XVI.
THE STORY FORESEEN FROM
LORIEN.
(i)
The Scattering of the Company.
It seems certain that before my father wrote the conclusion of
'Farewell to Lorien' - that is, from the point where the Company
returned to the hythe and departed down the Great River - he began
to write a new and very substantial outline of the way ahead. The
opening pages of this outline are complex, and at the beginning the
text was much altered, though it is clear that my father was changing
the embryonic story as he wrote and that the layers of the text belong
together. The notes are here again an essential part of the elucidation.
At the head of the text he wrote, in a second stage, 'XXI', then
changed it to 'XX continued' and after the opening words 'The
Company sets off from Tongue' wrote in 'XXI'. On the arrangement
of chapters in this outline see pp. 329 - 30.(1)
The Company sets off from Tongue.
They are attacked with arrows.(2)
They come to [struck out: Stony] Stoneait [struck out:
Tolharn] Tollernen (3) [added: sheersided except on North where
there [is] a little shingle beach. It rises to a high brown hill,
higher than the low brown hills on either bank. They land and
camp on the island]. Debate whether to go East or West. Frodo
feels it in his heart that he should go East and crosses over with
Sam to east shore and climbs a hill, and looks out south-east
towards the Gates of Mordor. He tells Sam that he wishes to be
alone for a while and bids him go back [and] guard the boat on
which they had crossed from the Island. Meanwhile Boromir
taking another boat crossed over. He hides his boat in bushes.
[This passage changed to read: Debate whether to go East or
West. Frodo feels it in his heart that he should go East and
climbs the tall hill in the midst of the island. Sam goes with him
but near the top Frodo says to him that he is going to sit on hill
top alone and bids him wait for him. Frodo sits alone and looks
out towards Mordor over Sarn Gebir and Nomen's land.(4)
Meanwhile Boromir has crept away from Company and
climbed hill from west side.]
As Frodo is sitting alone on hill top, Boromir comes suddenly
up and stands looking at him. Frodo is suddenly aware as if
some unfriendly thing is looking at him behind. He turns and
sees only Boromir smiling with a friendly face.
'I feared for you,' said Boromir, 'with only little Sam. It is ill
to be alone on the east side of the River.(5) Also my heart is
heavy, and I wished to talk a while with you. Where there are so
many all speech becomes a debate without end in the conflict of
doubting wills.'
'My heart too is heavy,' said Frodo, 'for I feel that here
doubts must be resolved; and I foresee the breaking up of our
fair company, and that is a grief to me.'
'Many griefs have we had,' said Boromir, and fell silent.
There was no sound; only the cold rustle of the chill East wind
in the withered heather. Frodo shivered.
Suddenly Boromir spoke again.
'It is a small thing that lies so heavy on our hearts, and
confuses our purposes,' said Boromir. [Here include conversa-
tion written above and bring down to Boromir's attempt to
seize the Ring.]
This last sentence was written continuously with the preceding text.
The conversation referred to is found on two pages of the 'August
1940' examination paper, written in pencil so faint and rapid that my
father went over it more clearly in ink, although, so far as the
underlying text can be made out, he followed it almost exactly. This
obviously preceded the new outline into which it is inserted, and was a
development from the scene in the previous Plot ('The Story Foreseen
from Moria') given on p. 208, where the debate, Boromir's intervention,
and Frodo's flight wearing the Ring all take place 'at Angle': here the
scene is set 'at the Stone Hills, whence Eredwethion (6) can be glimpsed'
(these words being visible in the underlying text also). In the notes
given on p. 233 the 'parting of the ways' took place 'at Stonehills'; in
the outlines for 'Farewell to Lorien' (pp. 268 - 9) the debate and the
'scene with Boromir' follow the landing on Tolondren and the ascent
into the Green Hills, or the Emyn Rhain.
Conversation of Boromir and Frodo at the Stone Hills,
whence Eredwethion can be glimpsed like a smudge of grey,
and behind it a vague cloud lit beneath occasionally by a fitful
glow.
'It is a small thing from which we suffer so much woe,' said
Boromir. 'I have seen it but once for an instant, in the house of
Elrond. Could I not have a sight of it again?'
Frodo looked up. His heart went suddenly cold. He caught a
curious gleam in Boromir's eye, though his face otherwise was
friendly and smiling as of old.
'It is best to let it lie hid,' he answered.
'As you will. I care not,' said Boromir. 'Yet I will confess that
it is of the Ring that I wish to speak. (Yet hidden or revealed I
would wish now to speak to you of the Ring?)... [sic]
Boromir says that Elrond etc. are all foolish. 'It is mad not to
use the power and methods of the Enemy: ruthless, fearless.
Many elves, half-elves, and wizards might be corrupted by it -
but not so a true Man. Those who deal in magic will use it for
hidden Power. Each to his kind. You, Frodo, for instance, being
a hobbit and desiring peace: you use it for invisibility. Look
what a warrior could do! Think what I - or Aragorn, if you will
- could do! How he would fare among the enemy and drive the
Black Riders! It would give power of command.
'And yet Elrond tells us not only to throw it away and destroy
it - that is understandable (though not to my mind wise since I
have pondered on it by night on our journey). But what a way -
walk into the enemy's net and offer him every chance of
re-capturing it!'
Frodo is obdurate.
'Come at least to Minas-tirith!' said Boromir. He laid his
hand on Frodo's shoulder in friendly fashion, but Frodo felt his
arm tremble as if with suppressed excitement. Frodo stepped
away and stood further off.
'Why are you so unfriendly?' said Boromir. 'I am a valiant
man and true,' he said. 'And I give you my word that I would
not keep it - would not, that is I should say, if you would lend it
to me. Just to make trial!'
No! No! said Frodo. [Added: It is mine alone by fate to
bear.']
Boromir gets more angry, and so more incautious (or actually
evil purpose now only begins to grow in him). 'You are foolish!'
he cried. 'Doing yourself to death and ruining our cause. Yet the
Ring is not yours, save by chance. It might as well have been
Aragorn's - or mine. Give it to me! Then you will be rid of it,
and of all responsibility. You would be free' (cunningly) 'You
can lay the blame on me, if you will, saying that I was too strong
and took it by force. For I am too strong for you, Frodo,' he
said. And now an ugly look had come suddenly over his fair and
pleasant face. He got to his feet and sprang at Frodo.
Frodo could do nothing else. He slipped the Ring on, and
vanished among the rocks. Boromir cursed, and groped among
the rocks. Then suddenly the fit left him, and he wept.
'What folly possessed me!' he said. 'Come back, Frodo!' he
called. 'Frodo! Evil came into my heart, but I have put it away.'
But Frodo was now frightened, and he hid until Boromir went
back to camp. Standing on rocks he saw nothing about him but
a grey formless mist, and far away (yet black and clear and
hard) the Mountains of Mordor: the fire seemed very red. Fell
voices in air. Feels Eye searching, and though it does not find
him, he feels its attention is suddenly arrested (by himself).(7)
Here the inserted text ends and the new Plot continues:
Then Frodo took counsel with himself, and he perceived that
the evil of the Ring was already at work even among the
Company. (Also its evil was again on him, since he had put it on
again.) He said to himself: this is laid on me. I am the
Ringbearer and none can help me. I will not emperil the other
hobbits or any of my companions. I will depart alone.
He slips away unseen and coming to the boats takes one and
crosses over to the East.
Boromir is now himself frightened and though (half) repent-
ing his own greed for the Ring the curse has not wholly left him.
He ponders what tale he shall tell to the others. Hastening back
to the River he comes upon Sam, who anxious at Frodo's long
absence is coming to the hill-top to find him.
'Where is my master?' says Sam.
'I left him on the hill-top,' said Boromir, but something wild
and odd in his face caused Sam sudden fear. 'What have you
done with him?' 'I have done nothing,' said Boromir. 'It is what
he has done himself: he has put on the ring and vanished! '
'Thank goodness the island is not large,' said Sam in great
alarm, but he thought also to himself: 'And what made him do
that, I should like to know. What mischief has this great fool
been up to?' Without another word to Boromir he ran back to
the camp to find Trotter. 'Master Frodo has disappeared! ' he
cried.
Consternation. The hunt. Some scour the island. But Sam
discovers the fact that a boat is missing. Has Frodo gone East or
West? Trotter decides that they cannot hope to recapture Frodo
against his will, but they must follow him if they can. Which
way?
[Or make Island inaccessible: steep shores. Black birds circle
high above its tall cliffs and central summit. Distant noise of the
falls of Dantruinel.(8) They camp on west shore. Hence when
Frodo is lost they all go after him. Thus Pippin and Merry get
separated.(9) Sam sits alone and so discovers missing boat. He
takes another and goes after Frodo.] [Against this bracketed
passage is written Yes.]
It is clear that my father at once accepted his suggestion in this last
passage that the Company camped on the west bank, not on the island
in the river, because that passage contains the words 'Sam
discovers missing boat. He takes another and goes after Frodo', and
this, as will be seen in a moment, is a necessary element in the story
that follows.
Boromir is for West. In any case he says he is afraid - the Ring
will fall now almost certainly into the Enemy's hands. 'This
madness was set [in] him for that purpose.'(10) He wishes to get
now to Minas-Tirith as quick as possible. Sam goes West [read
East], others East [read West].
Sam picks up trail of Frodo.(11) How? He finds boat knocking
against the bank.(12) A little further he finds a scrap of grey stuff
on a bramble - a great bramble tract has to be crossed. Very
soon Sam discovered that he was lost in a pathless listening
land. But he felt sure his master would steer towards the Fiery
Mt. Away on his right the falls roared. He climbed down into
the Wetwang. Daylight fell. Slept in tree. Heard Gollum at foot
and tried to track him, thinking he was after Frodo. But Sam is
not clever enough for Gollum, who is soon aware of him and
turns and discovers him. He confesses to Gollum t hat h e i s
trying to find Frodo.
Gollum laughs. 'Then his luck is better than he deserves, yes,'
said Gollum, 'for Gollum has been following him: Gollum can
see footprints where he can't see nothings, no! '
Gollum was so intent on the trail - muttering to himself
'Footsteps, Gollum sees them, and he smells them: Gollum is
wary' - that he did not seem aware of Sam's (relatively) clumsy
efforts at stalking the stalker.(13)
It was near the evening of the second day when Frodo, every
sense keyed up, became suddenly aware of footfalls. He puts on
the ring, but Gollum comes up and circles near. To Frodo's
great surprise Sam appears. To the equal surprise of Sam and
Gollum Frodo suddenly takes off ring and stands before them.
Gollum is the most surprised: for between Frodo and Sam he
is overmatched. He cringes: for as Ringbearer Frodo has a
power over him (though he is really an object of great hatred).
Gollum pleads for forgiveness, and promises help, and having
nowhere else to turn Frodo accepts. Gollum says he will lead
them over the Dead Marshes to Kirith Ungol.(14) (Chuckling to
himself to think that that is just the way he would wish them to
go.)
Here ends Chapter.
At this stage my father was following the previous Plot (p. 208): 'At
point where Sam, Frodo and Gollum meet return to others - for whose
adventures see later. But they should be told at this point.' He now
decided, I think, that not even so much of the story of Frodo and Sam
east of Anduin should yet be told, and he bracketed all that follows
from 'Sam picks up trail of Frodo', writing against it 'Put in later
chapter. XXIV (subsequently altering XXIV to XXV: see p. 330).(15)
At the same time he struck out 'Here ends Chapter' and went on with
the story of the other members of the Company.
Dismay of the hunt at finding no trace of Frodo. Boromir,
Legolas, Gimli, Trotter return to camp, only to find now that
Sam also is missing, and Pippin and Merry as well.
Trotter is overwhelmed with grief, thinking that he has failed
in his charge as Gandalf's successor. He imagines that the
hobbits are all together,. and waits in camp until the morning.(16)
In the morning no sign is found of them. The Company is
now broken. Trotter sees nothing for it but to go south to
Minas-Tirith with Boromir. But Legolas and Gimli have no
further heart for the Quest, and feel that already too many
leagues are between them and their homes. They go north
again: Legolas meaning to join the Elves of Lothlorien for a
while, Gimli hoping to get back to the Mountain.(17)
Here ends Chapter XX.
('Chapter XX' was subsequently changed to 'XXI', and the numbers
of the chapter synopses that follow were also altered, as will be
explained in a moment.)
XXI What happened to Gimli and Legolas. They meet
Gandalf?
XXII What happened to Merry and Pippin. They are lost -
led astray by echoes - in the hunt, and wander away up
the Entwash River and come to Fangorn. Here they
meet with Giant Fangorn or Tree-beard. He takes them
to Minas Tirith.
XXIII. What happened in Minas Tirith. Siege by Sauron and
Saruman. Treachery of Boromir. Sudden arrival of
Gandalf - now become a white wizard. Treebeard
raises the siege. Enemy driven over the Anduin. Horse-
men of Rohan come to assistance.
XXIV. What happened to Frodo and Sam.
Comparison with the previous Plot (pp. 210 - 11) will show that
these synopses repeat, much more briefly, what was set out there, and
show no further development. At this juncture my father made various
alterations of chapter-structure in the plot-sketch. At the beginning, as
already noted (p. 324), he indicated that 'The Company sets off from
Tongue' should form the conclusion of Chapter XX ('Farewell to
Lorien'), while all that follows should constitute XXI (apart from the
story of Sam's tracking of Frodo and the encounter with Gollum,
which would be placed in a later chapter, as already decided: p. 329).
The brief synopses just given were now renumbered and slightly
reordered: XXII (Merry and Pippin); XXIII (Gimli and Legolas);
XXIV (Minas Tirith)., XXV (Frodo and Sam).(18)
(ii) Mordor.
While my father seems never to have doubted that after the breaking
of the Company the 'western' stories must be followed, the 'eastern'
story of Frodo and Sam was bursting into life and expression; and he
now at once went on with the outline of that story from the point
where he had left it (p. 329), noting: 'XXV: continuation after part
above.'
They sleep in pairs, so that one is always awake with
Gollum.(19)
Gollum all the while is scheming to betray Frodo. He leads
them cleverly over the Dead Marshes. There are dead green
faces in the stagnant pools; and the dry reeds hiss like snakes.
Frodo feels the strength of the searching eye as they proceed.
At night Sam keeps watch, only pretending to be asleep. He
hears Gollum muttering to himself, words of hatred for Frodo
and lust for the Ring.
The three companions now approach Kirith Ungol, the
dreadful ravine which leads into Gorgoroth. Kirith Ungol
means Spider Glen: there dwelt great spiders, greater than those
of Mirkwood, such as were once of old in the land of Elves and
Men in the West that is now under sea, such as Beren fought in
the dark canons of the Mountains of Terror above Doriath.
Already Gollum knew these creatures well. He slips away. The
spiders come and weave their nets over Frodo while Sam sleeps:
sting Frodo. Sam wakes, and sees Frodo lying pale as death -
greenish: reminding him of the faces in the pools of the marshes.
He cannot rouse or wake him.(20)
The idea suddenly comes to Sam to carry on the work, and he
felt for the Ring. He could not unclasp it, nor cut the chain, but
he drew the chain over Frodo's head. As he did so he fancied he
felt a tremor (sigh or shudder) pass through the body; but when
he paused he could not feel any heart-beat. Sam put the Ring
round his own neck.
[Suddenly the Orc-guard of the Pass, guided by Gollum,
comes upon them. Sam takes Galadriel's present to Frodo - the
phial of light. Sam slips on the Ring, and attempts to fight
unseen to defend Frodo's body; but gets knocked down and
nearly trampled to death. The Orcs rejoicing pick up Frodo and
bear him away, after searching in vain (but only a short while)
for 'the other hobbit' reported by Gollum.]
This last paragraph, which I have bracketed, was struck through
with a direction to replace it by the following much longer passage on
a separate page. It is clear, however, that this replacement was not
written significantly later.(21)
Then he sat and made a Lament for Frodo. After that he put
away his tears and thought what he could do. He could not
leave his dear master lying in the wild for the fell beasts and
carrion birds; and he thought he would try and build a cairn of
stones about him. 'The silver mail of mithril rings shall be his
winding-sheet,' he said. 'But I will lay the phial of Lady
Galadriel upon his breast, and Sting shall be at his side.'
He laid Frodo upon his back and crossed his arms on his
breast and set Sting at his side. And as he drew out the phial it
blazed with light. It lit Frodo's face and it looked now pale but
beautiful, fair with [an] elvish beauty as of one long past the
shadows. 'Farewell, Frodo,' said Sam; and his tears fell on
Frodo's hands.
[But] at that moment there was a sound of strong footfalls
climbing towards the rock shelf. Harsh calls and cries echoed in
the rocks. Orcs were coming, evidently guided to the spot.
'Curse that Gollum,' said Sam. 'I might have known we had
not seen the last of him. These are some of his friends.'
Sam had no time to lose. Certainly no time to hide or cover
his master's body. Not knowing what else to do he slipped on
the Ring, and then he took also the phial so that the foul Orcs
should not get it, and girded Sting about his own waist. And
waited. He had not long to wait.
In the gloom first came Gollum sniffing out the scent, and
behind him came the black orcs: fifty or more it seemed. With a
cry they rushed upon Frodo. Sam tried to put up a fight unseen,
but even as he was about to draw Sting he was run down and
trampled by the rush of the Orcs. All the breath was knocked
out of his body. [Added in pencil: Courage failed him.] In great
glee the Orcs seized Frodo and lifted him.
'There was another, yes,' whined Gollum. 'Where is he,
then?' said the Orcs. 'Somewheres nigh. Gollum feels him,
Gollum sniffs him.'
'Well, you find him, sniveller,' said the Orc-chief. 'He can't
go far without getting into trouble. We've got what we want.
Ringbearer! Ringbearer!' They shouted in joy. 'Make haste.
Make haste. Send one swift to Baraddur to the Great One. But
we cannot wait here - we must [get] back to our guard post.
Bear the prisoner to Minas Morgul.' [Added in pencil: Gollum
runs behind wailing that the Precious is not there.]
Here the replacement text ends.
Even as they do so, Frodo seems to awake, and gives a loud
cry, but they gag him. Sam is torn between joy at learning he is
alive and horror at seeing him carried off by Orcs. Sam tries to
follow, but they go very speedily. The Ring seems to grow in
power in this region: he sees clearly in the dark, and seems to
understand the orcs' speech. [He fears what may happen if he
meets a Ringwraith - the Ring does not confer courage: poor
Sam trembles all the time.](22) Sam gathers that they are going to
Minas Morgul: since they are not allowed to leave their post -
but a messenger has at once been despatched to announce to the
Dark Lord the capture of Ringbearer, and to bring back his
orders.(23) 'The Mighty One has great business afoot,' says one.
'All that has gone before is but a skirmish compared with the
war that is about to be kindled. Fine days, fine days! Blood on
blade and fire on hill, smoke in sky and tears on earth. Merry
weather, my friends, to bring in a real New Year!'
The Orcs go so fast that Sam soon gets weary and falls
behind; but he plods on behind in the direction of Minas
Morgul, remembering as much as he could of the maps. The
path led up into the mountains - the north horn of the Moun-
tains of Shadow that sundered the ashen vale of Gorgoroth
from the valley of the Great River. Sam looking out saw all
the plain alive with armies, horse and foot, black plumes, red
and black banners. Countless hosts of the wild peoples of Rhun,
and the evil folk of Harad, were pouring out of Kirith Ungol to
war. Smoke and dust afar off suggested that away in the East
more were coming. [In truth they were - far beyond Sam's
eyesight the armies rode and marched: the Dark Lord had
determined to strike. From beyond the Inland Sea of Rhun up
the rivers east of Mirkwood, round the towers of Dol Dughul
they poured through fen and forest to the banks of the Great
River. Lothlorien was lapped in flame. From the Misty Moun-
tains, from Moria - Khazaddum and many hidden caves poured
the orcs to meet them; from Harad and from Mordor they came
against Ondor, and sought the walls of Minas-Tirith; and out
from Isengard, seeing the war-beacons afar off blazing in
Mordor, came the traitor Saruman with many wolves.] (25)
Sam comes so close behind that he sees from below the
orc-host entering the gates of the City (26)[struck out: - and they
have not time to despoil Frodo].
At last Sam saw before him the walled city that had once been
the City of the Sun [> Moon]: Minas Anor [> Ithil] in the days
of old (Elendil).(27) Amidst it stood a tall tower - from afar off it
looked beautiful. But Sam passed into the city and saw that all
was defiled: and on every stone and corner were carved figures
and faces and signs of horror. Such a dread ran through all the
streets that he could hardly drag his legs or force himself along.
'Where in all this devilish hole have they put my poor master,'
thought Sam. He feels drawn to the Tall Tower. He wanders up
a seemingly endless winding stair, windowless; shrinks into
foul-smelling recess[es] when snarling Orcs go up or down. At
the top are four locked doors, North, South, East, West. Which
is it? And anyway how can he get in: all are locked.
Suddenly Sam took courage and did a thing of daring - the
longing for his master was stronger than all other thoughts.
He sat on the ground and began to sing. Troll-song - or
some other Hobbit song - or possibly part of the Elves' song
0 Elbereth. (Yes).
Cries of anger are heard and guards come from stairs above
and from below. 'Stop his mouth - the foul hound' cry the Orcs.
'Would that the message would return from the Great One, and
we could begin our Questioning [or take him to Baraddur. He
he! They have a pretty way there. There is One who will soon
find out where the little cheat has hid his Ring.](28) Stop his
mouth.' 'Careful! ' cried the captain, 'do not use too much
strength ere word comes from the Great One.' By this trick Sam
found the door, for an Orc unlocked the East door and went
inside with a whip. 'Hold your foul tongue,' he said, as Sam
heard the whip crack.
Swift as lightning Sam slipped inside. He longed to stab the
Orc but wisely restrained himself. In the light of [the torch o]
the small East window he saw Frodo lying on the bare stone -
his arms over his face [?guarding] from the whip blow. Mutter-
ing the orc went out and closed the door.
Frodo groaned and turned over uncovering his face - still pale
from the poison. 'Why do dreams cheat me?' he said. 'I thought
I heard a voice singing the song of Elbereth! '
'You were not dreaming!' said Sam. 'It is me, master.' He
drew off the Ring.
But Frodo felt a great hatred well up in his heart. Before him
there stood a small orc, bowlegged, leering at him out of a
gloating face. It reminded him faintly of some one he had once
known and loved - or hated. He stood up. 'Thief!' he cried.
'Give it to me.'
Sam was greatly taken aback: and stepped away, so sudden
and grim was his master's face. 'The poor dear is still
mithered,'(29) he thought.
'Surely, Master Frodo. I have come behind as quick as I could
just for to give it you.' And with that he gave the ring into
Frodo's snatching hand, and took the chain from about his
neck. [Only for two days had he been Ringbearer, yet he felt a
curious regret as it left him.] (30)
'Sam! ' cried Frodo. 'Sam! my dear old Sam. How did you
come here? I thought' - and then he leant upon Sam and wept
long. 'I thought,' he said again at last. 'Well never mind. I
thought I was lost and that they had taken the Ring and all was
in ruin. How did you get it - tell me.'
'Not by thieving,' said Sam with an effort at a smile. 'Or not
exactly. I took it when I thought you were gone, Master. Yes, I
thought you were dead for certain away back in that Kirith
place, with those crawling horrors. That was a black hour,
Master Frodo, but it seemed to me that Sam had got to carry on
- if he could.' Then he told the tale of the attack and how he had
followed. 'And it is in a place called Minas Morgul that we are,'
he said, 'and not for a small mercy in the Dark Tower itself,
leastways not yet. But Minas whatever it be: we have got to get
out quick. And how, I don't see.'
They talked it over long in whispering voices. 'The Ring
won't cover two,' said Sam; 'and I think you won't want to part
from it again. Anyhow the Ring is yours, master,' said Sam.
'Once out of here you can get away fairly easy, so long as none
of the Ring-wraiths or Black Riders turn up, or something
worse. There is some nasty eyes in this town, or the pricking of
my skin is merely the shivers of a cold coming on. My advice to
you is to leg it as quick as may be.'
'And you?' said Frodo.
'0, me,' said Sam. 'That can't be helped. I may find a way
out, or I may not. Anyway I have done the job I came to do.'
'Not yet, I think,' said Frodo. 'Not yet. I do not think that we
part here, dear friend.'
'Well then, master, tell me how.'
'Let me think,' said Frodo. 'I have a plan,' he said at last. 'A
risk, but it may work. Have you still got your sword?'
'I have,' said Sam, 'and Sting too, and your glass of light. I
was a-going to lay them by you under the stones,' he stam-
mered, 'when the murdering Orcs came on us. I thought you
were dead - until you cried out as they gripped you.'
Frodo smiled and took back his treasures. He drew Sting half
from its sheath and the pale blue light of it flickered from the
blade. 'Not surprising,' he said, 'that Sting should shine in
Minas Morgul! Well now, Sam, get away over there - where
you will be behind the door when it opens. Draw your sword. I
will lie on the floor as I was. Then you can start your song again
- and that should bring in an orc soon enough. Let us hope it is
not many more than one.'
'But the whips, master, the murdering hounds will fetch you
one for me, and I cannot abide it.'
'You won't have to abide it if you are quick with your sword,'
said Frodo. 'But you need not worry! They have not had time to
search me - not that Orcs dare touch the Ring that is for none
less than servants of the Ring or for Sauron himself. They made
sure that I had no sword and flung me on the floor. So I have
still my mithril-coat. That lash you heard as you came in was
laid well across my side and back - but I don't think you would
find any weal.'
Sam was much relieved. 'Very well, what's the idea, Mr.
Frodo?' he asked.
'You must do your best to kill the Orc that comes in,' said
Frodo. 'If there is more than one I must leap up and help, and
maybe we shall have to try and fight our way out. But to get
someone to come in seems our only way of getting out.'
Frodo now began again to sing 0 Elbereth (a few lines). With
an oath the door was flung open and in strode the orc-captain,
cracking his lash. 'Lie quiet, you dog,' he shouted, and raised his
whip. But even as he did so, Sam leapt from behind the door and
stabbed at his throat. He fell with a gurgle. Frodo sprang up,
pushed the door gently to, and crouched waiting for any other
orc that might come. The sound of harsh voices far off up the
further stairs came to them, but no other sounds.
'Now's our chance,' said Frodo. 'Get into his gear as quick as
you can.' Swiftly they stripped the orc, peeling off his coat of
black scale-like mail, unbuckling his sword, and unslinging the
small round shield at his back. The black iron cap was too large
for Sam (for orcs have large heads for their size), but he slipped
on the mail. It hung a little loose and long. He cast the black
hooded cloak about him, took the whip and scimitar, and slung
the red shield. Then they dragged the body behind the door and
crept out. Frodo went first.
It was dark outside when the door was shut again. Frodo
took out the glass of light. They hurried down the stairs.
Halfway down they met someone coming up with a torch.
Frodo slipped on his Ring and drew aside; but Sam went on to
meet the goblin. They brushed into one another and the goblin
spoke in his harsh tongue; but Sam answered only with an
angry snarl. That seemed satisfactory. Sam was evidently
mistaken for someone important. The goblin drew aside to let
him pass, and they hastened on. [Struck out: They did not guess
that it was the messenger returning from Baraddur!]
Now they issued from the Loathly Tower. Evening was
falling: away in the West over the valley of the Anduin there
was some light. Far away loomed the Black Mountains and the
tower of Minas Tirith, had they known. But in the East the sky
was dark, with black and lowering clouds that seemed almost to
rest upon the land. An uneasy twilight lay in the shadowy
streets. Shrill cries came as it were from underground, strange
shapes flitted by or peered out of alley[s] and holes in the
[?gaping] houses; there were [??dispirited] voices and faint
echoes of monotonous and unhappy song. All the carven faces
leered, and their eyes glowed with a fire at great depth.
The hobbits shuddered as they hurried on. Feet seemed to
follow them, and they turned many corners, but they never
threw them off. Rustling and pattering on the stones they came
doggedly after them.
They came to the gates. The main gates were closed; but a
small door was still open. Sentinels stood on either side, and at
the opening stood an armed warder, gazing out into the
gathering dusk. The Orcs were waiting for the messenger from
Baraddur.
'Stay here,' whispered Frodo, drawing Sam into a shadow of
a pillar just before the gate. 'While I wear the Ring I can
understand much of their speech, or of the thought behind it - I
don't know which. If I cry out come at a run, and get through
the door if you can.'
[The following was struck out probably as soon as written:
He went forward. The guard at the open door was grumbling.
'One would have thought we had caught no more than a stray
elf,' he said. 'Is [? the] Ringbearer [written above: Thief] of no
matter to them at the Dark Tower now? One would have
thought He would have sent a Rider at least. Not even the war
that is now set afoot can surely have lessened the worth of the
One Treasure.'
Suddenly Frodo stabbed with Sting. The warder fell. But
Frodo leant against the door lest a guard should thrust it to and
called out. The sentinels sprang up. Sam came running, but at
first they took him for a goblin running up to help. He smote
one down before they were aware of his enmity and sprang
through the door]
'Nay,' said Sam, 'that won't do. If we have a fight at the gate
it won't be much use getting through. We'll have the whole
wasps' nest a-buzzing after us before we have gone many yards:
and they know these nasty mountains as well as I mind me of
Bagend. Swagger is the only hope, Mr. Frodo, begging your
pardon.'
'Very well, my good Sam,' said Frodo, 'try swagger.'
Feeling as little like 'swagger' as ever in his life, Sam walked
as unconcernedly as he could manage into the shadow of the
dark gateway. The sentinels on either side looked at him and did
not move. He came beside the warder and looked out. The
warder started and looked at him angrily.
Frodo came behind warily. He saw the orc's hand go to the
hilt of his scimitar. 'Who are you and who do you think you are
pushing,' said he. 'Am I in charge of the gate or not?' Sam tried
the trick again. He snarled angrily and stepped out of the gate.
But the trick did not work so well a second time. The warder
sprang after him and grabbed at his cloak. 'Closing time is [? by
read past by?] half an hour,' he said, 'and you know that. No
one but the Lord's messengers are allowed in or out, and you
know that well enough. If I have any more trouble I shall report
you to the Captain [struck out: of Morgul].' Sam prepared to
give battle. He turned to face the warder gripping his hilt and
swung round his shield. It was a red shield, and in the midst was
painted a single black eye. The warder fell back nimbly. 'Your
pardon,' he said, '0 Captain of Morgul. I did not recognize you.
I only did my duty as I thought.' Sam, guessing something of
what had occurred, snarled again and waved his hand as if in
dismissal and walked away down the path into the dusk. The
warder stared after him shaking his head. He stood blocking the
door so that Frodo could not pass.
Sam had now disappeared on the downward track, and still
Frodo waited hoping for a chance to slip out without a fight,
before the door was closed. Suddenly there was a loud boom.
Dong Dong Dong. A big bell was ringing in the Loathly Tower:
the alarm was sounded. Frodo heard distant cries. Soon he
could hear voices calling: 'Close the gates. Ear the door. Watch
the walls. The Bearer has escaped from the Tower.'
The warder seized the door and began to close it. Feet came
running. Frodo took the only chance. Stooping he seized the
warder's legs and threw him down and sprang out. As he ran he
heard loud shouts and oaths. 'But the Captain is lying dead and
stripped in the Tower, I tell you,' he heard. 'Take that for a fool.
You have let the bearer escape. Take that for a fool.' There was
a blow and a cry. Orcs came pouring out of the gate, and still
the bell tolled.
Suddenly dark overhead a black shape appeared flying low
out of the east: a great bird it seemed, like an eagle or more like
a vulture. The orcs halted chattering shrilly: but Frodo did not
wait. He guessed that some urgent message concerning himself
had come from the Dark Tower.
Here the text in ink ends, but is followed by a few pencilled notes:
Finds Sam
They escape - and as they are actually making towards Mordor
this delays hunt which goes towards the Anduin North and
West.
End of Chapter XXV.
Gorgoroth.
How Frodo came to the Fiery Mountain. See sketch (b) (c).
This last is a reference to the pages of the previous Plot, in this book
pp. 208 - 9, from 'The Gap of Gorgoroth not far from Fire Mountain'
to 'hurls himself and Gollum into the gulf?'
All this story of the escape from Minas Morgul was developed from
the brief words of the earlier Plot (p. 209):
Sam ... passes into Morgol and finds Frodo. Frodo feels hatred of
Sam and sees him as an orc. But suddenly the orc speaks and holds
out Ring and says: Take it. Then Frodo sees it is Sam. They creep
out.... Sam dresses up like an orc.
There can be no doubt whatsoever that the text just given, beginning
as an outline in the present tense and sliding almost imperceptibly into
full narrative, was the actual emergence on paper of what ultimately
became 'The Tower of Cirith Ungol' in The Return of the King (VI.1).
It was written very fast (though surprisingly legibly), with virtually no
'correction made on grounds of suitability of phrasing, and gives an
impression of uninterrupted composition, perhaps even at one sitting.
Being written at this stage,(31) its relation to the ultimate form of the
story in 'The Tower of Cirith Ungol' is much more remote than has
been the case anywhere else, and although certain new elements (not
present in the previous Plot) now enter and would be preserved -
notably Sam's song, instrumental in his discovery of where Frodo was
- the story would be radically refashioned in every point, in geogra-
phy, in motives, in the structure of events, so as to become almost a
new conception.
Some further development seems in fact to have taken place quite
soon. Found with this text are some other papers, themselves all of the
same time, but entirely distinct in appearance and mode of writing.
Here the story of Frodo and Sam is roughly outlined further, and the
escape from Minas Morgul is reconsidered and rewritten. I think that
this further material belongs in fact to the same or much the same time
as the primary text. There are various pointers to this. The suggestion
found here that 'it could be Merry and Pippin that had adventure in
Minas Morgul if Treebeard is cut out' shows that the fully formed
narrative had not at any rate advanced beyond the Breaking of the
Fellowship; and the chapter is still referred to as 'XXV', which carries
the same implication (i.e. my father was still assuming the chapters
'XXI - XXIV' as outlined on pp. 329 - 30 and had not yet embarked on
the writing of the 'western' adventures).
The text is written fairly legibly in ink, but towards the end becomes
a pencilled scribble, here and there formidably difficult to make out.
Ch. XXV.
Minas Morgul must be made more horrible. The usual
'goblin' stuff is not good enough here.
The Gate shaped like a gaping mouth with teeth and a
window like an eye on each side. As Sam passes through he feels
a horrible shudder.(32) There are two silent shapes sitting on
either side as sentinels.
Substitute something of the following sort for p. [337].
The main outer gates were now closed. But a small door in
the middle of one was open. (It faced south.) The tunnelled
Gate-house was dark as night and the pale skylight showed up
as a small patch at the end of a tunnel. As Sam and Frodo crept
closer they saw or guessed the great ominous shape of the
Sentinels on either side: still sitting soundless and unmoved: but
from them there seemed to issue a nameless threat.
'Stay here!' whispered Frodo drawing Sam into the shadow of
a wall not far from the gate. 'While I wear the Ring, I can
understand much of the speech of the enemies, or of the thought
behind their speech: I don't know which. I will go forward, and
try and find out something. If I call out, come at a run: and get
through the door if you can.'
'Nay!' said Sam, 'that won't do. If we have a fight at the gate,
we might as well or better stay inside. We'd have the whole
wasps' nest, orcs and bogeys and all, buzzing after us, before
we'd gone a dozen yards: and they know these horrible
mountains as well as I mind me of Bag-End. Swagger is the only
hope, Mr. Frodo, begging your pardon.'
'Very well, my good Sam,' said Frodo, 'try swagger!'
Feeling as little like 'swagger* as ever in his life, Sam walked
forward, as bold and unconcerned as he could manage to look,
all shaking at the knees as he was, and with a queer tightening
of his breath. Each step forward became more difficult. It was as
if some will denying the passage was drawn like invisible ropes
across his path. He felt the pressure of unseen eyes. It seemed an
age before he passed under the gloom of the gate's arch, and he
felt tired as if he had been swimming against a strong tide. The
Sentinels sat there: dark and still. They did not move their
clawlike hands laid on their knees, they did not move their
shrouded heads [struck out: staring stiffly] in which no faces
could be seen; but Sam felt a sudden prickle in his skin, he
sensed that they were alive and suddenly alert. As he came
between them he seemed to shrink [and] shrivel, naked as an
insect crawling to its hole under the eyes of gigantic birds. He
came to the open door: just outside the path ran to a flight of
stairs leading to the downward road. Only one step and he
would be out - but he could not pass: it was as if the air before
him had become stiff. He had to summon up his strength and
his will. Like lead he lifted his foot and forced it slowly bit by bit
over the threshold, on either side he felt the darkness leer and
grin at him. Slowly he pressed his foot down, down. It touched
the step outside: and then something seemed to snap. He stood
fixed. He thought he heard a cry, but whether just beside him,
or far away in some remote watchful tower he could not tell.
There was a sudden clash of iron. An Orc ran out from the
guard-room.
Frodo creeping warily behind was now also under the
archway. He heard the guard cry out in harsh tones. 'Ho there:
who are you, and what do you think you are doing?' He laid
hold of Sam's cloak. Sam snarled angrily, but the trick did not
work so well a second time. The guard held him. 'Closing-time
is past, half an hour ago,' he growled. 'No one but the Lord's
messengers are allowed in or out, and you know that. The door
awaits the bringer of word from Baraddur, but it is not for any
other.'
Of all this Sam understood only that he was forbidden to
pass. He could not move forward: so he stepped suddenly back
stepping on the feet of the Orc behind. Frodo saw the guard's
hand go to the hilt of his scimitar. 'Hey, who are you stamping
on?' said he. Sam prepared for battle. He turned, etc. as before.
[Struck out: An alternative would be to make the gate
impassable. The alarm is sounded. The City is aroused. The
Vulture {Black Rider) arrives in the main square. Frodo at once
, knows that Ring is useless. He feels almost discovered. Messen-
ger says Ring is still in the town: he feels it.]
Alternative account.
Make light fade in the window as Sam and Frodo talk in the
Sketch for the Gate of Minas Morgul.
Loathly Tower. They try the trick of getting an orc to open the
door as twilight deepens. No dressing up. They creep out into
the town. Something warns Frodo not to use the Ring. The
elf-hoods prove better in the City of Sorcery than the Ring - the
two hobbits (aided by some grace of Galadriel that went with
the garments) pass along the streets like mist. The gate is closed
- the sentinels described: three a side.(33)
The walls are high and if it were possible to get onto them
unseen - it is not: the few ascents are guarded - they could not
get down. They are trapped.
A cry from a watch tower. The waning moon rises in East. A
dark shape flying out of the East, a black speck against clouds.
Vulture bearing a Ringwraith settles in main square. The
Ringwraith has come to take Frodo back to the Dark Tower. At
that moment boom, the alarm is sounded from Loathly Tower.
Ringwraith says Ring has not left City: he feels it. Hunt in town.
Hairbreadth escape of hobbits. In spite of the Ringwraith a host
of orcs assemble to scour mountains (? Frodo and Sam trap two
orcs in an alley and take their cloaks and gear. ?) Pass out in rear
of the company. Describe the reluctant feeling, and moveless
sentinels. Even as they pass the sentinels stir: and give a fell,
horrible, far-off cry. The moon is suddenly clouded. A fierce
cold wind from East. Rain? The hobbits fling themselves flat
among the rocks. Orcs pass over them. Hunt misses them
because they go towards Mordor. The hunt goes West and
North.
Now go on to describe the journey to Fiery Mountain.
Footsteps come after them. Gollum has picked up trail.
Frodo and Sam journey by night down the slopes of Duath
out into the dreadful waste of Gorgoroth.(34)
[The grey cloaks of Lothlorien must be made more magical
and efficacious. 'Are these garments magical?' asks Frodo. 'We
do not know what you mean by magical,' said they. 'They have
virtues: for they are elvish.' They were green and grey: their
property is to blend perfectly with all natural surroundings:
leaves, boughs, grass, water, stone. Unless a full light of sun was
on them, and the wearer was moving or set against the sky, they
were not invisible, but unnoticeable.](35)
Far away they saw the underside of the Mountains stained
red with the glow of Amarthon [written above: Dolamarth]:
Mount Doom: the Mountain of Fire.(36) There is a constant
rumble of thunder. Frodo feels the Eye. They come down a long
ravine opening onto Gorgoroth beyond the south-east end of
Kirith Ungol: it is end of road from Barad-dur to Morgul.(37)
Great hideous cavern (38) pillars. They peer [?out?about] in the
grey day over Gorgoroth. Mount Doom is smoking and burning
to left. Black cloud lies over Baraddur. Millions of birds - [?led
by vultures]: plain seems crawling with insects - a great host
assembled - all sweeping out towards Kirith. By evening all
plain is silent and empty. Cinders fall on plain. Moon rises late.
Very dark. They begin the perilous crossing. Rustle of following
feet. Journey all night.
Distances are rather too large - it would be eased if Orcs took
Frodo to [?East] Guard Tower of R... - Loath and Grim
[written above: Fell and Dire]. They could then see easier the
host and would not have to cross Kirith Ungol.(39)
[Struck out: It could be Merry and Pippin that had adventure
in Minas Morgul if Treebeard is cut out.] (40)
From Dire-castle Gorgos (and Nargos) it would be only 70
miles. They could creep round edge of Eredlithui.(41)
Sam must fall out somehow. Stumble and break leg: thinks it
is a crack in ground - really Gollum. [?Makes ?Make] Frodo go
on alone.
Frodo toils up Mount Doom. Earth quakes, the ground is hot.
There is a narrow path winding up. Three fissures. Near summit
there is Sauron's Fire-well. An opening in side of mountain leads
into a chamber the floor of which is split asunder by a cleft.(42)
Frodo turns and looks North-west, sees the dust of battle.
Faint sound of horn. This is Windbeam the Horn of Elendil
blown only in extremity.(43)
Birds circle over. Feet behind.
It is then at night before ascent of Mount Doom that Frodo
sees the lone eye, like a window that does not move and yet
searches in Baraddur.
Description of Baraddur seen afar.
I give here the latter part of a time-scheme of this period which
covers the events of this outline plot. For the chronologi-
cal structure in this scheme see p. 367 ('scheme I').
Dec. 25. Reach Tolbrandir in evening.
26. Flight of Frodo.
Jan.3. Gollum slips away.
5. Frodo, Sam [struck out: and Gollum] reach Kirith Ungol.
6. Frodo captured.
8. Sam rescues Frodo in [Minas Morgul >] Gorgos.
9. Sam and Frodo journey in Duath.
10. Sam and Frodo see host in Gorgoroth and lie hid.
[These two entries changed to read: Jan. 9, 10, 11 Sam
and Frodo journey in Eredlithui (see hosts going to war).]
12,13. Ascent of Mount Doom.
14. [?Horns)... Fall of Mordor.
15. Victory and return to Minas Tirith.
[Added: Jan. 25 Reach Minas Tirith. Jan. 26 Great Feast.]
Notable points in this time-scheme are the corroboration of the
statement in the text that Sam had been Ringbearer for two days (see
p. 334 and note 30); the change in the place of Frodo's imprisonment
from Minas Morgul to Gorgos (see p. 344 and notes 39, 41); and the
mention of the great feast that followed the victory (cf. p. 212).
NOTES.
1. On the back of the first page of this outline are some rough
workings for revision of The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, which
was completed in its original form in 1930. This stray page
perhaps shows my father turning to it again at this time. It was
ultimately published in greatly revised form, to which these
workings were moving, in 1945.
2. Cf. the outline (c) for 'Farewell to Lorien', p. 269: 'Arrows from
East shore as they pass down river?'
3. Tolharn and Tollernen were passing replacements of Tolondren.
Subsequently Stoneait (ait 'islet', = eyot) and Tollernen were
struck out in pencil (all other changes in the opening section
being made in ink) and replaced by Eregon ( = Stone pinnacle).
On Eregon see p. 323 note 12.
4. Sarn Gebir and Nomen's land (Nomenlands) emerged in the
course of the writing of 'Farewell to Lorien' (pp. 281, 283).
5. It is ill to be alone on the east side of the River: this was left
unchanged when the text immediately preceding was altered to
the story that Frodo and Sam did not cross to the east bank but
climbed the hill on the island where they camped. - In the outline
(c) to 'Farewell to Lorien' (p. 269) it is told that 'They' crossed to
the east bank and went up into the hills 'to look around', where
'They' may be the whole Company or Frodo and Sam only.
6. Eredwethion 'Mountains of Shadow' is derived from The
Silmarillion.
With this scene compare the previous Plot (p. 208):
Boromir takes Frodo apart and talks to him. Begs to see Ring
again. Evil enters into his heart and he tries to daunt Frodo and
then to take it by force. Frodo is obliged to slip it on to escape
him. (What does he see then - cloud all round him getting
nearer and many fell voices in air?)
In that Plot there is no mention of the Eye - but cf. the much
earlier outline dated August 1939 (VI.381): 'Horrible feeling of
an Eye searching for him'.
8. On the name Dantruinel for Rauros see pp. 285, 316.
9. It seems very likely that the reason for shifting the place where the
Company camped to the west bank of the river and making the
island inaccessible was to allow Merry and Pippin to become
separated and lost - a development that had already been
conceived in the previous Plot (see note 16).
10. I take these words, set in inverted commas, to be Boromir's,
referring deceitfully to Frodo's having put on the Ring.
11. The account of Sam's tracking of Frodo that follows is developed
from that in the previous Plot (p. 208):
The search. Sam is lost. He tries to track Frodo and comes on
Gollum. He follows Gollum and Gollum leads him to Frodo.
Frodo hears following feet. And flies. But Sam comes up
too to his surprise. The two are too much for Gollum. Gollum
is daunted by Frodo - who has a power over him as Ring-
bearer....
Gollum pleads for forgiveness and feigns reform. They make
him lead them through the Dead Marshes.
12. Sam is now on the east side of Anduin, and the boat 'knocking
against the bank' is the boat in which Frodo has crossed.
13. This paragraph ('Gollum was so intent on the trail...') evidently
replaced the story that preceded, although that was not struck
OUT.
14. Kirith Ungol was at this time the name of the great pass leading
into Mordor in the North-west (pp. 283, 285, and Map III on
p. 309).
15. At some time later my father struck it all out and wrote in pencil:
Steep place where Frodo has to climb a precipice. Sam goes first
so that if Frodo falls he will knock Sam down first. They see
Gollum come down by moonlight like a fly.
This is where the story in The Two Towers (IV.1, 'The Taming of
Smeagol', p. 219) first appears.
16. Cf. the previous Plot, p. 210. It is seen from the synopsis that
immediately follows (pp. 329 - 30) of the chapter telling what
happened to Merry and Pippin that my father had still no idea
that anything more untoward had happened to them.
17. This passage remains virtually unchanged in substance from the
previous Plot (p. 211).
18. At a later stage my father pencilled in various developments to
Chapters XXII and XXIII (as renumbered). The synopsis of the
former he altered thus: 'Black orcs of Misty Mountains capture
Merry and Pippin, bear them to Isengard. But the orcs are
attacked by the Rohiroth on borders of Fangorn, and in the
confusion Merry and Pippin escape unnoticed.' Also added here
was 'Trotter is led astray by [? finding] orc-prints. He follows the
orcs believing Frodo, Sam, etc. captured. He meets Gandalf.' To
'What happened to Gimli and Legolas' he added: 'Went with
Trotter to rescue Merry and Pippin.'
19. Noted beside this sentence: s G - F asleep. F G - s asleep. s F - c
asleep.
20. The origin of this passage is seen in the earlier Plot (p. 209):
'There is a ravine, a spiders' glen, they have to pass at entrance to
Gorgoroth. Gollum gets spiders to put spell of sleep on Frodo.
Sam drives them off. But cannot wake him.' Kirith Ungol was not
yet its name when that was written: there is mention in that
outline of the Gap of Gorgoroth, clearly the pass leading into
Mordor (pp. 208, 213), but the words 'a ravine they have to pass'
perhaps suggest that the 'spiders' glen' led off the Gap. In the
present Plot, however, Kirith Ungol, ravine of spiders, is the pass
itself.
21. It was no doubt put in when the story had gone somewhat past
this point, since it is avowedly narrative in form and not outline
(present tense).
22. This sentence is enclosed in square brackets in the original.
23. At the top of the page is written: 'All Sauron's folk, however,
know that if Ringbearer is taken he is to be guarded as their life,
but otherwise to be untouched and undespoiled, and brought
intact to the Lord.' This was struck out.
24. On the Sea of Rhun or Rhunaer see p. 307.
25. This passage is enclosed in square brackets in the original.
26. For the site of Minas Morgul see Map III on p. 309. The Orcs
appear to have come from there, in view of 'Sam gathers that they
are going to Minas Morgul: since they are not allowed to leave
their post'; and 'the path led up into the mountains' suggests that
the way to Minas Morgul was by a track leading upwards out of
Kirith Ungol; hence Sam sees 'from below' the Orcs entering the
City.
27. Unless my father had decided to restore the original conception of
Minas Anor in the East becoming Minas Morgul, and Minas Ithil
in the West becoming Minas Tirith, which seems exceedingly
improbable, this can only be a momentary confusion. But it
occurs again: p. 366 note 19.
28. This passage is enclosed in square brackets in the original.
29. mithered: 'confused, bewildered'. My father often used this
English dialect word, though as I recollect always in the form
moithered; but mithered is recorded from Staffordshire and
Warwickshire and the neighbouring counties of the. English
midlands.
30. This sentence is enclosed in square brackets in the original. Two
days seems a very long time to have elapsed since Sam took the
Ring from Frodo in Kirith Ungol, and is by no means suggested
in the narrative; on the other hand, on Map III (p. 309) Minas
Morgul was at least 30 miles from the eastern edge of the
Mountains of Shadow at Kirith Ungol. See also the time scheme
on pp. 344 - 5.
31. It should be emphasized that the fact of its being written at this
stage in the history of The Lord of the Rings, and not later, is
clear and certain.
32. This refers of course to Sam's entry into Minas Morgul, alone.
33. Cf. 'The Tower of Cirith Ungol' in The Return of the King,
p. 178: 'They were like great figures seated upon thrones. Each
had three joined bodies, and three heads facing outward, and
inward, and across the gateway. The heads had vulture-faces, and
on their great knees were laid clawlike hands.' - A little
diagrammatic sketch is included in the manuscript at this point:
34. Duath (replacing Eredwethion, p. 325) is the name of the
Mountains of Shadow on the First Map and on my map made in
1943; my father added Ephel before Duath on both maps
subsequently (pp. 309 - 10). - The sentence was changed in pencil
to read: 'Frodo and Sam journey by night among the slopes and
ravines N. of Duath towards the dreadful waste of Gorgoroth.'
35. The brackets are in the original. This notable passage is the origin
of the much enlarged description of the cloaks of Lothlorien
which first appears as an addition to the fair copy of 'Farewell to
Lorien' (p. 285), though expressed in a wholly different way. The
question 'Are these garments magical?', here asked by Frodo, was
then given to Merry, and finally (FR p. 386) to Pippin ('Are these
magic cloaks?').
36. The first devising of an elvish name for Mount Doom (later
Amon Amarth).
37. My father first wrote here: 'They come down a long ravine
opening on Kirith Un(gol)', striking out this name at once and
writing instead 'opening onto Gorgoroth', etc. It is hard to be
sure, but it seems likely that he saw a path climbing up to Minas
Morgul out of Kirith Ungol (the pass into Mordor), by which
Frodo was taken, and another more southerly approach, a road
running westwards from the Dark Tower and climbing to Minas
Morgul by the 'long ravine' down which Sam and Frodo made
their escape (see Map III, p. 309).
38. This word is clearly written cavern, not carven.
39. This short paragraph is very hard to read and not easy to inter-
pret, but at least it is clear that here is the first suggestion of a
doubt that it was to Minas Morgul that Frodo was taken. The
word I have given as East begins Ea but does not look at all like
East; yet that seems appropriate to the sense (see further note 41).
The name of the tower might be Rame or Raine, among other
possibilities. The words 'They would not have to cross Kirith
Ungol' are at first sight puzzling, since it has just been said that
they emerged from the long ravine 'beyond the south-east end of
Kirith Ungol'; but I think that my father meant that they would
not have to cross the open plain between the Mountains of
Shadow and the Ash Mountains (Ered Lithui), whether this be
called Kirith Ungol or Gorgoroth at that point.
40. See p. 339; and for an earlier suggestion that Merry and Pippin
might find themselves in Mordor see p. 211.
41. On the First Map there are two small circles on either side of
Kirith Ungol (on my redrawing, square P 15 on Map II, p. 305).
These reappear on my 1943 map as two small towers. On neither
map are they named; but it seems clear that they represent a
western and an eastern guard tower - presumably the Nargos
and Gorgos named here (cf. 'There are Orc guard-towers on
either side of Gorgoroth', p. 208). The words 'From Dire-castle
Gorgos (and Nargos) it would be only 70 miles' mean, I think,
'From the eastern tower Gorgos (and for the matter of that from
the western tower Nargos also) it was only 70 miles to Mount
Doom.'
42. The three fissures and Sauron's well of fire appear in the earlier
Plot (p. 209), but this is the first glimpse of the Sammath Naur.
43. Windbeam: if this name occurs elsewhere in my father's writings
I have not found it, except in the Last Letter of Father Christmas,
where he calls it the Great Horn, and says that he has not had to
blow it for over four hundred years (cf. 'only in extremity' here)
and that its sound carries as far as the North Wind blows. (Cf.
Old English beme (beam) 'trumpet'.)
XVII.
THE GREAT RIVER.
It has been seen (pp. 324, 330) that having written an outline of the
story from the departure from Lorien to the 'Scattering of the
Company' at 'Tollernen' my father decided that the first element in the
outline, 'The Company sets off from Tongue', should in fact form the
conclusion to Chapter XX ('Farewell to Lorien'), and XXI should take
up with 'They are attacked with arrows'.
As I have mentioned (p. 283), the original draft for the last section
of 'Farewell to Lorien' (i.e. 'The Company sets off from Tongue') was
written in ink in a clear script with little hesitation. That draft section
ends with the words 'End of Ch. XX', showing that the chapter-
arrangement just referred to had already been devised. The character-
istic very pale ink used for this section was also used for the text 'The
Story Foreseen from Lorien' and for the first part of the new chapter
XXI: the three texts have a strong general likeness, and were obviously
written at the same time.
The draft of the last section of 'Farewell to Lorien' ends halfway
down a page, and is followed by 'XXI: The Scattering of the
Company'; at this stage my father assumed that the narrative outlined
on pp. 324 - 8, 329 (i.e. excluding the story of Sam's tracking of Frodo)
would constitute a single chapter. For the journey down the River to
'Tollernen' he had set down no more in the way of event than 'They
are attacked with arrows.' I give now the opening draft of the new
chapter as it was first written.(1)
Sam woke him. He was lying in a bed of blankets and furs
under tall grey-stemmed trees near the river bank. The grey of
morning was dim among the bare branches. Gimli was busy
with a small fire near at hand. He had slept the first night of
their river journey away. They started again before the day was
broad. Not that most of the Company were eager to hurry
southwards: they were content that the decision which they
must make when they came to Rauros and the Isle of Eregon (2)
lay yet some days ahead, and still less did they wish to run
swiftly into the perils that certainly lay beyond, whatever course
they took, but Trotter felt that the time was urgent and that
willing or not they should hasten forward.
As the second day of their voyage wore on the lands changed
slowly: trees thinned and then failed: on the East bank to their
left, long formless slopes stretched up and away towards the
sky; brown they looked as if a fire had passed over them, leaving
no living thing of green; an unfriendly waste without even a
withered tree or a bold stone to break the emptiness. They were
come to the Brown Lands, the Withered Wold that lay in a vast
desolation between Dol Dughul in Southern Mirkwood and the
hills of Sarn-Gebir: what pestilence of war or fell deed of the
Lord of Mordor had so blasted all that region they did not
know.(3) Upon the west bank to their right the land was treeless
and quite flat, but green: there were forests of reeds of great
height in places that shut out the view as the little boats went
rustling by along their fluttering borders: the great withered
flowering heads bent in the light cold airs hissing softly and
waving like funeral plumes. Here and there in open spaces they
could see across the wide rolling meads hills far away, or on the
edge of sight a dark line where still the southernmost phalanx of
the Misty Mountains marched.
'You are looking out across the great pastures of Rohan, the
Riddermark, land of the Horsemasters,' said Trotter; 'but in
these evil days they do not dwell nigh the river or ride often to
its shores. Anduin is wide, yet the orc-bows will with ease shoot
an arrow across the stream.'
The hobbits looked from bank to bank uneasily. If before the
trees had seemed hostile, as if harbouring secret dangers, now
they felt that they were too naked: afloat in little open boats in
the midst of wide bare land, on a river that was the boundary of
war. As they went on the feeling of insecurity grew upon them.
The river broadened and grew shallow: bleak stony beaches lay
upon the east, there were gravel shoals in the water and they
had to steer carefully. The Brownlands rose into bleak wolds
over which flowed a chill air from the East. Upon the other side
the meads had become low rolling downs of grey grass, a land
of fen and tussock. They shivered thinking of the lawns and
fountains, the clear sun and gentle rain of Lothlorien: there was
little speech and no laughter among them. Each was busy with
his own thoughts. Sam had long since made up his mind that
though boats were maybe not as dangerous as he had been
brought up to believe, they were far more uncomfortable. He
was cramped and miserable, having nothing to do but stare at
the winter lands crawling by and the dark grey water, for the
Company used the paddles mainly for steering, and in any case
they would not have trusted Sam with a paddle. Merry and
Pippin in the middle boat were ill at ease. [Added and then
struck out: Merry was at the stern, facing Sam and steering.]
Boromir sat muttering to himself, sometimes biting his nails as if
some restlessness or doubt consumed him. Often Pippin who sat
in the prow, looking back, caught a queer gleam in his eye when
he peered forward gazing at the boat in front where Frodo sat.
So the time passed until the end of the sixth [> seventh] day.
The banks were still bare, but on both sides on the slopes above
them bushes were scattered, behind and further south ridges
with twisted fir-trees could be glimpsed: they were drawing near
the grey hill country of Sarn-Gebir: the southern border of
Wilderland, beyond which lay the Nomanland and the foul
marshes that lay for many leagues before the passes of Mordor.
High in the air there were flocks of dark birds. Trotter looked at
them with disquiet.
'I fear we have been too slow and overbold,' he said. 'Maybe
we have come too far by day, and ere this we should have taken
to journeying between dusk and dawn and lain hidden in the
day.'
He stayed his boat with his paddle, and when the others came
up he spoke to them, counselling that they should go on into the
night, and put off their rest until night was old and dawn was at
hand. 'And if we make another two or three leagues,' said he,
'we shall come, if I am right in my memories, to Sarn Gebir,
where the river begins to run in deep channels: there maybe we
shall find better shelter and more secrecy.'
Already twilight was about them. The hobbits at any rate had
been hoping soon for the warmth of a fire to their cold feet, and
the feel of solid earth beneath them. But there seemed no place
in that houseless country which invited them to halt; and a cold
drowsiness was on them, numbing thought. They made no
answer, yes or no. Trotter drove his paddle in the water and led
them on again. [Added: The stars leapt out above. The sky
[was] clear and cold. It was nearly night when](4) Just ahead there
loomed up rocks in the midst of the stream, nearer to the west
bank. To the east there was a wider channel, and that way they
turned: but they found the current swift. In the dusk they could
see pale foam and water beating against the rocks upon the right
hand.
'This is an evil time of day to pass through such a dangerous
reach,' said Boromir. 'Hey Trotter,' he cried, cupping his hands
and calling above the noise of the waters to the boat ahead - it
was already too dark to see whether it was far or near. 'Hey!' he
called. 'Not this way tonight!'
'No indeed,' said Trotter, and they saw that he had turned his
boat and had come back almost alongside without their seeing
him. 'No: I did not know we had come so far yet: the Anduin
flows faster than I reckoned. The rapids of Pensarn (5) are ahead.
They are not very long nor very fierce, yet too dangerous to
venture on in the dark for those who know the Great River little
or only from tales. See,' he said, 'the current has flung us right
over to the east shore: in a little we shall be on the shoals. Let us
turn and go back to the western side, above the rocks.'
Even as he spoke there was a twanging, and arrows whistled
over and among them. One smote Frodo between the shoulders
but fell back, foiled by the hidden coat of mail; another passed
through Trotter's hair; and a third stood fast in the gunwale of
the middle boat close by Merry's hand.
'To the west bank!' shouted Boromir and Trotter together.
They leaned forward straining at the paddles - even Sam now
took a hand, but it was not so easy. The current was flowing
strong. Each one expected at any minute to feel the sting of a
blackfeathered orc-arrow. But it was now grown very dark,
dark even for the keen night-eyes of goblins; goblins were on the
bank, they did not doubt. When they had come into midstream
as far as they could judge, and out of the swirl of waters running
into the narrow channel, Legolas laid down his paddle, and
lifting the bow he had brought from Lorien strung it, and
turned, peering back into the gloom. Across the water there
came shrill cries; but he could see nothing. The enemy were
shooting wildly now and few arrows came near the boats: it was
grown very dark: there was not even a grey glimmer on the face
of the river, only here and there the broken twinkle reflecting a
misty star.
As he gazed into the blackness away east the clouds broke
and the white rind of the new moon appeared riding slowly up
the sky; [but its faint light did little to illumine the further
shore.](6) Sam looked up at it in wonder.(7) Even as he did so a
dark shape, like a cloud yet not a cloud, low and ominous, for a
moment shut off the thin crescent and winged its way towards
them, until it appeared as a great winged shape black against the
dark heaven.(8) Fierce voices greeted it from across the water.
Frodo felt a sudden chill about his heart, and a cold like the
memory of an old wound in his shoulder: he crouched down in
the boat.
Suddenly the great bow of Legolas sang. He heard an arrow
whistle/whine. He looked up. The winged shape swerved: there
was a harsh croaking cry and it seemed to fall, vanishing down
into the darkness of the eastern shore; the sky seemed clean
again. They heard a tumult as of many voices murmuring and
lamenting [written above: cursing], and then silence. No more
arrows came towards them.
'Praised be the bow of Galadriel and the keen eye of Legolas!'
said Gimli. 'That was a mighty shot in the dark.'
'But what it hit who can say,' said Boromir.
'I cannot,' said Gimli. 'Yet I liked that shape as little as the
shadow of the Balrog of Moria.'
'It was not a Balrog,' said Frodo, still shivering. 'I think it
was...' He did not finish.
'You think what?' asked Boromir quickly.
'I do not know,' said Frodo. 'Whatever it was its fall seems to
have dismayed the enemy.'
'So it seems,' said Trotter. 'Yet where they are, and how
many, or what they will do next, we do not know. This night
must be watchful!'
At last the boats were brought to the western bank again.
Here they moored them close inshore. They did not lie on the
land that night, but remained in the boats with weapons close to
hand. One sat alert and vigilant watching either bank while the
other [? read others) dozed uneasily.
Sam (9) looked at the moon again, slipping down now swiftly to
the horizon. 'It is very strange,' he murmured drowzily. 'The
moon I suppose does not change his courses in Wilderland?
Then I must be wrong in my reckoning. If you remember, the
old moon was at its end as we lay on the flet up in that tree.(10)
Well now I can't remember how long we were in that country: it
was certainly three nights, and I seem to remember a good many
more - but I am certain sure it was not a month. Yet here we
are: seven days from Lorien and up pops a New Moon. Why,
anyone would think we had come straight from Nimrodel
without stopping a night or seeing Caras Galadon. Funny it
seems.'
'And that Sam is probably about the truth of it,' said Trotter.
'Whether we were in the past or the future or in a time that does
not pass, I cannot say: but not I think till Silverlode bore us back
to Anduin did we return to the stream of time that flows
through mortal lands to the Great Sea. At least, so I guess: but
maybe I dream and talk nonsense. Yet do either of you
remember seeing any moon in Lorien, old or young? I remember
only stars by night and sun by day.(11)
The text, becoming ragged at the end, now peters out in pencilled
notes for its continuation:
In morning Trotter and Legolas go forward to find path. They
lie hid among rocks all day and at evening laboriously cart their
boats to end of the rapids. (Hear the sound as they pass.) No
sign on far shore. Below rapids stream is soon quiet and deep
again - but less broad. They creep along the west bank by night.
They pass into the gullies of Sarn Gebir. Pinewoods. About
dawn on 10th day come to Eregon [later > Tol Brandor or -ir]
and hear roar and [?foam) of Rauros. Inaccessible isle high
peak many birds.(12)
In the journey down Anduin at this stage the chronology differed by
one day from that in FR, for the attack at the head of the rapids took
place at the end of the seventh day (p. 352), not of the eighth (FR pp.
400 - 1), and much detail remained to be changed or added: notably
the incident of Gollum, the 'log with eyes', was absent. This story was
written on a separate sheet while the drafting of the chapter was still in
progress, and was immediately achieved in the final form at almost all
points. Some of the Company were sleeping that night on the eyot and
some in the boats; and after Frodo had seen Gollum's eyes and had put
his hand on the hilt of Sting the original text continues:
Immediately they [the eyes] went out, and there was a soft
splash and a dark shape shot away downstream into the night.
Nothing else occurred, until the first grey of dawn peeped in the
East. Trotter awoke on the eyot and came down to the boats.
But Frodo now knew that Sam had not been deceived; and also
that he must warn Trotter.
'So you know about our little footpad, do you?...
Primary drafting from the point reached (the discussion of Time in
Lorien) is of an extreme roughness, some of it scribbled faintly
between the lines of the candidates' writing on examination scripts,
and it is not entirely complete and consecutive. In this case the fair
copy manuscript, following immediately on the primary drafting, is
the first complete text, and it is most convenient to turn now to this
manuscript.
In this version Chapter XXI bore a succession of titles, all of them
pencilled in subsequently: 'Southward'; 'The Company is Scattered';
'Sarn Gebir'; 'Breaking of the Fellowship'; and finally 'The Great
River' - this last not struck out, and obviously arising when my father
had decided that his original ideas for XXI had so expanded as to
require two chapters to fulfil the narrative. As usual, in point of
expression the fair copy advances very largely to the form in FR,
although a good deal of change in respect of the actual narrative had
still to come.
To the original opening of the chapter (p. 350) my father made the
following alteration and addition on the manuscript of the draft:
Sam woke him. He was lying in a bed of blankets and furs under
tall grey-stemmed trees near the bank of the Great River, in a
corner of quiet woodland where a small stream (the Limlight)
flowed in from the western mountains.
This is the first mention of the Limlight in the texts. In the fair copy the
chapter opens:
Frodo was roused by Sam. He found that he was lying, well
wrapped, under tall grey-skinned trees in a quiet corner of the
woodlands. [Beside them a stream ran down from the western
mountains far away and joined the Great River close by their
camp] on the western bank of the Great River Anduin.
The sentence I have bracketed was struck out as soon as written. That
their first night camp on the journey down the River was beside the
inflow of Limlight agrees with maps IV and IV (p. 317), where the
Limlight, here first shown, joins Anduin not far south of Silverlode
(see Map II, square M 12)., on map IV the confluence is much further
south (p. 319).
Where the draft has 'Rauros and the Isle of Eregon' (p. 350) the new
text has 'Rauros and the Isle' (changed later to 'the Tindrock Isle', as
in FR). Trotter's policy of letting them drift with the stream as they
wished appears; but the chronology remains here as in the draft:
Nonetheless they saw no sign of any (13) enemy that day. The dull grey
hours passed without event. As this second day of their voyage wore
on, the lands changed slowly...' The 'Withered Wold' of the draft
becomes 'the withered wolds' (and was then struck out). The flight of
the black swans is still absent.
Trotter now speaks of the latitude and climate, the Bay of Belfalas,
and their distance from the Shire - but here he first said 'I doubt if you
are much more than sixty leagues south of the Sarn Ford at the
southern end of your Shire', this being changed at once to the reading
of FR; and he says that 'ere long we shall come to the mouth of the
Limlight' (see above),(14) defining the Limlight, as in FR, as the north
boundary of Rohan. But he says here 'Of old all that lay between
Limlight and Entwash belonged to the Horsemasters' (FR: 'all that lay
between Limlight and the White Mountains belonged to the Rohir-
rim').
In the next part of the chapter (after the episode of Gollum in the
river) the story advances to the form in FR, but it was still at the end of
the seventh day of the journey, not of the eighth, that they came to the
rapids, and there is no mention at this point of the weather, or of the
New Moon, which in FR (p. 400) was first seen on the seventh night.
Though the bird-haunted cliffs of Sarn Gebir and the flocks of birds
circling high above are described in the same words as in FR (p. 401)
there is no mention of the eagle seen far off in the western sky.
Following the mention of the birds, the new version continues thus:
Trotter had glanced often at them doubtfully, wondering if
Gollum had been up to some mischief. But now it was dark: the
East was overcast, but in the West many stars were shining.
After they had been paddling for about an hour, Trotter told
Sam to lie forward in the boat and keep a sharp look-out ahead.
'We shall soon come to the gates of Sarn-Gebir,' he said; 'and
the river is difficult and dangerous there, if I remember rightly.
It runs in deep swift channels under overhanging cliffs, and
there are many rocks and eyots in the stream. But I do not know
these reaches, for I have never journeyed by water in these parts
before. We must halt early tonight, if we can, and go on by
daylight.'
It was close on midnight, and they had been drifting for a
while, resting after a long spell of paddling, when suddenly Sam
cried out.
After Boromir's shouted remonstrance ('This is a bad time of day to
shoot the rapids!') Trotter, struggling to back and turn his boat, said
to Frodo: 'I am out of my reckoning. I didn't know we had come so
far. We must have passed the gates of Sarn-Gebir in the dark. The
Rapids of Pensarn must be just ahead' (the last two sentences were
crossed out, probably immediately). There is no indication here of
what 'the gates of Sarn-Gebir' might be (see p. 359).
The attack by Orcs from the east bank, and the struggle to get the
boats back to the west bank, follows the draft pretty closely, with
some changed or added detail: an arrow passed through Trotter's
hood, not his hair; Frodo 'lurched forward with a cry'. The weather is
changed from the obscure statements in the draft (note 6): the clouds
in the east mentioned earlier had now almost entirely covered the sky,
and so 'it was very dark, dark even for the night-eyes of orcs' as they
paddled the boats back. The same is said of the New Moon 'riding
slowly up the sky' in 'a sudden break in the cloud-cover away in the
East' as in the draft (see note 7); here it is seen 'passing behind dark
isles of cloud and out into black pools of night.' In FR (p. 401) it had
set hours before.
Sam's remarks about Time in Lothlorien remain almost exactly as
in the draft (p. 354), as does Trotter's reply (in FR given to Frodo),
except that he now says (as does Frodo in FR): 'In that land, maybe,
we were in some time that elsewhere has long gone by.' Then Frodo
speaks:
'The power of the Lady was on us,' said Frodo. 'There are
days and nights and seasons in Lothlorien; but while she holds
the ring, the world grows no older in her realm.'
'That should not have been said,' muttered Trotter, half rising
and looking towards the other boats; 'not outside Lorien, not
even to me.'(15)
The warm and foggy morning that succeeded the night of the attack
and the argument between Aragorn and Boromir about the course to
follow were roughly sketched in initial drafting, where the conversa-
tion proceeds thus:
'I do not see why we should pass the rapids or follow this
cursed River any further,' said Boromir. 'If Pensarn lies before
us, then we can abandon these cockles and strike westward, and
so come round the east shoulders of Sarn-Gebir and cross the
Entwash into my own land of Ondor.'
'We can, if we make for Minas Tirith,' said Trotter. 'But that
is not yet agreed. And even so such a course is perhaps more
perilous than it seems. The land is flat and shelterless south and
east [read west] of Sarn-Gebir, and the [? first] ford over
Entwash is a great way west.(16) Since the Enemy took ...
Osgiliath that land may be full of foes: what do we know of
events of late in Rohan or in Ondor?'
'Yet here the Enemy marches all along the east bank,' said
Boromir. 'And when you come to Rauros what will you do?
You must then either turn back hitherward, or cross the hills
of Gebir and land in the marshes, and still have the Entwash to
cross.'
'The River is at least a path that cannot be missed. In the vale
of Entwash fog is a mortal peril. I would not abandon the boats
until we must,' said Trotter. 'And I have a fancy that in some
high place above the Falls we may be able to see some sign that
shall direct us.'
That a 'high place' would be the scene of a decisive moment in the
unfolding of the story had already been conceived: the summit of the
island in the River whence Frodo looked out (p. 324); but there is no
suggestion in Trotter's words here that this 'high place' would be an
ancient post of the men of Ondor.
In the fair copy manuscript Boromir objects: But the Enemy holds
the eastern bank. And even if you pass the gates of Gebir, and come
unmolested to the Tindrock, what will you do then? Climb down from
the hills and land in the marshes?' Here, the 'gates of Gebir' are the
later Gates of Argonath; thus the earlier references (p. 357), where
Trotter places the 'gates' before the rapids, had already been rejected.
Of Trotter's reply to Boromir's scoffing question there are three
forms: a draft text in pencil taking up at this point, and two versions in
the fair copy manuscript. The first version in the manuscript has
Trotter reply:
'Say rather, climb down from the hills to Rauros-foot and
then take boat again, and hope to slip unseen up the mouths of
Entwash - if we go to Minas Tirith. Do you choose to forget the
ancient path, Boromir, and the high seat upon Tol-Brandir, that
were made in the days of Valandil?(17) I at least have a mind to
stand in that high place before I decide my course. There maybe
we shall see some sign that will direct us.'
This version of Trotter's reply was struck out, and the pencilled draft
(which continues on for some distance) seems to have been written at
this point. This draft begins:
'No,' said Trotter. 'Do you choose to forget, Eoromir, the
North Stair, and the high seat upon Tol-Brandir that were made
in the days of Isildur? I at least have a mind to stand in that high
place again before I decide my course. There maybe we shall see
some sign that will guide us. Thence we [may] perhaps descend
by the ancient way to Rauros-foot and take again to the water;
and those who make for Minas Tirith may slip unseen up the
mouths of Entwash.'
Finally, the second version written in the manuscript is as in FR (p.
406), but still with 'in the days of Isildur' for 'in the days of the great
kings', and the high seat is still upon the isle - which is here
Tol-Brandor for Tol-Brandir of the previous versions. The isle there-
fore was not inaccessible; and this is puzzling, for the inaccessibility of
Tol Brandir is found both in the outline given on p. 328 and in the
preliminary draft material for the present chapter (p. 355).
Trotter's words before he and Legolas set off into the fog to find a
path take this form (and are very similar in the draft):
'No road was ever made along this bank by the men of
Ondor: for even in their great days their realm did not reach
beyond Sarn-Gebir, and the high seat upon the Tindrock was
their northmost watchtower. Yet there must be some path, or
the remains of one; for light boats used to journey out of
Wilderland down to Osgiliath; and still did so, until Sauron
returned to Mordor.'
'But he has returned,' said Boromir; 'and if you go forward,
you are likely to meet some peril, whether you find a path or
no.'
The story of the exploration made by Trotter and Legolas, their
return, the portage of the boats and baggage, and the departure of the
Company next morning, reaches in the fair copy virtually the text of
FR, with Pensarn for Sarn Gebir as the name of the rapids and the
Gates of Sarn-Gebir for the Gates of Argonath. From painfully
difficult writing the original description of the Pillars of the Kings can
be extracted out of the initial drafting, of which I give the following as
an example:
The great pillars seemed to rise up like giants before him as the
river whirled him like a leaf towards them. Then he saw that
[they] were carved, or had been carved many ages ago, and still
preserved through the suns and rains of many forgotten years
the likenesses that had been hewn upon them. Upon great
pedestals founded in the deep water stood two great kings of
stone gazing through blurred eyes northwards. The left hand
of each was raised beside his head palm outwards in gesture of
[?warning] and refusal: in each right hand there was a sword.
On each head there was a crumbling crown and helm. There
was still a power in these silent wardens of a long-vanished
kingdom.
In the fair copy the text of FR was almost reached, through a good
deal of correction as the manuscript was being written.
Trotter's words as they passed through the chasm (' "Fear not!" said
a strange voice behind him...') are exactly as in FR (p. 409), except in
two notable respects: 'In the stern sat Elfstone son of Elfhelm' - a
decisive demonstration of the correctness of the view (p. 277) that
Elfstone had reappeared and supplanted Ingold; and 'Under their
shadow nought has Eldamir son of Eldakar son of Valandil to fear.'(18)
It seems very improbable indeed that some other Valandil is meant
and not the son of Isildur: only shortly before Valandil has been
named in a draft ('in the days of Valandil', p. 359 and note 17, where
the text immediately replacing this has 'in the days of Isildur'), and in
the corresponding passage to the present in FR Aragorn calls himself
'son of Arathorn of the House of Valandil Isildur's son'. But if this
Valandil is the son of Isildur, then at this stage Trotter/Elfstone/
Aragorn was the great-grandson of Isildur; and what then are we to
make of the Pillars of the Kings, carved many ages ago, preserved
through the suns and rains of many forgotten years, the silent wardens
of a long-vanished kingdom? How can Frodo's amazement at the
Council of Elrond that Elrond should remember the array of the Last
Alliance ('But I thought the fall of Gilgalad was many ages ago', p. 110)
be reconciled to a matter of four generations of mortal Men? And
Gandalf had said to Frodo at Rivendell (p. 105 note 3) that 'he is
Aragorn son of Kelegorn, descended through many fathers from
Isildur the son of Elendil.' For the moment, at any rate, I can cast no
light on this.(19)
After the description of the Pillars of the Kings there is no further
initial drafting, and the earliest, or earliest extant, text is the fair copy
manuscript, in which the conclusion of the chapter 'The Great River'
in FR is very closely approached. Trotter, so called throughout the
chapter until he becomes 'Elfstone son of Elfhelm' when they pass the
Pillars of the Kings, is called 'Elfstone' when he points to Tol Brandir
at the far end of the lake (which is not named): see p. 370. And after
'Behold Tol Brandir!' he says no more than 'Ere the shade of night falls
we shall come thither. I hear the endless voice of Rauros calling.' The
journey had taken nine days; in FR 'the tenth day of their journey was
over.'
In the foregoing account I have attempted to discern the form of the
fair copy manuscript as my father first set it down; but the text was
heavily worked on, and certainty in distinguishing immediate from
subsequent corrections is not possible without close examination of
the original papers. This manuscript, as emended and added to,
reached in fact almost the form of the final text; yet an object of this
history is to try to determine the mode and pace in which the whole
structure came into being. Since some error is inevitable, I have erred
by assuming, if uncertain, a correction to be 'later' rather than
'immediate'; but that a good deal of the development took place
during this present phase of writing is clear. In particular, it is clear
that the entire section of the narrative from the end of the Gollum
episode to the escape of the Company from the rapids had been
rewritten before my father reached 'The Departure of Boromir',
because an outline for the opening of that chapter (p. 380) refers to
Trotter's having seen an eagle far off from the river 'above the rapids
of Sarn Ruin',(20) and this element (previously absent, p. 357) is
L
inseparable from the whole complex of revision at this point in the
present chapter.
This revision was carried out on inserted slips, one of which is an
Oxford University committee report dated 10 March 1941. This slip
provides of course only a terminus a quo, and proves no more than
that my father was revising this chapter during or after March 1941;
while a similar slip, dated 19 February 1941, used for initial drafting
at a later point in Chapter XXI (i.e. in the part corresponding to 'The
Breaking of the Fellowship' in FR), proves no more. It might be argued
that he would scarcely have preserved such reports of committee
meetings for use long after, and that these revisions therefore belong to
1941, but this is much too flimsy to support any view of the external
dating. See further p. 379.
The next version of the chapter was a manuscript made by myself,
presumptively after 4 August 1942, the date that I wrote at the end of
my copy of '[The Mirror of] Galadriel' (p. 261). I think that this copy
of mine provides exact evidence of the state of this chapter when my
father moved on from it to new regions of the story, and I shall now
therefore turn to it, noticing first certain names (in the form in which I
wrote them, of course, and before subsequent emendation by my
father).
Sarn-Gebir remains in my copy, for later Emyn Muil; the Gates of
Gebir or the Gates of Sarn-Gebir for the (Gates of) Argonath;(21) and
Ondor for Gondor. Trotter remains Trotter, because my father had
not emended it on his manuscript, until the end of the chapter, where
the Company passes beneath the Pillars of the Kings, and he is called
in the first manuscript 'Elfstone son of Elfhelm': this my father had
changed to 'Aragorn son of Arathorn', and my copy follows. On the
other hand he did not correct 'Under their shadow nought has Eldamir
son of Eldakar son of Valandil to fear', and my copy retains it. This
might be thought to be a mere inconsistency of correction on his part;
but this is evidently not the case, since on both manuscripts he added a
further step in the genealogy: 'Eldamir son of Valatar son of Eldakar
son of Valandil.' Since he did not strike out 'Eldamir son of Eldakar
son of Valandil' on my copy, but on the contrary accepted the
genealogy and slightly enlarged it, it must be presumed that Eldamir
beside Aragorn was intentional; cf. FR (p. 409): 'Under their shadow
Elessar, the Elfstone son of Arathorn... has nought to dread!', and cf.
Eldamir > Elessar, p. 294. My father's retention of the genealogy,
with the addition of Valatar, is also remarkable in that it shows him
still accepting the brief span of generations separating Aragorn from
Isildur.
By the criterion of presence or absence in my copy of the chapter the
flight of the black swans was added early. The chronology remained as
it was, the attack at the rapids taking place on the night of the seventh
day; and the references to the New Moon in FR pp. 400 - 1 are still
absent. The New Moon still first appears in the course of the attack,
but changed in that the clouds through which it broke were now in the
South, and the Moon rode 'across' not 'up' the sky (see pp. 353, 358).
The conversation concerning Time in Lothlorien (p. 358) was
developed in several competing and overlapping riders, and when I
came to make my copy my father evidently instructed me to set the
passage out in variant forms. The opening speeches (Sam's and
Trotter's - the latter given in FR to Frodo) remained effectively
unchanged - Sam's now ending: 'Why, anyone would think we had
come straight on, and never passed no time in the Elvish land at all.'(22)
The conversation that follows contains two pairs of alternatives,
which I here mark with numbers: 1 to 1 or 2 to 2 being alternatives,
and (within 2) 3 to 3 or 4 to 4 being alternatives.
1. 'The power of the Lady was on us,' said Frodo. 'I do not
think that there was no time in her land. There are days and
nights and seasons in Lothlorien; and under the Sun all things
must wear to an end sooner or later. But slowly indeed does the
world wear away in Caras Galadon, where the Lady Galadriel
wields the Elven Ring.'{1}
2. Legolas stirred in his boat. 'Nay, I think that neither of you
understand the matter aright,' he said. 'For the Elves the world
moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift,
because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a
grief to them. Slow, because they do (23) not count the running
years, not for themselves. The passing seasons are but ripples
ever repeated in the flowing/endless stream. Yet beneath the
Sun all things must wear to an end at last.'
3. 'But Lorien is not as other realms of Elves and Men,' said
Frodo. 'The Power of the Lady was upon us. Slow for us there
might time have passed, while the world hastened. Or in a little
while we could savour much, while the world tarried. The latter
was her will. Rich were the hours and slow the wearing of the
world in Caras Galadon, where the Lady Galadriel wields the
Elven Ring.'{3}
4. 'But Lothlorien is not as other realms of Elves and Men,'
said Frodo. 'Rich are the hours, and slow the wearing of the
world in Caras Galadon. Wherefore all things there are both
unstained and young, and yet aged beyond our count of time.
Blended is the might of Youth and Eld in the land of Lorien,
where Galadriel wields the Elven Ring.'{4,2}
'That should not have been said,' muttered Trotter, half rising
and looking towards the other boats; 'not outside Lorien, not
even to me.'
The night passed silently...
At the end of the chapter the lake remains nameless in my copy, first
Kerin-muil and then Nen-uinel being added to both manuscripts; but
an addition to my father's manuscript in which Aragorn speaks of
Amon Hen and Amon Lhaw was made before my copy was written.
This addition is precisely as in FR p. 410, except that both manu-
scripts have 'In the days of Isildur' for 'In the days of the great kings',
and both add after Amon Lhaw '[Larmindon]' and after Amon Hen
'[Tirmindon]'.
The original drafting shows that my father included all the narrative
to the end of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' as Chapter XXI, and the fair
copy manuscript likewise; but it is convenient to interrupt it at the
point where the break (present in my copy) between XXI 'The Great
River' and XXII 'The Breaking of the Fellowship' was subsequently
made.
NOTES.
1. Like the companion texts, the last section of 'Farewell to Lorien'
and 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien', this was written very
legibly for one of my father's initial drafts, and with remarkably
little hesitation. I take up small changes made at the time of
composition into the text given.
2. This is the first occurrence of Rauros in a text ab initio. For '
Eregon see p. 345 note 3.
3. I have attempted to set out the evolution of the Brown Lands in
relation to the First Map on pp. 313 - 16. In this passage appears
the description of them that survived with very little change into
FR (p. 396).
4. It looks as if this addition were made immediately. See note 6.
5. My father wrote here first Sarn, then Pen, striking them out in
turn before arriving at Pensarn (cf. the Etymologies, stems P E N,
SAR, V.380, 385).
6. The brackets are in the original. - The weather described is
obscure. Nothing is in fact said in this earliest form of the
narrative about the weather during the journey down Anduin
until the evening of the seventh day, when the weather was clear
and cold, and starlit (but this was an addition); now, not much
later, it was very dark, though the water reflected here and there a
misty star. Then, 'as Legolas gazed into the blackness away east
the clouds broke.'
7. 'Sam looked up at it in wonder': as well he might, seeing 'the
white rind of the new moon' rising in the East and 'riding up the
sky'. This is strangely paralleled in VI.325, where the moon on
the night spent by the hobbits with the Elves in the Woody End
was described thus: 'Above the mists away in the East the thin
silver rind of the New Moon appeared, and rising swift and clear
out of the shadow it swung gleaming in the sky.' In FR (pp.
400 - 1) the new moon is seen glimmering in the western sky on
the evening before the Orc-attack, and on the evening of the
attack 'the thin crescent of the Moon had fallen early into the
pale sunset.'
As the text was written it was Trotter who 'looked up at it in
wonder'. This was changed first to Merry, then to Sam; see
note 9.
8. The dark shape 'like a cloud yet not a cloud' that momentarily
cut off the moon's light is surely reminiscent of the shadow that
passed over the stars as the Company journeyed on from Hollin
in 'The Ring Goes South' (VI.421 - 2), and which Gandalf
unconvincingly suggested might be no more than a wisp of cloud.
Then too Frodo shivered, as here he 'felt a sudden chill'. As I
noted (VI.434), the former incident was retained in FR but never
explained: the Winged Nazgul had not yet crossed the Anduin.
But it seems likely to me that the shadow that passed across the
stars near Hollin was in fact the first precocious appearance of a
Winged Nazgul.
9. Sam is again (see note 7) changed from Merry, and Merry from
Trotter. In fact, the speech was given to Sam before its end was
reached, as is seen from ' "And that Sam is probably about the
truth of it," said Trotter'; and the transition from one speaker to
another is seen in the transition from the very un-Samlike 'The
moon I suppose does not change his courses in Wilderland?' to
'up pops a New Moon'.
10. Cf. the original draft of 'Lothlorien', p. 228: 'The last thin rind of
the waning moon was gleaming dimly in the leaves.'
11. Cf. the comment on Time in Lorien written on the fair copy
manuscript of 'Farewell to Lorien', p. 286; and see further on this
matter the 'Note on Time in Lorien' that follows.
12. On the emergence of the idea of the inaccessibility of the island
see p. 328.
any enemy is the correct reading, not an enemy (FR p. 396).
Sixty leagues (180 miIes) south of Sarn Ford agrees well with the
more southerly confluence of Limlight and Anduin on Map IV(D)
(p. 319).
15. Aragorn says this ('not even to me') also in FR (p. 405); but at
this stage he had no previous knowledge of Lorien, and presum-
ably had no knowledge until this moment of Galadriel's Ring.
16. No doubt the first reference to the Entwade, which was pencilled
in on map IV(C) and entered on IV(D) (pp. 318 - 19).
17. Valandil is named as the son of Isildur in texts of 'The Council of
Elrond' (pp. 121, 128, 147).
18. For an earlier occurrence of Eldakar see p. 276. An isolated scrap
(in fact the back of an envelope) has this note:
Trotter's names
Elessar
Eldamir (= Elfstone) son of Eldakar (= Elfhelm). Or Eldavel
= Elfwold.
On the same envelope is written, in almost identical words, the
passage concerning Frodo's thoughts under Galadriel's scrutiny
that was added to the fair copy manuscript of 'Galadriel' (p. 266
note 32: 'Neither did Frodo...').
19. On the back of the preceding page in the fair copy manuscript my
father scribbled down a first version of Trotter's words (in which
no genealogy appears), and it is curious that he wrote here: 'How
my heart yearns for Minas Ithil...', changing Ithil, probably at
once, to Anor: see p. 333 and note 27. - Also noted down here in
extreme haste are thoughts for the story immediately to come:
Frodo on Tol Brandir.
[?Strong) sight. Sees Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul opposed.
Sees Mordor. Sees Gandalf. Suddenly feels the Eye and
wrenches off the ring and finds himself crying Wait, wait!
20. A passing name for the rapids, replacing Pensarn, was Ruinel.
Sarn-Ruin is the name on map IV(C), p. 317. Cf. Dant-ruin,
Dant-ruinel, earlier names of Rauros (p. 285).
21. A passing form which my father entered on both manuscripts
before Argonath was reached was Sern Aranath.
22. When the chronology was changed, with the attack at the head of
the rapids taking place on the eighth night, and the New Moon
seen far away in the West on the seventh and eighth evenings,
Sam's words were expanded (and entered on both manuscripts),
though subsequently largely rejected:
Yesterday evening I saw it, as thin as a nail-paring, and this
evening it wasn't much bigger. Now that's just as it should be,
if we'd only been in the Elvish land for about a day, or more
than a month. Why, anyone would think that time slowed
down in there!
23. The phrase as my father wrote it was 'because they need not
count the running years', but in copying I missed out the word
need. Looking through my copy, but without consulting his own '
manuscript, he wrote in do; and do survives in FR (p. 405).
Note on Time in Lorien.
The narrative passages that introduce this question are found on
pp. 285 - 6, 354 - 5, 358, 363, and in note 22 above. This note is
primarily concerned with the various time-schemes that bear on it, but
for their understanding it is necessary to consider the chronology a
little more widely.
The first time-scheme to be considered here I will call 'I'; for
previous references to it see pp. 169, 215 note 1, and 344 - 5. In its
'Lothlorien' section it obviously belongs with the first drafting of the
story, and preceded the emergence of the idea that there was a
different Time in the Golden Wood. Here the dates are:
Nov. 24. Leave Rivendell.
Dec. 6. Hollin (Full Moon).
9. Snow on Caradras.
11. Reach Moria.
13. Escape to Lothlorien (Moon's last quarter).
14. Go to Caras Galadon.
15. Night at Caras Galadon.
16. Mirror of Galadrien.
17 - 21. Stay in Caras Galadon (Dec. 21 New Moon).
This stands at the foot of a page, but a second page, though in pencil
and not in ink, was clearly continuous:
Dec. 22 - 31 Remain at Caras Galadon, leave with the New Year
(Dec. 28 Moon's first quarter)
Jan. 1 - 4 No notes against these dates except Jan. 4 Full Moon.
On the departure of the Company from Lorien on New Year's Day see
p. 253 and note 28. But at this point, it seems, the idea of the disparity
of time entered; for after Jan. 4 my father wrote: 'Dec. 15 onwards
time at Caras does not count, therefore they leave on morning of Dec.
15' (cf. p. 286: 'if Lorien is timeless ... nothing will have happened
since they entered'). The rest of the scheme is based on this chronology
(and has been given on pp. 344 - 5)
At first the journey down the Great River was only to take two days:
'Dec. 17 Reach Tolondren. Dec. 18 Flight of Frodo. Dec. 19 Frodo
meets Sam and Gollum.' This was struck out, with the note: 'Take
ten days to reach [Emris ) Eregon >] Tolbrandir' (on Emris see
pp. 316 - 18 and note 12). The New Moon that caused Sam to raise the
question of Time in Lorien was still on Dec. 21; and they reached
Tolbrandir in the evening of Dec. 25.
Another scheme ('II') takes up at Dec. 22, but this is based on a later
date of departure from Rivendell: Dec. 25, as in FR. The chronology
of FR from Rivendell to Lothlorien was not yet reached, however, for
two reasons: first, that the journey to Hollin still took eleven days and
not fourteen (pp. 165, 169); and second, that in FR there are two
Yule-days after Foreyule (December) 30 as against Dec. 31 in scheme
II. Thus II is two days in advance of FR. The numerical dates in II,
when the Company left Rivendell on Dec. 25, soon become identical
to those in I, when they left on Nov. 24, simply because November has
30 days but December has 31; thus in I they crossed the Silverlode by
the rope-bridge and entered the Gore on Dec. 14, and in II on Jan. 14.
At this point the scheme in II reads:
Jan. 14 Over Silverlode
Time ceases
Jan. 15 Leave Lorien
Scheme II continues for some way on this basis before petering out.
These therefore are the relations between the former chronology (I),
the new (II), and FR:
I. II. FR.
Leave Rivendell. Nov. 24. Dec. 25. Dec. 25.
Hollin. Dec. 6. Jan. 6. Jan. 8.
Snow on Caradras. Dec. 9. Jan. 9. Jan. 11.
Reach Moria. Dec. 11. Jan. 11. Jan. 13.
Escape from Moria. Dec. 13. Jan. 13. Jan. 15.
Cross Silverlode. Dec. 14. Jan. 14. Jan. 16.
Leave Lorien. [Jan. 1 >] Dec. 15. Jan. 15. Feb. 16.
Reach Tol Brandir. Dec. 25. Jan. 25. Feb. 25.
Flight of Frodo. Dec. 26. Jan. 26. Feb. 26.
In II the New Moon was on Jan. 21, just as in I it was on Dec. 21,
and against this date in II is also: 'Battle with Orcs?' This was the
seventh day of the voyage down Anduin, as in the texts. But it is odd
that in both I and II the journey took eleven days, whereas in the texts
it took nine (pp. 361 - 2).
At the foot of the page carrying scheme II my father wrote: 'Does
Time cease at Lorien or go on faster? So that it might be Spring or
nearly so.' With this cf. p. 363: 'The Power of the Lady was upon us.
Slow for us there might time have passed, while the world hastened.
Or in a little while we could savour much, while the world tarried. The
latter was her will.'
Another chronology of far greater elaboration, made after the
changes introduced in October 1944 (see p. 406), was still based on
the conception that 'exterior' Time ceased in Lorien, for it begins:
Thurs. Jan. 19. Fifth day of voyage.
Fri. 20. Sixth day.
Sat. 21. Seventh day. Sam observes New Moon and is
puzzled.
Lastly, another later scheme of dates begins:
They spend what seems many days in Lorien, but it is about the
same time and date when they leave. [Added: In fact, one day later,
time moving about 20 times slower (20 days = 1).]
Here the Company again leaves Lorien on Jan. 15, but the chronology
of the journey approaches that of FR: 'Sam sees New Moon low in
West after sunset' on Jan. 21, but as in FR the attack by Orcs takes
place on the night of the eighth day, here Jan. 22; and Tol Brandir is
reached at dusk on Jan. 24. Here this scheme ends; but across the page
my father afterwards wrote these separate notes:
Why have any difference of time? Shift the dates a month forward.
If Lorien time is not different, then no need for Sam to see the
Moon.
Better to have no time difference.
A passage in the first manuscript of 'The White Rider' (p. 431) may
be mentioned here: Gandalf tells that after his rescue by Gwaihir from
the peak above Moria he came to Lothlorien and 'tarried there in the
long time which in that land counts for but a brief hour of the world'.
Phases of the Moon
Either while the making of Time-scheme I was in progress or at
some later point my father wrote at the head of the first page of it:
Moons are after 1941 - 2 + 6 days. He changed this to + 5 days, and
added: thus Full Moon Jan. 2 is Jan. 7. The phases of the Moon were
entered on scheme I in red pencil, and it is very hard to know whether
they belong with its making or were put in later. Many of these dates
were much changed, but no discernible relation with the phases of
1941 - 2 emerges, the dates in the scheme varying between two to six
days later. The phases as entered, also in red pencil, on scheme II,
when the departure from Rivendell took place on Dec. 25, are
however regularly five days later than those of 1941 - 2, beginning with
New Moon on Dec. 23, and then First Quarter on Dec. 30, Full Moon
Jan. 7, Last Quarter Jan. 15, New Moon Jan. 21 (against which is
written the time: 9.32), First Quarter Jan. 29 (time 6.35), Full Moon
Feb. 6. It is possible, therefore, though far from certain, that it was
only with scheme II and the decision to postpone the departure from
Rivendell by a month that my father decided to pattern the phases
precisely on those of 1941 - 2.
It will be seen shortly (p. 379) that my father was working on 'The
Departure of Boromir' in the winter of 1941 - 2. The postponement of
the departure from Rivendell is first seen in an outline for the story
following the ride of Gandalf and his companions from Fangorn to
Eodoras (p. 434 and note 1; see also pp. 422 - 3).
XVIII.
THE BREAKING OF THE FELLOWSHIP.
In the latter part of the original chapter 'XXI' initial drafting and 'fair
copy' were a continuous process. Up to the point where Sam broke in
on the discussion among the Company beside the river with 'Begging
your pardons, but I don't think you understand Mr. Frodo at all' (FR
p. 419), the drafting is very rough indeed, with separate passages
written in slips and not forming a consecutive narrative, while the 'fair
copy' is itself a mass of correction and rewriting in the act of
composition. Some passages gave my father great difficulty and he
experimented with their ordering and phraseology in many forms. But
from that point, and evidently made after the 'fair copy' had reached
it, there is a clear primary draft, in which the story just as it is in FR
(pp. 419 - 23) 'wrote itself', on the basis of a preliminary outline; and
the fair copy from here onwards can be properly so called. In this
manuscript the text of FR was effectively reached throughout, but the
division of 'XXI' into two, with a new chapter 'XXII The Breaking of
the Fellowship', was not made until after the text had been completed.
At first Trotter is 'Elfstone', not corrected, in both draft and fair
copy (see p. 361), but soon becomes 'Trotter', and is then so named
throughout.
The draft text begins:
That night they went ashore, and camped upon a green sward
beneath the slopes of [added: Amon Hen] the western hill. They
set a watch, but they saw no sign of any enemy or spy. If Gollum
had contrived to follow them, he remained unseen. 'I do not
think he would dare the passage of the Gates,' said Elfstone.
'But he may have travelled far over the hills, while we were
delayed at Pensarn. By now he knows the country well, and he
will guess too much of our divided purposes.(1) For we have with
us what he long possessed and it draws him ever towards us. "If
they turned west at Pensarn," he will say, "then for a time I can
do no more. Sooner or later I shall know, and then Gollum can
find a way, even to the walls of Minas-Tirith. But if they did not
turn west there is but one end to the river-road: Tol Brandir and
Rauros, and the North Stair. There they must go West or East. I
will watch upon the East." Likely enough he spied us with his
fell eyes far off from the eastern beaches or from some post
among the hills.'
The day came like fire and smoke...
Amon Hen looks as if it were added immediately, and is probably the
first occurrence of the name. An addition to the draft text introduces
the nocturnal conversation between Trotter and Frodo and the
drawing of Sting to see what its blade would show - a sign that the
attack by Orcs had now entered; but here it is Frodo who feels 'some
shadow or threat', and it is Frodo who says 'I thought as much. Orcs
are near. But how came they across the river? Never have I heard that
they came into this region before', with an authoritative tone more
characteristic of Trotter. In the fair copy Trotter's surmises about
Gollum's intentions were lost, and the opening of the chapter 'The
Breaking of the Fellowship' in FR was attained, except that the green
lawn beneath Amon Hen was named Kelufain, subsequently changed
to Calenbel.(2)
The description of Tol Brandir as Frodo saw it that morning,
already in the primary draft very close to the final form (FR p. 412),
with its sides springing sheer out of the running water (where 'no
landing place could be seen'), shows that the idea of its inaccessibility
was present (see p. 359). The conversation before Frodo departed
from the Company alone was very largely achieved at once, but in the
fair copy Trotter says: 'My own heart desires to go to Minas-Tirith,
but that is for myself and apart from your Quest', this being rejected,
probably immediately; and in both texts, in very similar words, he
says: 'Very well, Frodo son of Drogo. You shall be alone. But do not
let your thoughts be too dark. For after you have chosen you shall not
be alone. I will not leave you, should you decide to go to the gates of
Baraddur; and there are others of the same mind, I think.' To this
Frodo replied, in the fair copy: 'I know, and it does not aid my choice
[> it does not help me at all].' The primary draft continues:
The others remained behind near the shore, but Frodo got up
and walked away. Sam watched his master with great concern.
Then the Company turned again to debating what they could do
to aid the Quest, hopeless as it seemed [struck out: and whether
it were wise to try and end it swiftly or to delay]. Boromir spoke
strongly, urging ever the wisdom of strong wills, and weapons,
and great plans he drew for alliances, and victories to be, and
the overthrow of Mordor.(3)
Sam slipped away unnoticed. 'If orcs are anywhere nigh,' he
muttered, 'I am not going to let Mr. Frodo wander about alone.
In his frame o' mind he would not see an elephant coming, or he
might walk off the edge of a precipice.'
In the meanwhile aimlessly wandering Frodo found that his
feet had led him up the slopes of the hill.
The idea that Sam left the Company at this point was evidently very
soon abandoned.
The encounter with Boromir on Amon Hen was now developed
from the form it had reached in the outline given on pp. 325 - 7, and
with much difficulty the text of FR was achieved. I give here so much
as I can puzzle out of the form in which my father first wrote down
what Frodo saw when he looked out from Amon Hen wearing the
Ring (for the brief suggestions in previous outlines see p. 327 and note
7 and p. 366 note 19): his writing here is at its most difficult, the
marks very weak and the pen seeming to float or glide on the paper.
Northward he looked, and the Great River lay like a ribbon
beneath him, and the Misty Mountains small and hard as
broken teeth. Eastward into wide uncharted lands he looked.
West he gazed and saw little horsemen galloping like the wind
upon wide green plains, and beyond was the dark tower of
[Isengard o] Orthanc in the ring of Isengard.
Southward he looked..... Ethir Anduin the mighty delta of
the Great River, and myriads of seabirds [like a dust of white
specks] whirling... like a white dust, and beneath them a green
and silver sea rippling in endless moving lines.
But everywhere he looked he saw signs of war. The Misty
Mountains were like anthills to his sight: orcs were [?pouring]
out from countless [?holes]. Under the boughs of Mirkwood
there was deadly strife. The land of the Beornings was aflame. A
cloud was over Dimrilldale / Moria gates. Smoke rose upon the
borders of Lorien. [Dol Dughul] Horsemen galloping wildly on
the grass of Rohan, wolves poured forth from Isengard. From
the grey southward Havens [or Haven] an endless column of
armed men came. Out of the wild East men were moving in
endless [?shining] swordmen, [?spearmen], bowmen upon
horse; chariots and wains: whole peoples. All the power of the
Dark Lord was in motion.
Then as he came back south he saw Minas Tirith. Far and
beautiful it was, white-walled, many-towered, high upon its
mountain seat strong in the sun: its battlements glittered with
steel and its turrets were bright with many banners.............
was Minas Morgul....... its dark walls carven with... shapes,
its great tower like a tooth, its banners black, its gates like evil
mouths, and to eastward the Shadow of Death the hopeless
[?gates] of Gorgoroth. Then he saw the......... ... Mount [Doom
>] Dum: the Hill of Fire and.... Baraddur.
Then suddenly his gaze halted. The [?mists cleared] and he
cried aloud in fear. There was an eye in Baraddur. It did not
sleep. And suddenly it had become aware of....... There was a
fierce eagerness... [?will]... It leapt towards him, almost like a
finger he felt it [?feeling] for him. In a minute it would nail him
down, know just exactly [?to an inch] where he was. Amon
Lhaw it touched, it glanced at Tol Brandir - he cast himself
from the seat, [?crouching, covering] his head with his grey
hood. He was crying out but whether he was saying Never will
it get me, never, or Verily I come, I come to you, he could not
say. [?Probably] both.
Then as a flash from some other point of power there came
... another thought. Take it off. Take it off. 0 foolish! Take it
off. The two powers strove in him: for a moment perfectly
balanced between their... points he writhed. Suddenly he was
aware of himself.
In the complete manuscript that followed the draft, with much further
correction and experimentation of phrase as he wrote, my father
reached the final form; but the opening description of Frodo in the
high seat (for which there is no earlier drafting) in this manuscript is of
much interest. As first written, with a good deal of correction in the
process, the passage read:
At first he could see little: he seemed to be in a world of mist
in which there were only shadows. The Ring was on him. [Then
the virtue (written above: power) of Amon Hen worked upon
him] Then here and there the mists gave way and he saw many
things: small and clear as if they were beneath him on a table
and yet remote: the world seemed to have shrunk. [Added: He
heard no sound, seeing only bright images that moved and
changed.](4) He looked South and saw below his very feet the
Great River curve and bend like a toppling wave and plunge
over the falls of Rauros into a foaming pit: the fume rose like
smoke and fell like rain lit by a glimmering rainbow of many
colours. More remote still beyond the roaring pools were fens
and black mountains, many streams winding like shining
ribbons. Then the vision changed: nothing but water was below
him, a wide rippling plain of silver, and an endless murmur of
distant waves upon a shore he could not see.
He looked West and saw horsemen galloping like the wind:
their
On beyond the falls his eye wandered, here crossing reed-
grown fens, there marking the winding ribbons of swift streams
leaping down from small hard black mo(untains).
At this point my father rejected the entire passage from the words
'Then the virtue (power) of Amon Hen worked upon him' and began
again:
At first he could see little: he seemed to be in a world of mist
in which there were only shadows. The Ring was on him.
[Struck out at once: But also he sat now upon the seat of Sight
which the Men of Numenor had made.] Then here and there the
mists gave way and he saw many visions...
The new text then reaches the form in FR (p. 416); Frodo is sitting on
'the seat of Seeing, upon Amon Hen, the Hill of the Eye of the Men of
Numenor.'
Frodo 'seemed to be in a world of mist in which there were only
shadows. The Ring was on him. Then the power of Amon Hen
worked upon him': and the mists began to break. Still clearer is the
next stage of revision: '... The Ring was on him. But also he sat now
upon the seat of Sight which the Men of Numenor had made. Then
here and there the mists gave way...' Only one interpretation seems
possible: the wearing of the Ring inhibited his sight - he was in a
world of mists and shadows; but nonetheless he was sitting on the Seat
of Seeing on the Hill of the Eye, and 'the power of Amon Hen worked
upon him.' On the other hand, in the last outline written before this
point in the narrative was actually reached, the idea of the 'Seat of
Seeing' had not emerged (p. 327): Frodo was 'standing on rocks' in the
Stone Hills when Boromir attempted to take the Ring. It is said there
that from this place the range of the Mountains of Shadow could
be glimpsed 'like a smudge of grey, and behind it a vague cloud lit
beneath occasionally by a fitful glow'; but when Frodo put on the Ring
'he saw nothing about him but a grey formless mist, and far away (yet
black and clear and hard) the Mountains of Mordor: the fire seemed
very red.' In its origin, then, the peculiar clarity of Frodo's vision
on this occasion derived solely from the wearing of the Ring. This
question is discussed further on pp. 380 - 1.
When Frodo came down from the summit of Amon Hen, and
putting on the Ring again 'vanished and passed down the hill like a
rustle of the wind', the primary draft continues: 'The power of the
Ring upon him had been renewed; and maybe it aided his choice,
drawing him to Mordor, drawing him to the Shadow, alone.'
There exists a rough outline for the last part of the chapter, where
the story turns from Frodo to the Company, sitting where he left them
beside the river. This was written in faint pencil, subsequently inked
over.
Frodo does not come back in an hour. The hour wears on to
two, and the sun is at noon. Trotter gets anxious. He saw
Boromir go off, and return. 'Have you seen Frodo?' 'No,' said
Boromir, lying with a half truth. 'I looked for him and could not
see him.' [Added:? 'Yes,' said Boromir, 'but he ran from me and
I could not find him.'] Trotter decides they must search and
blames himself for allowing Frodo to go alone. Boromir comes
back ?
Great agitation, and before Trotter can control them they all
run off into the woods. Trotter sends Boromir after Merry and
pippin. He runs himself toward the Hill of Amon Hen followed
by Sam. But suddenly Sam stops and claps his head. 'You're a
fool, Sam Gamgee. You know quite well what was in Mr.
Frodo's mind. He knew he had to go East - that old Gandalf
intended it. But he was afraid, and still more afraid of taking
anyone with him...... He's run away, that's it - and .......
boat.'(5) Sam dashed down the path. The green camp-ground was
empty. As he raced across it he gasped. A boat was grinding on
the shingle - seemingly all by itself was slipping into the water.
It was floating away. With a cry Sam raced to the water-edge
and sprang after it. He missed it by a yard and fell into deep
water. He went under with a gurgle.
Conversation of Sam and Frodo. They go off together.
At this stage my father was not intending to end the chapter here,
and this sketch continues into the story of what became the first
chapter of The Two Towers, III.1 'The Departure of Boromir'; but I
postpone the remainder of it to the next chapter in this book.
The discussion among the members of the Company during Frodo's
absence took draft after draft to achieve,(6) and though the actual
content of what was said does not greatly differ from the form in FR
(pp. 418 - 19) it was at first given in part to different speakers (thus in
the earlier form it is Trotter who emphasizes, as does Gimli in FR, that
on no member of the Company save Frodo was obligation laid).
Notably, there appear in these drafts the phrases found in FR: 'the
Lord Denethor and all his men cannot hope to do what Elrond
declared to be beyond his power', and 'Boromir will return to Minas
Tirith. His father and people need him.' This is where the name
Denethor first emerged, with only the slightest initial hesitation: my
father wrote a B, or perhaps an R, then Denethor.(7) That Boromir was
the son of Denethor is clear, and is explicit in the outline given at the
beginning of the next chapter; in any case he was named long before as
the son of the King of Ond (VI.411).
As I have said, from the point where Sam intervened in the
discussion the conclusion of The Fellowship of the Ring was virtually
achieved at its first drafting and with very little hesitation, and there
are only two matters to notice. One concerns the return of Boromir to
the Company, where at first he replied to Trotter's question quite
differently (cf. the outline on p. 375):
'He has not returned then?' asked Boromir in return.
'No.'
'That's strange. To say the truth I felt anxious about him, and
went to seek him.'
'Did you find him?'
Boromir hesitated for an instant. 'I could not see him,' he
answered, with half the truth. 'I called him and he did not
come.'
'How long ago was that?'
'An hour maybe. Maybe more: I have wandered since. I do
not know! I do not know!' He put his head in his hands and said
no more.
Trotter looked wonderingly at him.
This was rejected at once and replaced by his account as it stands in
FR. - The other passage is that describing Sam's headlong descent
down the slopes of Amon Hen:
He came to the edge of the open camping-place (8) where the
boats were drawn up out of the water. No one was there. There
seemed to be cries and faint hornblasts in the woods behind, but
he did not heed them.
Before this was written, my father had already sketched out, in the
continuation of the outline of which I have given the first part on p.
375, the story of the Orc-attack and Boromir's death (p. 378). He had
now abandoned important elements in his former vision of the course
of the story after the disintegration of the Company: the journey of
Merry and Pippin up the Entwash, and the evil dealings of Boromir in
Ondor (pp. 211 - 12, 330). So far as written record goes, it was only
now that he perceived that Boromir would never return to Minas
Tirith.
NOTES.
1. I think that Trotter's meaning was: 'he will guess, too, much of our
divided purposes.'
2. The fair copy in fact followed the draft in the opening sentences,
and the paragraph with which 'The Breaking of the Fellowship'
opens in FR, describing the green lawn (Parth Galen), was added.
As the manuscript was written, the green lawn was not named. See
note 8, and p. 382.
3. This sentence was subsequently marked: 'Put this into his talk with
Frodo' (cf. FR p. 414).
4. The sentence a little later in this passage, 'an endless murmur of
distant waves upon a shore he could not see', was not changed
when this was added.
5. Written transversely across this part of the text, before the
underlying pencil was inked over, and extremely difficult to read,
is the following:
A good arrangement would be for Frodo running down hill to
run [?into] orcs attacking Merry and Pippin and Boromir.
Boromir is aware of his presence. When Boromir falls Frodo
escapes [to or (in) the] boat - because Frodo would not leave
Merry and Pippin in hands of orcs.
I do not understand the implication of the last sentence.
6. One of these drafts is written on an Oxford University committee
report dated 19 February 1941: see p. 362.
7. In the First Age Denethor led the Green-elves over Eredlindon into
Ossiriand. On the name see V.188.
8. Replaced in pencil in the fair copy manuscript by 'the lawn of
Kelufain': see note 2.
XIX.
THE DEPARTURE OF BOROMIR.
I mentioned in the last chapter that the outline for the end of the story
of 'The Breaking of the Fellowship' (p. 375) in fact continues on into
the narrative of the first chapter ('The Departure of Boromir') in The
Two Towers (henceforward abbreviated as TT).
Horns and sudden cries in the woods. Trotter on the hill
becomes aware of trouble. He races down. He finds Boromir
under the trees lying dying. 'I tried to take the Ring,' said
Eoromir. 'I am sorry. I have made what amends I could.' There
are at least 20 orcs lying dead near him. Boromir is pierced with
arrows and sword-cuts. 'They have gone. The orcs have got
them. I do not think they are dead. Go back to Minas Tirith,
Elfstone, and help my people. I have done all I could.' He dies.
Thus died the heir of the Lord of Minas Tirith. Trotter at a loss.
He is found standing perplexed and grief-stricken by Legolas
and Gimli (who have driven off a smaller company). Trotter is
perplexed. Was Frodo one of the hobbits? In any case ought he
to follow and try to rescue? Or go to Minas Tirith? He cannot
go in any case without burying Boromir. With help of Legolas
and Gimli he carries Boromir's body on a bier of branches and
sets it in a boat, and sends it over Rauros.
Trotter now finds that one boat is missing. No orc-prints at
camp. Whether hobbit-marks are old or new cannot be made
out. But Sam is missing. Trotter sees that either Frodo and Sam,
and Merry and Pippin, were together, or Frodo (and Sam?) have
gone off. Now little or no hope of finding Frodo in latter case.
He with Gimli and Legolas decide to follow Merry and Pippin.
'On Amon Hen I said I might see a sign to guide us! We have
found a confusion - but our paths at least are set for us. Come,
we will rescue our companions or else we will die after slaying
all the orcs we can.'
An addition to this text, certainly of much the same time, reads:
Trotter sees by the shape and arms of the dead orcs that they
are northern orcs of the Misty Mountains - from Moria? In fact
they are orcs of Moria that escaped the elves, + others who are
servants of Saruman. They report to Saruman that Gandalf is
dead. Their mission is to capture hobbits including Frodo and
take them to Isengard. (Saruman is playing a double game and
wants the Ring.)
At the bottom of the page is written:
Does Trotter have any vision on Amon Hen? If he does, let him
see (1) an Eagle coming down. (2) old man, like Frodo [sees] in
mirror. (3) orcs creeping under trees.
While working on the book my father would sometimes 'doodle' by
writing, often in careful or even elaborate script, names or phrases
from a newspaper that lay beside him or on which his paper rested. On
the back of the sheet carrying this outline - an examination script, like
most of the paper he used - he wrote out many such odds and ends, as
'Chinese bombers', 'North Sea convoy'; and among them are 'Muar
River' and 'Japanese attack in Malaya'. It is out of the question, I
think, that these writings on the verso should come from a different
time from the text on the recto. It is certain, therefore, that the time
was now the winter of 1941 - 2.(1)
This obviously agrees with my father's statement in the Foreword to
the Second Edition of The Lord of the Rings that he 'came to
Lothlorien and the Great River late in 1941.' He said that 'almost a
year' had passed since he halted by Balin's tomb in Moria; but I have
' argued (VI.461), I think with good reason, that he stopped in fact at
the end of 1939. To maintain this view it must be supposed of course
that something like two years (1940 - 1) passed between the halt in
Moria and the point we have now reached; but further evidence on the
subject seems to be lacking.
There are two preliminary versions of 'Trotter upon Amon Hen',
the first proceeding directly from the suggestions at the end of the
outline just given.
Trotter sped up the hill. Every now and again he bent to the
ground. Hobbits go light, and their footprints are not easy even
for a ranger to pick up. [Most of the path was stony, or covered
with old leaves still lying thick; but in one place a small spring
crossed it, and here Trotter stooping saw tracks in the moist
earth, and beyond on the stones faint traces. 'I guessed right', he
said. When he came to the top he saw...](2) But not far from the
top a small spring crossed the path and in the wet earth he saw
what he was looking for. Quickly he ran forward across the
flagstones and up the steps. 'He has been here,' he said to
himself. 'Not so long ago his wet feet came this way, [and up the
steps.] He climbed to the seat. I wonder what he saw?'
Trotter stood up and looked round. The sun seemed to be
darkened, or else the eastern clouds were spreading. He could
see nothing in that direction. As his glance swept round it
stopped. Under the trees he saw orcs crawling stealthily: but
how near to Amon Hen he could not guess. Then suddenly far
away he saw an eagle, as he had seen it before above Sarn
Ruin.(3) It was high in the air, and the land below was dim.
Slowly it circled. It was descending. Suddenly it swooped and
fell out of the sky and passed below his [? view].
As Trotter gazed the vision changed. Down a long path came
an old man, very bent, leaning on a staff. Grey and ragged he
seemed, but when the wind tossed his cloak there came a gleam
of white, as if beneath his rags he was clad in shining garments.
Then the vision faded. There was nothing more to be seen.
At the end of the text, and I think immediately, my father wrote:
'The second vision on Amon Hen is inartistic. Let Trotter be stopped
by noise of orcs, and let him see nothing.'
The second version continues on into Trotter's leaping descent from
the summit, his discovery of Boromir, and his words with him before
he died. Though written here in the roughest fashion the text was
scarcely changed afterwards, except in one respect: here (following the.
instruction at the end of the first version) Trotter does not go up to the
high seat at all:
Trotter hesitated. He himself desired to [sit in the Seat of.
Seeing >] go to the high seat, but time was pressing. As he stood
there his quick ears caught sounds in the woodlands below and
to his left, away west of the River and camping-place. He
stiffened: there were cries, and among them he feared that he
could distinguish the harsh voices of orcs; faintly and desper-
ately a horn was blowing.
In the first version the power of the Seat of Seeing upon Amon Hen
'works upon' Trotter indeed, but the visions he sees are isolated
scenes, more akin in their nature perhaps to those in the water of
Galadriel's Mirror than to the vast panorama of lands and war
vouchsafed to Frodo. In the second draft he does not ascend to the
high seat, and therefore sees nothing. In the fair copy manuscript that
immediately followed he does go up, as in TT, but again sees nothing,
save the eagle descending out of the sky: 'the sun seemed darkened,
and the world dim and remote.' Why should this be? The utter
unlikeness of the experiences of Frodo and of Aragorn in the Seat of
Seeing is not explained. I have said (p. 374) that as my father first
drafted the account of Frodo's vision it is explicit that it was 'the
power of Amon Hen', and not the wearing of the Ring, that accorded
it to him; and the first version of Aragorn's ascent to the summit
shows this still more clearly (by the very fact that he also saw visions
there). The final text of Frodo's vision is less explicit, and if this is
associated with the fact that in the final form Aragorn does go up but
sees nothing it may suggest a more complex relation between the
power of Amon Hen and the power of the Ring, a relation which is not
uncovered.
As I have said, the second of the original drafts for 'Trotter on
Amon Hen' (4) continues to the death of Boromir, and there are a few
details worth mentioning: it is not said (nor is it in the fair copy) that
the glade where Boromir died was a mile or more from the camping-
place (TT pp. 15, 18); Trotter says 'Thus passes the heir of Denethor,
Lord of the T[ower]' ('Lord of the Tower of Guard' in the fair copy, as
in TT); and very oddly, Boromir says 'Farewell, Ingold' - which can
surely be no more than an unwitting reversion to the former name,
instead of 'Elfstone'. In the fair copy, where he is otherwise called
'Trotter' throughout, Boromir says 'Farewell, Aragorn'; and this was
probably the first time that the name 'Aragorn' was used again (apart,
of course, from later correction at earlier points) after its abandon-
ment.
A full and tolerably legible draft takes up just a little further on,
from the coming of Legolas and Gimli to the glade, and there are only
very minor differences from TT (pp. 16 - 17) as far as 'The River of
Ondor will take care that no enemy dishonours his bones' (here given
to Legolas). At this point in the draft manuscript there is a little hasty
sketch, reproduced on p. 383, which indicates a difference (though
immediately rejected) from the later story: Legolas alone returned to
the camping-place. In the sketch are seen the rill that flowed through
the greensward there, and the two remaining boats (the third having
been taken by Frodo) moored at the water's edge, with Tol Brandir,
and Amon Lhaw beyond; X marks the battle where Boromir died. At
the shore is the boat brought back by Legolas, marking the place
where Boromir's body was set aboard it.
In the draft text there is no mention of finding the hobbits'
'leaf-bladed' knives (cf. VI.128, FR p. 157), nor of Legolas' search for
arrows among the slain; the first is absent from the fair copy also.
Then follows:
'These are not orcs of Mordor,' said Trotter. 'Some are from
the Misty Mountains, if I know anything of orcs and their [gear
>] kinds; maybe they have come all the way from Moria. But
what are these? Their gear is not all of goblin-make.' There were
several orcs of large stature, armed with short swords, not the
curved scimitars usual with goblins, and with great bows
greater than their custom. Upon their shields they bore a device
Trotter had not seen before: a small white hand in the centre of
the black field. Upon the front of their caps was set a rune
fashioned of some white metal.(5)
'S is for Sauron,' said Gimli. 'That is easy to read.'
'Nay,' said Legolas. 'Sauron does not use the Runes.'
'Neither does he use his right name or permit it to be spelt or
spoken,' said Trotter. 'And he does not use white. The orcs of
his immediate service bear the sign of the single eye.' He stood
for a moment in thought. 'S is for Saruman, I guess,' he said at
last. 'There is evil afoot at Isengard, and the West is no longer
safe. What is more: I guess that some of our pursuers escaped
the vigilance of Lorien or avoided that land, passing through the
foothills, and that Saruman also knows now of our journey, and
maybe of Gandalf's fall. Whether he is merely working under
the command of Mordor, or playing some hand of his own, I
cannot guess.'
'Well, we have no time to ponder riddles,' said Gimli.
With this compare the passage added to the outline on pp. 378 - 9.
- Both Legolas and Gimli now went back to the green lawn of the
camping-place, which is here named Kelufain, corrected to Forfain,
and that in turn to Calen-bel (all these changes being made at the
moment of writing),(6) but they returned together in a single boat. Thus
whereas in TT, where they brought both the remaining boats, the
three companions in the one towed out the other bearing Boromir, and
after passing Parth Galen cast it loose, here Legolas took the funeral
boat to Calen-bel while Trotter and Gimli returned there on foot. At
Calen-bel, 'All three now embarked in the remaining boat, and drew
the funeral boat out into the running river.' In the fair copy the final
story entered as my father wrote the text.
Apart from this, the account of Boromir's departure is almost word
for word as in TT, save that his hair is called 'gold-brown' (so also in
the fair copy, changed to 'long brown'; 'dark' in TT), and that it ends:
But in Ondor it was long recorded in song that the elven-boat
rode the falls and the foaming pit, and bore him down through
Osgiliath, and past the many mouths of Anduin, and out into
the Great Sea; and the voices of a thousand seabirds lamented
him upon the beaches of Belfalas.
Sketch-plan of the scene of the Breaking of the Fellowship.
There is no suggestion however that any lament was sung for him by
his companions; the draft reads here simply:
For a while the three companions remained gazing after him,
then silently they turned and drove their boat back against the
current to Calen-bel.
'Eoromir has taken his road,' said Trotter. 'Now we must
swiftly determine our own course....'
The fair copy manuscript is virtually the same. The earliest extant text
of the lament for Boromir (Through Rohan over fen and field, TT pp.
19 - 20) was however found with these draft papers, and a finely
written text was inserted into the fair copy, with re-writing of the
surrounding prose, at some later time. The earliest version is entitled
[Song >] Lament of Denethor for Boromir, and only differs in few
and minor points from the form in TT;(7) of rough working there is a
page bearing the most primitive sketching of phrases for the lament
(including the East Wind, that blows 'past the Tower of the Moon'),
and another of rough working for the North Wind (which seems to
have been swiftly achieved).
It might seem, from the original title Lament of Denethor, that it
was at first intended to be indeed the father's own song of grief, and
not merely in form: to be brought in at a later point in the story. But
against this are the first words on the page of rough working, clearly
belonging to the same time: ' "They shall look out from the white
tower and listen to the sea," said Trotter in a low voice.' The song is,
in any case, Denethor's Lament. The occurrence of 'Trotter' here
suggests that it belongs to this time, for before much more of the story
was written 'Aragorn' would replace 'Trotter' as the name by which
he is generally referred to. Another pointer in the same direction is a
line found in the rough working: 'The North Wind blows from
Calen-Bel', since in the course of the writing of the fair copy
manuscript the name changes from Calen-bel to Calembel (note 6).(8)
Trotter was at first less certain in his observations and conclusions
when he examined the ground at Calen-bel; and he did not think to
examine the baggage (nor yet in the fair copy). I cite the next part of
the draft text, which here becomes very rough, in full:
'No orcs have been here,' he said at last. 'But otherwise it is
not possible to say anything: all our footprints are here, and it
is not possible to say whether any of the hobbits' feet have
returned since the search for Frodo began. I think, but I cannot
be sure, that a boat was dragged to the water at this point,' he
said, pointing to the bank close to where the rill from the spring
trickled into the river.
'How then do you read the riddle?' asked Gimli.
'I think that Frodo returned from the hill-top wearing the
Ring,' said Trotter. 'He may have met Sam, but I think not:
Frodo was probably wearing the Ring. I think Sam guessed
Frodo's mind: he knew it better from love than we from
wisdom; and caught him before he went.'
'But that was ill done, to go and leave us without a word,
even if he had seen the orcs and was afraid,' said Gimli.(9)
'No, I think not,' said Trotter. 'I think Sam was right. He did
not wish us to go to death in Mordor, and saw no other way to
prevent that but by going alone and secretly. No, I think not,'
said Trotter. 'He had a Something happened on the hill to make
him fly. I do not know all, but I know this. Boromir tried to take
the Ring by force.'
Exclamation of horror from Legolas and Gimli.
'Think not ill of him,' said Trotter. 'He paid manfully and
confessed.'
Then follows in pencil:
Don't let Trotter tell of Eoromir's misdeed?
They draw up boat. Set out west after orcs. Trotter's plan is
to descend from Sarn Gebir into Rohan and try and learn of
orcs and borrow horses.
Legolas sees Eagle from escarpment, descending.
They meet an old man coming up hill to meet them. Don't
recognize him, though there is something familiar. Suspect he is
Saruman?
The final story of the reappearance of Gandalf moves a step closer.
In the 'Plot' written before Lothlorien was reached (p. 211) it was
Gimli and Legolas, on their way back North, who fell in with Gandalf,
Aragorn having gone with Boromir to Minas Tirith; and Gandalf then
'hastens south' with them. This was still the story in the subsequent
outline (p. 329). Now, the death of Boromir having entered, Trotter,
Gimli and Legolas are as in the final story on the trail of Merry and
Pippin when they encounter Gandalf returned; but they are to meet
him before their journey through Rohan has begun, before they have
set foot in the grasslands. The descending eagle that Legolas saw from
the escarpment of Sarn Gebir was bearing Gandalf (see p. 396); and it
is clear that the eagle that Trotter saw descending to earth as he looked
out from the summit of Amon Hen in the original draft (p. 380) was
the first appearance of this idea.(10)
In the fair copy the suggestion in this outline that Trotter should not
tell Gimli and Legolas what Boromir had done was taken up:
'... Something occurred after he left us to make his mind up: he
must suddenly have overcome his fear and doubt. I do not think
that it was a meeting with orcs.' What he thought it was Trotter
did not say. The last words of Boromir he kept ever secret.
This was changed, probably at once, to the dialogue in TT (p. 21), but
it is still said of Trotter that 'the last words of Boromir he kept ever
secret' ('he long kept secret', TT).
The draft text becomes formed narrative again with words of
Trotter's that in TT are given to Legolas: ' "One thing at least is
clear," said Trotter. "Frodo is no longer on this side of the River. Only
he could or would have taken the boat. As for Sam, he must be either
with Merry or Pippin or Frodo, or dead. He would have returned here
otherwise ere now." ' Gimli's words that follow, and Trotter's,
expounding his decision to follow the Orcs, are much as in TT'; and I
give the remainder of the draft, which at the end peters out, in full:
They drew up the last boat and carried it to the trees, and laid
beside it such of their goods as they did not need and could not
carry. Then they struck west. Dusk was already falling.
'Go warily,' said Gimli. 'We are assuming that all the orcs
made off after they had slain Boromir and captured Merry and
Pippin. But those that attacked Boromir were not the only ones.
Legolas and I met some away southwards on the west slopes of
Amon Hen. We slew many, creeping on them among the trees:
the cloaks of Lorien seem to deceive their sight. But many more
may still linger.
'We have not time for wariness. We will follow the trail from
the glade. Well is it that Orcs do not walk like hobbits! No folk,
even Men of the cities, make such a trampling, and they slash
and hack and beat down growing things as they pass, as if the
breaking of things delighted them.
'It is plain to see which way they went - west near to the .
shore, but not on it, keeping to the trees.'(11)
'But orcs go swiftly,' said Gimli. 'We shall have to run!'
'If my guess is right,' said Trotter, 'and they make for
Isengard, they will descend from the hills into Rohan. [Struck .
out: There they will not dare to journey save by night - and I
wonder indeed how they cross) Mayhap we can get horses in
Rohan,' said Trotter. 'If my guess is right and the orcs are
making for Isengard, they will
I interrupt the narrative here because, although my father had no
thought of halting, initial drafting from this point is lost (p. 390).
The draft that takes up with the coming of Legolas and Gimli to the
glade (p. 381) is numbered on each page 'XXIII', and 'XXIII'
continues on through the story of the chase across Rohan; the fair
copy likewise begins 'XXIII' at 'Trotter sped on up the hill', with the
title 'The Riders of Rohan', though another title apparently underlies
this. Although all these were pencilled additions to the manuscripts in
ink, I think it very probable that by this time the chapter-divisions of
LR had been introduced: XXI 'The Great River' ending after the
passage of the Pillars of the Kings and XXII 'The Breaking of the
Fellowship' ending at the departure of Frodo and Sam, with XXIII
extending all the way from Trotter's ascent of Amon Hen into
whatever adventures might befall the three companions from their
setting out from Calembel on the trail of the Orcs.
NOTES.
1. The Japanese invaded Thailand and N.E. Malaya on 7 - 8 Decem-
ber 1941. The crossing of the Muar River was on 16 January
1942. This information has been kindly provided by Mr. F. R.
Williamson. - Further evidence is provided by the use of the
Moon's phases of 1941 - 2; see p. 369.
2. This passage was placed within square brackets in the original, as
also was 'and up the steps' immediately following.
3. On the eagle seen far off on the evening before the Company
came to the rapids of Sarn Ruin see pp. 361 - 2.
4. At the top of the page carrying this text are written many
experimental Elvish names: Llawhen, Amon Tirlaw, Lhawdir,
Lasthen, Henlas, Hendlas, all being struck out save the first and
last. I am at a loss to account for these satisfactorily. Since both
Amon Hen and Amon Lhaw appear in primary drafting and
outlines that obviously preceded this text, it is perhaps possible
that the names already stood on the page before my father used it
for the account of Trotter on Amon Hen. If this were so, it might
be - since all of them are compounds of elements one of which
refers to hearing (l(h)aw, las(t)) and the other to sight (hen(d), tir)
- that they were devised before the eastern and western hills were
distinguished as the Hill of Hearing and the Hill of Sight.
5. The Old English S-rune is found also in the fair copy manuscript,
but there with the vertical strokes strongly curved, the upper
curve open to the left, the lower to the right. In that text the caps
of the Orcs become 'leathern caps' ('iron helms' TT).
6. The name Kelufain for the green lawn below Amon Hen was
added to the fair copy of 'The Breaking of the Fellowship', and in
one instance changed to Calenbel (p. 371 and note 2). In the fair
copy of the present chapter the name was Calenbel at the first
occurrence but subsequently Calembel (and once Calembel).
7. The differences are:
Verse 1: line 1 Through the mountain-pass, through Rohan )
Over mountains tall, through Rohan
5 over many streams
Verse 2: 2 brings
4 Why tarries Boromir the fair? For Boromir I grieve.
Verse 3: 4 Where now is Boromir the bold?
5 I heard his horn.
In every case these readings were replaced in careful script by
those in TT. At first only the third verse had the concluding
couplet beginning 0 Boromir!; but against this my father wrote:
'Omit? Or put extra couplet onto the other stanzas?' and then
provided them, as in the final form. Certain other changes were
put in later: see note 8.
8. The text of the Lament inserted into the fair copy is the final
form, though here written in short lines. An accompanying page
gives 'Alternatives to Song of Boromir', which were not used.
These change verse 1 line 3 tonight? to this morn?, line 4
becoming Have you seen Boromir the fair or heard his blowing
horn?; and verse 2 line 3 at eve? to tonight?, line 4 becoming
Where tarries Boromir the tall by moon or by starlight? Another
variant given here was to change verse 2 line 3 at eve? to at
morn?, line 4 becoming Where dwells now Boromir the fair?
What valleys hear his horn? These changes were pencilled also
onto the first text of the song. - In LR Calembel is a town in
Lamedon ('The Passing of the Grey Company', at end).
9. Cf. the passage given on p. 377 note 5.
10. Both sightings of the eagles survived in TT: Aragorn on Amon
Hen still sees one descending, and Legolas sees one from the
western escarpment of the Emyn Muil (see pp. 396 - 7).
11. Though no speaker is named, this speech ('We have not time for
wariness') is certainly Trotter's.
XX.
THE RIDERS OF ROHAN.
A single page of extremely rough notes, headed 'Sketch' and 'XXIII'
was written in pencil, and partly inked over.
Dusk. Night. Track less easy to follow. Sarn-Gebir runs North-
South.(1) They press on through night. Dawn on ridge - then.... the
escarpment. Legolas sees eagle far away. (Fangorn.)(2) Rich vegeta-
tion.
They see Black Mountains, 100 miles south. Entwash winding.
Find orc trail going up river. Meeting with Rohiroth. They ride to
Fangorn and hear news of battle and destruction of orcs and
mysterious old man who had discomfited orcs. They hear that no
captives were rescued. Despair. Old man appears.
[Added: XXV and later.] They think he is Saruman. Revelation of
Gandalf, and his account of how he escaped. He has become a white
wizard. 'I forgot most of what I knew.(3) I was badly burned or we/I
burned.' They go to Minas Tirith and enter in.
Rest of war in which Gandalf and I on his eagle in white leads
assault must be told later - partly a dream of Frodo, partly seen by
him (and Sam), and partly heard from orcs. (? Frodo looks out of
Tower, while prisoner.)
Minas Tirith defeats Haradwaith. They cross at Osgiliath [writ-
ten above: Elostirion], defeat orcs and Nazgul. Overthrow Minas
Morghul, and drive forward to Dagorlad (Battle Plain). They get
news that Ringbearer is captured.
Now Treebeard.
Then Frodo again.
In those passages where the original text was inked over the under-
lying pencil can be largely made out, and it is seen that Haradwaith
was present: this appears on the First Map, translated Sutherland, as
the name of the great region south of Mordor and east of the Bay of
Belfalas (Map III, p. 309).(4) On the other hand Nazgul, here first met
with, was not, and nor was Dagorlad (the pencilled text had only
Battle Plain); the First Map had Dagras, changed to Dagorlad (p.
310). Elostirion above Osgiliath was also an addition when the text
was inked over; on this new name see p. 423. - There are other notes
on the page which do not relate directly to the foregoing consecutive
sketch, but which may be given here.
(1) Greyfax [> Shadowfax]. Halbarad. Horse of Gandalf reappears
- sent for from Rivendell. Arrives later. It is 500 - 600 miles from
Rivendell and would take Shadowfax 10 - 14 days.
The name Halbarad was added at the same time as Greyfax >
Shadowfax, and these changes look as if they were made at once. In
Gandalf's tale in the fifth version of 'The Council of Elrond' the horse
that Gandalf got in Rohan was likewise named Halbarad and
Greyfax, and there Greyfax was certainly changed to Shadowfax in
the act of writing. In that text there is no mention of what happened
to Shadowfax after Gandalf reached Rivendell (see p. 152); but an
isolated slip of paper has a note on this (together with a passage of
initial drafting for 'The King of the Golden Hall'): 'Some account
of "Shadowfax" in the house of Elrond must be given and what
arrangements were made about him. Or did he just run off after
Gandalf got to Rivendell? How did Gandalf summon him?'
(2) Rohiroth are relations of Woodmen and Beornings, old Men of
the North. But they speak Gnomish - tongue of Numenor and
Ondor, as well as [?common] tongue.
(3) Trotter should know Eomer.
(4) Marhad Marhath is 2nd Master. [Written in margin: Marhad
Marhath Marhelm Marhun Marhyse Marulf](5)
(5) Eowyn Elfsheen daughter of Eomund?
On the back of this page is very rough drafting for the conversation
with Eomer (p. 400), but there is also here the note: Eowyn Elfsheen
daughter of Theoden.
The original manuscript of 'The Riders of Rohan' is a difficult and
chaotic document, and its textual history was hard to ascertain. In this
chapter (numbered throughout 'XXIII' and without new title, see
p. 387), as in those that follow, my father adopted the practice,
occasionally found earlier, of erasing his primary draft, or substantial
portions of it, and writing a new version on the pages where it had
stood. In this case the original drafting from the point reached on p.
386 ('If my guess is right and the orcs are making for Isengard, they
will') is lost for a long stretch through erasure and the re-use of the
pages, though here and there bits of it can be read. The original draft,
which I will call 'A', emerges however at the point in the narrative
(corresponding to TT p. 29) where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli
approached the low downs to the east of the river Entwash, and
continues through the story of the encounter with the Riders; at which
point my father abandoned it, realizing that the story as he was telling
it was 'not what really happened' (see the letter cited on p. 411). It was
now that he returned to the beginning, and began a new text ('B')
using the erased pages of A up to the point mentioned. It seems clear
that what survives of A survives because it was written largely in ink
and not in pencil. The structure of the manuscript is thus:
A erased B written on erased A
A not erased; ends because abandoned
B continued independently
The textual history of the writing of the chapter is of course simply A
followed by B.
Both ways of presenting the material have their disadvantages, but
after much experimentation it seems to me best to look first at what
remains of A. This I give in full, excepting only one passage.
[Their elven-cloaks faded against the] background, and even in
the clear cool sunlight few but elvish eyes would have seen them
until close at hand as they passed, running or striding tirelessly
with a brief pause every three hours or so.
That evening they reached the low downs. A narrow strip
of moist green land some ten miles wide lay between them and
the river winding in dim thickets of sedge and reed. Here the
Entwash and the line of downs bent due north,(6) and the orc-trail
was plain to see under the lee of the hills. 'These tracks were
made today,' said Trotter. 'The sun was already high before our
enemy passed. We might perhaps have glimpsed them far ahead,
if there had been any rising ground to give us a long view.'
'Yet all the while they draw nearer to the mountains and the
forest, where our hope of aiding our friends will fail,' said
Gimli. Spurred by this thought the companions sped onward
again through the dusk, and far into the night. They were
already half-way along the downs before Trotter called a halt.
The waxing moon was shining bright. 'Look!' he said. 'Even
orcs must pause at times.' Before them lay a wide trampled
circle, and the marks of many small fires could be seen under the
shelter of a low hillock. 'They halted here about noon, I guess,'
said Trotter. 'How long they waited cannot be told, but they are
not now many hours ahead. Would that we need not stay; but
we have covered many a long league since we last slept, and we
shall all need our strength maybe tomorrow, if we come up with
our enemies at last.'
Before dawn the companions took up the hunt again. As soon
as the sun rose and the light grew they climbed the downs and
looked out. Already the dark slopes of the forest of Fangorn
could be seen, and behind, glimmering, the white head of
Methen Amon, the last great peak of the Misty Mountains.(7)
Out of the forest flowed the river to meet them. Legolas looked
round, turning his gaze through west to south. There his keen
elf-eyes saw as a shadow on the distant green a dark moving
blur.
'There are folk behind as well as in front,' he said, pointing
away over the river. Trotter bent his ear to the earth, and there
was a silence in the empty fields, only the airs moving in the
grass could be heard. 'Riders,' said Trotter rising: 'many
horsemen in haste. We cannot escape in this wild bare land.
Most likely it is a host of the Rohiroth that have crossed the
great ford at Entwade.(8) But what part the Horsemasters are
minded to play and which side they serve I do not know. We can
but hope for the best.'
The companions hastened on to the end of the downs. Behind
them now they could hear the beat of many hooves. Wrapping
their cloaks about them they sat upon a green bank close to the
orc-trail and waited. The horsemen grew ever nearer, riding like
the wind. The cries of clear strong voices came down the
following breeze. Suddenly they swept up with a noise like
thunder: a long line riding free many abreast, but following the
orc-trail, or so it seemed, for the leaders rode bent low, scanning
the ground even as they raced. Their horses were of great
stature...
The account of the Riders and their horses, though rougher in
expression, is very much as that in TT pp. 33-4, and the description in
this original draft of the wheeling horses suddenly halting was never
changed - except in the point that 'fifty lances were at rest pointing
towards the strangers', where TT has 'a thicket of spears' (Legolas had
counted one hundred and five Riders, p. 32).(9) - The conclusion of the
primary draft, the conversation between Eomer and Aragorn in its
earliest form, ran thus:
'Who are you, and what are you doing in this land?' said the
rider, using the common speech of the West, in manner and tone
like Boromir and the men of Minas Tirith.
[Rejected immediately: 'I am Aragorn Elessar (written above:
Elfstone) son of Arathorn.](10) 'I am called Trotter. I come out
of the North,' he replied, 'and with me are Legolas [added:
Greenleaf] the Elf and Gimli Gloin's son the Dwarf of Dale. We
are hunting orcs. They have taken captive other companions of
ours.'
The rider lowered his spear-point and leaped from his horse,
and standing surveyed Trotter keenly and not without wonder.
At length he spoke again. 'At first I thought you were orcs,' he
said, 'but that is not so. Indeed you know little about them, if
you go hunting them in this fashion. They are swift and
well-armed, and there are very many, it is said. You would be
likely to change from hunter to quarry, if you ever caught up
with them. But there is something strange about you, Master
Trotter.' He bent his clear bright eyes again upon the ranger.
'That is no name for a man that you give. And strange is your
raiment - almost it seems as if you had sprung out of the grass.
How did you escape our sight?'
'Give me your name, master of horses, and maybe I will give
you mine, and other news,' answered Trotter.
'As for that,' said the rider, 'I am Eomer son of Eomund,
Third Master of the Riddermark. Eowin the Second Master is
ahead.'
'And I am Aragorn Elfstone son of Arathorn Tarkil, the heir
of Isildur Elendil's son of Ondor,' said Trotter. 'There are not
many among mortal men who know more of orcs. But he that
lacks a horse must go on foot, and when need presses no more
friends may a man take with him than he has at hand. Yet I am
not unarmed.' He cast back his cloak: the elven-sheath glittered
and the bright blade of Branding shone like a sudden flame as he
swept it out. 'Elendil!' cried Trotter. 'See the sword that was
broken and is now remade. As for our raiment, we have passed
through Lothlorien,' he said, 'and the favour of the Lady of the
Galadrim goes with us. Yet great is our need, as is the need of
all the enemies of Sauron in these days. Whom do you serve?
Will you not help us? But choose swiftly: both our hunts are
delayed.'
'I serve the Father and Master of the Riddermark,' said
Eomer. 'There is trouble upon all our borders, and even now
within them. Fear which was once a stranger walks among us.
Yet we do not serve Sauron. Tribute he seeks to lay on us. But
we - we desire only to be free, and to serve no foreign lord.
Guests we will welcome, but the unbidden robber will find us
swift and hard. Tell me [?briefly] what brings you here.'
Then Trotter in few words told him of the assault on Calenbel
and the fall of Boromir. Dismay was plain to see on Eomer's
face and many of his men at that news. It seemed that between
Rohan and Ondor there was great friendship. Wonder too was
in the eyes of the riders when they learned that Aragorn and his
two companions had come all the way from Tolbrandir since
the evening of the third day back on foot.
'It seems that the name of Trotter was not so ill given,' said
Eomer. 'That you speak the truth, if not all the truth, is plain.
The men of Rohan speak no lies, but they are not easily
deceived. But enough - there is now more need of speed than
before. We were hastening only to aid of Eowin, since news
came back that the orc-host was large and outnumbered the
pursuers, but twenty-five that we first sent. But if there are
captives to rescue we must ride faster. There is one spare horse
that you can have, Aragorn. The others must make shift to ride
behind my two esquires.'
Aragorn leapt upon the back of the great grey horse that was
given to him.
Here the primary draft A ends, and as my father broke off he noted:
This complicates things. Trotter etc. should meet Eomer returning
from battle north of the Downs near forest.... and Eomer should
[?deny] any captives.
Trotter learns war has broken out with Saruman [?even] since
Gandalf s escape.(11)
From 'Aragorn and his two companions had come all the way from
Tolbrandir since the evening of the third day back' the chronology at
this stage can be deduced:
Day 1. Death of Boromir. Leave Calenbel; night in Sarn Gebir.
Day 2. First day in plains of Rohan.
Day 3. Second day in plains of Rohan; reach downs in evening.
Day 4. In morning go on to northern end of downs; encounter with
Riders.
Despite the radical alteration in the story that now entered (the Riders
were returning from battle with the Orcs, not on their way to it) this
chronology was retained for a long time.
We come now to the second version 'B'. This text was much worked
on subsequently, but I mostly cite it as it was first written, unless a
change seems to have been immediate. It was now that my father
began to use 'Aragorn' again in place of 'Trotter' as the ordinary name
in narrative, though at first he still now and then wrote 'Trotter' out of
habit before changing it immediately to 'Aragorn'.
At the point where in TT 'The Departure of Boromir' ends and 'The
Riders of Rohan' begins the text reads thus:
'We have no time now for wariness,' said Aragorn. 'Dusk will
soon be about us. We must trust to the shadows and our cloaks,
and hope for a change of luck.' He hastened forward, hardly
pausing in his stride to scan the trail; for it needed little of his
skill to find.
'It is well that the orcs do not walk with the care of their
captives,' said Legolas, as he leaped lightly behind. 'At least
such an enemy is easy to follow. No other folk make such a
trampling. Why do they slash and beat down all the growing
things as they pass? Does it please them to break plants and
saplings that are not even in their way?'
'It seems so,' answered [Trotter >] Aragorn; 'but they go
with a great speed for all that. And they do not tire.'
In both we may prove their equals, said Gimli. But on foot
we cannot hope to overtake their start, unless they are hindered.'
'I know it,' said Aragorn; 'yet follow we must, as best we can.
And may be that better fortune awaits us if we come down into
Rohan. But I do not know what has happened in that land in
late years, nor of what mind the Horse-Masters may now be
between the traitor Saruman and the threat of Sauron. They
have long been friends with the people of Ondor and the lords
of Minas Tirith, though they are not akin to them. After the fall
of Isildur they came out of the North beyond Mirkwood, and
their kinship is rather with the Brandings, the Men of Dale, and
with the Beornings of the woods, among whom still may be seen
many Men, tall and fair, like the Riders of Rohan. At the least
they will not love the Orcs or aid them willingly.'(12)
Dusk deepened. Mist lay behind them among the trees below...
Here in TT the chapter 'The Riders of Rohan' begins, and this
earliest extant text is already very close to it in the story of the night
spent scrambling on the ridges and in the gullies of Sern-gebir (as the
name is written at this point) and the discovery of the slain Orcs. The
Rohirrim are still the Rohiroth, Gondor is Ondor, and the White
Mountains are the Black Mountains (described in precisely the same
words as in TT p. 24, and as there distant 'thirty leagues or more').
Aragorn's verse took this form:
(Aragorn sings a stave)
Ondor! Ondor! Between the Mountains and the Sea
Wind blows, moon rides, and the light upon the Silver Tree
Falls like rain there in gardens of the King of old.
O white walls, towers fair, and many-footed throne of gold!
O Ondor, Ondor! Shall Men behold the Silver Tree
Or West Wind blow again between the Mountain fs J and the Sea?
It can be made out from the erased primary text A that this verse was
not present, but only Aragorn's words that precede it. In this earliest
form many-footed throne of gold was changed, probably very soon, to
winged crown and throne of gold as in TT. These are the first
references to the Winged Crown and the White Tree of Gondor.(13)
Then follows (as originally written):
The ridge fell steeply before their feet: twenty fathoms or
more it stood above the wide shelf below. Then came the edge
of a sheer cliff: the East Wall of Rohan. So ended Sarn Gebir,
and the green fields of the Horsemasters rolled against its feeg
like a grassy sea. Out of the high land fell many freshets and
threadlike waterfalls, springing down to feed the wandering
Entwash, and carving the grey rock of the escarpment into
countless crannies and narrow clefts. For a breathing space the,
three companions stood, rejoicing in the passing of night, '
feeling the first warmth of the mounting sun pierce the chill of
their limbs.
'Now let us go!' said Aragorn, drawing his eyes of longing
away from the south, and looking out west and north to the
way that he must go.
'See!' cried Legolas, pointing to the pale sky above the blur
where the Forest of Fangorn lay far across the plains. 'See! The
eagle is come again. Look! He is high, but he is coming swiftly
down. Down he comes! Look!'
'Not even my eyes can see him, my good Legolas,' said
Aragorn. 'He must be away upon the very confines of the forest.
But I can see something nearer at hand and more urgent...'
On previous references to the descending eagle see p. 385. Subsequent-
ly my father pencilled in against this passage:
Eagle should be flying from Sarn Gebir, bearing Gandalf from
Tolbrandir where he resisted the Eye and saved Frodo? If so
substitute the following:
'Look!' said Legolas, pointing up in the pale sky above them.
'There is the eagle again. He is very high. He seems to be flying
from Sarn Gebir now back northward. He is going back
northward. Look! '
'No, not even my eyes can see him, my good Legolas,' said
Aragorn. 'He must be far aloft indeed. I wonder what is his
errand, if he is the same bird that we have seen before. But look'
I can see something'
This is virtually the text of TT (p. 25); and it is curious to see what its
meaning was when it was first written - that Gandalf was passing high
above their heads. The eagle was flying to Fangorn (and therefore
north-west rather than north), whereas in TT Gandalf explains later to
Legolas (pp. 98 - 9) that he had sent the eagle, Gwaihir the Windlord,
'to watch the River and gather tidings: Gwaihir had told him of the
captivity of Merry and Pippin.(14) Against the suggestion here that the
eagle was carrying Gandalf from Tol Brandir 'where he resisted the
Eye and saved Frodo' my father wrote w o in large letters; cf. TT p. 99:
'I sat in a high place, and I strove with the Dark Tower; and the
Shadow passed.' Nonetheless he preserved the new text.
In TT (pp. 25 - 6) the three companions followed the Orc-trail north
along the escarpment to the ravine where a path descended like a stair,
and followed the trail down into the plain. In the present text the story
is different:
...a rough path descended like a broad steep stair into the
plain. At the top of the ravine Aragorn stopped. There was a
shallow pool like a great basin, over the worn lip of which the
water spilled: lying at the edge of the basin something glistening
caught his eye. He lifted it out and held it up in the light. It
looked like the new-opened leaf of a beech-tree, fair and
untimely in the winter morning.
'The brooch of an elven-cloak!' cried Legolas and Gimli
together, and each with his hand felt for the clasp at his own
throat; but none of their brooches were missing.
'Not lightly do the leaves of Lorien fall,' said Aragorn
solemnly. 'This clasp did not betray its owner, nor stray by
chance. It was cast away: maybe to mark the point where the
captors turned from the hills.'
'It may have been stolen by an orc and dropped,' said Gimli.
'True enough,' said Legolas, 'but even so it tells us that one at
least of our Company was carried off as Boromir said.'
'It may tell no more than that one of our Company was
plundered,' answered Gimli.
Aragorn turned the brooch over. The underside of the leaf
Was of silver. 'It is freshly marked,' he said. 'With some pin or
Sharp point it has been scored.(15) See! A hand has scratched on it
(...).'
The others looked at the faint letters eagerly. 'They were both
alive then so far, said Gimli. That is heartening. We do not
pursue in vain. And one at least had a hand free: that is strange
and perhaps hopeful.'
'But the Ringbearer was not here,' said Aragorn. 'At least
so we may guess. If I have learned anything of these strange
hobbits, I would swear that otherwise either Merry or Pippin
would have put F first, and F alone if time allowed no more. But
the choice is made. We cannot turn back.'
The three companions climbed down the ravine. At its foot
they came with a strange suddenness upon the grass of Rohan.
I think that it was here, arising out of this moment in the narrative,
that the leaf-brooches of Lorien were conceived; they were then
written into the fair copy manuscript of 'Farewell to Lorien' (p. 285).
But it is strange that Aragorn should speak as though the brooch was
at last a clear if not altogether final evidence that Frodo was not a
captive of the Orcs, for in drafting for 'The Departure of Boromir' (p.
386) he had said: 'One thing at least is clear. Frodo is no longer on this
side of the River. Only he could or would have taken the boat'; and
that he should feel that this evidence called for some reinforcement of
the decision to pursue the Orcs. - The postponement of the discovery
of Pippin's brooch to its place in TT (p. 26) was introduced not long
afterwards in a rider; see p. 408.
The entire account in TT from the debate at nightfall of the first day
in the plains of Rohan (27 February: the second day of the chase) to
their setting off again on the following morning (pp. 27 - 9) is lacking
here. The text reads thus:
... No longer could any sight of them be seen in the level plains.
When night was already far advanced the hunters rested for a
while, somewhat less than three hours. Then again they went
on, all the next day with scarcely a pause. Often they thanked
the folk of Lorien for the gift of lembas; for they could eat and
find new strength even as they ran.
As the third day [i.e. of the chase] wore on they came to long
treeless slopes, where the ground was harder and drier and the
grass shorter: the land rose, now sinking now swelling up,,
towards a line of low, smooth downs ahead. To their left the
river Entwash wound, a silver thread in the green floor. The
dwellings of the Rohiroth were for the most part far away
[south >] to the west (16) across the river, under the wooded eaves
of the Black Mountains, which were now hidden in mist and
cloud. Yet Aragorn wondered often that they saw no sign of
beast or man, for the Horsemasters had formerly kept many
studs and herds in this eastern region (Eastemnet),(17) and
wandered much, living often in camp or tent, even in the
winter-time. But all the land was now empty, and there was a
silence upon it that did not seem to be the quiet of peace.
Through the wide solitude the hunters passed. Their elven-
cloaks faded against the background of the green fields...
It is at this point that the original text A emerges (p. 391). The new
version B, still replacing it but no longer destroying it, advances far
towards the final text, and for long stretches is almost identical. The
original time-scheme, as set out on p. 394, was retained: the three
companions still came to the downs at the end of the third day of the
chase (i.e. the second day in the plains of Rohan); Aragorn still
asserted that the tracks which they found there had been made that
day; and they still went on far into the night, not stopping until they
were halfway along the downs, where they found the orc-
encampment. In this version, in fact, the Orcs were less far ahead than
they were in A: ' "They halted here in the early evening, I guess," said
Aragorn.' It was at this point that Aragorn lay on the ground for a
long time motionless (cf. TT pp. 28 - 9; but here it was by moonlight,
in the night following 'Day 3' of the chase, not at dawn of 'Day 3' and
gill far east of the downs).
'The rumour of the earth is dim and confused,' he said. 'Many
' feet I heard, far away; but it seemed to me also that there were
horses, horses galloping, and yet all were going away from us.
I wonder what is happening in this land. All seems strange. I
distrust the very moonlight. Only the stars are left to steer by,
and they are faint and far away. I am weary, as a Ranger should
never be on a fresh trail; yet we must go on, we must go on.'
In this version they seem not to have slept at all that night: 'when
dawn came they had almost reached the end of the downs'; and 'as the
sun rose upon the fourth day of the pursuit, and the light grew, they
climbed the last height, a rounded hill standing alone at the north end
of the downs - where in TT (p. 31) they spent the night of the fourth
day.(18)
The coming of the Rohiroth now reaches the text of TT,(19) and the
only difference to mention is that Legolas, seeing them far away, said:
'There are one hundred save three'; this almost certainly indicates, I
think, that three Riders had been lost from an eored of 100 horse. But
'one hundred save three' was changed to 'one hundred and five' before
the end of the chapter was reached, for Eomer subsequently tells
Aragorn that they had lost fifteen men in the battle. (On the
constitution of an eored see Unfinished Tales p. 315.)
The first part of Aragorn's conversation with Eomer in B is actually
a third version, for it is written over erased pencil drafting, as far as the
Point where Gimli explains to Eomer the meaning of the word
'hobbits' (TT p. 37); and here the final form is reached apart from one
or two details: Branding as the name of Aragorn's sword, Masters for
Marshals of the Mark. It is here that Theoden son of Thengel first
appears: if some other names preceded these they are lost in the
underlying erased text. Theoden is not here called 'King', but 'the First
Master'.
For the next portion of the chapter there is some extremely rough
drafting, scarcely more than notes, preliminary to the writing of B. In
these my father did not see Gandalf as a well-known figure in Rohan,
and he still thought that there was another troop of Riders in that
region (detached from Eomer's host?):
The old man who said he had escaped from Orthanc on an eagle!
And demanded a horse and got it! Some said he was a wizard. And
Shadowfax... [?came back] only a day ago.
Eomer says some orcs fled towards Wold. Aragorn may meet
other Riders: Marhath the Fourth Master [see p. 390] is there with a
few men. Aragorn wishes to go on. Eomer gives him token to show
Marhath. Aragorn pledges his word to return to Theoden and
vindicate Eomer. Farewell.
In the part of the B-text developed from these notes the hobbits are
called the 'Half-high', not as in TT the 'Halflings': in Gimli's reference
to 'the words that troubled Minas Tirith' he says 'They spoke of the
Half-high', as in the form of the verse in the fifth version of 'The
Council of Elrond (p. 146).(20) Aragorn s reply to the scoffing question
of Eothain 'Are we walking in legends or on the green earth under the
daylight?' here takes the form: 'One may do both; and the latter is not
always the safer' (added to the manuscript: 'But the green earth is a
legend seen under the light of day'). Eomer's remarks about Gandalf,
which were achieved in this form through a mass of small changes,
now read thus:
'Gandalf?' said Eomer. 'We have heard of him. An old man of
that name used to appear at times in our land. None knew
whence he came or where he went. His coming was ever the
herald of strange events. Indeed since his last coming all things
have gone amiss. Our trouble with Saruman began from that.
time. Until then we had counted Saruman our friend, but
Gandalf said that evil was afoot in Isengard. Indeed he declared
that he had been a prisoner in Orthanc and had escaped. Riding
on an eagle! Nonetheless he asked us for a horse! What arts he
used I cannot guess, but Theoden gave him one of the mearas:
the steeds that only the First Master of the Mark may ride; for it
is said that [they are descended from the horses which the Men
of Westernesse brought over the Great Seas >] their sires came
out of the Lost Land over the Great Sea when the Kings of Men
came out of the Deeps to Gondor. Shadowfax was the name of
that horse. We wondered if evil had befallen the old man; for
seven nights ago Shadowfax returned.'(21)
'But Gandalf left Shadowfax far in the North at Rivendell,'
said Aragorn. 'Or so I thought.(22) But, alas, however that may
be, Gandalf is gone down into the shadows.' Aragorn now told
briefly the story of their journey from Moria. To his account of
Lorien Eomer listened with amazement. At last Aragorn spoke
of the assault of the orcs on Calen-bel, and the fall of Boromir.
Only shortly before in this text the name was still Ondor. In view of
the fact that it is Ondor in the draft and fair copy of 'Treebeard', it
may be that the alteration of the sentence about the mearas, in which
the form Gondor appears, was made later. On the actual date of the
change Ondor ) Gondor see p. 423.
In the remainder of the conversation with Eomer there are only
these differences from the text of TT (pp. 38-41) to notice. There is no
suggestion yet of Wormtongue: Eomer does not speak of 'some, close
to the king's ear, that speak craven counsels'. He says that there has
been war with Saruman 'since the summer' ('for many months', TT);
and he remarks of Saruman himself that 'He walks about like an old
man, indeed there are some that say Gandalf was only old Saruman in
disguise: certainly they are much alike to look on.'(23) In his account of
his own present expedition Eomer does not refer to his going without
Theoden's leave:
'... I do not know how it all will end. There is battle even now
away upon the Westemnet under the shadow of Isengard.
Hardly could we be spared. But scouts warned us [> Theoden]
of the orc-host coming down out of the East Wall three nights
ago: among them they reported some that bore the badges of
Saruman. We overtook them yesterday at nightfall, only a little
way from the edges of the Forest. We surrounded them, and
gave battle at dawn. We lost fifteen of my eored and twelve
horses, alas!'
On the chronology see the Note on Chronology at the end of this
chapter. Eomer tells of the Orcs that came in from the East across the
Great River, and the Isengard Orcs that came out of the Forest. The
story of the finding of Pippin's brooch was still in its former place (p.
397), as is seen from Aragorn's words here: 'Yet our friends are not
behind. We had a clear token that they were with the Orcs when they
descended into the plain.'(24)
At the end of the conversation Eomer says:
'... But it is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels.
One may pardon Eothain, my squire. The world is all turned
strange. Old men upon eagles; and raiment that deceives the
eye; and Elves with bows, and folk that have spoken with the
Lady of the Wood, and yet live; and the Sword comes back to
war that was broken ere the Fathers of the Fathers rode into the
Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times. It is
against our law to let strangers wander free in our land, and
doubly so at this time of peril. I beg you to come back
honourably with me, and you will not.'
Aragorn in his reply tells (as in TT p. 41) that he had been in Rohan,
and had spoken with Eomund father of Eomer, and with Theoden,
and with Thengel that was Master before him. None of them would
have desired to force a man to abandon friends whom the orcs had
seized, while hope or even doubt remained.' Eomer relents. He
requests that Aragorn return with the horses over the Entwade to
'... torras where Theoden now sits.' This name was changed at once
or very soon to Meodarn, Meduarn ('Mead-hall'), and then to
'Winseld ['Wine-hall'], the high house in Eodor.' Eodor (singular,
fence, enclosure, dwelling ) is seen on Map IV (p. 317),. Eodoras
(plural) on Map IV(D-E) (p. 319). Eothain's surliness at the loan of the
horses is not present. The horses were first given names in Modern
English, that for Aragorn being 'Windmane' and that for Legolas
'Whitelock'; these were changed to the Old English names found in
TT, Hasofel ('Grey-coat', cf. Hasupada, note 21) and Arod ('Swift').
In the last part of the chapter, after the Riders had gone, the story is
for most of its length at once almost as in the final text; but Aragorn's
words about Fangorn, the earliest account of it that my father wrote,(25)
took this form:
'I do not know what fables men have made out of old
knowledge,' said Aragorn. 'And of the truth little is now
known, even to Keleborn. But I have heard tell that in Fangorn,
clinging here on the east side of the last slopes of the Misty
Mountains, the ancient trees have taken refuge that once
marched dark and proud over the wide lands, before even the
first Elves awoke in the world. Between the Baranduin and the
Barrowdowns is another forest of old trees; but it is not as great
as Fangorn. Some say that both are but the last strongholds of
one mighty wood, more vast than Mirkwood the Great, that
held under its dominion all the countries through which now
flow the Greyflood and the Baranduin; others say that Fangorn
is not akin to the Old Forest, and that its secret is of other kind.'
This was rejected at once and replaced by a shorter passage, close to
Aragorn's words in TT (p. 45), though Elrond is not here cited as his
authority: 'Some say the two are akin, the last strongholds of the
mighty woods of the Elder days, in which the Elves strayed, when they
first awoke.'
At the end of the chapter, when Gimli was watchman and all was
silent, save that the tree rustled and that 'the horses, picketed a little
way off, stirred now and again,' the old man appeared; and his
apparition and disappearance are told in precisely the same words as
in TT, except that he was 'clad in rags', not in a great cloak, and his hat
was 'battered', not 'wide-brimmed'. But the chapter ended altogether
differently.
There was no trace of him to be found near at hand; and they
did not dare to wander far - the moon was hidden in cloud, and
the night was very dark. [Struck out: The horses remained quiet,
and seemed to feel nothing amiss.] ? The horses were restive,
straining at their tether-ropes, showing the whites of their eyes.
It was a little while before Legolas could quiet them.
For some time the companions discussed this strange event.
'It was Saruman, of that I feel certain,' said Gimli. 'You
remember the words of Eomer. He will come back, or bring
more trouble upon us. I wish that the morning were not so far
off.'
'Well, in the meantime there is nothing we can do,' said
Aragorn, 'nothing but to get what rest we can, while we are still
allowed to rest. I will watch now for a while, Gimli.'
The night passed slowly, but nothing further happened, in
any of their two-hour watches. The old man did not appear
again.
While this is no more than a guess, I suspect that when my father
wrote this he thought that it was Gandalf, and not Saruman, who
stood so briefly in the light of the fire (cf. the outline given on p.
389).(26)
NOTES.
1. Sarn-Gebir runs North-South: see Map IV, pp. 317 - 18.
2. This means that the eagle was seen in the direction of Fangorn;
see p. 396.
3. I forgot most of what I knew: cf. TT p. 98.
4. Haradwaith is here the name of a people: see p. 434, and cf.
Enedwaith, rendered 'Middlemarch' on the First Map (Map II,
p. 305), but afterwards (while remaining the name of a region)
'Middle-folk.'
5. On Mar- and Eo- names in Rohan see Unfinished Tales p. 311
note 6 and p. 315 note 36. - Names in Eo- are not written with
an accent at this period.
6. None of the successive variants of this section of the First Map
illustrate this.
7. Methen Amon: earliest name of Methedras - which appears on
the First Map (Map IV, p. 319). For Methen see the Etymol-
ogies, V.373, stem MET: Noldorin methen 'end'; and see note 18.
8. This is the first occurrence of the name Entwade in the texts: see
p. 366, note 16.
9. Aragorn does not (of course) cry out: What news from the
North, Riders of Rohan?'; it is said only that he 'hailed them in a
loud voice.'
10. This is the first occurrence of the name Arathorn of Aragorn's
father, replacing earlier Kelegorn (cf. also Eldakar p. 360,
Valatar p. 362).
11. Gandalf's escape from Orthanc.
12. This passage is found later in TT (p. 33). The reference there to
Eorl the Young is here absent; and the Brandings of Dale (named
from King Brand son of Bain son of Bard) are in TT the Bardings
(which was added to the First Map, p. 307). See note 19.
13. In a design of my father's for the cover of The Return of the King
the throne is shown with four feet. This design, in white, gold and
green on a black ground shows (as he noted) 'the empty throne
awaiting return of the King' with outstretching wings; the
Winged Crown; the white-flowering Tree, with seven stars; and
dimly seen beyond in the darkness a vision of the fall of Sauron.
This design, in simplified form, was used for the cover of the
India paper edition of The Lord of the Rings published by George
Allen and Unwin in 1969.
14. Yet Gandalf had himself been in, or over, those regions, it seems:
'No, I did not find them. There was a darkness over the valleys of
the Emyn Muil, and I did not know of their captivity, until the
eagle told me.'
15. Altered later to: 'It has been scored with the pin, which is broken
off.' - An error in the text of TT may be mentioned here. Aragorn
did not say (p. 26) that Pippin was smaller than the other' - he
would not refer to Merry in such a remote tone - but 'smaller
than the others', i.e. Merry and Frodo and Sam.
16. to the west: subsequently changed back to to the south.
17. This is the first occurrence in the texts of the name Eastemnet,
which is found on the First Map (Map IV, p. 319). Westemnet
occurs later in this text (p. 401).
18. Here, as they looked about them, they saw to their right 'the
windy uplands of the Wold of Rohan', and beyond Fangorn the
last great peak of the Misty Mountains (first named Methen
Amon, p. 391 and note 7), Methendol, immediately changed to
Methedras.
19. The passage in which Aragorn tells Gimli what he knows of the
Riders of Rohan (TT p. 33), which had first appeared much
earlier in B (p. 395), was transferred subsequently to the place
that it occupies in TT on an inserted rider. This retains almost
exactly the form in which it was first written, without mention of
Eorl the Young, but with Bardings for Brandings.
20. In the preliminary drafting the Old English form is used:
Halfheah (Halfheh, Heal fheh).
21. A pencilled rider was inserted into the manuscript later as a
substitute for this speech: here the origin of the mearas remains
the same, but in other respects the text of TT is largely reached:
Gandalf (not yet called Greyhame) is murmured by some in
Rohan to be a bringer of ill, Theoden is called King, and his anger
against Gandalf for taking Shadowfax and the horse's wildness
after his return appear. By an addition to the rider Eomer says:
'We know that name, or Gondelf as we have it.' Gondelf is an
'Anglo-Saxonising' of Norse Gandalf(r). At the foot of the page is
written the Old English word Hasupada ('Grey-coat'), and it
appears from a subsequent typescript text of the chapter that this
refers to Gandalf ( Greyhame ): ' " Gandalf!" said Eomer. <We
know that name, and the wandering witega that claims it.
Hasupada we call him mostly in our tongue" ' (Old English
witega 'wise man, one who has knowledge').
22. On Shadowfax at Rivendell and after see pp. 390 and 438 note 2.
23. Eomer calls Saruman 'a wizard of great power', changed to 'a
wizard and man of craft', and that to 'a wizard and very crafty'.
Against the word wizard is pencilled wicca (Old English,
'wizard', surviving at any rate until recently as witch, masculine,
not distinct in form from witch deriving from the Old English
feminine wicce).
24. These words are in themselves ambiguous, but what my father
intended is shown, I think, by the fact that he afterwards
corrected them on the manuscript to 'We had a clear token that
one at least was still with the orcs not far from the East Wall.'
The original story was still present when he wrote the outline for
the next chapter.
25. If the very early images, when Treebeard was a Giant and his
forest correspondingly gigantic (VI.382 - 4, 410), are excepted.
26. Other supports, admittedly slight, for this idea are the statements
that the old man was 'clad in rags' (cf. Trotter's vision on Amon
Hen, p. 380); that he had a 'battered hat' (cf. Frodo's song in
Lorien, FR p. 375: an old man in a battered hat); and that 'the
horses remained quiet, and seemed to feel nothing amiss.' - It is
curious that Aragorn's words in TT, p. 46 (when the old man was
certainly Saruman, TT p. 102) 'I marked also that this old man
had a hat not a hood' were an addition to the text made long
after.
Note on the Chronology.
'The Riders of Rohan' is unusual in that the narrative underwent an
important change in structure long after it was to all intents and
purposes completed.
I set out below the relations between the time-scheme in the second
text (B) and that in The Two Towers. 'Day 1' is the day of Boromir's
death.
Text B.
Day 1. Orcs descend into plains
of Rohan at night.
Day 2. Aragorn &c. descend into
Rohan in the morning.
First day in the plains.
Day 3. Second day in the plains.
Aragorn &c. reach the
downs in the evening and
go on through the night.
- Riders overtake Orcs at
nightfall.
Day 4. Battle of Riders and Orcs
at dawn. - Aragorn &c.
reach northmost hill of
the downs at dawn.
Encounter with Riders
returning in the morning.
Day 5.
The Two Towers.
(Feb. 26) The same.
(Feb. 27) The same.
(Feb. 28) Aragorn &c. approach
downs in the evening
and halt for the night.
- Riders overtake Orcs
at nightfall.
(Feb. 29) Battle of Riders and
Orcs at dawn. -
Aragorn &c. reach
downs towards noon.
Night spent on
northmost hill of the
downs.
(Feb. 30) Aragorn &c.
encounter Riders
returning in the
morning.
In B, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli took two days and two nights
after their descent from the 'East Wall' to reach the isolated hill at the
northern end of the downs where they met the Riders; in TT they took
three days and two nights to reach that place, and passed the third
night there. In B, they encountered the Riders returning in the
morning after the battle at dawn; in TT the meeting was on the
following day: the Riders had passed a whole further day and night by
the eaves of Fangorn before setting off south again.
This change in the chronology, with very substantial rewriting and
reordering (TT pp. 27 ff.) of the existing chapter, was introduced in
October 1944. On 12 October my father wrote a letter to me in South
Africa in which he said (Letters no. 84):
I began trying to write again (I would, on the brink of term!) on
Tuesday, but I struck a most awkward error (one or two days) in the
synchronization, v. important at this stage, of movements of Frodo
and the others, which has cost labour and thought and will require
tiresome small alterations in many chapters...
Four days later he wrote again (Letters no. 85):
I have been struggling with the dislocated chronology of the Ring,
which has proved most vexatious ... I think I have solved it all at
last by small map alterations, and by inserting an extra day's
Entmoot, and extra days into Trotter's chase and Frodo's jour-
ney...
(On the extra day of the Entmoot see p. 419.)
In one point however the text of TT retains an uncorrected vestige
of the original story. Eomer tells Aragorn (p. 39) that 'scouts warned
me of the orc-host coming down out of the East Wall three nights ago,'
just as he does in the B text (p. 401). But in B this was said on the
morning of Day 4, and the reference is to the night of Day 1; in TT it
was said on the morning of Day 5. It was therefore not three nights
ago, but four, that the Orcs came down from the Emyn Muil.
In The Tale of Years in Appendix B to LR the dates are:
Feb. 26. Eomer hears of the descent of the Orc-band from the Emyn
Muil.
Feb. 27. Eomer sets out from Eastfold about midnight to pursue the
Orcs.
Feb. 28. Eomer overtakes the Orcs.
Feb. 29. The Rohirrim attack at sunrise and destroy the Orcs.
Feb. 30. Eomer returning to Edoras meets Aragorn.
Thus Eomer's 'three nights ago' in TT cannot be explained by taking it
to refer, not to the descent of the Orcs into Rohan, but to his receiving
news of it.
XXI
THE URUK-HAI.
For this chapter there exists, first, a brief outline as follows:
Some want to go North. Some say ought to go straight to
Mordor. The great orcs were ordered to go to Isengard.
They carry prisoners. Neither of them are the One. They haven't
got it. Kill 'em. But they're hobbits. Saruman said bring any hobbit,
alive. Curse Saruman. Who does he think he is? A good master and
lord. Man's flesh to eat.
Fight breaks out. Slain orc falls on top of Pippin with blade
drawn. Pippin manages to cut wrist bands. Ties cord loosely again.
Isengarders win. Mordor orcs are killed. They start on. [? Leader]
called Ugluk [?leaves them]. They rouse Merry, give him drink; cut
ankle bonds and drive hobbits with whips. Dark night. Pippin
manages to unclasp brooch unseen.
They get into plain. Merry and Pippin made to run till they faint
and fall. Orcs carry them.
Pippin awakes to hear horsemen. Night.... Terror of orcs. They
run at great speed. Ugluk refuses to let hobbits be slain or cast aside.
Horsemen ride up. Ugluk steals off [? from his friends seizing]
hobbits. But a horseman rides after him. Pippin pulls Merry down
flat and covers him with cloak, the horseman rides past and spears
Ugluk. Merry and Pippin fly into forest.
'Ugluk' is here of course the Mordor Orc subsequently called Grish-
nakh. It is seen that Pippin still drops his brooch before the descent.
into the plain (p. 401 and note 24).
For almost half of this chapter there is no initial drafting extant, and
this is largely because my father again, as in the previous chapter,
wrote a new version in ink over erased drafting in pencil; in addition,
it seems that some initial drafting on separate pages has been lost. As
far, then, as ' "Very well," said Ugluk' (TT p. 54) the earliest extant
text is this second version or fair copy, in which the story as told in
TT was reached almost down to the last detail, with relatively very
little subsequent correction and addition. The manuscript begins
without title, but my father clearly saw it as a new chapter, 'XXIV'.(1) A
title, 'An Orc-raid', was written in later.
The later story of Pippin's casting aside his brooch after the descent
into the plain had now entered. The Orc-names are all present:
Lugbtirz, Uruk-hai; Ugluk (leader of the Isengarders), Grishnak (so
spelt), Lugdush. Ugluk does not use the word Halflings (TT p. 48), but
calls them hobbits; he says 'We are the servants of the old Uthwit and
the White Hand' (cf. TT p. 49), this being Old English upwita 'sage,
philosopher, one of great learning'; and he calls the descent into the
plain of Rohan the Ladder (changed to the Stair: TT p. 50).
Grishnak does not name the Nazgul (TT p. 49), but says 'The winged
one awaits us northward on the east bank'.
At the point where Pippin is given the orc-draught my father wrote a
brief outline in the body of the text:
Ugluk smears Merry's wound. He cries out. Orcs jeer. But
torment not the object. Merry recovers.
Orcs become aware of pursuit by horsemen. Merry and Pippin do
not know about horsemen; but perceive that orcs are afraid.
Grishnak brings a small company of Mordor-orcs from the East.
Ugluk evidently does not like it. He asks why the Nazgul has not
come to help them. The Nazgul is not yet permitted to cross River:
Sauron is keeping them for the War - and for another purpose.
Grishnak brings a small company of Mordor-orcs from the East.
what a mess you have got into! They fly to the Forest.
When surrounded Grishnak searches Merry and Pippin and drags
them out of ring of horsemen. He is slain, and Merry and Pippin
passed over. They run into forest.
Adventure with Treebeard.
From the point where Ugluk sends the 'Northerners' running off
towards the Forest (TT p. 54) initial drafting is extant, except for a
further passage where my father reverted to the method of erasing it
and writing a new version above. This draft text, dashed down in faint
pencil and extremely difficult to make out, is astonishingly close to the
final form. I give a brief passage in exemplification (TT p. 56), where
the draft text is not in fact so close to the final form as it is in some
others:
The Forest was drawing near. Already they had passed a few
isolated trees. The land was beginning to slope upward, ever
more steeply. But this did not stay the orcs, now desperately
putting on their last spurt. Looking to one side Pippin saw that
riders coming in the East were already level with them, gallop-
ing over the plain, the sunset touching their spears and helmets
and their pale flowing hair. They were hemming in the orcs
driving them along the line of the river. He wondered very much
what sort of folk they were. He wished he had learned more in
Rivendell, looked at more maps - but then the journey was all
in more competent hands, he had not reckoned on being cut off
from Gandalf and Trotter - and even Frodo. All he could
remember about them was that he [read they] had given
Gandalf a horse. That [? sounded] well.
If the original drafting where it is extant is characteristic of the parts
where it is not, as seems very probable, it can be said this chapter was
achieved with far greater facility than any previous part of the story of
The Lord of the Rings.
The second version of the latter part of the chapter only differs in
very minor touches here and there from the final form.(2) The watchfires
of the Riders were a later addition to the text; Grishnakh (now so
spelt) had evidently had personal experience of Gollum, for he says,
'That's what he meanss, iss it?' (cf. TT p. 59); and at the point where
the chapter ends in TT this text has only:
There he was slain at last by Eomer the Third Master of Rohan,
who dismounted and fought him sword to sword. So ended the
raid, and no news of it came ever back either to Mordor or to
Isengard.(3)
Neither in the draft nor in the second text did my father stop at this
point, but continued on into the following chapter in The Two
Towers, 'Treebeard'.
NOTES.
1. The manuscript is paginated 'XXIV', as also is the draft (with
numbers written at the same time as the text).
2. The Orc-names Snaga and Mauhur appear already in the prelimi-
nary draft.
3. The expansion of the end of the chapter came in with the
chronological revision made in October 1944 (see pp. 406 - 7). In
notes on the subject my father said that 'at end of "Uruk-hai" the
fight should be made to take longer - chase of stray fugitives, etc.',
and that something should be said of the burning of the corpses.
XXII.
TREEBEARD.
Of 'Giant Treebeard' there have been many mentions in the outlines
scattered through the early texts of The Lord of the Rings, but there
was nothing in any of them to prepare for the reality when he should
finally appear. My father said years later (Letters no. 180, 14 January
1956):
I have long ceased to invent ...: I wait till I seem to know what
really happened. Or till it writes itself. Thus, though I knew for
years that Frodo would run into a tree-adventure somewhere far
down the Great River, I have no recollection of inventing Ents. I
came at last to the point, and wrote the 'Treebeard' chapter without
any recollection of previous thought: just as it now is.
This testimony is fully borne out by the original text. 'Treebeard' did
indeed very largely 'write itself'.
First, however, there is a page of pencilled notes of much interest
but with various puzzling features. I give here this text exactly as it
stands, and postpone discussion of it till the end.
Did first lord of the Elves make Tree-folk in order to or through
trying to understand trees?
Gimli and Legolas to go with Trotter and Boromir. It must be
Merry and Pippin who find Gandalf.
Notes for Treebeard.
In some ways rather stupid. Are the Tree-folk ('Lone-walkers')
hnau that have gone tree-like, or trees that have become hnau?(1)
Treebeard might be 'moveless' - but here are some notes [?or) first
[? suggestions].
There are very few left. Not enough room. 'Time was when a
fellow could walk and sing all day and hear no more than the echo
of his voice in the mountains.'
Difference between trolls - stone inhabited by goblin-spirit,
stone-giants, and the 'tree-folk'. [Added in ink: Ents.]
Treebeard is anxious for news. He never hears much. But he
smells things in the air. Prefers breath from South and West of the
Sea. Too much East wind these days. He is bothered about
Saruman: a machine-minded man. Fondest of Gandalf. Very upset
at news of his fall. Only one of the wizards who understood trees.
Tells how the Horsemasters have ridden away south leaving land
empty.
There are only three of us left: myself and Skinbark and Leaflock
[written above in ink: Fangorn Fladrib > Fladrif Finglas]. Saruman
has got hold of Skinbark. He went off to Isengard some time ago.
Leaflock has gone 'tree-ish'. He seldom comes into the hills: has
taken to standing half-asleep all through the summer with the deep
grass of the meadows round his knees. Covered with leaves he is.
Wakes up a bit in winter. May be somewhere about.
Treebeard offers to take them across Rohan to or towards Minas,
Tirith. Treebeard smells war.
They see a battle of Wolfriders (Saruman) and the Horsemasters
- wild flowing hair and little bows.
How do they meet Gandalf? It should really be Sam or Frodo who
saw vision in the Mirror of Galadriel.
A possible return of Gandalf would be as an old bent beggar with
a battered hat coming to gates of Minas Tirith. He is let in. After, at
siege's darkest hour when outer walls have fallen, he throws off
cloak and stands up - white. He leads sortie. Or he comes with
horses of Rohan riding on [struck out: Arfaxed] Shadowfax.
Another possibility. Cut out rescue of Frodo by Sam. Let Sam get
lost and meet Gandalf, and have adventures getting into Minas
Tirith. (But it was Frodo saw vision of Gandalf. Also Sam saw
vision of Frodo lying under dark cliff, pale, and of himself on a
winding stair.)
The winding stair must be cut in rocks and go up from Gorgoroth
to watch-tower. Cut out Minas Morgul.
More roughly scribbled notes were added:
Trotter sends Legolas and Gimli with Boromir to Minas Tirith.
He himself wanders looking for the hobbits. He meets Gandalf. He
is tempted but forsakes his ambition.
What are Treebeard and Ents to do about Saruman. Seek help of
Rohiroth?
It is evident that this page does not belong to the time we have
reached in the narrative texts, but to some earlier stage, before the
death of Boromir had entered the story. To suppose otherwise would
depend, of course, on the assumption that the words 'Gimli and
Legolas to go with Trotter and Boromir. It must be Merry and Pippin
who find Gandalf' already stood on this page which my father used
afterwards for notes on the Ents; but there is nothing in the appear-
ance of the page to suggest it. 'It must be Merry and Pippin who find
Gandalf' suggests the rejection of some earlier idea, and 'How do they
meet Gandalf?' later in these notes obviously relates to this. Moreover
the notes at the end, in which Boromir is still thought of as going to
Minas Tirith, seem certainly to have been set down after the main text
had been written.
In the outline which I have called 'The Story Foreseen from Moria'
it was Merry and Pippin who were to encounter Treebeard but Gimli
and Legolas who were to meet Gandalf returned (pp. 210 - 11); and
this was repeated in the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien'
(pp. 329 - 30). The reference to the cutting-out of Minas Morgul and the
substitution of a watchtower (see on this question p. 344 and note 39) is
a reference to the story of Sam and Frodo in 'The Story Foreseen from
Lorien'. The death of Boromir entered in an outline for the end of 'The
Breaking of the Fellowship', and 'The Departure of Boromir' (pp. 375,
378). On the face of it, then, these notes belong to the time of work on
'The Great River' and 'The Breaking of the Fellowship', and show my
father pondering the way ahead after the Company should have been
brought to its dismemberment above the falls of Rauros.
The note 'It should really be Sam or Frodo who saw vision in the
Mirror of Galadriel' - at first sight incomprehensible, since there has
never been a suggestion that it was anybody else who looked in the
Mirror - is I think to be explained in this way: it would have been
dearer if my father had written 'It really should be Sam or Frodo...',
i.e. the story of the Mirror has been written of Sam and Frodo, and so
it should be; it should not be changed. What is the purport of this? I
think that my father was changing direction as he wrote - already
doubting the rightness of the decision to make it Merry and Pippin
who met Gandalf returned; and this seems to have been largely on
account of the visions in the Mirror. Hence his suggestion (implying
the rejection of the whole story of Sam and Frodo in Mordor as
projected in 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien') that Sam should be the
one who met Gandalf. Nonetheless he was unwilling to alter the
visions seen by Frodo and Sam in the Mirror, to make it Sam who saw
Gandalf walking down the long grey road (for that was not 'what
really happened'). In the event, of course, Gandalf reappeared to
members of the Company who had never looked into the Mirror of
Galadriel. Possibly to be connected with this is the vision of Gandalf
vouchsafed to Trotter on Amon Hen (pp. 379 - 80).
The word Ents added in ink to the note on the difference between
'trolls' and 'tree-folk' (with its striking definition of 'trolls') was
perhaps the first use of it in the new and very particular sense; for its
former use in Entish Lands, Entish Dales see p. 16 note 14 and p. 65
note 32, and cf. also Letters no. 157, 27 November 1954:
As usually with me they [the Ents] grew rather out of their name,
than the other way about. I always felt that something ought to be
done about the peculiar Anglo-Saxon word ent for a 'giant' or
mighty person of long ago - to whom all old works were ascribed.
The textual situation in this chapter is essentially very similar to that
in the last, in that there is initial drafting for part of the chapter, but in
the rest of it the draft text was erased and the 'fair copy' written over
it; and here again, and even more so, the first draft is for the most part
extraordinarily close to the final form. My father's words in the letter
cited on p. 411, 'just as it now is', must be modified, however, in
respect of certain passages where the narrative leaves the immediate
experience of Merry and Pippin and touches on wider themes.
The separation of 'Treebeard' as 'Chapter XXV' from XXIV ('The
Uruk-hai') was carried out in the course of the writing of the fair copy.
Taking first the part of the chapter for which the original setting
down of the story is available, this runs from the beginning of the
chapter in TT to 'they were twisted round, gently but irresistibly' (p.
66), and then from ' "There is quite a lot going on," said Merry' (p.
69) to Treebeard's denunciation of Saruman (p. 77). The draft, written
so fast as to touch on total illegibility if the later text did not generally
provide sufficient clues, remained in all essentials of description into
TT, and for long stretches the vocabulary and phrasing underwent
only the most minor forms of change. As in the last chapter I give a
single brief passage to exemplify this (TT p. 73):
No trees grew there. Treebeard strode up with scarcely any
slackening of his pace. Then they saw a wide opening. On either
side two trees grew like living gate-posts, but there was no gate
save their crossing and interwoven branches; and as the Ent
approached the trees raised up their boughs and all their leaves
rustled and whispered. For they were evergreen trees, and their
leaves were dark and polished like the leaves of the holm-oak.
Beyond the trees there was a wide level space, as though the
floor of a great hall had been hewn out of the side of the hill. On
either side the walls sloped upward until they were fifty feet in
height or more and at their feet grew trees: two long lines of
trees increasing in size. At the far end the rock wall was sheer,
but in it was cut a shallow bay with an arched roof: the only
roof save the branches of the trees which overshadowed all the
ground save for a broad aisle/path in the middle. A little stream
that escaped from the Entwash spring high above and left the
main water fell tinkling down the sheer face of the rear wall,
pouring like a clear curtain of silver drops in front of the arched
bay. It was gathered again in [a] green rock basin, and thence
flowed out down the open aisle/path and on to rejoin the
Entwash in its journey through the Forest.
All the tiny meticulous changes of word and rhythm that differentiate
this from the text of TT were introduced in the writing of the fair copy
manuscript.
There are some small particular points worthy of mention in this
first part of the chapter. In the fair copy corresponding to TT pp. 66 - 7
(the passage is lacking in independent draft) Treebeard's height was
changed from ten feet to twelve, and then to fourteen; he says that if
he had not seen the hobbits before he heard them 'I should have just
batted you with my club'; and his ejaculation 'Root and twig! '
replaced 'Crack my timbers!'(2)
When Merry (Pippin in the draft) suggested that Treebeard must be
getting tired of holding them up (TT p. 69), he replied, both in draft
and fair copy: 'Hm, tired? Tired? What is that. Ah yes, I remember.
No, I am not tired ., and later he says when they come to the Ent-house
that perhaps they are 'what you call "tired" '.
The first major development from the original text comes with
Treebeard's long brooding discourse on Lorien and Fangorn, as he
carried Merry and Pippin through the woods (TT pp. 70 - 2). At first he
said:
'...Neither this country nor anything else outside the Golden
Wood is what it was when Keleborn was young. Tauretavarea
tansbalemorna Tumbaletaurea landatavare.(3) That is what they
used to say. But we have changed many things.' (He means they
have weeded out rotten-hearted trees such as are in the Old
Forest.)
This was changed immediately to:
'... Things have changed, but it is still true in places.'
'What do you mean? What is true?' said Pippin.
'I am not sure I know, and I am sure I could not explain to
you. But there are no longer any evil trees here (none that are
evil according to their kind and light)....'
Treebeard's remarks about trees awakening, 'getting Entish', and
then showing in some cases that they have 'bad hearts', are very much
as in TT; but to Pippin's question 'Like the Old Forest, do you mean?'
he replies:
'Aye, aye, something like, but not as bad as that. That was
already a very bad region even in the days when there was all
one wood from here to Lune, and we were called the East End.
But something was queer (went wrong) away there: some old
sorcery in the Dark Days, I expect. Ah, no: the first woods were
more like Lorien, only thicker, stronger, younger. Those were
days! Time was when one could walk and sing all day and hear
no more than the echo of his own voice in the mountains. And
the scent. I used to spend weeks [? months] just breathing.'
In the fair copy this was greatly expanded, but by no means to the text
of TT. Here Treebeard begins as in the original draft (with Mountains
of Lune for Lune) as far as 'this was just the East End', but then
continues:
'... Things went wrong there in the Dark [> Elder] Days; some
old sorcery, I expect [) some old shadow of the Great Dark lay
there]. They say that even the Men that came out of the Sea
were caught in it, and some of them fell into the Shadow. But
that is only a rumour to me. Anyway they have no treeherds
there, no one to care for them: it is a long, long time since the
Ents walked away from the banks of the Baranduin.'
'What about Tom Bombadil, though?' asked Pippin. 'He lives
on the Downs close by. He seems to understand trees.'
'What about whom?' said Treebeard. 'Tombombadil? Tom-
bombadil? So that is what you call him. Oh, he has got a very
long name. He understands trees, right enough; but he is not an
Ent. He is no herdsman. He laughs and does not interfere. He
never made anything go wrong, but he never cured anything,
either. Why, why, it is all the difference between walking in the
fields and trying to keep a garden; between, between passing the
time of a day to a sheep on the hillside, or even maybe sitting
down and studying sheep till you know what they feel about
grass, and being a shepherd. Sheep get like shepherd, and
shepherd like sheep, it is said, very slowly. But it is quicker and
closer with Ents and trees. Like some Men and their horses and
dogs, only quicker and closer even than that. For Ents are more
like Elves: less interested in themselves than Men are, better at
getting inside; and Ents are more like Men, more changeable
than Elves are, quicker at catching the outside; only they do
both things better than either: they are steadier, and keep at it.
[Added: Elves began it of course: waking trees up and teaching
them to talk. They always wished to talk to everything. But then
the Darkness came, and they passed away over the Sea, or fled
into far valleys and hid themselves. The Ents have gone on
tree-herding.] Some of my trees can walk, many can talk to me.
'But it was not so, of course, in the beginning. We were like
your Tombombadil when we were young. The first woods were
more like the woods of Lorien....'
Most of this passage, including all reference to Bombadil, was
bracketed for omission,(4) and my father then struck it all out and
substituted a new version on a separate page. It is clear that all this
revision belongs to the time of the writing of the fair copy
manuscript.(5) In this new version the text of TT is all but reached; but
Treebeard says this of the Old Forest:
'..I do not doubt that there is some shadow of the Great
Darkness lying there still away North; and bad memories are
handed down; for that Forest is old, though none of the trees
are really old there, not what I call old. But there are hollow
dales in this land where [the shadow >] the Darkness has never
been lifted....'
Treebeard's song (In the willow-meads of Tasarinan) was set down
in the draft manuscript in a faint scribble that nonetheless reached
without hesitation almost the final form.(6)
When in the draft Treebeard reaches the Ent-house (TT p. 73) he
makes no remark about the distance they have come, and in the fair
copy he says: 'I have brought you three times twelve leagues or
thereabouts, if measurements of that kind hold good in the country of
Fangorn', where 'three' was changed to 'seven' before the words were
rejected and replaced by his computation in 'Ent-strides'. In the draft
he says that the place is named Fonthill, changed to Funtial, then back
to Fonthill,(7) and finally 'Part of the name of this place could be called
Wellandhouse in your language' (Wellinghall in the fair copy).
Treebeard stooped and lifted the two great vessels onto the table
(this my father wrote in the fair copy also before at once striking it
out); and he said before he lowered himself onto the bed ('with only
the slightest bend at the waist') 'I think better flat'.
The next major development in the evolution of the text comes at
this point, when Merry and Pippin tell Treebeard their story. Here the
draft reads:
They followed no order for Treebeard would often stop them,
and go back again or jump forward. He was only interested in
parts of the tale: in their account of the Old Forest, in Rivendell,
in Lothlorien, and especially in anything to do with Gandalf,
most of all in Saruman. The hobbits were sorry that they could
not remember more clearly Gandalf's account of that wizard.
Treebeard kept reverting to him.
'Saruman has been here some time, a long time you would
call it. Too long I should now say. Very quiet he was to begin
with: no trouble to any of us. I used to talk to him. Very eager to
listen he was in those days, ready to learn about old days. Many
a thing I have told him that he would never have known or
guessed otherwise. Never. He never repaid me - never told me
anything. And he got more like that: his face more like windows
in a stone wall, windows with blinds (shutters inside).
'But now I understand. So he's thinking of becoming a Power,
is he. I have not troubled myself with the great wars, Elves are
not my business, nor Men; and it is with them that wizards are
mostly concerned. They are always worrying about the future.
I don't like worrying about the future. But I shall have to begin,
I see. Mordor seemed a long way, but these orcs! And if
Saruman has started taking them up, I have got trouble right on
my borders. Cutting down trees. Machines, great fires. I won't
stand it. Trees that were my friends. Trees I had known from
nut and acorn. Cut down and left sometimes. Orc-work.
'I have been thinking I should have to do something. But I see
it will be better sooner than later. Men are better than orcs,
especially if the Dark Lord doesn't get at them. But the Rohiroth
and the folk of Ondor if Saruman attacks at the back will soon
be in a [?lonely].... We shall have [?hordes] from the East and
... [? swarm] of orcs all over us. I shall be [? eaten] up - and there
will be nowhere to go. The flood will rise into the pines in the
mountains. I don't think the Elves would find room for me in a,
ship. I could not go over sea. I should wither away from my own
soil.
'If you'll come with me we'll go to Isengard! You'll be helping
your own friends.'
With the further words '[?Of] the Ents and Entwives' the initial draft
peters out here; but in these last hastily jotted lines we see the
emergence of a major new idea and new direction. The role that
Treebeard was to play in the raising of the siege of Minas Tirith (pp.
211, 330, and cf. p. 412) is gone, and all is suddenly clear: Treebeard's
part is to attack Saruman, who dwells on his very borders.
There is very little further initial drafting for this chapter extant;
almost all is lost erased beneath the fair copy text. Rough workings for
the Song of the Ent and the Entwife are found (see p. 421); and there is
also a little scrap which shows my father's first thoughts for the march
on Isengard:
Ents excited. To Isengard!
Hobbits see trees behind. Is Forest moving?
Orc woodcutters come on the Ents. Horrible surprise to find wood
alive. They are destroyed. Ents take shields. They go on to Isengard
End of Ch. XXV.
But it seems to me most unlikely that those parts of the original
drafting that are lost were any less close to the fair copy than are those
that survive.(8) The text of the fair copy manuscript in the latter part of
the chapter was retained in TT (pp. 75 - 90) without the smallest
deviation of expression almost throughout its length: Treebeard's
thoughts of Saruman and his becoming 'hot', his story of the Entwives,
the Entmoot, the time spent with Bregalad, the march of the Ents and
Pippin's awareness of the moving groves of trees behind them, to the
last words: ' "Night lies over Isengard," said Treebeard.
Exceptions to this are very few.(9) Against the passage in which
Treebeard condemns Saruman this note (it is scarcely in Treebeard's
style) is written in the margin (and subsequently struck through): 'It is
not perhaps mere chance that Orthanc which in Elvish means "a spike
of rock" is in the tongue of Rohan "a machine".' With this cf. 'The
Road to Isengard (11 p. 160): This was Orthanc, the citadel of
Saruman, the name of which had (by design or chance) a twofold
meaning; for in the Elvish speech orthanc signifies Mount Fang, but in
the language of the Mark of old the Cunning Mind.'
The alteration to the text made in 1944, extending the Entmoot by
an extra day, has appeared already: see p. 407. Until this change was
made the Entmoot ended on the afternoon of the second day (cf. TT
pp. 87 - 8):
Most of the time they sat silent under the shelter of the bank; for
the wind was colder, and the clouds closer and greyer; there was
little sunshine. There was a feeling of expectancy in the air.
They could see that Bregalad was listening, although to them,
down in the dell of his Ent-house, the sound of the Ent-voices
was faint.
The afternoon came, and the sun, going west towards the
mountains, sent out long yellow beams...
At the same time as this was rewritten, my father replaced the Entish
words (first appearing in the fair copy manuscript) of the song sung by
the Ents as they marched from the Moot past Bregalad's house, but
not to the text in TT p. 88.(10)
NOTES.
1. The word hnau is taken from C. S. Lewis, Out of the Silent
Planet: on Earth there is only one kind of hnau, Men, but on
Malacandra there are three totally distinct races that are hnau.
2. A pencilled note on the fair copy says that 'Crack my timbers'
had been 'queried by Charles Williams'. The same change was
made at a later point in the chapter (TT p. 75).
3. This was changed to the form in TT already on the draft
manuscript, but with lomeamor for lomeanor, and this remained
uncorrected on the fair copy.
4. It would be interesting to know why Treebeard's knowledge of
and estimate of Tom Bombadil was removed. Conceivably, my
father felt that the contrast between Bombadil and the Ents
developed here confused the conflict between the Ents and the
Entwives; or, it may be, it was precisely this passage that gave rise
to the idea of that conflict.
5. This is seen from the fact that the new version was still numbered
in 'Chapter XXIV', i.e. 'Treebeard' had not yet been separated off
as a new chapter, as was done in the course of the writing of
the fair copy (p. 414). Moreover, when later the hobbits told
Treebeard their story he was 'enormously interested in every-
thing', and 'everything' included Tom Bombadil.
6. The names in the draft have these differences from those in TT:
Dorthonion is Orod Thuin (preceded by Orod Thon), which
remained in the fair copy and following typescript, changed
later to Orod-na-Thon (see the Etymologies, V.392); and for
Aldalome appears another name that I cannot certainly read:
His .. eluinalda.
7. The name Fonthill is specifically derived from Fonthill in Wilt-
shire, as is seen from Funtial, which is the form of the place-name
found in a tenth-century charter. The first element of the name is
probably Old English funta 'spring', and the second the Celtic
word ial 'fertile upland region'; but my father no doubt intended
it to be taken as if from Old English hyll 'hill'.
8. This is supported by the bits of text where the erased draft can to
some extent be made out, and by a piece of independent draft
revision of a part of the 'Saruman' passage. - The name
Dernslade (slade 'valley, dell, dingle') can be seen in the draft
where the fair copy has Derndingle.
9. In addition to those mentioned in the text, it may be noted that
Treebeard's answer to Pippin's question about the small number
of the Ents: 'Have a great many died?' is here briefer: ' "Oh no!"
said Treebeard. "But there were only a few to begin with, and we
have not much increased. There have been no Entings...'
Among names, Angrenost (Isengard} now appears; a blank was
left for the Elvish name of the Valley of Saruman, Nan Gurunir
being added in; and Gondor remains Ondor (see p. 401).
10. The original form of the Entish words was thus:
Ta-ruta dum-da dum-da dum / ta-rara dum-da dum-da bum/
Da-duda rum-ta rum-ta rum I ta-dada rum-ta rum-ta dum/
The Ents were coming: ever nearer and louder rose their song.
Ta-bumda romba bumda-romba banda-romba bum-ta bum /
Da-dura dara lamba bum I ta-lamba dara rum-ta rum!
Ta-bum-da-dom I ta-rum-ta-rom I ta-bum-ta lamba dum-da-
dom //
ta-bum / ta-rum I ta-bum-ta lamba dum//
This was changed in 1944 to:
A! rundamara-nundarun tahora-mundakumbalun,
taruna-runa-runarun tahora-kumbakumbanun.
The Ents were coming: ever nearer and louder rose their song:
Tarundaromba-rundaromba mandaromba-mundamun,
tahurahara-lambanun talambatara-mundarun,
tamunda-rom, tarunda-rom, tamunda-lamba-munda-
tom.
The Song of the Ent and the Entwife.
Rough workings and a first completed draft are extant; in this, verses
1 and 3 are as in the final form.
2. When Spring is in the sprouting corn and flames of green arise,
When blossom like a living snow upon the orchard lies,
When earth is warm, and wet with rain, and its smell is in the air,
I'll linger here, and will not come, because my land is fair.
4. When Summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry brown,
When straw is long and ear is white and harvest comes to town,
When honey spills and apple swells and days are wealthiest,
I'll linger here, and will not come, because my land is best.
5. When winter comes and boughs are bare and all the grass is grey,
When and starless night o'ertakes the sunless day,
When storm is wild and trees are felled, then in the bitter rain
I'll look for thee, and call to thee, I'll come to thee again.
The blank space in this verse is left thus in the original. Verse 6 differs
from the final form only in the first line, with repeated When Winter
comes, when Winter comes; and the concluding lines differ only in the
roads that lead for the road that leads. A preliminary version of the
ending is found, written as prose, thus:
I'll come back to thee and look for thee again, I'll come to thee and
comfort thee, and find thee in the rain. We'll walk the land together
and gather seed and set, and journey to an island where both can
live again.
XXIII.
NOTES ON VARIOUS TOPICS.
There are three isolated pages of notes, heterogeneous in content and
obviously even on the same page written at different times, but each of
which has links to the others. Some of the notes may well be earlier
than the time we have reached,(1) others later, but rather than split them
up and try to fit them in uncertainly elsewhere it seems best to give
them together.
The page that I give first begins with the note 'Wizards = Angels',
and this same note is found on the other two pages also. I take it to be
the first appearance in written record of this conception, i.e. that the
Istari or Wizards were angeloi, 'messengers', emissaries from the
Lords of the West: see Unfinished Tales pp. 388 ff., and especially my
father's long discussion in Letters no. 156 (4 November 1954). Then
follows:
Gandalf to reappear again. How did he escape? This might never
be fully explained. He passed through fire - and became the White
Wizard. 'I forgot much that I knew, and learned again much that I
had forgotten.' He has thus acquired something of the awe and
terrible power of the Ring-wraiths, only on the good side. Evil
things fly from him if he is revealed - when he shines. But he does
not as a rule reveal himself.
He should have a trial of strength with Saruman. Could the
Balrog of the Bridge be in fact Saruman?
Or better? as in older sketch Saruman is very affable.
With this compare the initial sketch for 'The Riders of Rohan', p. 389
The extraordinary idea that the Balrog of Moria might be Saruman
has appeared in a note written on the back of a page of the fair copy
manuscript of 'Lothlorien', p. 236: 'Could not Balrog be Saruman?
Make battle on Bridge be between Gandalf and Saruman?' The
reference to the 'older sketch' - 'Saruman is very affable' - is to 'The
Story Foreseen from Moria', p. 212, where on the homeward journey
'They call at Isengard. Gandalf knocks. Saruman comes out very
affable', etc.
The next note on this page records my father's decision to move the
whole chronology of the Quest forward by a month:
Time Scheme. Too much takes place in winter. They should
remain longer at Rivendell. This would have additional advantage
of allowing Elrond's scouts and messengers far longer time. He
should discover Black Riders have gone back. Frodo should not
start until say Dec. 24th.
It seems likely that 24 December was chosen as being 'numerically'
one month later than the existing date, 24 November (p. 169); and
that it was changed to 25 December to make the new dates agree
'numerically' with the existing time-structure (since November has
30 days but December 31): see p. 368. I do not understand the
statement here that 'he [Elrond] should discover Black Riders have
gone back', since the final text of 'The Ring Goes South' had been
reached in Gandalf's words 'It is rash to be too sure, yet I think that
we may hope now that the Ringwraiths were scattered, and have
been obliged to return as best they could to their Master in Mordor,
empty and shapeless.'
Another note on this page, not written at the same time, refers to
'Chapter XXIV: Open with conversation of Goblins and their
quarrel. How are Merry and Pippin armed?' And the last reads:
'Sarn-gebir = Grailaw or Graidon Hills'. Both these names mean
'Grey Hill(s)': Old English hlaw 'hill', Northern English and
Scottish law, and Old English dun, Modern English down.
The second page contains exact repetitions of notes found on the
other pages or in outlines already given, and need not be cited. On
the third page the following (only) was written in ink, and seems to
be the primary element on the page:
Feb. 9 1942 Geography.
Ondor > Gondor.
Osgiliath > Elostirion. Ostirion = fort. Lorn = haven. Londe =
gulf.
On the date see p. 379, where I have noted that on the back of an
outline for 'The Departure of Boromir' is a clear indication that it was
written in the winter of 1941 - 2. The precise date given here for the
change of Ondor to Gondor is notable; in the fair copy of 'Treebeard'
the form was still Ondor (see p. 401).
Elostirion was written above Osgiliath in the outline for 'The Riders
of Rohan' given on p. 389. This change was of course impermanent,
but the name Elostirion became that of the tallest of the White Towers
on Emyn Beraid, in which the palantir was set (Of the Rings of Power,
in The Silmarillion, p. 292).(2) - With lorn haven cf. Forlorn North
Haven' and Harlorn 'South Haven' on the First Map (pp. 301 - 2), for
later Forlond, Harlond; but on that map appears also Mithlond, the
Grey Havens (where however it is possible that Mithlond actually
meant 'Grey Gulf').
The other notes on this page are heterogeneous and not necessarily
of the same time. The heading 'Geography' was extended to 'Geogra-
phy and Language'. Some of these notes are concerned to find a new
name for Sarn Gebir: rejected names are Sern Lamrach; Tarn Felin;
Trandoran, before (added much later to the page) Emyn Muil is
reached (for Muil see the Etymologies, V.374, stem M U Y). There are
also the English names Graydon Hills and Grailaws, as on the first
page of these notes, and Hazowland.(3)
Another group of notes reads:
Language of Shire = modern English
Language of Dale = Norse (used by Dwarves of that region)
Language of Rohan = Old English
'Modern English' is lingua franca spoken by all people (except a few
secluded folk like Lorien) - but little and ill by orcs.
NOTES.
1. It is to be remembered that statements such as 'Gandalf to
reappear again' do not by any means imply that this is where the
idea first arose: often they are to be taken as reassertions of
existing but as yet unachieved ideas.
2. An altogether isolated and undateable note on a slip of paper also
evinces dissatisfaction with the name Osgiliath. The reverse of the
slip carries notes on unconnected matters which my father dated
'1940', which may or may not be significant. At the present time,
at any rate, I can cast no light on the purport of this note:
Lord of Rings
Osgiliath won't do. Name should = New building 'Newbold'
Town built again echain Ostechain
The word 'building' is very unclear, but is assured by 'Newbold',
a common English village name meaning 'New building', from
Old English bold (also bodl, botl) closely associated with byldan,
Modern English build. I will add here, incidentally and irrel-
evantly, that another derivative from the same source is Nobottle
(Northamptonshire), which my father allowed me to add to my
map of the Shire made in 1943 (VI.107, item V) and which remains
in that published in The Lord of the Rings, although at that time I
was under the impression that the name meant that the village was
so poor and remote that it did not even possess an inn.
3. Hazowland is clearly from the Old English poetic word hasu
(inflected hasw-) 'grey, ashen'; cf. Hasupada 'Greycoat', name of
Gandalf in Rohan (p. 405 note 21), and Hasofel (Hasufel) of the
same meaning, the horse lent to Aragorn by Eomer.
XXIV.
THE WHITE RIDER.
For the greater part of this chapter the evolution can be traced very
dearly. Initial drafting not erased or overwritten, more developed but
discontinuous drafting, and a 'fair copy' that itself underwent constant
correction in the act of composition, were a continuous process, and
the history of almost every sentence can be followed until near the end
of the chapter. This was numbered 'XXVI' from an early stage; a title
was added to the 'fair copy' later, first Sceadufax in Old English
spelling, then 'The White Rider'. The process of composition here was
continuous and all of the same time, so that 'first draft', 'second draft',
'fair copy', 'corrections to fair copy' cannot be treated as distinct
entities, each complete before the next stage.
An example of this overlapping is seen at once. In the original form
of the opening, to Gimli's insistence that the old man who stood by the
fire in the night was Saruman, Aragorn replies: 'I wonder. The horses
showed no signs of fear.' In the 'fair copy' (more accurately, the first
coherent manuscript) this became: ' "I wonder," said Aragorn. "What
did he seem to be? An old man? It is strange enough in itself: that an
old man should be walking alone by the eaves of Fangorn. Yet the
horses showed no signs of fear." ' This obviously belongs with the
sentence struck out at the end of 'The Riders of Rohan': 'The horses
remained quiet, and seemed to feel nothing amiss', and suggests to my
mind that my father believed the old man to be Gandalf (see p. 403
and note 26). Yet in the most 'primitive' drafting further on in the
chapter the old man in the night certainly was Saruman (see further
pp. 427 - 8).
The later chronology of the chase across Rohan not being present,
of course (see p. 406), Aragorn remarks that the footprints by the
riverside are a day old ., Gandalf says that the hobbits climbed up
here yesterday', and that he himself had seen Treebeard 'three days
ago': in TT all these are made one day earlier, on account of the extra
day added in 1944. At one point, however, the need for correction
escaped my father's notice: Legolas' words that the last time he saw
the eagle was 'three days ago, above the Emyn Muil' (TT p. 98). This
should have been changed to .four days ago, see the table on p. 406,
and cf. The Tale of Years in LR, February 27 Aragorn reaches the
west-cliff at sunrise', and (February having 30 days) 'March 1 Aragorn
meets Gandalf the White'.
The story of the first meeting with Gandalf was sketched out in
every essential point in the earliest draft. When the three companions
saw the old man walking through the wood below them, Gimli's
horror of Saruman was at first expressed in more murderous fashion:
'Shoot, Legolas! Draw your bow! Shoot! It is Saruman, or worse. Do
not let him speak or bewitch us!' This was retained in the fair copy;
and when subsequently it was softened to a demand that Legolas only
prepare to shoot, Gimli's following words were retained: 'Why are
you waiting? What is the matter with you?' In the earliest draft the
wizard wore an 'old hat'; this became a 'battered hat', then a
'wide-brimmed hat' (see p. 403).(1)
The opening of their long conversation proceeds thus in the earliest
draft (cf. TT pp. 98 - 9):
'... At the turn of the Tide. The great storm is coming, but the
Tide has turned even at this moment. I have passed through fire
and ruin and I have been badly burned, or well burned. But
come, tell me now of yourselves. I have seen much in deep
places and in high since we parted; I have forgotten much that I
knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten.(2) [Some
things I can see far off and some close at hand; but not all can I
see. Changed at once to:] Many things I can see far off but many
that are close at hand I cannot see.'
'What do you wish to know?' said Aragorn. 'All that has
happened would be a long tale. Will you not first tell us tidings
of Merry and Pippin? Did you find them, and are they safe?'
'No, I did not find them,' said Gandalf.(3) 'I was busy with
perilous matters, and did not know of their captivity until the
eagle told me.'
'The eagle! ' said Legolas. 'We have seen an eagle high and far .
off: the last time was three days ago, above Sarn Gebir.'
'Yes,' said Gandalf, 'that was Gwaewar the Windlord who
rescued me from Orthanc. I sent him before me to gather
tidings, and to watch the River. His sight is keen, but he cannot
see all that passes in wood and valley. But there are some things
that I can see unaided. This I may tell you: the Ring has passed
beyond my help or the help of any of our original Company.
Very nearly it was revealed to the Enemy, but not quite. I had
some part in that. For I sat upon the mountains beneath the
snows of Methedras and I strove with the Dark Tower, and the
shadow passed. Then I was weary: very weary.'
The story that Gandalf was on Tol Brandir when Frodo sat on Amon
Hen, and that he was borne across Rohan by the eagle (see p. 396), has
been abandoned; Gwaewar (Gwaihir) is now in his later role as
gatherer of tidings for Gandalf in the region of Anduin. It is not clear
at this stage what had happened to Gandalf, and it seems that my
father did not for the moment intend to make it so. Is it to be supposed
that he made his way south along the mountains and so came to
Methedras, where he sat 'beneath the snows and strove with the Dark
Tower' while Frodo wore the Ring on Amon Hen? A single isolated
and interrupted sentence says 'Gwaewar found me walking in the
woods. Of him I'; which surely means that Gandalf came from
Methedras into Fangorn, and that Gwaewar having found him he sent
the eagle away east 'to watch the River and gather tidings'. This may
suggest that the story of his being borne by the eagle to Lothlorien had
not yet arisen.
When drafting the chapter my father had at first no thought, it
seems, that Gandalf should display to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli 'a
piece of his mind' (TT p. 100) on the hopes and chances of the War.
After Gandalf has been told that they think that Sam went with Frodo
to Mordor, he says: 'Did he, indeed. It is news to me, but not at all
surprising. But now about Merry and Pippin, for I shall not get your
tale out of you before I have told you of them.'
It was perhaps at this point that my father set down a short outline
for what Gandalf might now say:
Eagle sights orcs and hobbits. Saruman about in the woods.
Orc-battle. Treebeard. They are safe, but something is going on.
Revolt of trees? But we are called south. War is beginning. They
must wait in hope and patience to find Merry and Pippin ... - but
their friendship and devotion in following them was rewarded. The
Company had done nobly and Gandalf was pleased with them.
They ask what had happened to him - he won't tell yet.
It seems that the new course of the conversation ('Now sit by me
and tell me the tale of your journey', TT p. 99) was at once introduced,
leading to Gandalf's account of the intentions, desires, and fears of the
Dark Lord and of Saruman. This was a characteristic development in
stages by expansion, refinement of expression, and some re-ordering
of its structure, but all the essentials of Gandalf's thought were present
from the first drafting. There are however in the earlier stages a
number of interesting differences to be recorded.
That Saruman was 'about in the woods' is mentioned in the little
outline just given; in the first drafting Gandalf tells (as in TT, p. 101)
that 'he could not wait at home and came forth to meet his captives',
but that he was too late, the battle was over, and being 'no
woodcraftsman' he had misinterpreted what had happened. 'Poor
Saruman!' Gandalf adds, 'what a fall for one so wise! I fear that [he
started too late to make a success of wickedness >] he started in the
race too late. He seems not to have the luck he needs in his new
profession. He at least will never sit in the Dark Tower.'
The passage about the Winged Messenger, absent in the draft,
appears in the fair copy, where Legolas says that he felled him from
the sky 'above Sarn Ruin' (see p. 361 and note 20), and that 'He filled
us all with fear, but none so much as Frodo.'
In the first draft Gimli asks: 'That old man. You say Saruman is
abroad. Was it you or Saruman that we saw last night?' and Gandalf
replies: 'If you saw an old man last night, you certainly did not see me.
But as we seem to look so much alike that you wished to make an
incurable dent in my hat, I must guess that you saw Saruman [or a
vision >] or some wraith of his making. [Struck out: I did not know
that he lingered here so long.]' Against Gandalf's words my father
wrote in the margin: Vision of Gandalf's thought. There is clearly an
important clue here to the curious ambiguity surrounding the appari-
tion of the night before, if one knew how to interpret it; but these
words are not perfectly clear. They obviously represent a new thought:
arising perhaps from Gandalf's suggestion that if it was not Saruman
himself that they saw it was a 'vision' or 'wraith' that he had made, the
apparition is now to emanate from Gandalf himself. But of whom was
it a vision? Was it an embodied 'emanation' of Gandalf, proceeding
from Gandalf himself, that they saw? 'I look into his unhappy mind
and I see his doubt and fear', Gandalf has said; it seems more likely
perhaps that through his deep concentration on Saruman he had
'projected' an image of Saruman which the three companions could
momentarily see. I have found no other evidence to cast light on this
most curious element in the tale; but it may be noted that in a
time-scheme deriving from the time of the writing of 'Helm's Deep'
and 'The Road to Isengard' my father noted of that night: 'Aragorn
and his companions spend night on the battle-field, and see "old man"
(Saruman).'
The earliest of several versions of Gandalf's reply to Legolas'
question 'Who is Treebeard?' is notable, though extremely difficult to
read:
'Ah,' said Gandalf, 'Now you are asking. He is Fangorn, that is
Treebeard, Treebeard the Ent: what else shall I call him? The eldest
of the old, the King of the Treebeards, the dwellers in the Forest.
Stone-old, tree-hale, snail-slow, strong as a growing root. I wish you
had met him. Your friends were more fortunate. For they came up
here, as Aragorn has [? already] discovered. But no marks of them go
down, as he may have discovered and soon would. But here ...
marks by [?one] [of] Treebeard's feet. This was a place, he often
came to it when he wished to be alone and look outside the Forest.
He has taken the hobbits away.'
'Then they are safe, since you speak well of Treebeard?'
'Safe? Yes, as far as the Ents go. But there is [?terrible] hurry.'
Gandalf tells them about Ents. Says it was well that Merry and
Pippin I?came there]. They did right to follow. Yet to meet the Ents
is not their task. Too late anyway. He looks at sun. 'We have spent
all the time allowed to a meeting of parted friends. We must go. We
are needed South.'
In a more developed draft Aragorn's response to Gandalf's naming
'the Ents' (TT p. 102) reads:
'The Ents!' exclaimed Aragorn. 'Then there is truth in the ancient
legends, [and the names that they use in Rohan have a meaning! The
Entwash and the Entmark (for that is how they call the Forest)]
Above Entmark is written Entwood. - These remarks about the names
containing Ent were bracketed for rejection at once, since the text
continues: 'about the dwellers in the deep forest, and the giant
Shepherds of the Trees', as in TT. In one of many draftings for
Legolas' words at this point he says: 'I thought that [Fangorn] was the
name of the Forest. A strange name for a wood, now I consider it.'
The words 'he is the oldest living thing that still walks beneath the
sun upon this Middle-earth' appear in the draft, written just so,
without any hesitation in reaching them. Of his seeing Treebeard in
the woods Gandalf says:
'... I passed him in the forest three days ago; and I do not doubt that
he saw me, since the eyes of Treebeard miss little [written in margin:
and he saw me, indeed he called my name]; but I did not speak, for I
had much to think about, and I did not then know that Merry and
Pippin had been carried off.'
The text of TT is reached in the fair copy. He says in the draft that
'something is going to happen which has not happened since the Elves
awoke'; in the fair copy this becomes 'since the Elves first woke',
changed to 'since the Elves were born' ('since the Elder Days', TT
p. 103). But when Legolas says 'What is going to happen?' Gandalf
replies: 'I do not know. Merry and Pippin do perhaps, by now; but I
do not.'
To his words to Aragorn, urging him not to regret his choice 'in the
valley of Sarn Gebir', he adds (both in draft and fair copy):
'... Also I say to you that your coming to Minas Tirith will now be
very different from what would have been, had you come there
alone reporting that Boromir son of the Lord Denethor had fallen,
while you lived....'
In the draft text he tells Aragorn that he must go now to Winseld,
changed to Eodoras (see p. 402): 'The light of Branding must now be
uncovered. There is battle in Rohan and they are hard put to it in the
West, even as the great [? flood] of war comes up from the East.' In the
fair copy this becomes: There is war in Rohan and it goes ill for the
horsemasters': thus again (see p. 401) there is no suggestion of
Wormtongue (cf. TT p. 104: There is war in Rohan, and worse evil, it
goes ill with Theoden').
The textual development of the last part of this chapter and its
relation to the beginning of the next is complex and doubtful, the
manuscript material being very hard to interpret, and I shall not go
into the question in any detail. But it is clear that at least half of 'The
King of the Golden Hall' had been written before the conclusion of
'The White Rider' approached at all the form it has in The Two
Towers; for as will be seen (p. 446) Aragorn tells Theoden in Eodoras
that Gandalf had not told them 'what befell him in Moria'.
How my father ended 'The White Rider' at this stage is not entirely
clear to me, but it seems probable that he stopped at Gandalf's words
of the Balrog (TT p. 105): 'Name him not!': 'and for a moment it
seemed that a cloud of pain passed over his face, and he sat silent,
looking old as death.' He would then have begun a new chapter
(XXVII) at 'Gandalf now wrapped himself again in his old tattered
cloak. They descended quickly from the high shelf...' (TT p. 107).
I cannot say at what precise point my father decided that Gandalf
should in fact tell something at least of what had happened to him
after his fall from the Bridge of Khazad-dum, but it must have been in
the course of the writing of 'The King of the Golden Hall'. In what is
apparently the earliest draft (but written over erased pencil) of
Gandalf's story of his escape from Moria (4) the four companions are
already riding south from Fangorn when he tells it:
On the way they ask Gandalf how he escaped. He refuses the full
tale - but tells how he passed through fire (and water?) and came to
the 'bottom of the world', and there finally overthrew the Balrog,
who fled. Gandalf followed up a secret way to Durin's Tower on the
summit of the mountains (?of Caradras). There they had a battle -
those who beheld it afar thought it was a thunderstorm with
lightning. A great rain came down. The Balrog was destroyed, and .
the tower crumbled and stones blocked the door of the secret way.
Gandalf was left on the mountain-top. The eagle Gwaihir rescued
him. He went then to Lothlorien. Galadriel arrayed him in white
garments before he left. While Gandalf was on mountain top he saw
many things - a vision of Mordor etc.
This is the first appearance of the form Gwaihir (here apparently first
written Gwaehir) for earlier Gwaewar, which was still the name in the
earlier part of this chapter.
A very rough and unfinished draft for the final form and placing of
Gandalf's story ('Long I fell, and he fell with me...', TT p. 105) is
found. Here Gandalf describes the Balrog, his fire quenched, thus: 'he
was a thing of slime, strong as a strangling snake, sleek as ice, pliant as
a thong, unbreakable as steel.' Of the 'dark things unguessed' that
gnaw the world 'below the deepest delvings of the dwarves' he says:
'Sauron alone may know of them, or one older than he.' And after his
words 'I will bring no report to stain the light of day' the text
continues:
'...Little had I guessed the abyss that was spanned by Durin's
Bridge.'
'Did you not?' said Gimli. 'I could have told you had there been
time. No plummet ever found the bottom - indeed none that was
ever cast therein was ever recovered.'(5)
The form of Gandalf's story in TT is almost reached in the 'fair
copy' manuscript, but there remain some differences. He tells that
clutching at the Balrog's heel 'I set my teeth in it like a hunting hound,
and tasted venom'; and that Durin's Tower was 'carved in the living
rock in the very pinnacle of red Caradras.' This was subsequently
changed to 'the living rock [of] Zirakinbar,(6) the pinnacle of the
Silverhorn. There upon Kelebras was a lonely window in the snow...'
On these names see pp. 174 - 5, notes 18, 21 - 2.
Gandalf does not say, as in TT (p. 106), 'Naked I was sent back -
for a brief time, until my task is done', but simply 'Naked I returned,
and naked I lay upon the mountain-top.'(7) And of his coming thence to
Caras Galadon, borne by Gwaihir, he says that he 'found you three
days gone', and that he 'tarried there in the long time which in that
land counts for but a brief hour of the world' ('in the ageless time of
that land', TT): see pp. 368 - 9.
At this time the messages that he bore from Galadriel to Aragorn
and Legolas were very different:
Elfstone, Elfstone, bearer of my green stone,
In the south under snow a green stone thou shalt see.
Look well, Elfstone! In the shadow of the dark throne
Then the hour is at hand that long hath awaited thee.
Greenleaf, Greenleaf, bearer of the elven-bow,
Far beyond Mirkwood many trees on earth grow.
Thy last shaft when thou hast shot, under strange trees
shalt thou go!
The dialogue that follows, between Gimli, Legolas, and Gandalf, is
however precisely the same as in TT, p. 107. On the significance of the
verse addressed to Aragorn see p. 448.
With the addition of Gandalf's story to this chapter, what was
originally the opening of 'The King of the Golden Hall' (from 'Gandalf
now wrapped himself again in his old tattered cloak', see p. 430) was
incorporated into 'The White Rider', which now ended at Gandalf's
words 'Show no weapon, speak no haughty word, I counsel you all,
until we are come before Theoden's seat' (TT p. 111). The final form
of the story of the departure from Fangorn, the summoning of the
horses, the great ride south across the plains with the sight at sunset
of smoke rising far off in the Gap of Rohan, and the distant view of
Eodoras at sunrise (TT pp. 107 - 11, where it constitutes the end of the
one chapter and the beginning of the next), was achieved almost down
to the last detail in the fair copy manuscript.(8) By this time my father
had changed the ending of 'The Riders of Rohan' (p. 403) to the form
it has in TT, pp. 45 - 6 ('The horses were gone. They had dragged their
pickets and disappeared'), and had changed the beginning of 'The
White Rider' similarly to its form in TT, p. 91 (' "Did you hear them,
Legolas? Did they sound to you like beasts in terror?" "No," said
Legolas. "I heard them clearly....I should have guessed that they
were beasts wild with some sudden gladness" ').
NOTES.
1. A little slip of paper used to draft the moment of recognition of
Mithrandir (TT p. 98) was a page from an engagement calendar
'for the week ending Saturday February 22'. February 22 fell on a
Saturday in 1941, not in 1942.
2. The forerunner of this phrase appeared in the outline given on
p. 389, as also did 'I was badly burned or well burned'; cf. also
the notes given on p. 422. Gandalf's suggestion that he now 'is'
Saruman, in the sense that he is 'Saruman as he should have been',
is lacking, but appears in the fair copy as first written.
3. Gandalf's words that follow in TT: 'There was a darkness over the
valleys of the Emyn Muil' are absent in the draft, but are found in
the fair copy (with Sarn Gebir for the Emyn Muil).
4. For the earliest notes on Gandalf's escape from Moria see VI.462
and p. 211 in this book.
5. It is interesting to look back to my father's original ideas about the
chasm in the passages referred to in note 4: 'probably fall is not as
deep as it seemed... eventually following the subterranean stream
in the gulf he found a way out', and 'The gulf was not deep (only a
kind of moat and was full of silent water). He followed the channel
and got down into the Deeps.'
6. This form Zirakinbar, preceding Zirakzigil, is found also in an
entirely isolated note: 'Barazinbar, Zirakinbar, Udushinbar',
together with a reference to 'Silverhorn and the Horn of Cloud'.
7. Cf. Letters no. 156 (4 November 1954), Naked I was sent back
- for a brief time, until my task is done." Sent back by whom, and
whence? Not by the "gods" whose business is only with this
embodied world and its time; for he passed "out of thought and
time". Naked is alas! unclear. It was meant just literally, "un-
clothed like a child" (not discarnate), and so ready to receive the
white robes of the highest. Galadriel's power is not divine, and his
healing in Lorien is meant to be no more than physical healing and
refreshment.'
8. Initial drafting is very largely lost through overwriting. - The only
points of any significance in which the text of the fair copy differs
from that of TT, other than names, are that Theoden is the 'Master
of Rohan' and 'lord of the Mark' where in TT he is called 'King'
(see p. 444); that Gandalf says to Shadowfax 'Far let us ride now
together, ere we part again!' where in TT he says 'and part not in
this world again!'; and that 'the mountains of the South' (the Black
Mountains) are 'black-tipped and streaked with white', whereas in
TT, where they are the White Mountains, they are 'white-tipped
and streaked with black': cf. the earlier description in 'The Riders of
Rohan' (TT p. 24), where the original text was retained (p. 395),
'rising into peaks of jet, tipped with glimmering snows'.
Among names, Sarn Gebir (for Emyn Muil), Winseld, Eodoras
are still present. At the end of the chapter, in Gandalf's phrase 'the
Horse-masters do not sleep' (TT p. 111), the form Rohir (not
Rohiroth) was written above.
XXV.
THE STORY FORESEEN FROM
FANGORN.
In this chapter I give two outlines of great interest, for in them my
father discussed the structural problems of the story that he foresaw at
this time. The first one given here was evidently written when 'The
White Rider' had been completed in its earlier form (i.e. without
Gandalf's story of the Balrog, see p. 430); the ride across Rohan and
the distant sight of Eodoras in the morning may or may not have
existed yet, but the question is immaterial.
XXVII
Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli reach Eodoras on the morn-
ing of Jan. 31.(1) (That aft[ernoon] Merry and Pippin go with
Ents to Isengard.)
They enter Theoden's halls. Theoden greets Gandalf dubiously
- as herald of trouble. Shadowfax had been reported coming
from the West through the Gap and fleeing away north.(2) They
feared Gandalf would return. Then Eomer had come riding
back, with strange news concerning Gandalf's fall. 'That,' said
Theoden, 'was too much to hope, it seems; for now Gandalf
returns and worse tidings follow.'
Against this paragraph was written in the margin, at the same time as
the text, 'A messenger from Minas Tirith is present.'
There is a battle on the borders of the West Emnet. An
invasion of Orcs of Saruman had been driven back (not without
loss to the Rohiroth) to the banks of the Isen River. But news
came that orcs were pouring out of Isengard, and that men of
the Middlemarch (3) (whom Saruman had long subjected) were
coming up. 'We cannot hope long to hold the river,' said
Theoden. 'Eomer has gone thither with what men could still be
spared. And now as we are beset in the West, there comes dire
news indeed. The whole of Rhun the Great, the endless East, is
in motion. Under the command of the Dark Lord of Mordor
they move from the far North even to the South. Minas Tirith is
beset. The fierce dark men of the South, the Haradwaith
(Harwan Silharrows Men of Sunharrowland Men of Harrow-
land) have come in many ships and fill the Bay of Belfalas, and
[have] taken the isle of Tolfalas. They have passed up the
Anduin in many galleys, and out of Mordor others have crossed
at Elostirion.(4) A tide of war rolls beneath the very walls of
Minas Tirith. They have sent us urgent prayer for help. And we
cannot give it. Yet if Minas Tirith falls then the dark tide will
sweep over us from the East.
Against this passage concerning Minas Tirith was written in the
margin, at the same time as the text, 'Not yet have they heard of
Boromir's fall.' Later, the whole passage from 'And now as we are
beset in the West' to this point was closed off in pencil with the note
'place after return victorious from Isengard.' Theoden continues:
You come at the end of the days of Rohan. Not long now shall
the hall (which Brego son of Brytta [changed later in pencil to
Eorl son of Eofor] built)(5) stand. Fire shall eat up the high seat.
What can you say?'
Gandalf speaks words of comfort. All that can be done is to
do one deed at a time and go forward and not look back. Let us
assail Saruman and then if fortune is with us turn and face East.
There is a hope. Something may happen in West (he does not
openly name Ents).
Gandalf begs for the gift of Shadowfax.
Theoden says Yes - that will at least ensure Gandalf's escape,
when all else fall. Gandalf does not lose temper. He says there
will be no escape for anyone. But he wishes for gift, as he will
take Shadowfax into great peril: silver against black.
The ceremony of gift. Gandalf casts aside grey robe and be-
comes White Rider. He bids Theoden arm, old as he is, and
follow with all left who can bear arms. The rest shall pack and
prepare to flee to the mountains.
They ride off without rest. Meet messengers reporting death
of the Second Master and the forces of Rohan hemmed almost
in, while the forces of Saruman are continually strengthened.
Gandalf spurs Shadowfax and spurs into the setting sun.
By his help and Aragorn the Isengarders are driven back. The
camp of the Rohiroth. But Isengarders are across the river.
In the morning they awake and look out in wonder. A wood
stood where none had been, between the Isengarders and the
West. There is clamour and confusion. Vast columns of vapour
are seen rising from Isengard, and the rumour of strange noises
and rumblings. The Isengarders are driven into the river. Those
who cross are suddenly assailed by the trees which seem to come
to life. Only a few escape fleeing southward to the Black
Mountains.
The victorious forces under Eomer and Gandalf ride to the
gates of Isengard. They find it a pile of rubble, blocked with a
huge wall of stone. On the top of the pile sit Merry and Pippin!
Meeting of Treebeard and Gandalf.
How did the Ents overcome Isengard? They open[ed] sluice
gates at North end and blocked the outlet near the Great Gate.
First they watched all the night seeing more and more orcs etc.
pour out of Isengard. Then they simply broke a way in at North
end and spied and found Saruman was left nearly all alone in
his tower. They broke the door and stairway to the tower and
then withdrew. At North end they let in the River Isen but
blocked its outflow. Soon all the floor of the circle was flooded
to many feet deep. Then while some kept guard the rest fell on
the rear of the battle.
Here comes scene of Saruman being let out of his tower and
trying to speak in friendly fashion to Gandalf. 'Ah, my dear
Gandalf! I am so pleased to see you; we at least (we wizards)
understand one another. These people all seem so unnecessarily
angry.(6) What a mess the world is in. Really you and I must
consult together - such men as we are needed. Now what about .
our spheres of influence?'
Gandalf looks at him and laughs. 'Yes, I understand you well
enough, Saruman. Give me your staff,' he said in a voice of
terrible command. He took it and broke it. 'I am the White
Wizard now,' he said. 'Behold you are clad in many colours!'
They turn his coat inside out. Gandalf gives him a rough staff.
[Added subsequently: Saruman is to go without a staff, and
have no wooden thing to lean on by decree of Treebeard.] 'Go
Saruman!' he said, 'and beg from the charitable for a day's
digging.'(7) [Added subsequently: Or put this toward end of story
- in meanwhile give Saruman over to the guard of the Ents.
Further addition: Yes.]
[Written in margin at the same time as the text: Better: the
ring of Isengard is broken by Ents, but Saruman shuts himself
up in Orthanc and cannot be assailed yet for there is no time.]
Another way of telling the story would be to carry on from
end of Chapter XXVI and relate the coming of Ents to
Icengard.(8) How they resolved not to break in at first, but came
behind the orc-army. Let Merry and Pippin see the orcs driving
the men of Rohan back over the River. Ents camp behind them.
Then relate the battle from Merry and Pippin's point of view -
distant vision of the white rider on a shining horse. They
recognize the sword and voice of Aragorn, but do not know
who the White Rider is. Gandalf and Treebeard meet after the
battle - and then comes the storming of Isengard by Gandalf
and the Ents.
Return to Eodoras. Funeral of - the Second Master (9)
[Added above: Hama and Theodred]. Feast in Winseld.(10)
Eowyn sister of Eomer waits on the guests. Description of her,
and of her love for Aragorn.
News comes at the feast or next morning of the siege of
Minas Tirith by the Haradwaith.(11) [Added subsequently:
brought by a dark Gondorian like Boromir.(12) Theoden answers
that he does not owe fealty - only to heirs of Elendil. But he
will come.] The horsemen of Rohan ride East, with Gandalf,
Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Merry and Pippin. Gandalf as the
White Rider. [Added subsequently: Eowyn goes as Amazon.]
Vision of Minas Tirith from afar.
In the part of this outline that concerns the immediate story to come,
and with which this book ends, it will be seen that while Theoden is
unwelcoming and scarcely well-disposed towards Gandalf, he is
nothing more than that: of the ugly state of affairs at Eodoras that
came in with Wormtongue there is no trace - no hint of the
subjugation of Theoden's mind and will, of the disgracing of Eomer,
of Gandalf's triumphant display of his power in the hall of Winseld.
Eowyn, Eomer's sister, appears, and her love for Aragorn, but not
until the funeral feast held in Winseld after the victory.
Judging by the opening of the second outline, this also belongs to
about this time.
Order o f Tale.
Bring each party to crisis. Ents break off with 'Night lies over
Isengard'. End XXVI with far vision of Winseld's golden roof
(and sight of the smoke).(13) (Possibly they see men in strange
armour riding also from East to Eodoras.)
Now return to Frodo and Sam. Meeting with Gollum. Betrayal
by him. Capture of Frodo on west side of Kirith Ungol. Frodo
imprisoned in tower (14) - because (a) no ring is on him, (b) Sauron
is busy with war and it takes time for message to reach him.
Then return to Gandalf and battle of Isen, feast of victory, relief
of Minas Tirith, and march of the army of Gandalf towards
Dagorlad and gates of Kirith Ungol.
Then return to Frodo. Make him look out onto impenetrable
night. Then use phial which has escaped (clutched in his hand or
wrapped in rag). By its light he sees the forces of deliverance
approach and the dark host go out to meet them.(15) Grieves for.
Sam - or thinks he has betrayed him too.
The orc-guards come on him and take phial and shutter
windows, and he lies in dark and despair.
Where put parley of Sauron and Gandalf? If after capture of
Frodo readers will know that Frodo [written above: Sauron] hag
not Ring. [Added subsequently in two stages: No, not if you
break off with Frodo carried off by Orcs and before Sam rescues
him. / Even if Sam's taking of Ring is told,(16) you can make Sam
fly among the rocks with Gollum (and orcs) on his trail and his
escape seem unlikely.)
Possibly best as originally planned - [?all account] of Gandalf
as far as Kirith Ungol - and then return to Sam and Frodo.
Sam rescues Frodo and while battle is joined at mouth of
Gorgoroth they fly towards Orodruin.
NOTES.
1. The later date of the departure of the Company from Rivendell,
25 December, had now entered (see pp. 422 - 3): thus 'Day 1' (the
day of Boromir's death) in the table on p. 406 was January 25.
(see the table on p. 368), and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli
encountered Gandalf in Fangorn on January 30 ('Day 5').
2. In the fifth version of 'The Council of Elrond' (p. 152) Gandalf
does not say what happened to Shadowfax, but the isolated note
given on p. 390 says that 'some account of Shadowfax in the
house of Elrond must be given.' This note asks also, however, 'Or
did he just run off after Gandalf got to Rivendell?', and 'How did
Gandalf summon him?' In preliminary notes for 'The Riders of
Rohan' (p. 390) it is said that 'the horse of Gandalf reappears-
sent for from Rivendell'; and in the text of that chapter (pp.
400 - 1) Eomer tells Aragorn that he had returned seven days
before, to which Aragorn replies: 'But Gandalf left Shadowfax
far in the North at Rivendell. Or so I thought.' In the present
passage Shadowfax had recently come out of the West through
the Gap of Rohan and then gone away north: which surely
suggests that he had come from Rivendell and was going north to
Fangorn in obedience to a summons from Gandalf mysteriously
conveyed to him.
The earliest extant account of Gandalf's summons to Shadow-
fax with his three great whistles, and his coming across the plain
to the eaves of Fangorn with Arod and Hasofel returning, is
already exactly as in TT (see p. 432); and this seems to fit the
story in the present text, for Gandalf says to Shadowfax 'It is a
long way from Rivendell, my friend; but you are wise and swift,
and come at need,' and he says to Legolas 'I bent my thought
upon him, bidding him to make haste; for yesterday he was far
away in the south of this land.' (On the other hand, Legolas says
'I have not seen his like before', which does not suggest that
Shadowfax had been at Rivendell when the Company was there.)
The story in the published LR is extremely difficult to under-
stand. In 'The Council of Elrond' (FR p. 278) Gandalf says: 'It
took me nearly fourteen days from Weathertop, for I could not
ride among the rocks of the troll-fells, and Shadowfax departed.
I sent him back to his master...' This was about October 4. The
next we hear is in 'The Riders of Rohan', where Eomer still tells
Aragorn that Shadowfax had returned 'seven nights ago' (but
'now the horse is wild and will let no man handle him'), to which
Aragorn replies: 'Then Shadowfax has found his way alone from
the far North; for it was there that he and Gandalf parted.' But it
was now February 30, so that on his return nearly five months
had elapsed since Gandalf dismissed him at Weathertop! And
then, at the end of 'The White Rider' (TT p. 108), there is the
passage already cited: 'It is a long way from Rivendell, my friend;
but you are wise and swift and come at need.' It is hard to resist
the conclusion that the alteration in Gandalf's story to the
Council of Elrond was not carried through.
3. Middlemarch: Enedwaith, between Greyflood and Anduin; see
Maps II and III, pp. 305, 309.
4. Cf. the outline given on p. 389: 'Minas Tirith defeats Harad-
waith.' - All these names (Harwan, Silharrows; Harrowland,
Sunharrowland) are derived from the Old English Sigelhearwan
'Ethiopians'. My father's article in two parts entitled Sigelwara
land (Medium AEvum 1 and 3, Dec.1932 and June 1934) studied
the etymology and meaning of the name Sigelhearwan, and
concluded that while the meaning of the first element Sigel was
certainly 'Sun', that of the second element hearwan was not
discoverable, a symbol ... of that large part of ancient English
language and lore which has now vanished beyond recall, swa hit
no maere [as if it had never been].' With these names cf. Sunlands,
Swertings, p. 313. - Tolfalas appears on the original element of
the First Map (see p. 298, and Map III" on p. 308). - On
Elostirion for Osgiliath see p. 423.
5. In LR the father of Eorl was Leod, and Brego was Eorl's son;
Brytta was the eleventh King of the Mark, some two and a half
centuries after Brego (see LR Appendix A (II)).
6. These remarks of Saruman's, from 'we at least...', were brack-
eted at the time of writing.
7. This sketch of the 'affable' Saruman and Gandalf's breaking of
his staff is derived very closely from 'The Story Foreseen from
Moria', p. 212; cf. also p. 422.
8. Chapter XXVI is 'The White Rider'.
9. The Second Master was first called Marhath (p. 390; this name
was then given to the Fourth Master, p. 400), then Eowin (pp.
393 - 4).
10. For the name of the Golden Hall see p. 402.
11. Thus the passage on pp. 434 - 5 (in which Theoden in his initial
conversation with Gandalf speaks of the attack by the Harad-
waith on Minas Tirith) bracketed with the note that it should be
placed after the victorious return to Eodoras has already been
moved.
12. I have not found an explanation of the conception underlying
this. Possibly to be compared are Gandalf's words in The Return
of the King, Ch. 1 Minas Tirith, p. 31: by some chance the
blood of Westernesse runs nearly true in him; as it does in his
other son, Faramir, and yet did not in Boromir whom he loved
hest.' But this was written several years later.
13. The smoke seen rising at sunset of the day before in the direction
of the Gap of Rohan (p. 432).
14. On the taking of Frodo to a guard-tower (not to Minas Morgul)
see p. 344 and note 39, and p. 412.
15. The light of the Phial of Galadriel must be conceived here to be of
huge power, a veritable star in the darkness.
16. I do not follow the thought here: for Sam's taking of the Ring
must in any case be told before Frodo is carried off by the Orcs.
XXVI.
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN HALL.
The textual history of this chapter is much the same as that of 'The
White Rider': the first coherent and legible manuscript is also in a
sense the first extant text of the chapter, because the rough drafts were
set down, section by section, as the main manuscript proceeded. In
other words, that manuscript was the vehicle of the development of
the narrative, and the distinction between 'draft' and 'fair copy' is not
at all a distinction between two separate manuscript entities, the one
completed as a whole before the other was begun. For almost all of the
last third of the chapter, however, there is no independent drafting, for
the initial conception in pencil was overwritten in ink.
A substantial part of the chapter was in being in some form before
Gandalf's story of the Balrog was added to 'The White Rider' (see p.
430), and the point of separation of 'The King of the Golden Hall' (not
so named) from 'The White Rider' was twice changed.(1)
In the earliest stage of the narrative, abandoned before it had gone
far, Gandalf (with Gimli) left Aragorn and Legolas before they came
to Eodoras:
'Eodoras those courts are called,' said Gandalf, 'and Winseld
is that golden hall. There dwells Theoden (2) son of Thengel, lord
of the mark of Rohan. We are come with the rising of the day.
Now the road lies plain to see before you. Make what speed you
may!'
Then suddenly he spoke to Shadowfax, and like an arrow
from the bow the great horse sprang forward. Even as they
gazed, he was gone: a flash of silver, a wind in the grass, a vision
that fled and faded from their sight.
Swiftly they urged their horses in pursuit, but if they had
Walked upon their feet they would have had as much chance of
overtaking him. They had gone only a small part of the way
When Legolas exclaimed: 'That was a mighty leap! Shadowfax
has sprung across the mountain stream and already he has
passed up the hill and vanished from my sight.'
The morning was bright and clear about them, and birds were
singing, when Aragorn and Legolas came to the stream; running
swiftly down into the plain it bent across their path, turning east
to feed the Entwash away to the left in its marshy bed. Here
there were many willow-trees, already in this southern land
blushing red at the tips of twigs in presage of spring. They found
a ford, much trampled upon either bank with the passage of
horses, and passed over, and so at length they too rode up along
the green road to Eodoras.
At the foot of the hill they passed between seven high green
mounds. Already they were starred with small pale flowers, and
in the shelter of their western flanks the grass was white with
nodding flowers (blossoms) like tiny snowdrops. 'See, Legolas!'
said Aragorn, 'we are passing the mounds where the sires of
Theoden sleep.' 'Yes,' said Legolas. 'Seven mounds there be,
and seven long lives of men it is, since the Rohiroth came hither
from the North. Two hundred times and more have the red
leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then,(3) and little
change does it seem to us. But to them it seems so long ago, that
their dwelling in the North is but a memory of song, and their
speech is already sundered from their northern kin.'
The companions entered the gates. Horsemen guarded them,
and led them to the hall. They dismounted and walked in up the
echoing hall. There they saw Theoden the old. Beside him sat
Gandalf, and at his feet Gimli the dwarf.
At the foot of the page, where this draft ends, is the note: '? News of
the attack on Minas Tirith by Haradwaith in ships'; see pp. 434 - 5, 437.
It would be interesting to know what thought lay behind this story of
the 'divided entry' into Eodoras; but whatever it was, the arrival there
and even the entry into Winseld was accomplished, as it appears,
without any ceremony, interrogation, or laying aside of arms. There is
no suggestion of hostility or even suspicion towards the strangers, and
this accords with the first outline given in the last chapter (see p. 437).
It will be seen in what follows that the entire conception of the
situation at Eodoras arose during the writing of 'The King of the
Golden Hall'.
While the story of the divided entry of the four companions was still
maintained, however, a strongly 'Beowulfian' reception of Aragorn
and Legolas at the gates was at once introduced, in a revised draft.(4)
... they came at last to the wide windswept walls and the gates
of Eodoras. There sat men in bright mail upon proud steeds,
who spoke to them in a strange tongue.
'Abidath cuman uncuthe! [Rejected at the time of writing:
Hwaet sindon ge, lathe oththe leofe, the thus seldlice gewerede
ridan cwomon to thisse barge gatum? No her inn gan moton ne
waedla ne waepned mon, nefne we his naman witen. Nu ge
feorran-cumene gecythath us on ofste: hu hatton ge? hwaet
sindon eower aerende to Theoden urum hlaforde?(5) Aragorn
understood these words] asking their names and errand. These
words Aragorn understood and answered. 'Aragorn son of
Arathorn am I,' he said, 'and with me is Legolas of Mirkwood.
These names maybe ye have already heard, and our coming is
awaited? But we ask now to see Theoden your lord; for we
come in friendship and it may be that our coming
Here this draft tails off. It does not seem that the story that Gandalf
with Gimli went ahead on Shadowfax and entered Eodoras first was
taken any further. It is curious, however, that when the story was
changed my father seems to have forgotten Gimli: he is not named in
the encounter with the guard at the gates, there is no mention of his
surrendering his axe at the doors of the house, and my father even
wrote 'Now the three companions went forward' up Theoden's hall.
These references were added in to the 'fair copy' manuscript, and
'three' changed to 'four'; and Gimli appears as the text was written
when he strode forward, and was restrained by Gandalf, at Wormton-
gue's words about Lothlorien (TT p. 118). I do not think that this can
have any narrative significance; but it was certainly an odd lapse, and
not easy to explain.(6)
The story of the arrival at Eodoras was now revised again. Gandalf
is present when the travellers are challenged at the gates, and the
guards, crying Abidath cuman uncuthe, are rebuked by him for using
the tongue of Rohan.(7) The flowers on the mounds (still seven) become
nifredil, the flowers of Lorien (see note 4, and pp. 233 - 4); and
Aragorn utters the verse Where now the horse and the rider?,(8)
referring to 'Eorl the Old', changed at once to 'Eorl the Young', 'who
rode down out of the North', and to 'his steed Felarof, father of
horses' (TT p. 112). But at this stage Wormtongue had still not
emerged, and the suspicion and hostility of the guards evidently
proceeded from Theoden's unfortified dislike and distrust of
Gandalf;(9) moreover Eomer had not returned to Eodoras since Ara-
gorn, Legolas and Gimli parted from him:
'".Has not Eomer then returned and given warning of our
coming?'
'Nay,' said the guard. 'He has not passed these gates. He was
turned aside by messengers from Theoden, and went away west
to the war without staying. But maybe, if what you say is true,
Theoden will have knowledge of it. I will go to my lord and
learn his will. But what names shall I report? ...'
'With this cf. TT p. 113. - In the original draft for the scene in which
the travellers must lay aside their weapons before entering Theoden's
house there is a brief description of it:
Before Theoden's hall there was a portico, with pillars made of
mighty trees hewn in the upland forests and carved with
interlacing figures gilded and painted. The doors also were of
wood, carven in the likeness of many beasts and birds with
jewelled eyes and golden claws.
It is curious that in the 'fair copy' manuscript, and thence in the final
text, there is no description at all of the exterior of the house, and I
think that it may have got lost in the complexities of redrafting and
reordering of the material.(10)
As they stood in the darkness by the doors of the hall and saw on
one of the hangings the figure of the young man on a white horse (TT
p. 116) Aragorn said: 'Behold Eorl the Young! Thus he rode out of the
North to the Battle of the Field of Gorgoroth.' A very difficult draft
preceding this has 'the Battle of Gorgoroth where Sauron was
[?overthrown],' making it clear that at this stage my father conceived
that Eorl came south to the great battle in which Gil-galad and Elendil
were slain and Isildur took the Ring.(11)
In the encounter with Theoden the manuscript evidence is not very
easy to interpret, but it seems certain that it was at this point that
Wormtongue entered the story; for what is obviously the very earliest
description of Theoden, written in the faintest scribble, reads thus:
At the far end of the hall beyond the hearth and facing the doors
was a dais with three steps, and in the midst of the dais was a
great chair. In the chair sat a man so bent with age that he
seemed almost a dwarf. His white hair was [?braided] upon his
[?shoulders), his long beard was laid upon his knees. But his
eyes burned with a keen light that glinted from afar off. Behind
his chair stood two fair women. At his feet upon the steps sat a
wizened [struck out: old] figure of a man with a pale wise face.
There was a silence.
In the 'fair copy' the text moves close to that of TT (pp. 116 - 17), and
now appears the 'thin golden circlet' worn by Theoden (who is
subsequently called 'King' in this manuscript); but he bears on his
forehead 'a large green stone' (not the 'single white diamond' of TT:
see p. 448), and there were still 'two fair women' standing behind his
chair.
But though Wormtongue was present he did not, as the scene was
first drafted, intervene, and it is Theoden who speaks of the death of
the Second Master of the Mark, here called Eofored,(12) on the west
marches of Rohan, and it is Theoden who names Gandalf Lathspell,
Ill-news. Gandalf responds, as in TT, by speaking of the different ways
which a man may come with evil tidings, and it is again Theoden,
not Wormtongue, who retorts 'Verily he may, or he may be of a third
kind', and who decries the idea that Gandalf had ever brought aid to
Rohan: Last time it seemed to me that you asked my aid rather, and
to get you from my land I astonished all men and myself also by
lending you Shadowfax.'(13) At this stage Eomer s story remains as it
was: 'Eomer has ridden away thither [to the west marches] with all but
the last handful of my horsemen.'
At this point, however, before the conversation had proceeded any
further, 'the pale man sitting upon the steps of the dais' began to play a
part; for he now took over those parts of Theoden's remarks that are
given to him in TT. Yet it is interesting to observe that my father did
not introduce him into Theoden's household with the conscious intent
that he should play the role that he did in fact come to play: for he still
says, as Theoden had done, 'Now Eomer has ridden away thither with
all but our last handful of horsemen.'(14)
After Gandalf's triumph over Wormtongue (who is not yet given
any other name) Theoden is assisted down the hall by the two women,
and he says to them: 'Go, Idis, and you too Eowyn sister-daughter!'(15)
As they went, the younger of them looked back: 'very fair and slender
she seemed. Her face was filled with gentle pity, and her eyes shone
with unshed tears. So Aragorn saw her for the first time in the light of
day, and after she was gone he stood still, looking at the dark doors
and taking little heed of other things.'
Looking out from the porch of his house with Gandalf Theoden
says: 'Not long now shall stand the high hall which Brego son of
Brytta built' (cf. p. 435 and note 5; TT p. 120 'Brego son of Eorl'); and
Gandalf tells him, as in TT, to send for Eomer. It was at this point in
the writing of the chapter that there entered the story of the
imprisonment of Eomer by the instigation of Wormtongue, who now
receives his true name: Frana (Grima did not replace this till much
later).
In TT when Gandalf spoke to Theoden (p. 121) 'his voice was low
and secret, and none save the king heard what he said.' In the early
form of the chapter, however, this was not so:
His voice was low and secret, and yet to those beside him keen
and clear. Of Sauron he told, and the lady Galadriel, and of
Elrond in Rivendell far away, of the Council and the setting
forth of the Company of Nine, and all the perils of their road.
'Four only have come thus far,' he said. 'One is lost, Boromir
prince of Gondor. Two were captured, but are free. And two
have gone upon a dark Quest. Look eastward, Theoden! Into
the heart of menace they have gone: two small folk, such as you
in Rohan deem but the matter of children's tales. Yet doom
hangs upon them. Our hope is with them - hope, if we can but
stand meanwhile!'
There are several drafts for this passage preceding that in the fair copy
just given, and in one of these occurs the following:
Of the Council and the setting forth of the Company of Nine. So
he came at last to the Mines of Moria and the Battle upon the
Bridge.
'Then it was not wholly false, the rumour that Eomer
brought,' said Theoden.
'No indeed,' said Aragorn, 'for he did but repeat what I said
to him. And until this time yestermorning we thought that
Gandalf had fallen. Even now he has not said what befell him in
Moria. We would gladly hear.'
'Nay,' said Gandalf. 'The sun is riding towards noon.'
This is clear evidence that my father had reached this point, at least, in
'The King of the Golden Hall' before he wrote the conclusion of 'The
White Rider' in its later form: see p. 430.
The passage just given is followed by a brief outline:
Eomer returns. Wes thu Theoden hal. He rejoices to see Theoden
so much better; but begs pardon - save only for his advice to ride
west. Says how the day's delay has grieved him.
Gandalf continues tale and holds out a hope (of Frodo in the
East). But they must ride west.
Theoden bids them stay and rest. But Gandalf won't stay except
for food ... Theoden has to take heart and send every man west. He
himself is to lead his folk out of Eodoras into the secret refuge[?s] in
the mountains - more defensible if all goes ill.
Eomer asks that Wormtongue should go west too. Shadowfax.
They set out. Gandalf fleets ahead.
As already mentioned, in the last third of the chapter, from the point
where Legolas gazes far off and believes that he can see 'a glint of
white' and 'a tiny tongue of flame' (TT p. 121), there is little further
independent drafting, the manuscript in ink being written over the
original pencilled text. But it is clear that the story as known from The
Two Towers of the unmasking of Wormtongue, the rehabilitation of
Eomer, the meal before departure, the gift of Shadowfax, was
achieved almost unhesitatingly.(16) In an important respect, however,
my father at first conceived things differently.
In this first version of 'The King of the Golden Hall' the Second
Master of the Mark, slain in fighting at the River Isen, is Eofored, and
he is not Theoden's son (p. 444 and note 12).(17) On the other hand, in
addition to Eowyn (Eomer's sister, p. 437; addressed by Theoden as
'sister-daughter', p. 445), there is another lady in close association
with Theoden, Idis - his daughter. All through this part of the chapter
she is present, yet never once does she speak. When Gandalf asks
Theoden who shall rule his people in his place when he departs to the
war, he replies that Eowyn 'shall be lady in my stead'; and Gandalf
says 'That is a good choice.' There is no mention of Idis here; yet she
was still present, for at the meal before the riding of the host 'there
also waiting upon the king were the ladies, Idis his daughter, and
Eowyn sister of Eomer.' It was Eowyn who brought the wine, and Idis
is again not mentioned; yet Hama still says, in response to Theoden's
words that Eomer is the last of the House of Eorl (TT p. 128): 'I said
not Eomer. He is not the last. There are Idis your daughter, and
Eowyn his sister. They are wise and high-hearted.' But it was at this
point that the brief existence of Idis came to an end; for the next words
that my father wrote were: 'All love her. Let her be as lord to the
Eorlingas, while we are gone.' All references to Idis were then removed
from the manuscript.
I cannot say what function in the narrative my father had in mind
for Idis (and it is notable that in the original outline, p. 437, only
Eowyn sister of Eomer is mentioned as waiting on the guests at the
feast in Winseld after the victory); still less why the daughter of the
King (and older than Eowyn, p. 445) should be so silent and so
overshadowed by the niece.
The significance of the meeting of Aragorn and Eowyn, on the other
hand, was destined to survive, though fundamentally transformed. In
this first version, in a passage already cited (p. 445), after she had gone
'he stood still, looking at the dark doors and taking little heed of other
things'; at the meal before the departure 'Aragorn was silent, but his
eyes followed Eowyn' (struck out); and when she brought the wine to
the guests 'Long she looked upon Aragorn, and long he looked upon
her' - for which was substituted: 'As she stood before Aragorn she
paused suddenly and looked upon him, as if only now had she seen
him clearly. He looked down upon her fair face, and their eyes met.
For a moment they stood thus, and their hands met as he took the cup
from her. "Hail Aragorn son of Arathorn!" she said.' With this
contrast the passage that appears in its place in TT (p. 127). And after
Theoden's words 'But in [Dunberg >] Dunharrow the people may
long defend themselves, and if the battle go ill thither will come all
who escape' (TT p. 128) Aragorn says: 'If I live, I will come, Lady
Eowyn, and then maybe we will ride together.' Then Eowyn 'smiled
and bent her head gravely.'
There is an isolated list of matters 'to be explained before the end',
which in view of the first item seems to have been written just about
this time. Only one other item is relevant here, but I give the whole list:
Gandalf's escape - put this at the end of XXVI [i.e. 'The White
Rider']
What happens to Bill (the pony)? [Added: Goes back to Bree and is
found by Sam who rides him home.]
Bill Ferney.
Bree and Merry's ponies.
Barnabas Butterbur [added: and the ponies).
Galadriel.
Ents. Treebeard. Entwives.
Aragorn weds Eowyn sister of Eomer (who becomes Lord of
Rohan) and becomes King of Gondor.
Feast in Gondor. Home Journey. They pass by round Lorien.(18)
But the story of Aragorn and Eowyn would in the event, of course,
be quite otherwise; and in another short group of notes, isolated and
undateable, this marital alliance of Rohan and Gondor was rejected
(and no other was foreseen):
? Cut out the love-story of Aragorn and Eowyn. Aragorn is too old
and lordly and grim. Make Eowyn the twin-sister of Eomund, a
stern amazon woman.
If so, alter the message of Galadriel (XXVI.17).
Probably Eowyn should die to avenge or save Theoden.
But my father added in a hasty scribble the possibility that Aragorn
did indeed love Eowyn, and never wedded after her death.
The reference 'XXVI.17' is to the page in the 'fair copy' manuscript
of 'The White Rider' where appears Galadriel's message to Aragorn
delivered to him by Gandalf (p. 431):
Elfstone, Elfstone, bearer of my green stone,
In the south under snow a green stone thou shalt see.
Look well, Elfstone! In the shadow of the dark throne
Then the hour is at hand that long hath awaited thee.
The green stone in the south was borne on Theoden's brow (p. 444),
beneath his white hair, and it was Eowyn who would stand in the
shadow of the dark throne within his hall.
NOTES.
1. Beginning originally at 'Gandalf now wrapped himself again in
his old tattered cloak' (p. 430; TT p. 107), the opening of 'The
King of the Golden Hall' was then moved to 'The morning was
bright and clear about them' (pp. 431 - 2; TT p. 111). The second
rearrangement, giving the form in TT, was made after 'The King
of the Golden Hall' was completed.
2. Names in Theod-, like names in Eo- (p. 403 note 5), are not
written with an accent at this time.
3. In TT there are sixteen barrows at the foot of the hill of Edoras,
and it is 500 years since Eorl the Young came out of the North.
See note 11.
4. The flowers on the burial mounds, 'like tiny snowdrops' in the
first draft, became in the second 'tiny flowers star-shaped and
frail'. And in the second Legolas says: 'Seven mounds I see, and
seven long lives of men it is, since the golden hall was built.
[Struck out at once: And many more lives still since the Rohiroth
first passed into this land.]' It seems curious that such awareness
of the history of the Riders of Rohan should be attributed to
Legolas.
5. 'Stay, strangers unknown! Who are ye, friends or foes, that have
come thus strangely clad riding to the gates of this town? None
may here enter in, neither beggarman nor warrior, if we know
not his name. Now, ye comers from afar, declare to us in haste:
what are ye called? What is your errand to Theoden our lord?' -
My father first used the Old English letter 'thorn' but changed to
'th' as he wrote.
The passage in Beowulf (lines 237 - 57) in which Beowulf and
his companions are accosted by the watchman on the coast of
Denmark is very distinctly echoed, as also is the passage in
Modern English in TT, p. 113 ('Who are you that come heedless
over the plain...').
6. Conceivably there was some confusion arising from the initial
idea that Gandalf with Gimli entered Eodoras in advance of
Aragorn and Legolas: Gandalf was introduced into the scenes at
the gates and the doors, but Gimli, who would play little explicit
part in them, was neglected. 'The three companions went for-
ward' is certainly very surprising, since here the scene seems to be
expressly visualised without Gimli; but this may have been a
mere slip, deriving from the frequent use of 'the three com-
panions' (Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli) in preceding chapters.
7. One of the guards replies that 'None are welcome here in days of
war save only those that come from [struck out: Gemenburg]
Heatorras Giemen Minas Tirith', with Mundbeorg written in the
margin. These Old English words are gemen, giemen 'care, heed,
watch'; Heatorras 'high towers'; and Mundbeorg 'protection-hill',
distinct from Mundburg in LR. Mundbeorg occurs in another
draft: 'And I am Aragorn son of Arathorn ... and it is to
Mundbeorg that I journey as to my home' (cf. TT p. 113, 'it is to
Mundburg that he goes').
An echo of the Old English poem known as The Wanderer, line
92: Hwaer cwom mearg? Hwaer cwom mago?
It is perhaps possible that the 'Beowulfian' reception at the gates
played some part in the increased hostility of Theoden before ever
Wormtongue entered the story.
10. Two small details in the scene before the doors may be men-
tioned. The guards, turning their sword-hilts towards the stran-
gers, cried Cumath her wilcuman! This was later changed to
Wesath hale, feorran cumene, which appears in TT (p. 114)
translated, 'Hail, comers from afar!' And Gandalf speaks to
Aragorn with an asperity that was afterwards softened (TT
p. 115): Needless is Theoden s demand, but needless also is your
refusal, Aragorn.'
11. In LR the time-span was of course vastly greater: according to the
Tale of Years Eorl the Young won the victory of the Field of
Celebrant and the Rohirrim settled in Calenardhon (Rohan as
a province of Gondor) in the year 2510 of the Third Age, which
was that number of years after the overthrow of Sauron by
Gilgalad and Elendil. With the statement here cf. the genealogy.
that Aragorn gives of himself at the passage of the Pillars of
the Kings, in which he is only separated from Isildur by three:
(subsequently four) generations (pp. 360 - 1).
It is difficult to explain the name 'Battle of the Field of
Gorgoroth: on the First Map the Battle Plain (Dagras, later,
Dagorlad) is placed where it remained, outside the mountain-
fences of Mordor and separated from Gorgoroth by the great
pass, then named Kirith Ungo! (Map III, p. 309).
12. Eofored is not named as Theoden's son. In the outline for this,
chapter the Second Master seems to have been slain in the final
battle of the River Isen, and his funeral feast was held after the
return to Eodoras (pp. 435, 437). His death has now been moved
back to the fighting before Gandalf's arrival.
13. Theoden here says that 'only a few days ago men reported to me .'
that Shadowfax had come back out of the West; but none could
lay hands on him, for he went away swiftly northwards.' See
p. 434 and note 2. This then became 'men reported that Shadow-
fax had been seen again, running wild through the land'; and
finally, as in TT, 'I heard that Shadowfax had come back riderless'.
14. Wormtongue still says that 'to the wonder of us all my lord lent
to you Shadowfax'. This was subsequently changed to his words
in TT: 'my lord bade you choose any horse you would and be
gone; and to the wonder of us all you took Shadowfax in your
insolence.'
15. In the draft for this passage the reading is 'Go [struck out: Eowyn
and you too AElflaed Flaed] Idis and you too Eowyn'. Cf. the Old
English poetic word ides 'woman, lady'. In early notes Eowyn is
'daughter of Theoden' and 'daughter of Eomund' (p. 390).
16. Even to the names of Theoden's sword, Herugrim, and his horse>
Snowmane: only in the case of Dunharrow was there an earlier
form, Dunberg. Dunharrow is so named on Map IV, p. 319.
17. In LR the genealogy is:
Thengel.
Theoden. Theodwyn. = Eomund.
Theodred. Eomer. Eowyn.
Near the end of the chapter 'Theodred' appears: ' "Behold I go
forth," said Theoden. "[Struck out at once: Theodred my son] I
have no son. I name Eomer my sister-son to be my heir" ' (cf. TT
p. 127). On the other hand, in a second version of this passage,
Theoden says: 'I have no child. Theodred my brother's son is
slain.'
18. To this last item in the list the following was added at some later
time:
No. They learn (in Rivendell?) that Nazgul razed Lorien and
Keleborn fled with a remnant to Mirkwood. Galadriel was lost
or was hidden. Or shall Lorien be left slowly to fade? Yes.
Galadriel parts with Keleborn who elects to stay in the world
and [?woods]. She is seen by Frodo in old age, when he and
Sam see Galadriel and Bilbo (and Elrond? No - he has one
[written above: 3?] [struck out: age] life of men still to rule in
Rivendell).
APPENDIX ON RUNES.
It is notable that all references to runes in The Lord of the Rings were
associated with Gandalf until my father came to the words graved on
Balin's tomb in Moria. In The Hobbit runic writing is almost entirely
associated with Dwarves (who are said, in Chapter III 'A Short Rest',
to have invented the runic Moon-letters), but runes had been an
element in Middle-earth from a very early stage.' In his letter to G. E.
Selby of 14 December 1937, cited in the Foreword to Vol. VI The
Return of the Shadow, my father said that he preferred his own
mythology 'with its consistent nomenclature and organized history' to
The Hobbit, and spoke with humorous disparagement of 'this rabble
of Eddaic-named dwarves out of Voluspa, new-fangled hobbits and
gollums (invented in an idle hour) and Anglo-Saxon runes.' As will be
seen, when he wrote these last words he was thinking of his own runic
alphabets, already at that time highly developed, and not in any way
particularly associated with the Dwarves, if associated with them at
all. It is conceivable, I think, that it was nonetheless Thror's Map,
bearing runic writing of great importance in the story of The Hobbit,
that brought that close association into being (although the Dwarves
always remained the inheritors and not the first devisers of the
Angerthas).
There seems to be relatively little extant writing concerning the
runes from the period we have reached in this book, but my father's
linguistic papers and work on scripts and alphabets were left in so
chaotic a state that it is often impossible to be sure even of a broad and
relative dating. A central problem lies, as always in this context, in the
existence of two sets of variables. The richly divergent development of
scripts, as of speech-sounds, among different peoples was a datum
from the start; but the detail of those divergences was subject to
unceasing modification in the mind of their deviser. When the papers
(almost always undated and often without consecutive pagination) are
so disordered that material which may well be separated by decades is
jumbled together, the risk is great of false conjunctions and false
constructions.
' The earliest runic document relating to Middle-earth that I know of is a
little slip of paper in my father's early handwriting, headed Gondolinic Runes.
This gives an alphabet in which the values of the runes are almost totally
different from the Angerthas, but in which the principles of phonetic
organisation in relation to letter-shape are strongly evident.
I give here first two brief texts that seem to me to come most likely
from the period shortly before the beginning of The Lord of the Rings
more or less contemporary with the Quenta Silmarillion and the
Lhammas given in Vol. V, The Lost Road and Other Writings. Both
are clear manuscripts in ink, and to both of them my father later added
in pencil; I give these additions, though I suspect that they were
substantially later. It will be seen that these additions concern the
especial importance of Runic writing among the Dwarves, of which no
mention is made in these texts as written.
(i)
The Elvish Alphabets.
These have three main forms: the alphabets of Rumil, of
Feanor, and [of] Dairon; also called the Valinorian, Tunian, and
Beleriandic letters.
The first two are of Noldorin origin and ultimately related;
the last is distinct and of Ilkorin origin.
The oldest is the Alphabet of Rumil. This is a final cursive
elaboration of the oldest letters of the Noldor in Valinor. Only
the completion and arrangement of this system was actually due
to Rumil of Tuna; its author or authors are now forgotten.
Though originating in Tuna it is called 'Valinorian' because it
was mainly used for writing of Qenya, and was later ousted
from use among the Noldor by the alphabet of Feanor. It is said
still to be used by the Lindar of Valinor; but is not in general use
among the Qendi.*
The Alphabet of Feanor was partly derived from this, and
partly devised afresh to fit a different system of writing (from
left to right). Its actual author - in all forms except the later
modifications to fit the changed conditions of Noldorin after
the Exile, which were made after his death - was Feanor. He
constructed it both as a general phonetic alphabet, and devised
special arrangements to fit the characteristics of Qenya,
Noldorin, and Telerin. This alphabet is the one generally used
for Qenya, and for all purposes by the surviving Qendi.
The so-called Alphabet of Dairon was in origin a 'runic'
script devised for inscriptions, especially on wood, that origin-
ated among the Ilkorins. It is usually said to have arisen in
Doriath, and it certainly there developed most completely, even
(* With this passage cf. the Lhammas in Vol. V, pp. 173-4.)
producing a written form. But probably its actual invention was
due to the Danian elves of Ossiriand (who were ultimately of
Noldorin race).* The name 'alphabet of Dairon' is due to the
preservation in this script of some fragments of the songs of
Dairon, the ill-fated minstrel of King Thingol of Doriath, in the
works on the ancient Beleriandic languages by Pengolod the
Wise of Gondolin. The Noldor did not use this script much,
even in Beleriand, though Pengolod cites cases of inscriptions at
Nargothrond and Sirion's mouth that are in Noldorin tongue.
[Added in pencil: But this runic alphabet spread eastward from
Ossiriand to the Dwarves, and was largely used by them.)
(ii)
The 'Alphabet of Dairon'.
The Ilkorins of Beleriand devised an alphabet of 'runes', or
angular letters used in inscriptions. This became widespread in
Beleriand, already before the exile of the Noldor of Valinor, and
showed various divergences in forms and uses at different times
and places. Its chief elaboration took place in Doriath, where a,
written form was developed. Owing to the ruin of Beleriand,
before the departure of the Noldor to Eressea, no actual in-
scription or book in this script is now preserved. Knowledge
of it [changed in pencil to: no actual Elvish inscription or book
in this script was preserved. Knowledge of its use by the Elves]
is now preserved only in books in Eressea - in the works of '
Pengolod of Gondolin upon the Beleriandic languages, and
other similar writings. Pengolod copied and gave extracts from,
various inscriptions and books that were still extant in his day.
Of the books, or written form, his principal source was some
fragments of the songs of King Thingol's minstrel Dairon. From
this fact is derived the [struck out: erroneous] name: Alphabet
of Dairon.
The origin of the script is probably to be placed in Ossiriand
among the Danian elves, many of whom were incorporated in
Doriath after the coming of Morgoth and the fall of their king,
Denethor.f- The Danian elves were ultimately of Noldorin race,
and inventions of this sort were a special aptitude of the
(* On the Danian elves or Danas see especially V.176, 188 - 9.
+ See the Quenta Silmarillion in Vol. V, p. 263.)
Noldor.* Moreover a related alphabet was early in use among
the eastern branch of the Danians, beyond the Blue Mountains,
whence it also spread to Men in those regions, becoming the
foundation of the Taliskan skirditaila or 'runic series'. [Added
in pencil: Related alphabets were (> A related alphabet was)
also borrowed (from both Men and Elves) by the Dwarves; the
western Dwarves early borrowed and adapted the full inscrip-
tional 'Alphabet of Dairon', and most of the inscriptions in this
form that survived the Great War in Eriador and elsewhere are
of Dwarvish origin, though their language is seldom the secret
tongue of the Dwarves.]
This alphabet was not much used by the exiled Noldor, but in
certain cases, in the absence of parchment or for carving on
wood, or where as at Sirion's mouth they were mingled with
Ilkorins, they employed these letters during their exile, and
modified their forms or applications to fit their own language.
Pengolod gives some examples of this Noldorin usage. [Added
in pencil: The greatest elaboration was reached in Eregion and
Moria, where during the Second Age Elves and Dwarves lived in
harmony. This later form was called the 'Runes of Moria',
because it remained long in use among the Dwarves, and most
of the inscriptions employing it survived in the halls and
chambers of Moria.]
With this view of the origin of the name Alphabet of Dairon cf. The
Lord of the Rings Appendix E (II): 'Their richest and most ordered
form was known as the Alphabet of Daeron, since in Elvish tradition it
was said to have been devised by Daeron, the minstrel and loremaster
of King Thingol of Doriath.'
The reference to Taliska (for which see V.179, 191, 196: 'the
language of the three houses of Beor, of Haleth, and of Hador') is very
interesting as adumbrating a relationship between the runes of
Beleriand and the ancient Germanic runes; cf. V.279 on the 'Indo-
European' word widris 'wisdom' in the ancient tongue of the people of
Beor. It seems clear that the second element of Taliskan skirditaila
'runic series' is to be understood as an ancestral cognate of the word
seen in Old English teal (with a sense 'number, reckoning, series'; Old
Norse tal, etc., and cf. Modern English tale, tell); the first element may
perhaps be connected with the Germanic stem sker-, seen in Old Norse
skera 'cut, carve', Old English sceran (Modern English shear, cf.
ultimately related shard, potsherd).
Detailed exposition from this time of the ancient Elvish runes seems
(* Cf. the Ainulindale' in Vol. V, p. 162.)
to be restricted to a series of five manuscript pages - which are indeed
extremely informative. In style and bearing they seem to me to belong
with substantial work on Noldorin phonology that certainly comes
from the time not long preceding the start of The Lord of the Rings.
Since it would be extremely difficult to print these pages as part of the
text, and since they would be unclear in facsimile reproduction (and
require a lot of unnecessary explanation and annotation), I have
rewritten and redrawn them as a series of plates, numbered I to IV, at
the end of this Appendix. I have attempted to remain very faithful to
the originals, and have only edited them in a few minor points that in
no way alter their purport; I have not attempted to smooth away the
various inconsistencies of presentation. There are a very few pencilled
changes that are ignored. At the head of the first sheet my father
wrote: 'All this has been revised and rewritten. See Appendices to
Lord of the Rings.'
On plate V I reproduce a separate manuscript leaf entitled 'Dwarf-
runes for writing English (phonetic)', which I shall refer to in this
Appendix as 'E'. This is obviously quite distinct from the other pages,
but it will be found that it agrees well on the whole with 'the later
Noldorin use' on plate II (referred to subsequently as 'N'), though
there is some difference in the application of signs, notably in the
nasals and in those representing English s (sh), z (as in vision), ts (ch),
and dz (j as twice in judge), which are either used for different sounds
in N or not found there. As will be seen shortly, this page evidently
dates from the time of my father's return to the Moria story, as
described in this book. Curiously, kw (qu) is absent from E, and the
rune V for kw in the Doriath and Noldorin usage is there given to ts
(ch). In E, also, h is represented by C, but by > in the others.
At the bottom of plate V I have transcribed the runic inscription on
Balin's tomb from the end of the original first 'Moria' chapter in Vol.
VI (see p. 460 and note 40). As noted there, it was at that point that
my father decided to use the Runes of Beleriand in preference to Old
English runes, for he first wrote the inscription in the latter but at once
wrote it in the former as well - in two forms, which I have marked (i)
and (ii). The words Runes of Dwarves on the same page (VI.460) no
doubt have some significance in this connection; cf. also Gandalf's
words in the second version of the chapter ('The Lord of Moria', p.
186): 'These are dwarf-runes, such as they use in the North.' - On the
name Burin of Balin's father see VI.444.
Version (i) of the tomb-inscription agrees with E (and with N) in
every point save one: the use of the rune > for s in son instead of ...
In E > is used for the vowel [...] (as in English cup); while in N it is
used for h.
Version (ii) agrees with (i) in the s-rune, but reverses o and o in lord
and Moria, and for l in lord substitutes (...) for (...): the former is found
in the Doriath and Noldorin use. Here the rune (..) is used for the
vowel in son, where (i) has the unphonetic V (o). In E this rune has the
value ai, in N the value ae (later changed in pencil to ai in a reversal of
the values ai and ae).
The next (third) version of the tomb-inscription, at the end of the
second version ('The Lord of Moria') of the chapter, is hidden by a
fourth version pasted over it; but Taum Santoski has been able to read
the underlying inscription by lighting the page from the back. With
Fundin for Burin (see VI.444) the runic writing thus recovered is
almost as in version (i), with the same use of > for s; but very
curiously this same rune is used for o in both occurrences of the word
of, although V' for o appears in son, lord, and Moria. In addition, the
Dwarvish words Balin Fundinul Uzbad Khazaddumu are added
beneath, the rune for (..) being apparently (..), which is s in all the
alphabets given here.
The fourth version of the inscription, that pasted over the third, and
the fifth, at the end of the typescript text that followed, are identical in
all forms; the latter is reproduced on p. 186. So far as the brief text
goes, agreement with E is here complete, with s represented by (..), z
represented by (..), and (..) used for the vowel [ .. ], which here appears
in the word son, treated phonetically.
On plate VI I have redrawn the runic writing from the two earliest
illustrations of a burnt and blackened page from the Book of
Mazarbul. These redrawings are intended to show the runes and their
relative placing and nothing more. The earliest form (i) is found on the
back of the last page of the original 'Moria' chapter (see VI.460, 467).
This is the merest sketch, an indication of what might be done in this
direction: it was made very hastily, scribbled down, with little attempt
at verisimilitude, the illegible parts of the page being represented by
rough scribbled strokes (and the number of missing lines in my
redrawing is approximate and impressionistic). The right-hand bot-
tom corner is shown as a triangular detached piece, on which only the
word Kazaddum is written. The second form (ii) is a much more
developed representation of the slashed and discoloured leaf, done in
pencil and coloured chalks; here again the bottom corner is shown as
torn right off. (The evolution of this page is emblematic in miniature
of my father's mode of work: the evolution of the details of shape is
progressive and continuous. In this second version there are two holes
on the right hand side of the page and a bite out of the top; in the third
and fourth versions these remain, but the bottom corner is added
back, with a triangular indentation above, continuing into the page as
a black line. In the final form, reproduced in Pictures by J. R. R.
Tolkien no. 23, the central hole is enlarged and moved to the left, but
the black line remains where the bottom corner was originally shown
as torn off and separate.)
The words of the original sketch have been given in VI.467, but I
repeat them here in phonetic form:
1. We drouv aut the orks fro[m].... gard.
2. ... [f]irst hol. Wi slu meni ~ndr the brait s~n.
3. in the deil. Floi woz kild bai ~n arou....
4. Wi did ..........
9. Wi ha[v] okjupaid the twentif~rst hol ov.
10. norp end. Der dr iz..........
11. ............ saft iz..........
12. [B]alin haz set ~p hiz tser in the tseimbr ov Mazar.
13. bul......................Balin iz lord ov.
14. Moria..........
18. Balin..........
20. Kazaddum.
Here there is close but not complete agreement with E. The s-rune is
(..) not >, the latter being used for [ ~ ], as in E; but there is divergence
in the w-rune, which is here (..), to which E gives the value dz (j) and N
the value gw. The short single vertical used in E as abbreviation for the
when in the upper position and as a sign for the vowel [e] when in the
lower position is here used for the in the lower position, but in the
upper position for h (in have, has, his): in both occurrences of the
word hall the stroke stands in the lower position, but this may have
been no more than an inadvertence, for the runes in this sketch were
pencilled very rapidly and several were written erroneously and then
corrected. The rune for the initial consonants [s] in shaft and [ts] in
chair, chamber also differ in their values from those ascribed to them
in E. The use of the m-rune for v in we have occupied (line 9) can only
be a slip. Lastly, the vowel [ ~ ] is employed not only in under, sun, up
but also in an (arrow) and in first (at the second occurrence).
Comparison with E will show that the second version of the page
from the Book of Mazarbul agrees with it in every point and detail.
The different form of the I-rune in Floi (line 4), with the crossing
stroke falling, not rising, to the right, is probably merely accidental (in
the third version the shape is normal at this point).
To this version my father appended a phonetic transcription. In this
he interpreted oukn in line 6 as ?broken, it at the end of line 10 as?its,
and the word before helm in line 17 as (?sil)vr, though the last rune is
very clearly n, not r (in the third version an r-rune is written here).
The sequence of development in this much-considered passage was
very probably as follows. The original form of the text that Gandalf
first read out from the Book of Mazarbul seems to have been that of
the earliest drawing of the page itself (plate VI, i). Closely related to it
is the form in the original pencilled narrative of the scene, which can
be largely made out beneath the text written over it in ink (see pp. 191
and 205 note 4). Both forms had the Orcs for Orcs and Balin's chair
for Balin's seat; but the original narrative text had we have found
truesilver, well-forged, and (To)morrow Oin is... lead... seek for the
upp(er) armoury of the Third Deep, all of which is absent from the
first drawing of the page.
The overwritten text in the first narrative, which is given on p. 191,
is effectively the same as the text in the second drawing of the page
(plate VI, ii).
The third drawing of the page (which is otherwise very similar to the
second, and employs exactly the same runic system) corresponds to
the text of the fair copy manuscript of 'The Mines of Moria (ii)' given
on pp. 200 - 1.
It is plain therefore that the first three drawings of this page from the
Book of Mazarbul all belong to the same time, and relate step by step
to the rewriting of this passage through the original draft and first fair
copy of the narrative chapter; and that the runic alphabet set out in E,
'Dwarfrunes for writing English' (plate V), belongs to this time also.
But when the fourth version of this page was done the runic values had
changed.
The first drawings of the other two pages from the Book of
Mazarbul (that written by Ori in Elvish script and the last page of the
book, in runes) belong with and were done at the same time as the
third drawing of the first page; for the texts see pp. 200 - 1.