Sept. 30): he is puzzled by 'Green' and the Ring, by Baggins and Ham, and troubled by news of Gandalf behind. He does not kill Ham because he wants to find out more, and Sauron has ordered him to bring 'Baggins' to Mordor. HI return (Oct. 1) reporting nothing on the Road as far as Weathertop, and that Green and Trotter have left Bree and vanished. The King decides to pursue Green with all his forces, carrying Ham with him. Gandalf goes to Crickhollow late on Thursday 29th and finds it deserted. Old cloak of Frodo dropped. Gandalf is terrified lest Frodo is captive. (? Does he visit Tom - if so make him arrive in the Shire on the 28th and visit Buckland on the 29th; if not, arrive in the Shire on the 29th, visit Buckland on the 30th.) Either visiting Tom or not, Gandalf reaches Bree on Saturday Oct. 1 (after the hobbits have gone). He rides after them. The Black Riders meanwhile have left Amrath and revisited Bree to get news of Green, and gone off along the Road on both sides. Gandalf crashes into DE who are carrying Ham and rescues him. He gallops to Weathertop, reaching it on Oct. 3. He sees Black Riders gather and goes off North (three Riders, D E F, pursue him). The rest patrol round and watch Weathertop. Here we have the story of the capture of Hamilcar Bolger again, but with a significant difference. In Time-scheme D (p. 12), and in the story told by Gandalf at Rivendell (p. 68), the attack on Crickhollow took place on the night of Thursday-Friday 29-30 September; and the story there was that Gandalf arrived just as the Riders left, and he was able to catch them up ten miles east of the Brandywine Bridge. In the present outline, the attack on Crickhollow took place three nights earlier, on that of Monday - Tuesday 26-27 September (Frodo and the others having left on the Monday morning), and since Gandalf still arrives there late on the 29th (or the 30th) he finds the trail cold; but he also finds Frodo's cloak dropped on the step. He still rescues Ham, but not till his captors have passed Bree. It is curious therefore that (though he was uncertain about it) my father had not decisively rejected the visit to Tom Bombadil, since with this plot Gandalf could have had no notion that the hobbits had entered the Old Forest. This is very probably the first appearance of Saruman (Saramond, Saramund), who steps into the narrative quite unheralded - but he enters at once as a Wizard whose aid Gandalf seeks, and who has 'fallen and gone over to Sauron'; moreover he dwells at Angrobel or 'Irongarth' (cf. Isengard) 'on the borders of Rohan'. But my father was still quite uncertain what happened to Gandalf, having rejected the story of the Western Tower: the possibilities suggested here show that the imprisonment in a tower had been for the moment abandoned. Giant Fangorn or Treebeard again appears as a hostile being (cf. p. 9). I suspect that the primary question that my father was pondering here was that of the emergence of the Ringwraiths from Mordor, Gandalf's knowledge of this in the summer before Frodo left Bag End, and Trotter's message. It has been said already (p. 9) that 'It was a message of Trotter's in July (?) that took Gandalf away - fearing Black Riders', and again (p. 10) 'It was a message from Trotter that fetched Gandalf away in summer before Frodo left'. These notes indicate that Gandalf already had reason, when he left Hobbiton, to suspect the emergence of the Ringwraiths; but it is now told, at the beginning of the present outline, that the message from Trotter (itself emanating from Saruman) was an actual report that the Nine had left Mordor and were moving towards the Shire. This would raise the question: why, in that case, did Gandalf, before he went off, not urge Frodo to leave for Rivendell as soon as he could? Scribblings on the manuscript of this outline show my father concerned with the question: 'Both Gandalf and Trotter must go away together and not fear to be captured, or else Gandalf would have sent a message to Frodo to start, or Trotter would have.' Then follows a suggestion that Trotter 'got cut off from Gandalf, only arriving in Bree hard on the tracks of the Black Riders.' But this does not seem entirely to meet the difficulty. Later my father noted here: 'Leaves Butterbur a letter which he forgets to send to Frodo', and this is clearly where that essential idea arose. In FR (p. 269) the problem is resolved by reverting to the story that when Gandalf left Hobbiton he had no definite knowledge, and by the introduction of Radagast. 'At the end of June I was in the Shire, but a cloud of anxiety was on my mind, and I rode to the southern borders of the little land; for I had a foreboding of some danger, still hidden from me but drawing near.' It was Radagast who told Gandalf that the Nine were abroad, whereupon Gandalf, at Bree, wrote the letter to Frodo which Butterbur forgot to send. Another brief but distinctive narrative passage is clearly associated with this 'August 1940' outline. It was substituted in the manuscript of the 'fourth phase' version of Chapter IX ('At the Sign of the Prancing Pony (i)') for that in which the Black Riders spoke to Harry Goatleaf, the gatekeeper at Bree, on the evening of Wednesday the 28th of September (pp. 40 - 1), and was itself subsequently rejected. The rain that swept over the Forest and the Downs on Tuesday was still falling long and grey on Bree when evening came. The lights were just being lit in Tom's house,(11) when the noise of horses approaching came down the Road from the west. Harry Goatleaf the gatekeeper peered out of his door and scowled at the rain. He had been thinking of going out to close the gate, when he caught the sound of the horsemen. Reluc- tantly he waited, wishing now that he had shut the gate earlier: he did not like the sound. Two horsemen had appeared in Bree late the day before (12) and wild stories were going about. People had been scared; some said the riders were uncanny: dogs yam- mered, and geese screamed at them. Yet they were asking for news of hobbits out of the Shire, especially for one called Baggins. Very queer. Harry thought it even queerer a minute later. He went out, grumbling at the rain, and looking up the Road he thought he saw dark figures approaching swiftly, three or maybe four. But suddenly they turned left at the Cross Roads (13) just beyond the gate, and went off southwards and down the Greenway; all sound of their horses' feet died away on the grass-grown track. 'Queerer and queerer!' he thought. 'That way leads nowhere. Who would turn off on a wet night just in sight of the Inn at Bree?' He shivered suddenly all down his back. Locking the gate he hurried into his house and bolted the door. Wednesday turned foggy after midday; but still the queer events went on. Out of the mists up the Greenway there straggled such a company as had not been seen in Bree for many a year: strange men from the South, haggard and wayworn, and bearing heavy burdens. Most of them had a hunted look and seemed too tired and scared to talk; but some were ill-favoured and rough-spoken. They made quite a stir in Bree. The next day, Thursday, was clear and fine again, with a warm sun and a wind that veered from East towards the South. No traveller passed the western gate all day, but Harry kept on going to the gate, even after nightfall. This would then join on to the next part of the text, 'It was dark, and white stars were shining, when Frodo and his companions came at last to the Greenway-crossing and drew near the village' (cf. VI.348). With this compare the 'August 1940' outline (p. 71): DEFG with poor Ham now ride to Greenway (does Harry see them? Probably not).' I think it is clear that when Harry Goatleaf saw the dark figures mysteriously turn off down the Greenway at the crossroads in the rain at dusk, they had Hamilcar Bolger with them, bearing him to the King at Amrath. And with the description of the company that came up the Greenway on the Wednesday cf. an earlier passage in the same outline: 'Meanwhile the Black Riders attack the Shire, coming up the Green- way and driving a crowd of fugitives among which are one or two evil men, Sauronites.' In the margin of the 'fourth phase' version of the attack on Crickhollow (p. 55) my father later noted: Omit, or bring into line with old version (in middle of Chapter VII). Ham cannot be captured (Black Riders would obviously kill him). It probably spoils surprise to show what Gandalf is up to at this point. Gandalf can briefly explain that [? he was at] Crickhollow. There is a definitive tone about this that suggests that this is where the 'Odo-Hamilcar' adventure was finally abandoned; and if this is so it must be placed, of course, after the outline dated 'Aug. 26 - 27, 1940'. Presumably it was at this time that the 'fourth phase' version of the 'Crickhollow episode' was struck through. Labelling this rejected form 'A', my father seems now to have tried out a version (labelled 'B') which follows his direction to 'bring (the story) into line with the old version (in middle of Chapter VII)' - i.e. the original form of the episode, which was inserted in the course of the 'second phase' into Chapter VII 'In the House of Tom Bombadil' (VI.303-4), at which stage the story was that the house at Crickhol- low was empty when the Riders came, for no hobbit had been left behind there. In version 'B' there is no mention of Hamilcar Bolger at all. The 'man in grey', leading a white horse, comes up the path, looks in at the windows, and disappears round the corner of the house; then the Black Riders come; at first cockcrow they break in the door; and at that moment the horn call rings out, the Riders flee, with 'a cry like the cry of hunting beasts stricken unawares' (cf. VI.304), and Gandalf appears wielding horn and wand and thunders after them. A page of notes is associated with these attempts to find the right form for the opening of 'A Knife in the Dark'. These begin: It will improve matters to cut out Ham Bolger. Version B will provide for that. (Gandalf arrives, takes Ham Bolger out of the house, and chases off the Black Riders.) This is obscure, since there is no mention in the version labelled 'B' of Gandalf's entering the house, no mention of a light in the window, nor any suggestion that it was inhabited. But in any case it was clearly not my father's meaning when he wrote 'It will improve matters to cut out Ham Bolger' that he intended to cut him out of the narrative altogether: he meant only that Ham was to be excluded from further adventures after the 'Crickhollow episode' was ended. Conceivably, he had here a passing notion that Gandalf came to Crickhollow, entered secretly, told Ham Bolger to clear out, and proceeded to look after the Black Riders himself. Whatever the meaning, these notes continue: But better would be this: Gandalf is captured by [Saramund >] Saruman. Elves send word that he is missing, which reaches Rivendell Sat. 8th.(14) Glorfindel is sent out, and messengers sent to Eagles. The Eagles are told about Oct. 11. They fly all over the lands, and find Gandalf about Sat. 15. Bring... to Rivendell Wed. 19th. The XIII and wood are Sam's discovery. Trotter says it is a rangers' camp. Weakness of this is that Black Riders are sure to make some attempt on Crickhollow. How was it foiled? Ham flies as shown overleaf. Then Gandalf can come and find house deserted and only old cloak of Frodo's. He thinks Frodo [struck out: is capt(ured)]. He follows like thunder. 'Ham flies as shown overleaf' refers to a third version, labelled 'C', which (though at first differently ordered in the articulation of the narrative) scarcely differs from that in FR (with Ham opening the door of the house, seeing a black shape in the garden, and fleeing out of the back door and over the fields), apart of course from the fact that this is Hamilcar and not Fredegar, and apart from the notable words, afterwards lost, following 'Ham Bolger had not been idle': 'Terror will drive even a Bolger to action'. The hobbit-cloak let fall by one of the Riders as he fled reappears from the 'August 1940' outline (p. 72). At the head of this version my father noted: Gandalf does not follow [i.e. he does not follow the Black Riders from Crickhollow]. Either he comes later, Saturday Oct. 1 or [Sunday Oct.] 2 (and finds cloak), or else he is taken by eagles... to Rivendell. This no doubt preceded the notes given above. These are certainly the first references to Gandalf's escape from captivity by the aid of the Eagles., and the entry of Radagast is now on the threshold.(15) The apparently irrelevant mention of Trotter's saying that 'it is a rangers' camp' is presumably associated with the idea that the Eagles found Gandalf and carried him to Rivendell - so that, with this story, he would never go to Weathertop at all. But what the significance of 'The XIII and wood are Sam's discovery' may be I cannot say. Sam's interpretation of the 'X:IIII' has appeared, but that was only a refinement of Trotter's view that they were marks made by Gandalf on the stone found on the summit of Weathertop and referred to the date: see pp. 56-7. I have noticed there that Sam's intervention does not fit the story, since there is never any suggestion that he was among those who went up to the high place where the stone was found; and also that 'X:IIII' was subsequently changed to 'X:III'. Conceivably, the passing idea here was that the 'X III', retained but given a different significance (a Rangers' mark?), was not found on the stone on the cairn, but on the firewood in the dell. At this time Chapter X, 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony (ii)', was once more heavily overhauled.(16) This revision was carried out in two stages, clearly not long separated. The completion of the revision was written on pages of the August 1940 examination script; and with this the chapter as it stands in FR was achieved in all points, save for a few minor additions and alterations that were certainly later. By this time 'Pippin' was firmly established. In the first stage of revision Frodo's assumed name at Bree was still 'Green', but became 'Underhill' in the second. Mr Butterbur is still Barnabas, not Barliman. His account of Frodo's distinguishing marks as received from Gandalf (in addition to his bring 'a round-bellied little fellow with red cheeks') at first gave him 'a white lock of hair by his left ear and a wart on his chin.' The second version made him 'broader than most and fairer than some', and still with a wart on his chin. The final description came in later. The scribbled suggestion on the manuscript of the 'New Plot' (p. 73), 'Leaves Butterbur a letter which he forgets to send to Frodo', was now taken up, but it was not until the second stage of revision that the form of the episode in FR was reached. At first the preceding version was more largely retained, notably in the story of the two letters (pp. 49 ff.). The substance of Gandalf's letter to Frodo reaches the form in FR (with the date now Friday July 2nd), but there are differences in the postscripts: PS. Look out for horsemen in black. Deadly enemies, especially after dark. Do not move by night. Do not use IT again, not for any reason whatever. PPS. Make sure it is the real Trotter. His true name is Aragorn son of Celegorn.(17) All that is gold does not glitter, not all those that wander are lost; All that is old does not wither, and pre may burn bright in the frost; Not all that have fallen are vanquished, not only the crowned is a king; Let blade that was broken be brandished, and Fire be the Doom of the Ring!(18) Aragorn would know that rhyme. Ask him what follows after All that is gold does not glitter. PPPS. I hope Butterbur sends this promptly. A worthy man, but his mind is like a lumber-room: things wanted always buried. If he forgets, I shall have words with him one day. The real Trotter will have a sealed letter (addressed to you) with these words inside: All that is gold does not glitter etc. At this stage Frodo still read Gandalf's letter aloud; and Trotter produced the second letter, which after the verse reads: This is to witness that the bearer is Aragorn son of Celegorn [> Kelegorn] knoum as the Trotter. Who trusts Gandalf may trust him. As there is now no mention of Elendil, the passage that followed in the former version ('Then It belongs to you as much as to me, or more' etc., p. 50) was removed (see p. 105, note 3); and Trotter now says, after 'The Enemy has set traps for me before now', 'I was puzzled - because you did not produce your letter or ask for the pass-words. It was not till old Barnabas confessed that I understood.' I do not think that it was long before my father abandoned the story of the second letter, and on pages of the August 1940 script the FR text was reached - with Gandalf's letter read silently, Trotter using the words All that is gold does not glitter quite independently, and drawing out the Sword that was Broken (see p. 116). The date of Gandalf's letter now becomes Wednesday June 30th, and (probably at this time) the verse was changed again: All that is gold does not glitter, not all those that wander are lost; All that is old does not wither, and bright may be fire in the frost. The pre that was low may be woken; and sharp in the sheath is the sting; Forged may be blade that was broken; the crownless again may be king.(19) Gandalf's signature remains still in Old English runes. Aragorn's account of his last meeting with Gandalf at Sarn Ford on the first of May (FR p. 184) now appears, and in the same words.(20) The story in the 'New Plot' (p. 70) that 'Trotter hears that Black Riders are out and moving towards the Shire.... He sends word to Gandalf, who leaves Hobbiton at the end of June' had presumably been abandoned, and the role of Radagast in telling Gandalf of the emergence of the Ringwraiths introduced (see pp. 82, 131). The now chaotic text of the chapter, a mass of emendations, rejected pages, and inserted riders, was later replaced by a typescript fair copy: how much later I cannot say. Near the end of the chapter (FR p. 184) Trotter says (in the manuscript): 'Well, with Sam's permission we'll call that settled. Trotter shall be your guide. And now I think it is time you went to bed and took what rest you can. We shall have a rough road tomorrow....' In the typescript text that followed (the latter part of which was not typed by my father) the italicised words were omitted; but there is no suggestion in the manuscript that they should be, and indeed the words 'We shall have a rough road tomorrow' clearly depend on them. But the omission was never picked up, and the sentence does not appear in FR. The series of rewritings of the beginning of Chapter XI, 'A Knife in the Dark', leading to the final elimination of Ham Bolger's ride with Gandalf, have been considered already (pp. 74-6). An associated revision belonging to this time removed the passage (pp. 57-8) in which Trotter thought that he found hobbit footprints in the dell below Weathertop that might be distinct from those of Pippin and Sam, and replaced it by a form very close to that in FR p. 201 (beginning 'Rangers have been here lately. It is they who left the firewood behind'; cf. 'Trotter says it is a rangers' camp', p. 75). NOTES. 1. The candidate's name was Richard Creswell Rowland. The scripts had been sent from the United States. At first my father received only the scripts in the subjects that personally concerned him as an examiner, but subsequently most or all of the candidate's writing came to him. He used not only the blank verso sides of the paper, but also the blue covers of each booklet, where his writing becomes peculiarly hard to decipher. 2. A further argument in favour of this dating can now be adduced. In notes dated Autumn 1939 and October 8 1939 (pp. 8-9) Trotter has definitively ceased to be a hobbit and has become a man, Aragorn; but in the original 'Moria' chapter he was still a hobbit (or at any rate he certainly was in the original version of 'The Ring Goes South', with which 'The Mines of Moria' was continuous). See further p. 379. 3. 'Before dawn on Friday morning' was an immediate change from 'Thursday night'; cf. p. 55. 4. I do not think that there is any suggestion here that Galeroc was a horse from Rohan: he is simply Gandalf's horse, and it is essential that he be extraordinarily swift. 5. In the preceding sentence 'Some Riders' (those sent to Weather- top) was first written 'Two Riders', and 'Five' here (those who rode along the Road to Bree) was written 'Seven', agreeing with the scheme D (p. 13). 'Two' was then changed to 'Four' and 'Seven' to 'Five'; finally 'Four' to 'Some'. - By roaring along the Road my father meant going at wild speed, with also a suggestion of the great noise of their passage. 6. This refers to the markings on the stone at Weathertop, which (by a change introduced into the 'fourth phase' version of 'A Knife in the Dark') Sam realised were to be read, not as G.4, but as G.1.3, and which Trotter in his turn thought might mean that Gandalf and another were at Weathertop on 3 October; see pp. 56-7. 7. With this cf. Unfinished Tales p. 348: 'The Black Captain established a camp at Andrath, where the Greenway passed in a defile between the Barrow-downs and the South Downs.' On the First Map (p. 305) Andrath (very probably first written Amrath, p. 298) is marked as a point beside the Greenway a little nearer to Bree than to Tharbad. 8. Cf. the end of the short text given on pp. 73 - 4. 9. The date Tuesday Sept. 27 was subsequently altered to 'late Monday 26th ., see p. 63, note 10, and note 12 to this chapter. 10. Frodo's assumed name 'Green' (replacing 'Hill') has already appeared (pp. 37, 41, etc.). 11. Tuesday 27 September was the second night spent by the hobbits in the house of Tom Bombadil. 12. The riders H and I, according to the outline (p. 71), where their arrival in Bree was altered from Tuesday 27 September to Monday the 26th (note 9). 13. 'turned left at the Cross Roads': i.e. from the point of view of the gatekeeper, who was looking out westwards. 14. Word reaches Rivendell that Gandalf is missing on Saturday 8 October: cf. the time-scheme D, p. 14. 15. Radagast has been named, but no more, in previous texts (VI.379, 397), and with no indication of what part my father was envisaging for him. 16. A development from this time in Chapter IX, 'At the Sign of the Prancing Pony (i)', has been given on pp. 73-4. 17. Aragorn was later changed here to Elfstone, Erkenbrand, again Elfstone, Ingold, and finally back to Aragorn, and in the passage 'I am Aragorn son of Kelegorn, and if by life or death I can save you, I will' the name was changed to Elfstone son of Elfhelm. But these changes were made after the second stage of revision had been completed. The renaming of Aragorn and its implications are discussed on pp. 277 - 8. 18. An earlier stage in the evolution of the verse, following from the original form in the 'fourth phase' version of the chapter (pp. 49 - 50), was: All that is gold does not glitter;. not all those that wander are lost. All that grows old does not wither; not every leaf falls in the frost. Not all that have fallen are vanquished; a king may yet be without crown, A blade that was broken be brandished; and towers that u ere strong may fall down. 19. In all these versions of All that is gold does not glitter, including the original form on pp. 49 - 50, the verses are written in the manuscript as long lines (i.e. four lines not eight). 20. In FR Gandalf arrived at Bag End after his long absence on an evening of early April (pp. 54-5); 'two or three weeks' later he advised Frodo that he ought to leave soon (p. 74); and he 'stayed in the Shire for over two months' (p. 76) before he left at the end of June. There is no reference to his having left Hobbiton during this time. V. BILBO'S SONG AT RIVENDELL: ERRANTRY AND EARENDILLINWE. We come now again to Rivendell, and to Book II of The Fellowship of . the Ring. In the 'third phase' the chapter which afterwards became 'Many Meetings' was numbered XII and entitled 'The Council of Elrond' (VI.362) - because at that stage my father thought that it would include not only Frodo's conversation with Gandalf when he awoke at Rivendell, the feast, and his meeting with Bilbo, but the deliberations of the Council also. Trotter was still at that time, of course, a hobbit. I have argued (VI.369) that this chapter (and the 'third phase' of writing) ended abruptly in the middle of Gloin's conversation with Frodo at the feast - at precisely the same point as did the original form of the story in the 'first phase'; and that the remainder of the chapter in this manuscript was added in later - when Trotter had become Aragorn. Simply for the purpose of this discussion I will call the first or 'third phase' part of the manuscript (VI.362-6) 'I', and the second part 'II'. Behind 'II' lie the rough draftings given in VI.391-4 (in which Trotter was still the hobbit Peregrin Boffin). I have not been able to determine when 'II' was written, but it per- haps comes from the period of work represented by the notes and rewritings of the 'fourth phase' in the first three chapters of this book. Both 'I' and 'II' were subjected to emendation at different times: for one substantial passage of rewriting the August 1940 examination script was used, but many other minor alterations may be earlier or later. In view of these uncertainties I shall do no more here than look briefly through the chapter (now numbered XIII, since the 'Bree' chapter had been divided into two, IX and X) and show what seems to have been its form at the stage of development we have now reached. Looking first at changes made to section 'I' of the manuscript, the passage in the third phase version (VI.362-3) beginning 'It is no small feat to have come so far and through such dangers, still bearing the Ring', in which Gandalf told of his captivity at the hands of Giant Treebeard and teased Frodo's curiosity about Trotter, was entirely rewritten. It now begins: 'We should never have done it without Trotter,' said Frodo. 'But we needed you. I did not know what to do without you.' . 'I was delayed,' said Gandalf; 'and that nearly proved our ruin. And yet I am not sure: it may have been better so. Knowing the peril I should not have dared to take such risks, and we might either have been trapped in the Shire, or if I had tried some long way round we might have been hunted down in,, some wild place far from all help. As it is we have escaped the pursuit - for the moment.' To Frodo's astonished 'You?' when Gandalf said that he was held captive his reply now takes this form: 'Yes, I, Gandalf the Grey,' said the wizard solemnly. 'There are many powers greater than mine, for good or evil, in the world. I cannot stand alone against all the Black Riders.'(1) 'Then you knew of the Riders already - before I met them?' The text is then as in FR, including Gandalf's words 'But I did not know that they had arisen again or I should have fled with you at once. I heard news of them only after I left you in June' (see p. 78). He says: 'There are few left in Middle-earth like Aragorn son of Kelegorn.(2) The race of the Kings from over the Sea is nearly at an end', and Frodo in reply says: 'Do you really mean that Trotter is of the race of Numenor?'(3) To Frodo's 'I thought he was only a Ranger' Gandalf replies 'indignantly': 'Only a Ranger! Many of the Rangers are of the same race, and the followers of Aragorn: all that he has left of the realm of . his fathers. We may need his help before all is over. We have: reached Rivendell; but the Ring is not yet at rest.' From this point to the end of section 'I' of the manuscript the 'third phase' text was little changed, and the differences from FR noted in VI.363 - 6 were mostly still present. Gandalf's words 'And the Elves of Rivendell are descendants of his chief foes' (VI.364) were changed to 'And among the Elves of Rivendell are some descendants of his chief foes', and 'the Wise say that he [the Dark Lord] is doomed in the End, though that is far away' (ibid.) was removed. Also removed of course were the references to Odo's arrival, and when Frodo goes down with Sam to find his friends in the porch Odo's remarks are given to Pippin. The sentence describing Elrond's smile and laughter (VI.365) was struck out, and Gloin's wink (VI.366) also disappears: his reply to Frodo's question concerning his errand from the Lonely Mountain now takes the form it has in FR (p. 240). In section 'II' of the manuscript (see p. 81), beginning at Frodo's question 'And what has become of Balin and Ori and Oin?', the text of FR (pp. 241 ff.) was very largely reached (apart from the absence of Arwen), and there are only a few particular points to notice. When in the first draft (VI. 392) Bilbo said 'I shall have to get that fellow Peregrin to help me', he now says the same of Aragorn, changed in the act of writing to Tarkil (in FR, the Dunadan). At this stage Aragorn's absence from the feast was still explained by his being much in demand in the kitchens. I noted that in the original draft 'the entire passage (FR pp. 243 - 4) in which Bilbo tells [Frodo] of his journey to Dale, of his life in Rivendell, and his interest in the Ring - and the distressing incident when he asks to see it - is absent.' In this version Bilbo does give an account of his journey, but it was at first different from what he says in - FR: When he had left Hobbiton he had wandered off aimlessly along the Road, but somehow he had steered all the time for Rivendell. 'I got here in a month or two without much adventure,' he said, 'and I stayed at The Pony in Bree for a bit;(4) somehow I have never gone any further. I have almost finished my book. And I make up a few songs which they sing occasionally...' This was changed, probably soon, to the text of FR, in which Bilbo tells of his journey to Dale. The rest of the passage, in which Bilbo speaks of Gandalf and the Ring, was present in this version from the start, the only differences being that Bilbo names the Necromancer, not the Enemy, and where in FR he says that he could get little out of Gandalf concerning the Ring but that 'the Dunadan has told me more', here he calls him Tarkil, and adds 'He was in the Gollum-hunt' (this being afterwards struck out). The episode of Bilbo's asking to see the Ring is present as in FR, the only difference here being that where FR has 'When he had dressed, Frodo found that while he slept the Ring had been hung about his neck on a new chain, light but strong', this version has 'When he dressed Frodo had hung the Ring upon a chain about his neck under his tunic.' When Aragorn joins Bilbo and Frodo, the conversation is as in FR, with Tarkil for Dunadan, the Dunadan; but Bilbo's reply to Frodo's 'What do you call him Tarkil for?' is different: 'Lots of us do here,' answered Bilbo, 'just to show off our knowledge of the old tongue, and to show our deep respect. It means Man of the West, out of Numenor, you know, or perhaps you don't. But that is another story. He can tell it you some other time. Just now I want his help. Look here, friend Tarkil, Elrond says this song of mine is to be finished before the end of the evening...' This was changed to: 'He is often called that here,' answered Bilbo. 'It is a title of honour; The Elder Tongue is remembered in Rivendell; and I thought you knew enough at least to know tarkil: Man of Westernesse, Numenorean. But this isn't the time for lessons. Just now I want your Trotter's help in something urgent. Look here, friend Tarkil...'(5) The passage leading up to Bilbo's song is much as in FR (pp. 245 - 6), but the sentence beginning 'Almost it seemed that the words took shape...' is absent, and where FR has 'the interwoven words in elven-tongues' ('in the Elven-tongue', First Edition) this text has 'the interwoven words in the high elven-tongue'. The reception of the song moves close to the text of FR (p. 249), but with some differences. No Elf is individually named (Lindir in FR). From Bilbo's words about Men and Hobbits - 'They're as different as peas and apples' - this version has: 'No! - little peas and large peas!' said some. 'Their languages all taste much the same to us, anyway,' said others. 'I won't argue with you,' said Bilbo. 'I am sleepy after so much music and singing. I'll leave you to guess, if you want to.' 'Well, we guess that you thought of the first two lines, and Tarkil did all the rest for you,' they cried. 'Wrong! Not even warm; stone cold, in fact!' said Bilbo with a laugh. He got up and came towards Frodo. 'Well, that's over!' he said in a low voice. 'It went off better than I expected. I don't often get asked for a second hearing, for any reason. As a matter of fact quite a lot of it was Tarkil's.' 'I'm not going to try and guess,' said Frodo, smiling. 'I was half asleep when you began - it seemed to follow on from something I was dreaming about, and I didn't realize it was, really you who were speaking until near the end.' The chapter ends now as it does in FR, except that the old form of the chant to Elbereth remains (VI.394), and the passage following it, concerning Aragorn and Arwen, is of course absent. * No poem of my father's had so long and complex a history as that which he named Errantry. It issued ultimately in two entirely distinct poems, one of which was the song that Bilbo chanted at Rivendell; and this is a convenient place to set out fairly fully the nature of this divergence, this extraordinary shape-changing. My father described the origin and nature of Erranty in a letter written to Donald Swann on 14 October 1966. (Errantry had been published in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil in 1962, and it was set to music by Donald Swann in The Road Goes Ever On, 1967: see his remarks on the poem in his foreword to that book.) In this letter my father said: With regard to Errantry: I am most interested in your suggestion. I wonder if it is not too long for such an arrangement? I looked to see if it could be abbreviated; but its metrical scheme, with its trisyllabic near-rhymes, makes this very difficult. It is of course a piece of verbal acrobatics and metrical high-jinks; and was intended for recitation with great variations of speed. It needs a reciter or chanter capable of producing the words with great clarity, but in places with great rapidity. The 'stanzas' as printed indicate the speed-groups. In general these were meant to begin at speed and slow down. Except the last group, which was to begin slowly, and pick up at errand too! and end at high speed to match the beginning.(6) Also of course the reciter was supposed at once to begin repeating (at even higher speed) the beginning, unless somebody cried 'Once is enough'.(7) The piece has had a curious history. It was begun very many years ago, in an attempt to go on with the model that came unbidden into my mind: the first six lines, in which, I guess, D'ye ken the rhyme to porringer had a part.(8) Later I read it to an undergraduate club that used to hear its members read unpublished poems or short tales, and voted some of them into the minute book. They invented the name Inklings, and not I or Lewis, though we were among the few 'senior' members. (The club lasted the usual year or two of undergraduate societies; and the name became transferred to the circle of C. S. Lewis when only he and I were left of it.)(9) It was at this point that Errantry began its travels, starting with a typed copy, and con- tinuing by oral memory and transmission, as I later discovered. The earliest version that my father retained is a rough pencilled manuscript without title: there were certainly preliminary workings behind it, now lost, since this text was set down without hesitations or corrections, but it seems very probable that it was in fact the first complete text of the poem, possibly that from which he read it to the original 'Inklings' in the early 1930s. The page has many alterations and suggestions leading to the second version, but I give it here as it was first set down. There was a merry passenger, a messenger, an errander; he took a tiny porringer and oranges for provender; he took a little grasshopper and harnessed her to carry him; he chased a little butterfly that fluttered by, to marry him. He made him wings of taffeta to laugh at her and catch her with; he made her shoes of beetle-skin with needles in to latch them with. They fell to bitter quarrelling, and sorrowing he fled away; and long he studied sorcery in Ossory a many day. He made a shield and morion of coral and of ivory; he made a spear of emerald and glimmered all in bravery; a sword he made of malachite and stalactite, and brandished it, he went and fought the dragon-fly called wag-on-high and vanquished it. He battled with the Dumbledores, and bumbles all, and honeybees, and won the golden honey-comb, and running home on sunny seas, in ship of leaves and gossamer with blossom for a canopy, he polished up and burnished up and furbished up his panoply. He tarried for a little while in little isles, and plundered them; and webs of all the attercops he shattered, cut, and sundered them. And coming home with honey-comb and money none - remembered it, his message and his errand too! His derring-do had hindered it.(10) Among my father's papers are five further texts, all titled Errantry, before the poem's publication in The Oxford Magazine, Vol. LII no. 5, 9 November 1933, which I give here. In fact, the form published in 1933 was virtually achieved already in the second version, apart only from the beginning, which went through several stages of develop- ment: these are given at the end of the Oxford Magazine version. There was a merry passenger a messenger, a mariner: he built a gilded gondola to wander in, and had in her a load of yellow oranges and porridge for his provender; he perfumed her with marjoram and cardamom and lavender. He called the winds of argosies with cargoes in to carry him across the rivers seventeen that lay between to tarry him. He landed all in loneliness where stonily the pebbles on the running river Derrilyn goes merrily for ever on. He wandered over meadow-land to shadow-land and dreariness, and under hill and over hill, a rover still to weariness. He sat and sang a melody his errantry a-tarrying; he begged a pretty butterfly that fluttered by to marry him. She laughed at him, deluded him, eluded him unpitying; so long he studied wizardry and sigaldry and smithying. He wove a tissue airy-thin to snare her in; to follow in he made a beetle-leather wing and feather wing and swallow-wing. He caught her in bewilderment in filament of spider-thread; he built a little bower-house, a flower house, to hide her head; he made her shoes of diamond on fire and a-shimmering; a boat he built her marvellous, a carvel all a-glimmering; he threaded gems in necklaces - and recklessly she squandered them, as fluttering, and wavering, and quavering, they wandered on. They fell to bitter quarrelling; and sorrowing he sped away, on windy weather wearily and drearily he fled away. He passed the archipelagoes where yellow grows the marigold, where countless silver fountains are, and mountains are of fairy-gold. He took to war and foraying a-harrying beyond the sea, a-roaming over Belmarie and Thellamie and Fantasie. He made a shield and morion of coral and of ivory, a sword he made of emerald, and terrible his rivalry with all the knights of Aerie and Faerie and Thellamie. Of crystal was his habergeon, his scabbard of chalcedony, his javelins were of malachite and stalactite - he brandished them, and went and fought the dragon-flies of Paradise, and vanquished them. He battled with the Dumbledores, the Bumbles, and the Honeybees, and won the Golden Honeycomb; and running home on sunny seas in ship of leaves and gossamer with blossom for a canopy, he polished up, and furbished up, and burnished up his panoply. He tarried for a little while in little isles, and plundered them; and webs of all the Attercops he shattered them and sundered them - Then, coming home with honeycomb and money none, to memory his message came and errand too! In derring-do and glamoury he had forgot them, journeying, and tourneying, a wanderer. So now he must depart again and start again his gondola, for ever still a messenger, a passenger, a tarrier, a-roving as a feather does, a weather-driven mariner.(11) In the second version the poem began thus: There was a merry messenger, a passenger, an errander; he gathered yellow oranges in porringer for provender; he built a gilded gondola a-wandering to carry him across the rivers seventeen that lay between to tarry him. He landed there in loneliness in stoniness on shingle steep, and ventured into meadow-land and shadow-land, and dingle deep. He sat and sang a melody, &c. The poem otherwise, as I have said, scarcely differs from the Oxford Magazine version; but the last four lines were: for ever still a-tarrying, a mariner, a messenger, a-roving as a feather does, a weather-driven passenger.(12) The third version reached the opening of the published form, except that it began 'There was a merry messenger, a passenger, a mariner', and retained the lines He landed all in loneliness in stoniness on shingle steep, and wandered off to meadowland, to shadowland, to dingle deep. The fourth version reached the published form except in this third verse, which now read: He landed all in loneliness where stonily on shingle go the running rivers Lerion and Derion in dingle low. He wandered over meadow-land to shadow-land and dreariness, Rc. Rayner Unwin mentioned in a letter to my father of 20 June 1952 that he had received an enquiry from someone unnamed about a poem called Errantry, 'which made such a deep impression on him that he is most anxious to trace it again.' To this my father replied (22 June 1952, Letters no. 133): As for 'Errantry': it is a most odd coincidence that you should ask about that. For only a few weeks ago I had a letter from a lady unknown to me making a similar enquiry. She said that a friend had recently written out for her from memory some verses that had so taken her fancy that she was determined to discover their origin. He had picked them up from his son-in-law who had learned them in Washington D.C. (!); but nothing was known about their source save a vague idea that they were connected with English universities. Being a determined person she apparently applied to various Vice-Chancellors, and Bowra (13) directed her to my door. I must say that I was interested in becoming 'folk-lore'. Also it was intriguing to get an oral version - which bore out my views on oral tradition (at any rate in early stages): sc. that the 'hard words' are well preserved,(14) and the more common words altered, but the metre is often disturbed. In this letter he referred to two versions of Errantry, an 'A.V.' ('Authorised Version'), this being the Oxford Magazine text, and an 'R.V.' ('Revised Version'). The 'R.V.', in which substantial alterations were made to the 'A.V.', is the text published in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ten years later. - He also said in this letter that the poem was in a metre I invented (depending on trisyllabic assonances or near-assonances, which is so difficult that except in this one example I have never been able to use it again - it just blew out in a single impulse). On this Humphrey Carpenter remarked (Letters p. 443): It may appear at a first glance that Tolkien did write another poem in this metre, 'Earendil was a mariner', which appears in Book II Chapter 1 of The Lord of the Rings. But this poem is arguably a development of 'Errantry' rather than a separate composition. That this is true will be seen from the earlier forms of Bilbo's song at Rivendell. * There are no less than fifteen manuscript and typescript texts of the 'Rivendell version', and these may be divided into two groups: an earlier, in which the poem begins with the line There was a merry messenger (or in one case a variant of it), and a later, in which the poem begins Earendel was a mariner (the name being spelt thus in all texts). The textual history of the first group is very complex in detail, and difficult to unravel with certainty owing to the fact that my father hesitated back and forth between competing readings in successive texts. In the earliest text of all the poem was still in the process of emergence. The opening lines are here particularly interesting, for they remain so close to the first verse of Errantry as to be scarcely more than a variant: There was a merry messenger a passenger a mariner: he built a boat and gilded her, and silver oars he fashioned her; he perfumed her with marjoram and cardamon (15) and lavender, and laded her with oranges and porridge for his provender. Earendel is hardly present here! Yet this initial text at once moves away from Errantry, and the new poem in its first 'phase' was already quite largely achieved in this manuscript. It was followed, no doubt immediately, by the version that I print below. It is indeed extremely difficult and even unreal to delimit 'versions' in such cases, where my father was refining and enlarging the poem in a continuous process; but this second text was originally set down as if in a finished and final form, and in this form I give it here.(16) There was a gallant passenger a messenger, a mariner: he built a boat and gilded her and silver oars he fashioned her; her sails he wove of gossamer and blossom of the cherry-tree, and lightly as a feather in the weather went she merrily. 8 He floated from a haven fair of maiden-hair and everfern; the waterfalls he proudly rode where loudly flowed the Merryburn; and dancing on the foam he went on roving bent for ever on, from Evermorning journeying, while murmuring the River on 16 to valleys in the gloaming ran; and slowly then on pillow cool he laid his head, and fast asleep he passed the Weepingwillow Pool. The windy reeds were whispering, and mists were in the meadow-land, and down the River hurried him and carried him to Shadowland. 24 The Sea beside a stony shore there lonely roared, and under Moon a wind arose and wafted him a castaway beyond the Moon. He woke again forlorn afar by shores that are without a name, and by the Shrouded Island o'er the Silent Water floating came. 32 He passed the archipelagoes where yellow grows the marigold, and landed on the Elven-strands of silver sand and fallow gold, beneath the Hill of Ilmarin where glimmer in a valley sheer the lights of Elven Tirion, the city on the Shadowmere. 40 He tarried there his errantry, and melodies they taught to him, and lays of old, and marvels told, and harps of gold they brought to him. Of glamoury he tidings heard, and binding words of sigaldry; of wars they spoke with Enemies that venom used and wizardry. 48 In panoply of Elvenkings, in silver rings they armoured him; his shield they writ with elven-runes, that never wound did harm to him. His bow was made of dragon-horn, his arrows shorn of ebony, of woven steel his habergeon, his scabbard of chalcedony. 56 His sword was hewn of adamant, and valiant the might of it; his helm a shining emerald, and terrible the light of it. His boat anew for him they built of timber felled in Elvenhome; upon the mast a star was set, its spars were wet with silver foam; 64 and wings of swans they made for it, and laid on it a mighty doom to sail the seas of wind and come where glimmering runs the gliding moon.(17) From Evereven's lofty hills, where softly spill the fountains tall, he passed away, a wandering light beyond the mighty Mountain-wall; 72 and unto Evernight he came, and like a flaming star he fell: his javelins of diamond as fire into the darkness fell. Ungoliant abiding there in Spider-lair her thread entwined; for endless years a gloom she spun the Sun and Moon in web to wind.(18) 80 His sword was like a flashing light as flashing bright he smote with it; he shore away her poisoned neb, her noisome webs he broke with it. Then shining as a risen star from prison bars he sped away, and borne upon a blowing wind on flowing wings he fled away. 88 To Evernoon at last he came, and passed the flame-encircled hill, where wells of gold for Melineth her never-resting workers build. His eyes with fire ablaze were set, his face was lit with levin-light; and turning to his home afar, a roaming star at even-light 96 on high above the mists he came, a distant flame, a marineer on winds unearthly swiftly borne, uplifted o'er the Shadowmere. He passed o'er Carakilian, where Tirion the Hallowed stands; the sea far under loudly roared on cloudy shores in Shadowland. 104 And. over Evermorn he passed, and saw at last the haven fair, far under by the Merry-burn in everfern and maidenhair. But on him mighty doom was laid, till moon should fade and all the stars, to pass, and tarry never more on hither shore where mortals are, 112 for ever still a passenger, a messenger, to never rest, to bear his burning lamp afar, the Flammifer of Westernesse. The chief changes introduced on this manuscript were in lines 14-17, altered to read: on roving bent from hitherland, from Evermorning journeying, while murmuring the River ran to valleys in the Gloaming fields and in lines 93 - 6, which were rewritten and extended thus: The seven-branched Levin-tree on Heavenfield he shining saw upflowering from its writhen root; a living fruit of fire it bore. The lightning in his face was lit, ablaze were set his tresses wan, his eyes with levin-beams were bright, and gleaming white his vessel shone. From World's End then he turned away and yearned again to seek afar his land beneath the morning light and burning like a beacon star (on high above the mists he came, &c.) The seven-branched Levin-tree was first everbranching, and it bore a living fruit of light. The third version was that in the text of 'Many Meetings' described at the beginning of this chapter. The pages in that manuscript (at Marquette) bearing the poem have been lost, but Taum Santoski has provided me with a transcription of the pages that he made before the loss occurred. This text was remarkably close to the second version (as emended) printed above. The opening now returns to There was a merry messenger;(19) from Evermorning in line 15 becomes through Evermorning; the Weepingwillow Pool in line 20 becomes Pools (a return to the earliest workings); and lines 67-8 become: to sail the windy skies and come behind the Sun and light of Moon. This, then, was the form at the time we have reached. It will be seen that in this poem the Merry Messenger, the Passenger, the Mariner, 'changes shape' and emerges as the figure of Earendel (though he is not named). At the beginning he dances on the foam in his boat with sails of gossamer and blossom of the cherry-tree, and he still passed the archipelagoes where yellow grows the marigold, but he is drawn into the gravity of the myth and mighty doom is laid on him; the dance dies out of the verse, and he ends as the Flammifer of Westernesse. There is no question now of returning to the beginning, even though the fate of Earendel remains that of the Merry Messenger: for ever still a passenger, a messenger, to never rest... Many years later my father ingeniously related the two poems thus, in the Preface to The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - when the Earendel version was of course that given in FR: [Errantry] was evidently made by Bilbo. This is indicated by its obvious relationship to the long poem recited by Bilbo, as his own composition, in the house of Elrond. In origin a 'nonsense rhyme', it is in the Rivendell version found transformed and applied, some- what incongruously, to the High-elvish and Numenorean legends of Earendil. Probably because Bilbo invented its metrical devices and was proud of them. They do not appear in other pieces in the Red Book. The older form, here given, must belong to the early days after Bilbo's return from his journey. Though the influence of Elvish traditions is seen, they are not seriously treated, and the names used (Derrilyn, Thellamie, Belmarie, Aerie) are mere inventions in the Elvish style, and are not in fact Elvish at all. Yet the places of Earendel's journey in this first phase of the Rivendell version are not by any means entirely identifiable in terms of The Silmarillion. Was his journey to the Sea a journey down Sirion? Are the Weepingwillow Pools Nan-tathren, the Land of Willows? Or are they still 'mere inventions in the Silmarillion style'? And what of the seven-branched Levin-tree on Heavenfield, and the wells of gold for Melineth that her never-resting workers build? These certainly do not suggest 'mere invention' like Thellamie or Derrilyn. Some names are in any case clear in their reference: as Tirion (in the Quenta Silmarillion still named Tun or Tuna, upon the hill of Kor), Carakilian (in the Quenta Silmarillion in the form Kalakilya, the Pass of Light). The Hill of Ilmarin (a name not met before) is Taniquetil, and the mighty Mountain-wall is the Pelori, the Mountains of Valinor. The Shadowmere perhaps looks back to the 'shadowy arm of water', the 'slender water fringed with white', which is described in the old tale of The Coming of the Elves (I.122). The Shrouded Island is perhaps the Lonely Isle: it was subsequently changed to the Shrouded Islands, but then became the Lonely Island before the line was lost. That Earendel slew Ungoliant 'in the South' is recorded in the Sketch of the Mythology (IV.38), and in the Quenta Noldorinwa (IV.149 152); cf. also the very early notes on Earendel's voyages, II.254, 261.(20) But the legend of Earendel as found in the existing sources is not present here.(21) Indeed, it seems as if he arose unbidden and unlooked for as my father wrote this new version of the poem: for how could Earendel be called a merry messenger? Years later, in the Preface to The Adventures of Tom Bombadil just cited, my father described the transformation as 'somewhat incongruous' - and he was then refer- ring of course to the form of the poem in FR, where the transforma- tion had gone far deeper than in the present version. Yet there was a 'congruity' that made this original transformation possible, and even natural. Behind both figures lay the sustaining idea of the wanderer, a restless spirit who seeks back to the places of his origin, but cannot escape the necessity of passing on. At this stage therefore we should not, I believe, try to determine where was Evernoon, or to give any other name to the haven fair, far under by the Merry-burn in everfern and maidenhair. They belong to the same geography as the archipelagoes where yellow grows the marigold. Following the third version, lost but happily not unknown, there are six further texts in the 'Merry Messenger' phase. Five of these are typescripts that can be readily placed in order. The sixth is a beautiful small manuscript, written on four slips of paper the last of which is the back of a letter addressed to my father and dated 13 December 1944. Precisely where the manuscript comes in this series is not perfectly clear, but it seems most likely to have preceded the first typescript.(22) Thus there was an interval of several years between the first three and the next six texts. Progressive emendation of these gave a final version in this 'phase': There was a merry messenger, a passenger, a mariner: he built a boat and gilded her, and silver oars he fashioned her; her sails he wove of gossamer and blossom of the cherry-tree and lightly as a feather in the weather went she merrily. 8 He floated from a haven fair of maidenhair and ladyfern; the waterfalls he proudly rode where loudly flowed the Merryburn; and dancing on the foam he went on roving bent from Hitherland through Evermorning journeying, while murmuring the river ran 16 to valleys in the Gloaming-fields; then slowly he on pillow cool let fall his head, and fast asleep he passed the Weeping-willow Pools. The windy reeds were whispering, and mists were in the meadowland, and down the river hurried him, and carried him to Shadowland. 24 He heard there moan in stony caves the lonely waves; there roaring blows the mighty wind of Tarmenel. By paths that seldom mortal goes his boat it wafted pitiless with bitter breath across the grey and long-forsaken seas distressed; from East to West he passed away. 32 Through Evernight then borne afar by waters dark beyond the Day he saw the Lonely Island rise where twilight lies upon the Bay of Valinor, of Elvenhome, and ever-foaming billows roll; he landed on the elven-strands of silver sand and yellow gold 40 beneath the Hill of Ilmarin, where glimmer in a valley sheer the lights of towering Tirion, the city on the Shadowmere. He tarried there from errantry, and melodies they taught to him, and lays of old and marvels told, and harps of gold they brought to him. 48 Of glamoury he tidings heard, and binding words of wizardry; they spoke of wars with Enemies that venom used and sigaldry. In panoply of Elven-kings, in silver rings they armoured him; his shield they writ with elven-runes that never wound did harm to him. 56 His bow was made of dragon-horn, his arrows shorn of ebony, of mithril was his habergeon, his scabbard of chalcedony. His sword of steel was valiant; of adamant his helm was wrought, an argent wing of swan his crest; upon his breast an emerald. 64 His boat anew they built for him of timber felled in Elvenhome; upon the mast a star was set, her spars were wet with driven foam; and eagle-wings they made for her, and laid on her a mighty doom, to sail the windy skies and come behind the Sun and light of Moon. 72 From Evereven's lofty hills, where softly silver fountains fall, he passed away a wandering light beyond the mighty Mountain Wall. From World's End then he turned away, and yearned again to seek afar his land beneath the morning-light; and burning like a beacon-star 80 . on high above the mists he came, a distant flame, a marineer, on winds unearthly swiftly borne, uplifted o'er the Shadowmere. He passed o'er Calacirian, where Tirion the hallowed stands; the Sea below him loudly roared on cloudy shores in Shadowland; 88 and over Evermorn he passed and saw at last the haven fair far under by the Merryburn in ladyfern and maidenhair. But on him mighty doom was laid, till Moon should fade, an orbed star to pass and tarry never more on Hither Shores where mortals are; 96 for ever still a passenger, a messenger, to never rest, to bear the burning lamp afar, the Flammifer of Westernesse. The major change in the poem, rendering it substantially shorter than before, had come about in two stages. By emendation to the second of these typescripts the original lines 25 - 8 (p. 92) became: The Sea beside a stony shore there lonely roared; and wrathful rose a wind on high in Tarmenel, by paths that seldom mortal goes on flying wings it passed away, and wafted him beyond the grey and long-forsaken seas distressed from East or West that sombre lay. In this text the remainder of the poem was unaffected by any important changes, and remained close to the original form (with of course the alterations given on p. 94). In the last two of these typescripts, however, a new form of lines 25 ff. entered, as given above: He heard there moan in stony caves, &c.(23) Now Evernight is named at this point, and at the same time the entire section of the poem in the existing text from line 73 and unto Evernight he came to From World's End then he turned away (pp. 93 - 4) was eliminated, with the disappearance of Ungoliant and the mysterious scenes of Evernoon, the 'Tree of Lightning' with its seven branches and the wells of gold for Melineth in the flame-encircled hill. While I certainly do not know this as a fact, I think that there is a strong presumption that there was a further long interval between the 'Merry Messenger' versions and the second group beginning Earendel was a mariner. The first text of this group, which I will for convenience call A, I give in full. It will be seen that while it advances far towards the poem in FR, much is retained from the preceding version, and notably the arming of Earendel (In panoply of Elven-kings..., p. 97 lines 53 ff.) stands in its former place, during his sojourn in Tirion, and not as in FR at the beginning of his great voyage. Earendel was a mariner that tarried in Arvernien; he built a boat of timber felled in Nimbrethil to journey in; her sails he wove of silver fair of silver were her lanterns made, her prow he fashioned like a swan, and light upon her banners laid. 8 Beneath the moon and under star he wandered far from northern strands, bewildered on enchanted ways beyond the days of mortal lands. From gnashing of the Narrow Ice where shadow lies on frozen hills, from nether heat and burning waste he turned in haste, and roving still 16 on starless waters far astray at last he came to night of Naught, and passed, and never sight he saw of shining shore nor light he sought. The winds of wrath came driving him, and blindly in the foam he fled from West to East, and errandless, unheralded he homeward sped. 24 As bird then Elwing came to him, and flame was in her carcanet, more bright than light of diamond was fire that on her heart was set. The Silmaril she bound on him and crowned him with a living light, and dauntless then with burning brow he turned his prow, and in the night 32 from otherworld beyond the Sea there strong and free a storm arose, a wind of power in Tarmenel; by paths that seldom mortal goes his boat it bore with mighty breath as driving death across the grey and long-forsaken seas distressed; from East to West he passed away. 40 Through Evernight then borne afar by waters dark beyond the Day, he saw the Lonely Island rise, where twilight lies upon the Bay of Valinor, of Elvenhome, and ever-foaming billows roll. He landed on forbidden strands of silver sand and yellow gold; 48 beneath the Hill of Ilmarin a-glimmer in a valley sheer the lamps of towering Tirion were mirrored on the Shadowmere. He tarried there from errantry and melodies they taught to him, and lays of old and marvels told, and harps of gold they brought to him. 56 In panoply of Elven-kings, in serried rings they armoured him; his shield they writ with elven-runes that never wound did harm to him, his bow was made of dragon-horn, his arrows shorn of ebony, of silver was his habergeon, his scabbard of chalcedony; 64 his sword of steel was valiant, of adamant his helmet tall, an argent flame upon his crest, upon his breast an emerald. His boat anew they built for him of mithril and of elven-glass; the Silmaril was hanging bright as lantern light on slender mast; 72 and eagle-wings they made for her, and laid on her a mighty doom, to sail the shoreless skies and come behind the Sun and light of Moon. From Evereven's lofty hills, where softly silver fountains fall, he rose on high, a wandering light beyond the mighty Mountain Wall. 80 From World's End then he turned away, and yearned again to seek afar his land beneath the morning-light, and burning like a beacon-star on high above the mists he came, a distant flame, a marineer, on winds unearthly swiftly borne, uplifted o'er the Shadowmere. 88 He passed o'er Calacirian where Tirion the hallowed stands; the sea below him loudly roared on cloudy shores in Shadowland; and over Middle-earth he passed, and heard at last the weeping sore of women and of Elven-maids in Elder Days, in years of yore. 96 But on him mighty doom was laid, till Moon should fade, an orbed star, to pass, and tarry never more on Hither Shores where mortals are; for ever still on errand, as a herald that should never rest, to bear his shining lamp afar, the Flammifer of Westernesse. 104 The next text (B) is a typescript of A, but introduces some minor changes that were retained in the FR version (his boat it bore with biting breath/as might of death 37 - 8, the lamplit towers of Tirion 51), and line 25 is here Bird-Elwing thither came to him. My father then used this typescript B as the vehicle for massive rewriting, including the movement of the 'arming of Earendel' to its later place as the second stanza. A new typescript (C)(24) was made incorporating all this, and the form of the poem in FR was now virtually achieved; a very few further minor changes were made, and entered on this text.(25) Careful examination of these texts shows the development from A to the published form with perfect clarity. But the history of this, perhaps the most protean, in its scale, of all my father's works, does not end here. It ends, in fact, in the most extraordinary way. This text C was not the last, although the published form of the poem was achieved in it. Another typescript (D) was made, doubtless at the same time as C, and given the title The Short Lay of Earendel; In this, a new element entered at the beginning of the fourth stanza (There flying Elwing came to him): the attack of the four surviving sons of Feanor on the Havens of Sirion, Elwing's casting herself into the sea, bearing the Silmaril, and her transformation into a seabird, in which guise she flew to meet Earendel returning (IV.152-3). In wrath the Feanorians that swore the unforgotten oath brought war into Arvernien with burning and with broken troth; and Elwing from her fastness dim then cast her in the roaring seas, but like a bird was swiftly borne, uplifted o'er the roaring wave. Through hopeless night she came to him and flame was in the darkness lit, more bright than light of diamond the fire upon her carcanet. The Silmaril she bound on him (&c.) There then followed a fine manuscript (E), with elaborate initials to the stanzas, and this was entitled The Short Lay of Earendel: Earendillinwe. In this text a rewriting of lines 5 - 8, which had been entered in the margin of D, appears: Her woven sails were white as snow, as flying foam her banner flowed; her prow was fashioned like a swan that white upon the Falas goes. But my father abandoned E at the foot of the first page, the end of the third stanza, and the reason why he abandoned it was that he had already begun to rewrite in the margin both the lines just given and also the second stanza (In panoply of ancient kings). So he began once again, with a very similar and equally beautiful manuscript (F), bearing the same title; and this was completed. The revisions made to D and to E (so far as that went) were taken up; and this manuscript remained intact, without the smallest further change. It was in fact the last, the ultimate development of the poem. The history I have attempted to convey is schematically thus: A - B - C (the form in FR achieved) - D - E- F (the ultimate form of the poem) I have studied all these texts at length and at different times, and it had always seemed strange to me that the chain of development led at last to a superb manuscript (F) without any disfigurement through later changes, but which was not the form found in FR. The solution was at last provided by the text C at Marquette, which showed that there were two lines of development from B. What actually happened one can only surmise. I believe the most likely explanation to be that the texts D, E, F were mislaid, and that at the crucial time the version represented by C went to the publishers, as it should not have done. It looks also as if these lost texts did not turn up again until many years had passed, by which time my father no longer remembered the history. In what are obviously very late notes he went so far as to analyse their readings in relation to the published form, and was evidently as puzzled as I was: his analysis at that time contains demonstrably incorrect conclusions - because he assumed, as I did, that all these texts must have preceded the 'final form' in FR. I give finally the Earendillinwe' in the form in which it should have been published.(26) Stanza 1 Earendil was a mariner that tarried in Arvernien: he built a boat of timber felled in Nimbrethil to journey in. Her sails he wove of silver fair, with silver were her banners sewn; her prow he fashioned like the swans that white upon the Falas roam. Stanza 2. His coat that came from ancient kings of chained rings was forged of old; his shining shield all wounds defied, with runes entwined of dwarven gold. His bow was made of dragon-horn, his arrows shorn of ebony, of triple steel his habergeon, his scabbard of chalcedony; his sword was like a flame in sheath, with gems was wreathed his helmet tall, an eagle-plume upon his crest, upon his breast an emerald. Stanza 3. As in FR, but with winds of fear for winds of wrath in line 13 of the stanza. Stanza 4. In might the Feanorians that swore the unforgotten oath brought war into Arvernien with burning and with broken troth; and Elwing from her fastness dim then cast her in the waters wide, but like a mew was swiftly borne, uplifted o'er the roaring tide. Through hopeless night she came to him, and flame was in the darkness lit, more bright than light of diamond the fire upon her carcanet. The Silmaril she bound on him, and crowned him with the living light, and dauntless then with burning brow he turned his prow at middle-night. Beyond the world, beyond the Sea, then strong and free a storm arose, a wind of power in Tarmenel; by paths that seldom mortal goes from Middle-earth on mighty breath as flying wraith across the grey and long-forsaken seas distressed from East to West he passed away. Stanza 5 As in FR. Stanza 6 As in FR, but with a difference in the twelfth line:(27) for ever king on mountain sheer; Stanza 7 A ship then new they built for him of mithril and of elvenglass with crystal keel; no shaven oar nor sail she bore, on silver mast the Silmaril as lantern light and banner bright with living flame of fire unstained by Elbereth herself was set, who thither came (&c. as in FR) Stanza 8. As in FR. Stanza 9. As in FR except at the end: till end of Days on errand high, a herald bright that never rests, to bear his burning lamp afar, the Flammifer of Westernesse. Only one line survived now from Errantry (as published in 1933): his scabbard of chalcedony. NOTES. 1. This suggests that the story of Gandalf's captivity found in the 'New Plot' of August 1940 was present (p. 71): 'Saramund betrays him ... he tells Gandalf false news of the Black Riders, and they pursue him to the top of a mountain...' The final story of what had happened to Gandalf (set to stand on the pinnacle of Orthanc) first appears in this period of the work (pp. 131 ff.). 2. Changed in pencil later to Elfstone son of Elfhelm; see p. 80 note 17. At one occurrence of Trotter in this passage, where Gandalf names him, this too was changed to Elfstone; at the other two Trotter was retained, since it is Frodo who is speaking. 3. In a preliminary draft for this passage Frodo says 'in wonder': 'Is he of that race ?' Then follows: 'Didn't he tell you, and didn't you guess?' said Gandalf. 'He could have told you even more: he is Aragorn son of Kelegorn, descended through many fathers from Isildur the son of Elendil.' 'Then It belongs to him as much as to me or more!' said Frodo. 'It does not belong to either of you,' said Gandalf; 'but you, my good hobbit, are to keep it for a while. For so it is ordained.' This was the second time that this dialogue had been used; it first occurred at Bree between Trotter and Frodo (p. 50), when Gandalf named Aragorn as a descendant of Elendil in his letter, but this had now been removed (p. 77). It was finally used in 'The Council of Elrond'. 4. See p. 43 and note 3. The words 'I stayed at The Pony in Bree for a bit' were crossed out before the rest of the passage was changed, perhaps at the time of writing. 5. On Tarkil see p. 8. Westernesse: Numenor. 6. In the version of Errantry published in 1962 the last stanza began not as in the 1933 Oxford Magazine version but at He tarried for a little while (p. 88). 7. One of the early texts has the head-note: Elaboration of the well-known pastime of the never-ending Tale'; and at the end, after the last line a weather-driven mariner, returns to He called the winds of argosies in the second verse (p. 87), with the note: da capo, ad lib, et ad naus. 8. I cannot explain this reference. 9. See Humphrey Carpenter, The Inklings, pp. 56 - 7; also Letters no. 133 (to Rayner Unwin, 22 June 1952) and no. 298 (to W. L. White, 11 September 1967). 10. morion: helmet. bravery: splendour, finery. dumbledore: bumble-bee. panoply: suit of armour. attercop: spider (Old English attor 'poison'; cf. cobweb, 'cop-web'). Bilbo called the spiders in Mirkwood Attercop. On the back of the page, with every appearance of having been written at the same time, is a section of a dramatic dialogue in rhyming verse that preceded by more than twenty years the publication of The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son in Essays and Studies, 1953. The Englishmen who took the body of Beorhtnoth from the battlefield at Maldon are here called Pudda and Tibba. - Panta (Old English) is the river Blackwater. Pudda Come, hurry. There may be more. Let's get away Or have the pirate pack on us. Tibba Nay, nay. These are no Northmen. What should such come for? They are all in Ipswich drinking to Thor. These have got what they deserved, not what they sought. Pudda God help us, when Englishmen can be brought By any need to prowl like carrion-bird And plunder their own. Tibba There goes a third In the shadows yonder. He will not wait, That sort fight no odds, early or late, But sneak in when all's over. Up again! Steady once more. Pudda Say, Tibba, where's the wain? I wish we were at it! By the bridge you say - Well, we're nearer the bank. 'Tis more this way, If we're not to walk in Panta, and the tide's in. Tibba. Right! here we are. Pudda. How did they win Over the bridge, think you? There's little sign Here of bitter fight. And yet here the brine Should have been choked with 'em, but on the planks There's only one lying. Tibba. Well, God have thanks. We're over! Gently! Up now, up! That's right. Get up beside. There's a cloth; none too white, But cover him over, and think of a prayer. I'll drive. Pudda. Heaven grant us good journey, and that we arrive! Where do we take him? How these wheels creak! Tibba. To Ely! Where else? Pudda. A long road! Tibba. For the weak. A short road for the dead - and you can sleep. This text is extremely rough, one would say in the first stage of composition, were there not another text still rougher, but in very much the same words (though with no ascription of the speeches to speakers), in the Bodleian Library, where it is preserved (I believe) with my father's pictures. This begins at In the shadows yonder and continues a few lines further. On it my father wrote: 'early version in rhyme of Beorhtnoth'. 11. sigaldry: sorcery (see note 14). glamoury: magic. 12. Preliminary lines of a new ending were written on the manuscript of the first version: So now he must depart again and start again his gondola, a silly merry passenger, a messenger, an errander, a jolly, merry featherbrain, a weathervane, a mariner. Other differences in the second version from that published in 1933 were: he wrought her raiment marvellous and garments all a-glimmering in the fifth verse; and 'He made a sword and morion' in the eighth (with spear for sword in the third line). 13. Maurice Bowra, at that time Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Uni- versity. 14. In the letter to Donald Swann cited on p. 85 my father gave an example of this (Swann had himself known the poem by 'indepen- dent tradition' for many years before its publication in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil): 'A curious feature was the preservation of the word sigaldry, which I got from a 13th century text (and is last recorded in the Chester Play of the Crucifixion).' The word goes back to the second version of Errantry; it was used also in the Lay of Leithian line 2072, written in 1928 (The Lays of Beleriand, p. 228). 15. cardamon is so spelt, but cardamom in preliminary rough workings, as in the Oxford Magazine version of Errantry. 16. I ignore all variants (though a few, as merry written above gallant in line 1, ladyfern above everfern in line 10) may belong to the time of writing. A few inconsistencies of hyphenation are pre- served. In the latter part of the poem the stanza-divisions are not perfectly clear. Line-numbers at intervals of 8 are marked on the original. 17. This verse is absent from the first text, but a space was left for it, with the note: 'They enchant his boat and give it wings'. 18. A four-line stanza follows here: She caught him in her stranglehold entangled all in ebon thread, and seven times with sting she smote his ringed coat with venom dread. But this was struck out, apparently at once, since the line- numbering does not take account of it. - ebon: old form for ebony; here meaning 'black, dark'. 19. In the second version (that printed here) merry was written as a variant to gallant; in the third gallant is a variant to merry. 20. The encounter of the Messenger with the Attercops in Errantry was a point of contact with the Earendel legend. 21. The texts are found in II.252 - 77; IV.37 - 8, 41, 148 - 54; V.324 - 9. 22. The manuscript was perhaps a development from the third version parallel to the first typescript, for it takes up certain variants from the former (as everfern in line 10, Gloaming-bree (bree 'hill') in line 17), where the first typescript takes up others (lady fern, Gloaming-fields). 23. An intermediate version of these lines was: He heard there moan in stony caves the lonely waves of Orfalas; the winds he heard of Tarmenel: by paths that seldom mortals pass they wafted him on flying wings a dying thing across the grey and long-forsaken seas distressed; from East to West he passed away. 24. This is the typescript of 'Many Meetings' that followed the version described at the beginning of this chapter. 25. These were made on B also, and so appear in the other line of development as well. 26. It could be argued of course that my father actually rejected all the subsequent development after the text C, deciding that that was the version desirable at all points; but this would seem to me to be wholly improbable and far-fetched. 27. This case is slightly different, in that it is the only point where text C does not reach the form in FR (in Ilmarin on mountain sheer), but has the line found also in D (followed by E and F), for ever king on mountain sheer. This must have been a final emendation in the 'first line' of development, and might of course have been made to the 'second line' as well if that had been available. VI. THE COUNCIL OF ELROND (1). The Second Version. A new version of this part of the narrative (1) is a characteristic 'fair copy': too close to the preceding text (VI.399 ff.) to justify the space needed to set it out, but constantly differing in the expression chosen. The chapter is numbered XIV (see p. 81), but has no title. The story was still that Bilbo and Gandalf came to Frodo's room in the morning (VI.395); and those present at the Council were in no way changed (VI.400). Boromir still comes from 'the Land of Ond, far in the South'.(2) The first important change comes after Gandalf's speech, in which he 'made clear to those who did not already know it the tale of the Ring, and the reasons why the Dark Lord so greatly desired it.' Here, in the original version, Bilbo's story followed; but in this text the following passage enters: When he told of Elendil and Gilgalad and of their march into the East, Elrond sighed. 'I remember well their array,' he said. 'It reminded me of the Great Wars and victories of Beleriand, so many fair captains and princes were there, and yet not so many or so fair as when Thangorodrim was broken [> taken].' 'You remember?' said Frodo, breaking silence in his astonish- ment, and gazing in wonder at Elrond. 'But I thought the fall of Gilgalad was many ages ago.' 'So it was,' said Elrond, looking gravely at Frodo; 'but my memory reaches back many ages. I was the minstrel and counsellor of Gilgalad. My father was Earendel, who was born in Gondolin, seven years before it fell; and my mother was Elwing, daughter of [Dior, son of] Luthien, daughter of Thingol, King of Doriath; and I have seen many ages in the West of the World. I knew Beleriand before it was broken in the great wars.' This is the origin of the passage in FR p. 256; but it goes back to and follows quite closely part of an earlier and isolated writing, given in VI.215 - 16,(3) in which the story of Gil-galad and Elendil was told at much greater length by Elrond to Bingo, apparently in a personal conversation between them; and that text was in turn closely related to the conclusion of the second version of The Fall of Numenor (V.28 - 9). The new text continues: They passed then from the winning and losing of the Ring to Bilbo's story; and once more he told how he had found it in the cave of the Misty Mountains. Then Aragorn took up the tale, and spoke of the hunt for Gollum, in which he had aided Gandalf, and of his [> their] perilous journey through southern Mirkwood, and into Fangorn Forest, and over the Dead Marshes to the very borders of the land of Mordor. In this way the history was brought slowly down to the spring morning... (&c. as VI.401). In the first version Trotter was still the hobbit Peregrin, with his wooden shoes (VI.401 and note 20). Gandalf in his reply to Elrond's question about Bombadil 'Do you know him, Gandalf?' now says: 'Yes. And I went to him at once, naturally, as soon as I found that the hobbits had gone into the Old Forest. I dare say he would have kept them longer in his house, if he had known that I was so near. But I am not sure - not sure that he did not know, and not sure that he would have behaved differently in any case. He is a very strange creature, and follows his own counsels: and they are not easy to fathom.' It seems that when my father wrote this he cannot have had in mind the outline dated August 26-27 1940, in which Gandalf arrived at Crickhollow and found it deserted (p. 72), since Gandalf could only have learnt from Hamilcar Bolger that the other hobbits had gone into the Old Forest. On the other hand my father was still uncertain (p. 72), in that outline and with that plot, whether Gandalf had visited Bombadil or not. At any rate, by what looks to be an almost immediate change, the wizard's remarks were rewritten: 'I know of him, though we seldom meet. I am a rolling stone, and he is a gatherer of moss. Both have a work to do, but they do not help one another often. It might have been wiser to have sought his aid, but I do not think I should have gained much. He is a strange creature...' It must have been at this point that my father finally decided that there had been no visit to Bombadil, and the story reverted to its earlier form (see VI.413 note 23). The sentence in Gandalf's reply to Erestor 'I doubt whether Tom Bombadil alone, even on his own ground, could withstand that Power'(4) (VI.402) was soon rewritten thus (anticipating in part both Gandalf and Glorfindel in FR p. 279): 'Whether Bombadil alone, even on his own ground, could withstand that Power is beyond all guessing. I think not; and in the end, if all else is conquered, Tom will fall: last as he was first, and the Night will come. He would likely enough throw the Ring away, for such things have no part in his mind.' Gloin's answer to Boromir's question concerning the Seven Rings remains almost exactly as it was (VI.403 - 4),(5) but Elrond's reply to the question about the Three Rings has certain changes: notably, he now states as a fact known to him what Gandalf (in 'Ancient History', VI.320) had asserted only as his belief: 'The Three Rings remain still. But wisely they have been taken over the Sea, and are not now in Middle-earth.' He continues: From them the Elvenkings have derived much power, but they have not availed them in their strife with Sauron. For they can give no skill or knowledge that he did not himself already possess at their making. To each race the rings of the Lord bring such power as each desires and can best wield. The Elves desired not strength, or domination, or hoarded wealth, but subtlety of craft and lore and knowledge of the secrets of the world's being. These things they have gained, yet with sorrow. But all in their mind and heart which is derived from the rings will turn to their undoing, and become revealed to Sauron, if he regains the Ruling Ring, as was his purpose.' The omission here of the words in the original text 'For they came from Sauron himself' does not, I think, show that the conception of the independence of the Three Rings of the Elves from Sauron had arisen, in view of the following words which were retained: 'For they can give no skill or knowledge that he did not himself already possess at their making'; moreover Boromir still in his question concerning them says that 'these too were made by Sauron in the elder days', and he is not contradicted. See further pp. 155-6. The next text then follows the old very closely indeed (VI.404-7), until the point where Gandalf, in the afternoon following the Council, overtakes Frodo, Merry, and Faramond (still so called, with Peregrin written in later) walking in the woods; and here the new version diverges for a stretch, Gandalf's remarks about the composition of the Company being quite different - and not only because Trotter is now Aragorn: a doubt here appears about the inclusion of the two younger hobbits. '... So be careful! You can't be too careful. As for the rest of the party, it is too soon to discuss that. But whether any of you go with Frodo or not, I shall make other arrangements for the supply of intelligence.' 'Ah! Now we know who really is important,' laughed Merry. 'Gandalf is never in doubt about that, and does not let anyone else forget it. So you are already making arrangements, are you?' 'Of course,' said Gandalf. 'There is a lot to do and think of. But in this matter both Elrond and Trotter will have much to say. And indeed Boromir, and Gloin, and Glorfindel, too. It concerns all the free folk left in the world.' 'Will Trotter come?' asked Frodo hopefully. 'Though he is only a Man, he would add to the brains of the expedition.' ' "Only a Man" is no way to speak of a tarkil, and least of all Aragorn son of Celegorn,' said Gandalf. 'He would add wit and valour to any expedition. But as I said, this is not the time and not the place to discuss it. Yet I will say just this in your ears.' . His voice sank to a whisper. 'I think I shall have to come with you.' So great was Frodo's delight at this announcement that : Gandalf took off his hat and bowed. 'But I only said: I think I shall have to go, and perhaps for part of the way only. Don't count on anything,' he added. 'And now, if you want to talk about such things, you had better come back indoors.' They walked back with him in silence; but as soon as they were over the threshold Frodo put the question that had been in : his mind ever since the Council. 'How long shall I have here, Gandalf?' he asked. 'I don't know,' answered the wizard. 'But we shan't be able to make our plans and preparations very quickly. Scouts have : already been sent out, and some may be away a long while. It is - essential to find out as much as we can about the Black Riders.' The new version then returns to the first and follows it very closely : to the end of that text ('... waiting for him to set out', VI.409). But it then continues into 'The Ring Goes South' (VI.415) without break or heading, and again follows the old pretty closely for some distance - as far as Gandalf's words 'And the hunters will have to come all the Way back to the Ford to pick up the trail - if we are careful, and lucky' (VI.416). There are a few differences to be noted. This version begins: 'When the hobbits had been some three weeks in the house of Elrond, and November was passing' (see VI.415 and note 2); the scouts who had gone north had been 'almost as far as Hoardale' (later > 'as far as the Hoardales'), where in the original text they had reached 'the Dimrill-dales' (see p. 10 and note 14); and it is said of the High Pass: 'where formerly the Goblins' door had been'. Very faint pencillings at the foot of the page give Elvish names of the places mentioned in the text, just as are found in the preceding version (see VI.432 note 4), but these are not the same. The note reads: In Elvish Annerchion = Goblin Gate. Ruinnel = Redway. Nenvithim = Hoardales Palath-ledin = Gladden. Field [s] Palath = Iris. But where in the first version Gandalf says: 'We had better get off as soon as possible now - and as quietly', and the story then passes almost at once to the day of departure, this text diverges to the first full and clear account of the selection of the Company of the Ring - who are still to be seven (see VI.409 - 10); and the selection now takes place at the same point in the narrative as it does in FR (pp. 288-9). '... It is time we began to make preparations in earnest, and the first thing to do is to decide who is going. I have my own ideas, but I must consult Elrond.' Both Elrond and the wizard were agreed that the party must not be too large, for their hope lay in speed and secrecy. 'Seven and no more should there be,' said Elrond. 'If Frodo is still willing, then Frodo as ring-bearer must be the first choice. And if Frodo goes, then Sam Gamgee must go too, because that was promised, and my heart tells me that their fates are woven together.' 'And if two hobbits go, then I must go,' said Gandalf, 'for my wits tell me that I shall be needed; and indeed my fate seems. much entangled with hobbits.' 'That is three then,' said Elrond. 'If there are others, they should represent the other free folk of the world.' 'I will go on behalf of Men,' said Trotter. 'I claim some right to share in the adventures of the Ring; but I wish also to go out of friendship for Frodo, and therefore I will ask his leave to be his companion.' 'I could choose no one more gladly,' said Frodo. 'I had thought of begging what is freely offered.' He took Trotter's hand. 'Boromir will also come,' said Gandalf. 'He is resolved to return as soon as he can to his own land, to the siege and war (6) that he has told of. His way goes with ours. He is a valiant man.' 'For the Elves I will choose Galdor of Mirkwood,' said Elrond, 'and for the Dwarves Gimli son of Gloin. If they are willing to go with you, even as far as Moria, they will be a help to you. That is seven and the full tale.' 'What about Meriadoc and Faramond [> Peregrin]?' said Frodo, suddenly realizing that his friends were not included. 'Merry has come far with me, and it will grieve him to be left behind now.' 'Faramond [> Peregrin] would go with you out of love for you, if he were bidden,' said Gandalf; 'but his heart is not in such perilous adventures, much though he loves you. Merry will be grieved, it is true, but Elrond's decision is wise. He is merry in name, and merry in heart, but this quest is not for him, nor for any hobbit, unless fate and duty chooses him. But do not be distressed: I think there may be other work for him to do, and that he will not be left long idle.' When the names and number of the adventurers had thus been decided, it was agreed that the day of departure should be the following Thursday, November the seventeenth. The next few days were busy with preparations, but Frodo spent as much time as he could alone with Bilbo. The weather had grown cold, and was now cheerless and grey, and they sat often together in Bilbo's own small room. Then Bilbo would read passages from his book (which seemed still very incomplete), or scraps of his verses, and take notes of Frodo's adventures. On the morning of the last day, Bilbo pulled out from under his bed a wooden box, and lifted the lid, and fumbled inside. 'You have got a good sword of your own, I believe,' he said hesitatingly to Frodo; 'but I thought, perhaps, you would care to have this as well, or instead, don't you know.' From this point the new text reaches virtually the final form in FR pp. 290-1,(7) as far as 'I should like to write the second book, if I am spared.' This was evidently where the chapter ended at this stage. For a brief while my father evidently suspected that Meriadoc and Faramond/Peregrin would be superfluous in what he conceived to be the last stage of the Quest. - It is curious that Elrond, when declaring his choice of Galdor of Mirkwood and Gimli son of Gloin, here refers to Moria as if the passage of the Mines were already determined; but this cannot have been intentional. Later pencilled changes made to the name Ond in this manuscript may be mentioned here. At the first occurrence the Land of Ond was struck out, and in the margin my father wrote Minas-tir Minas-ond Minas-berel, finally putting the City of Minas-tirith. This may be the place where Minas Tirith (which already existed in the Quenta Silmarillion, V.264, 269) first emerged in this application. At a subsequent occurrence Ond was changed to Minas-berel and then to Minas Tirith. A very rough pencilled outline, written on the 'August 1940' examination script described on p. 67, brings in entirely new aspects of the discussion at the Council. At the head of the page stand these: names: Minas Giliath Minas rhain (8) Othrain = .... city (9) Minas tirith Then follows: At Council. Aragorn's ancestry. Gloin's quest- to ask after Bilbo.? News of Balin.?? Boromir. Prophecies had been spoken. The Broken Sword should be reforged. Our wise men said the Broken Sword was in Rivendell. I have the Broken Sword, said Tarkil. My fathers were driven out of your city when Sauron raised a rebellion, and he that is now the Chief of the Nine drove us out. Minas Morgol. War between Ond and Wizard King. %ere Tarkil's sires had been King. Tarkil will come and help Ond. Tarkil's fathers had been driven out by the wizard that is now Chief of the Nine. Gandalf's story of Saruman and the eagle. Elrond explains that Eagles had been sent to look. This only if Gandalf goes straight to Rivendell. Otherwise how could the eagles find Gandalf? The Broken Sword appears in the last revisions to the Prancing Pony story (written on the same paper as this outline), where Trotter draws it out in the inn (p. 78).(10) - The meaning of the last two sentences of the outline is presumably that Gandalf went straight to Rivendell when he left Hobbiton in June, and there told Elrond that he intended to visit Saruman. Compare the notes given on p. 75: 'Gandalf is captured by Saruman. Elves send word that he is missing... Glorfindel is sent out, and messengers sent to Eagles.... They fly all over the lands, and find Gandalf...' The Third Version. More is told of this story of 'Tarkil's sires' and Ond in a manuscript written on the same paper, which I give next, and which despite its being so rough and incomplete I will call 'the Third Version'. This text develops Gloin's story, and is followed by the account given by Galdor . of Mirkwood of Gollum's escape, which here first enters.(11) In these parts of the text there is a great advance towards FR (pp. 253 - 5, 268 - 9), where however the ordering of the speeches made at the Council is quite different. Finally we reach the story of the Numeno- rean kingdoms in Middle-earth, still in an extremely primitive form, and written in a fearsome scrawl; most unhappily a portion of this is lost. There are a fair number of alterations in pencil, but I think that these belong to much the same time as the writing of the manuscript (which ends in pencil). I take these up silently where they are of slight significance, but in many cases I show them as such in the text. Much was said of events in the world outside, especially in the South, and in the wide lands east of the Mountains. Of these things Frodo had already heard many rumours. But the tales of Gloin and of Boromir were new to him, and he listened attentively. It appeared that the hearts of the Dwarves of the Mountain were troubled. 'It is now many years ago,' said Gloin, 'that a shadow of disquiet fell upon our folk. Whence it came we did not at first know. Whispered words began to be spoken: it was said that we were hemmed in a narrow place, and that greater wealth and splendour were to be found in the wider world. Some spoke of Moria - the mighty works of our fathers of old, that we called in our ancient tongue Khazaddum - and they said that we now had the power and numbers to return and there re-establish our halls in glory and command the lands both West and East of the Mountains. At the last, some score of years ago, Balin departed, though Dain did not give leave willingly, and he took with him Oin and Ori and many of our folk, and they went away south. For a while we heard news, and it seemed good: messages reported that Moria had been re-entered, and great work begun there. Then all fell silent. There was peace under the Mountain again for a space, until rumour of the rings began to be heard. 'Messages came a year ago from Mordor far away; and they offered us rings of power such as the lord of Mordor could make - on condition of our friendship and aid. And they asked urgently concerning one Bilbo, whom it seemed they had learned was once our friend. They commanded us to obtain from him if we could, willing or unwilling, a certain ring that he had possessed. In exchange for this we were offered three such rings as our fathers had of old. Even for news of where he might be found we were promised lasting friendship and great reward. 'We knew well that the friendship of such messages was feigned and concealed a threat, for by that time many rumours of evil also reached us concerning Mordor. We have returned yet no answer; and I have come first from Dain, to warn Bilbo that he is sought by the Dark Lord, and to learn (if may be) why this is so. Also we crave the counsel of Elrond, for the shadow grows. We perceive that messages have also been sent to King Brand in Dale, and that he is afraid to resist. Already there is war gathering on his southern borders. If we make no answer the Dark Lord will move other men to assail him and us.' 'You have done well to come,' said Elrond. 'You will hear today all that is necessary for the understanding of the Enemy's purposes, and why he seeks Bilbo. There is nought you can do other than to resist, whether with hope or without it. But as you will hear, your trouble is only part of ours [> the troubles of others]; and your hope will rise and fall with the fortunes of the Ring. Let us now hear the words of Galdor of Mirkwood, for they are yet known to few.' Galdor spoke. 'I do not come,' he said, 'to add to all the accounts of gathering war and unrest, though Mirkwood is not spared, and the dark things that fled from it for a while are returning in such number that my people are hard put to it. But I am sent to bear tidings: they are not good, I fear; but how ill, others must judge. Smeagol that is now called Gollum has escaped.' 'What!' cried Trotter in surprise. 'I judge that to be ill news, and you may mark my words: we shall regret this. How came the Wood-elves to fail in their trust?' 'Not through lack of vigilance,' said Galdor; 'but perhaps through overmuch kindness, and certainly through aid from elsewhither. He was guarded day and night; but hoping for his cure we had not the heart to keep him ever in dungeons beneath the ground.' 'You were less tender to me,' said Gloin with a flash of his eye, as ancient memories of his prison in the halls of the Elven-king were aroused. 'Now, now!' said Gandalf. 'Don't interrupt! That was a regrettable misunderstanding.' 'In days of fair weather we led him through the woods,' Galdor went on; 'and there was a high tree, standing alone far from others, which he liked to climb. Often we let him climb in it till he felt the free wind; but we set a guard at the foot. One day he would not descend, and the guards having no mind to climb after him (he could cling to branches with his feet as well as with his hands) sat by the tree into the twilight. It was on that very evening in summer under a clear moon that the Orcs came down upon us. We drove them off after some time; but when the battle was over, we found Gollum was gone, and the guards had vanished also. It seems clear that the attack was arranged for the rescue of Gollum, and that he knew of it beforehand; but in what way we cannot guess. We failed to recapture him. We came on his trail and that of some Orcs, and it seemed to plunge deep into Mirkwood going south and west; but ere long it escaped even our skill, nor dare we continue the hunt, for we were drawing near the Mountains of Mirkwood in the midst of the forest, and they are become evil, and we do not go that way.* 'Well, well!' said Gandalf. 'He has got away, and we have no time or chance now to go after him again. Evidently the Enemy wants him. What for, we may discover in good time, or in bad time.(12) I still had some hopes of curing him,. but evidently he did not wish to be cured.' 'But now our tale goes far away and long ago,' said Elrond [> Gandalf]. [Direction here for insertion of a rider which is not extant; but see p. 126.] 'In the days that followed the Elder Days after the fall of Numenor the men of Westernesse came to the shores of the Great Lands, as is recorded still in history and legend [> in lore]. Of their kings Elendil was the chief, and his ships sailed up the great river which flows out of Wilderland [in margin, struck out in pencil: This river they name Sirvinya, New Sirion.] and finds the Western Sea in the Bay of [Ramathor Ramathir >] Belfalas. In the land about they made a realm [> In the land about its lower course he established a realm]; and the [> his) chief city was Osgiliath the Fort of Stars, through which the river flowed. But other strong places were set upon hills upon either side: Minas Ithil the Tower of the Moon in the West, and Minas Anor the Tower of the Sun in the East [> Minas Ithil the Tower of the Rising Moon in the East, and Minas Anor the Tower of the Setting Sun in the West]. 'And these cities were governed by the sons of Elendil: llmandur [struck out in pencil], Isildur, and Anarion. But the sons of Elendil did not return from the war with Sauron, and only in Minas Ithil [> Anor] was the lordship of the West maintained. There ruled the son of Isildur [> Anarion] and his sons after him. But as the world worsened and decayed Osgiliath fell into ruin, and the servants of Sauron took Minas Anor [not changed to Ithil], and it became a place of dread, and was called Minas Morgol, the The whole of the last paragraph was struck through in pencil. The last words stand at the foot of a page, and the following page is lost. This is a misfortune, since a part of the earliest form of the history is lost with it. The text when it takes up again is complex, and it is clearest to number it in sections from (i) to (iii). We are now in the middle of a speech by Boromir. (i) '... But of these words none of us could understand anything, until we learnt after seeking far and wide that Imlad-ril (> Imlad-rist] was the name of a far northern dale, called by men [> men in the North] Rivendell, where Elrond the Half-elven dwelt.' 'But the rest shall now be made clear to you,' said Trotter, standing up. He drew forth his sword, and cast it upon a table before Boromir: in two pieces. 'Here is the Sword that was Broken, and I am the bearer.' 'But who are you, and what have you or it to do with Minas Tirith?' asked Boromir. 'He is Aragorn son of Celegorn, descended in right line [added: through many fathers] from Isildur of Minas Ithil, son of Elendil,' said Elrond. 'He is tarkil and one of the few now left of that people.' (At this point there is a mark of insertion for another passage, here identified as (iii), which is to replace what now follows, the continua- tion of passage (i).) (ii) 'And the Men of Minas Tirith drove out my fathers,' said Aragorn. 'Is not that remembered, Boromir? The men of that town have never ceased to wage war on Sauron, but they have listened not seldom to counsels that came from him. In the days of Valandur they murmured against the Men of the West, and rose against them, and when they came back from battle with Sauron they refused them entry into the city.(13) Then Valandur broke his sword before the city gates and went away north; and for long the heirs of Elendil dwelt at Osforod the Northburg in slowly waning glory and darkening days. But all the Northland has now long been waste; and all that are left of Elendil's folk few. 'What do the men of Minas Tirith want with me - to return to aid [them] in the war and then reject me at the gates again?' This passage (ii) was struck through in pencil. Hurled onto the page, this narrative is only one stage advanced from the highly provisional outlines which my father made at various points as the work proceeded. I think that this obscure story, with its notable suggestion of a subject population that was not Numenorean (although the cities were founded by Elendil), was rejected almost as soon as written; it may be that it was the earliest form of the history of the Numenorean realms in exile that my father conceived. The passage to replace (ii) was scribbled very rapidly and in pencil; it was not struck out. (iii) 'Then it belongs to you as much as me, or more!' cried Frodo, looking at Trotter in amazement. 'It does not belong to either of us,' said Trotter, 'but it is ordained that you should keep it for a while.(14) Yes, I am the heir of Elendil,' said he, turning again to Boromir; [all the following struck out at the time of writing: 'for I have heard it said that long ago you drove out the Men of the West from Minas Anor. You have ever fought against Sauron, but not seldom you have hearkened to counsels that came from him. Do you wish that I should return to Minas Morgol or to Minas Tirith? For Valandil son of Elendil was taken [? as child] For the Men of Minas Ithil] 'For Valandil son of Isildur remained among the Elves, and was saved, and he went at last with such of his father's men as remained, and dwelt in the North in Osforod, the Northburg, which is now waste, so that its very foundations can scarce be seen beneath the turf. And our days have ever waned and darkened through the years. But ever we have wandered far and wide, yes, even to the borders of Mordor, making secret war upon the Enemy. But the sword has never been reforged. For it was Elendil's and broke under him as he fell, and was brought away by his esquire and treasured. And Elendil said: "This sword shall not be brandished again for many years; but when a cry is heard in Minas Anor, and the power of Sauron grows great in the Middle-earth, then let it be whetted." ' Finally, (ii) continues in pencil from the point reached ('... and then reject me at the gates again?'), and this was not struck out: 'They did not bid me to make any request,' said Boromir, 'and asked only for the meaning of the words. Yet we are sorely pressed, and if Minas Tirith falls and the land of Ond, a great, region will fall under the Shadow.' 'I will come,' said Trotter. 'For the half-high have indeed set forth, and the spoken days are near.' Boromir looked at Frodo and nodded with sudden understanding. The text ends here. In these earliest workings it is interesting to see that the Sword that was Broken existed before the story that it was broken beneath Elendil as he fell: indeed it is not clear that at first it was indeed Elendil's sword, nor how Valandur (whose sword it was) was related to him (though it seems plain that he was a direct descendant of Elendil: very possibly he was to be Isildur's son). In the passage (iii) the final story of the Broken Sword is seen at the moment of its emergence. Valandil appears as the son of Isildur, and there is a glimpse of the later story that Valandil, the youngest son, remained on account of his youth in Imladris at the time of the War of the Last Alliance, that he received the sword of Elendil, and that he dwelt in Elendil's city of Annuminas. As my father first wrote the present text he evidently meant (p. 119) that Ilmandur (probably the eldest son of Elendil) ruled Osgiliath, the name of his city being appropriate to his own name (Ilmen, region of the stars), as were the cities which they ruled to his brothers' names; but Ilmandur was removed and Osgiliath became Elendil's city - for in this text Elendil sailed up the Great River (which receives ephemerally the name Sirvinya 'New Sirion', displacing Beleghir 'Great River', VI.410) and established a realm in the land about its lower course. This is entirely at variance with the story found much earlier in Elrond's conversation with Bingo (see p. 110; VI.215 - 16), where Elrond told that Elendil was 'a king in Beleriand', that 'he made an alliance with the Elf-king of those lands, whose name is Gilgalad', and that their joined armies 'marched eastward, and crossed the Misty Mountains, and passed into the inner lands far from the memory of the Sea.' That text was very closely related to the end of the second version of The Fall of Numenor (V.28 - 9), and used many of the same phrases. Subsequently a new ending to The Fall of Numenor was substituted; this has been given in V.33, but I cite it again here. But there remains a legend of Beleriand. Now that land had been broken in the Great Battle with Morgoth; and at the fall of Numenor and the change of the fashion of the world it perished; for the sea covered all that was left save some of the mountains that remained as islands, even up to the feet of Eredlindon. But that land where Luthien had dwelt remained, and was called Lindon. A gulf of the sea came through it, and a gap was made in the Mountains through which the River Lhun flowed out. But in the land that was left north and south of the gulf the Elves remained, and Gil-galad son of Felagund son of Finrod was their king. And they made Havens in the Gulf of Lhun whence any of their people, or any other of the Elves that fled from the darkness and sorrow of Middle-earth, could sail into the True West and return no more. In Lindon Sauron had as yet no dominion. And it is said that the brethren Elendil and Valandil escaping from the fall of Numenor came at last to the mouths of the rivers that flowed into the Western Sea. And Elendil (that is Elf-friend), who had aforetime loved the folk of Eressea, came to Lindon and dwelt there a while, and passed into Middle- earth and established a realm in the North. But Valandil sailed up the Great River Anduin and established another realm far to the South. But Sauron dwelt in Mordor the Black Country, and that was not very distant from Ondor the realm of Valandil; and Sauron made war against all Elves and all Men of Westernesse or others that aided them, and Valandil was hard pressed. Therefore Elendil and Gil-galad seeing that unless some stand were made Sauron would become lord of [?all] Middle-earth they took counsel together, and they made a great league. And Gil-galad and Elendil marched into the Middle-earth [?and gathered force of Men and Elves, and they assembled at Imladrist]. These three accounts can only be placed in this sequence: (I) Elrond's account to Bingo (together with the original ending of the second version of The Fall of Numenor): Elendil in Beleriand. (II) The present text (the 'third version' of 'The Council of Elrond'): Elendil comes up the Great River and founds a realm in the South. (III) The revised ending of The Fall of Numenor, cited above: Elendil comes to Lindon; Valandil his brother comes up the Great River and founds the realm of Ondor in the South. That (I) is the earliest is shown of course by the name Bingo; that (III) followed (II) is shown by the names Anduin and Ondor. But this is hard to understand: for the story seen emerging in (II), pp. 119 - 21 above - Isildur and Anarion the rulers of Minas Ithil and Minas Anor, and Valandil Isildur's son surviving and dwelling in the North - is the story that endured into The Lord of the Rings. A single sheet of manuscript found in isolation bears on this question without aiding its solution; it is also of great interest in other respects. After the 'breaking of the North' in the Great Battle, the shape of the North-west of Middle-earth was changed. Nearly all Beleriand was drowned in the Sea. Taur na Fuin became an Island. The mountains of Eredwethion &c. became small isles (so also Himling). Eredlindon was now near the Sea (at widest 200 miles away). A great gulf of the Sea came in through Ossiriand and a gap made in the Mountains through which ' [the Branduinen flowed (later corrupted to Brandywine) >] the Lhun flowed. In what was left between the Mountains and the Sea the Elves of Beleriand remained in North and South Lindon; and Havens of Escape were made in the Gulf. The lord was Gilgalad (son of [struck out: Fin...] Inglor?). Many of his people were Gnomes; some Doriath-Danians. Between Eredlindon and Eredhithui [written above: Hith- dilias) (Misty Mountains) many Elves dwelt, and especially at Imladrist (Rivendell) and Eregion (Hollin). In Hollin there was a colony of Gnomes, who would not depart. Down in Harfalas (or Falas) ...(15) the Black Mountains [Ered Myrn )] Eredvyrn (Mornvenniath) dwelt a powerful assembly of Ilkorins. Elendil and Valandil kings of Numenore sailed to the Middle- earth and came into the mouths of the Anduin (Great River) and the Branduinen and the Lhun (Blue River). Here the name Anduin shows that this text followed (II), the present version of 'The Council of Elrond'. Here, as in (III), Elendil has a brother Valandil (and they are called kings of Numenore'),(16) and the meaning of the last sentence is presumably that, again as in (III), they came separately to Middle-earth and sailed up different rivers. The simplest conclusion, indeed the only conclusion that seems available, is that my father for some time held different views of the coming of the Numenoreans, and pursued them independently. Other features of this text must be briefly noticed. That it preceded (III) seems clear from its being at first the Branduinen (Brandywine), subsequently changed to the Lhun, that flowed through the great gap in Eredlindon (the Blue Mountains), whereas in (III) Lhun was written from the first. This indicates also that the text preceded that portion of the original map (Map I, p. 302) which shows these regions. On the other hand the statement that Eredlindon was now at no point further than 200 miles from the Sea agrees well with that map,(17) and we meet here an apparently unique reference to the isles of Tol Fuin and Himling, which are shown on it.(18) The Misty Mountains receive for the first time Elvish names (Eredhithui, Hithdilias), as do the Black Mountains in the South, afterwards the White Mountains, (Eredvyrn, Mornvenniath); and the name Eregion of Hollin appears. The name of Gil-galad's father as first written cannot be interpreted; the fourth letter seems to be an r, but the name is certainly not Finrod. Inglor, though here marked with a query, agrees with (III), which has Felagund; in the texts that I have called (I) above he was a descendant of Feanor. I return now to the 'third version' of 'The Council of Elrond'. The verse (if it was already a verse) that brought Boromir to Rivendell is lost in its earliest form with the lost page (p. 120), but from what follows it is plain that it referred to the Sword that was Broken, which was in Imlad-ril, and to 'the half-high', who will 'set forth' (cf. FR p. 259). There are several interesting names in this text. Khazaddum (p. 117) is here first used - in the narrative - of Moria (see V.274, VI.466), but it appears in the original sketch of a page from the Book of Mazarbul: see VI.467 and the Appendix to this book, p. 458. The city of Osgiliath on the Great River appears, with the fortresses of Minas Anor and Minas Ithil on either side of the river valley, though their positions were originally reversed, with Minas Ithil in the west becoming Minas Tirith and Minas Anor in the east becoming Minas Morgol. The Bay of Belfalas (replacing at the time of writing Ramathor, Ramathir) here first appears (see VI.438-9). On the name Sirvinya 'New Sirion':of the Great River see p. 122. Imlad-ril is no doubt the earliest form and first appearance of the Elvish name of Rivendell; Imlad-rist which here replaced it is the form found in the texts given on pp. 123-4. Imladris is found in the Etymologies (V.384, stem RIS). With Osforod 'the Northburg' cf. the later Fornost (Erain), 'Nor- bury (of the Kings)'. At the end of the manuscript there are a few lines concerning Bombadil: '"I knew of him," answered Gandalf. "Bombadil's one name. He has called himself by others, suiting himself to the times. Tombombadil's for the Shire-folk. We have seldom met." ' Pencilled scribbles beneath this, difficult to interpret, give other names of Bombadil: Forn for the Dwarves (19) (as in FR p. 278)., Yare for the Elves, and Iaur (see the Etymologies, V.399, stem YA); Erion for the Gnomes; Eldest for m[en] (cf. FR p. 142: 'Eldest, that's what I am'). The Fourth Version. The next complete manuscript of the chapter is a formidably difficult document. It contains pages 'cannibalised' from the second version, with just such elements retained from them as were still suitable, and it also contains later writing at more than one stage in the evolution of the Council, with further emendation on top of that clearly deriving from different times. It is difficult to determine how this complex evolved; but I think a good case can be made for the account of the evolution that I give here, in which a 'fourth' and a 'fifth' version are separated out. On this view, my father now decided that the extremely difficult and incomplete 'third version', introducing so much new material, called for an ordered text in clear manuscript. The chapter (XIV) was now titled The Council of Elrond, and it begins (on the August 1940 examination script) with a revised version of the opening (see p. 110): Frodo and Sam now meet Gandalf and Bilbo sitting 'on a seat cut in the stone beside a turn in the path', as in FR (p. 252). But there is no further development at this stage in the membership of the Council: the Elf of Mirkwood is still Galdor. Boromir is now 'from the city of Minas Tirith in the South'. From the start of the Council itself, the 'third version', taking up at the words 'Much was said of events in the world outside' (p. 117), was for the most part closely followed, though with movement in detail towards the expression in FR. Gloin is still followed by Galdor's news of Gollum's escape and Gandalf's resigned observations on the matter. But after 'And now our tale goes far away and long ago' Elrond here adds: 'for all here should learn in full the tale of the Ring. I know,' he added with a glance at Boromir, who seemed about to speak. 'You think that you should speak now in turn after Galdor. But wait, and you will see that your words will come in more fitly later.' This passage may very well represent what was contained in the missing rider referred to on p. 119. Elrond's brief account of the foundation of the realm of Ond is not changed from the 'third version' (as emended: see p. 119). Elendil still established it, about the lower course of the Great River (here not given any other name), and 'his chief city was Osgiliath, the Fortress of Stars', while Isildur and Anarion governed Minas Ithil and Minas Anor. But where the previous text has (as emended) 'But the sons of Elendil did not return from the war with Sauron, and only in Minas Anor was the lordship of the West maintained. There ruled the son of Anarion and his sons after him' this fourth version greatly expands Elrond's speech: '... But Isildur, the elder, went with his father to the aid of Gilgalad in the Last Alliance. Very mighty was that host.' Elrond paused for a while, and sighed. 'I remember well the splendour of their banners,' he said... Elrond's recollection of the mustering of the hosts of the Last Alliance, and Frodo's astonished interjection, now reach the form in FR (p. 256; for the earlier forms of the passage see p. 110); but after 'I have seen many ages in the West of the World, and many defeats, and many fruitless victories' the new text proceeds: '... Such proved indeed the alliance of Gilgalad and Elendil.' And thereupon Elrond passed to the tale of the assault upon Mordor that Frodo had heard already from Gandalf / yet not so fully or so clearly; and he spoke of the winning of the Ring [changed perhaps at this time to: But now all was set forth in full, and memories were unlocked that had long lain hidden. Great forces were gathered together, even of beasts and of birds; and of all living things some were in either host, save only the Elves. They alone were undivided, and followed Gilgalad.(20) Then Elrond spoke of the winning of the Ring], and the flight of Sauron, and the peace that came to the West of Middle-earth for a time. 'Yet,' said Elrond, 'Isildur, who took the Ring, and greatly diminished the power of Sauron, was slain, and he came never back to Minas Ithil, in the Land of Ond, nor did any of his folk return. Only in Minas Anor was the race of Westernesse maintained for a while.(21) But Gilgalad was lost, and Elendil was dead; and in spite of their victory, Sauron was not wholly destroyed, and the evil creatures that he had made or tamed were abroad, and they multiplied. And Men increased, and Elves were estranged from them; for the people of Numenor decayed, or turned to dark thoughts, and destroyed one another; and the world worsened. Osgiliath fell into ruin; and evil men took Minas Ithil, and it became a place of dread, and was called Minas-Morgol, the It is at this point that the previous manuscript breaks off, through the loss of a leaf, and does not take up again till after Boromir has declared the 'dream-verse' of Minas Tirith, concerning which he came to Rivendell (p. 120). Tower of Sorcery, and Minas Anor was renamed Minas Tirith the Tower of Guard. And these two cities stood opposed to one another, and were ever at war; and in the ruins of Osgiliath shadows walked. So it has been for many lives of men. For the men of Minas Tirith fight on, though the race of Elendil has long failed among them. But listen now to Boromir, who is come from Minas Tirith in the Land of Ond.' 'Truly in that land,' said Boromir proudly, taking up the tale, 'we have never ceased to defend ourselves, and to dispute the passage of the River with all enemies from the East. By our valour some peace and freedom has been kept in the lands to the West behind us. But now we are pressed back, and are near to despair, for we are beset and the crossing of the River has been taken.(22) And those whom we defend shelter behind us, and give us much praise and little help. 'Now I am come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond. But I do not seek allies in war; for the might of Elrond is not in numbers, nor do the High-elves put forth their strength in armies. I come rather to ask for counsel and the unravelling of hard words. A dream came many months ago to the Lord of Minas Tirith in the midst of a troubled sleep; and afterward a like dream came to many others in the City, and even to me. Always in this dream there was the noise of running water upon one hand, and of a blowing fire upon the other; and in the midst was heard a voice, saying: Seek for the Sword that was broken: in Imlad-rist it dwells, and there shall words be spoken stronger than Morgol-spells. And this shall be your token: when the half-high leave their land, then many bonds shall be broken, and Days of Fire at hand. Of these words none of us could understand anything,(23) until after long seeking we learned that Imlad-rist was the elvish name of a far northern dale, called by Men in the North Rivendell, where Elrond Halfelven dwelt. The third version is then followed closely (pp. 120 - 1, passages (i) and (iii)) as far as 'but it has been ordained that you should have it for a while'; then follows in this fourth version: 'Yes, it is true,' he said, turning to Boromir with a smile. 'I do not look the part, maybe: I have had a hard life and a long, and the leagues that lie between here and Ond would go for little in the count of my wanderings. I have been in Minas Tirith, and walked in Osgiliath by night, and even to Minas Morgol I have been, and beyond.' He shuddered. 'But my home, such as I have, has been in the North; for Valandil son of Isildur was har- boured by the Elves in this region after the death of his father; and he went at last with such of his folk as remained, and dwelt in Osforod the North-burg. But that is now waste, so that its very foundations can scarce be seen beneath the turf. And our days have ever waned and darkened through the years; and we are become a wandering folk, few and secret and sundered, pursued ever by the Enemy, and pursuing him. And the sword has never been reforged. For it was Elendil's, and broke beneath him in his fall; and it was brought away by his esquire and treasured. For Elendil said in his last hour: "This blade shall not be brandished again for many ages. And when a voice is heard in Minas Anor, and the shadow of Sauron grows great again in Middle-earth, let it then be remade." ' It seems to me extremely probable that it was here, very near the point where the draft third version ended, that my father abandoned in its turn this fourth version, or more accurately went back over what he had written, changing the sequence of the speeches at the Council and introducing much new material. He then continued to the end of the chapter; and this is the fifth version. In the third and fourth versions, ending (on this view) at much the same place, the sequence had been the same: (1) Gloin's account of the return to Moria and the messages from Mordor; (2) Galdor's news of Gollum's escape; (3) Elrond's story ('But now our tale goes far away and long ago...'); (4) Boromir and the 'dream-verse' of Minas Tirith; (5) Aragorn produces the Sword of Elendil, and Elrond proclaims his ancestry; Frodo says 'Then it belongs to you as much as me, or more!' (6) Aragorn speaks of Valandil son of Isildur and the life of his descendants in the North. The differences between this structure and that of FR are essentially that in the final form the story of (Galdor) Legolas comes in much later, and that after Frodo's exclamation in (5) and Aragorn's reply Gandalf calls on Frodo to bring forth the Ring - whereupon Elrond says 'Behold Isildur's Bane!'; this in turn leads to Aragorn's account of himself, Aragorn being followed by Bilbo's story and then Frodo's. A single page of rough drafting shows both developments: Frodo's bringing forth the Ring at this juncture and Elrond's naming it 'Isildur's Bane' (which would lead to the insertion of the name into the 'dream-verse', from which it was at first absent, p. 128), and also a scheme for a new sequence. In this, after Aragorn's explanation to Boromir of the Broken Sword (FR p. 260), there follows: (1) Bilbo's story; - (2) Gandalf's account of the Rings, and of the identification of Bilbo's Ring with Isildur's Bane; (3) The story of the hunt for Gollum; (4) Galdor's tidings of Gollum's escape; (5) Frodo's story; (6) 'Gandalf's captivity'; (7) 'Question about Tom Bombadil'. Although in FR (2) was very greatly enlarged, and embraces Aragorn's story (3), this is essentially the final sequence, with the exception of (5): in FR Frodo follows Bilbo. An intervention, following Frodo's story, by the Elf from the Grey Havens (Galdor, not yet present) leads in FR to Gandalf's two long accounts (2) and (6), into which (4) comes as an interruption. The sequence given above is found in the fifth version, to be given (in part) shortly; and the way in which the speeches at the Council were relinked to achieve the final sequence can be understood from a comparison of FR with the material presented here. Gandalf's Tale. I think it very likely, indeed almost certain, that it was at this juncture, before he began on the fifth version of 'The Council of Elrond', that my father finally set down the full story of why Gandalf failed to return to Hobbiton before Frodo's departure. Only a few hints towards this had been put in writing. Saruman appeared for the first time in the outline dated 26 - 27 August 1940 (pp. 70 - 1), where the earliest ideas concerning him and his role emerge. He dwells at Angrobel or Irongarth, on the borders of Rohan; he 'sends out a message that there is important news' (that the Ringwraiths had come forth from Mordor); Gandalf wants his help against them; but Saruman has 'fallen and gone over to Sauron'. At that stage my father was still entirely uncertain what in fact happened to Gandalf - whether he was pursued by the Riders to the top of a mountain from which he could not escape, or whether he was handed over to Treebeard and imprisoned by him; and in that outline there is no mention of his escape from whatever durance he suffered. In the brief scheme given on p. 116, however, there is mention of 'Gandalf's story of Saruman and the eagle'; and the question is touched on there, how did the Eagles know where to seek for Gandalf? - unless he had gone at once to Rivendell when he left the Shire in June, and had told Elrond of his intention. Now at last the final story emerges; and the earlier conception of the Western Tower, an Elf-tower of Emyn Beraid, in which Gandalf stood guarded by the Ringwraiths sitting motionless on their horses, as Frodo saw them in his dream (see pp. 33 - 6), changes into Orthanc, Saruman's tower within the circuit of the 'Irongarth'; and Saruman is his captor. This first draft, for which my father used the blue booklet-covers of the 'August 1940' examination script, was written in his most rapid handwriting, in which words were often reduced to mere marks or lines with slight undulations, and I have not been able to interpret it at every point. But this original text of Gandalf's story is of much interest, and I give it here in full so well as I can. It will be seen that while the texture of the narrative is thinner than in the final form (FR pp. 269 ff.), many essential features were already present. The pages of the manuscript are lettered from 'b' onwards, showing that the first page is lost. 'It has', said Gandalf, 'and I was about to give an account.(24) At the end of June a cloud of anxiety came upon my mind and I went through the Shire to its southern borders. I had long felt a foreboding of some danger that was still hidden from me. I passed down the Baranduin as far as Sarn Ford, and there I met a messenger. I found I knew him well, for he leapt from his horse when he saw me and hailed me: it was Radagast who dwelt once upon a time near the southern borders of Mirk- wood. Here my father broke off, and without striking out what he had written began again in the course of the second sentence. and rode round the borders of the Shire, for I felt a foreboding of some danger that was still hidden from me. I found nothing, though I came upon many fugitives, and it seemed to me that on many a fear sat of which they could not speak. I came up from the South and along the Greenway, and not far from Bree I came upon a man sitting by the roadside. His [? dappled grey] horse was standing by. When he saw me he leaped to his feet and hailed me. It was Radagast my cousin,(25) who dwelt once upon a time near the southern borders of Mirkwood. I had lost sight of him for many years. "I am seeking you," he said. "But I am a stranger in these parts, and I heard a rumour that you were in a land called by a strange name: the Shire." "I was," said I, "and you are near.... [?River] but [?far] to East. What do you want with me so urgently?" For he is never a great traveller. 'He then told me dread news and revealed to me what I had feared without knowing it. This is what he said. "The Nine 'Wraiths are released," he said. "The Enemy must have some great and urgent need, but what it is that should make him look to these desolate... parts where men and wealth are scanty I do not know.> ] White,"(26) he said, [added in pencil, Brown] is of course a master of shapes and changes of hue,(27) and has much lore of beast, bird, and herb; but Saruman has long studied the works of the Enemy to defeat him, and the lore of rings was his especial knowledge. The last of the 19 rings he had....(28) ' "I will go to Saruman," I said. "Then you must go now," said Radagast; "for the time is very short, and even if you set out this hour you will hardly come to him before the Nine cross the Seven Rivers.(29) I myself shall take my horse and ride away now, since my errand is at an end." And with that he mounted and rode off without another word - and that seemed to me very strange. [Marginal addition: and would have ridden off there and then. "Stay a moment, Radagast," I said. "We need help of many kinds. Send out messages to all the birds and beasts that are your friends. Tell them to bring news to Saruman and Gandalf. Let any message go to Orthanc."](30) But I could not follow him. I had ridden far and Galeroc (31) was weary. I stayed the night in Bree and departed at dawn - and if I ever see the [?innkeeper] again there will be no Butter left in Butterbur. I will melt the fat from him....(32) But bless him, he is a worthy man and seems to have shown a stout heart. I shall probably relent. However, being in great need I trusted him to send the message to Frodo, and went off at dawn; and I came at last to the dwelling of Saruman the White. And that is in Isengard, in the north of the Black Mountains in the South.(33) There there is a circle of sheer-sided hills that enclose a vale, and in the midst of the vale is a tower of stone that is called, Orthanc. I came to the great gate in the wall of rock and they said that Saruman expected me,(34) and I rode in, and the gate closed behind, and a sudden fear came on me. 'Saruman was there but he had changed. He wore a ring on his finger. "So you have come, Gandalf," he said to me, and I seemed to see a deadly laughter in his eyes. "Yes, I have come for your aid, Saruman the White." But that title seemed to fill him with anger. "For aid?" he said coldly. "It is seldom heard that Gandalf the Grey sought for aid, one so cunning and so wise, wandering about the lands, and concerning himself in every business, be it his own or others".' '"But now matters are afoot," I said, "that need all our strengths [?in union]. The Chief of the Nine is guised as a Rider in Black and his companions likewise. This Radagast told me." '"Radagast the Brown," he said, and shook with laughter. "Radagast the Simple, Radagast the Fool. [Added in pencil: Yet he had just the wits to play the part that I set him.] He must have played his part well nonetheless. For here you are [added in pencil: and that is the purpose of the message]. And, Gandalf the Grey, here you will stay. For I am Saruman: Saruman the Wise, Saruman of many colours. For white cloth may be dyed, and the white page overwritten, and the white light broken." [Pencilled in margin without direction for insertion: And I looked then and saw that his robes were not white as had been his custom, but were of many hues, and with every movement he changed hue.] ' "In which case it is no longer white," I said. "For white may be blended of many colours, but many colours are not white." "You need not speak to me as to one of the fools that you make your friends," he said. "I have not brought you here to be instructed, but to give you a choice. A new power has arisen. Against it there is no hope. With it there is such hope as we never had before. The power is going to win. [Added in margin without direction for insertion: We fight against it in vain - and in any case foolishly; for we have looked always at it from the outside with hatred, and have not considered what are its further purposes. We have seen only the things done, often under necessity, or caused by resistance and foolish rebellion.] I shall grow as it grows, until all things are ours. In the end, I - or toe, if you will join me - may in the end come to control that Power. Indeed why not? Could not we by this means accom- plish all, and more than all, that we have striven for before with the help of the weak Men and fugitive Elves?" ' "Be brief!" I said. "Name your choice! It is this, is it not? To submit as you have to Sauron [alternative reading: To submit to you and to Sauron], or what?" ' "To stay here till the end," said he. ' "Till what end?" ' "Till the Lord has time to consider what fate for you would give him most pleasure." 'They took me,' said Gandalf, 'and placed me on the pinnacle of Orthanc, in the place where Saruman of old was wont to watch the stars. There is no descent but by a narrow stair. And the vale that was once fair was filled with wolves and orcs, for Saruman was there mustering a great force for the service of his new master.(35) I had no chance of escape, and my days were bitter. For I had but little room in which to walk to and fro, and brood on the coming of the Riders to the North. But there was always a hope that Frodo had set forth as I had bidden, and would reach Rivendell ere the inescapable pursuit began. But both my fear and my hope were cheated. For I made the mistake that others have made. I did not yet understand that in the Shire the power of Sauron would halt and fumble, and the hunt be at a loss. And my hope was founded on an innkeeper: one of the best in the world, but not made to be a tool in high matters.' 'Who sent the eagles?' said Frodo eagerly, for suddenly the strange dream that he had had came back to him. Gandalf looked at him in surprise. 'I thought you asked what had happened to me,' he said. 'But you seem to know, and don't need... the telling of my tale...' 'Your words have recalled a dream,' said Frodo, 'that I thought only a dream and had forgotten.' 'Well, said Gandalf, your dream was true.(36) Gandalf was caught like a fly in a spider's web; yet he is an old fly that has known many spiders. I was not content to send a message only to the Shire. At first I feared, as Saruman wished that I should, that Radagast had also fallen. But it is not so: he trusted Saruman, who had not revealed his purposes to him. And the very fact that Saruman had so successfully deceived Radagast proved the undoing of his scheme. For Radagast did as I bid.(37) And the Eagles of the Misty Mountains kept watch and they saw the mustering of orcs, and got news of the escape of Gollum, and they sent word to Orthanc of this to me. And so it was when the moon was still young on a night of autumn that Gwaewar the Windlord (38) chief of the eagles came to me; and I spoke to him and he bore me away before Saruman was aware, and the orcs and wolves that he released found me not. ' "How far can you bear me?" said I to Gwaewar. ' "Many leagues," he said; "but not to the ends of the earth. Had I known that you wished to fly I would have brought helpers. I was sent as the swiftest and as a bearer of [?tidings]." ' "Then I must have a steed," I said, "and a steed of surpassing swiftness; for I have never had such a need." ' "Then I will take you to Rohan," he said, "for that is not far off. For in Rohan [added: the? Riddermark] the Rohiroth (39) the horse-masters dwell still, and there are no horses like the horses of that land." ' "But are they yet to be trusted?" "They pay tribute... yearly in horses to Mordor," said Gwaewar, "but they are not yet under the yoke;(40) yet their doom is not far off, if Saruman is fallen." 'I reached Rohan ere dawn, and there I got a horse the like of which I have never seen.' 'He is indeed a fine steed,' said [Elrond >] Aragorn; 'and it grieves me that Sauron should have such tribute. For in the steeds of Rohan there is a strain that ... descended from the Elder Days.' 'One at least is saved,' said Gandalf; 'for there I got my grey horse, and I name him Greyfax. Not even the Chief of the Nine could go with such tireless speed; and by day his coat glistens like silver, and at night it is as unseen as a shadow. So swift was my going from Rohan that 1 reached the Shire within a week of the appointed day, and I came to his (41) home and found he was gone..I found in fact the Sackville-Bagginses there and was [?ordered off]. I went to the Gaffer's and he was hard to comfort; but I had need of comfort myself, for amidst his confused talk I gathered that the Riders had come even as you left; and I rode to Buckland and all was in uproar; but I found Crickhollow broken and empty, and on the threshold I picked up a cloak that was Frodo's. 'That was my worst moment. I rode then on the trail of the Black Riders like the wind, and I came behind them as they rode through Bree. They threw down the gates... and passed by like a wind. The Breelanders I guess are quaking still, and expect the end of the world. This was on the night after you had left, I now know. Next day I rode on, and in two days I reached Weathertop, and there I found two of the Enemy already, but they drew off before my [?wrath). But that night ... gathered, and I was besieged on the top, but I perceived they had not got you. The text ends with the words: 'Fled at sunrise'. - With only slight prevision (as it appears), a massive new element and dimension had entered the history. There were of course certain essential features lacking. Most important, Saruman was not acting independently of the Dark Tower (see note 35); and while Gandalf's great ride from Rohan on 'Greyfax' now enters, there is no suggestion that the relations of Rohan with Mordor will have any especial significance in the story (though those relations are now differently conceived: see note 40) - and Gandalf's remark 'In Rohan I found evil already at work' (FR p. 275) is absent. The story of Hamilcar Bolger's ride with Gandalf has finally gone (see p. 75), as has that of Gandalf's visit to Tom Bombadil (see p. 111). A notable feature is the evolution of the 'colours' of the wizards, Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast, which came to the final form in the course of the writing of this draft. Saruman is at first 'the Grey',(42) becoming at once 'the White', and Radagast immediately takes on the epithet 'Grey' (p. 132). But Gandalf then becomes 'the Grey',(43) and Saruman calls Radagast 'the Brown' in the text as written on p. 133. NOTES. 1. This text has been put together from pages used in a subsequent version that went to Marquette University and others that were left behind. Many changes were made to it afterwards, but in the citations that I make from it here I take account only of those that were made in ink and at or very near to the time of composition. 2. Elrond still says of Boromir that he 'brings tidings that must be considered', but as in the original version (VI.409) we are again not told what they were, and no explanation is given of his journey to Rivendell. Subsequently in this version, however, Gandalf says that Boromir 'is resolved to return as soon as he can to his own land, to the siege and war that he has told of.' 3. That my father had the earlier text before him is shown by the recurrence here of the casual error (which I did not observe in Vol. VI) 'Elwing daughter of Luthien': Elwing was the daughter of Dior, son of Luthien. 4. In the preceding sentence, 'In time the Lord of the Ring would find out its hiding-place', just as in the first version (VI.402 and note 25) Lord of the Rings was first written but changed at once to Lord of the Ring. Hobbit, was repeated. See pp. 159 - 60. 6. See note 2. 7. That Bilbo gave Frodo Sting and his mailcoat appears in the original outline for 'The Council of Elrond', VI.397. Bilbo does not here, as he does in FR, produce the pieces of Frodo's sword, nor indeed refer to the fact of its having been broken, though the story of its being broken at the Ford of Bruinen goes back to the beginning (VI.197). - The coat of mail (which Bilbo still calls his 'elf-mail') is described as 'studded with pale pearls' ('white gems', FR); cf. the original text of The Hobbit, before it was changed to introduce 'mithril': 'It was of silvered steel, and ornamented with pearls' (VI.465, note 35). 8. See p. 287 note 3. 9. The illegible word probably begins with F and might be 'Fire'. 10. It is possible that the Sword that was Broken actually emerged from the verse 'All that is gold does not glitter': on this view, in the earliest form of the verse in which the Broken Sword is referred to (p. 80, note 18) the words a king may yet be without crown, A blade that was broken be brandished were no more than a further exemplification of the general moral. 11. Gollum's escape, though only now emerging, had been a neces- sity of the story ever since Gandalf told Bingo (VI.265) that 'the Wood-elves have him in prison', if Gollum was to reappear at the end, as had long been foreseen (see VI.380 - 1). 12. Afterwards it is Treebeard who says this (The Two Towers III.4, p. 75): 'There is something very big going on, that I can see, and what it is maybe I shall learn in good time, or in bad time.' 13. Cf. the outline given on p. 116: 'My [i.e. Aragorn's] fathers were driven out of your city when Sauron raised a rebellion', and 'There Tarkil's sires had been King'. 14. For previous uses of this dialogue in other contexts see pp. 50 and 105 note 3. 15. The illegible word is an abbreviation, perhaps 'bet.', which my father used elsewhere for 'between'; if this is what it is, he may have intended (the manuscript is very hasty) to write 'between the Black Mountains and the Sea'. Harfalas is not named here on the First Map (p. 309, map III). 16. Cf. p. 119: 'Of their kings [i.e. of the Men of Westernesse] Elendil was the chief. 17. Text (III), the revised ending to The Fall of Numenor, says that 'the sea covered all that was left ... even up to the feet of Eredlindon' (pp. 122 - 3), but this can be accommodated to the map by supposing that it refers to the northern extent of the range (where it bent North-east). 18. In the Introduction to Unfinished Tales (p. 14) I said that 'though the fact is nowhere referred to it is clear that Himring's top rose above the waters that covered drowned Beleriand. Some way to the west of it was a larger island named Tol Fuin, which must be the highest part of Taur-nu-Fuin.' When I wrote that I did not know of the existence of this text. - The later form Himring had appeared already in the second text of the Lhammas (V.177, 189), and in the Quenta Silmarillion (V.263, 268); Himling here and on the map are surprising, but can have no significance for dating. 19. This is Old Norse forn 'ancient'. 20. Cf. Of the Rings of Power, in The Silmarillion p. 294: 'All living things were divided in that day, and some of every kind, even of beasts and birds, were found in either host, save the Elves only. They alone were undivided and followed Gil-galad.' 21. In this text there is no reference to the death of Anarion. It is made clear that he did not go to the War of the Last Alliance. 22. Contrast FR: 'But if the passages of the River should be won, what then?' In FR (pp. 258 - 9) Boromir describes the assault on Osgiliath: 'A power was there that we have not felt before. Some said that it could be seen, like a great black horseman, a dark shadow under the moon'; but 'still we fight on, holding all the west shores of Anduin'. An addition to the present text may belong to this time or later: 'Nine horsemen in black led the host of Minas Morgol that day and we could not withstand them.' See p. 151. 23. Here the 'third version' draft takes up again after the missing page (p. 120). 24. Cf. the next version (p. 149): ' "It has much to do with it," said Gandalf, "and if Elrond is willing I will give my account now." ' 25. Cf. The Hobbit, Chapter VII 'Queer Lodgings': ' "I am a wizard," continued Gandalf. "I have heard of you, if you have not heard of me; but perhaps you have heard of my good cousin Radagast who lives near the Southern borders of Mirkwood?" ' - On Radagast's appearance in the story see p. 76 and note 15. 26. The change of Grey to White followed the same change in the next sentence, which was made in the act of writing; a little further on Saruman the White was written thus from the first. 27. Can this have been suggested by Beorn's acquaintance with Radagast? (see note 25). 28. I cannot make out the two concluding words, though the first might be 'gathered'. But whatever the words are, the meaning is clearly that Saruman had acquired the last of the Rings - and wore it on his finger, as appears subsequently in this text (cf. FR p. 271). - In the last text of 'Ancient History' that has been given Gandalf refers to the discussion of the Rings at the White Council, and to those who 'go in for such things'; see p. 22. 29. The Seven Rivers: see pp. 310 - 12. 30. It is seen subsequently (see note 37) that this addition was made while the writing of this text was in progress; and it is seen from the addition that Radagast first entered the story as the means by which Gandalf was lured to Saruman's dwelling. The abrupt haste of Radagast's departure seemed to Gandalf 'very strange', and it is possible that when first drafting the story my father supposed that Radagast's part was not simply that of innocent emissary: later, at Isengard, Saruman says (p. 133) 'He must have played his part well nonetheless'. This is not in FR. When the addition here was made, Radagast became also the means by which the Eagles knew where to find Gandalf (see p. 130); and this development necessarily disposed of the idea that Radagast had been corrupted - but Gandalf's fear that he had been remains: 'At first I feared, as Saruman wished that I should, that Radagast had also fallen' (p. 134; this is preserved in FR, p. 274). - This is the first appearance of the name Orthanc, though its first actual use in the narrative is probably in the description of Isengard that immediately follows. 31. Galeroc: see pp. 68 and note 4, 70. 32. The illegible words are perhaps 'fingers and all' ('butterfingers'). 33. The name Isengard first occurs here (cf. Angrobel or Irongarth, p. 71), and it is placed, not at the southern end of the Misty Mountains, but in the north of the Black Mountains. 34. This is the first description of Isengard. - There is a faint pencilled addition at this point: 'But something strange in their look and voices struck me; and I dismounted from my horse and left him without. And that was well, for' (here the addition breaks off). This was perhaps a thought, abandoned as soon as written, for some other story of Gandalf s escape, and his need for a horse to take him back to the Shire. The great speed of Galeroc had been emphasised earlier (p. 68: 'there is no horse in Mordor or in Rohan that is as swift as Galeroc'). 35. Cf. FR pp. 273-4: 'for Saruman was mustering a great force on his own account, in rivalry of Sauron and not in his service yet.' 36. Before writing this passage about Frodo's dream (' "Who sent the eagles?"...) my father first put ' "And how did you get away?" said Frodo.' It was thus probably at this very point that he decided to introduce Frodo's vision of Gandalf on the pinnacle of Orthanc into his dream in the house of Tom Bombadil (FR p. 138; for previous narratives of his dream on that night see VI.118 - 20, 328). His vision of Gandalf imprisoned in the Western Tower had also of course to be removed (see p. 35). 37. It is seen from this passage that the addition discussed in note 30 was put in while the draft was in course of composition. 38. On the form Gwaewar (Gwaihir in LR) see V.301. 39. The name following Rohan is very unclear, but can scarcely be other than the first occurrence of Riddermark. Rohiroth, Rochi- roth is found on the earliest rough map of the region, VI.439-40. 40. Cf. VI.422 (the earliest text of 'The Ring Goes South'): 'The Horse-kings have long been in the service of Sauron.' 41. 'his', though Frodo has not been mentioned, because 'the appointed day' replaced 'Frodo's departure'. 42. In the plot dated 26 - 27 August 1940 (p. 70), where Saruman first appears, he was 'Saramond the White or Grey Saruman'. 43. He calls himself 'Gandalf the Grey' in the version of his conversa- tion with Frodo at Rivendell cited on p. 82, but that is not earlier than the present text. VII. THE COUNCIL OF ELROND (2). The Fifth Version. A fifth version of 'The Council of Elrond' followed, and is convenient- ly placed here, though it is not necessarily the case that these revisions proceeded in unbroken sequence while other writing remained at a standstill. This version incorporated the changed sequence of speakers (pp. 129 - 30) and Gandalf's story, and changed the history of Elendil and his sons; but for this rewriting and reconstruction my father made use of existing material, whence arises the extraordinarily complicated state of the manuscript. Many emendations were made to this version at different times. In this case they can be readily separated into two groups, on the basis of a typescript that was made of the fifth version after a certain amount of change had been carried out. This typescript was very carefully and accurately made, with a remarkably small number of errors, seeing that the typist seems not to have been well acquainted with the story: the name Saruman was typed Samman throughout (ru and m being very similar or identical in my father's handwriting). Where my father missed a needed change (as Galdor > Legolas) the typist dutifully set down the manuscript form. These characteristics make the typescript a mirror of the state of the manuscript when it was made. This is to be sure of only limited value without knowledge of when that was; but I think that it belongs clearly to this period. In those parts of the fifth version that are cited here, I indicate only those subsequent emendations to the manuscript (and only if of significance) that appear in the typescript as typed. Gloin's story was altered in the following way. In the third version, retained in the fourth, he had said: 'At the last, some score of years ago, Balin departed, though Dain did not give leave willingly, and he took with him Oin and Ori and many of our folk, and they went away south' (p. 117). This was now replaced by the following, written on a page of the 'August 1940' examination script. '... For Moria was of old one of the wonders of the Northern world. It is said that it was begun when the Elder Days were young,(1) and Durin, father of my folk, was king; and with the passing of the years and the labour of countless hands its mighty halls and streets, its shafts and endless galleries, pierced the mountains from east to west and delved immeasurably deep. But under the foundations of the hills things long buried were waked at last from sleep, as the world darkened, and days of dread and evil came. Long ago the dwarves fled from Moria and forsook there wealth uncounted; and my folk wandered over the earth until far in the North they made new homes. But we have ever remembered Moria with fear and hope; and it is said in our songs that it shall be re-opened and re-named ere the world ends. When again we were driven from the Lonely Mountain, Erebor,(2) in the days of the Dragon, Thror returned thither. But he was slain by an Orc, and though that was revenged by Thorin and Dain, and many goblins were slain in war, none of Thror's folk, neither Thrain, nor Thorin his son, nor Dain his sister-son, dared to pass its gates; until at last Balin listened to the whispers that I have spoken of, and resolved to depart. Though Dain did not give leave willingly, he took with him Oin and Ori and many of our people, and they went away south. That was two score years ago. This passage, of which only a trace remains in FR (pp. 253 - 4), reveals the development of new conceptions in the history of the Dwarves. In the original text of 'The Ring Goes South' (VI.429) Gandalf said that the Goblins drove the Dwarves from Moria, and most of those that escaped removed into the North. This must have been based on what was told in The Hobbit: in Chapter III Elrond had said that 'there are still forgotten treasures to be found in the deserted caverns of the mines of Moria, since the dwarf and goblin war', and in ] Chapter IV there was a reference to the goblins having 'spread in secret after the sack of the mines of Moria'. Presumably therefore what my father said in the first version of 'The Ring Goes South' was what he actually had in mind when he wrote those passages in The 1 Hobbit: the Goblins drove the Dwarves out of Moria. If this is so, it was only now that a new story emerged, in which the Dwarves left Moria for an entirely different reason. In the present passage the cause of their flight is indeed only hinted at most obliquely: 'they delved immeasurably deep', and 'under the founda- tions of the hills things long buried were waked at last from sleep'. With this compare LR Appendix A (III): j The Dwarves delved deep at that time.... Thus they roused from sleep a thing of terror that, flying from Thangorodrim, had lain of the West: a Balrog of Morgoth. Durin was slain by it, and the year after Nain I, his son; and then the glory of Moria passed, and its people were destroyed or fled far away. On this question see further pp. 185 - 6. Concomitantly with this, the 'dwarf and goblin war' took on a new interpretation and history (and this was why the word 'sack' in the sentence quoted from Chapter IV of The Hobbit above was changed in the third edition (1966) to 'battle'). It was the savage murder of Thror, Thorin's grandfather, on his return to Moria, that led to the war of the Dwarves and the Orcs, ending in the fearsome victory of the Dwarves in the battle of Azanulbizar (Dimrill Dale), described in LR Appendix A (III). The passage in the present text, telling that Thror 'was slain by an Orc, and though that was revenged by Thorin and Dain, and many goblins were slain in war, none of Thror's folk, neither Thrain, nor Thorin his son, nor Dain his sister-son, dared to pass [Moria's] gates', suggests that the essentials of the later story were now already present. In the story told in LR Appendix A (III) Thorin played an important part in the battle, and from his prowess derived his name 'Oaken- shield'; and Dain slew Azog, the slayer of Thror, before the East Gate of Moria. This latter event was indeed derived from The Hobbit, where in Chapter XVII Gandalf said of Dain that he slew the father of Bolg (leader of the Goblins in the Battle of Five Armies) in Moria.(3) It is further told in Appendix A (III) that after the death of Azog Dain came down from the Gate 'grey in the face, as one who has felt great fear'; and that he said to Thrain, Thorin's father: 'You are the father of our Folk, and we have bled for you, and will again. But we will not enter Khazad-dum. You will not enter Khazad-dum. Only I have looked through the shadow of the Gate. Beyond the shadow it waits for you still: Durin's Bane. The world must change and some other power than ours must come before Durin's Folk walk again in Moria.' It appears from The Hobbit Chapter XV that Dain of the Iron Hills was Thorin Oakenshield's cousin (and from Chapter XVII that his father was called Nain). In the present text Dain is called Thrain's sister-son. In the table given in LR Appendix A (III), however, he is not Thrain's sister-son: his father Nain was Thrain's first cousin, and thus Thorin Oakenshield and Dain Ironfoot were second cousins. After Elrond's words to Gloin 'You will learn that your trouble is only part of the trouble that we are here met to consider' (cf. p. 118), Galdor of Mirkwood no longer follows (see pp. 129 - 30), and the fifth version reads here:(4) 'For hearken all!' said Elrond in a clear voice. 'I have called you together to listen to the tale of the Ring. Some part of that tale is known to all, but the full tale to few. Other matters may be spoken of, but ere all is ended, it will be seen that all are bound up with the Ring, and all our plans and courses must wait upon our decision in this great matter. For, what shall we do with the Ring? That is the doom that we must deem ere we depart. 'Behold, the tale begins far away and long ago. In the Black Years that followed the Elder Days, after the fall of Numenor the Men of Westernesse returned to the shores of Middle-earth, as is recorded still in lore. Of their kings Elendil the Tall was their chief, and his sons were Isildur and Anarion, mighty lords of ships. They sailed first into the Gulf of Lindon, where the Elf-havens were and still are, and they were befriended by Gilgalad, King of the High-elves of that land. Elendil passed on into Middle-earth and established a realm in the North, about the rivers Lhun and Branduin, and his chief city was called Tarkilmar [> Torfirion] (or Westermanton), that now is long desolate. But Isildur and Anarion sailed on southwards, and brought their ships up the Great River, Anduin,(5) that flows out of Wilderland and finds the Western Sea in the Bay of Belfalas. In the lands about its lower courses they established a realm where are now the countries of Rohan and Ondor.(6) Their chief city was Osgiliath, the Fortress of Stars, through the midst of which the river flowed. Other strong places they made: Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Rising Moon, to the eastward upon a spur of the Mountains of Shadow; and Minas Anor, the Tower of the Setting Sun, westward at the feet of the Black Mountains. But Sauron dwelt in Mordor, the Black Country, beyond the Mountains of Shadow, and his great fortress, the Dark Tower, was built above the valley of Gorgoroth; and he made war upon the Elves and the Men of Westernesse; and Minas Ithil was taken. Then Isildur sailed away and sought Elendil in the North; and Elendil and Gilgalad took counsel together, seeing that Sauron would soon become master of them all, if they did not unite. And they made a league, the Last Alliance, and marched into Middle-earth gathering great force of Elves and Men. Very mighty was that host. It will be found that in this passage are the bones of a part of the narrative of the separate work Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, which was published in The Silmarillion (see pp. 290 - 3). In the later development of 'The Council of Elrond' the chapter became the vehicle of a far fuller account of the early Numenorean kingdoms in Middle-earth, and much of this is now found not in The Lord of the Rings but in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age. Here the later story of Elendil enters (see pp. 122-4), in which Elendil remained in the North, whereas his sons sailed south down the coasts of Middle-earth and brought their ships up the Great River. Elendil's city in the North emerges, afterwards Annuminas, but here bearing the names Tarkilmar or Westermanton: on. the western portion of the First Map (pp. 304 - 5) the Elvish name is Torfirion, to which Tarkilmar was changed on the present manuscript. In Mordor the valley of Gorgoroth appears, the name deriving from the Ered Orgoroth (Gorgoroth), the Mountains of Terror south of Taur-na- Fuin in the Elder Days; and the Mountains of Shadow are the first mention of the later-named Ephel Duath, the great chain fencing Mordor on the West and South. From 'Very mighty was that host' my father returned to and retained the pages of the preceding (fourth) version, pp. 126 - 8. The result of this combination of the new passage just given with the text of the fourth version was to repeat the taking of Minas Ithil. In the original account (pp. 119 - 20) Elrond told that after the war with Sauron 'as the world worsened and decayed Osgiliath fell into ruin', and the servants of Sauron took the eastern city, so that 'it became a place of dread, and was called Minas Morgol'. In the fourth version (pp. 126 - 7) this was repeated more fully and plainly; and the structure of Elrond's story here can be summarised thus: - Isildur went to the War of the Last Alliance. - Elrond recalls the mustering of the hosts. - He tells of the war. - Isildur's death; 'he came never back to Minas Ithil, nor did any of his folk return. Only in Minas Anor was the race of Westernesse maintained for a while'. - Despite the victory over Sauron, the world worsened; the Numen6reans decayed and were corrupted, 'Osgiliath fell into ruin; and evil men took Minas Ithil, and it became a place of dread, and was called Minas-Morgol' But in the fifth version the structure of Elrond's story becomes: - Sauron captured Minas Ithil. Thereupon Isildur departed and went north, and there followed the War of the Last Alliance. (The story returns to the fourth version). - Elrond recalls the mustering of the hosts. (&c. as in the fourth version) This is the form of the story in the typescript made from the fifth version. It is not clear to me whether my father fully intended this result. As the fifth version stands, Minas Ithil was captured by Sauron before the War of the Last Alliance, and indeed its capture was a prime cause of the making of the league; yet it is still said that Isildur 'came never back to Minas Ithil', and it is still told that long after the war 'evil men took Minas Ithil'. This is of course perfectly explicable: when Sauron was cast down Minas Ithil was retaken from his servants, and only much later did the 'evil men' repossess it. But one might expect this to have been made explicit; and the impression remains of a 'doubled' account arising from the use of the fourth version material at this point. However this may be, it is curious that the history of Minas Ithil never was made entirely explicit. In Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age nothing is said of its retaking after the war, nor indeed of its history until the time of the great plague that came upon Gondor in the seventeenth century of the Third Age, when 'Minas Ithil was emptied of its people' (The Silmarillion p. 296). Various changes were made to the manuscript, which is common to both fourth and fifth versions, in this part of the chapter (extending as far as 'it has been ordained that you should have it for a while', p. 128). These changes were apparently made at different times; those that were taken up into the typescript (see p. 141) are given here. Elrond now says that 'It was even at Imladris, here in Rivendell, that they were mustered'. Ond becomes Ondor (see note 6), and Minas- Morgol becomes Minas-Morghul. The sentence 'Only in Minas Anor was the race of Westernesse maintained for a while' was cut out, and the following inserted at this point: 'And Anarion was slain in battle in the valley of Gorgoroth' (see p. 127 and note 21). In the 'dream-verse' of Minas Tirith Imlad-rist was altered to Imlad-ris, and the second half of the verse was changed to read: This sign shall there be then that Doom is near at hand: The Halfhigh shall you see then with Isildur's bane in hand. On Isildur's bane see pp. 129 - 30. At every occurrence of Trotter or Aragorn in this passage, and throughout the manuscript, the name Elfstone was written in, and is the name found in the typescript, and Aragorn son of Kelegorn becomes Elfstone son of Elfbelm (cf. p. 80 note 17, and for discussion of this question see pp. 277 - 8). But at Aragorn's words 'it has been ordained that you should have it for a while' the new structure enters, with ' "Bring out the Ring, Frodo!" said Gandalf solemnly' (see pp. 129 - 30), and the text that follows in FR (pp. 260 - 1) is all but achieved. It is (significantly) not said that 'Boromir's eyes glinted as he gazed at the golden thing'; but Aragorn's explanation to him of the meaning of the 'Sword that was broken' in the 'dream-verse' is as in FR, with his reference to the prophecy that it should be re-made when Isildur's Bane was found, and he ends 'Do you wish for the house of Elendil to return to the land of Ond [> Ondor]?'(7) Bilbo in irritation at Boromir's doubtfulness of Aragorn 'bursts out' with the verse All that is gold does not glitter (8) ('"I made that up for Tarkil [> Elfstone]," he whispered to Frodo with a grin, "when he first told me his long tale" '). But Aragorn's speech to Boromir (cf. pp. 121, 128) is still substantially different from that in FR, and lacks much that he afterwards said. Aragorn [> Elfstone] smiled; then he turned again to Boro- mir. 'I do not look the part, truly,' he said; 'and I am but the heir of Elendil, not Elendil himself. I have had a hard life and a long; and the leagues that lie between here and Ond [> Ondor] are a small part in the count of my journeys. I have crossed many mountains, and many rivers, and trodden many plains, even into far regions where the stars are strange. I have been in Minas Tirith unknown,(9) and have walked in Osgiliath by night., and I have passed the gates of Minas-Morgol [> Minas-Morghul]; further have I dared even to the Dark Borders, and beyond. But my home, such as I have, is in the North. For Valandil, Isildur's son, was harboured by the Elves in this region when his father was lost; and he went at last with such of his folk as remained to him, and dwelt in Osforod [> Fornobel],(10) the North Burg. But that is now waste, and the foundations of its walls can scarce be seen beneath the turf. 'Our days have ever waned and darkened through the years, and we are dwindled to a wandering folk, few and secret and sundered, pursued ever by the Enemy. And the sword has never yet been re-forged, for Isildur's Bane was lost. But now it is found and the hour has come. I will return to Minas-Tirith.' At the end of Aragorn's speech the fourth version of 'The Council of Elrond' ended (p. 129). The fifth version continues: 'And now,' said Elrond, 'the tale of the Ring comes down the years. It fell from Isildur's hand and was lost. And it shall now be told in how strange a manner it was found. Speak Bilbo! And if you have not yet cast your story into verse,' he added with a smile, 'you may tell it in plain words.' To some of those present Bilbo's tale was new, and they listened with amazement while the old hobbit (not at all displeased) retold the story of his adventure with Gollum, not omitting a single riddle. Then Gandalf spoke, and told of the White Council that had been held in that same year, and of the efforts that had been made to drive the Necromancer from Mirkwood, and how that had failed to check the growth of his power. For he had taken again his ancient name, and established a dominion over many men, and had re-entered Mordor. 'It was in that year,' said Gandalf, 'that rumour first came to us that he was seeking everywhere for the lost Ring; and we (11) gathered such lore as we could from far and wide concerning its fashion and properties, but we never thought that it would be found again to our great peril.' Gandalf spoke then of the nature and powers of the One Ring; and how it had at last become clear that the ring of Gollum was indeed Isildur's Bane, the Ruling Ring. He told how he had searched for Gollum; and then the story was taken up first by Galdor [> Legolas] of the Wood-elves,(12) and in the end by Aragorn [> Elfstone]. For in that chase he had made a perilous journey following the trail from the deep places of Mirkwood through Fangorn Forest and the Riddermark, Rohan the land of Horsemen, and over the Dead Marsh [> Marshes] to the very borders of the land of Mordor. 'And there I lost the trail,' he said, 'but after a long search I came upon it again, returning again northwards. It was lurking by a stagnant pool, upon the edge of the Dead Marsh [> Marshes], that I caught Gollum; and he was covered with green slime. I made him walk before me, for I would not touch him; and I drove him towards Mirkwood. There I gave him over to Gandalf and to the care of the Elves, and was glad to be rid of his company, for he stank. But it is as well that he is in safekeeping. We do not doubt that he has done great harm, and that from him the Enemy has learned that the Ring is found; but he might well do further ill. He did not return, I am sure, of his own will from Mordor, but was sent forth from there to aid in the design of Sauron.' 'Alas!' said Galdor [> Legolas] interrupting, 'but I have news that must now be told. It is not good, I fear; but how ill, others must judge. All that I have heard warns me that you may take it amiss. Smeagol, who is now called Gollum, has escaped.' 'What!' cried Aragorn [> Elfstone] in angry surprise. 'Then all my pains are brought to nothing! I judge that to be evil news indeed. You may mark my words: we shall all rue this bitterly. How came the Wood-elves to fail in their trust?' Galdor's story, which was already close (see pp. 118 - 19) to that in FR, now moves still closer in detail of expression. Gandalf s rather resigned comments on Gollum's escape remain as they were; now however he ends by saying: 'But now it is time that the tale came to Frodo' (on the sequence here see p. 130). Frodo's story, and Bilbo's remarks about it, are very much as in FR, where they come in at a different point, pp. 262 - 3: here his brief conversation with Bilbo forms the link to Gandalf's story, which is given a heading in the manuscript, Gandalf's tale. 'There are whole chapters of stuff before you ever got here!' 'Yes, it made quite a long tale,' answered Frodo; 'but the story doesn't seem complete to me. I still want to know a good deal.' 'And what question would you ask?' said Elrond, overhearing him. 'I should like to know what happened to Gandalf after he left me, if he is willing to tell me now. But perhaps it has nothing to do with our present business.' 'It has much to do with it,' said Gandalf, 'and if Elrond is willing I will give my account now. At the end of June a cloud of anxiety came upon my mind... Gandalf's story in this version is still fairly close to the preliminary draft (pp. 131 - 5), but the writing is much developed towards the form in FR. A detailed comparison of the three would take a great deal of space, but I notice here all the chief features of difference. Gandalf now calls Radagast his 'kinsman', not his 'cousin', and his dwelling is named (but by an addition to the manuscript: see p. 164) Rhosgobel; he still says that the Nine Wraiths 'have taken the guise of Riders in black, as of old' (this was a pencilled addition to the draft, p. 132); he does not name them Nazgul. Gandalf says of the 'fell cap- tain of the Nine' that he was 'a great king of old'; and of Saruman he says: ... For Saruman the White is, as some of you know, the greatest of my craft, and was the leader in the White Council.... But Saruman long studied the arts of the Enemy, and was thus often able to defeat him; and the lore of rings was one of his chief studies. He knew much of the history [of the rings of power >] of the Nine Rings and the Seven, and somewhat even of the Three and the One; and it was at one time rumoured that he had come near the secret of their making. Radagast tells Gandalf that 'even if you set out from this spot you will hardly reach him before the Nine have crossed the seventh river' (cf. p 132). Gandalf's horse, formerly Galeroc, is not now named. Isengard is still in the Black Mountains, but is now defined as being 'not far from the great vale that lies between them and the last hills of the Misty Mountains, in that region which is known to some as the Gap of Rohan' (which is here first named); and of Orthanc Gandalf now says that in the midst of the valley of Isengard 'is the tower of stone called Orthanc, for it was made by Saruman, and it is very great, and has many secrets, but it looks not to be a work of craft. It cannot be reached save by passing the circle of Isengard, and in that there is only one gate.' The implication of the word for in 'for it was made by Saruman' is that the tower was called Orthanc (Old English orpanc 'artifice, device, work of craft') because it was such (it was made by Saruman); yet it did not look to be. Saruman says nothing of Gandalf's having concealed from him 'a matter of greatest import' (FR p. 272); and Gandalf still says as in the draft (p. 133): 'For white may be blended of many colours, but many colours are not white', not 'And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom'. Saruman's declamatory and visionary speech to Gandalf at this stage may be cited in full: 'He stood up then, and began to declaim as if he were speaking to many: "A new Power has arisen. Against it, there is . no hope. With it, there is such hope as we never had before. None can now doubt its victory, which is near at hand. We fought it in vain - and foolishly. We knew much but not enough. We looked always at it from the outside and through a mist of old falsehood and hate; and we did not consider its high and ultimate purpose. We saw not the reasons, but only the things done, and some of those seemed evil; but they were done under necessity. There has been a conspiracy to hinder and frustrate knowledge, wisdom, and government. The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning. The day of the Elves is over. But Our Days are begun! The Power grows, and I shall grow as it grows, until all things are ours. And listen, Gandalf my old friend," he said, coming near and speaking now suddenly in a soft voice. "In the end, I - or we, if you will join with me - we may come to control that Power. We can bide our time. We can keep our thoughts in our hearts. There need not be any real change of purpose - only of method. Why not use this new strength? By it we may well accomplish all and more than all that we have striven to do with the help of the weak and foolish. And we shall have time, more time. Of that I can assure you."(13) ' "I have heard this before, but in other places," I said. "I do not wish to hear it again. All that I wish to hear is the choice that I am offered. One half at least is already clear. I am to submit to you and to Sauron, or - what?" ' "To stay here till the end," he said. ' "Till what end?" ' "Till the Power is complete, and the Lord has time to turn to lighter matters: such as the pleasure of devising a fitting end for Gandalf the Grey." ' "There is a chance that I may not prove one of the lighter matters,> said I. I am not given to idle boasting., but I came near it then.' At this point, separate from the text but I think belonging to the same time, my father wrote: 'I don't suppose my fate would have been much different if I had welcomed his advance; but I have no doubt that Saruman will prove a faithless ally; and less doubt that the Dark Lord knows it, well.' This was marked with a query; and it does not appear in the typescript text (see note 16). - Saruman is of course still 'mustering a great force for the service of his new master', as in the draft (p. 134 and note 35). Frodo's interruption concerning his dream is now given in two forms, marked as alternatives. The first reads: 'I saw you!' said Frodo, 'walking backwards and forwards: the moon shone in your hair.' Gandalf looked at him in amazement. 'Wake up, Frodo,' he said, 'you are dreaming.' 'I was dreaming,' said Frodo. 'Your words suddenly recalled a dream I had. I thought it was only a dream and had forgotten it. I think it was in Bombadil's house. I saw a shadow - ' 'That's enough!' laughed Gandalf. 'It was a dream, but a true one, it seems. However, the story is mine, and you need not spoil the telling of it.' This was rejected in favour of the second version, which begins in the same way and follows with the dialogue preserved in FR (p. 274). The Eagles of the Misty Mountains are now said by Gandalf to have seen, not 'the Nine Riders going hither and thither in the lands', as in FR, but 'the Nine Riders driving back the men of Minas Tirith'. This goes with the addition to Boromir's speech given on p. 138, note 22, where he speaks of the nine horsemen in black who led the host of Minas Morgol when the crossing of the Anduin was taken. The Eagle who came to Orthanc is still Gwaewar (and also Gwaiwar), not Gwaihir, but he is now called 'swiftest of the Great Eagles', not 'chief of the eagles' as in the draft. In Gandalf's conversation with Gwaewar as they flew from Isengard Rohan was first called the Horsermark, changed at once to the Riddermark; the men of Rohan are still the Rohiroth. Gandalf still makes no reference to his having found 'evil already at work' in Rohan (see p. 136). Aragorn says of the horses of Rohan that 'in them is a strain that is descended from the days of Elendil', not 'from the Elder Days'; and of the horse that he got in Rohan Gandalf says, One at least is saved. He is a grey horse and was named Halbarad,(14) but I have called him [Greyfax changed at once to] Shadowfax. Not even the horses of the Nine are so tireless and swift....' When Gandalf came to Crickhollow 'hope left me; till I found Hamilcar Bolger. He was still shaking like a leaf, but he had the wits to rouse all the Brandybucks.' This was changed at the time of writing to the reading of FR (p. 276): 'and I did not wait to gather news, or I might have been comforted.' His thought of Butterbur is expressed thus: ' "Butterbur they call him," thought I; "but he will be plain Bur when I leave him, or nothing at all: I will melt all the butter in him..." ' His account of his visit to Bree and his ride to Weathertop, and the siege of him there by the Riders, reached almost the final form (FR p. 277): his defence by fire ('such light and flame cannot have been seen on Weathertop since the war-beacons of old') now at last appears (see p. 56). Lastly, Gandalf s journey from Weathertop to Rivendell, 'up the Hoarwell and through the Entish lands', took him ten days - 'I was only three days ahead of you at the end of the chase';(15) and he makes no further mention of Shadowfax (in FR he 'sent him back to his master', since he could not ride him on that journey). At the end of Gandalf's tale there follows: There was a silence. At last Elrond spoke again. 'This is grave news concerning Saruman,' he said. 'All trust is shaken in these days. But such falls and betrayals, alas! have happened before.(16) Of all the tales the tale of Frodo was most strange to me. I have known few hobbits save Bilbo here; and it seems to me now that he is perhaps not so alone and singular as I had thought. The world has changed much since I was last in the West. The Barrow-wights we knew of by many names;(17) and of the Old Forest, that was once both ancient and very great, many tales have been told; but never before have I heard tell of this strange ] Bombadil. Is that his only name? I would like to know more of him. Do you know him, Gandalf?' 'I knew of him,' answered the wizard. 'Bombadil is one name. He has called himself others, suiting himself to times and tongues. Tom-bombadil's for the Shirefolk; Erion is for Elves, Forn for the dwarves, and many names for men.(18) We have seldom met. I am a rolling-stone and he is a moss-gatherer. There is work for both, but they seldom help one another. It might have been wise to have sought his aid, but I do not think I should have gained much.(19) He is a strange creature, and follows his own counsels - if he has any: chance serves him better.' 'Could we not now send messages to him, and obtain his help?' asked Erestor. 'It seems that he has a power even over the Ring.' 'That is not quite the way of it,' said Gandalf. 'The Ring has no power over him, or for him: it cannot either cheat or serve him. He is his own master. But he has no power over it, and he cannot alter the Ring itself, nor break its power over others. And I think that the mastery of Bombadil is seen only on his own ground, from which he has never stepped within my memory.'(20) The discussion of what to do with the Ring is much developed from the original form (VI.402 - 3), which had been little changed in the second version; but it remains far from the debate in FR (pp. 279 - 80). It is still Gandalf, not as in FR Glorfindel, who expounds the ultimate futility of entrusting the Ring to Bombadil, since he could not withstand the assault of the Dark Lord (cf. p. 112); but then follows in the new version: 'In any case,' said Glorfindel, 'his ground is far away; and the Ring has come from his house hither only at great hazard. It would have to pass through far greater peril to return. If the Ring is to be hidden, it is here in Rivendell that we must hide it - if Elrond has the might to withstand the coming of Sauron at the last, when all else is conquered.' 'I have not the might,' said Elrond. 'In that case,' said Glorfindel, 'there are but two things for us to attempt: we may send the Ring West over Sea; or we may destroy it.'(21) 'There is great peril in either course, but more hope in the former,' said Erestor: 'we must send the Ring West. For we cannot, as Gandalf has revealed, destroy it by our own skill; to destroy it we must send it to the Fire. But of all journeys that journey is the most perilous, and leads straight to the jaws of the Enemy.' 'I judge otherwise,' said Glorfindel. 'The peril of the road of flight is now the greater; for my heart tells me that Sauron will expect us to take the western way, when he hears what has befallen. Too often have we fled, and too seldom gone forward against him. As soon as news reached him that any from Rivendell were journeying westwards, he would pursue them swiftly, and he would send before us and destroy the Havens to prevent us. Let us hope, indeed, that he does not assail the Towers and the Havens in any case, so that hereafter the Elves may have no way of escape from the shadows of Middle-earth.' 'Then there are two courses,' said Erestor, 'and both are without hope. Who will read this riddle for us?' 'None here can do so,' said Elrond gravely. 'None can foretell what will betide if we take this road or that, whether good or ill - if that is what is meant. But it is not hard to choose which is now the right road. The Ring must be sent to the Fire. All else is but postponement of our task. In the One Ring is hidden much of the ancient power of Sauron before it was first broken. Even though he himself has not yet regained it, that power still lives [struck out: and works for him and towards him]. As long as the Ring remains on land or in the sea, he will not be overcome. He will have hope; and he will grow, and all men will be turned to him; and the fear lest the Ring come into his hand again will weigh on all hearts, and war will never cease. 'Yet it is even as Glorfindel says: the way of flight is now the more perilous. But on the other road, with speed and care travellers might go far unperceived. I do not say that there is great hope in this course; but there is in other courses less hope, and no lasting good.' 'I do not understand all this,' said Boromir. 'Though Saruman is a traitor, did he not have some glimpse of wisdom? Why should not the Elves and their friends use the Great Ring to defeat the Enemy? And I say that all men will not turn to him. The Men of Minas Tirith are valiant and they will never submit.' 'Never is a long word, Boromir,' replied Elrond. From this point the conclusion of the chapter remains little changed from the second version, whose pages my father retained here, which is to say that it is little changed from the original text, VI.403 ff. Gloin's reply to Boromir's question about the Rings of the Dwarves now however takes this form (and appears thus in the typescript): 'I do not know,' answered Gloin. 'It was said in secret that Thror, father of Thrain, father of Thorin who fell in battle, possessed one that had descended from his sires. Some said it was the last. But where it now is no dwarf knows. We think maybe it was taken from him, ere Gandalf found him in the: dungeons of the Necromancer long ago, or maybe it was lost in the mines of Moria. We guess that it was partly in hope to find the ring of Thrain that Balin went to Moria. For the messages of Sauron aroused old memories. But it is long since we heard any news: it is unlikely that he found any Ring.' 'It is indeed unlikely,' said Gandalf. 'Those who say that the last ring was taken from Thror by the Necromancer speak truly.' This passage was the product of emendation on the manuscript of the second version at different times, and in the result a strange confusion was produced. In the earliest sketch for 'The Council of Elrond' (VI.398) Gloin said: 'Thrain of old had one that descended from his sires. We do not now know where it is. We think it was taken from him, ere you found him in the dungeons long ago (or maybe it was lost in Moria).' The same is said in the first full form of the chapter (VI.403), where however Gloin's words begin: 'It was said in secret that Thrain (father of Thror father of Thorin who fell in battle) possessed one that had descended from his sires.' This was a contradiction of the text of The Hobbit, where Thror was the father of Thrain, not his son; but it was repeated in the second version of 'The Council of Elrond' (p. 136 note 5). On this question see the Note at the end of this chapter, pp. 159 - 60. In the present text the genealogy is corrected (Thror - Thrain - Thorin), but it now becomes Thror who was found in the dungeons of the Necromancer, and Gandalf says that the ring was taken there from Thror; whereas in The Hobbit it was explicit that Thror was killed by a goblin in Moria, and his son Thrain was captured by the Necroman- cer. On the other hand Gloin says here that the Dwarves believe that it was partly in hope to find the ring of Thrain that Balin went to Moria.(22) In the original version of the chapter Elrond had said (VI.404) that 'The Three Rings remain still', and he continued: 'They have conferred great power on the Elves, but they have never yet availed them in their strife with Sauron. For they came from Sauron himself, and can give no skill or knowledge that he did not already possess at their making. And to each race the rings of the Lord bring such powers as each desires and is capable of wielding. The Elves desired not strength of domination or riches, but subtlety of craft and lore, and knowledge of the secrets of the world's being. These things they have gained, yet with sorrow. But they will turn to evil if Sauron regains the Ruling Ring; for then all that the Elves have devised or learned with the power of the rings will become his, as was his purpose.' This was largely retained in the second version (p. 112), with the difference that Elrond now declared that the Three Rings had been taken over the Sea. In the fifth version he says: 'The Three Rings remain. But of them I am not permitted to speak. Certainly they cannot be used by us. From them the Elvenkings have derived much power, but they have not been used for war, either good or evil. For the Elves desire not strength, or domination, or hoarded wealth, but subtlety of craft and lore...' and continues as in the second version. Thus, while in the second version the original words 'For they came from Sauron himself' were removed but 'they can give no skill or knowledge that he did not himself already possess at their making' were retained, in this text the latter words are also lost. Yet Certainly they cannot be used by us in the new version seems to me to imply that they were made by Sauron; and the argument that I suggested (p. 112) in connection with the second version, that when Boromir says that they were made by Sauron he is not contradicted, holds here with equal force. There were no further changes of any moment (23) from the original text of the chapter (VI.405 - 7, scarcely altered in the second version); but the chapter now ends at virtually the same point as in FR ('A nice pickle we have landed ourselves in, Mr. Frodo! '), continuing only with the brief further passage that goes back to the original version (VI.407): 'When must I start, Master Elrond?' asked Frodo. 'First you shall rest and recover full strength,' answered Elrond, guessing his mind. 'Rivendell is a fair place, and we will not send you away until you know it better. And meanwhile we will make plans for your guidance, and do what we can to mislead the Enemy and discover what he is about.' NOTES. 1. Cf. VI.429 (the original text of 'The Ring Goes South'), where Gandalf said that the Mines of Moria 'were made by the Dwarves of Durin's clan many hundreds of years ago, when elves dwelt in Hollin'. 2. The first occurrence of the name Erebor, which in the narrative of LR is not found before Book V, Chapter IX of The Return of the King. 3. In the original edition of The Hobbit the goblin who slew Thror in Moria was not named, as he is not in the present passage ('he was slain by an Orc'). In the third edition of 1966 the name Azog was introduced (from LR) in Chapter I as that of the slayer of Thror, and a footnote was added in Chapter XVII stating that Bolg, leader of the Goblins in the Battle of Five Armies, was the son of Azog. 4. The new passage was written in ink over pencil, but the underlying text, which has been deciphered by Taum Santoski, was little changed. The name Anduin was not present, though Ond was already Ondor (see notes 6 and 7); and the translated name of Elendil's city Tarkilmar was both Westermanton and Aldemanton (Alde probably signifying 'old', sc. 'the "town" of the ancient Men (of the West)'). 5. This is the first occurrence of the name Anduin, as originally written, in the narrative texts of LR - as they are here presented, but it is not in the over-written pencilled text of the passage (note 4). 6. This is the first occurrence of Ondor for Ond, and is so written in both pencilled text and ink overlay (note 4). 7. It is curious that here, in a passage of new manuscript, and again a few lines below, the form should have been first written Ond, whereas on p. 144 it is Ondor (note 6). 8. The verse remains in the latest form that has been given (p. 78). 9. Aragorn had said in the fourth version (p. 128) that he had been in Minas Tirith, but the word 'unknown' here is possibly the first hint of the story of Aragorn's service in Minas Tirith under the name Thorongil (LR Appendix A (I, IV, The Stewards), Appendix B (years 2957 - 80)). 10. Fornobel is the name on the First Map (Map II, pp. 304 - 5). 11. Written above 'we' and probably at once, but struck out: 'Saruman our chief'. 12. It is not clear why Galdor/Legolas should have contributed to the story of Gollum at this point, but cf. 'Ancient History' (VI.320), where Gandalf says 'it was friends of mine who actually tracked him down, with the help of the Wood-elves'. 13. Various minor changes (mostly expansions) were made to the manuscript in Saruman's speech, and since these appear in the typescript (p. 141) I have included them in the text. - In speaking of 'more time' Saruman was referring to possession of the Ring. In a later change to the typescript he adds after 'more time': 'longer [> lasting] life'. 14. Afterwards Halbarad became the name of the Ranger who bore Aragorn's standard and died in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. 15. That Gandalf should have taken only ten days from Weathertop to Rivendell does not agree with the dating. He left Weathertop early on 4 October, and if he reached Rivendell three days before Frodo he arrived on the 17th, i.e. just under a fortnight from Weathertop, not ten days. This is in fact what he says in the same passage in FR (p. 278): 'It took me nearly fourteen days from Weathertop ... I came to Rivendell only three days before the Ring.' But this does not agree with LR Appendix B (nor with the Time-scheme D on p. 14), where he arrived on the 18th, only two days before Frodo. 16. Struck out here: 'Sauron it would seem has gained an ally already faithless to himself; yet I do not doubt that he knows it and laughs'. This is very similar to the sentence doubtfully given to Gandalf on p. 151. 17. In a rejected draft of this passage Elrond goes on: 'There are others elsewhere, wherever the men of Numenor sought dark knowledge under the shadow of death in Middle-earth, and they are akin to the' [Ringwraiths]. Cf. VI.118 - 20, 401. 18. See p. 125. The reading given is the product of much changing on the manuscript. At first my father wrote: Yare's for the Elves, Erion is for Gnomes, Forn for the dwarves; and names of Bombadil among Men, all struck out, were Oreald, Orold (Old English: 'very old'), and Frumbarn (Old English: 'first-born'). In FR (p. 278) Bombadil was called Orald 'by Northern Men'. 19. This passage in which Gandalf contrasts his nature with Bomba- dil's entered in the second version, p. 111, replacing the earlier story that Gandalf had visited him as a matter of course. Much further back, however, in an isolated draft for a passage in Gandalf's conversation with Bingo at Rivendell on his first waking (VI.213 - 14), he spoke of Bombadil in a way not unlike his words here (though his conclusion then was entirely dif- ferent): We have never had much to do with one another up till now. I don't think he quite approves of me somehow. He belongs to a much older generation, and my ways are not his. He keeps himself to himself and does not believe in travel. But I fancy somehow that we shall all need his help in the end - and that he may have to take an interest in things outside his own country. 20. Gandalf's account of Bombadil's power and its limitations goes back almost word for word to the original text of 'The Council of Elrond', VI.402. 21. This speech was first given to Erestor, as in the original version (VI.402). When my father gave it to Glorfindel instead, he followed it at first with the remainder of Erestor's original speech, in which he defined the opposing perils, and ended 'Who can read this riddle for us?' This speech was struck out as soon as written, and in its place Erestor was given the speech that follows in the text ('There is great peril in either course...'), in which he argues that the Ring must be sent to the Grey Havens and thence over the Sea. 22. The following seems a plausible explanation of this strange situation. My father added Gloin's surmise that Balin had hoped to find the ring of Thrain in Moria to the existing (second) version while the statement 'It was said in secret that Thrain, father of Thror, father of Thorin who fell in battle, possessed one' still stood. Subsequently he added in Gandalf's assurance that the last ring had indeed been taken from the captive dwarf in the dungeons of the Necromancer. Now since according to the story in The Hobbit it was the son (Thorin's father) whom Gandalf found in the dungeon, and the son had received the map of the Lonely Mountain from his father (Thorin's grandfather), he made it Thror who was captured by the Necromancer - for the erroneous genealogy Thrain - Thror - Thorin was still present. Finally he realised the error in relation to The Hobbit, and roughly changed Gloin's opening words to 'It was said in secret that Thror, father of Thrain... possessed one', without observing the effect on the rest of the passage; and in this form it was handed over to the typist. In Gloin's story at the beginning of the chapter, p. 142, the correct genealogy is present. 23. A correction to the manuscript which is also found in the typescript as typed altered Elrond's reply to Boromir's question 'What then would happen, if the Ruling Ring were destroyed?' Instead of 'The Elves would not lose what they have already won; but the Three Rings would lose all power thereafter' his answer becomes: 'The Elves would not lose that knowledge which they have already won; but the Three Rings would lose all power thereafter, and many fair things would fade.' Note on Thror and Thrain. There is no question that the genealogy as first devised in The Hobbit was Thorin Oakenshield - Thrain - Thror (always without accents). At one point, however, Thror and Thrain were reversed in my father's typescript, and this survived into the first proof. Taum Santoski and John Rateliff have minutely examined the proofs and shown conclu- sively that instead of correcting this one error my father decided to extend Thorin - Thror - Thrain right through the book; but that having done so he then changed all the occurrences back to Thorin - Thrain - Thror. It is hard to believe that this extraordinary concern was unconnected with the words on 'Thror's Map' in The Hobbit: 'Here of old was Thrain King under the Mountain'; but the solution of this conundrum, if it can be found, belongs with the textual history of The Hobbit, and I shall not pursue it further. I mention it, of course, because in early manuscripts of The Lord of the Rings the genealogy reverts to Thorin - Thror - Thrain despite the publication of Thorin - Thrain - Thror in The Hobbit. The only solution I can propose for this is that having, for whatever reason, hesitated so long between the alternatives, when my father was drafting 'The Council of Elrond' ] Thorin - Thror - Thrain seemed as 'right' as Thorin - Thrain - Thror, and he did not check it with The Hobbit. Years later, my father remarked in the prefatory note that appeared in the second (1951) edition: A final note may be added, on a point raised by several students of the lore of the period. On Thror's Map is written Here of old was Thrain King under the Mountain; yet Thrain was the son of Thror, the last King under the Mountain before the coming of the dragon. The Map, however, is not in error. Names are often repeated in dynasties, and the genealogies show that a distant ancestor of Thror was referred to, Thrain I, a fugitive from Moria, who first disco- vered the Lonely Mountain, Erebor, and ruled there for a while, before his people moved on to the remoter mountains of the North. In the third edition of 1966 the opening of Thorin's story in Chapter I was changed to introduce Thrain I into the text. Until then it had read: 'Long ago in my grandfather's time some dwarves were driven out of the far North, and came with all their wealth and their tools to this Mountain on the map. There they mined and they tunnelled and they made huge halls and great workshops...' The present text of The Hobbit reads here: 'Long ago in my grandfather Thror's time our family was driven out of the far North, and came back with all their wealth and their tools to this Mountain on the map. It had been discovered by my far ancestor, Thrain the Old, but now they mined and they tunnelled and they made huger halls and greater workshops...' At the same time, in the next sentence, 'my grandfather was King under the Mountain' was changed to 'my grandfather was King under the Mountain again.' The history of Thrain the First, fugitive from Moria, first King under the Mountain, and discoverer of the Arkenstone, was given in The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A (III), Durin's Folk; and doubtless the prefatory note in the 1951 edition and the passage in Appendix A were closely related. But this was the product of development in the history of the Dwarves that came in with The Lord of the Rings (and indeed the need to explain the words on the map 'Here of old was Thrain King under the Mountain' evidently played a part in that development). When The Hobbit was first published it was Thrain son of Thror - the only Thrain at that time conceived of - who discovered the Arkenstone.