PART TWO.
THE RING GOES EAST.
I.
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL.
In his letter of June 1957 cited in note 19 to the last chapter (p. 80) my
father said that at the time of this long break in the writing of The
Lord of the Rings 'Chapter 1 of Book iv had hardly got beyond Sam's
opening words (Vol. II p. 209)'. That beginning of a new story of Sam
and Frodo in Mordor,(1) for so long set aside, can I think be identified:
it consists of a brief narrative opening that soon breaks down into
outline form ('A'), and a portion of formed narrative ('B') that ends at
Sam's words (TT p. 210) 'a bit of plain bread, and a mug aye half a
mug of beer would go down proper'. The original draft A went thus:
'Well Master this is a nasty place and no mistake,' said Sam to
Frodo. They had been wandering for days in the hard barren
heights of Sarn Gebir. Now at last on the fifth evening since
their flight (2) they stood on the edge of a grey cliff. A chill east
wind blew. Far below the land lay green at the feet of the cliff,
and away S.W. [read S.E.] a pall of grey cloud or shadow hung
shutting out the remoter view.
'It seems we have come the wrong way altogether,' went on
Sam. 'That's where we want to get, or we don't want to but we
mean to. And the quicker the better, if we must do it. But we
can't get down, and if we do get down there is all that nasty
green marsh. Phew, can you smell it.' He sniffed the wind: cold
as it was it seemed heavy with a stench of cold decay and
rottenness.
'We are above the Dead Marshes that lie between Anduin and
the pass into Mordor,' said Frodo. 'We have come the wrong
way - [we >) I should have left the Company long before and
come down from the North, east of Sarn Gebir and over the
hard of Battle Plain. But it would take us weeks on foot to work
back northward over these hills. I don't know what is to be
done.%hat food have we?'
A couple of weeks with care.
Let us sleep.
Suspicion of Gollum that night. They work northward.
Next day footfalls on the rock. Frodo sends Sam ahead and
hides behind a rock using ring.(3) Gollum appears. Frodo over-
come with sudden fear flies, but Gollum pursues. They come to
a cliff rather lower and less sheer than that behind. In dread of
Gollum they begin to climb down.
Here my father abandoned this draft, and (as I think) followed at
once with a new opening (B), in which the text of TT is closely
approached at almost all points (but the hills are still named Sarn
Gebir, and the time is 'the [struck out: fourth or] fifth evening since
they had fled from the Company'). With Sam's longing for bread and
beer this manuscript ends, not at the foot of a page; and it is, I feel .
sure, the abandoned opening of the chapter to which my father
referred.(4) When it was written, in relation to the work on Book III,
there seems no way of telling.(5)
'A few pages for a lot of sweat,' my father said in his letter of 5 April
1944 (see p. 78), in which he told me of his turning again to the
adventures of Sam and Frodo; and 45 years later one can feel it,
reading these pages in which he struggled (in increasingly impossible
handwriting) to discover just how Sam and Frodo did in the end get
down out of the twisted hills into the horrible lands below.
When he took the chapter up again in 1944, he did not rewrite the
original opening (which survives with little change into TT), but
taking a new sheet began: 'The sun was caught into clouds and night
came suddenly' (cf. TT p. 210). This text, which I will call 'C', soon
degenerates into a terrible scrawl and at the end becomes in part
altogether illegible.
The sun was caught into clouds and night came suddenly.
They slept in turns, as best they could, in a hollow of the rocks,
sheltered from the easterly wind.
'Did you see them again, Mr Frodo?' asked Sam, as they sat,,
stiff and chilled, munching wafers of lembas in the cold grey of
early morning.
'Yes, once,' said Frodo. 'But I heard the snuffling several
times, and it came nearer than it has before.'
'Ah!' said Sam. 'Growing bolder, it seems. I heard him, too,
though I saw no eyes. He's after us still: can't shake him off
nohow. Curse the slinking varmint. Gollum! I'd give him
gollum if I could get my hands on his neck. As if we hadn't
enough trouble in front, without him hanging on behind.'
'If only I dared use the Ring,' muttered Frodo, 'maybe I could
catch him then.'
'Don't you do that, master!' said Sam. 'Not out up here! He'd
see you - not meaning Gollum either. I feel all naked on the east
side, if you understand me, stuck up here on the skyline with
nought but a big flat bog between us and that shadow over
yonder.'(6) He looked hurriedly over his shoulder towards the
East. 'We've got to get down off it,' he said, 'and today we're
going to get down off it somehow.'
But that day too wore towards its end, and found them still
scrambling along the ridge. Often they heard the following
footsteps, and yet however quick they turned they could not
catch sight of the pursuer. Once or twice they lay in wait behind
a boulder. But after a moment the flip-flap of the footsteps
would halt, and all went silent: only the wind sighing over
stones seemed to remind them of faint breathing through sharp
teeth.
Toward evening Frodo and Sam were brought to a halt. They
came to a place where they had at last only two choices: to go
back or to climb down. They were on the outer eastward
ridge of the Emyn Muil,(7) that fell away sheerly on their right.
For many miles it had been falling lower towards the wet lands
beyond; here after tending northwards it reared suddenly up
again many fathoms in a single leap and went on again on a
high level far above their heads. They were at the foot of a cliff
facing S.W., cut down as if with a knife-stroke. There was no
going further that way. But they were also at the top of another
cliff facing east.
Frodo looked over the edge. 'It's easier to get down than up,'
he said.
'Yes, you can always jump or fall, even if you can't fly,' said
Sam.
'But look, Sam!' said Frodo. 'Either the ridge has sunk or the
lands at its feet have swelled up - we are not nearly so high up
as we were yesterday: about 30 fathoms,(8) not much more.'
'And that's enough,' said Sam. 'Ugh! How I do hate looking
down from a height, and that's not so bad as climbing.'
'But here I almost think we could climb,' said Frodo. 'The
rock is different here.' The cliff was indeed no longer sheer, but
sloped somewhat backward, and the rock was of such a kind
that great flat slabs seemed to have split away and fallen. It
looked rather as if they were sitting on the eaves of a great roof
of thin stone-shingles or tiles that had tipped over leaving their
rough edges upwards.
'Well,' said Sam, standing up and tightening his belt. 'What
about trying it? It'll give that flapping footpad something to
think about anyway.'
'If we are going to try today we had better try at once,' said
Frodo. 'It's getting dark early. I think there's a storm coming.'
The dark smudge of the mountains in the East was lost in a
deeper blackness, that was already sending out great arms
towards them. There was a distant rumble of thunder. 'There's
no shelter at all down there,' said Frodo. 'Still, come on!' He
stepped towards the brink.
'Nay, Mr Frodo, me first!' cried Sam.
'Why so eager?' said Frodo. 'Do you want to show me the
way?'
'Not me,' said Sam. 'But it's only sense. Have the one most
like to slip lowest. I don't want to slip, but I don't want to slip
and come down atop of you and knock you off.'
'But [?I'd] do the same to you.'
'Then you'll have something soft to fall on,' said Sam,
throwing his legs over the edge, and turning his face to the wall..
His toes found a ledge and he grunted. 'Now where do we put
our hands next?' he muttered.
'There's a much wider ledge about twice your height below
you,' said Frodo from above, 'if you can slide down to it.' 'If!'
said Sam. 'And what then?' 'Come, I'll get alongside and try it,
and then we need not quarrel about first or second.' Frodo slid
quickly down till he stood splayed against the cliff a yard or two
to the right of Sam. But he could find no handhold between the
cliff-top and the narrow ledge at his toes, and though the slope
lean[t] forwards (9) he had not the skill nor the head to make the
passage to the wider foothold below.
From about this point the text becomes increasingly rough and
increasingly difficult to read: I reproduce a leaf of the manuscript on
p. 90 (for the text of this leaf as best as I can interpret it see p. 91).
'Hm!' grunted Sam. 'Here we are side by side, like flies on a
fly-paper.'
'But we can at least still get back,' said Frodo. 'At least I can.
There's a hold just above my head.'
'Then you'd best get back,' said Sam. 'I can't manage this,
and my toes are aching cruel already.'
Frodo hauled himself back with some difficulty, but he found
that he could not help Sam. When he leaned down as far as he
dared Sam's upstretched hand was just out of reach.
'Lor, this is a pickle I am in,' said poor Sam, and his voice
began to quaver. The eastern sky grew black as night. The
thunder rolled nearer.
'Hold up, Sam,' said Frodo. 'Just wait till I get my belt off.'
He lowered it buckle first. 'Can you grasp it?'
'Aye,' said Sam. 'A bit lower till I get my two hands on it.'
'But now I haven't enough to hold myself, and anyway I can't
lean back or get my foot against a stop,' said Frodo. 'You'll just
pull me over, or pull the belt out of my hands. 0 for a rope.'
'Rope,' said Sam. 'I just deserve to hang here all night, I do.
You're nobbut a ninnyhammer Sam Gamgee: that's what the
Gaffer said to me many a time, that being a word of his. Rope.
There is one of those grey ropes in my pack. You know, that one
we got with the boats in Lorien. I took a fancy to it and stowed
it away.'
'But the pack's on your back,' said Frodo, 'and I can't reach
it, and you can't toss it up.'
'It did ought to be but it ain't,' said Sam. 'You've got my
pack,' said Sam.
[?'How's that?'].....
'Now do make haste, Mr Frodo, or my toes'll break,' said
Sam. 'The rope's my only chance.' It did not take Frodo long to
tip up the pack, and there indeed at the bottom was a long coil
of silk[en] grey rope. In a moment Sam [?tied] an end round his
waist and ... clutched ... above his head [?with].(10) Frodo ran
back from the brink and braced his foot against a crevice. Half
hauled, half scrambling Sam came puffing and blowing up the
few feet of cliff that had baffled him. He sat down and stroked
his toes.
'Numbpate and Ninnyhammer,' he repeated. 'How long's
that rope, I wonder.' Frodo wound it [?round his] elbows. '10,
20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 hobbit-ells,' he said. 'Who'd have
thought it.'
'Ah, who would,' said Sam. 'A bit thin, but it seems mighty
tough. Soft to the hand as milk. 80 ells.(11) Well, one of us can get
down, seemingly, or near enough, if your guess weren't far out.'
'That would not be much good,' said Frodo. 'You down and
me up, or the other way. Is there nothing to make an end fast to
up here?'
'What,' said Sam, 'and leave all handy for that Gollum!'
'Well,' said Frodo after some thought. 'I am going down with
the rope on, and you're going to hold on to the end up here. But
I am only going to use the rope for a precaution. I am going to
(A page from the first manuscript of 'The Taming of Smeagol'.)
see if I can find a way down that I can use without a rope. Then I
climb up with your help, and then you go down with the rope
and I follow. How's that?'
Sam scratched his head. 'I don't like it, Mr Frodo,' he said,
'but it seems the only thing to do. Pity we didn't think out this
rock-climbing business before we started. I'll have to stand
down there [?staring] and waiting to catch you. Do you be
careful.'
Frodo went to the edge again. A few yards from the brink he
thought he saw a better point for a descent. 'I am going to try
here,' he said. 'Get a purchase somewhere Sam for your foot,
but don't let the rope [?saw] over a [?sharp... edge]. It may be
elf-spun, but I shouldn't try it too far.' He stepped over the
brink ... There was a ledge for his feet before he had gone his
full height down: it sloped gently downward to the right. 'Don't
pull on the rope unless I shout,' he said, and he had disappeared.
* The rope lay slack for a long while as Sam stared at it.
Suddenly it drew taut, and nearly caught him at unawares. He
braced his feet, and wondering [read wondered] what had
happened and whether his master was now dangling in mid-air
at the far rope's end, but not [read no] cry came, and the rope
went slack again. After a long while as it seemed he thought he
heard a faint hail. He listened, it came again, and cautiously he
crawled to the brink taking in the slack as he went. The
darkness was drawing nearer - and it seemed dim below; but in
his grey cloak Frodo if he was there was quite invisible. But
something white fluttered and the shout came up clear now. 'It's
all right, not too difficult at all except in one place. I'm down.
[?I've] 3 ells of rope to spare. Slowly [?to take] my weight ...
I'm coming up and shall use the rope.'
In about 10 mins. he reappeared over the edge and threw
himself down by Sam. 'That's that,' he said. 'I'll be glad of a
short rest. Down you go now - he described the route as best he
could and direct[ed] Sam to hail when he came to the bad place.
'I slipped there,' he said, 'and [?should have gone] but for the
rope, a little over halfway down, quite a drop [?start to finish].
But I think I can just ... you.(12) Pay it out slowly and take the
weight off on any ledge you come on. Good luck.'
(* At this point the text of the manuscript page reproduced on p. 90 begins,
and continues to the end of the second paragraph.)
With a grim face Sam went to the edge, [?turned], and found
the first ledge. 'Good luck,' said Frodo.
... [?time to time] the rope went slack as Sam found some
ledge to rest ..., but for the most part his weight was taken by
the rope. It was ..... minutes before Frodo heard his call.
First he lowered his pack by the rope, then he cast it loose. He
was left alone at the top. At that moment there was a great clap
of dry thunder overhead and the sky grew dark. The storm was
coming up the Emyn Muil on its way to Rohan and to the
Hornburg far away where the riders were at bay.(13) He heard
Sam cry from below, but could not make out the words, nor see
Sam's pointing hands. But something made him look back.
There not far away on a rock behind and overlooking him was a
black figure [?whose glimmer(ing)] eyes like distant lamps were
fixed on him. Unreasoning fear seized him for a moment - for
after all it was Gollum there, it was not a whole.........., and
he had Sting at his belt and mithril beneath his jacket: but he did
not stop to think of these things. He stepped over the edge,
which for the moment frightened him less, and began to climb
down. Haste seemed to aid him, and all went well until he came
to the bad place.
Perhaps my father was at just about this point when he wrote on
5 April 1944, in the letter cited on p. 78, that'at the moment they are
just meeting Gollum on a precipice'. - From here to the end of the
draft there are so many 'bad places' and even sheer drops that I shall
not attempt to represent the text as it stands. There follows an account
of Frodo's descent: how he slipped again, and slithered down the
cliff-face clinging with his fingers till he came up with a jolt, nearly
losing his balance, on a wide ledge - 'and after that he was soon
down.' There came then the great storm of wind and thunder, with a
torrent of rain lashing down; and looking up 'they could see two tiny
points of light at the cliff edge before the curtain of rain blotted them
out. "Thank goodness you've done it," said Sam. "I near swallowed
my heart when you slipped. Did you see him? I thought so, when you
started to climb so quick." "I did," said Frodo. "But I think we've set ?
him a bit of a puzzle for those [?soft padding] feet of his. But let's look
about here. Is there no shelter from the storm?" '
They looked for shelter, and found some fallen rocks lying against
the foot of the cliff, but the ground was wet and soggy; they
themselves were not drenched through apparently on account of the
elven-cloaks (this passage is very largely illegible). The storm passed
on over the Emyn Muil and stars came out; 'far away the sun had set
behind Isengard'. The draft ends with Sam's saying: 'It's no good
going that way [i.e. towards the marshes] in the dark and at night.
Even on this trip we've had better camping-places: but here we'd best
stay.'
There was very evidently great need for a better text: my father
himself would have had difficulty with this, when the precise thought
behind the words had dimmed. He began again therefore at the
beginning of the chapter, giving it now its title and number (XXXII)
and the completed manuscript ('D') that evolved from this new start
was the only one that he made (i.e., subsequent texts are typescripts).
The opening of the chapter (text B), which went hack to the time
before the long break during 1943 - 4 (p. 86), was written out again,
and effectively reached the form in TT (but when the story opens it
was still 'the fifth evening' since they had fled from the Company, not
as in TT the third: see the Note on Chronology at the end of this
chapter).
When my father came to the point where his new draft (C) took up
the tale ('The sun was caught into clouds and night came suddenly',
p. 86), beyond rounding out the expression and making it less staccato
he did not at first change any feature of the story until the beginning of
the attempt to climb down - apart from introducing the point that on
the last day in the Emyn Muil Sam and Frodo had been making their
way along at some distance from the outer precipice, perhaps to
explain why it was that they had not observed that the cliff was now
less high and no longer sheer; but the long gully or ravine by which in
TT they made their way to the precipice when their way forward was
blocked was not yet present. The fir-trees in the gully would have a
narrative function in the final form of the story, in that 'old broken
stumps straggled on almost to the cliff's brink' (TT p. 212): for Sam
would brace his foot against one of those stumps, and tie the rope to it
(TT pp. 215 - 16), in contrast to text C, p. 89 ('Is there nothing to make
an end fast to up here?' ... 'I am going down with the rope on, and
you're going to hold on to the end up here').
My father at first retained the story in C (p. 88) that Frodo followed
Sam over the edge and that they both stood splayed against the
rock-face together, until Frodo climbed back up again. But as he wrote
he changed this: before Frodo had time to say anything to Sam,
The next moment he gave a sharp cry and slithered down-
wards. He came up with a jolt to his toes on a broader ledge
a few feet lower down. Fortunately the rockface leant well
forwards, and he did not lose his balance. He could just reach
the ledge he had left with his fingers.
'Well, that's another step down,' he said. 'But what next?'
'I don't know,' said Frodo peering over. 'The light's getting so
dim. You started off a bit too quick, before we'd had a good
look. But the ledge you're on gets much broader to the right. If
you could edge along that way, you'd have room enough, I
think, to stoop and get your hands down and try for the next
ledge below.'
Sam shuffled a little, and then stood still, breathing hard. 'No,
I can't do it,' he panted. 'I'm going giddy. Can't I get back? My
toes are hurting cruelly already.'
Frodo leaned over as far as he dared, but he could not help.
Sam's fingers were well out of his reach.
'What's to be done?' said Sam, and his voice quavered. 'Here
am I stuck like a fly on a fly-paper, only flies can't fall off, and I
can.' The eastern sky was growing black as night, and the
thunder rolled nearer.
'Hold on, Sam! ' said Frodo. 'Half a moment, till I get my belt
off.'
Having thus got rid of the unnecessary incident of Frodo's going
down to the first ledge with Sam and then climbing back again, the
new text then follows the former (C) - the failure of the experiment
with the belt, Sam's sudden recollection of the rope, and his telling
Frodo that they are wearing each other's packs - as far as 'He sat
down well away from the edge and rubbed his feet' (p. 89; he felt 'as if
he had been rescued from deep waters or a fathomless mine').
'Numbpate and Ninnyhammer!' he muttered.
'Well, now you're back,' said Frodo, laughing with relief,
'you can explain this business about the packs.'
'Easy,' said Sam. 'We got up in the dim light this morning and
you just picked mine up. I noticed it and was going to speak up,
when I noticed that yours was a tidier sight heavier than mine. I
reckoned you'd been carrying more than your share of tackle
and what not ever since I set off in such a hurry, so I thought I'd
take a turn. And I thought less said less argument.'
'Well meant cheek,' said Frodo; 'but you've been rewarded
for the well meaning anyway.' They sat for a while and the
gloom grew greater.
'Numbpate,' said Sam suddenly, slapping his forehead. 'How
long's that rope, I wonder.'
Here my father abandoned this story, feeling perhaps that it was all
becoming too complicated, and rejecting these new pages he returned
again, not to the beginning of the chapter, but to the beginning of the
draft C, that is to say to the point where Frodo and Sam awoke on
their last morning in the Emyn Muil (p. 86), with Frodo now saying, in
answer to Sam's question 'Did you see them again, Mr Frodo?', 'No, I
have heard nothing for three nights now.' From this point the final
story was built up in the completed manuscript D. Some of it was
written out first on independent draft pages,(14) but some of the
pencilled drafting was overwritten in ink and included in the manu-
script. It is plain, however, that the final story now evolved confidently
and clearly, and since there is very little of significant difference to the
narrative to be observed in those parts of the initial drafting that I have
been able to read, I doubt that there is any more in those that I have
not.
My father now saw at last how Sam and Frodo did manage the
descent from the Emyn Muil, and he resolved their difficulty about
leaving the rope hanging from the cliff-top for Gollum to use by
simply not introducing the question into their calculations until they
had both reached the bottom. In this text the further course of the
storm was described thus:
The skirts of the storm were lifting, ragged and wet, and the
main battle had passed - hastening with wind and thunder over
the Emyn Muil, over Anduin, over the fields of Rohan, on to the
Hornburg where the King Theoden stood at bay that night, and
the Tindtorras now stood dark against the last lurid glow.
At a later stage (see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter)
the following was substituted:
The skirts of the storm were lifting, ragged and wet, and the
main battle had passed to spread its great wings over the Emyn
Muil, upon which the dark thought of Sauron brooded for a
while. Thence it turned, smiting the vale of Anduin with hail
and lightning, and rolled on slowly through the night, mile by
mile over Gondor and the fields of Rohan, until far away the
Riders on the plain saw its black shadow moving behind the
sun, as they rode with war into the West.
Sam's uncle, the Gaffer's eldest brother, owner of the rope-walk
'over by Tighfield', now appears (cf. VII.235), but he was at first called
Obadiah Gamgee, not Andy.
The earlier drafts did not reach the point of Gollum's descent of the
diff-face, and it may be that my father had foreseen it long since. On
the manuscript of the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien' he
struck out his first ideas for the encounter of Frodo and Sam with
Gollum, and wrote: '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' (see VII.329 and note
15). But there is no way of knowing when he wrote this, whether when
he first began writing 'The Taming of Smeagol', or when he took it up
again in April 1944.
In initial drafting the discussion between Sam and Frodo after
Gollum's capture, in which Frodo heard 'a voice out of the past', went
like this:
'No,' said Frodo. 'We must kill him right out, Sam, if we do
anything. But we can't do that, not as things are. It's against the
rules. He's done us no harm.'
'But he means to / meant to, I'll take my word,' said Sam.
'I daresay,' said Frodo. 'But that's another matter.' Then he
seemed to hear a voice out of the past saying to him: Even Gollum I
fancy may have his uses before all's over. 'Yes, yes, may be,' he
answered. 'But anyway I can't touch the creature. I wish he could be
cured. He's so horribly wretched.'
Sam stared at his master, who seemed to be talking to someone ..
else not there.
At this stage in the evolution of the chapter 'Ancient History', at the
point in his conversation with Gandalf at Bag End which Frodo
was remembering, the text of the 'second phase' version (given in
VI.264-5) had been little changed. The actual reading of the 'current'
('fourth phase') text of 'Ancient History' (cf. VII.28) is:
'... What a pity Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, before he left
him!'
'What nonsense you do talk sometimes, Frodo! ' said Gandalf.
'Pity! Pity would have prevented him, if he had thought of it. But he
could not kill him anyway. It was against the Rules....'
'Of course, of course! What a thing to say. Bilbo could not do
anything of the kind, then. But I am frightened. And I cannot feel
any pity for Gollum. Do you mean to say that you, and the Elves, let
him live on after all those horrible deeds? Now at any rate he is
worse than a goblin, and just an enemy.'
'Yes, he deserved to die,' said Gandalf, 'and I don't think he can
be cured before he dies. Yet even Gollum might prove useful for,
good before the end. Anyway we did not kill him: he was very old
and very wretched. The Wood-elves have him in prison ...'
It is not often that the precise moment at which my father returned
to and changed a passage much earlier in The Lord of the Rings can be
determined, but it can be done here. When he came to write the
passage in the manuscript (D) of 'The Taming of Smeagol', Frodo's
recollection of his conversation with Gandalf began at an earlier point
than it had in the draft cited above:
It seemed to Frodo then that he heard quite plainly but far off
voices out of the past.
What a pity Bilbo did not stab the vile creature, before he left
him!
Pity! Pity would have prevented him. He could not kill him. It
was against the Rules.
I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He deserves death.
It was at this point that my father perceived that Gandalf had said
rather more to Frodo, and on another page of drafting for 'The
Taming of Smeagol' he wrote:
Deserved it! I daresay he did I does, said Gandalf. Many that live do
deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to
them? Then be not eager to deal out death even in the name of
justice. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I do not much
hope that Gollum can be cured
This was then (as I judge) written into the manuscript of 'The Taming
of Smeagol', in a slightly different form:
Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death.
And some that die deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be
not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for
your own safety. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. Maybe the
Enemy will get him. Maybe not. Even Gollum may do some good,
willy nilly, before the end.
It was certainly at this time that my father changed the passage in
'Ancient History'. Omitting the words 'fearing for your own safety',
he joined the new passage into that given on p. 96: '... Even the wise
cannot see all ends. I do not much hope that Gollum can be cured
before he dies. Yet even Gollum might prove useful for good before
the end.' The two passages, that in 'The Shadow of the Past' (FR p. 69)
and that in 'The Taming of Smeagol' (TT. p. 221), remain different in
detail of wording, perhaps not intentionally at all points.
Lastly, there is an interesting difference between the passage in
which Gollum makes his promise to Frodo as it was at this time and as
it stands in TT. When Gollum said 'Smeagol will swear on the
precious', there followed both in initial drafting and in the manu-
script:
Frodo stepped back. 'On the precious!' he said. 'Oh, yes! And
what will he swear?'
'To be very, very good,' said Gollum. Then crawling to Frodo's
feet ...
This was changed at once, again both in draft and manuscript, to:
Frodo stepped back. 'On the precious?' he asked, puzzled for a
moment: he had thought that precious was Gollum's self that he
talked to. 'Ah! On the precious!' he said, with the disconcerting
frankness that had already startled Sam [draft text: that surprised
and alarmed Sam, and still more Gollum].
'One Ring to rule them all and in the Darkness bind them.
Would you commit your promises to that, Smeagol? ...' (&c. as in
TT, pp. 224-5]
The final text of this passage was not substituted till much later.(15)
NOTES.
1. For the earliest ideas for this part of the narrative, when Sam
crossed the Anduin alone and tracked Frodo together with
Gollum, see the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien',
VII.328 - 9.
2. See the Note on Chronology following these Notes.
3. In 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien', VII.328, Frodo put on the
Ring to escape from Gollum.
4. An argument against this is that in the 1957 letter my father gave
the page-reference II.209, whereas this text extends to II.210. But
there are various ways of explaining this, and the evidence of the
manuscripts seems to me to count more heavily.
5. Together with these earliest manuscripts of 'The Taming of
Smeagol' was found a slip bearing the following pencilled notes,
which may very well not have been written all at one time (I have
added the numbers)
(1) Account of Rings in Ch. II ['Ancient History'] needs altering
a little. It was Elves who made the rings, which Sauron stole.
He only made the One Ring. The Three were never in his
possession and were unsullied.
(2) Tom could have got rid of the Ring all along [? without
further]....... - if asked!
(3) The Company must carry ropes - either from Rivendell or
from Lorien.
(4) Emyn Muil = Sarn Gebir as a knot or range of stony hills.
[Sern Erain >] Sarn Aran the King Stones = the Gates of
Sarn Gebir.
With (1) cf. VI.404; VII.254-5 and 259 - 60. In (2), most
frustratingly, I have not been able to form any guess even at the
altogether illegible word. (3) seems quite likely to have arisen
while my father was pondering the descent from Sarn Gebir
(Emyn Muil). On the absence of the mentions in LR of Sam's
having no rope, and the absence of the passage concerning ropes
at the leaving of Lothlorien, see VII.165, 183, 280. As regards
(4), in the long-abandoned opening of the chapter the hills were
still called Sarn Gebir, but when my father took it up again in
1944 they had become the Emyn Muil (note 7). Many ephemeral
names to replace Sam Gebir are found in notes given in VII.424.
Sern Aranath replaced the Gates of Sarn Gebir on the manu-
scripts of 'The Great River' (VII.362 and note 21).
6. This sentence, little changed, is given to Frodo in TT (p. 211).
7. The first occurrence of Emyn Muil as written in a text ab initio.
See note 5.
8. 30 fathoms: 180 feet.
9. leant forwards: i.e. sloped down outwards from the vertical,
what my father earlier in this account called 'backward': 'The
cliff was indeed no longer sheer, but sloped somewhat back-
ward.'
10. In the following text the corresponding passage has: 'He cast the
end to Sam, who tied it about his waist, and grasped the line
above his head with both hands.' In the present text the sentence
seems to have been left unfinished and in the air.
11. These figures were much changed. At first, as shown in any case
by hobbit-ells, my father did not intend the 'English ell' of 45
inches, for by that measure 80 ells is 300 feet or 50 fathoms,
getting on for double the height of the cliff as Frodo had reckoned
it: whereas Sam thought that the rope of 80 ells would only be
'near enough' to Frodo's guess of 30 fathoms or 180 feet. My
father seems first to have changed '80' to '77', and in the margin
he wrote '2 feet' and '154'. He then changed '2 feet' to '2 1/2 feet',
by which measure 77 ells would give 192 1/2 feet. At some point he
struck out hobbit- in hobbit-ells; and finally he substituted 50 ells
for the length of the rope. He had then evidently decided on the
measure of 1 ell = 45 inches, according to which 50 ells would be
equivalent to 187 1/2 feet, just a little longer than the height of the
cliff as Frodo had estimated it. This was the measure in TT,
where the cliff was about 18 fathoms, and the rope about 30 ells;
taking these figures as exact, there would be 4 1/2 feet of rope to
spare ('there was still a good bight in Frodo's hands, when Sam
came to the bottom', TT p. 216).
12. The meaning is presumably 'I think I can just hold you', but hold
is certainly not the word written.
13. See the Note on Chronology below.
14. My father now introduced a further obstacle to the sleuth by
using the same piece of paper to write, one on top of the other,
drafts for wholly different portions of the narrative.
15. In these texts the word precious when referring to the Ring is not
capitalised, but capitals were introduced in subsequent type-
scripts before the passage was changed to the final form.
Note on the Chronology.
In this chapter the narrative opens on the fifth evening since Frodo and
Sam had fled from the Company. That night also they passed in the
Emyn Muil, and it was at dusk on the following day (therefore 'the sixth
evening') that they made their descent. Since the date of the Breaking of
the Fellowship and the flight of Frodo and Sam was 26 January (for the
chronology at this period see pp. 3 - 4, and VII.368, 406), this should
mean that the chapter opens on the evening of the 30th, and that they
climbed down from the hills on the evening of the 31st. On the other
hand, the great storm is described (p. 95) as 'hastening with wind and
thunder over the Emyn Muil, over Anduin, over the fields of Rohan, on
to the Hornburg where the King Theoden stood at bay that night'. But
the Battle of the Hornburg was fought on the night of 1 February
(pp.5-6).
Two brief time-schemes, which I will call Scheme 'A' and Scheme
B', bear on the question of the chronology of Frodo's wandering in
the Emyn Muil relative to events in the lands west of Anduin. Scheme
'B', which begins at this point, is perfectly explicit:
Thursday Jan. 26 to Wednesday Feb. 1 Frodo and Sam in Emyn
Muil (Sarn Gebir).
Night Feb. 1 - 2 Frodo and Sam meet Gollum. (Storm that reached
Helm's Deep about midnight on Feb.1 - 2 passed over Emyn Muil
earlier in the night.)
Scheme 'A', also beginning here, has:
Jan. 31 Cold night
Feb. 1 Descend, dusk (5.30). Meet Gollum about 10 p.m. Journey
in gully till daybreak.
According to these, it would have been on the sixth evening since the
flight of Frodo and Sam, not the fifth, that the chapter opens.
Since Vol. VII The Treason of Isengard was completed I have found
two manuscript pages that are very clearly notes on chronological
alterations needed that my father made in October 1944, some four
and a half months after he had reached the end of The Two Towers
(see VII.406 - 7). On 12 October (Letters no. 84) he wrote to me that
he had 'struck a most awkward error (one or two days) in the
synchronization', which would 'require tiresome small alterations in
many chapters'; and on 16 October (Letters no. 85) he wrote that he
had devised a solution 'by inserting an extra day's Entmoot, and extra
days into Trotter's chase and Frodo's journey ...'
These notes refer chapter by chapter to the changes that would have
to be made (but not to all). Some of them have been encountered
already: the complex alterations to 'The Riders of Rohan' in VII.406;
the additional day of the Entmoot in VII.419; and the changes in 'The
White Rider' in VII.425. Nothing further need be said of these. But in
a note on 'The Taming of Smeagol' the question of the storm is raised;
and here my father directed that the reference to Theoden and the
Hornburg should be cut out, because it 'won't fit'. He noted that
the thunderstorm over the Emyn Muil was at about five o'clock in the
evening of 31 January, while the thunder in the Battle of the Hornburg
was about midnight of 1 February, and that 31 hours to travel a
distance of some 350 miles was too slow; but no solution was
proposed.
I have referred (VII.368) to an elaborate time-scheme that was made
after the changes of October 1944 had been introduced. This, being a
major working chronology, is in places fearsomely difficult to inter-
pret, on account of later alterations and overwritings in ink over the
original pencil. It is arranged in columns, describing 'synoptically',
and fairly fully, the movements of all the major actors in the story on
each day. It begins on the fifth day of the voyage down Anduin and
ends at the beginning of the ascent to the pass of Kirith Ungol; and I
would guess that it belongs with the work on chronology in October
1944, rather than later. On this scheme, which I will call 'S', my father
afterwards wrote 'Old Timatal stuff' (Iceiandic timatal 'chronology').
In this scheme S the death of Boromir and the Breaking of the
Fellowship was put back by a day, to Wednesday 25 January.
Jan.25 Company broken up. Death of Boromir.... Frodo and
Sam cross river eastward and fly into E. of Emyn Muil.
Jan.26 Frodo and Sam wandering in Emyn Muil (1st evening
since flight).
fan. 27 In Emyn Muil (2nd evening).
Jan. 28 In Emyn Muil (3rd evening).
Jan. 29 In Emyn Muil (4th evening).
Jan. 30 On brink of Emyn Muil. Spend cold night under a rock
(5th evening).
Jan. 31 Descent from Emyn Muil at nightfall. Meet Gollum about
10 p.m.
Journey in the gully (Jan.31/Feb.1).
Here therefore the opening of the story in 'The Taming of Smeagol'
was on the evening of Jan. 30, and that was explicitly the sixth evening
since the flight; but my father was for some reason not counting the
first evening in the Emyn Muil (Jan. 25), and so he called that of Jan.
30 the fifth. Perhaps it was the same counting that explains the
discrepancy between Scheme B and the text of the chapter (p. 100).
And it may well be in any case that the records of these complicated
manoeuvres are insufficient, or that there are clues which I have failed
to perceive.
In Scheme B, as in the completed manuscript of the chapter (p. 95),
it is explicit that the storm over the Emyn Muil reached the Hornburg
later that same night; it was moving fast ('hastening with wind and
thunder'). In Scheme S, however, this is not so; for (just as in the note
of October 1944 referred to above) the descent of Frodo and Sam
from the Emyn Muil was at nightfall of Jan. 31, but the Battle of the
Hornburg began on the night of Feb. 1. S as written had no mention of
the great storm, but my father added in against Jan. 31 'Thunder at
nightfall', and then subsequently 'It crawls west', with a line apparent-
ly directing to Feb. 1. The storm over Rohan, slowly overtaking the
Riders as they rode west across the plains on their second day out of
Edoras (at the beginning of the chapter 'Helm's Deep') and bursting
over the Hornburg in the middle of the night, was already present
when my father came to write 'The Taming of Smeagol'. The storm
over the Emyn Muil moving westwards, if not actually conceived for
the purpose, obviously had the desirable effect of drawing the now
sundered stories, east and west of Anduin, together. The revised
passage about the storm in 'The Taming of Smeagol' given on p. 95
was clearly intended to allow for another day in the storm's progress,
and implies that Frodo and Sam climbed down out of the hills on the
day before the Battle of the Hornburg, as in S; and this resolves the
problem of time and distance stated in the note of October 1944 by
asserting that the great storm did not 'hasten', but 'rolled on slowly
through the night.'
But in The Tale of Years the relative dating is entirely different:
Scheme S.
Frodo enters Emyn Muil. (25 Jan.) Day 1.
In Emyn Muil. (26 Jan.) Day 2.
In Emyn Muil. (27 Jan.) Day 3.
In Emyn Muil. (28 Jan.) Day 4.
In Emyn Muil. (29 Jan.) Day 5.
In Emyn Muil. (30 Jan.) Day 6.
Descent from Emyn Muil. (31 Jan.) Day 7.
Battle of the Hornburg. (1 Feb.) Day 8.
The Tale of Years.
Frodo enters Emyn Muil. (26 Feb.) Day 1.
In Emyn Muil. (27 Feb.) Day 2.
In Emyn Muil. (28 Feb.) Day 3.
Descent from Emyn Muil. (29 Feb.) Day 4.
(30 Feb.) Day 5.
(1 Mar.) Day 6.
(2 Mar.) Day 7.
Battle of the Hornburg. (3 Mar.) Day 8.
Thus in the final chronology the Battle of the Hornburg took place
four nights after the descent of Frodo and Sam and the meeting with
Gollum. Yet the revised description of the westward course of the
storm in 'The Taming of Smeagol' (p. 95) survived into the proof stage
of The Lord of the Rings. On the proof my father noted against the
passage: 'Chronology wrong. The storm of Frodo was 3 days before
Theoden's ride' (i.e. 29 February and 2 March, the day on which
Theoden rode from Edoras). The passage as it stands in TT, pp.
215-16, was substituted at the eleventh hour: giving the great storm a
more widely curving path, and suggesting, perhaps, a reinforcement of
its power and magnitude as it passed slowly over Ered Nimrais.
II.
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES.
The writing of this chapter can again be closely dated from the letters
that my father wrote to me in South Africa in 1944. On the 13th of
April (Letters no. 60) he said that on the previous day he had read his
'recent chapter' ('The Taming of Smeagol') to C. S. Lewis and Charles
Williams, and that he had begun another. On the 18th April (Letters
no. 61) he wrote: I hope to see C.S.L. and Charles W. tomorrow
morning and read my next chapter - on the passage of the Dead
Marshes and the approach to the Gates of Mordor, which I have now
practically finished.'(1) And on the 23rd of April (Letters no. 62) he
wrote: 'I read my second chapter, Passage of the Dead Marshes, to:
Lewis and Williams on Wed. morning [19 April). It was approved. I
have now nearly done a third: Gates of the Land of Shadow. But this
story takes me in charge, and I have already taken three chapters over
what was meant to be one!' The completed manuscript of 'The
Passage of the Marshes' was indeed first entitled 'Kirith Ungol' (that
being still the name of the main pass into Mordor) - for he began
writing the manuscript before he had by any means finished the initial
drafting of the chapter.
Essential ideas for this part of the narrative had in fact emerged a
long time before, in the outline The Story Foreseen from Lorien
(VII.329 - 30) - when he estimated that the chapter would be num-
bered XXV, eight less than the event had proved. In that outline he
wrote:
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. (Chuckling to himself to
think that that is just the way he would wish them to go.) ...
They sleep in pairs, so that one is always awake with Gollum.
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 ...
A single page of notes shows my father's thoughts as he embarked at
last on the writing of this story. These notes were not written as a
continuous outline and not all were written at the same time, but I give
them in the sequence in which they stand on the page.
Food problem. Gollum chokes at lembas (but it does him
good?). Goes off and comes back with grimy fingers [?and face].
Once he heard him crunching in dark.
Next chapter.
Gollum takes them down into the water gully and then turns
away eastward. It leads to a hard point in the midst of the
Marshes. Over Dead Marshes. Dead faces. In some of the pools
if you looked in you saw your own face all green and dead and
corrupted. To Kirith Ungol.
Change in Gollum as they draw near
Gollum sleeps quite unconcerned - quietly at first; but as they
draw near to Mordor he seems to get nightmares. Sam hears
him beginning to hold colloquies with himself. It is a sort of
good Smeagol angry with a bad Gollum. The latter [?grows] -
filled with hatred of the Ring-bearer, in longing to be Ring-
master himself.
Laid up [?in] rock near gates see great movements in and out.
Explanation of why they had escaped the war-movement.
They lie up in day in beds of reeds
Feeling of weight. Ring feels heavier and heavier on Frodo's
neck as Mordor approaches. He feels the Eye.
Another page, written at any rate before 'The Passage of the Marshes'
had proceeded very far, outlines the story thus:
They come to a point where the gully falls into the marshes.
Brief description of these (which take about 3 to 4 days to
cross). Pools where there are faces some horrible, some fair -
but all corrupted. Gollum says it is said that they are memories
(?) of those who fell in ages past in the Battle before Ennyn Dur
the Gates of Mordor in the Great Battle. In the moon if you
looked in some pools you saw your own face fouled and corrupt
and dead. Describe the pools as they get nearer to Mordor as
like green pools and rivers fouled by modern chemical works.
They lie up in foothills and see armed men and orcs passing
in. Soon all is clear. Sauron is gathering his power and hiding it
in Mordor in readiness. (Swart men, and wild men with long
braided hair out of East; Orcs of the Eye etc.)
On the far (East) Horn of the Gates is a tall white tower.
Minas Ithil now Minas Morghul which guards the pass. It was
originally built by the men of Gondor to prevent Sauron
breaking out and was manned by the guards of Minas Ithil,(2) but
it fell soon into his hands. It now prevented any coming in. It
was manned by orcs and evil spirits. It had been called [Neleg
Thilim >] Neleglos [the Gleaming >] the White Tooth.(3)
This last passage is accompanied by a little sketch, reproduced on
p. 108 (no. I). Until now, the pass and chief entry into Mordor had been
named Kirith Ungol (cf. the citation from 'The Story Foreseen from
Lorien' on p. 104). When contemplating the story ahead as he drafted
'The Passage of the Marshes' my father saw that this was not so:
Kirith Ungol was a distinct way through the mountains - and (plainly
enough) it is this path that Sam and Frodo are going to take.
Concomitantly with this, he was proposing to change the site of Minas
Morgul as he had long conceived it, and as it appears on the First Map
(see Map III, VII.309).(4) There, the pass of Kirith Ungol was guarded
by two towers, one on either side (see VII.349, note 41), and Minas
Morgul was away to the west, on the other side of the mountains (i.e.
on the western side of the northern extremity of the Duath, the
Mountains of Shadow); whereas now Minas Morgul is to be the tower
that guards the pass.(5) A virtually identical sketch to this, in faint
pencil, is found on a page of drafting for 'The Black Gate is Closed'. It
clearly does not belong with that, however (the later text is written
across it), but with the present passage; and accompanying this
pencilled version of the sketch is this note:
It is better for the later story that Minas Ithil (Morghul) should be
actually at the Gates of Mordor on its East side.
The scene is thus depicted from the North.
On a page used also for drafting of 'The Passage of the Marshes'
there is another sketch of the tower and the pass (also reproduced on
p. 108, no. II), very similar except in one important respect: whereas in
Sketch I the cleft of Kirith Ungol is placed immediately below Minas
Morgul (which thus stands on a high ridge or 'horn' between the 'cleft'
and the 'pass'), in Sketch II Kirith Ungol lies on the far side of the pass
from the tower. The scene is again depicted from the North, for the
accompanying text reads: 'Kirith Ungol is not the main entrance but a
narrow cleft to [S(outh) >] West.' I think it almost certain that Sketch
II represents a further stage in the development of the conception, not
its first appearance.
Most of 'The Passage of the Marshes' is extant in preliminary
drafting (and most of it in excruciatingly difficult handwriting); in this
chapter my father made no use of his method of writing a text in pencil
and then setting down a more finished version in ink on top of it. The
narrative in the draft is not perfectly continuous, and it is clear that (as
commonly) he built up the completed manuscript - the only one made
of this chapter - in stages. The initial drafting is mostly extremely
rough, written at great speed, and in places the completed manuscript
(while perfectly legible - it was the text from which my father read the
chapter to Lewis and Williams on April the 19th) is itself really the
primary composition, constantly corrected and changed in the act of
writing. Nonetheless the story of the passage of the Dead Marshes as it
appears in The Two Towers seems to have been achieved almost to the
form of every sentence (apart from certain substantial alterations
made very much later) in that week of April 1944.
Only in one respect did the initial drafting differ significantly from
the story as it appears in the manuscript. This was primarily a matter
of the narrative structure, but I give most of the passage in question, so
well as I can make it out, as exemplification. It takes up from Gollum's
words 'Snakes, worms in pools. Lots of things in the pools. No birds'
(TT p. 234).
So passed the third day of their travelling with Gollum.(6)
All the night they went on with brief halts. Now it was really
perilous at least for the hobbits. They went slowly keeping close
in line and following every move of Gollum's attentively. The
pools grew larger and more ominous and the places where feet
could tread without sinking into [?chilly] gurgling mires more
and more difficult to find. There were no more reeds and
grasses.
Later in the night, after midnight, there came a change. A
light breeze got up and grew to a cold wind: it came from the
North and though it had a bitter tang it seemed kindly to them,
for it bore at last a hint of untainted airs and drove the reeking
mists into banks with dark channels in between. The cloudy sky
was torn and tattered and the moon nearly full rode among the
[? wrack]. Gollum cowered and muttered but the hobbits looked
up hopefully. A great dark shadow came out of Mordor like a
huge bird crossed the moon and went away west. Just the same
feeling came on them as at the..... they cast themselves down
in the mire. But the shadow passed quickly. Gollum lay like one
stunned and they had to rouse him. He would say only Wraiths
wraiths [?under] the moon. The precious the precious is their
master. They see everything everywhere. He sees. After that
[?even] Frodo sensed a change in Gollum once more. He was
[?even] more fawning [and] friendly but he talked more often in
(Two early sketches of Kirith Ungol.)
[his] old manner. They had great difficulty in making him go on
while the moon
The last passage was then rewritten ('After that Sam thought he
sensed a change in Gollum again' ...) and the draft continues with a
description of Frodo's weariness and slowness and the weight of the
Ring that approaches the text in TT (p. 238). Then follows:
He now really felt it as a weight: and he was getting conscious
of the Eye: it was that as much as the weight that made him
cower and stoop as he walked. He felt like someone hidden in a
room (?garden) when his deadly enemy comes in: knowing that
he is there though he cannot yet see him the enemy stands at
gaze to espy all comers with his deadly eye. Any movement
is fraught with peril.(7) Gollum probably felt something of the
same sort. After the passing of the shadow of the Nazgul that
flew to Isengard it was difficult to get him to move if there was
light. As long as the moon lasted he would only creep forwards
on his hands cowering and whimpering. He was not much use
as a guide and Sam took to trying to find a path for himself. In
doing so he stumbled forward and came down on his hands in
sticky mire with his face bending over a dark pool that seemed
like some glazed but grimed window in the moonlight. Wrench-
ing his hands out of the bog he sprang back with a cry. There
are dead faces ..... dead faces in the pool he cried, dead faces!
Gollum laughed. The Dead Marshes, yes, yess. That is their
name. Should not look in when the White Eye is up.(8) What are
they, who are they, asked Sam shuddering and turning to Frodo
who came up behind him. I don't know said Frodo. No don't
master said Sam, they're horrible. Nonetheless Frodo crawled
cautiously to the edge and looked. He saw pale faces - deep
under water they looked: some grim some hideous, some noble
and fair: but all horrible, corrupted, sickly, rotting ..........
Frodo crawled back and hid his eyes. I don't know who they are
but I thought I saw Men and Elves and Orcs, all dead and
rotten. Yes yes, said Gollum cackling. All dead and rotten. The
Dead Marshes. Men and Elves and Orcs. There was a great
Battle here long long ago, precious, yes, when Smeagol was
young and happy long ago:(9) before the precious came, yes, yes.
They fought on the plain over there. The Dead Marshes have
grown greater.
But are they really there? Smeagol doesn't know, said Gol-
lum. You can't reach them. I we tried, yes we tried, precious,
once: but you can't touch them. Only shapes to see perhaps, not
to touch, no precious! Sam looked darkly at him and shuddered,
thinking he guessed why Smeagol had tried to reach them.
The moon was now sinking west into cloud that lay above far
Rohan beyond Anduin. They went on and Gollum again took
the lead by [read but] Sam and Frodo found that he [read they]
could not keep their [?fascinated] eyes from straying whenever
they passed some pool of black water. If they did so they caught
glimpses of the pallid dead faces. At last they came to a place
where Gollum halted, a wide pool ...... barred their way.
The pools lit by will o' the wisp fire reveal dead faces. The
moon shows their own.(10)
............ The moon came out of its cloud. They looked
in. But they saw no faces out of the vanished past. They saw
their own...... Sam Gollum and Frodo looking up with dead
eyes and livid rotting flesh at them.
Let's get out of this foul place!
Long way to go yet said Gollum. Must get to somewhere to
lie up before day.
This section of drafting peters out here. In the manuscript the text
becomes that of TT at almost all points: the sequence of the story has
been reconstructed, so that the change in the weather and the flight of
the Nazgul follows the passage of the pools of the dead faces; and
there is no further hint of the idea (going back to the preliminary
notes, p. 105) that the beholder's own face was mirrored as dead when
the moonlight shone on the pools.
It is notable that in the draft the Nazgul is said to have been flying to
Isengard. In the manuscript as first written this was not said: '... a
vast shape winged and ominous: it scudded across the moon, and with
a deadly cry went away westward, outrunning the moon in its fell
speed.... But the shadow passed quickly, and behind it the wind
roared away, leaving the Dead Marshes bare and bleak.' After the last
sentence, however, my father added, probably not long after, 'The
Nazgul had gone, flying to Isengard with the speed of the wrath of
Sauron.' The rewriting of the passage, so that the Nazgul returns and,
flying lower above them, sweeps back to Mordor, was done at a later
time (see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter); but the
words in TT (p. 237) 'with a deadly cry went away westward' are in
fact a vestige of the original conception.
Among various other differences and developments the following
seem the most worth remarking.
In the original draft, and at first in the manuscript, Gollum's 'song'
(TT pp. 227 - 8) was wholly different after the first line:
The cold hard lands
To feet and hands
they are unkind.
There wind is shrill,
The stones are chill;
there's nought to find.
Our heart is set
On water wet
in some deep pool.
O how we wish
To taste of fish
so sweet and cool!
There was no reference to 'Baggins' and the fish-riddle.
The story that they slept the whole of the day after they had come
down from the Emyn Muil was not present at first. In the preliminary
draft of the opening of the chapter Sam, after testing that Gollum was
really asleep by saying fissh in his ear, did not fall asleep:
Time seemed to drag; but after an hour or two Gollum sat up
suddenly wide awake as if he had been called. He stretched,
yawned, got up and began to climb out of the gully. 'Hi, where are
you off to?' cried Sam. 'Smeagol's very hungry,' said Gollum. 'Be
back soon.'
In the manuscript the final story appears, to the extent that Sam does
fall asleep; but when he wakes 'the sky above was full of bright
daylight.' This however was changed immediately: Sam and Frodo
slept the whole day away, not waking until after sunset, and Gollum's
departure to find something to eat is postponed to the evening.(11)
There can be no doubt that the geography of the region in which the
Dead Marshes lay had now been substantially changed. It is said in TT
(p. 232):
The hobbits were now wholly in the hands of Gollum. They did not
know, and could not guess in that misty light, that they were in fact
only just within the northern borders of the marshes, the main
expanse of which lay south of them. They could, if they had known
the lands, with some delay have retraced their steps a little, and then
turning east have come round over hard roads to the bare plain of
Dagorlad.
This passage appears in the manuscript, and is found embryonically in
the original draft, of which, though partly illegible, enough can be
made out to see that the new conception was present: 'They were in
fact just within the north-west bounds of the Dead Marshes', and
'[they could] have come round the eastern side to the hard of Battle
Plain.' The First Map (Maps II and IV(C), VII.305, 317) and the large
map based on it that I made in 1943 are entirely at variance with this:
for in that conception the No Man's Land lay between Sarn Gebir
(Emyn Muil) and the pass into Mordor. There could be no reason for
one journeying in those hills to enter the Dead Marshes if he were
making for the pass (Kirith Ungol on those maps); nor, if he were at
the edge of the marshes, would he by any means come to Dagorlad if
instead of going through them he went round to their east. Essentially
what has happened is that the Dead Marshes have been moved
south-west, so that they lie between the Emyn Muil and the Gates
of Mordor - into the region marked 'No Man's Land' on the First
Map - and so become continuous with the Wetwang or Nindalf (see
VII.320-1 and below); this is the geography seen on the large-scale
map of Gondor and Mordor accompanying The Return of the King.(12)
In reply to Frodo's question whether they must cross the Dead
Marshes, Gollum answered in the original draft (cf. TT p. 233): ' "No
need. Back a little, and round a little" - his skinny arm waved away
north and east - "and you can come dry-foot to the Plain. Dagorlad
that is, where the Battle was fought and He lost the precious, yess" -
he added this in a sort of whisper to himself.' The manuscript here has
the text of TT; but subsequently, in Gollum's explanation of the dead
faces in the marshes (TT p. 235), he says: 'There was a great Battle
long ago, yes, so they told him when Smeagol was young, long ago,
before the Precious came. They took It from the Lord then, Elves and
Men took It. It was a great battle. They fought on the plain for days
and months and years at the Gates of Mornennyn [> Morannon]' (for
the original draft of this see p. 109). Gollum's reference to the story of
the taking of the Ring from Sauron was removed much later.
The account of the morning after the night of the dead faces in the
pools and the flight of the Nazgul, and of the lands through which they
passed after leaving the marshes, was different in important respects
from that in TT, pp. 238 - 9. The manuscript reads (following an initial
draft):
When day came at last, the hobbits were surprised to see how close
the ominous mountains had drawn: the outer buttresses and the
broken hills at their feet were now no more than a dozen miles
away. Frodo and Sam looked round in horror: dreadful as the
Marshes had been in their decay their end was more loathsome still.
Even to the mere of the dead faces some haggard phantom of green
spring would come ... (&c. as in TT p. 239)
The extended and altered passage that replaces this in TT, introduced
at a later stage, was due to considerations of geography and chronol-
ogy. With this new passage two more nights are added to the journey
(see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter and the map on
p. 117), and during this stage of it they pass through a country seen
from the end of the marshes as 'long shallow slopes, barren and
pitiless', and described subsequently as 'the arid moors of the Noman-
lands'. Here this name reappears from Celeborn's words to the
Company in 'Farewell to Lorien' (FR p. 390) and the old maps: see
VII.320-1 and above.
An isolated page carries two distinct elements, though very prob-
ably both were set down at the same time. The change of the name of
the Gates of Mordor in the act of writing from Ennyn Dur (the name
on Sketch I, p. 108) first to Morennyn and then to Mornennyn shows
that this page preceded the point in the writing of the manuscript text
where Gollum speaks of the dead faces in the pools, for there
Mornennyn appears (p. 112), but it is convenient to give it here since it
concerns the narrative of the end of the chapter (and the beginning of
the next).
The famous pass of [Ennyn (Dur) > Morennyn >] Mornennyn the
Gates of Mordor was guarded by two towers: the Teeth of Mordor
[Nelig Morn Mel >] Nelig Myrn. Built by Gondorians long ago:
now ceaselessly manned. Owing to ceaseless passage of arms they
dare not try to enter so they turn W. and South. Gollum tells them
of Kirith Ungol beneath shadow [of] M. Morgul. It is a high pass.
He does not tell them of the Spiders. They creep in to M[inas]
M[orgul].
This text is accompanied by a further sketch of the site of Kirith
Ungol, reproduced on p. 114. It is clear from this that the transference
of Minas Morgul to become the fortress guarding the Black Gates was
a passing idea now abandoned; and it was no doubt at this very point
(Minas Morgul being restored to its old position in the Mountains of
Shadow a good way south of the Black Gates) that the southward
journey along the western side of the mountains entered the narrative.
But it is also clear that the Tower of Kirith Ungol had not yet emerged:
the cleft of the spiders passes beneath Minas Morgul, on the south side
(on the assumption that the scene is depicted from the West); and the
original story in the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien' is again
present, that Frodo and Sam entered Minas Morgul (but there is here
no mention of Frodo's capture).
In the text accompanying Sketch I on p. 108 it is Minas Morghul,
above the Black Gates, that was called 'the White Tooth', Neleglos;
now there emerge (or perhaps re-emerge, from the original two towers
guarding the pass, see p. 106) the Teeth of Mordor, Nelig Myrn.
It will be seen subsequently (p. 122) that at this stage 'the Gates of
Mordor', 'the Black Gates' (Ennyn Dur, Mornennyn) were specifically
names of the pass, not of any barrier built across it.
The other brief text on this page places Sam's overhearing of
Gollum's disputation with himself (foreseen already in the preliminary
notes to the chapter, p. 105) at this point in the narrative (though it
seems that at this stage my father envisaged them passing a night, not a
day, before the Black Gates).
The night watching the [Ennyn D(ur) >] Mornennyn. It is Frodo's
turn to watch. Sam sleeps and suddenly awakes thinking he has
(Third sketch of Kirith Ungol.)
heard his master calling. But he sees Frodo has fallen asleep. Gollum
is sitting by him, gazing at him. Sam hears him arguing with himself:
Smeagol versus 'another'. Pale light and a green light alternate in his
eyes. But it is not hunger or desire to eat Frodo that he is battling
with: it is the call of the Ring. His long hand keeps on going out and
paw[ing] towards Frodo and then is pulled back. Sam rouses Frodo.
The actually reported 'colloquy' of Gollum was developed in stages.
His references to 'She' ('She might help'), and Sam's passing reflection
on who that might be, were added subsequently, doubtless when that
part of the story was reached. A change made much later altered what
the 'two Gollums' said about Bilbo and the 'birthday present'; roughly
in the initial draft, and then in the manuscript and subsequent
typescripts, the passage read:
'Oh no, not if it doesn't please us. Still he's a Baggins, my
precious, yes a Baggins. A Baggins stole it.'
'No, not steal: it was a present.'
'Yes, steal. We never gave it, no never. He found it and he said
nothing, nothing. We hates Baggins.'
Lastly, in the manuscript and following typescripts the chapter
ended at the words: 'In the falling dusk they scrambled out of the pit
and slowly threaded their way through the dead land' (TT p. 242). All
that follows in TT, describing the menace of a Ringwraith passing
overhead unseen at dusk and again an hour after midnight, and the
prostration of Gollum, was added to the typescripts at a later stage
(see the Note on Chronology below).
NOTES.
1. My father went on to speak of a letter he had written adjudicat-
ing a dispute in an army mess concerning the pronunciation of
the name of the poet Cowper (Letters no. 61). A draft for this
letter is found on a page of drafting for the passage describing the
change in the weather over the marshes, TT pp. 236 - 7.
2. This, I believe, is the first appearance of the conception that the
fortresses on the confines of Mordor had been built looking
inwards and not outwards.
3. Cf. the Etymologies (V.376), stem NEL-EK 'tooth'.
4. My father had in fact moved Minas Morgul further north from
its position as originally shown on the First Map (east of
Osgiliath), and placed it not far from the northern tip of the
Mountains of Shadow (see VII..310). With this cf. 'The Story
Foreseen from Lorien', where Minas Morgul was said to be
reached by a path that 'led up into the mountains - the north
horn of the Mountains of Shadow that sundered the ashen vale of
Gorgoroth from the valley of the Great River' (VII.333). But
Minas Morgul was still on the western side of the mountains (i.e.
on the other side of the mountains to the Pass of Kirith Ungol).
5. In notes at the end of 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien' my father
had suggested that Frodo should be taken as captive to one of the
guard-towers of the pass, and in a time-scheme of that period he
changed 'Sam rescues Frodo in Minas Morgul' to 'Sam rescues
Frodo in Gorgos' (see VII.344); and again (VII.412): 'The
winding stair must be cut in rocks and go up from Gorgoroth to
watch-tower. Cut out Minas Morgul.' Now, as it appears, these
conceptions were to be fused: Frodo was again to be taken to
Minas Morgul, but Minas Morgul was itself the watch-tower
above the pass.
6. the third day: see the Note on Chronology below.
7. This passage was developed in the manuscript thus, before being
changed to the text of TT (p. 238):
Frodo knew just where the present habitation and heart of that
will now was. He could have walked, or flown straight there.
He was facing it: and its potency beat upon his brow if he
raised it for a moment. He felt like someone who, covered only
by a grey garment, has strayed into a garden, when his enemy
enters. The enemy knows he is there, even if he cannot yet see
him, and he stands at gaze, silent, patient, deadly, sweeping all
corners with the hatred of his eye. Any movement is fraught
with peril.
8. when the White Eye is up: throughout this part of the story
Gollum's names for the Sun and Moon were originally the
Yellow Eye and the White Eye, not the Yellow Face and the
White Face. - TT has here, as does the manuscript, 'when the
candles are lit': see note 10.
9. Cf. Gollum's words in TT (p. 235): 'There was a great battle long
ago, yes, so they told him when Smeagol was young'. His words
in the present draft ('a great battle here long long ago when
Smeagol was young') might suggest the far shorter time-span (see
p. 21, and VII.450 note 11); but the manuscript had from the first
'so they said when Smeagol was young'.
10. This was no doubt the point at which the idea of the marsh-lights
entered (ignis fatuus, u ill-o'-the-wisp, jack-o'-lantern). In TT, as
in the manuscript, Gollum calls them 'candles of corpses', and in
time-schemes of this period my father referred to the 'episode of
the corpse-candles'. Corpse-candle is defined in the Oxford
Dictionary as 'a lambent flame seen in a churchyard or over a
grave, and superstitiously believed to appear as an omen of death,
or to indicate the route of a coming funeral.'
11. In the conversation between Frodo and Sam that follows (TT
(Frodo's journey to the Morannon.)
p. 231), in Frodo's words 'If we can nurse our limbs to bring us to
Mount Doom' the name is spelt thus in the preliminary draft, but
the manuscript has 'Mount Dum': this spelling is found also in
the preliminary draft of Frodo's vision on Amon Hen, VII.373.
12. The large-scale map of Gondor and Mordor was closely based on
a map of my father's. This included the track of Frodo's journey
from Rauros to' the Morannon, and I have redrawn this section
from the original (p. 117). My father's map is in some respects
hard to interpret, for it was made roughly and hastily in point of
its actual execution, the 'contour-lines' being very impressionis-
tic, while the Nindalf and the Dead Marshes are shown merely by
rough pencil hatching, for which I have substituted conventional
reed-tufts; but I have attempted to redraw it as precisely as I can.
The features of the uppermost line of squares were only roughed
in on the original, above the top of the map, in order to show the
track of the journey, and my version published in The Return of
the King excluded this element. The squares are of one inch side,
= 25 miles.
Note on the Chronology.
As the story stood when the manuscript of this chapter was completed
but before those changes were made to it that belong to a later stage
the chronology was as follows (proceeding from the date February 1,
when Frodo and Sam climbed down out of the Emyn Muil, p. 100):
Feb. 1 - 2 Night. They advance along the gully. (Journey 1)
(Day 1) Feb. 2 They sleep in the gully all day.
Feb. 2 - 3 Night. They continue along the gully and come to
its end towards daybreak. (Journey 2)
(Day 2) Feb.3 They enter the marshes and continue the journey
by day ('So passed the third day of their journey with
Gollum', manuscript text and TT p. 234). (Journey 3)
Feb. 3 - 4 Night. They see the dead faces in the pools. 'It
was late in the night when they reached firmer ground
again', manuscript text and TT p. 236; followed by change
in the weather and flight of the Nazgul. (Journey 4)
(Day 3) Feb.4 When day came 'the outer buttresses and broken
hills' at the feet of the mountains were 'no more than a
dozen miles away' (p. 112). They were among the slag-
mounds and poisonous pits. Day spent hiding in a hole.
At dusk they went on (night of Feb. 4 - 5). (Journey 5)
(Day 4) Feb. 5 (Beginning of the next chapter) They reach the
Black Gate at dawn.
Both of the brief time-schemes of which the beginnings are given on
p. 100 express precisely this chronology. Scheme B was written,
apparently, when the story had already reached the departure from
Henneth Annun, but A accompanied the writing of the present chapter
and scarcely extends beyond it. Notably, in A the actual journeys they
made are numbered (as I have numbered them in the chronology set
out above), and it may well be that '3' against February 3 explains the
statement cited above: 'So passed the third day of their journey with
Gollum' - for it was the third journey, but not the third day.
Both schemes refer to the flight of the Nazgul. In B, under February 3,
'Nazgul passes over marshes and goes to Isengard', with a sub-
sequent addition 'reaching there about midnight'. This is hard to
understand, since already in the completed manuscript 'it was late in
the night when they reached firmer ground again', and that was before
the change in the weather and the flight of the Nazgul. In A it is said
that 'Nazgul goes over at early morning before daybreak' (of February
4), agreeing with the text of the chapter; but Theoden and Gandalf
and their company left Isengard on the evening of February 3, and
camped below Dol Baran (over which the Nazgul passed) that night,
so that this offers equal difficulty.
In his notes of October 1944 (see p. 100) my father commented,
under the heading 'Passage of the Marshes', that 'the Nazgul over
marshes cannot be the same as passed over Dolbaran', and directed
that the relevant passage in that chapter, and also that at the end of
'The Palantir', should be changed. It must have been at this time, then,
that the description of the Nazgul's flight over the marshes was altered
- it wheeled round and returned to Mordor (p. 110); while at the same
time, in 'The Palantir', Gandalf's original words to Pippin 'It could
have taken you away to the Dark Tower' (p. 77) were extended by
Pippin's further question 'But it was not coming for me, was it?' and
Gandalf s reply: Of course not. It is 200 leagues or more in straight
flight from Baraddur to Orthanc, and even a Nazgul would take some
hours to fly between them, or so I guess - I do not know. But Saruman
certainly looked in the Stone since the orc-raid, and more of his secret
thought, I do not doubt, has been read than he intended. A messenger
has been sent to find out what he is doing....'
Scheme S (in which the dates of Frodo's journey are a day earlier
than in A and B, see p. 101) has the folIowing chronology:
(Day 2) Feb. 2 Journey in the marshes by day.
Feb. 2 - 3 Night. 'Episode of corpse-candles' (see note 10).
(Day 3) Feb. 3 Reach slag-mounds at dawn. Day spent hiding in a
hole, going on at nightfall. Gandalf, Theoden, etc. leave
Isengard at sunset and camp at Dolbaran.
(Day 4) Feb. 4 Reach the Black Gate at daybreak and hide all day.
Gandalf and Pippin sight Edoras at dawn.
In the notes accompanying the changes made in October 1944 my
father also directed that 'the first Nazgul' should pass over Frodo and
his companions at dusk (5 p.m.) on the evening of February 3 'just
about when they start from the slag-mounds', and reach Dol Baran
about 11 p.m. 'The second Nazgul, sent after Pippin used the Stone',
despatched from Mordor about one o'clock in the morning of the
night of Feb. 3 - 4, should pass over Frodo at the end of the chapter
'Passage of the Marshes' before they reach the Morannon. This
Nazgul would pass over Edoras on February 4, about six hours later.
'But both may pass high up and only give them faint uneasiness.'
Scheme S is confused on the subject of the flights of the Nazgul,
offering different formulations, but in the result it agrees well with the
notes just cited; here however the second Nazgul leaves Mordor 'at
11 p.m.' or 'about midnight', and it 'scouts around the plain and passes
over Edoras at? 8 a.m.' These movements fit very well with the added
conclusion to 'The Passage of the Marshes' {TT pp. 242 - 3; see
p. 115), which I presume was introduced at this time. Thus the unseen
Ringwraith that passed overhead soon after they left the hole amid
the slag-heaps, 'going maybe on some swift errand from Barad-dur',
was the one that passed over Dol Baran six hours later (on its way to
Orthanc to 'find out what Saruman was doing'); and that which
passed over an hour after midnight, 'rushing with terrible speed into
the West', was the one sent in response to Pippin's looking into the
palantir.
In the final chronology as set out in The Tale of Years two days were
added to the journey to the Morannon, during which Frodo and his
companions passed through 'the arid moors of the Noman-lands' (see
p. 112):
(Day 2) Mar. 1 Frodo begins the passage of the Dead Marshes at
dawn.
Mar. 1 - 2 Night. Frodo comes to the end of the Marshes
late at night.
(Day 3) Mar. 2 - 3 Night. Frodo journeys in the Noman-lands.
(Day 4) Mar. 3 - 4 Night. Frodo journeys in the Noman-lands.
Battle of the Hornburg.
(Day 5) Mar. 4 Dawn, Frodo reaches the slag-mounds (and leaves
at dusk). Theoden and Gandalf set out from Helm's Deep
for Isengard.
(Day 6) Mar. 5 Daybreak, Frodo in sight of the Morannon.
Theoden reaches Isengard at noon. Parley with Saruman
in Orthanc. Winged Nazgul passes over the camp at Dol
Baran.
Thus according to the final chronology neither of the unseen Nazgul
that passed over high up at the end of the chapter 'The Passage of the
Marshes' (at dusk on March 4, and again an hour after midnight)
can have been the one that wheeled over Dol Baran on the night of
March 5, nor the one that passed over Edoras on the morning of
March 6. A rigorous chronology led to this disappointing conclusion.
III.
THE BLACK GATE IS CLOSED.
I have already quoted (p. 104) my father's letter of 23 April 1944 in
which he said that he had 'nearly done' the chapter which he called
'Gates of the Land of Shadow'. Since in the first fair-copy manuscript
of this chapter the text goes on without a break through what was
subsequently called 'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit', he had probably at
that date got well beyond the point where 'The Black Gate is Closed'
ends in TT (at Frodo's decision to take the southward road}; and this
is borne out by what he said on the 26th (continuation of a letter
begun on 24 April, Letters no. 63): 'At this point I require to know
how much later the moon gets up each night when nearing full, and
how to stew a rabbit!'
Here I restrict my account to the portion of the new chapter that
corresponds to 'The Black Gate is Closed'. This was a part of the
narrative that largely 'wrote itself', and there is not a great deal to
record of its development; it was achieved, also, in a much more
orderly fashion than had been the case for a long time. Here there is a
continuous, and for most of its length readily legible, initial draft,
which extends in fact to the point where 'The Black Gate is Closed'
ends in TT, and then becomes a brief outline that brings Frodo, Sam
and Gollum to the Cross-roads and up the Stairs of Kirith Ungol -
showing that at that time my father had no notion of what would
befall them on the southward road. He headed this draft 'Kirith
Ungol' (the original title of 'The Passage of the Marshes', p. 104), sure
that he could get them there within the compass of this new chapter
(but 'Kirith Ungol' now bore a different significance from what it had
when he gave it to the previous chapter, see p. 106).
The draft was followed by a fair copy manuscript (in this chapter
called 'the manuscript', as distinguished from 'the draft') which, as
already noticed, extends without break through 'Of Herbs and Stewed
Rabbit', and here again the first title given to it was 'Kirith Ungol',
changed to 'The Gates of the Land of Shadow' (the title my father used
in his letter of 23 April), and then to 'Kirith Gorgor: The Black gate is
Closed'. At some stage, for some reason, he made a further manuscript
of the chapter (ending it at the point where it ends in 11 ) in his most
beautiful script, and this was copied in the first typescript. The chapter
number is XXXIV.
In the (first) manuscript the text as it stands in TT was achieved in
almost all points without much hesitation in the writing; but there was
much further shifting in the names that occur in this region. The
opening passage concerning the defences of Mordor and their history
differed in some respects from the form in TT (p. 244). The words
following 'But the strength of Gondor failed, and men slept': and for
long years the towers stood empty, are lacking.(1) The paragraph
beginning 'Across the mouth of the pass, from cliff to cliff, the Dark
Lord had built a rampart of stone. In it there was a single gate of iron,
and upon its battlement sentinels paced unceasingly' was first written
thus, both in draft and manuscript:
No rampart, or wall, or bars of stone or iron were laid across the
Morannon;(2) for the rock on either side was bored and tunnelled
into a hundred caves and maggot-holes. A host of orcs lurked there
(&c. as in TT)
This was changed in the manuscript as soon as written to the text of
TT, introducing the rampart of stone and the single gate of iron; and it
is thus seen that up to this point the 'Black Gate(s)' was the name of
the pass itself.(3) So also at the beginning of the passage, where TT has
'between these arms there was a deep defile. This was Cirith Gorgor,
the Haunted Pass, the entrance to the land of the Enemy', both draft
and manuscript have 'between these arms there was a long defile. This
was the Morannon, the Black Gate, the entrance to the land of the
Enemy.' When the rampart and iron gate had been introduced this was
changed in the manuscript to 'This was Kirith Gorgor, the Dreadful
Pass, the entrance to the land of the Enemy.'(4)
The Mountains of Shadow were still in the draft named the Duath,
as on the First Map (Map III, VII.309); in the manuscript the name is
Hebel Duath, later changed to Ephel Duath (see VII.310).(5) The 'Teeth
of Mordor' are named in the draft Nelig Morn (cf. Nelig Morn >
Nelig Myrn, p. 113);(6) in the manuscript they are Naglath Morn,
which was subsequently struck out and not replaced.
It is convenient to notice here a few other points concerning names
in this chapter. The name Elostirion for Osgiliath, used in the fine
manuscript of 'The Palantir' made earlier in April (p. 78 and note 20),
was retained in the draft (7) and in the following manuscript of 'The
Black Gate is Closed', with Osgiliath later substituted in the latter
(TT p. 249). The name of Sauron's stronghold in Mirkwood remains
Dol Dughol, the change to Dol Guldur being made at a very late
stage.(8)
A curious vestige is seen in the name Goodchild pencilled above
Gamgee in Sam's remark 'It's beyond any Gamgee to guess what he'll
do next' (TT p. 247). In his letter to me of 31 May 1944 (Letters no.
72) my father said:
Sam by the way is an abbreviation not of Samuel but of Samwise
(the Old E. for Half-wit), as is his father's name the Gaffer (Ham)
for O.E. Hamfast or Stayathome. Hobbits of that class have very
Saxon names as a rule - and I am not really satisfied with the
surname Gamgee and shd. change it to Goodchild if I thought you
would let me.
I replied that I would never wish to see Gamgee changed to Good-
child, and urged (entirely missing the point) that the name Gamgee
was for me the essential expression of 'the hobbit peasantry' in their
'slightly comical' aspect, deeply important to the whole work. I
mention this to explain my father's subsequent remarks on the subject
(28 July 1944, Letters, no. 76):
As to Sam Gamgee, I quite agree with what you say, and I wouldn't
dream of altering his name without your approval; but the object of
the alteration was precisely to bring out the comicness, peasantry,
and if you will the Englishry of this jewel among the hobbits. Had I
thought it out at the beginning, I should have given all the hobbits
very English names to match the shire.... I doubt if it's English
[i.e. the name Gamgee].... However, I daresay all your imagina-
tion of the character is now bound up with the name.
And so Sam Gamgee remained.
Turning now to the narrative itself, there are only certain details to
mention. The distance from the hollow in which Frodo and his
companions lay to the nearer of the Towers of the Teeth was in the
initial drafting and in both manuscripts estimated at about a mile as
the crow flies (a furlong in TT, p. 245). The description of the three
roads leading to the Black Gate (TT p.247) was present in all essentials
from the outset (they were in fact marked in by dotted lines on the
First Map, though not included on my redrawing),(9) as were Frodo's
stern words to Gollum (TT p. 248), and the conversation about the
southward road; but Gollum's remembered tales of his youth and his
account of Minas Morgul (11 pp. 249 - 50) differed from the final
form in these respects. When Frodo said: 'It was Isildur who cut off
the finger of the Enemy', Gollum replied: 'The tales did not say that';
then Frodo said: 'No, it had not happened then' (becoming in the
second manuscript 'No, it had not happened when your tales were
made').(10) Secondly, Gollum's reference to 'the Silent Watchers' in
Minas Morgul (TT p. 250) was added to the manuscript, which as
written had only: 'Nothing moves on the road that they don't know
about. The things inside know.' Thirdly, after Gollum's explanation of
why Sauron did not fear attack by way of Minas Morgul (his speech
beginning 'No, no, indeed. Hobbits must see, must try to understand'),
Sam says:
'I daresay, but even so we can't walk up along your climbing
road and pass the time of day with the folk at the gates and ask if
we're all right for the Dark Tower. Stands to reason,' said Sam.
'We might as well do it here, and save ourselves a long tramp.'
Thus his jibe at Gollum ('Have you been talking to Him lately? Of
just hobnobbing with Orcs?'), and Gollum's reply ('Not nice hobbit,
not sensible ... ) are lacking. With the expanded text (written into the
manuscript later) there enters the second reference to 'the Silent
Watchers' (and Sam's sarcasm 'Or are they too silent to answer?').
The brief text given on p. 113 and reproduced with the accompany-
ing sketch on p. 114, in which Kirith Ungol is 'beneath the shadow of
Minas Morgul', and in which Frodo and Sam actually enter Minas
Morgul, shows that only a short time before the point we have reached
the later story and geography had not emerged. But the conception of
the entrances into Mordor was changing very rapidly, and the original
draft of 'The Black Gate is Closed' shows a major further shift. The
conversation following Sam's remarks about the futility of going on a
long tramp south only to find themselves faced with the same
impossibility of entering unseen (TT p. 251) ran thus in the draft:
'Don't joke about it,' said Gollum. 'Be sensible hobbits. It is
not sensible to try to ger in to Mordor at all, not sensible. But if
master says I will go or I must go then he must try some way.
But he must not go to the terrible city. That is where Smeagol
helps. He found it, he knows it - if it is still there.'
'What did you find?' said Frodo.
'A stair and path leading up into the mountains south of the
pass,' said Gollum, 'and then a tunnel, and then more stairs and
then a cleft high above the main pass: and it was that way
Smeagol got out of Mordor long ago. But it may [?have
vanished]...'
'Isn't it guarded?' said Sam incredulously, and he thought he
caught a sudden gleam in Gollum's eye.
'Yes perhaps,' said he, 'but we must try. No other way,' and
he would say no more. The name of this perilous place and high
pass he could not or would not tell. Its name was Kirith Ungol,
but that the hobbits did not know, nor the meaning of that
dreadful name.
As the following manuscript was first written this was not sig-
nificantly changed (the path and stair are still 'south of the pass'); the
passage in which Frodo intervenes and challenges Gollum's story that
he had escaped from Mordor, citing Aragorn's view of the matter, was
added in a rider to the manuscript later.(11)
Thus Kirith Ungol is now not the pass guarded by Minas Morgul,
as in the text given on p. 113, but a climbing stair high above it; it is
however very difficult to say how my father saw the further course of
the story at this time. In the text on p. 113 Frodo and Sam 'creep into
Minas Morgul', which suggests that the story of Frodo's capture in
'The Story Foreseen from Lorien' had been temporarily abandoned -
though it is not clear why they should be obliged to enter 'the terrible
city'. With the new geography, however, it seems that they are going
to avoid Minas Morgul, passing through the mountains high above it.
Does it follow that the Tower of Kirith Ungol had already been
conceived?
There is nothing in draft or manuscript to show that it had - but
that proves little in itself, since in all texts from the original draft
Gollum refuses to say clearly whether Kirith Ungol is guarded (cf. 'The
Stairs of Cirith Ungol', TT p. 319: 'It was a black tower poised above
the outer pass.... "I don't like the look of that!" said Sam. "So this
secret way of yours is guarded after all,'* he growled, turning to
Gollum'). The gleam in Gollum's eye that Sam caught when he asked
him if it were guarded certainly means that Gollum knew that it was,
but does not at all imply that it was guarded by a tower. I feel sure that
Gollum was thinking of the spiders (at this stage in the evolution of the
story). The only other evidence is found!n the outline which ends the
original draft of 'The Black Gate is Closed':
Frodo makes up his mind. He agrees to take the south way.
As soon as dusk falls they start. Needing speed they use the
road though fearful of meeting soldiers on it hurrying to the
muster of the Dark Lord. Gollum says it is twenty leagues
perhaps to the Cross Roads in the wood. They made all the
speed they could. The land climbs a little. They see Anduin
below them gleaming in the moon. Good [?water]. At last late
on the third [day of their daylight journey >] night of journey
from Morannon they reach the crossroads and pass out of the
wood.
See the moon shining on Minas Ithil Minas Morghul.
Pass up first stair safely. But tunnel is black with webs [of]
spiders.... force way and get up second stair. They [??had]
reach[ed] Kirith Ungol. Spiders are aroused and hunt them.
They are exhausted.
This does not of course imply that the spiders were the only danger
they faced in taking the way of Kirith Ungol, but possibly suggests it.
However this may be, and leaving open the question of whether
at this stage my father had already decided that Kirith Ungol was
guarded by its own tower, it would be interesting to know whether
that decision had been taken when he introduced into the manuscript
Gollum's references to 'the Silent Watchers'. The Watchers, called 'the
Sentinels', had already appeared in 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien'
(see VII.340 - 3 and note 33); there of course they were the sentinels of
Minas Morgul. Here too Gollum is speaking of Minas Morgul (at this
point in the chapter he has not even mentioned the existence of Kirith
Ungol). It would seem rather odd that my father should bring in these
references to the Silent Watchers of Minas Morgul if he had already
decided that the actual encounter with Silent Watchers should be at
the Tower of Kirith Ungol; and one might suspect therefore that when
he wrote them into the text the idea of that tower had not yet arisen.
But this is the merest conjecture.(12)
The passage telling where Gandalf was when Frodo and his
companions lay hidden in the hollow before the Black Gate underwent
many changes. The original draft reads:
Aragorn perhaps could have told them, Gandalf could have
warned them, but Gandalf was ? flying over the green [?plain]
of Rohan upon Shadowfax climbing the road to the guarded
gates of Minas Tirith and Aragorn was marching at the head of
many men to war.
This seems to express two distinct answers to the question, where was
Gandalf? - In the manuscript this becomes:
Aragorn could perhaps have told them that name and its
significance; Gandalf would have warned them. But they were
alone; and Aragorn was far away, a captain of men mustering
for a desperate war, and Gandalf stood upon the white walls of
Minas Tirith deep in troubled thought. It was of them chiefly
that he thought: and over the long leagues his mind sought for
them.
In the second manuscript, taking up a revision made to the first,
Gandalf is again riding over the plains:
... But they were alone, and Aragorn was far away, a captain
of men mustering for a desperate war, and Gandalf was flying
upon Shadowfax over the fields of Rohan swifter than the wind
to the white walls of Minas Tirith gleaming from afar. Yet as he
rode, it was chiefly of them that he thought, of Frodo and Sam,
and over the long leagues his mind sought for them.
This was changed afterwards to the text of TT (p. 252):
... and Gandalf stood amid the ruin of Isengard and strove
with Saruman, delayed by treason. Yet even as he spoke his last
words to Saruman, and the palantir crashed in fire upon the
steps of Orthanc, his thought was ever upon Frodo and
Samwise, over the long leagues his mind sought for them in
hope and pity.
On the significance of these variations see the Note on Chronology at
the end of this chapter.
The distant flight of the Nazgul (TT p. 253) and the arrival of the
southern men observed and reported on by Gollum differ already in
the draft text in no essential points from the final text (except that it is
Gollum who calls them Swertings); but Sam's verse of the Oliphaunt
was not present. It is found in abundant rough workings and a
[ preliminary text before being incorporated in the manuscript; my
father also copied it out for me in a letter written on 30 April 1944
(Letters no. 64), when the story had reached the end of what became
'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit', saying: 'A large elephant of prehistoric
size, a war-elephant of the Swertings, is loose, and Sam has gratified a
life-long wish to see an Oliphaunt, an animal about which there was
a hobbit nursery-rhyme (though it was commonly supposed to be
mythical).'(13)
NOTES.
1. In a very rough initial sketching of the opening of the chapter,
preceding the continuous draft, the reading is: 'They were built
by the Men of Gondor long ages after the fall of the first Dark
Tower and Sauron's flight, lest he should seek to [? retake] his old
realm.' This was repeated in the draft text of the chapter ('after
the felling of the first Dark fortress'), but changed immediately to
'after the overthrow of Sauron and his flight'.
2. The earliest sketch of the opening passage, referred to in note 1,
has a name that ends in -y; it could be interpreted as Mornennyn
with the final -n omitted, but is written thus at both occurrences.
For Mornennyn, replacing Ennyn Dur, see pp. 112 - 13.
3. The Old English word geat 'gate' is found in a number of English
place-names in the sense 'pass, gap in the hills', as Wingate (pass
through which the wind drives), Yatesbury.
4. It seems in fact that my father did not immediately transfer the
name Morannon to the actual 'Black Gate' built by Sauron, but
retained it for a time as the name of the pass: so later in the
manuscript text (TT p. 247) Frodo 'stood gazing out towards the
dark cliffs of the Morannon' (changed subsequently to Kirith
Gorgor).
5. Here appear also the plain of Lithlad (see VII.208, 213) and 'the
bitter inland sea of Nurnen', shown on the First Map (Map III,
VII.309).
6. In the text given on p. 113 and reproduced on p. 114 Nelig Myrn
replaced Nelig Mom at the time of writing; yet it seems obvious
that that text was written during the original composition of 'The
Passage of the Marshes'.
7. The draft text has in fact Osgiliath at one occurrence, in the first
description of the southward road (TT p. 247): 'It journeyed on
into the narrow plain between the Great River and the moun-
tains, and so on to Osgiliath and on again to the coasts, and the
far southern lands'. But Elostirion is the name in this same text in
the passage corresponding to TT p. 249.
8. The name Amon Hen was changed at its first occurrence in the
manuscript (TT p, 247) to Amon Henn, but not at the second (TT
p. 252). On the second manuscript the name was written Amon
Henn at both occurrences.
9. The southward road is shown running a little to the east of
Anduin as far as the bottom of square Q 14 on Map III, VII.309.
The eastward road runs along the northern edges of Ered Lithui
as far as the middle of square O 17 on Map 11, VII.305. The
northward road divides at 'he bottom of square O 15 on Map II,
the westward arm running to the hills on the left side of O 15,
and the northward arm bending north-east along the western
edge of the Dead Marshes and then turning west to end on the left
side of N 15.
The passage describing the southward road was several times
changed in respect of its distance from the hollow where Frodo,
Sam and Gollum hid. In the original draft it was 'not more than a
furlong or so'; in the first manuscript the distance was changed
through 'a couple of furlongs', 'fifty paces', and 'a furlong', the
final reading (preserved in the second manuscript) being '[it]
passed along the valley at the foot of the hillside where the
hobbits lay and not many feet below them.' For one, rather
surprising, reason for this hesitation see pp. 172 - 3.
In the First Edition the description of the topography differed
from that in the Second Edition (TT p. 247), and read:
The hollow in which they had taken refuge was delved in the
side of a low hill and lay at some little height above the level of
the plain. A long trench-like valley ran between it and the outer
buttresses of the mountain-wall. In the morning-light the roads
that converged upon the Gate of Mordor could now be clearly
seen, pale and dusty; one winding back northwards; another
dwindling eastwards into the mists that clung about the feet of
Ered Lithui; and another that, bending sharply, ran close under
the western watch-tower, and then passed along the valley at
the foot of the hillside where the hobbits lay and not many feet
below them. Soon it turned, skirting the shoulders of the
mountains ...
This is the text of the second manuscript.
10. Frodo's meaning must be that these particular tales known to
Gollum, concerning the cities of the Numenoreans, originated in
the time before the Last Alliance and the overthrow of Sauron.
11. As the rider was first written there was this difference from the
text of TT (p. 251):
For one thing he noted Gollum used I, as he had hardly done
since he was frightened out of his old bad wits away back
under the cliff of Emyn Muil.
This was changed to: '... Gollum used I, and that seemed
usually to be a sign, on its rare appearances, that Smeagol was
(for the moment) on top', and then to the final text.
12. Even if this was so, it cannot be supposed that my father still
thought that Frodo and Sam would enter Minas Morgul, and
encounter the Silent Watchers there. The outline with which the
draft text ends (p. 125) would obviously have said so if that had
been in his mind. Moreover, not long after, in his letter of 30
April 1944 (Letters no. 64), he said that 'in the chapter next to be
done they will get to Kirith Ungol and Frodo will be caught.'
13. It is hard to be sure, but it seems from the manuscript evidence
that originally Sam's word was oliphant, and that oliphaunt was
used only in the rhyme. - The form is mediaeval French and
English olifa(u)nt. There are no differences in the texts, except
that in the draft version and in the form cited in my father's letter
line 11 reads 'I've stumped' for 'I stump', and in line 15 'Biggest
of all' is written 'Biggest of All'.
Note on the Chronology.
Where was Gandalf when Frodo, in hiding before the Morannon, was
thinking of him? Four versions of the passage in question (TT p. 252)
have been given on pp. 126-7. The original draft (1) seems to leave it
open whether Gandalf was riding across Rohan or was almost at the
end of his journey, climbing the road to the gates of Minas Tirith; in
the following manuscript (2) he was standing on the walls of Minas
Tirith; in the second manuscript (3) he was again riding across Rohan;
and finally (4), as in TT, he was standing on the steps of Orthanc.
These versions reflect, of course, the difficulty my father encoun-
tered in bringing the different threads of the narrative into chrono-
logical harmony. According to the 'received chronology' at this time,
the day in question here (spent by Frodo, Sam and Gollum in hiding
before the Morannon) was 5 February (see p. 118); while Gandalf,
Theoden and their companions left Isengard in the evening of
3 February (pp. 6, 73), camping at Dol Baran that night - the great
ride of Gandalf with Pippin therefore began during the night of
3-4 February.
At the end of the fine manuscript of 'The Palantir' that my father
had made at the beginning of April 1944 (p. 78) Gandalf had said to
Pippin as they passed near the mouth of the Deeping Coomb,
following the first manuscript of the chapter: 'You may see the first
glimmer of dawn upon the golden roof of the House of Eorl. At sunset
on the day after you shall see the purple shadow of Mount Mindolluin
fall upon the walls of the tower of Denethor.' This was said, according
to the chronology at the time, in the small hours of the night of
3-4 February; and Gandalf was therefore forecasting that they would
reach Minas Tirith at sunset on the fifth.
This is the chronology underlying the words of the original draft
(version 1). Subsequent shifting in the dates, so that Gandalf and
Pippin reached Minas Tirith later and Frodo reached the Morannon
earlier, meant that Gandalf was less far advanced in his journey, but
his ride across Rohan still coincided with Frodo at the Morannon
(version 3). None of the time-schemes, however, allows Gandalf to
have actually reached Minas Tirith at that time, and I cannot explain
version 2.
The final version 4 of this passage, as found in TT, reflects of course
the final chronology, according to which Frodo was in hiding before
the Black Gate on the same day {5 March) as Gandalf spoke with
Saruman on the steps of Orthanc.
IV.
OF HERBS AND STEWED RABBIT.
For this chapter, written as a continuation of 'The Black Gate is
Closed' and only separated from it and numbered 'XXXV' after its
completion, there exists a good deal of (discontinuous) initial drafting,
some of it illegible, and a completed manuscript, some of which is
itself the primary composition. As in the last chapter I distinguish the
texts as 'draft' and 'manuscript' (in this case no other manuscript was
made, see p. 121).
On 26 April 1944, in a letter to me already cited (p. 121), my father
said that on the previous day he had 'struggled with a recalcitrant
passage in "The Ring" ', and then went on to say that 'at this point I
require to know how much later the moon gets up each night when
nearing full, and how to stew a rabbit!' From drafts and manuscript it
is easy to see what this recalcitrant passage was: the southward
journey as far as the point where Sam's thoughts turned to the
possibility of finding food more appetizing than the waybread of the
Elves (TT p. 260).
The original draft begins thus:
They rested for the few hours of daylight that were left, ate a
little and drank sparingly, though they had hope of water soon
in the streams that flowed down into Anduin from Hebel
Duath. As the dusk deepened they set out. The moon did not
rise till late and it grew soon dark. After a few miles over broken
slopes and difficult [? country] they took to the southward road,
for they needed speed. Ever they listened with straining ears for
sounds of foot or hoof upon the road ahead and behind ...
After the description of the road, kept in repair below the Moran-
non but further south encroached upon by the wild, the opening draft
peters out, and at this point, probably, my father began the writing of
the manuscript. Here the single red light in the Towers of the Teeth
appears, but they passed out of sight of it after only a few miles,
'turning away southward round a great dark shoulder of the lower
mountains', whereas in TT this took place 'when night was growing
old and they were already weary'.(1) In this text they came to the less
barren lands, with thickets of trees on the slopes, during that first
night, and the shrubs which in TT the hobbits did not know (being
strange to them) were here 'unrecognizable in the dark'. After a short
rest about midnight Gollum led them down onto the southward road,
the description of which follows.
The precise sequence of composition as between drafts and manu-
script is hard to work out, but I think that it was probably at this point
that my father wrote a very brief outline for the story to come,
together with notes on names. Frustratingly, his writing here has in
places resisted all attempts to puzzle it out.
After so much labour and peril the days they spent on it
seemed almost a rest. In Gollum's reckoning it was some 20
[changed from some other figure] leagues from the Morannon
to the outer wards of Minas Morghul, maybe more. Gollum
finds food. Night of Full Moon, they see a white... far away up
in the dark shadow of the hills to left, at head of a wide
[?re-entrant, sc. valley], Minas Morghul.(2) Next night they come
to the cross roads. An[d] a great [?stone] figure ... (3) back to
Elostirion ... [Struck out: Sarnel Ubed.(4) Ennyn. Aran] Taur
Toralt [struck out: Sarn Torath.] Annon Torath. Aranath.
reminding Frodo of the Kings at Sern Aranath. or Sairn Ubed.
But his head was struck off and in mockery some orcs? had set
... a clay ball with ... The red eye was ... [?painted over].(5)
For Sern Aranath as the name of the Pillars of the Kings see VII.366
note 21; and cf. TT p. 311 (at the end of 'Journey to the Cross-roads'):
'The brief glow fell upon a huge sitting figure, still and solemn as the
great stone kings of Argonath.' It is not clear to me whether Sairn
Ubed is an alternative to Sern Aranath. On this same page, later but
not much later, my father made further notes on names (see p. 137),
and among these appears the following:
The two King Stones Sern Ubed (denial)
Sern Aranath
The word denial makes one think of the description of the Pillars of
the Kings in 'The Great River' (FR p. 409), where in the earliest draft
of that passage (VII.360) 'the left hand of each was raised beside his
head palm outwards in gesture of warning and refusal.'(6)
It is plain from this text that at this time the emergence of Faramir
and the Window on the West was totally unforeseen, while on the
other hand the broken statue at the Cross-roads was already present.
The next step in the development of the 'recalcitrant passage' is
seen, I think, in what follows the description of the southward road in
the manuscript:
After the labours and perils they had just endured the days
that they spent upon the road seemed almost pleasant, though
fear was about them and darkness lay before them. The weather
now was good, though the wind blowing from the north-west
over the Misty Mountains far away had a sharp tooth. They
passed on into the northern marches of that land that men once
called Ithilien, a fair country of climbing woods and swift falling
streams. In Gollum's reckoning it was some thirty leagues from
the Morannon to the crossing of the ways above Elostirion, and
he hoped to cover that distance in three journeys. But maybe the
distance was greater or they went slower than he hoped, for at
the end of the third night they had not come there.
This passage was rejected at once, but before this was done 'thirty
leagues' was changed to 'twenty', and it was perhaps at this time that a
sentence was added earlier, following 'But they were not going quick
enough for Gollum' (TT p. 256): 'In his reckoning it was twenty
leagues from the Morannon to the crossing of the ways above
Osgiliath,(7) and he hoped to cover that distance in three journeys'
(where TT has 'nearly thirty leagues' and 'four journeys').
My father now, if my analysis of the sequence is correct, decided
that he was treating the journey from the Morannon to the Cross-
roads too cursorily; and his next step, on the same page of the
manuscript, was to return to the first night (which was that of
5 February):
All that night they plodded on, and all the next. The road
drew ever nearer to the course of the Great River and further
from the shadow of Hebel Duath on their left. That second
night the moon was full. Not long before the dawn they saw it
sinking round and yellow far beyond the great vale below them.
Here and there a white gleam showed where Anduin rolled, a
mighty stream swollen with the waters of Emyn Muil and of
slow-winding Entwash. Far far away, pale ghosts above the
mists, the peaks of the Black Mountains were caught by the
beaming moon. There glimmered through the night the snows
on Mount Mindolluin; but though Frodo's eyes stared out into
the west wondering where in the vastness of the land his old
companions might now be, he did not know that under
This passage was in its turn struck out. The last words stand at the
foot of a page.(8)
It was now, as it seems, that my father decided to introduce the
episode of the rabbits caught by Gollum (developing it from the
passage where it first appears, given in note 6).
All that night they plodded on. At the first sign of day they
halted, and lay beneath a bank in a brake of old brown bracken
overshadowed by dark pinetrees. Water flowed down not far
away, cold out of the hills, and good to drink.
Sam had been giving some earnest thought to food as they
marched. Now that the despair of the impassable Gate was
behind him, he did not feel so inclined as his master to take no
thought for their livelihood beyond the end of their errand; and
anyway it seemed wiser to him to save the elvish bread for
worse times ahead. Two days or more had gone since he
reckoned that they had a bare supply for three weeks.(9) 'If we
reach the Fire in that time we'll be lucky at this rate,' he
thought. 'And we may be wanting to come back. We may.'
Besides at the end of [?their] long night march he felt more
hungry than usual.
With all this in his mind he turned to look for Gollum.
Gollum was crawling away through the bracken. 'Hi! ' said Sam.
'Where are you going? Hunting? Now look here, my friend, you
don't like our food, but if you could find something fit for a
hobbit to eat I'd be grateful.'
Yes, yess.
Gollum brings back 2 rabbits. Angry at fire (a) fear (b) rage at
nice juicy rabbits being spoiled. Pacified by Frodo (promise of
fish?).
Night of full moon and vision of Anduin.
Third night. They do not reach the cross ways. [?Trying] to
hasten they journey by day through wood. They come to cross
ways and peer at it out of thicket.
The headless king with a mocking head made by orcs and
scrawls on it.
That night they turn left. Vision of Minas Morghul in the
moon high up in re-entrant.(10)
Here this text ends, and was followed by another draft, beginning
precisely as does that just given, in which the story of Sam's cooking
was developed almost to the final form. On one of the pages of this
text my father pencilled a note: 'Describe baytrees and spicy herbs as
they march.' It was thus the cooking of the rabbits that led to the
account of the shrubs and herbs of Ithilien (TT p. 258) - 'which is
proving a lovely land', as he said in his letter of 30 April 1944 {Letters
no. 64).
He now returned again to the fair copy manuscript, and without
changing, then or later, the opening of the chapter he wrote the story
almost as it stands in TT, pp. 258 ff. (from 'So they passed into the
northern marches of that land that Men once called Ithilien'). At this
stage, therefore, the chronology of the journey was thus:
Feb. 5 Left the Morannon at dusk, and came into a less barren
country of heathland. Took to the southward road about mid-
night (p. 132).
Feb. 6 Halted at dawn. Description of Ithilien and its herbs and
flowers. Sam's cooking, and the coming of the men of Gondor.
With the introduction of a long rider to the following typescript text
an extra day and night were inserted into the journey between the
Morannon and the place of Sam's cooking (see the Note on Chron-
ology at the end of this chapter). At dawn of this added day they found
themselves in a less barren country of heathland, and they passed the
day hidden in deep heather (TT p. 257); at dusk they set out again,
and only now took to the southward road.
At the end of the episode of 'Stewed Rabbit' there is a brief sketch in
the manuscript of the story to come, written in pencil so rapid that I
cannot make all of it out; but it can be seen that Sam finds that Gollum
is not there; he puts out the fire and runs down to wash the pans; he
hears voices, and suddenly sees a couple of men chasing Gollum.
Gollum eludes their grasp and vanishes into a tangled thicket. They go
on up the hill, and Sam hears them laugh. 'Not an orc,' says one. Sam
creeps back to Frodo, who has also heard voices and hidden himself,
and they see many men creeping up towards the road.
Another page found separately seems quite likely to be the continu-
ation of this outline, and is equally hard to read. There is to be a
description of men like Boromir, dressed in lighter and darker green,
armed with knives; the hobbits wonder who they are - they are
certainly not scouts of Sauron. The fight on the road between the men
of Harad and the men of Minas Tirith is mentioned; then follows:
A slain Tirith-man falls over bank and crashes down on them.
Frodo goes to him and he cries orch and tries to ... but falls
dead crying 'Gondor!' The Harad-men drive the Gondorians
[?down] hill. The hobbits creep away through thickets. At last
they climb tree. See Gondorians fight and win finally. At dusk
Gollum climbs up to them. He curses Sam for [?bringing
enemies]. They dare not go back to road, but wander on
through the wild glades of Ithilien that night. See Full Moon.
Meet no more folk.
Strike the road to Osgiliath far down, and have to go back
long [?detour] East. Deep Ilex woods. Gollum goes [?on] by
day. Evening of third day they reach Cross ways. See broken
statue.(11)
The story of the ambush (12) of the Southron men thus seems at this
stage to have had no sequel. But from the point where this outline
begins (when Sam calls to Gollum that there is some rabbit left if he
wants to change his mind, but finds that he has disappeared, 11
p. 264) the final form of the story, partly extant in rough drafting, was
achieved without hesitation - with, however, one major difference:
the leader of the Gondorians was not Faramir, brother of Boromir. At
this time he was Falborn son of Anborn (and remained so in the
manuscript). Mablung and Damrod, the two men who were left to
guard Frodo and Sam,(13) told them that Falborn was a kinsman of
Boromir, and that 'he and they were Rangers of Ithilien, for they were
descended from folk who lived in Ithilien at one time, before it was
overrun' (cf. TT p. 267).
For the rest, Falborn's conversation with Frodo and Sam proceeds
almost exactly as does that with Faramir in TT.(14) Mablung and
Damrod used 'sometimes the Common Speech, but after the manner
of older days, sometimes some other language of their own', but
the description of this other tongue (TT p. 267) was added to the
typescript that followed the manuscript at some later time. Their
account of the Southrons scarcely differs from the final form, but
where Mablung in TT (p. 268) speaks of 'These cursed Southrons', in
the manuscript he says 'These cursed Barangils, for so we name them'
(subsequently changed to the later reading). The name Barangils is
written on the First Map beside Swertings (see Map III, VII.309).
The account of the Oliphaunt was never changed, save only in the
name by which the great beasts were known in Gondor (Mumak in
TT). In the original draft Mablung (15) cried Andabund!, and this was
the form first written in the manuscript also. This was changed to
Andrabonn,(16) then to Mumund. These were immediate changes, for a
few lines later appears 'the Mumund of Harad was indeed a beast of
vast bulk', where drafting for the passage has Mumar. Soon after, the
form Mamuk was introduced in both passages: this was the form my
father used in his letter to me of 6 May 1944 (Letters no. 66).
Lastly, in the manuscript Damrod cries 'May the gods turn him
aside', where in TT he names the Valar; gods was preceded by a
rejected word that I cannot interpret.
On 30 April 1944 (Letters no. 64) my father described to me the
course of the story that I had not read:
['The Ring'] is growing and sprouting again ... and opening out in
unexpected ways. So far in the new chapters Frodo and Sam have
traversed Sarn Gebir,(17) climbed down the cliff, encountered and
temporarily tamed Gollum. They have with his guidance crossed the
Dead Marshes and the slag-heaps of Mordor, lain in hiding outside
the main gates and found them impassable, and set out for a more
secret entrance near Minas Morghul (formerly M. Ithil). It will turn
out to be the deadly Kirith Ungol and Gollum will play false. But at
the moment they are in Ithilien (which is proving a lovely land);
there has been a lot of bother about stewed rabbit; and they have
been captured by Gondorians, and witnessed them ambushing a
Swerting army (dark men of the South) marching to Mordor's aid.
A large elephant of prehistoric size, a war-elephant of the Swert-
ings, is loose, and Sam has gratified a life-long wish to see an
Oliphaunt ... In the chapter next to be done they will get to Kirith
Ungol and Frodo will be caught.... On the whole Sam is behaving
well, and living up to repute. He treats Gollum rather like Ariel to
Caliban.
Since it was not until a week later that he referred to the sudden and
totally unexpected appearance of Faramir on the scene, it seems to me
that when he wrote this letter he had not progressed much if at all
beyond the end of the Oliphaunt episode; for in the manuscript of the
chapter that became 'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit' the leader of the
Gondorians is Falborn, not Faramir, and there is as yet no indication
that he will play any further part (cf. the outline on p. 135).(18)
This chapter (including what became 'The Black Gate is Closed')
was read to C. S. Lewis on the first of May 1944 (Letters no. 65).
This is a convenient place to set down the notes on names added
later to the page transcribed on p. 132:
Change Black Mountains to the White Mountains. Hebel
[Orolos>] Uilos Nor[?ais]
Alter the Morannon to Kirith Naglath Cleft of the Teeth
Gorgor
The two King Stones Sern Ubed (denial)
Sern Aranath
Rohar?
To these pencilled notes my father added in ink:
Not Hebel but Ephel. Et-pele > Eppele. Ephel-duath. Ephel
[Nimras >] Nimrais. Ered Nimrath.
With Kirith Naglath cf. Naglath Morn, p. 122; and on the reference to
Sern Ubed and Sern Aranath see p. 132. On the change of the Black
Mountains to the White see VII.433.
NOTES.
1. In the manuscript as in the draft, 'The moon was not due until
late that night'; in TT 'the moon was now three nights from the
full, but it did not climb over the mountains till nearly midnight.'
2. That the illegible word is re-entrant seems assured by the
recurrence of this word in perfectly clear form and in the same
context in the text given on p. 134. In the present text at this
point there is drawn a wavy line; this clearly indicates the line of
the mountains pierced by a very wide valley running up into a
point.
3. The illegible word is certainly not pointing. It begins with an f or
a g and probably ends in ing, but does not suggest either facing or
gazing.
4. The word Ubed, occurring twice here and again in the further
notes on names on this page (where it is translated 'denial'), is
written at all occurrences in precisely the same way, and I do not
feel at all certain of the third letter.
5. Before the words 'The red eye' were written my father drew an
Old English S-rune (cf. VII.382), but struck it out.
6. The remainder of this page carries disjointed passages: as else-
where my father probably had it beside him and used it for jotting
down narrative 'moments' as they came into his mind. The first
reads:
that great mountain's side was built Minas Tirith, the Tower of
Guard, where Gandalf walked now deep in thought.
On this see note 8. Then follows:
For a third night they went on. They had good water in plenty,
and Gollum was better fed. Already he was less famished to
look at. At early morning when they lay hidden for rest, and at
evening when they set out again, he would slip away and return
licking his lips. Sometimes in the long night he would take out
something ..... and would crunch it as he walked.
..... and lay under a deep bank in tall bracken under the
shadow of pine trees. Water flowed not far away, cold, good to
drink. Gollum slipped away, and returned shortly, licking his
lips; but he brought with him also a present for the hobbits.
Two rabbits he had caught.
With Sam's having no objection to rabbit but a distaste for what
Gollum brought, and a reference to his prudent wish, in contrast
to Frodo's indifference, to save the elvish waybread for worse
times ahead, these exceedingly difficult 'extracts' come to an end.
It was clearly here that the episode of the stewed rabbit entered;
but it seems scarcely possible to define how my father related it to
the whole sequence of the journey from the Black Gate.
7. On the continued hesitation between Elostirion and Osgiliath at
this time see p. 122 and note 7.
8. The last sentence is in fact, and rather oddly, completed by the
first passage given in note 6, thus:
There glimmered through the night the snows on Mount
Mindolluin; but though Frodo's eyes stared out into the west
wondering where in the vastness of the land his old com-
panions might now be, he did not know that under / that
great mountain's side was built Minas Tirith, the Tower of
Guard, where Gandalf walked now deep in thought.
See the Note on Chronology below.
9. This sentence replaced a form of it in which Sam's reckoning had
been that they had 'a bare ten days' supply of waybread: that left
eight.' In the manuscript of 'The Passage of the Marshes',
corresponding to that in TT p. 231, Sam said 'I reckon we've got
enough to last, say, 10 days now'. This was changed to 'three
weeks or so', no doubt at the same time as the sentence in the
present text was rewritten.
In TT (p. 260) it is said at this point that 'Six days or more had
passed' since Sam made his reckoning of the remaining lembas,
whereas here it is 'Two days or more'. Three days had in fact
passed, the 3rd, 4th and 5th of February (p. 118). In TT the
length of the journey had been increased, both by the two extra
days during which they crossed the Noman-lands {pp. 112, 120),
and by an extra day added to the journey from the Morannon to
the place of the stewed rabbit episode (p. 135).
10. re-entrant: see note 2.
11. The brief remainder of this outline is illegible because my father
wrote across it notes in ink on another subject (see p. 145).
12. It is not clear that it was first conceived as an ambush, which
perhaps only arose when the story came to be written - and it
was then that my father added to the manuscript at an earlier
point 'They had come to the end of a long cutting, deep, and
sheer-sided in the middle, by which the road clove its way
through a stony ridge' (TT p. 258).
13. In a pencilled draft so faint and rapid as to be largely illegible
another name is found instead of Mablung, and several names
preceded Damrod, but I cannot certainly interpret any of them.
14. Rivendell is still Imladrist and the Halflings are still the Halfhigh
(see VII.146). Boromir is called 'Highwarden of the White
Tower, and our captain general', as in TT (p. 266).
15. Damrod in TT; the speeches of Damrod and Mablung were
shifted about between the two.
16. Cf. the Etymologies, V.372, stem MBUD 'project': * andambunda
'long-snouted', Quenya andamunda 'elephant', Noldorin anda-
bon, annabon.
17. Sarn Gebir: an interesting instance of the former name re-
appearing mistakenly - unless my father used Sarn Gebir
deliberately, remembering that I had not read any of Book IV,
in which the name Emyn Muil was first used. Cf. however p. 165
note 7.
18. It is clear that in the manuscript the chapter halted at Sam's words
(TT p. 270) 'Well, if that's over, I'll have a bit of sleep.' The
following brief dialogue between Sam and Mablung (with the
hint that the hobbits will not be allowed to continue their journey
unhindered: 'I do not think the Captain will leave you here,
Master Samwise') was written in the manuscript as the beginning
of the next chapter ('Faramir'), and only subsequently joined to
the preceding one and made its conclusion; and by then Falborn
had become Faramir.
Note on the Chronology.
The brief time-scheme B has the following chronology (see pp. 118,
135):
(Day 3) Feb. 4 Frodo, Sam and Gollum come to the Barren Lands
and Slag-mounds. Stay there during day and sleep. At
night they go en 12 miles and come before the Morannon
on Feb. 5.
(Day 4) Feb. 5 Frodo, Sam and Gollum remain hidden all day. Pass
southward to Ithilien at dusk.
(Day 5) Feb. 6 Full Moon. Stewed rabbit. Frodo and Sam taken by
Faramir. Spend night at Henneth Annun.
There are two other schemes ('C' and 'D'), the one obviously
written shortly after the other, both of which begin at February 4. As
originally written, both maintain the chronology of B, but both give
some information about other events as well, and in this they differ.
Scheme C reads thus:
(Day 3) Feb. 4 Gandalf and Pippin pass Fords and reach mouth of
Coomb about 2.30 a.m. [Added: and rides on till day-
break and then rests in hiding. Rides again at night.]
Theoden sets out from Dolbaran and reaches Helm's
Deep soon after dawn.
Frodo comes to the Barren Lands and Slag-mounds and
stays there during day.
(Day 4) Feb. 5 Theoden leaves Helm's Deep on return journey.
Aragorn rides on ahead with Gimli and Legolas.
Gandalf abandons secrecy and after short rest rides all
day to Minas Tirith. He and Pippin reach Minas Tirith at
sunset.
At dawn on Feb. 5 Frodo comes before the Morannon.
Frodo, Sam and Gollum lie hid all day and go south
towards Ithilien at nightfall.
(Day 5) Feb. 6 Frodo and Sam in Ithilien. They are taken by
Faramir. Battle with the Southrons. Frodo spends night at
Henneth Annun.
Scheme D, certainly following C, runs as follows (as originally
written):
(Day 3) Feb. 4 Gandalf and Pippin begin their ride to Minas Tirith
(pass Fords and reach mouth of Deeping Coomb about 2 ]
a.m.). At dawn come to Edoras (7.30). Gandalf fearing
Nazgul rests all day. Orders assembly to go to Dunhar-
row. Nazgul passes over Rohan again.
(Day 4) Feb. 5 Gandalf rides all night of 4 - 5 and passes into
Anorien. Pippin sees the beacons blaze up on the moun-
tains. They see messengers riding West.
Aragorn (with Legolas and Gimli) rides fast by night
(4-5) to Dunharrow via Edoras, reaches Edoras at morn-
ing and passes up Harrowdale. Theoden with Eomer and
many men goes by mountain-roads through south [sic]
skirts of mountains to Dunharrow, riding slowly.
Frodo at dawn comes before the Morannon. At night-
fall Frodo with Sam and Gollum turns south to Ithilien.
(Day 5) Feb. 6 Full Moon (rises about 9.20 p.m. and sets about
6.30 a.m. on Feb. 7). Gandalf rides all night of 5 - 6 and
sights Minas Tirith at dawn on 6th.
Theoden comes out of west into Harrowdale some
miles above Dunharrow, and comes to Dunharrow before
nightfall. Finds the muster already beginning.
Frodo and Sam in Ithilien; taken by Faramir; battle
with Southrons; night at Henneth Annun.
On the statement in scheme D that Theoden came down into
Harrowdale some miles above Dunharrow see p. 259. The full moon
of February 6 is the full moon of February 1, 1942, as explained in
VII.369.
It will be seen that in their dating these time-schemes proceed from
the schemes A and B (see p. 118}, in which the day passed by Frodo
among the slag-mounds was February 4, and in which he came before
the Morannon at dawn on February 5. While these schemes obviously
belong to 1944, and were made when Book IV was largely or entirely
written (pp. 182, 226), it seems clear that they preceded the chrono-
logical problems that my father referred to in his letters of 12 and
16 October 1944 (see p. 100): for in the second of these he mentioned
that he had made a small alteration in Frodo's journey, 'two days from
Morannon to Ithilien', and this change is not present in these schemes,
C and D.
Scheme D was revised at that time to provide the extra day in the
journey from the Morannon to Ithilien, and this was done by revising
the dates backwards: thus Frodo now comes before the Morannon on
February 4, and on February 5 'lies in heather on the borders of
Ithilien' (see p. 135 and TT p. 257); thus the episode of the stewed
rabbit still takes place on February 6. Since this scheme only begins on
February 4 it is not shown how the earlier arrival before the
Morannon was achieved.
It is clear therefore that scheme S was devised following the
chronological modifications of 12-16 October 1944; for in S the extra
day in the journey from the Morannon was present from its making,
and the date of the extra day was February 5 (as in Scheme D revised),
because in this scheme the date of the Breaking of the Fellowship was
put back from January 26 to January 25 (see pp. 101, 119). The
chronology in S I take therefore to represent the structure when my
father wrote on 16 October 'I think I have solved it all at last':
(Day 3) Feb. 3 Frodo etc. reach slag-mounds at dawn, and stay in a
hole all day, going on at nightfall. Nazgul passes high up
on way to Isengard about 5 p.m. Another one hour after
midnight.
Gandalf and company leave Isengard and camp at
Dolbaran. Episode of the Orthanc-stone. Nazgul passes
over about 11 p.m.
(Day 4) Feb. 4 Frodo etc. reach dell in sight of Morannon at
daybreak, and lie hid there all day. See the Harad-men
march in. At dusk they start southward journey.
Gandalf and Pippin ride east. Sight Edoras at dawn.
Nazgul passes over Edoras about 8 a.m.
(Day 5) Feb. 5 Frodo etc. reach borderlands and lie in heather
sleeping all day. At night go on into Ithilien.
Gandalf passes into Anorien.
(Day 6) Feb. 6 Frodo etc. camp in Ithilien. Episode of Stewed
Rabbit. Frodo captured by Faramir and taken to Henneth
Annun.
[Gandalf and Pippin reach Minas Tirith.]
The original entries concerning Gandalf on February 5 and 6 in this
scheme cannot be read after the words 'Gandalf passes into Anorien',
because they were afterwards overwritten, but it is clear that as in
scheme D he reached Minas Tirith at dawn on February 6.
In this chapter relation to the movements of other members of the
original Company arises in the rejected passage given on p. 133,
interrupted in the manuscript but concluded as shown in note 8. In
this passage, written before the episode of the stewed rabbit and the
coming of the men of Gondor had entered the story, Frodo was
walking southward through Ithilien, and in the late night of February
6 - 7 (the second of this journey) he saw the full moon sinking in the
West. In its light he glimpsed from far off the snows on Mount
Mindolluin; and at that same time Gandalf was walking 'deep in
thought' below that mountain in Minas Tirith. When the story was
entirely changed by the entry of Faramir it was from Henneth Annun,
that night, and in the original draft of 'The Forbidden pool' appears
his sad speculation on the fate of his former companions 'in the
vastness of the nightlands' (TT p. 293). When that was written the
story was still that Gandalf and Pippin had already reached Minas
Tirith.
In the final chronology the relations were altered. Pippin riding with
Gandalf on Shadowfax caught as he fell asleep on the night of March
7 - S 'a glimpse of high white peaks, glimmering like floating isles
above the clouds as they caught the light of the westering moon. He
wondered where Frodo was, and if he was already in Mordor, or if he
was dead; and he did not know that Frodo from far away looked on
that same moon as it set beyond Gondor ere the coming of the day'
(The Return of the King p. 20). That was still the night that Frodo
passed in Henneth Annun; but now Gandalf did not ride up to the
wall of the Pelennor until dawn of the ninth of March.
V.
FARAMIR.
On the 26th of April 1944 my father said (Letters no. 63) that he
needed to know how to stew a rabbit; on the 30th (no. 64) he wrote
that 'A large elephant of prehistoric size, a war-elephant of the
Swertings, is loose' (but made no mention of anything further); on
the 4th of May (no. 65), having read a chapter to C. S. Lewis on the
1st, he was 'busy now with the next'; and on the 11th (no. 67) he said
that he had read his 'fourth new chapter ("Faramir")' to Lewis and
Williams three days before.(1) It seems, then, that what was afterwards
called 'The Window on the West' was achieved in not much more than
a week. That must have been a time of intense and concentrated work,
for the volume of writing that went into this chapter, the redrafting
and reshaping, is remarkable. It is also very complex, and it has taken
me a lot longer than a week to determine how the chapter evolved and
to try to describe it here. In what follows I trace the development fairly
closely, since in 'Faramir' there are bearings on other parts of The
Lord of the Rings and much of special interest in Faramir's discourse
on ancient history, most notably in his remarks on the languages of
Gondor and the Common Speech (entirely lost in The Two Towers).
The various draft-sequences that constitute the history of the
chapter are so confusing that I shall try to make my account clearer by
using letters to distinguish them when it seems helpful. There was only
one manuscript made, titled 'XXXVI. Faramir':(2) this is a good clear
text, not extensively emended later, and in it the final form was
achieved, with however certain important exceptions. It must have
been from this text (referred to in this chapter as 'the completed
manuscript', or simply 'the manuscript') that my father read 'Faramir'
to Lewis and Williams on 8 May 1944. At this time the chapter began
at Sleep while you may,> said Mablung: see p. 139 note 18.
The original draft for the end of what became 'Of Herbs and Stewed
Rabbit', which I will call 'A', continued on from Sam's 'If that's over
I'll have a bit o' sleep' (TT p. 270) thus:
He turned and spoke in Frodo's ear. 'I could almost sleep on
my legs, Mr Frodo,' he said. 'And you've not had much
yourself. But these men are friends, it seems: they seem to come
from Boromir's country all right. Though they don't quite trust
us, I can't see any cause to doubt them. And we're done anyway
if they turn nasty, so we'd best rest.'
'Sleep if thou wilt,' said Mablung. 'We will guard thee and
thy master until Falborn comes. Falborn will return hither, if he
has saved his life. But when he cometh we must move swiftly.
All this tumult will not go unmarked, and ere night is old we
shall have many pursuers. We shall need all speed to gain the
river first.'
It seemed to Sam only a few minutes before he woke and
found that Falborn had returned and several men with him.
They were talking nearby. Frodo was awake and among them.
They were debating what to do about the hobbits.
Sam sat up and listened and he understood that Frodo had
failed to satisfy the leader of the men of Gondor on some points:
which part he had to play in the company sent from Rivendell,
why they had left Boromir, and where he was now going. To the
meaning of Isildur's Bane he kept on returning, but Frodo
would not tell the story of the Ring.
'But the words said with Isildur's Bane in hand,' said
Falborn.(3) 'If you are the Half-high then you should have that
thing in hand, whatever it be. Have you it not? Or is it hidden
because you choose to hide it?'
'Were Boromir here he would answer your questions,' said
Frodo. 'And since Boromir was many days ago at Rauros on the
way to your city, if you return swiftly you will learn the answer.
My part in this company was known to him and to all and to
the Lord Elrond indeed. The errand given to me brings me into
this land, and it is not [?wise] that any enemy of the Dark Lord
should hinder it.'
'I see there is more in this than I first perceived,' said Falborn.
'But I too am under command: to slay or take prisoner as
[?reason justifies] all found in Ithilien. There is no cause to slay
thee.'
Here this barely legible draft ends. At the end of it is written in
pencil: Death of Boromir known. This is probably to be associated
with the following notes written across the outline given on p. 135 (see
note 11 to the last chapter):
Is Boromir known to be dead?
Only by a vision of the boat with a light about it floating down
the river and a voice. And by some things of his drifting?
This is Feb. 6. Gandalf only arrives at sunset on Feb. 5 and the
Rangers must have left Tirith long before that. Hardly time for
messenger from Edoras to Minas Tirith (250 miles).
..... Jan. 31 morning to [Feb. 4 o] night Feb. 3. 3 1/2 days.
Rangers must have left on night of Feb. 3rd.
NO.
On the date 6 February see pp. 140 - 2. 31 January was the day on
which Gandalf came with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli to Edoras and
left with Theoden, riding west across the plains (see pp. 3 - 5). My
father was evidently calculating that a man riding 70 miles a day could
have brought the news of Boromir's death by word of mouth to Minas
Tirith before Falborn and his men left the city to cross the river into
Ithilien, but decided that this was not what had happened.
A new draft text ('B'), at the outset clearly written, was now begun,
opening with Mablung's words 'Sleep, if thou wilt,'(4) and continuing
as in the original draft A (p. 145): there is thus still no suggestion at
this point that the hobbits will not be allowed to go on their way (see
note 18 to the last chapter), and the leader of the men of Gondor is still
Falborn. A was followed closely in this new text (which was a good
deal emended subsequently) almost to its end,(5) but at the point where
Frodo says 'But those who claim to oppose the Dark Lord would do
well not to hinder it' the dialogue moves to the same point in TT
(p. 272): 'Frodo spoke proudly, whatever he felt, and Sam very much
approved of it; but it did not appease Falborn', and continues almost
as in the final form, through the wary conversation about Boromir, as
far as Frodo's 'though surely there are many perils in the world.' At
Falborn's reply 'Many indeed, and treachery not the least' Sam does
not in this text intervene, and Falborn continues: 'But thou askest how
do we know that our captain is dead. We do not know it for a
certainty, but yet we do not doubt it.' And he asks Frodo whether he
remembers anything of special mark that Boromir bore with him
among his gear, and Frodo fears a trap and reflects on his danger just
as in TT (pp. 273 - 4). Then follows:
'I remember that he bore a horn,' he said at last.
'Thou rememberest well, as one who hath verily seen him,'
said Falborn. 'Then maybe thou canst see it in thy mind's eye: a
great horn of the wild ox of the [Eastern wilderness >] East,
bound with silver, and written with his name, [struck out: worn
upon a silver chain]. That horn the waters of Anduin brought
unto us maybe [> more than] seven nights now gone. An ill
token we thought it, and boding little joy to Denethor father of
Boromir; for the horn was cloven in twain as by sword or axe.
The halves of it came severally to shore ...'
Falborn's account of how the pieces of the horn were found now
follows as in TT (p. 276),(6) ending 'But murder will out, 'tis said',- then
he continues:
'Dost thou not know of the cleaving of the horn, or who cast
it over Rauros - to drown it for ever in the eddies of the fall,
doubtless? '
'No,' said Frodo, 'I do not know. But none of our Company
has the will for such a deed, and none the strength unless it were
Aragorn. But though it may be a token of ill, a cloven horn does
not prove the wearer's death.'
At this stage, therefore, Boromir's death was a supposition in Minas
Tirith depending solely on the finding of the pieces of his horn in the
river. But now there follows (and at this point my father's handwriting
speeded up markedly and becomes very difficult, often a sign that a
new conception had entered that would entail the rewriting and
rejection of what had preceded, so that what follows slips back, as it
were, into a more 'primitive' stage of composition):
'No. But the finding of the horn followed another and
stranger thing,' said Falborn. 'And that sad chance befell me,
and others beside [changed to: No, said Falborn. But the
finding of the horn followed another and stranger thing that
befell me, and others beside]. I sat at night beside the waters
of Anduin, just ere the first quarter of the moon, in the grey
dark watching the ever moving stream and the sad reeds
rustling....'
The account of the boat bearing the body of Boromir is for most of its
length very close indeed to that in TT (p. 274), and it is here, most
curiously, that Falborn becomes Boromir's brother, though he does
not change his name: 'It was Boromir my brother, dead.' It is as if he
slipped without conscious decision into the role that had been
preparing for him. What else could he be, this captain of Gondor so
concerned with Frodo's story and the fate of Boromir? Foreshortening
the actual development, my father wrote in his letter of 6 May 1944
(Letters no. 66):
A new character has come on the scene (I am sure I did not invent
him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came
walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, the brother of
Boromir ...
Falborn's story is different in its ending from the final form:
'... The boat turned into the stream and passed into the night.
Others saw it, some near at hand, others from far off. But none
dare touch it, nor maybe would even the evil hands of those that
hold Osgiliath dare to hinder it.
'[?This] I thought was a vision though one of evil boding, and
even when I heard the tale of others we doubted, Denethor my
father and I, if it were more, though it boded evil. But none can
doubt the horn. It lies now cloven in twain upon the lap of
Denethor. And messengers ride far and wide to learn news
of Boromir.'
'Alas,' said Frodo. 'For now I do not on my side doubt your
tale. The golden belt was given him in Lorien by the Lady
Galadriel. It was she who clothed us as you see us. This brooch
is of the same workmanship' - he touched the [?enamelled] leaf
that caught his cloak about his neck. Falborn looked at it
curiously. 'Yes,' he said, 'it is work of the same [?manner].'
'Yet even so,' said Frodo, 'I think it can have been but a vision
that you saw. How could a boat have ridden the falls of Rauros
and the [?boiling] floods, and naught have been spilled but the
horn, and founder not with its burden of water?'
'I know not,' said Falborn, 'but whence came the boat?'
'From Lorien, it was an elven-boat,' said Frodo;
'Well,' said Falborn, 'if thou wilt have dealings with the
mistress of magic that ....eth [added: dwells] in the Golden
Wood then they [sic] must look for strange things and evil
things to follow.'
This was too much for Sam's patience. He stood up and
walked into the debate. 'Not evil from Lorien,' he said. 'Begging
your pardon, Mr Frodo,' he said, 'but I have been listening to a
deal of this talk. Let's come to the point before all the Orcs of
Mordor come down on us. Now look here, Falborn of Gondor
if that is your name' - the men looked in amazement (not in
merriment) at the small ... hobbit planted firmly on his feet
before the seated figure of the captain. 'What are you getting at?
If you think we murdered your brother and then ran away, say
so. And say what you mean to do about it.'
'I was in mind to say so,' answered Falborn. 'Were I as hasty
as thou I would have slain thee long ago. But we have taken but
a few minutes in speech to learn what sort ye be. I am about to
depart at once. Ye will come with me. And in that count
yourselves fortunate!'
Here this second draft B ends,(7) and my father now proceeded to a
third version ('C'), beginning at the same point as did draft B (p. 146)
with Mablung's words 'Sleep, if you will', and extending no further
into the chapter, but C is written on odd bits of paper, much of it very
roughly, is not continuous, and contains some sections of the narrative
in divergent forms. It seems clear therefore that these pages accom-
panied the commencement of the completed manuscript.
This third drafting C, in which Falborn has become Faramir,(8)
largely retains the structure of B, while at the same time moving in
detail of expression a good way towards the form of the opening
dialogue between Faramir and Frodo in TT (pp. 271 - 6). There were
various intricate shiftings and displacements and new conjunctions
within the matter of this dialogue before my father was satisfied with
its structure, and these I largely pass over. The essential differences
from the final form are that Sam's indignation does not explode at
Faramir's words 'and treachery not the least', but as in the second
draft B at his disparaging remark about Lorien; and that Faramir's tale
of how he heard far off, 'as if it were but an echo in the mind', the
blowing of Boromir's horn had not entered.
There are a number of particular points to notice. At the beginning
of his interrogation of Frodo ('which now looked unpleasantly like the
trial of a prisoner') Faramir no longer cites the words of the verse as
with Isildur's Bane in hand (see p. 145 and note 3), but as Isildur's
Bane upholding,(9) and continues - in the completed manuscript as well
as the draft - 'If you be the Halfling that was named, then doubtless
you held it before the eyes of all the Council of which you speak, and
Boromir saw it.' In TT (p. 271), when the concluding words of the
verse were For Isildur's Bane shall waken,/And the Halfling forth
shall stand, Faramir says: 'But it was at the coming of the Halfling that
Isildur's Bane should waken ... If then you are the Halfling that was
named, doubtless you brought this thing, whatever it may be, to the
Council of which you speak, and there Boromir saw it.'
When Frodo says that if any could claim Isildur's Bane it would be
Aragorn, Faramir replies, both in the draft and in the manuscript:
'Why so, and not Boromir, prince of the city that Elendil and his sons
founded?', where in TT (p. 271) he speaks of 'the sons of Elendil' as
the founders. The story that Elendil remained in the North and there
founded his realm, while his sons Isildur and Anarion founded the
cities of the South, appears in the fifth version of the 'Council of
Elrond' (VII.144); and this may suggest that that version of 'The
Council of Elrond' was written lacer than 1 have supposed.
As already mentioned, the sound of Boromir's horn blowing far off
was not yet present in this third drafting C; and Faramir still relates
the finding of the pieces of the horn before he tells of the funeral boat
passing down Anduin. In answer to Frodo's objection that 'a cloven
horn does not prove the wearer's death' (p. 147) there now follows:
'"No," said Faramir. "But the finding of the shards of the horn
followed another and stranger thing that befell me, as if it were sent to
confirm it beyond hope." ' Thus the words '(that befell me) and others
beside' in B are omitted; but in this tale of the boat that bore Boromir's
corpse Faramir still declares that he was not the only one to see it:
'Others too saw it, a grey shadow of a vessel from afar.' In yet another
revision of this passage before the final form was reached he ends: 'A
vision out of the borders of dream I thought it. But I do not doubt that
Boromir is dead, whether his body of a truth has passed down the
River to the Sea, or lies now somewhere under the heedless skies.'
The remote sound of Boromir's horn blowing only entered in the
manuscript, and Faramir there says that he heard it 'eight days ere I set
out on this venture, eleven days ago at about this hour of the day',
where TT (p. 274) has the same, but with 'five' for 'eight'.(10) As my
father wrote this passage in the manuscript he went on, after 'as it
might be only an echo in the mind': 'And others heard it, for we have
many men that wander far upon our borders, south and west and
north, even to the fields of Rohan.' This was apparently struck out
immediately.
To Sam's indignant and courageous confrontation of this great man
from Minas Tirith Faramir's response in this draft was gentle:
'... Say what you think, and say what you mean to do.'
'I was about to do so,' said Faramir smiling, and now less
stern. 'Were I as hasty as you I might have slain you long ago. I
have spared the short part of [? an hour] in spite of peril to judge
you more justly. [?Now] if you wish to learn what I think: I
doubted you, naturally, as I should. But if I am a judge of the
words and deeds of men I may perhaps make a guess at hobbits. I
doubted but you were friends or allies of the orcs, and though the
likes of you could not have slain my brother, you might have
helped or fled with some picking.'
Here this third phase of drafting (C) ends.(11) - It is curious that
in the completed manuscript Sam's intervention has entirely dis-
appeared: the dialogue between Faramir and Frodo in the passage
where it originally took place now reaches the form in TT (p. 275) and
Faramir no longer expresses so conventional a view of the Lady of the
Golden Wood (cf. p. 148).
It is plain, I think, that at this point, at Frodo's words 'Go back
Faramir, valiant captain, and defend your city while you may, and let
me go alone where my doom takes me', the writing of the manuscript
was halted, and that at that time nothing further had been written: in
other words, this chapter, in terms of composition, falls into two parts,
all up to this point (apart from the absence of Sam's outburst) having
been brought virtually to the final form before the story proceeded.
Very rough and here and there altogether illegible outline sketches
show my father's preliminary thoughts for its continuation. One of
these, impossibly difficult to read, begins at the point where the draft C
ends, with Faramir still speaking to Sam: 'But you have not the
manners of orcs, nor their speech, and indeed Frodo your master has an
air that I cannot ..., an elvish air maybe.' In this text Faramir shows
no hesitation about his course and does not postpone his decision, but
concludes sternly: 'You shall be well treated. But make no doubt of it.
Until my father Denethor releases you, you are prisoners of Gondor.
Do not try to escape, if you do not wish to be slain' (cf. the passage
given in note 7). Then follows:
In a few minutes they were on their way again down the
slopes. Hobbits [?tired]. Mablung carries Sam. They get to the
fenced camp in a dense wood of trees, 10 miles away. They had
not gone far before Sam suddenly said to Frodo: 'Gollum! Well
thank heavens we've lost him!' But Frodo not so sure. 'We have
still to get into Mordor,' he said, 'and we do not know the way.'
Gollum rescues them
The last three words are very unclear, but I have no doubt that this is
what they are - though what story lay behind them will never be
known.
Another short text reads as follows:
Faramir says he no longer doubts. If he is any judge of men. But
he says that much [more) lies upon it than at first he thought. 'I
should' he said 'take you back to Minas Tirith, and if things went
ill my life would be forfeit. But I will not decide yet. Yet we must
move at once.' He gave some orders and the men broke up into
small groups and faded away into the trees. Mablung and
Damrod remained. 'Now you will come with me,' he said. 'You
cannot go along the road if you meant to. And you cannot go far
for you are weary. So are we. We go to a secret camp 10 miles
away. Come with us. Before morn we will decide.'
They .... Faramir spoke.'You do not deal openly. You were
not friendly with Boromir. I see S.G. thinks ill of him. Now I
loved him, yet I knew him well. Isildur's Bane. I say that this lay
between you in some way. Heirlooms do not breed peace among
companions. Ancient tales.'
'And ancient tales teach us not to blab,' said Frodo.
'But you must know that much is known in Minas Tirith that
is not spoken aloud. Therefore I dismissed my men. Gandalf was
here. We the rulers know that I[sildur] carried off the Ruling
Ring. Now this is a terrible matter. I can well guess that Boromir,
proud, ever anxious for the glory of Minas Tirith (and his own
renown) might wish to seize it. I guess that you have the Ring,
though how it could ...
The rest of the sentence is illegible. The brief sketch ends with Faramir's
words 'I would not touch it if it lay by the highway' and his expression
of his love for and desires for Minas Tirith (TT p. 280); the last words
are 'I could advise you if you would tell me more.' It is a pity that the
passage about the Ring is so brief and elliptical; but the implication
must surely be that the rulers of the city knew that Isildur carried off the
Ruling Ring because Gandalf had told them. This, of course, was not at
all the way in which the story would unfold when it came to be written
down.
Another page of even more hasty and staccato sketching takes up
from the point reached in the first, and may be its continuation (cf. TT
p. 280, where Faramir's words 'it may be that I can advise you ...
and even aid you' are followed by 'Frodo made no answer').
Frodo does not say more. Something holds him back. Wisdom?
Memory of Eoromir? Fear of the power and treachery of what
he carried - in spite of liking Faramir. They speak of other
things. Reasons of decline of Gondor. Rohan (alter Boromir's
words saying he did not go there).(12) Gondor gets like Rohan,
loving war as game: so Boromir. Sam says little. Delighted that
Gollum seems forgotten. Faramir falls silent. Sam speaks of
elvish power, boats, ropes, cloaks. Suddenly aware that Gollum
is padding behind. But when they halt he sheers off.
Faramir in accord with law makes them be blindfold as they
reach secret stronghold. They talk. Faramir warns him, warns
against Gollum. Frodo reveals that he has to go to Mordor.
Speaks of Minas Ithil. Moonrise. Faramir bids farewell in
morning. Frodo promises to come back to Minas Tirith and
surrender to him if he returns.
At this stage, before the chapter proceeded further, Sam's interven-
tion in the initial interrogation of Frodo by Faramir was reintroduced,
at an earlier place in the dialogue (at 'and treachery not the least'), and
inserted into the manuscript on a rider.(13)
The latter part of the chapter is extant in continuous and for the
most part clearly written drafting, with a good deal of my father's
characteristic 'over-lapping' - when the narrative takes a wrong
direction or is in some respect unsatisfactory, collapses into a scrawl,
and is replaced by a new page beginning at an earlier point (thus
producing sections of near repetition). This drafting led to the finished
manuscript, in which there were still important differences from the
text in The Two Towers: it will be seen that at this time there was
much development still to come in the past history of Rohan and
Gondor.
The new draft ('D') begins (as also does the recommencement of the
manuscript, closely based on D) ' "I do not doubt you any more," said
Faramir.'(14) The narrative from this point (TT p. 276), as far as Sam's
glimpse of Gollum as they walked through the woodland (TT p. 281),
already in the draft very largely achieved the final text; but there are
some interesting differences.(15)
It is here that the Stewards of Gondor first appear, and the passage
concerning them (TT p. 278) was written in the draft text virtually
without hesitation or correction, although there is no preliminary
material extant. It is notable that from his first appearance in 'The
Breaking of the Fellowship' (VII.375 - 6) Denethor has never been
called King: he is the Lord Denethor, Denethor Lord of the Tower of
Guard. It seems more than likely, therefore, that this cardinal element
in the history and government of Gondor was already of long
standing, though never until now emerging into the narrative. The line
of Denethor is traced in the draft to Maraher the good steward,
changed probably at once to Mardil (the name in the manuscript); but
the last king of the line of Anarion, in whose stead Mardil ruled when
he went away to war, was not Earnur. Both in draft and manuscript he
is named King Elessar.
Gandalf's recital of his names, as reported by Faramir (who calls
him in the draft 'the Grey Wanderer': 'the Grey Pilgrim' in the
manuscript), was intricately changed in its initial composition, but
apparently developed thus:
[Added: Mithrandir among the Elves. Sharkun to the Dwarves.]
[The name of my youth in the West is forgotten >] [Olorion >]
Olorin I was in my youth that is forgotten; [struck out: Shorab or
Shorob in the East,] [Forlong >] Fornold in the South, Gandalf in
the North. To the East I go not. [Struck out: Not everywhere]
The passage was then written out again in the draft, in the same form
as it has in TT, but with the names Sharkun and Fornold, this latter
being subsequently changed to Incanus. In the manuscript Sharkun
(for later Tharkun) remains. - Here the name Olorin first appears,
changed from Olorion. On Gandalf's names 'in the South', Forlong
changed to Fornold, I can cast no light; I do not know whether it is
relevant that in Appendix F to LR the name of Forlong, Lord of
Lossarnach (who died in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields), is said to be
among the names in Gondor that 'were of forgotten origin, and
descended doubtless from days before the ships of the Numenoreans
sailed the Sea.'
Faramir's words about Gandalf's eagerness for stories of Isildur
were much changed: 'he was eager for stories of Isildur, though of him
we had less to tell, [for Isildur was of the North in Fornost, and the
realm of Gondor held from Anarion. > for to Gondor no sure tale
had ever come concerning his end, only rumour that he perished in the
River being shot by orc-arrows. >] for nought was ever known for
certain of his end.' For the first occurrence of the name Fornost in the
texts, replacing Fornobel, see p. 76.
A last point here is that (both in draft and manuscript) Faramir says:
'Isildur took somewhat from the hand of the Unnamed, ere he went
away from the battle', where in TT (p. 279) he says 'went away from
Gondor'. Cf. 'The Council of Elrond' in FR (p. 265), where Gandalf
says: 'For Isildur did not march away straight from the war in
Mordor, as some have told the tale', and Boromir interrupts: 'Some in
the North, maybe. All know in Gondor that he went first to Minas
Anor and dwelt a while with his nephew Meneldil, instructing him,
before he committed to him the rule of the South Kingdom.' Cf. also
the beginning of 'The Disaster of the Gladden Fields' in Unfinished
Tales.
At the point where Sam, listening to but not entering the conver-
sation, and observing that Gollum was never mentioned, sees him
slipping behind a tree, the draft text (which, since it was soon replaced
by another, I will call 'D 1') continues thus:
He opened his mouth to speak, but did not. He could not be
sure, and 'why should I mention the old villain anyway, until
I'm obliged,' he thought.
After a while Frodo and Faramir began to speak again, for
Frodo was eager to learn news of Gondor and its folk and of the
lands about them, and what hope they had in their long war.
'It is long since we had any hope,' said Faramir.
These last words appear much later in TT (p. 286). Thus the entire
story in TT pp. 281-6 is lacking at this stage: the blindfolding, the
coming to Henneth Annun, the account of the cave, the report of
Anborn about the 'black squirrel' in the woods, the evening meal, and
Frodo's stories of their journey (although the fact that Frodo and Sam
would be blindfolded before they came to the 'secret stronghold' was
known to my father: see the outline on p. 152). All this is found in the
completed manuscript in virtually the final form.
Faramir's account of the history of Gondor and the coming of the
Horsemasters (TT pp. 286-7) was developed in two stages before it
was written in the manuscript. Already in the first version (D 1)
Faramir speaks very much as in TT of the evils and follies of the
Numenoreans in the Great Lands,(16) and of their obsession with death.
But after 'Childless lords sat musing in hollow halls, or in high cold
towers asked questions of the stars' he continues:
'... But we were more fortunate than other cities, recruiting
our strength from the sturdy folk of the sea-coasts, and the
hardy people of the White Mountains (17) - where lingered once
many remnants of races long forgot. And then there came the
men out of the North, the [Horse-marshals >] Rohir. And we
ceded them the fields of [Rohan >] Elenarda [written above:
Kalen(arda)] that are since called Rohan,(18) for we could not
resist their rude strength, and they became our allies and have
ever proved true, and they learn of our lore and speak our
speech. Yet they hold by their old ways and their own speech
among themselves. And we love them for they remind us of the
youth of men as they were in the old tales of the wars of the
Elves in Beleriand. Indeed I think that in [?that] way we are
remotely akin, and that they are come of that old stock, the first
to come out of the East from which the Fathers of the Fathers of
Men were come, Beren and Barahir and Huor and Hurin and
Tuor and Turin, aye and Earendel himself the half-elven, first
king of Westernesse. So does some kinship in tongue and heart
still tell. But they never crossed the Sea or went into the West
and so must ever remain [?alien]. Yet we intermarry, and if they
have become somewhat like us and cannot be called wild men,
we have become like them and are no longer Numenoreans. For
now we love war and valour as things good in themselves, and
esteem warriors above all others. Such is the need of our
days.
In this notable passage are adumbrated new elements of ancient
history that were no doubt long preparing before they appeared in any
narrative text, though Eorl the Young had entered in 'The King of the
Golden Hall', riding out of the North to 'the Battle of the Field of
Gorgoroth' in which Sauron was overthrown (see VII.444 and note
11). That 'between Rohan and Ondor there was great friendship'
appeared in the initial draft of 'The Riders of Rohan' (VII.393), and in
the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Fangorn' (VII.437), after 'News
comes... of the siege of Minas Tirith by the Haradwaith', was added:
'Theoden answers that he does not owe fealty - only to heirs of
Elendil.'
The mention of Earendel as the 'first king of Westernesse' is strange
indeed, but I think probably not significant, a passing inadvertence:
see further p. 158 and note 26.
This draft D 1 continues on for some way, written fast, and I will
return to it; but it is convenient now to turn to the draft that replaced
it ('D 2'), and which takes up with Sam's decision to say nothing about
Gollum:
'... why should I remind them of the old villain, if they choose
to forget him? I wish I could.'
After a while Frodo and Faramir began to talk again, and
Frodo asked many questions concerning Gondor and its people
and the lands about them, and what hope they had in their long
war. He was interested in such matters, but also he wished to
discover, if he could, how much Faramir knew of old lore, and
how he knew it. He remembered now that at the Council
Boromir had shown much knowledge of these things [struck
out: naming the number of the rings of].
The last part of this was changed to read:
He was interested in such matters, but also he thought of Bilbo.
'He'll want accounts of all these things,' he thought. 'It is long
since I made any note in my diary: tonight perhaps, as we rest.'
Then he smiled at himself: 'But he lives in the House of Elrond
and can have more for the asking than all that is remembered in
Gondor! 0 but well, he'll like it best from a hobbit, personal
recollections. He will, if ever I see him again, alas!'
All this was struck from the page subsequently, when the later
structure of the narrative was imposed; but the text as written
continues (cf. p. 154): '"What hope have we?" said Faramir. "It is
long since we had any hope....', and then proceeds to develop
Faramir's discussion of Gondor and Rohan to a form much closer to
that in The Two Towers, though still with important differences.
Where in the first version D 1 (p. 154) he said: 'But we were more
fortunate than other cities, recruiting our strength from the sturdy folk
of the sea-coasts, and the hardy people of the White Mountains', he
now says: 'But we were wiser and more fortunate than some; wiser,
for we recruited the strength of our people from the sturdy folk of the
sea-coasts and the hardy mountaineers of Hebel Nimrath;(19) more
fortunate in our foes that became our friends.'(20) Faramir still gives no
indication of when the Horsemen came out of the North, For on a
time there came men out of the North and assailed our borders, men
of fierce valour, but not servants of the Dark Lord, not the wild hordes
of the East, or the cruel hosts of the South. Out of the North came the
Rohiroth,(21) the Eorlingas, and at the last we ceded to them the fields
of Kalinarda (22) that are since called Rohan; for long these had been
sparsely peopled, and we could not resist the strength of these
golden-haired horsemen. And they became our vassals or indeed our
allies ...' He continues very much as in TT (p. 287). In the completed
manuscript Faramir gives this indication of the date of their coming:
'On a time in the days of Mardil's son there came men out of the
North ...' But of course this conveys very little.
Of the origin of the Rohiroth this draft D 2 gives the following
version. The passage was heavily emended, and I show the significant
alterations:
'... Indeed, it is said by the loremasters among us that they are
somewhat our kin in blood and in speech, being descended
[from those of the Three Houses of Men who went not over sea
into the West >] from those same Three Houses of Men as were
the Numenoreans, from Beor and Hador and Haleth, but from
such as went not over sea into the West at the calling of the
Powers. Thus they have to us a kinship, [such as the Exiled Elves
that linger still in the West (of such indeed is the Lady of the
Golden Wood) and returned not to Elvenhome have to those
who departed. But they have never returned. >] such as the
High Elves that do here and there abide still in the West of these
lands have to those who lingered and went never to Elvenhome.
Such is the kinship of the Lady of the Golden Wood to the folk
she rules.(23) And so, as the Elves are divided into three: the High
Elves, and the Middle Elves, [the Lingerers the Elves of the
Woods >] their kindred that lingered on the shores, and the
Wild Elves [the Refusers >] of the woods and mountains, so we
divide Men, calling them the High or the Men of [Light >] the
West, which are the Numenoreans, and the Middle or the Men
of Shadow, such as the Rohiroth and other of their kindred in
Dale and Mirkwood, and the Wild Men, or the Men of the
Darkness. And of the truth of this their likeness of tongue and
heart still speaks. Nonetheless those of Numenor passed over
the Sea indeed, even if they after forfeited their kingdom and
returned, and so they became a people apart and should remain
so. Yet if the Rohir became in some ways more like to us,
enhanced in art and gentleness, we too have become more like
to them, and do not now rightly claim the title High. We are
become Middle Men, of the Shadow, but with memory of other
things.
This was very largely retained, as emended, in the manuscript, but
with these chief differences: 'they are come from those same Three
Houses of Men as were the Numenoreans, from Hador the Golden-
haired, the Elf-friend maybe, but from such of their sons as went not
over the Sea into the West, refusing the call';(24) there is no mention of
the Lady of the Golden Wood; and 'the Middle People or the Men of
the Shadows, such as the Rohiroth and others of their kindred in Dale
and the upper waters of Anduin'.
The threefold division of the Elves here (lost in The Two Towers) is
that introduced into the Quenta Silmarillion after the return of the
manuscript from the publishers at the end of 1937 (see The Lost Road
pp. 200, 219): the Elves of Valinor; the Lembi or Lingerers; and the
Avari, the Unwilling.
The draft D 1, left on p. 155, continues through Faramir's reply to
Sam's remark about the Elves, and this is of great interest. Though a
good deal was retained in TT (pp. 287 - 8) I give it here in full. At the
end the writing becomes very fast and the draft ends in scrawled notes.
Passages in square brackets are thus bracketed in the original.
'You don't say much in all your tales about the Elves, sir,*
said Sam, suddenly plucking up courage: he was rather in awe
of Faramir since his encounter on his master's behalf.
'No, Master Samwise,' said Faramir, 'and there you touch
upon another point in which we have changed, becoming more
as other men. For (as you may know, if Mithrandir was your
guest; and you have spoken with Elrond) the Numenoreans
were elf-friends, and came of those men who aided the Gnomes
in the first wars, and were rewarded by the gift of the kingdom
in the midst of the Sea, within sight of Elvenhome whither the
High Elves withdrew [written above: where the High Elves
dwelt). But in the Great Lands (25) men and elves were estranged,
by the arts of the Enemy [who had suborned most men (save
only the Fathers of the Numenoreans) to his service] and by the
slow changes of time in which each kind walked further down
their sundered roads. Men fear and misdoubt the Elves, disting-
uishing not between the High-elves (that here and there remain)
and those that like themselves never went over the Sea. And
Elves mistrust men, who so often have served the Enemy. And
we grow like other men, like the men even of Rohan who see
them not if they pass (or persuade themselves that they do not
see), and who speak of the Golden Wood in dread. Yet there are
Elf-friends among us in Condor still, more than among any
other people; for though the blood of Numenor is now run thin
in Gondor, still it flows there, indeed even Elvish blood maybe:
for our kings of old were half-elven, even our first king Elros son
of Earendel and brother of Elrond.(26) And 'tis said that Elendil's
house was a younger branch of Elros. Some there are of Gondor
who have dealings with the Elves, some even still fare to the
Golden Wood (though often they return not). One great
advantage we have: we speak an elvish speech, or one so near
akin that we can in part understand them and they us.'
'But you speak the ordinary language,' exclaimed Sam. 'Like
as, or a bit old-fashioned like, if you'll pardon me saying so.'
'Yes,' said Faramir, 'we do, for that is our language. The
Common Tongue, as some call it, is derived from the Numeno-
rean, being a changed form of that speech of men which the
fathers used, Beren and Turin and Earendel and those others.
[Hence its remote kinship with the tongues of Rohan and of
Dale and of Westfold and Dunland and other places.] This
language it is that has spread through the western world among
all that are of good will, and among others also. But the lords of
Numenor spoke the Gnomish tongue of the Noldor to whom
they were allied, and that tongue, changed somewhat and
mingled, still lives among us, though we do not commonly
speak it. So it is that our earliest names were in the High Elvish
Quendian, such as Elendil, Isildur, and the rest, but the names
we have given to places, and still give to women and men, are of
Elvish sort. Often we give them out of the old tales: so is
Denethor, and Mablung, and many others.'
Here the draft D 1 peters out, and I return to D 2, left on p. 157, at
the same point ('You don't say much in all your tales about the Elves,
sir'). In his reply to Sam Faramir here says of the Elf-friends of the
ancient wars of Beleriand that they 'were rewarded (such as would
take it) by the gift of the Kingdom in the midst of the Sea, within sight
of Elvenhome, which they had leave to visit.'(27) And he continues: 'But
in the Great Lands Men and Elves were estranged in the days of
Darkness ...' He no longer speaks of the men of Rohan being unable
to see the Elves, or pretending to themselves that they do not see them
if they do, but as in TT says only that they shun them; and he declares,
again as in TT, that he would not himself go to Lothlorien, judging it
'perilous now for mortal men, at least to seek the Elder People wil-
fully.' But his answer to Sam's 'But you speak the ordinary language!
Same as us, though a bit old-fashioned like' was substantially
changed:
'Of course we do,' said Faramir. 'For that is our own tongue
which we perhaps preserve better than you do far in the North.
The Common Tongue, as some call it, is derived from the
Numenoreans,(28) being but a form changed by time of that
speech which the Fathers of the Three Houses [struck out:
Hador and Haleth and Beor] spoke of old. This language it is
that has spread through the western world amongst all folk and
creatures that use words, to some only a second tongue for use
in intercourse with strangers, to some the only tongue they
know. But this is not an Elvish speech in my meaning. All speech
of men in this world is Elvish in descent; but only if one go back
to the beginnings. What I meant was so: [the lords >] many
men of the Three Houses long ago gave up man-speech and
spoke the tongue of their friends the Noldor or Gnomes:(29) a
high-elvish tongue [struck out: akin to but changed from the
Ancient Elvish of Elvenhome]. And always the lords of Nume-
nor knew that tongue and used it among themselves. And so still
do we among ourselves, those who have the blood of Numenor
still in our veins, though mayhap we have changed it somewhat
mingling it like our blood with other strains. Thus it is that all
our names of town and field, hill and river are in that tongue,
and the names of our women and of our men. [Struck out: Only
in the oldest days did we use the High Ancient Elven for such
purposes: of that sort are Elendil and Isildur.] Indeed many of
these we still take from tales of the old days: such are Mablung
and Damrod, and mine own,(30) and my father's Denethor, and
many others.'
'Well sir, I am glad you don't think ill of Elves at any rate,'
said Sam. 'Wonderful folk, I think, sir. And the Lady of Lorien,
Galadriel, you should see her, indeed you should, sir. I am only
a hobbit, if you understand me, and gardening's my job at
home ...'
This draft D 2 continues on through Sam's speech (essentially as in
TT p. 288), his blurting out that Boromir always sought the Ring, and
Faramir's response; but now in its turn it becomes quickly rougher
and less formed (for its continuation beyond this point see p. 163) and
was replaced by new drafting ('D 3') beginning at 'Indeed many of
these we still take from tales of the ancient days ...'
In the text of the completed manuscript the draft D 2 just given was
repeated with scarcely any change until towards the end. Faramir now
says of the Elvish tongue spoken by the lords of Gondor that 'we can in
part understand Elves [struck out: and they us] even when they speak to
one another secretly', but all that he says in D 2 of the Common Tongue
is repeated exactly as far as: 'All speech of men in this world is Elvish in
descent; but only if one goes back to the beginnings.' The following
sentence in D 2 ('What I meant was so: many men of the Three Houses
long ago gave up man-speech and spoke the tongue of their friends the
Noldor or Gnomes') was at first taken up in the manuscript, but struck
out in the act of writing and replaced by the following (thus eliminating
the reference to the abandonment of their own speech by the men of the
Three Houses, see note 29):
'... What I meant was so: many men of the Three Houses
long ago learned the High-elven tongues, as they were spoken
[in Beleriand >] in Gondolin or by the Sons of Feanor. And
always the Lords of Numenor knew these tongues, and used the
Gnomish speech among themselves. And so still do we, the
rulers of Minas Tirith, in whom the blood of Numenor still
flows ...'(31)
And Faramir, giving examples of names taken 'from tales of the Elder
Days', adds Diriel to those he gave before.
Among occasional previous references to the Common Speech only
once is its nature defined, and there in a wholly different way. This is
in an early draft for a passage in the chapter 'Lothlorien' (VII.239 note
26), where it is said that Frodo did not understand the speech of the
Elves of Lorien 'for the language was the old tongue of the woods and
not that of the western elves which was in those days used as a
common speech among many folk.'
With the present passage, in its various forms, concerning the
Common Speech and the knowledge of the High-elven tongue of the
Noldor among the lords of Gondor may be compared what is said in
Appendix F to The Lord of the Rings:
The Westron was a Mannish speech, though enriched and softened
under Elvish influence. It was in origin the language of those whom
the Eldar called the Atani or Edain, 'Fathers of Men', being
especially the people of the Three Houses of the Elf-friends who
came west into Beleriand in the First Age, and aided the Eldar in the
War of the Great Jewels against the Dark Power of the North....
The Dunedain alone of all races of Men knew and spoke an
Elvish tongue; for their forefathers had learned the Sindarin tongue,
and this they handed on to their children as a matter of lore,
changing little with the passing of the years. And their men of
wisdom learned also the High-elven Quenya and esteemed it above
all other tongues, and in it they made names for many places of
fame and reverence, and for many men of royalty and great renown.
But the native speech of the Numenoreans remained for the most
part their ancestral Mannish tongue, the Adunaic, and to this in the
latter days of their pride their kings and lords returned, abandoning
the Elven-speech, save only those few that held still to their ancient
friendship with the Eldar.
There follows an account of the spread of Adunaic along the coasts
before the Fall of Numenor, becoming a Common Speech in those
regions, and of the use of it by the Elf-friends who survived the
Downfall 'in their dealing with other folk and in the government of
their wide realms', enriching it with many Elvish words.
In the days of the Numenorean kings this ennobled Westron
speech spread far and wide, even among their enemies; and it
became used more and more by the Dunedain themselves, so that at
the time of the War of the Ring the Elven-tongue was known to only
a small part of the peoples of Condor, and spoken daily by fewer.
This much more complex conception seems nonetheless not radically
different as regards the nature and origin of the Common Speech from
that which Faramir presents here: for in both accounts, early and late,
the Common Speech was directly descended from the ancestral tongue
of the 'Fathers of Men'. It is thus curious to see that by later pencilled
correction to the manuscript this was changed, Faramir now saying:
'Of course we do ... For that is also our own tongue, which
we ourselves made, and here preserve better perhaps than do
you far in the North. The Common Tongue, as some call it, is
derived from the Numenoreans; for the Numenoreans coming
to the shores of these lands took the rude tongue of the men that
they here found and whom they ruled, and they enriched it, and
it spread hence through the Western world ...'
And at the end of Faramir's discourse on linguistic history, after his
examples of Gnomish names in Gondor, he now adds: 'But in
intercourse with other folk we use the Common Speech which we
made for that purpose.'
Here the idea that the Common Speech was derived from 'that
speech which the Fathers of the Three Houses spoke of old' is denied.
In his letter of 6 May 1944 my father continued from the passage
cited on p. 147:
(A new character has come on the scene ... Faramir, the brother of
Boromir) - and he is holding up the 'catastrophe' by a lot of stuff
about the history of Gondor and Rohan (with some very sound
reflections no doubt on martial glory and true glory): but if he goes
on much more a lot of him will have to be removed to the
appendices - where already some fascinating material on the hobbit
Tobacco industry (32) and the Languages of the West have gone.
The passage on linguistic history in the present chapter (with the
emendations just given concerning the nature of the Common Speech)
survived into subsequent typescripts, and was only removed at a later
time; thus the excluded material on 'the Languages of the West' to
which my father referred in this letter was not the account given by
Faramir.
As already remarked (p. 160), a new 'overlapping' draft D 3 takes
up at the end of Faramir's exposition, and in this Sam shows himself as
more impressed by what he has been told than in the previous version,
and has more to say about Elves before he gets on to the subject of
Galadriel. This passage was retained and slightly extended in the
manuscript (in which form I cite it here), and it survived in the
following typescripts until it was removed from the chapter together
with the account of languages that preceded it.
Sam looked at Faramir wide-eyed and almost with awe. To
have an elvish name, and even a possible claim to Elvish blood
however remote, seemed to him royalty indeed. 'Well Captain,
your lordship, I should say, it is good to hear you speak so fair
of Elves, sir. 1 wish I had an elvish name. Wonderful folk they
are, aren't they? Think of the things they can make and the
things they say! You don't find out their worth or their meaning
all at once, as it were: it comes out afterwards, unexpected like.
Just a bit of well-made rope in a boat, and there it is: one day it's
just what you want, and it unknots itself when you ask it and
jumps to your hand. And the boat: I agree with your lordship; I
think it rode the falls and took no harm. Of course it would, if
that was needed. It was an Elven-boat, sir; though I sat in one
for many a day, and never noticed nothing special.'(33)
'I think you are right, Master Samwise,' said Faramir smiling;
'though some would say the White Lady had enchanted you.'
'And she did, sir!' said Sam. 'The Lady of Lorien! Galadriel!
you should see her, indeed you should, sir. I am only a hobbit,
and gardening's my job at home ...'(34)
I have mentioned (p. 160) that the Draft D 2, now become very
ragged, continued on through Sam's description to Faramir of
Galadriel, and his blurting out the truth, so long and so carefully con-
cealed by Frodo, that 'Boromir wanted the Ring!'(35) In this draft,
where in TT 'Frodo and Sam sprang from their stools and set them-
selves side by side with their backs to the wall, fumbling for their
sword-hilts', and 'all the men in the cave stopped talking', all that is
said is: 'Frodo and Sam sprang side by side, fumbling for their swords.'
Faramir sat down and began to laugh, and then became suddenly
grave. It is clear that he sat on the ground, where they were, in the
woods. The last words of this draft before it was abandoned, barely
legible, are:
'Do not fear. I do not wish to see or touch it - my only fear is
lest I see it and be tempted. But now indeed it becomes my duty
to aid you with all that I have. If this is the counsel of
Mithrandir, that this [?dreadful] Thing should be sent [?a-
wandering] in the borders of Mordor in the keeping of two
hobbits, then he is desperate indeed and at his wits' end. Come,
let us get to cover as quick as we may.'
It has been seen (pp. 154, 163) that in the drafting (D 1 - 2) for the
latter part of this chapter the entire story of the coming to Henneth
Annun was absent, and the entire conversation that in TT took place
there after the evening meal here took place as they walked through
the woods. When we come to the third overlapping portion of the draft
(D 3), however, at the denouement, the revelation of the Ring, they are
in the cave, and all is as in TT. It is clear therefore that it was only when
he had come to the very end of the chapter that my father realised that
the long conversation with Faramir had been interrupted by their
coming to the refuge; and perhaps it was only now that he perceived
what that refuge was: the Window of the Sunset, Henneth Annun.
Drafting for the new passage (TT pp. 281 - 6, from 'So they passed on,
until the woodlands grew thinner ...') is found separately, with very
little significant divergence from the finished form. There is no
mention of Anborn and the sighting of Gollum in the woods at dusk:
this first appears in the completed manuscript;(36) and Faramir says to
Frodo and Sam before the meal: 'Do as we do, I pray. So do we
always, look towards Numenor that was, and to Elvenhome beyond,
and to that which is beyond Elvenhome, Valinor the Blessed Realm.'(37)
On the page of this drafting where appear Faramir's words 'This is
the Window of the West' (changed to 'Window of the Sunset') my
father wrote many names and forms before achieving Henneth
Annun: Nargalad, Anngalad, Carangalad; Henneth Carandun, Hen-
neth Malthen; Henlo Naur, Henlo n'Annun; Henuil n'Annun.
NOTES.
1. The 'new chapters' were: (1) 'The Taming of Smeagol'; (2) 'The
Passage of the Marshes'; (3) 'The Black Gate is Closed' (including
'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit'); (4) 'Faramir'. See note 2.
2. Since 'The Taming of Smeagol' was Chapter XXXII, 'The
Passage of the Marshes' XXXIII, and 'The Black Gate is Closed'
XXXIV, 'Faramir', the 'fourth new chapter', should be XXXV.
Its actual number XXXVI implies that 'Of Herbs and Stewed
Rabbit' had already been separated off as XXXV - but then of
couse 'Faramir' became the fifth new chapter. Perhaps the actual
number XXXVI was written in subsequently. See further p. 171.
3. This refers to the form of the 'dream-verse of Minas Tirith' in
which the second half ran thus (see VII.146):
This sign shall there be then
that Doom is near at hand:
The Halfhigh shall you see then
with Isildur's bane in hand.
4. Throughout this draft Falborn addresses Frodo as 'thou', but this
usage was emended throughout and does not appear in the
following text.
5. The men of Gondor were in this draft B 'sitting in a ring, in the
middle of which were Falborn and Frodo. It seemed that there
was a debate going on.' - Frodo refers to 'Elrond of Imlad-rist':
d. p. 139 note 14.
6. In a rejected version of this 'the other half was found further
down the river above Osgiliath by other watchers,'
7. On the same page are written other passages that were presum-
ably potential ingredients in Sam's remonstration to Falborn:
It's a pity the folks against Mordor fall out so easy. I should
have thought it as plain as a pikestaff.
Boromir was on his way to Minas Tirith. We decided not to go
that way and went on our own road. Boromir was not dead
when we left, but orcs knew of our journey: they attacked us
above the rapids beyond Sarn Gebir. What's in it?
I daresay now we made a mistake. I don't know the lie of the
lands; but maybe we'd have got there quicker through Minas
Tirith. But here we would have come. And if you drag us back
there'll be some that do not like it. Boromir would not. Nor
Aragorn.
With Sarn Gebir here for Emyn Muil cf. p. 136 and note 17. -
Another passage here, in part totally illegible, is a draft for a more
substantial conclusion to the interrogation of Frodo by Falborn:
harshly uncomprehending in tone compared to the later Faramir,
and suggesting that no further conversation between them had
been thought of at this stage.
'Thou'rt commanded to go - somewhere. But I too am under
command: to slay all that roam in Ithilien unanswerable, or at
least to take them prisoner to Minas Tirith. I see no cause to
slay you, or at least too great doubt. But to Minas Tirith ye
shall go. And if Boromir is there it will ... with you. If
Boromir's death be proved it will interest Denethor to speak
with those who saw him last before he died. If he [?cometh]
doubtless ye will be glad - maybe not. Of your own errand
..... [the following sentences are effectively illegible] .....
Maybe if you would say more of the truth and reveal your
errand we would help you and not hinder. But if you will not
speak I have no choice in my doubt.'
'Maybe you would, and maybe not,' said Frodo. 'But it is not
a matter to speak of to such as you are - not were the walls of
[?Mordor] a thousand miles away, whereas they be but a few
leagues.'
Also here are inconclusive rewritings of the second part of the
'dream-verse of Minas Tirith'.
8. Falborn was emended to Faramir (but not consistently) on the
second draft B, where also many other changes leading to the
third version C were entered.
9. This line does not appear in the rewritings of the verse referred to
at the end of note 7, but A sign shall be upholden is found there.
It may be that no such form of the verse was ever actually written.
The manuscript at first followed the draft, but was then changed
to 'But the words said that the Halfling would hold up Isildur's
Bane'. Halfling for Half-high entered by emendation to the
second draft B: 'If you be the Half-high' > 'If you be the
Halfling'.
10. The date of Boromir's death was 26 January (and in one of the
time-schemes the hour of his death is stated to be 'noon'); it was
now 6 February, eleven days later. (In the margin of the
manuscript my father wrote 'twelve' beside 'eleven', which
however was not struck out. This presumably depends on the
chronology in time-scheme 'S', in which Boromir died on 25
January: see pp. 101, 142.) In The Tale of Years the correspond-
ing dates are 26 February and 7 March, also eleven days later
(February having 30 days). In the notes given on p. 146 Faramir
and his men left Minas Tirith on 3 February, thus three days
before; and both in the draft and in the manuscript he tells Frodo
that no members of the Company had reached the city when he
left it three days before (where TT has six days, p. 272). In The
Tale of Years he left on 1 March, thus six days before.
11. A further isolated scrap of drafting may be noticed. It represents
presumably unused words of Frodo's when he spoke to Faramir
about the boats of Lothlorien: 'These boats are crafty and unlike
those of other folk. They will not sink, not though they will be
laden more than is their wont when you are all aboard. But they
are wayward, and if mishandled' (the sentence ends here).
12. This apparently refers to a passage in 'Farewell to Lorien'. In the
fair copy manuscript of that chapter Boromir's original words 'I
have not myself been there' (referring to Fangorn) had become 'I
have not myself ever crossed Rohan' (VII.282, 293 note 36). This
was now changed on that manuscript to 'I have myself been
seldom in Rohan, and have never crossed it northwards' (cf. FR
p. 390).
13. Rough drafting for this new placing of Sam's intervention is
found. In this, rather oddly, Faramir's reply continues on into his
astute guessing about Frodo's relationship with Boromir and
about Isildur's Bane, and Frodo's quickly smothered desire to 'tell
all to this kindly but just man'. In TT this passage, in much more
developed form, does not arise until after they have begun their
journey to Henneth Annun. However, this was clearly no more
than a sketching of new elements in the dialogue; it was not a
draft for the overhaul of all that had been achieved in the chapter
thus far.
14. Cf. the beginning of the sketch given on p. 151. - The passage
that precedes this in TT p. 276, from 'For me there is no comfort
in our speech together' to 'But whatever befell on the North
March, you, Frodo, I doubt no longer' (in which Faramir suggests
that some of the Company are still alive, since who else can have
arrayed Boromir in the funeral boat), did not enter till later (it
was added to the first typescript of the chapter).
15. Various elements are lacking in the draft but are present in the
manuscript: such are 'He wished this thing brought to Minas
Tirith' (TT p. 278); and the passage concerning Gandalf (p. 279),
from 'Are you sure of this' to 'He got leave of Denethor, how I do
not know, to look at the secrets of our treasury' - where the
draft text reads: '... so much lore be taken from the world. He
had leave to look at the secrets of our treasury ...' The draft text
has a few features lost in the manuscript: thus after 'There is a
something, I know not what, an elvish air maybe, about you' (TT
p. 276) it continues: 'And that is not what I should look for, if old
tales and rumours from afar told the whole truth concerning the
little people.' This was rejected and replaced by: 'Some power
greater than the stature of your kind', also rejected. And after
'unlike they were, and yet also much akin' (TT p. 280) the draft
goes on: 'Faramir was doubtless of a different temper, but Frodo
feared the power and treachery of the thing he bore: the greater
and wiser the stronger the lure and the worse the fall.' With this
cf. the sketch given on p. 152.
16. Great Lands: this survival of old usage remains at this place in
The Two Towers (p. 286), its only occurrence in The Lord of the
Rings. At a subsequent occurrence of Great Lands in this chapter
(p. 158) TT has Middle-earth (p. 288), suggesting that its
appearance in the first passage was an oversight.
17. White Mountains: White was added, but almost certainly as the
text was in progress. Cf. the notes given on p. 137: 'Change Black
Mountains to the White Mountains'.
18. The writing of the name Elenarda is perfectly clear and unam-
biguous, and it was not struck out when Kalen(arda) was written
above it (but see p. 156 and note 22). It is strange to find it
applied to Rohan; for this old mythological word derives from
the conception of the three 'airs' in the cosmology expounded in
the Ambarkanta. There it is translated 'Stellar Kingdom', and is
another name for the middle region of Ilmen, in which move the
Sun, the Moon, and the stars (see IV.240 - 3, 253). - On the
name Rohir in the preceding sentence see p. 22 and note 24.
19. Hebel Nimrath was the name of the White Mountains written in
the manuscript, subsequently changed to Ered Nimras. With
these names cf. those given in the notes on p. 137.
20. In the manuscript Faramir says, as in TT (p. 286), 'But the
stewards were wiser and more fortunate.' The Stewards of
Gondor, ruling in Minas Tirith after the death of the last and
childless king of the line of Anarion, have appeared already in the
earlier part of the dialogue of Frodo and Faramir (p. 153). In
the manuscript Faramir's balance of phrases ('wiser and more
fortunate; wiser ..., more fortunate ...') was preserved ('more
fortunate, for our most dangerous foes became our friends'); by
alteration of the text here at a later time this was lost in TT.
21. Rohiroth: see p. 22. In the first of these drafts (D 1) the form is '
Rohir (note 18); in the present draft (D 2) both Rohir and
Rohiroth are found in close proximity. In the manuscript the
form is Rohiroth.
22. In the manuscript my father wrote Kalin, striking it out at once
and writing Calenardan, then altering this to Calenardhon, all
these changes being made in the act of writing. See note 18.
23. The difference between these formulations is evidently that in the
rejected version the relationship is between the Noldor (such as
Galadriel) who remained after the overthrow of Morgoth and
those who departed and went to Tol Eressea; whereas in the
second version the relationship is between the Noldor who
remained and the Elves who never went to Valinor (such as the
Elves of Lothlorien). - Cf. the passage in the chapter 'Galadriel'
in VII.248, with note 12.
24. In TT (p. 287) the reading is 'not from Hador the Goldenhaired,
the Elf-friend, maybe ...' This not was inserted by my father on
a late typescript of the chapter; it was put in very hurriedly, and it
seems to me possible that he read the sentence differently from his
original meaning - which was certainly 'They may be descended
from Hador indeed, but if so, then of course from those of
Hador's descendants who did not pass over the Sea.' - In the
manuscript 'such of their sons' was later emended to 'such of his
people', and this seems to have been misinterpreted by the typist
as 'such of his sons and people'.
It may be noted here that at the same time as this correction to
the manuscript the words 'they became a people apart and should
remain so' were changed to 'and should have remained so'.
25. Great Lands: here TT has Middle-earth; see note 16.
26. This sentence was apparently evolved thus: 'even Earendel our
first king and Elros brother [sc. of Elrond]' > 'even our first king
Elros son of Earendel and brother of Elrond'. See p. 155.
27. It was explicit from the beginning that the Numenoreans were
expressly forbidden by the Gods to sail westward beyond the
Lonely Isle (see the original outline and the original versions of
The Fall of Numenor in The Lost Road, pp. 11, 14, 26).
Elvenhome here means the Lonely Isle: for that isle lay in the Bay
of Elvenhome (cf. The Lost Road p. 103: 'the Isle of Eressea in
Elvenhome'); and this is the meaning also in the same passage in
TT (p. 288), where the words 'within sight of Elvenhome' are
retained - cf. the passage in the Akallabeth (The Silmarillion,
pp. 262 - 3) where the remote vision from Numenor of Avallone,
haven of Eressea, is described. This is made certain, apart from
any other considerations, by the passage given on p. 164.
28. The word Numenorean(s) is variously marked, with an accent on
the first syllable or on the third, or no accent. Here the word is
written Numenoreans, and I have extended this throughout.
29. Cf. the later Annals of Beleriand in The Lost Road, p. 131: the
folk of Hador abandoned their own tongue and spoke with the
speech of the Gnomes'; also the Lhammas $ 10, ibid. p. 179.
30. The name Faramir does not appear in any earlier writing.
31. By later pencilled correction of the manuscript Faramir's words
were changed so that the reference is only to Noldorin: 'many
men of the Three Houses long ago learned the High-elven tongue
of the Noldor, as it was spoken in Gondolin or by the Sons of
Feanor. And always the Lords of Numenor knew that tongue,
and used it among themselves.'
32. On the removal of the history of Pipe-weed from the text see pp.
36-9.
33. With these remarks of Sam's cf. the initial sketch given on p. 152:
'Sam speaks of elvish power, boats, ropes, cloaks.' This was
written before the entry of Faramir's account of language (the
cause of its loss from the chapter in The Two Towers).
34. In neither of the draft versions of Sam's words about Galadriel
does Faramir interject: 'Then she must be lovely indeed. Perilously
fair', leading (in the manuscript, and in TT) to Sam's consider-
ation of the justice of the word perilous as applied to Galadriel;
but in both drafts Sam nonetheless says 'I don't know about
perilous', and makes the same observations. At this stage he was
referring back to Faramir's earlier 'I deem it perilous now for
mortal men, at least to seek the Elder People wilfully' (p. 159).
35. In this draft (D 2) Sam's gaffe is preceded by the same words as in
TT (p. 289), but he ends: 'and it's my opinion as soon as he first
heard of it he wanted the Ring.' Thus he does not refer to Lorien
as the place where Boromir (in the words of the final draft, D 3)
'first saw himself clear, and saw what I saw sooner'.
36. The man who saw Gollum was first named Falborn in the
manuscript, later altered to Anborn (this change was actually
made in the course of the initial drafting of 'The Forbidden
Pool'). In draft and manuscript of 'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit'
(p. 136) Anborn was the father of Falborn leader of the men of
Gondor in Ithilien, who became Faramir.
37. On Elvenhome here (Tol Eressea) see note 27. The manuscript
has the final text (TT p. 285): '... towards Numenor that was,
and beyond to Elvenhome that is, and to that which is beyond
Elvenhome and will ever be.' Cf. Letters no. 211, footnote to
p. 281, where the words 'that which is beyond Elvenhome and
ever will be' [sic] are interpreted as 'is beyond the mortal lands,
beyond the memory of unfallen Bliss, beyond the physical world.'
VI.
THE FORBIDDEN POOL.
The 'fourth new chapter ("Faramir")' had been read to C. S. Lewis
and Charles Williams on 8 May 1944 (see p. 144) - fourth, because
'The Black Gate is Closed' and 'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit' had not
yet been separated (see p. 164, notes 1 and 2). On 11 May my father
wrote (Letters no. 67) that another chapter was in progress, 'leading
to disaster at Kirith Ungol where Frodo is captured. Story then
switches back to Gondor, & runs fairly swiftly (I hope) to denoue-
ment.' On the following day (Letters no. 68) he said that 'we are now
in sight of Minas Morghul'; and he also quoted Faramir's words to
Frodo: When you return to the lands of the living,(1) and we re-tell our
tales, sitting by a wall in the sun, laughing at old grief, you shall tell me
then.' In The Two Towers these words stand just before the end of
'The Forbidden Pool'. On the morning of 15 May 1944 (Letters no.
69) he read his '6th new chapter "Journey to the Cross Roads" ' to
C. S. Lewis.
Initial drafting for what became 'The Forbidden Pool' runs on
continuously into what became 'Journey to the Cross-Roads', and in.
the completed fair copy manuscript likewise the two chapters are one,
titled 'XXXVII. Journey to the Cross Roads'; the latter title and
chapter-break were inserted into the manuscript later, when the first
part became 'The Forbidden Pool'.(2) Since my father would not have
called his 'new chapter' 'Journey to the Cross Roads' if Frodo, Sam
and Gollum did not get there in the course of it, I conclude that this
was where they were, beside the broken statue in the ring of trees,
when he read his '6th new chapter' to Lewis on the 15th of May (by
this time, presumably, he had divided 'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit'
from 'The Black Gate is Closed', so making 'Faramir' the fifth). In his
letter recording this (no. 69) he went on: 'So far it has gone well: but I
am now coming to the nub, when the threads must be gathered and
the times synchronized and the narrative interwoven; while the whole
thing has grown so large in significance that the sketches of concluding
chapters (written ages ago) are quite inadequate, being on a more
"juvenile" level.'
This part of the story unfolded, once my father began to write it,
virtually without any hestitation between rival courses; there is
however a little sketch that he wrote for it, exceedingly hard to make
out, when all was not yet plain.
They are roused late at night. Moonset over Mindolluin. Sam
grumbles at being waked only to see moonlight.
They see Gollum fishing below the pool. J
Faramir says he must shoot to kill, or Frodo must help to I
capture him.
Frodo and some men go out. Frodo calls Gollum and Gollum
is caught still clutching a fish.
Faramir warns Frodo against Gollum.
[Struck out: Frodo tells him] No it is Gollum.
Frodo begs for his life. It is granted if Frodo will induce
Gollum to come and .....(3)
Gollum is caught by guards and brought in.
He [? feigns) great delight at Frodo. Nice fish. Begs him not to
delay but start in morning.
They go back to sleep till morning.
They go on through woods by day. No orcs. Farewell. They
are out of reckoning, and take long[? er than)
Here these notes end. The sentences 'Frodo and some men go out.
Frodo calls Gollum and Gollum is caught still clutching a fish' are
marked with a line in the margin, which probably implies that this is j
the version to be followed, rather than 'Gollum is caught by guards ]
and brought in. He feigns great delight at Frodo.' I cannot explain the
rejected words 'Frodo tells him', followed by 'No it is Gollum'.
Drafting for the chapter (much of it in handwriting so difficult that
were it not generally already close to the final form parts of it would be
virtually uninterpretable) suggests extremely fluent composition, and
there is very little to say of it. New elements entered in successive pages
of drafting, but the fair copy manuscript, from which the chapter was
read to C. S. Lewis on 15 May, reached the text of The Two Towers in
all but a few minor points.
Minor in itself, but very notable, is what Faramir says of the Moon.
In TT (p. 293) he says: 'Fair Ithil, as he goes from Middle-earth,
glances upon the white locks of old Mindolluin'; but in the original
draft of the passage he said: 'Fair Ithil touches with her fingers the
white locks of old Mindolluin', and still in the manuscript, where
the text is otherwise that of TT, he said: 'as she goes from Middle-
earth ...'(4)
In the original draft of Frodo's reply to Far" mir's question concern-
ing Gollum ('Why does he so?', TT p. 294) he says, in support of his
suggestion that Gollum does not realise that men are concealed there,
that 'He has night-eyes, but he is nearsighted and I doubt if he could
see us up here.' In a second draft of the passage the last phrase became
'... and sees to no great distance clearly'; in the manuscript, '... and
distant things are dim to him.' Against this, in the second of these
drafts, my father wrote (at the same time): 'Make it not Gollum who
looked out at Morannon - or make it 100 yards' (with '200 yards'
written above). But the reference to Gollum's nearsightedness was
struck from the typescripts and does not appear in TT, and Gollum
remained the one who looked out from the hollow before the Black
Gate and saw the 'very cruel wicked Men' coming up the road from
the south. My father hesitated much over the distance from the hollow
to the road, and this was clearly one of the reasons for it; see p. 128
note 9. - The 'froglike figure' that climbed out of the water as Frodo
and Faramir looked down on the pool was a subsequent change from
'spidery figure'.
In very rough and rapid initial drafting for the concluding part of
the chapter in TT (pp. 300-2) Frodo says no more of the way past
Minas Morghul than that Gollum had said that there was such a way,
'up in a high pass in the mountains'. Then follows Faramir's declara-
tion of the name Kirith Ungol, as in TT. In the fair copy manuscript
my father first wrote here:
'I do not know clearly,' said Frodo, 'but it climbs, I think, up
into the mountains on the southern side of that vale in the
mountains on the northern side of which the old city stands. It
goes up to a high cleft and so down to - that which is beyond.'
This was subsequently changed to the text of TT. On the earlier idea
that Kirith Ungol was on the south side of the valley see p. 113.
At the end of this initial draft my father briefly outlined the further
course of the story: the blindfolding of the hobbits and Gollum, the
report of the scouts on the strange silence and emptiness in the land,
Faramir's advice to go by day through the woods 'skirting the last fall
of the land before the river vale', and his farewell. At the foot of this
page is a pencilled note only a part of which can I make out:
K[irith] U[ngol] must not be mentioned before Frodo ... to tell
Faramir of Gollum.
Yes he found the ring many many years ago, said Frodo. He is the
means by which all this great matter has been set going.
Two sentences follow in which I can make out nothing at all, except
perhaps 'where the ring had been'. But in any case this was evidently a
very short-lived idea.
NOTES.
1. The original draft of the passage in 'The Forbidden Pool' was
almost as in TT: 'If ever you return to the lands of the living ...'
2. A subsequent tentative arrangement was to put 'The Forbidden
Pool' with 'Faramir', calling the first part 'Faramir (1): The
Window of the West' (not 'on the West'), and the second 'Faramir
(2): The Forbidden Pool'.
3. The illegible end of this sentence looks in fact more like 'visit them'
than anything else. If so, the meaning is presumably 'if Frodo can
induce Gollum to leave the pool and come up with him to
Faramir's presence'; the word is oddly chosen, but these notes
were written at great speed.
4. she was corrected to he on the first typescript. Cf. the Quenta
Silmarillion in The Lost Road, p. 241 $78: 'Varda commanded the
Moon to rise only after the Sun had left heaven, but he travels with
uncertain pace, and still pursueth her ...'
Another matter concerning the Moon may be mentioned. At the
beginning of the chapter, when Faramir waking Frodo says 'the
full moon is setting', my father changed this on the manuscript to
'rising'; when they came out from the stairway in the rock the
words 'Far off in the West the full moon was sinking' were
changed to 'Behind him the round moon, full and majestic, rose
out of the shadow of the East'; and Faramir's 'Moonset over
Gondor' was changed to 'Moonrise over Gondor'. This would of
course make it very much earlier in the night. But all these
alterations were returned to the original readings, presumably at
once, since subsequently 'It was now dark and the falls were pale
and grey, reflecting only the lingering moonlight of the western
sky' (TT p. 295) was not changed.
VII.
JOURNEY TO THE CROSS-ROADS.
I have recounted the original relationship of 'The Forbidden Pool' and
'Journey to the Cross-roads'(1) at the beginning of the last chapter.
Preliminary drafting for this second part of the original single chapter
runs continuously, in excruciatingly difficult handwriting, as far as the
coming of Frodo and his companions to the ridge covered with
whortleberry and gorse-bushes so tall that they could walk upright
beneath them (TT p. 307).(2) The story to this point differed from that
in The Two Towers. The journey took a day less: they came to the
road from Osgiliath at dusk of the day on which they left Henneth
Annun in the morning; and their taking refuge in the great holm-oak
was described at much greater length (cf. TT pp. 306 - 7, from 'Gollum
reluctantly agreed to this'):
Gollum agreed to this, and the travellers turned back from the
road, but Gollum would not rest on the ground in the open
woodland. After some search he chose a large dark ilex with
great branches springing together high up from a great bole like
a [?giant] pillar. It grew at the foot of a small bank [?leaning] a
little westward. From the bank Gollum leaped with ease upon
the trunk, climbing like a cat and scrambling up into the
branches. The hobbits climbed only with the help of Sam's rope
and in that task Gollum would not help, he would not lay a
finger on the elven rope. The great branches springing almost
from the same point made a wide bowl and here they [?man-
aged] to find some sort of comfort. It grew deep dark under the
great canopy of the tree. They could not see the sky or any star.
'We could sleep snug and safe here, if it wasn't for this dratted
Gollum,' thought Sam. Whether he was really as forgiving as he
claimed or not, Gollum at least had no fear of his companions,
and curled up like some tree-animal and soon went to sleep, or
seemed to. But the hobbits did not trust it - neither of them
(certainly not Sam) were likely to forget Faramir's warning.
They took [it] in turn to watch and had about 3 hours' sleep
each. All the while Gollum did not stir. Whether the 'nice fish'
had given him strength to last for a bit or whatnot else, he did
not go out to hunt.
Shortly before midnight he woke up suddenly and they saw
his pale eyes unlidded staring in the darkness.
At the point where this opening draft ended my father wrote
Thunder. But at this stage there is no suggestion in the text of any
change in the weather or in the feeling of the air. Other points worth
mentioning are that the staves given to Frodo and Sam by Faramir had
'carven heads like a shepherd's crook'; that the tree of which they were
made was first named melinon (the last two letters are not perfectly
clear), then lebendron, and finally lebethras, all these changes being
made in the act of writing;(3) and that though Faramir warns them
against drinking of any water that flows from the valley of Morghul he
does not name it Imlad Morghul (but the name occurs soon after:
p. 223, note 25).
A second draft takes up at the beginning of the passage just given
('Gollum agreed to this'), and the episode of the oak-tree was
rewritten. In this text appears the first reference to an approaching
change in the weather.
They were steadily climbing. Looking back they could see now
the roof of the forests they had left, lying like a huge dense
shadow spread under the sky. The air seemed heavy, no longer
fresh and clear, and the stars were blurred, and when towards
the end of the night the moon climbed slowly above Ephel
Duath (4) it was ringed about with a sickly yellow glare. They
went on until the sky above the approaching mountains began
to grow pale. Gollum seemed to know well enough where he
was. He stood for a moment nose upward sniffing. Then
beckoning to them he hurried forward. Following him wearily
they began to climb a great hogback of land....
After the description of the great gorse-bushes and their hiding in a
brake of tangled thorns and briars there follows (cf. TT p. 308):
There they lay glad to be at rest, too tired as yet to eat, and
watched the slow growth of day. As the light grew the
mountains of Ephel-duath seemed to frown and lower at them
across the tumbled lands between. They looked even nearer
than they were, black below where night lingered, with jagged
tips and edges lined in threatening shapes against the opening
sky.
Away a little northward of where the hobbits lay they seemed
to recede eastwards and fall back in a great re-entrant, the
nearer shoulder of which thrusting forward hid the view in that
direction. Below out of the great shadow they could see the road
from the River for a short stretch as it bent away north-east to
join the southward road that still lay further off [?buried] in the
crumpled land.
'Which way do we go from here?' said Frodo.
'Must we think of it yet?' said Sam. 'Surely we're not going to
move for hours and hours?'
'No surely not,' said Gollum. 'But we must move sometime.
..... back to the Cross-roads that we told the hobbits about.'
'When shall we get there?'
'We doesn't know,' said Gollum. 'Before night is over
perhaps, perhaps not.'
At this point the second draft breaks down into an outline of the story
to come, and the handwriting becomes in places altogether inscrut-
able.
Gollum away a large part of the day. Reach Cross-roads in
fact owing to difficult country not until evening. Start at dusk
about 5.30 and do not reach Cross-roads and headless statue
until morning [sic]. Gollum in a great state of fright. Weather
changed. Sky above Ephel Duath absolute black. Clouds or
smoke? drifting on an East wind. Rumbles? Sun hidden. In this
darkness they get out of the wood and see Minas Morghul. It
shines amid a deep gloom as if by an evil moon - though there is
no moon.
Horror of hobbits. Weight of Ring........ vale of Morghul.
Where road went away to the north shoulder and bases of the
fortress they turned aside and climbed away southward to other
side of V [i.e. Vale of Morghul]. Frodo and Sam ....... see a
track. They are already some way up and the gates of Minas
Morghul frown at them when there is a great roll and rumble.
Blast of Thunder .... rain. Out of gates comes host led by
B[lack] R[ider].
It was in this text that the idea of the great cloud spreading out of
Mordor emerged. In a third section of drafting my father returned to
the point where the second had become a sketch, following Gollum's
words about the Cross-roads: 'The sun that had risen with a red glare
behind the Ephel-duath passed into dark clouds moving slowly from
the East. It was a gloomy morning. The hobbits took some food and
settled to rest ...'
After Gollum's reappearance from his long absence that day this
draft too turns to outline:
When he returns he says they ought to start. Hobbits think
something has worried him (or ?). They are suspicious but
have to agree. The [early evening >) afternoon is threatening
and overcast. At evening they come to the Cross-roads in a
wood. Sun goes down bloodred in the west over Osgiliath.
Terrible darkness begins.
The completed fair copy manuscript did not in this case reach the
form of the story in The Two Towers, for Frodo and his companions
still only took two days from Henneth Annun to the Cross-roads, and
a major later change was the lengthening of their journey by a further
day. This was achieved by the insertion of the following passage into a
typescript of the chapter, following the words (TT p. 305) 'The birds
seemed all to have flown away or to have fallen dumb':
Darkness came early to the silent woods, and before the fall
of night they halted, weary, for they had walked seven leagues
or more from Henneth Annun. Frodo lay and slept away the
night on the deep mould beneath an ancient tree. Sam beside
him was more uneasy: he woke many times, but there was never
a sign of Gollum, who had slipped off as soon as the others had
settled to rest. Whether he had slept by himself in some hole
nearby, or had wandered restlessly prowling through the night,
he did not say; but he returned with the first glimmer of light,
and roused his companions.
'Must get up, yes they must!' he said. 'Long ways to go still,
south and east. Hobbits must make haste! '
That day passed much the same as the day before had done,
except that the silence seemed deeper; the air grew heavy, and it
began to be stifling under the trees. It felt as if thunder was
brewing. Gollum often paused, sniffing the air, and then he
would mutter to himself and urge them to greater speed.
(As the third stage of their day's march drew on ...)
This was retained almost exactly in TT. In the manuscript the text
passes at once from 'The birds seemed all to have flown away or to
have fallen dumb' to 'As the third stage of their day's march drew on',
and thus in this narrative (as in the original draft, p. 175) they came
to the Cross-roads at sunset of the second day. They had come to
Henneth Annun at sunset on 6 February (pp. 135, 141); they left on
the morning of the 7th, and coming to the Osgiliath road at dusk of
that day passed the first part of the night in the great oak-tree; they
went on again 'a little before midnight', and passed most of the
daylight hours of 8 February hiding in the thorn-brake before going on
to the Cross-roads (see further the Note on Chronology at the end of
this chapter).
Thus the phrase 'As the third stage of their day's march drew on'
referred, when it was written, to the statement then immediately
preceding: 'Twice that day they rested and took a little of the food
provided by Faramir'; as it stands in TT its reference is less clear.
In this inserted passage occurs the first reference in TT to the
heaviness in the air and the feeling of thunder. In the manuscript as in
the draft (p. 176) the first reference to the change in the weather does
not appear until they set out again and began to climb eastwards, after
spending the first part of the night (the second night in TT) in the
oak-tree; at this point in TT, by a later change, 'There seemed to be
a great blackness looming slowly out of the East, eating up the faint
blurred stars.' On the following morning, as they lay hidden under the
thorns, the manuscript retained the story in the draft: the hobbits
'watched the slow growth of day', and saw the mountain-tops
outlined against the sunrise; and here again this was afterwards
changed to the reading of TT (p. 308): the hobbits 'watched for the
slow growth of day. But no day came, only a dead brown twilight. In
the East there was a dull red glare under the lowering cloud: it was not
the red of dawn.' Where the manuscript, again following the draft
(p- 177), has 'The sun that had risen with a red flare behind Ephel-duath
passed soon into dark clouds moving slowly from the East. It was
going to be a gloomy day, if no worse' TT has 'The red glare over
Mordor died away. The twilight deepened as great vapours rose in the
East and crawled above them.' On the other hand, the further
references in this chapter to the darkness (and to the deep rumbling
sounds) were already present in the original version, and at the end it
is said, almost as in TT (p. 311): 'There, far away, the sun was sinking,
finding at last the hem of the great slow-rolling pall of cloud, and
falling in an ominous fire towards the yet unsullied sea.'(5)
Comparing the text as it stands in the manuscript with that in TT
one might well suppose at first sight that all these careful alterations
show my father at a later time (when he had reached Book V)
developing the original idea of a great thunderstorm arising in the
mountains into that of the 'Dawnless Day', an emanation of the power
of Mordor that obliterated the sunrise and turned day into night, that
stroke of Sauron's that preceded his great assault. But it is clear that
this is not so. That conception was already present. In fact, the
essential reason for these changes was chronological, and they are to
be associated with the extra day of the journey from Henneth Annun.
The slow approach of the great cloud out of the East had to be
advanced at each succeeding stage of the journey to the Cross-roads
(see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter). It is also true,
however, that the rewriting of these passages intensified the Darkness
and made it more potent and sinister.
Lastly, another later alteration to the text in the manuscript was the
sentence (TT p. 306) 'and the sound of the water seemed cold and
cruel: the voice of Morgulduin, the polluted stream that flowed from
the Valley of the Wraiths.'
On p. 181 is reproduced a plan of the Cross-roads and Minas
Morghul.(6)
NOTES.
1. My father wrote the word 'Cross-roads' very variously, but in this
chapter I spell it thus throughout, as in TT.
2. Cf. Unfinished Tales, p. 99 and note 15.
3. In the fair copy manuscript it was still said that the heads of the
staves were in the form of a shepherd's crook, though this was
subsequently rejected (see p. 207), but the name of the tree was
lebethron as first written.
4. In the first draft the form was still Hebel Duath. On this change see
p. 137. - This reference to the moon climbing above Ephel Duath
'towards the end of night' is curious, in view of the opening of 'The
Forbidden Pool', where towards the end of the previous night the
full moon was setting in the West. The original draft here is even
odder:
The moon rose at last out of [?high) shadows ahead of them. It
hardly showed yet any ... of its full light, but already away
behind the mountains and the hollow land and the empty wastes
day was beginning to grow pale.
'There comes White Face,' said Gollum. 'We doesn't like it.
And Yellow Face is coming soon, sss. Two faces in sky together
at once, not a good sign. And we've got some way to go.'
My father was certainly, as he wrote to me on 14 May 1944
(Letters no. 69), having 'trouble with the moon'.
In the manuscript the moon is still climbing above Ephel Duath
late in the night; only by a later change does it become 'the sinking
moon' that 'escaped from the pursuing cloud' (TT p. 307).
5. The words in TT 'beyond sad Gondor now overwhelmed in shade'
were a later addition.
6. At the head of the first stair there is evidently a track and not a
tunnel, and therefore the later conception of the ascent to the pass
is present (pp. 198-200).
Note on the Chronology.
The time-schemes referred to as Scheme C and Scheme D (pp. 140 - 1)
both cover this part of the narrative. Scheme C reads as follows (for
comparison with the citations from The Tale of Years that follow I
have added 'Day 1' etc. in both cases).
(Minas Morghul and the Cross-roads)
[Day 1] Monday Feb. 6 Frodo and Sam in Ithilien. They are taken by
Faramir. Battle with the Southrons. Frodo spends night at Henneth
Annun.
[Day 2] Tuesday Feb. 7 Gollum captured in the Pool of Annun in the
early hours (5.30-6). Frodo Sam R Gollum leave Faramir, and
journey all day reaching Osgiliath road at dusk, and go east just
before midnight.
Faramir leaves Henneth Annun for Minas Tirith.
[Day 3] Wednesday Feb. 8 Faramir rides to Minas Tirith late in day
and brings news to Gandalf.
Frodo lies hid in thornbrake until late afternoon (Gollum dis-
appears and returns about 4.30). Sound of drums or thunder. They
reach the Cross-roads at sunset (5.5 p.m.). Pass Minas Morghul,
and begin ascent of Kirith Ungol. The host of Minas Morghul goes
out to war.
[Day 4] Thursday Feb. 9 Frodo etc. all day and night in the
Mountains of Shadow.
Host of Minas Morghul reaches Osgiliath and crosses into realm of
Gondor.
Here this scheme ends. Scheme D is precisely the same in dates and
content, but continues further (see p. 226) and has some entries
concerning Theoden's movements: Feb. 7 'Theoden prepares to ride to
Gondor. Messengers from Minas Tirith arrive. Also tidings of the
invasion of North Rohan and war in the North'; Feb. 8 'Theoden rides
from Edoras'. The fully 'synoptic' scheme S also agrees, and in
addition mentions the coming on of 'the Great Darkness' on Feb. 8.
It will be seen that this chronology precisely fits the narrative as it
stands in the manuscript, i.e. before it was altered by the insertion of
the extra day. When that was done, the (relative) chronology of The
Tale of Years was reached:
[Day 1] March 7 Frodo taken by Faramir to Henneth Annun.
[Day 2] March S Frodo leaves Henneth Annun.
[Day 3] March 9 At dusk Frodo reaches the Morgul-road.
[Day 4] March 10 The Dawnless Day. Frodo passes the Cross Roads,
and sees the Morgul-host set forth.
The synchronization of Frodo's story with that of the events west of
Anduin required both that Frodo should take longer and that 'Day 4'
should be the Dawnless Day. Thus in the original story Frodo and Sam
see the red sunrise from their hiding in the thornbrake on 'Day 3'; in
the final form they are hiding in the thornbrake on 'Day 4', and there
is no sunrise, but a red glare over Mordor that 'was not the red of
dawn'.
VIII.
KIRITH UNGOL.
In this chapter I shall describe the writing of the three last chapters of
The Two Towers: 'The Stairs of Kirith Ungol', 'Shelob's Lair', and
'The Choices of Master Samwise'. As will be seen, this is dictated by
the way in which my father developed the narrative.
This is the last part of The Lord of the Rings for which precise
dating is possible, for when the doors of the Tower of Kirith Ungol
slammed in Sam's face my father halted again for a long time, and
when I returned to England in 1945 the constant correspondence
between us naturally ceased. He wrote on 12 May 1944 (Letters no.
68) that 'we are now in sight of Minas Morghul'; and a good part of
the work studied in this chapter must have been done during the
following ten days, for on 21 May (Letters no. 70) he said:
I have taken advantage of a bitter cold grey week ... to write: but
struck a sticky patch. All that I had sketched or written before
proved of little use, as times, motives, etc., have all changed.
However at last with v. great labour, and some neglect of other
duties, I have now written or nearly written all the matter up to the
capture of Frodo in the high pass on the very brink of Mordor. Now
I must go back to the other folk and try and bring things to the final
crash with some speed. Do you think Shelob is a good name for
a monstrous spider creature? It is of course only 'she + lob' (=
spider), but written as one, it seems to be quite noisome.
Adding to this letter on the following day, Monday 22 May, he said:
It was a wretched cold day yesterday (Sunday). I worked very hard
at my chapter - it is most exhausting work; especially as the climax
approaches and one has to keep the pitch up: no easy level will do;
and there are all sorts of minor problems of plot and mechanism. I
wrote and tore up and rewrote most of it a good many times; but
I was rewarded this morning, as both C.S.L. and C.W. thought it
an admirable performance, and the latest chapters the best so far.
Gollum continues to develop into a most intriguing character.
At first sight the references in this letter seem inconsistent: in the past
week he had written all or nearly all the story up to the capture of
Frodo; he had just spent a day working hard 'at my chapter' (in the
singular); and that morning he had read 'it' to Lewis and Williams.
There are various ways of explaining this: my guess is that he had at
this time got the whole story in draft, which he was still working on,
and which he thought of as a 'chapter'; but what he read to Lewis and
Williams was 'The Stairs of Kirith Ungol'. That this last is certainly the
case is seen from his letter of 31 May 1944 (Letters no. 72):
The rest of my time ... has been occupied by the desperate attempt
to bring 'The Ring' to a suitable pause, the capture of Frodo by the
Orcs in the passes of Mordor, before I am obliged to break off by
examining. By sitting up all hours, I managed it: and read the last
2 chapters (Shelob's Lair and The Choices of Master Samwise) to
C.S.L. on Monday morning.
It had indeed been a great labour. The elements were present: the
climb to the high pass, the spider's lair, the webs in the tunnel, the use
of the phial of Galadriel, the disappearance of Gollum, his treachery,
the attack of the spider, the tower guarding the pass, the coming of the
Orcs; but they long defied a satisfactory articulation. Perhaps in no
part of The Lord of the Rings can the work behind the finished text be
more clearly discerned than here.
Already when drafting the chapter 'The Black Gate is Closed' my
father had sketched out his idea of the approach to Kirith Ungol
(p. 124): there Gollum tells Frodo and Sam of 'A stair and path leading
up into the mountains south of the pass, and then a tunnel, and then
more stairs and then a cleft high above the main pass'. And in the outline
that ends the original draft of that chapter (p. 125) it is foreseen that
after leaving the Cross-roads they will see the moon shining on Minas
Morghul; they will pass up the first stair, force their way through the
tunnel 'black with webs of spiders', and get up the second stair which
will bring them to Kirith Ungol; but 'Spiders are aroused and hunt
them. They are exhausted.' Whether at that stage Kirith Ungol was
guarded by a tower is not clear {see pp. 125-6).
But long before this, my father had written an account of the entry
of Frodo and Sam into Mordor, which beginning as outline soon
became narrative ('The Story Foreseen from L6rien', in The Treason
of Isengard, pp. 330 ff.).(1) That story was very largely concerned with
Sam's rescue of Frodo from Minas Morghul, which does not concern
us here; but the first part of it is very relevant, for my father had it
before him in May 1944, and I cite a portion of it again here (taking
up the various additions made to the text that were certainly present
when he now turned to it).
The three companions now approach Kirith Ungol, the dreadful
ravine which leads into Gorgoroth.(2) 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.
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.
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.
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 Barradur to the Great One. But we cannot wait here -
we must get back to our guard post. Bear the prisoner to Minas
Morgul.' (Gollum runs behind wailing that the Precious is not
there.)
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. Sam
gathers that they are going to Minas Morgul ...
Sam follows the Orcs as they march off to Minas Morgul, and sees
them entering the city; then he follows them in.
My father now wrote a new outline, and it is clear that he wrote it
before he had proceeded far with the story that constitutes the chapter
'The Stairs of Kirith Ungol'. The original draft of 'Journey to the
Cross-roads' in fact continued straight on into what would become the
next chapter, but soon became no more than a sketch. Frodo's sudden
crazed dash towards the bridge (TT p. 313) was absent; after scarcely
legible words corresponding to the later 'Frodo felt his senses reeling
and his mind darkening' follows:
Gollum again drew him away. Not that way ..... he hissed
..... but the sound seemed to tear the air like a whistle. Not
that way. He drew them aside and [?shrinking] after him they
left the road and began to climb up into the darkness on the
northern side of the valley, ..... their eyes away from the city
on their right, but always looking back again.
It is here that the placing of the high pass (Kirith Ungol) on the north
side of the Morghul Vale first appears. Then follows:
They came to a .... and steps and laboured on. As they rose
above the exhalations of the valley their track became easier and
the [or their] steps less heavy and slow. But at last they could go
no further. They were in a narrow place where the path or road
- if it were one - was no more than a wide ledge winding along
the face of the mountain shoulder. Before them it seemed to
vanish into the shadow or into the very rock itself.
They halted and at that moment a great red flash lit up the
valley. In that place of shadow and pale phosphorescent light it
seemed unbearable, suddenly fierce and cruel. Two peaks with
notches between sprang suddenly [?black] into view against the
[?sudden) fire behind. At the same moment a great [?crack] of
thunder .......
There follows an illegible sentence that seems to refer to the great
screeching cry, and the text ends with a reference to the coming forth
of the host of Morghul.
At this point the new outline for the whole 'Kirith Ungol' story
begins. Written at great speed and in pencil, it is often exceedingly
difficult to make out, and in one passage very hard to follow.
Description of the endless long black lines. Rider ahead. He
halts and sweeps glance round valley. Frodo's temptation to put
on Ring. At last the host [?passes] away.
The [?stormJ is bursting - they are going to Osgiliath and the
crossing of the River he said. Will Faramir be across? Will army
slay them?
[Added: long [? journey] up. Frodo uses phial.]
They pass into the tunnel. Halfway through they find it
blocked with webs. Gollum refuses to say what they are. Frodo
goes ahead and hews a path with Sting. Sam helps.
At other end after long struggle in dark he finds a stair. They
can no longer see into valley, as sheer walls of rock are on either
side. The stair goes up, up endlessly. [?Occasional] webs across
path.
Gollum hangs back. They begin to have suspicion of him.
Description of the spiders? There dwelt great creatures in spider
form such as lived once of old in the Land of the Elves in the
West that is now under the Sea, such as Beren fought in the dark
ravines of the Mountains of Terror above Doriath. All light they
snared and wove into impenetrable webs. Pale-fleshed, many-
eyed, venomous they were, older and more horrible than the
black creatures of Mirkwood. Already Gollum had met them:
he knew them well. But thought to use them for his purposes.
They come out at last to the head of the stair. The road opens
a little. There is still an ominous glare. They see the road
[?clearly] .. through a [?narrow] cleft and now the right wall
sinks and they look down into a vast darkness, the great cleft
which was the head of Morghul Vale. On the left sharp jagged
pinnacles full of black crevices. And high upon one tip a small
black tower.(3)
What is that tower? said Frodo full of suspicion. Is there a
guard? Then they found Gollum had slipped away and
vanished.
Frodo is full of fear. But Sam says Well we're up this
.... near very top of mountains. Further than we ever hoped to
get. Let's go on and get it over.
Frodo goes forward and Sam follows. Sam is suddenly
lassooed and falls back. He calls out but Frodo does not come.
He struggles up and falls again - something is round his feet.
Slashes himself free in a fury of rage. Frodo master he cries, and
then sees the great spider that has attacked him. He lunges
forward but the creature makes off. Then he sees that there [are]
a great number about - issuing out of the crevices, but they are
all hurrying forward along the road, taking no further notice of
him.
Lines are drawn on the manuscript here, and though the immedi-
ately preceding passage was not struck out it was obviously rejected
at this point. Its meaning is not immediately plain: does 'him' in 'the
great spider that has attacked him' refer to Sam or to Frodo? On
general grounds it might seem at first sight more likely to be Frodo: in
both the earlier outlines it was Frodo who was the victim, and so also
in the version that replaced this. That Frodo would be the victim here
also cannot indeed be doubted; but it seems to me certain that 'him' is
in fact Sam - precisely because he escaped (and the words 'lassooed'
and 'slashes himself free' clearly refer to attack by a spider). Sam had
to be delayed in some way so that he was not at hand when the attack
on Frodo took place. The first idea was that one of the spiders went for
Sam too, but unsuccessfully; my father then saw at once that it was
not a spider that came on him from behind, but Gollum. What idea lay
behind the statement that the other spiders were all hurrying forward
along the path and taking no further notice of Sam is not clear, but
presumably they were going after Frodo (instigated by Gollum?).
Returning to the beginning of the last paragraph, the outline
continues:
Sam suddenly sees the spiders coming out of crevices. He
can't see Frodo and calls out in warning, but at that moment he
is seized from behind. He can't draw sword. Gollum trips him
and he falls. Gollum tries to get at Sam's sword. Sam has long
fight and eventually gets hand on his stave and deals Gollum a
blow. Gollum wriggles aside and only gets a whack across his
hands. He lets go. Sam is aiming another blow at him when he
springs away and going like lightning disappears into a crevice.
Sam rushes forward to find Frodo. He is too late. There are
great spiders round him. Sam draws sword and fights but they
don't seem to [?heed] it. Then he found Sting lying by Frodo's
outstretched arm. (2 or 3 dead spiders by him.)
He seizes Sting and drives off the spiders. Frodo lying as if
dead. Spiders have stung him. He is pale as death. Sam uses
phial. Reminds Sam of his vision in the mirror of Galadriel.(4) All
efforts to rouse his master fail. He can hear or feel no heart beat.
He is dead. Sam [?falls] first into senseless rage against Gollum
[?beating] the stones and shouting at him to come out and fight.
Then into a black despair of grief. How long he sat there he
never knew. He came out of this black trance to find Frodo still
just as he had left him, but now greenish in hue, a horrible dead
look with a ....(5)
Sam remembers he himself had said that he had a job to do.
Wonders if it has come to him now. He takes the phial and Sting
and buckles belt. Sam the two-sworded he says grimly. Prays for
strength to fight and avenge Frodo. At that moment he would
have marched straight to death, straight to the very Eye of
Baraddur.
Two additions were made at the time of writing to the text on this
page, the first directed to this point by an arrow: 'Lament see 5c'. This
is a reference to the previous outline story, where the words 'Then he
sat and made a Lament for Frodo' (p. 185) appear on a page
numbered '5 continued'. The other addition is conveniently given
here, since it is needed to explain the narrative immediately following:
Orcs have captured Gollum - all his little plan of getting Frodo tied
up by spiders has gone [? wrong]. They are driving Gollum.
The text continues:
Noise of [?approaching] Orc-laughter. Down out of a cleft
Gollum leading comes a band of black orcs. Desperate Sam
draws off the ring from Frodo's neck and takes it. He could not
unclasp it or cut the chain so he slipped it over Frodo's neck and
put it on. As he did so he stumbled forward, it was as if a great
stone had been suddenly strung about his neck. At that moment
up come orcs. Sam slips on Ring.
Frodo cries - or is Sam's motive simply that [?wishing] to
bury Frodo: he won't see Frodo's body carried off. Also
wanting to get at Gollum.
To clarify the syntax of the sentence beginning 'Frodo cries' the
word wishing (?) might be read as wishes (sc. 'he wishes'), or of might
be understood before wishing; but even so my father's thought is most
elliptically expressed and difficult to follow. However, since im-
mediately beneath these last two sentences he drew lines on the
manuscript, implying that the story just sketched was about to be
modified, I think that an interpretation on these lines may be correct.
'Frodo cries' is to be understood in relation to the earlier outline
(p. 186): when the Orcs take Frodo he 'seems to awake, and gives a loud
cry'. The following words ('or is Sam's motive...') show my father
breaking off altogether, and questioning the rightness of what he had
just outlined: perhaps this story of Sam's taking the Ring from Frodo
because of the approaching Orcs was wrong. Perhaps Sam's only
'motive' (meaning his only purpose, or desire) at this juncture was not
to leave Frodo simply lying where he fell (cf. the previous outline,
p. 185: 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') - and his desire to take revenge on Gollum.
I think that some such interpretation is borne out by the revised story
that immediately follows.
Make Sam sit long by Frodo all through night. Hold phial up
and see him elvish-fair. Torn by not knowing what to do. He
lays Frodo out, and folds his hands. Mithril coat. Phial in his
hand. Sting at side.
Tries to go on and finish job. Can't force himself to. How to
die [?soon]. Thinks of jumping over brink. But might as well try
to do something. Crack of Doom? Reluctantly as it seems a theft
in a way he takes Ring. Goes forward on the path in a violent
sorrow and despair. [In margin: Red dawn.] But cannot drag
himself away from Frodo. Turns back - resolved to lie down by
Frodo till death comes. Then he sees Gollum come and paw
him. He gives a start and runs back. But orcs come out and
Gollum bolts. Orcs pick up Frodo and carry him off. Sam plods
after them. Sam puts on ring! It seems to have grown in might
and power. It weighs down his hand. But he can see with
terrible clearness - even through the rocks. He can see every
crevice filled with spiders. He can understand orc speech. But
the ring does not confer courage on Sam.
It seems they had been warned for special vigilance. Some spy
of more than usual importance could try to get in somehow. If
any were caught messenger to be [?sent]. Phial taken. Sam
follows up a long stair to the tower. He can see all plain below.
The Black Gate and Ithilien and Gorgoroth and Mt. Doom.
Here this outline ends. As revised in the course of its composition,
the story now stood thus in its essential structure:
- They enter a tunnel, which halfway through is blocked with
webs. Frodo shears the webs with Sting.
- At the end of the tunnel they come to a long stair. (Description of
the spiders, which are well known to Gollum.)
- At the top of the stair they see the tower; and find that Gollum
has disappeared.
- Frodo goes ahead; Sam behind sees spiders coming and cries out
to Frodo, but at that moment is grappled by Gollum from behind.
Sam fights him off, and Gollum escapes.
- Sam finds Frodo dead, as he thinks, stung by spiders. He seizes
Sting and drives them off; he sits by Frodo all night; puts the
phial in his hand and Sting beside him.
- He thinks that he must himself attempt Frodo's task, takes the
Ring and sets off.
- But he cannot do this, and turns back; he sees Gollum come out
and paw at Frodo, but as he runs back Orcs come and Gollum
flees.
- The Orcs pick up Frodo and carry him off.
- Sam puts on the Ring, and follows the Orcs up a stair to the
tower.
Comparison of this outline with the old one shows that the new
narrative was a development from it, and by no means an entirely
fresh start; here and there even the wording was preserved. The single
Great Spider had not yet emerged. But (considered simply as a
step-by-step structure) it was already transformed, partly through the
wholly different conception of the pass of Kirith Ungol, partly through
the changed view of Gollum's role; and even as the new outline was set
on paper his role was changed further. At first the Orcs were guided to
the spot by Gollum, though he was forced to do so, his own nefarious
plan being entirely based on the spiders; but by the time my father had
reached the end of it he had decided that Gollum had in fact no traffic
whatsoever with the Orcs.
The idea that the tunnel was barred by great webs is present, but
since Frodo was able to cut a way through with Sting their presence
does not affect the actual evolution of the plot. The words 'Gollum
refuses to say what they are' suggest that they entered the story as the
explanation of what Gollum's 'little plan' had actually been: and that,
I take it, was that Frodo and Sam should be entrapped in the tunnel
and so delivered to the spiders. But he had not envisaged that Frodo's
elvish blade would be able to cut the strands.
The important element now enters that Frodo went ahead when
they issued from the tunnel (and thus Sam had become separated from
him when he was attacked by the spiders), although no explanation of
this is given.
A very notable feature of this outline is that Sam's clarity of vision
when he wears the Ring is not merely retained from the old plot ('The
Ring seems to grow in power in this region: he sees clearly in the dark',
p. 186), but is greatly increased: he can even see through the rocks; in
TT (p. 343), on the other hand, 'all things about him now were not
dark but vague; while he himself was there in a grey hazy world,
alone, like a small black solid rock'. On this question see VII.373 - 4,
380 - 1; and for the further development of this element (the effect of
the Ring on Sam's senses) see pp. 212, 214.
The fair copy manuscript was built up in stages. From the beginning
of the chapter 'The Stairs of Kirith Ungol', as far as 'Frodo felt his
senses reeling, his limbs weakening' (cf. TT p. 313), it was developed
from the original draft (p. 186) and virtually attained the form in TT;
but from this point my father briefly returned to his frustrating
practice of erasing his pencilled draft and writing the fair copy on the
pages where it had stood. This only extends for a couple of pages,
however, and some words and phrases escaped erasure; while on the
third page the draft was not erased but overwritten, and here much of
the original text can be read. This carries the narrative to the point (TT
p. 317) where the host out of Minas Morghul had disappeared down
the westward road and Sam urged Frodo to rouse himself; and there is
no reason whatever to think that the lost pages of the draft were other
than a more roughly expressed version of the final narrative.(6)
But from this point (where the pencilled draft reads: 'Frodo rose,
grasping his staff in one hand and the phial in the other. Then he saw
that a faint light was welling through his fingers and he thrust it in his
bosom') the original narrative diverged, and was followed in the fair
copy manuscript (where it was subsequently replaced by the later
story). This first form of the fully-written story may be called 'Version
1'. The textual situation at this point is odd and perplexing, but it is
sufficient to say here that the opening of this section (of no great
length) is lost, both in draft and fair copy, and the story only takes up
again with the strange smell that the hobbits could not identify (cf.
'Shelob's Lair' in TT, p. 326).(7)
I feel certain that the lost lines carried an account of the climbing of
the first stair, leading to an opening in the rock which was the mouth
of the tunnel, from which the strange smell came (whereas in TT the
text at this point tells how after the passage of the ledge the path came
to 'a narrow opening in the rock' which was the entry to the
high-walled first stair). My father still had in mind the series described
in the draft text of 'The Black Gate is Closed' (p. 124), where Gollum
says 'a stair and path, and then a tunnel, and then more stairs and then
a cleft high above the main pass', and again in the following outline (p.
125), where they 'pass up first stair safely. But tunnel is black with
webs of spiders.... force way and get up second stair.' And again,
in the original draft for 'The Stairs of Kirith Ungol' (p. 186), when
they began to climb up from the valley they came to 'steps'. Further
evidence in support of this will appear shortly.
After the obliterated lines the original story continues thus.
... a strange odour came out of it - not the odour of decay in
the valley below, an odour that the hobbits did not recognize, a
repellent taint on the air.(8)
Resigning themselves to fear they passed inside. It was
altogether lightless. After some little time Sam suddenly tum-
bled into Gollum ahead of him and Frodo against Sam. 'What's
up now?' said Sam. 'Brought us to a dead end, have you?' 'Dead
end - that's good,' he muttered. 'It about describes it.' 'What's
up, you old villain?' Gollum did not answer him.
Sam pushed him aside and thrust forward, only to meet
something that yielded but would not give way, soft, unseen and
strong as if the darkness could be felt. 'Something's across the
path,' he said. 'Some trap or something. What's to be done? If
this old villain knows about it, as I bet he does, why won't he
speak?'
'Because he doesn't know,* hissed Gollum. 'He's thinking. We
didn't expect to find this here, did we precious? No, of course
not. We wants to get out, of course we does, yes, yes.'
'Stand back,' said Frodo, and then suddenly drawing his hand
from his bosom he held aloft the phial of Galadriel. For a
moment it flickered, like a star struggling through the mists of
Earth, then as fear left him it began to burn (9) with dazzling silver
light, as if Earendel himself had come down from the sunset
paths with the Silmaril upon his brow. Gollum cowered away
from the light, which for some reason seemed to fill him with
fear.
Frodo drew his sword, and Sting leapt out. The bright rays of
the star-glass sparkled upon the blade, but on its edges ran an
ominous blue fire - to which at that time Frodo nor Sam gave
heed.
'Version 1' in the fair copy manuscript stops here, at the foot of a
page, the remainder having been taken out of it when rejected and
replaced.(10) The next page of 'Version 1' is preserved, however,. it was
separated from the other 'Kirith Ungol' papers many years ago, and is
now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, among other illustrations to
The Lord of the Rings - for the verso of the page, in addition to text,
bears a picture of the ascent to Kirith Ungol. This was reproduced in
Pictures by J. R. R. Tolkien (no. 28, 'Shelob's Lair'), and is reproduced
again in this book (first frontispiece). That the recto of the page is the
continuation of the text from the point reached is assured both by the
page-number '[6]', following '[5]' in the fair copy manuscript, and by
internal association, notably Sam's words when he sees that they are
confronted by spiders' webs: 'Why didn't you speak, Gollum?' (cf. his
words on the preceding page: 'Something's across the path... If this
old villain knows about it, as I bet he does, why won't he speak?'). The
recto reads thus:
Before them was a greyness which the light did not penetrate.
Dull and heavy it absorbed the light. Across the whole width of
the tunnel from floor to floor and side to side were .... (11)
webs. Orderly as the webs of spiders, but far greater: each
thread as thick as a great cord.
Sam laughed grimly when he saw them. 'Cobwebs,' he said.
'Is that all! Why didn't you speak, Gollum? But I might have
guessed for myself! Cobwebs! Mighty big ones, but we'll get at
them.' He drew his sword and hewed, but the thread that he
struck did not break, it yielded and then sprang back like a
bowstring, turning the blade and tossing his sword and arm
backward. Three times Sam struck, and at last one thread
snapped, twisting and curling, whipping about like a snapped
harpstring. As an end lashed Sam's hand and stung like a whip.
[sic) He cried out and stood back. 'It'd take weeks this way,' he
said. 'Let me try Bilbo's sword,' said Frodo. 'I will go ahead
now: hold my star-glass behind me.' Frodo drew Sting (12) and
made a great sweeping stroke and sprang back to avoid the
lashing of the threads.
The sharp elven-blade blue-edged sparkling shore through the
netted ropes and that web was destroyed. But there were others
behind. Slowly Frodo hewed his way through them until at last
they came to a clear way again. Sam came behind holding up the
light and pushing Gollum - strangely reluctant - before him.
Gollum kept on trying to wriggle away and turn back.(13)
At length they came to more webs, and when they had cut
through these the tunnel came to an end.
The rock wall opened out and sprang high and the second
stair was before them: walls on either side towering up to a
great height - how high they could not guess, for the sky was
hardly less black than the walls - and could only be discerned
by an occasional glow and flicker of red on the underside of the
clouds. The stair seemed endless, up, up, up. Their knees
cracked. Here and there was a web across the way. They were in
the very heart of the mountains. Up, up.
At last they got to the stair-head. The road opened out. Then
all their suspicions of Gollum came to a head. He sprang
unexpectedly out of Sam's reach forward, and thrusting Frodo
aside ran out emitting a shrill sort of whistling cry, such as they
had never heard him make before.
'Come here! you wretch,' cried Sam darting after him.
Gollum turned once with his eyes glittering, and then vanished
quite suddenly into the gloom, and no sign of him could they
find.(14)
The verso of the page, numbered '[7]', carrying the picture of the
ascent to the pass,(15) has the following text.
'That's that! ' said Sam. 'What I expected. But I don't like it. I
suppose now we are just exactly where he wanted to bring us.
Well, let's get moving away as quick as we can. The treacherous
worm! That last whistle of his wasn't pure joy at getting out of
the tunnel, it was pure wickedness of some sort. And what sort
we'll soon know.'
'Likely enough,' said Frodo. 'But we could not have got even
so far without him. So if we ever manage our errand, then
Gollum and all his wickedness will be part of the plan.'
'So far, you say,' said Sam. 'How far? Where are we now?'
'About at the crest of the main range of Ephel-duath, I guess,'
said Frodo. 'Look!' The road opened out now: it still went on
up, but no longer sheerly. Beyond and ahead there was an
ominous glare in the sky, and like a great notch in the mountain
wall a cleft was outlined against it - so [here is a small sketch].
On their right the wall of rock fell away and the road widened
till it had no brink. Looking down Frodo saw nothing but the
vast darkness of the great ravine which was the head of
Morghul dale. Down in its depths was the faint glimmer of the
wraith-road that led over the Morghul pass from the city. On
their left sharp jagged pinnacles stood up like towers carved by
the biting years, and between them were many dark crevices and
clefts. But high up on the left side of the cleft to which their road
led (Kirith Ungol) was a small black tower, and in it a window
showed a red light.
'I don't like the look of that,' said Sam. 'This upper pass is
guarded too. D'you remember he never would say if it was or
no. D'you think he's gone to fetch them - orcs or something?'
'No, I don't think so,' said Frodo. 'He is up to no good, of
course, but I don't think that he's gone to fetch orcs. Whatever
it is, it is no slave of the Dark Lord's.' 'I suppose not,' said Sam.
'No, I suppose the whole time it has been the ring for poor
Smeagol's own. That's been his scheme. But how coming up
here will help him, I can't guess.' He was soon to learn.
Frodo went forward now - the last lap - and he exerted all
his strength. He felt that if once he could get to the saddle of the
pass and look over into the Nameless Land he would have
accomplished something. Sam followed. He sensed evil all
round him. He knew that they had walked into some trap, but
what? He had sheathed his sword, but now he drew it in
readiness. He halted for a moment, and stooped to pick up his
staff with his left hand
Here the text on the 'Bodleian page' ends, but the further continua-
tion of this extraordinarily dismembered text is found among the
papers that failed to go to Marquette.(16) The next page is duly
numbered '[8]' and '[9]', and continues as before in ink over pencilled
drafting.
- it had a comfortable feel to his hand. As he stood up again,
he saw issuing out of a crevice at the left the most monstrous
and loathly form that he had ever beheld - beyond his
imagination.(17) Spider-like it was in shape, but huge as a wild
beast, and more terrible because of the malice and evil purpose
in its eyes. These were many, clustered in its small head, and
each of them held a baleful light. On great bent legs it walked -
the hairs of them stuck out like steel spines, and at each end
there was a claw. The round swollen body behind its narrow
neck was dark blotched with paler livid marks, but underneath
its belly was pale and faintly luminous as its eyes. It stank. It
moved with a sudden horrible speed running on its arms, and
springing. Sam saw at once that he [sic] was hunting his master
- now a little ahead in the gloom and apparently unaware of his
peril. He whipped out his sword and yelled. 'Look out! Mr
Frodo! Look out! I'm - ' But he did not finish. A long clammy
hand went over his mouth and another caught his neck, while
something wrapped itself about his legs. Taken off his guard he
fell backwards in the arms of his attacker.
'Got you!' hissed Gollum in his ear. 'At last my precious one,
we've got him yes, the nasty hobbit. We takes this one. She'll get
the other. O yes. Ungoliant will get him.(18) Not Smeagol. He
won't hurt master, not at all. He promised. But he's got you,
you nasty dirty little thing!'
The description of the fight is closely similar to that in TT (p. 335),
with some difference in the detail of the wrestling.(19) After the second
blow, falling across Gollum's back, the text continues:
But it was enough for Gollum! Grabbing from behind was an
old game for him - and had never before failed him. But
everything had gone wrong with his beautiful plan, since the
unexpected web in the path. Here now he was faced by a furious
enemy, little less than his own size, with a stout staff. This was
not for him. He had no time even to grab at the sword lying on
the ground. He squealed as the staff came down once more,(20)
and sprang aside onto all fours, and then leaped away like a cat
in one big bound. Then with astonishing speed he ran back and
vanished into the tunnel. Sweeping up his sword Sam went after
him - for the moment forgetful of all else, but the red light of
fury in his brain. But Gollum had gone before he could reach
him. Then as the dark hole and the stench smote him, like a
terrible clap of thunder the thought of Frodo came back to
Sam's mind. He span round, and rushed on up the road calling.
He was too late. So far Gollum's plot had succeeded.
Frodo was lying on the ground and the monster was bending
over him, so intent upon her victim that she seemed not to heed
anything else until Sam was close at hand. It was not a brave
deed Sam then did, for he gave no thought to it. Frodo was
already bound in great cords round and round from ankle to
breast, and with her great forelegs she was beginning to half lift,
half drag him, but still his arms were free: one hand was on his
breast, one lay spread wide, limp upon the stone, and the staff
of Faramir broken under him.
At the point where Sam sees that Frodo is bound with cords the
underlying pencilled draft stops; the legible fair copy in ink written
over it continues, but at the same point declines very rapidly into the
handwriting characteristic of initial drafting, decipherable only with
labour and in this case often not at all.(21) This continues to the end of
the page ('9' in the Version I text, the last page in this numeration),
with Sam's attack on 'Ungoliant'. Many words and even whole
sentences are totally illegible, but enough can be made out to see that
in this earliest form of the story it was Sam's slash with Sting across
Ungoliant's belly that caused her to leap back: there is no suggestion
of the great wound she suffered when she drove her whole bulk down
onto the point of the sword (TT p. 338). When she sprang back 'Sam
stood reeling, his legs astride his master, but she a few paces off eyed
him: and the green venom that was her blood slowly suffused the pale
light of her eyes. Sting held before him, Sam now .... and ere she
attacked again he found his master's hand in his bosom. It was cold
and limp, and quickly but gently he took from it the glass of Galadriel.
And held it up.'
This rough drafting continues on other pages (not numbered on
from '9', though that proves little); but I doubt that much more of it, if
any, was written at this juncture (see p. 209). The question is not of
much importance in the study of the evolution of the story, and in any
case it is more convenient to pause here in the original draft.
The fact that my father had overwritten legibly in ink the original
draft as far as the stinging of Frodo by Ungoliant suggests confidence
in the story, while the sudden change from 'fair copy' to 'preliminary
draft' at this point suggests that he now realised that important
changes were required. The immediate reason for this may well have
been that he observed what he had just written, as it were inadvert-
ently: 'Then with astonishing speed [Gollum] ran back and vanished
into the tunnel.... Then as the dark hole and the stench smote him...
the thought of Frodo came back to Sam's mind. He span round, and
rushed on up the road calling.' But in this version the far end of the
tunnel was immediately succeeded by the agonisingly long second
stair, and it was only after they reached the head of it that Gollum ran
off (p. 194). The picture of the ascent to the pass contained in this text
(see p. 193) shows with perfect clarity the first stair climbing up to the
tunnel, and the second stair climbing away beyond it.(22) It is obviously
out of the question that my father imagined that Gollum fled all the
way down the second stair with Sam in pursuit, and that Sam then
climbed up again! I think that the developing narrative was forcing a
new topography to appear even as he wrote (see below).
There seem in fact to have been several interrelated questions. One
was this of topography: the relation of the stairs and the tunnel.
Another was the time and place of Gollum's disappearance. In the
outline (p. 187) he is found to have vanished when they come to the
head of the second stair; and in the present version he ran off with a
strange whistling cry when they came to that place. And another was
the question of Gollum's plan and its miscarriage. My father had
written (p. 197): 'But everything had gone wrong with his beautiful
plan, since the unexpected web in the path.' It certainly seems to be the
case in this version that Gollum was very put out when they
encountered it in the tunnel: 'We didn't expect to find this here, did we
precious? No, of course not' (p. 193); and after the first webs had been
cut through Gollum was 'strangely reluctant' to go on, and 'kept on
trying to wriggle away and turn back.'
Leaving the 'Version I' text, now reduced to very rough drafting, at
some point not determined, my father scribbled on a little bit of paper:
Must be stair - stair - tunnel. Tunnel is Ungoliante's lair. The
tunnel has unseen passages off. One goes right up to dungeons
of tower. But orcs don't use it much because of Ungoliant. She
has a great hole in the midst of path. Plan fails because she has
made a web across path and is daunted by the phial-light.
Stench out of hole which phial prevents Frodo and Sam falling
into. Gollum disappears and they think he may have fallen in
hole. They cut their way out of web at far end. Ungoliant comes
out of tunnel.
Thus the series 'first stair - tunnel - second stair' inherent in the
Version 1 story is changed. The reason for this was, I think, as follows.
The arrangement 'stair - tunnel - stair' arose when there were many
spiders in the pass; in the outline the tunnel seems only one part of
their territory, and there are webs also across the second stair (p.
187) - the impression is given that all the cliffs and crags bordering
the path are alive with them. But with the reduction of the spider-
horde to one Great Spider, whose lair is very clearly in the tunnel
(where the great webs were), her attack on the hobbits at the head of
the second stair, high above the tunnel, becomes unsatisfactory. It was
therefore not long after the emergence in Version 1 of Ungoliant as the
sole breeder of the terror of Kirith Ungol that this version collapsed,
and my father abandoned the writing of it in fair copy manuscript.
Associated with this would have been the decision that Gollum
deserted Frodo and Sam while they were still in the tunnel.
The plot outlined in the brief text just given is not very clear; but at
this same time, perhaps on the same day, my father wrote the fuller
note, together with a plan of the tunnels, that is reproduced on
p. 201. This also is in the Bodleian Library (see p. 193). The title
Plan of Shelob's Lair was written onto the page subsequently, since
the name of the Spider in the text is Ungoliant(e); cf. note 15.
This text reads:
Must be Stair - Stair - Tunnel. Tunnel is Ungoliante's Lair.
This tunnel is of orc-make (?) and has the usual branching
passages. One goes right up into the dungeons of the Tower -
but orcs don't use it much because of Ungoliante.(23) Ungoliante
has made a hole and a trap in the middle of the floor of the main
path.
Gollum's plan was to get Frodo into trap. He hoped to get
Ring, and leave the rest to Ungoliant. Plan failed because
Ungoliant was suspicious of him - ? he had come nosing up as
far as the tunnel the day before? - and she had put a web on
near (west) side of hole. When Frodo held up the phial she was
daunted for [a] moment and retreated to her lair. But when the
hobbits issued from tunnel she came out by side paths and crept
round them.
Phial prevents F. and S. falling into the hole; but a horrible
stench comes out of it. Gollum disappears and they fear he has
fallen in the hole. But they do not go back - (a) they see tower
with a light on cliffs at head of pass and (b) while they are
wondering about this and suspect betrayal the attack is made:
Ungoliant going for Frodo, while Gollum grapples Sam from
behind. Ungol[iant] specially wants the star-glass? (Frodo had
hidden it again when he came out of tunnel).
Web at end of tunnel?
The plan of the tunnel was mostly drawn in pencil and then
overdrawn in black ink. The word pencilled against the minor tunnel
to the north of the main passage seems to read 'Bypas[s]'. The
pencilled circle in the main passage is marked 'Trap', and the large
black circle 'Ungoliant's lair'. Of the two northward tunnels that leave
the main one near its eastern end, the westerly one is marked
'Underground way to Tower', and the broad tunnel (drawn with
several lines) that leaves this one eastwards will be the way by which
Ungoliant emerged to the attack. The last tunnel branching north-
wards from the main one was added in blue ball-point pen, and is
marked 'orc-path'.(24)
Since my father is seen in these notes actually setting down his
decision that the second stair preceded the tunnel, it was presumably
at this juncture that (leaving aside the question of how far the further
story had progressed at this time) he turned back to the point where
the faulty conception entered the narrative (see p. 192); and indeed on
the back of the first of these notes is found drafting for the new version
of the story dependent on the decision (cf. TT p. 317):
Following him they came to the climbing ledge. Not daring to look
down to their right they passed along it. At last it came to a rounded
angle where the mountain-side swelled out again before them. There
the path suddenly entered into a dark opening in the rock, and there
before them was the first stair that Gollum had spoken of.
Then follows the description of the first stair. Thus the 'opening in the
rock' was neatly transformed from the mouth of the tunnel into the
beginning of the stair (p. 192).
Continuous drafting is found for the revised narrative ('Version 2'),
and the story as told in TT was very largely achieved already in the
draft as far as the events in the tunnel: the climbs up the Straight Stair
and the Winding Stair, the hobbits' rest beside the path, their talk of
the need to find water (25) leading to the conversation about tales
(written down ab initio in a form closely similar to that in TT), their
[Plan of Shelob's Lair (1)]
[(The compass-points N. and S. on this plan are reversed)]
realisation that Gollum had disappeared, his return, finding them
asleep (with the description of his 'interior debate', looking back up
towards the pass and shaking his head, his appearance as of 'an old
weary hobbit who had lived beyond his time and lost all his friends
and kin: a starved old thing sad and pitiable'), and Sam's unhappy
mistaking of his gesture towards Frodo (TT pp. 317-25, where the
chapter 'The Stairs of Cirith Ungol' ends). A few passages in TT are
lacking in the draft, but they are not of importance to the narrative
and in any case they appear in the fair copy manuscript.
A little pencilled sketch appears on the page of the draft where they
first see the tower (TT p. 319) - just as there was a picture of the
earlier conception of Kirith Ungol at this point in Version 1 (where
they had already passed through the tunnel). In the foreground of this
sketch is seen the path from the head of the Second Stair, where (in the
words of the draft text) the hobbits 'saw jagged pinnacles of stone on
either side: columns and spikes torn and carven in the biting years and
forgotten winters, and between them great crevices and fissures
showed black even in the heavy gloom of that unfriendly place.' The
place where they rested ('in a dark crevice between two great piers of
rock') is marked by a spot on the right hand side of the track. Beyond
is seen the 'great grey wall, a last huge upthrusting mass of mountain-
stone' (TT p. 326, at the beginning of 'Shelob's Lair'), in which is the
mouth of the tunnel, and beyond it, high above, the 'cleft ... in the
topmost ridge, narrow, deep-cloven between two black shoulders; and
on either shoulder was a horn of stone' (TT p. 319). A developed form
of this sketch is found at the same place in the fair copy manuscript;
this is reproduced on p. 204.(26)
The draft continues on into 'Shelob's Lair' without break. Of the
narrative constituting the opening of the later chapter there is little to
say. In the draft the Elvish name of the tunnel is Terch Ungol 'the
Spider's Lair'; and the description of the stench from the tunnel is
retained from Version 1 (pp. 192-3): 'Out of it came an odour which
they could not place: not the sickly odour of decay by the meads of
Morghul, but a repellent noisome stuffy smell: a repellent evil taint on
the air.' In the fair copy my father first put Te, changing it as he wrote
to Torech Ungol 'the Spider's Hole', and changing this as he wrote to
'Shelob's Lair' (the name Shelob having been already devised when he
wrote this manuscript). Here he first described the reek from the
tunnel in these words: 'Out of it came a stench: not the sickly odour of
decay from the meads of Morghul, but a choking rankness, noisome, a
reek as of piled and hoarded filth beyond reckoning, tainting even the
open air with evil.' But he queried in the margin whether this
description was not too strong: if the stench had been so unendurably
horrible even from outside 'would they ever have gone in?'; and
replaced it immediately with the description in TT (p. 326). He
hesitated too about the width of the tunnel.
The new story in the draft version reaches the final form in their
realisation that there were side tunnels, and in the things that brushed
against them as they walked, until they passed the wide opening on the
left from which the stench and the intense feeling of evil came. From
this point the draft text reads:
... a sense of evil so strong that for a moment he grew faint.
Sam also lurched. 'There's something in there,' he says. 'It
smells like a death-house. Pooh.' Putting out their remaining
strength and resolution they went on. Presently they came to
what almost seemed a fork in the tunnel: at least in the absolute
gloom they were in doubt.
'Which way's Gollum gone,' said Sam, 'I wonder.*
'Smeagol!' said Frodo. 'Smeagol!' But his voice fell back dead
from his lips. There was no answer, not even an echo. 'He's
really gone this time, I fancy.'
'Now we are just exactly where he wanted to bring us, I
fancy. But just what he means to do in this black hole I can't
guess.' He had not to wait long for the answer.
'What about that star-glass?' said Sam. 'Did not the Lady say
it would be a light in dark places? And we need some to be sure
now.'
'I have not used it,' said Frodo, 'because of Gollum. I think it
would have driven him away, and also because it would be so
bright. But here we seem to have come to a desperate pass.'
Slowly he drew his hand from his bosom and held aloft the phial
of Galadriel. For a moment it flickered like a star struggling
through the mists of Earth, then as fear left them it began to
burn into a dazzling brilliant silver light, as if Earendel himself
had come down from the sunset paths with the last Silmaril
upon his brow. The darkness receded from it and it shone in a
globe of space enclosed with utter blackness. But before them
within the radius of its light were two openings. Now their
doubt was resolved, for the one to the left turned quickly away,
while the one to the right went straight on only a little narrower
than the tunnel behind.
At that moment some prescience of malice or of some evil
regard made them both turn. Their hearts stood still. [There was
a shrill whistling cry of Gollum?] Not far behind, .... by the
noisome opening perhaps, were eyes: two great clusters of eyes.
Whether they shone of their own light or whether the radiance
of the star-glass was reflected in their thousand facets .....
Monstrous and abominable and fell they were: bestial yet filled
(Kirith Ungol.)
with a malice and purpose and even with a hideous glee and
delight such as no beast's eyes can show. An evil mind gloated
behind that baleful light.
At this point my father stopped, and noted that the eyes must come
first, and then the star-glass (necessarily implying that the eyes of the
Spider shone with their own light). An outline follows:
The creature backs away. They retreat up the tunnel. Frodo
holds glass aloft and ..... (27) and each time the eyes halt.
Then filled with a sudden resolve he drew Sting. It sparkled,
and calling to Sam he strode back towards the eyes. They ...
[?turned] retreated and disappeared. Sam full of admiration.
'Now let's run for it!' he said. They ran, and suddenly [?crashed]
into [?greyness] which 0rebounded and turned them back. Sam
cannot break the threads. Frodo gives him Sting. And Sam hews
while Frodo stands guard.
The web gives way. They rush out and find web was over
the mouth of the tunnel. They are in the last gully and the
horn-pass ... before them.
'That's the top,' said Sam. 'And we've come out of it. Our
luck's in still. On we go now, and take the last bit while the luck
lasts.'
Frodo ran forward placing his star-glass in his bosom, no
thought for anything but escape. Sam follows with Sting drawn
- constantly turning to watch the mouth of the tunnel -
thinking too little of the craft of Ungoliant. She had many exits
from her lair.
Frodo was gaining on him. He tried to run, and then some
way ahead he saw issuing out of a shadow in the wall of the
ravine the most monstrous and loathsome shape. Beyond the
imagination of his worst dreams.
This account agrees well with the plan reproduced on p. 201: they
had passed the wide opening on the left which led to the lair of
Ungoliant, and the fork in the tunnel, where 'the one to the left turned
quickly away, while the one to the right went straight on only a little
narrower than the tunnel behind', can be readily identified. But the
story has shifted radically from the outline accompanying the plan
(pp. 199-200), which apparently never received narrative form, where
the story ran thus:
Ungoliant had stretched a web on the west side of the trap (hole) in
the main tunnel. The stench arose from the hole.
- Frodo held up the phial (cutting of the webs is not mentioned) and
Ungoliant retreated to her lair.
- By the light of the phial they avoided the hole. Gollum disappeared,
and they feared he had fallen into it.
They left the tunnel, whereupon Ungoliant, having come round
ahead of them by a side path, attacked Frodo, and Gollum grappled
Sam from behind.
In the very similar short version of this plot (p. 199) it is said in
addition that 'They cut their way out of web at far end.'
The story in the present draft has moved much nearer to the final
form: they passed the opening to the lair, whence the stench came, and
there is no mention of the 'trap' or 'hole' in the floor of the main
passage,- and they came to the fork in the tunnel.(28) But in this version
the phial of Galadriel is used at this juncture, in order to show them
which tunnel to take; and turning round on account of a sense of
approaching evil the light of the phial is reflected in the eyes of the
Spider. My father's direction at this point that the eyes must come
before the star-glass clearly means that the eyes, shining with their
own light, appeared in the tunnel, and that only then did the thought
of the star-glass arise. The remainder of the episode is now essentially
as in the final form - except that as they run from the tunnel Sam has
Sting and Frodo has the phial of Galadriel.
The fair copy manuscript when it reached this point still did not
attain the final story in all respects, and this section of it was
subsequently rejected and replaced. In the first stage, the idea in the
draft that the phial was used simply to illuminate the tunnel (with
Frodo's explanation that he had not used it before for fear it would
drive Gollum away) was abandoned, and as in TT it was the sound
only of the Spider's approach, the 'gurgling, bubbling noise' and the
'long venomous hiss', that inspired Sam to think of it (thus reversing
the decision that the eyes must come first and then the star-glass); the
light of the phial illumined the eyes (although 'behind the glitter a pale
deadly fire began steadily to glow within, a flame kindled in some deep
pit of evil thought'). But at this stage the idea that the light did, if only
incidentally, show the way to take, was retained: 'And now the way
was clear before them, for the light revealed two archways; and the
one to the left was not the path, for it narrowed quickly again and
turned aside, but that to the right was the true way and went straight
onward as before.'(29)
The pursuit of the 'eyes', and the rout of the Spider when Frodo
confronted her with the phial in his left hand and the blue-flickering (30)
blade of Sting in his right, is in the final form, but my father still
followed the draft in making it Sam who cut the web at the far end of
the tunnel with Sting. The text here reads thus, from Sam's 'Gollum!
May the curse of Faramir bite him' (cf. TT p. 331):(31)
'That will not help us,' said Frodo. 'Come! I will hold up the
light while my strength lasts. Take my sword. It is an elven
blade. See what it may do. Give me yours.'
Sam obeyed and took Sting in his hand, a thrill running
through his hand as he grasped its fair hilt, the sword of his
master, of Bilbo, the sword that Elrond had declared to come
out of the great wars before the Dark Years when the walls of
Gondolin still stood.(32) Turning he made a great sweeping stroke
and then sprang back to avoid the lashing [? threads]. Blue-
edged, glinting in the radiance of the star, the elven blade shore
through the netted ropes. In three swift blows the web was
shattered and the trap was broken. The air of the mountains
flowed in like a river.
'It's clear,' Sam cried. 'It's clear. I can see the [?night] light in
the sky.'
No! Make Sam hold light and so Frodo goes out first, and so
as he has the light Shelob attacks Frodo.
Sam sweeps up Frodo's sword from ground.
He drops the Phial in struggle with Gollum.
Cut out the staffs.
This is followed by a suggestion, not entirely legible, that the staffs
should 'hang on thongs', and another that Frodo should tap the walls
of the tunnel with the staffs. My father was apparently concerned here
with the problem arising from having only two hands. No doubt it
was at this time that the reading of the fair copy manuscript of
'Journey to the Cross-roads', where the heads of the staves were still in
the form of a shepherd's crook (p. 176 and note 3), was changed to
that of TT (p. 303): 'staves ... with carven heads through which ran
plaited leathern thongs'. The text continues:
When Sam cannot hew web, Frodo says: 'I do not feel the
eyes any longer. For the moment their regard has moved. You
take the light. Do not be afraid. Hold it up. I will see what the
elven-sword may do.'
Frodo hews the webs asunder. And so the trap as it was
planned was frustrated. For though once long ago he [Gollum]
had seen it, the nature of that sword he did not know, and of the
Phial of Galadriel he had never heard.(33)
They rush out. Sam comes behind and suddenly they are
aware (a) of red window (b) of the blue light of Sting. 'Orcs',
said Sam, and dosing his hand about the phial hid it beneath his
cloak again. A sudden madness (?) on Frodo. He sees the red
deft the goal of all his effort before him. No great distance, half
a mile. Gain itin a rush. Run! ..... Sam, he said. The door, the
path. Now for it, before any can stay us.
Sam tries to keep up. Then the spider attacks, and Gollum.
And so this extraordinarily resistant narrative was at last shaped at
almost all points to my father's satisfaction: 'a sticky patch' he
described it, achieved with 'very great labour'; and further drafting led
to the final text of 'Shelob's Lair' in the fair copy manuscript. Yet even
now he seems not to have been entirely confident of the rightness of
the story, for the manuscript carries also a second text of the episode
in the tunnel (marked 'other version'), and it seems beyond question
that this was written after the other.(34) It takes up after the words 'a
gurgling, bubbling noise, and a long venomous hiss' (TT p. 328).
They wheeled round, but at fin t they saw nothing. Still as stones
they stood waiting, for they did not know what. Then, not far
down the tunnel, just at the opening where they had reeled and
stumbled, they saw a gleam. Very slowly it advanced. There
were eyes in the darkness. Two great clusters of eyes. They were
growing larger and brighter as very slowly they.advanced. They
burned steadily with a fell light of their own, kindled in some
deep pit of evil thought. Monstrous and abominable they were,
bestial and yet filled with purpose, and with hideous delight:
beyond all hope of escape their prey was trapped.
Frodo and Sam backed away, their gaze held by the dreadful
stare of those cold eyes, and as they backed so the eyes came on,
unhurried, gloating. Suddenly both together, as if released
simultaneously from the same spell, the hobbits turned and Bed
blindly up the tunnel. [Struck out: The left-hand opening was
blocked with some unseen barrier; wildly they groped and
found the right-hand opening, and again they ran.] But as they
ran they looked back, and saw with- horror the eyes come
leaping up behind.
Then there came a breath of air: cold and thin. The opening,
the upper gate, the end of the tunnel - at last: it was just ahead.
Desperately they threw themselves forward, and then staggered
backwards. The passage was blocked by some unseen barrier:
soft, strong, impenetrable. Again they flung themselves upon it.
It yielded a little and then like taut cords hurled them back once
more. The eyes were nearer now, halted, quietly watching them,
gloating, glittering with cruel amusement. The stench of death
was like a cloud about them.
'Stand!' said Frodo. 'It's no use struggling. We're caught.' He
turned to face the eyes, and as he did so, he drew his sword.
Sting flashed out, and about the edges of the sharp elven-blade a
blue fire flickered.
Sam, sick, desperate, but angry more than all, groped for the
hilts of his own short sword, carried so far and to so little
purpose all the way from the Barrowdowns. 'I wish old
Bombadil was near.' he muttered. 'Trapped in the end! Gollum
- may the curse of Faramir bite him.' Darkness was about him
and a blackness in his heart. And then suddenly even in those
last moments before the evil thing made its final spring he saw a
light, a light in the darkness of his mind...
The text continues as in the other version (TT p. 329), but without
the sentences 'The bubbling hiss drew nearer, and there was a creaking
as of some great jointed thing that moved with slow purpose in the
dark. A reek came on before it'; and it ends at A light when all other
lights go out! There is then a direction to 'proceed' as in the other
version.
This also was a good story. There is here a formally simpler
disposition of the elements: for Frodo and Sam are caught directly
between the monster and the trap - trapped indeed 'beyond all hope of
escape',(35) and are saved in the very last nick of time by the Phial of
Galadriel.
The Choices of Master Samwise.
I left 'Version 1', the original narrative in which there was no
encounter with the Spider in the tunnel, and the attack on Frodo took
place at the head of the Second Stair (above the tunnel), at the point
where my father abandoned that version as a 'fair copy' manuscript
and the text precipitously collapsed into fearfully difficult drafting: see
pp. 197-8.
It is difficult to be sure of the precise development from this point,
because this very rough drafting runs on continuously to the end of the
story in The Two Towers, being indeed the original setting down of
the narrative of 'The Choices of Master Samwise', and yet it cannot
have been an uninterrupted continuation of Version 1. The last page
that was certainly a part of Version 1 ends with a near-illegible initial
account of Sam's attack on Ungoliant and his holding up the phial that
he took from Frodo's body (p. 198). The conclusion of the encounter
with Ungoliant may belong to Version 1, but not much more, for
when Sam, arising from his long trance of despair, composes Frodo's
body he says: 'He lent me Sting and that I'll take'. This of course
depends on the developed story (Version 2) in which Frodo gave Sting
to Sam for an attack on the web at the end of the tunnel while he
himself held the phial (see pp. 205-7)-
From the point where Sam holds up the phial against Ungoliant the
draft continues:
'Galadriel!' he cried. 'Elbereth! Now come, you filthy thing.
Now at last we know what holds this path. But we are going on.
Come on, let's settle before we go.' As if his wrath and courage
set its potency in motion, the glass blazed like a torch - like [a)
Hash not of lightning but of some searing star cleaving the dark
air with intolerable radiance white and terrible. No such light of
heaven had ever burned in her face before.(36)
The account of Ungoliant's retreat is largely illegible, but phrases
can be read: 'She seemed ... to crumple like a vast bag', 'her legs
sagged, and slowly, painfully, she backed from the light away in the
opening in the wall', 'gathering her strength she turned and with a
last ..... jump and a foul but already pitiable ... (37) she slipped into
the hole.'
The declaration that whatever might have been the fate of Ungoliant
thereafter 'this tale does not tell' appears in the draft, as does (in very
rough form) the passage that follows in TT (pp. 339-40) to the point
where Sam composes Frodo's body. Here the draft text reads:
He laid his master upon his back, and folded his cold hands.
'Let the silver mail of mithril be his winding sheet,' he said.
'He lent me Sting and that I'll take, but a sword shall be at his
side.' And the phial he put into his right hand and hid it in his
bosom. 'It's too good for me,' he said, 'and She gave it to him to
be a light in dark places.' There were no stones for a cairn, but
he rolled the only two he could find of a wieldy size one to
Frodo's head and another to his feet. And then he stood and
held up the star-glass. It burned gently now with a quiet
radiance as of the evening star in summer, and in its light
Frodo's hue ..... [?pale] but fair, and an elvish beauty was in
his face, as of one that is long past the shadows.
And then he strove to take farewell. But he could not. Still he
held Frodo's hand and could not let it go.
An arrow directs that the placing of the phial in Frodo's hand and
Sam's words 'It's too good for me ...' should follow '... as of one
long past the shadows'.
The account of Sam's agonized debate was not different from its
form in The Two Towers (pp. 341-2) in the progression of his
thoughts, and his parting words and the taking of the Ring are
virtually in the final form; but he does not take the phial, which in this
version of the story remains hidden in Frodo's hand. From this point I
give the original draft in full.
At last with a great effort he stood up and turned away and
seeing nothing but a grey mist stumbled forward towards the
pass now straight ahead. But still his master drew him: Sam's
mind was not at peace, not really made up. (He was acting as
best he could reason but against his whole nature.) He hadn't
gone far when he looked back and through his tears saw the
little dark patch in the ravine where all his life had fallen in ruin.
Again he turned and went on, and now he was come almost to
the V [i.e. the Cleft]. So the very gate of parting. Now he must
look back for the very last time. He did so.
'No I can't do it,' he said. 'I can't. I'd go to the Dark Tower to
find him, but I can't go and leave him. I can't finish this tale. It's
for other folk. My chapter's ended.' He began to stumble back.
And then suddenly to his wrath and horror he thought he saw a
slinking thing creep out of the shadow and go up to Frodo and
start pawing him.(39) Anger obliterating all other thoughts blazed
up again. 'Gollum! After his precious - thinks his plot has
worked after all. The dirty - ' He began to run silently. There
wasn't more than 20 [?yards] to cover. He got his sword out.
Gollum! He ground his teeth.
But suddenly Gollum paused [and] looked round, not at Sam,
and with all his speed bolted diving back towards the wall and
to [the] same opening out of which Ungoliant had come.
Sam realized that Gollum had not fled from him or even
noticed him. Almost at once he saw the reason. Orcs! Orcs were
coming out of the tunnel. He halted in his tracks. A new choice
was on him and a quick one this time. Then from behind also he
heard orc-voices. Out of some path leading down from the
tower orcs were coming. He was between them. No going back
now - Sam would never reach the Pass of Kirith Ungol now. He
gripped on Sting. A brief thought passed through his mind.
How many would he kill before they got him? Would any song
ever mention it? How Samwise fell in the High Pass - made a
wall of bodies for his master's body. No, no song, for the Ring
would be captured and all songs cease for ever [in] an age of
Darkness ... The Ring. With a sudden thought and impulse
he put it on! [Added: His hand hangs weighed down and
useless.] At first he noticed nothing - except that he seemed to
see much clearer. Things seemed hard and black and heavy, and
the voices loud. The orc-bands had sighted one another and
were shouting. But he seemed to hear both sides as if they were
speaking close- to him. And he understood them. Why, they
were speaking plain language. Maybe they were, or maybe the
Ring which had power over all Sauron's servants and was
grown in power as the place of its forging was approached
brought the thought of their minds in plain speech direct to
Sam.
'Hola! Gazmog,' said the foremost of the orcs coming out of
the tunnel.
'Ho you Zaglun. So you've come at last. Have you heard
them? Did you see it?'
'See what? We've just come through the tunnel of She-lob. o
What should we see or hear?'
'Shouting and crying out here and lights. Some mischief
afoot. But we're on guard in the tower and not supposed to
leave. We waited but you didn't come. Hurry now for we must
get back. There's only Naglur-Danlo and old Nuzu up here and
he's in a taking.'
Then suddenly the orcs from the tower saw Frodo and while
Sam still hesitated they swept past him with a howl and rushed
forward. (Sting must be sheathed.) One thing the Ring did not
confer was courage - rather the reverse, at any rate on Sam. He
did not now [?rush] in - or make a hill of bodies round his
master. There were about three dozen of them in all, and they
were talking fast and excitedly. Sam hesitated. If he drew Sting
they'd see that. They wouldn't ....: Orcs never did - but 36!
They [?read They'd] see where he was.
No - above won't do, he must see Orcs from a greater
distance and follow them. The cleft must be no great distance,
100 yards? from Frodo's body and that 20 - 30 yards from
tunnel. Cut out Gollum.
Sam sees orcs coming down from tower as he turns back [for
the] last time. They seem from afar to spot the little shape of
Frodo and give a yell. It is answered by a yell - other orcs are
coming out of the tunnel! Then put in the part about his
thoughts of song as he runs back. Puts on ring and cannot wield
sword.(41) Changes it to left hand [broken staff (Sam's broke on
Gollum)].(42) By that time orcs have picked up Frodo and are off
to tunnel. Sam follows. Ring confers language knowledge - not
courage.
Sam follows and hears conversation as they go through
tunnel. Orcs discuss Frodo. Special vigilance ordered. What is
it? Leader [B......] Zaglun says (43) orders are for messages [or
messengers] to go to Morgul and direct to Lugburz. They
[?groan]. Talk of Shelob and the worm (= Gollum).
Big things are on. Only preliminary strokes. News. Osgiliath
taken and ford. Army has also left North Gate. [?Other
crossing] away up north somewhere and into the north part of
the Horseboys' land - no opposition there. We'll be at the
Mouths of Anduin in a week and at the Gulf of Lune before the
summer's out - and then nowhere to escape. How we'll make
'em sweat! We haven't begun yet. Big stuff's coming.
Big stick if you don't hurry.
Prisoner is to be stripped naked. Teeth and nails? No. Is he
half elf and man - [?there's] a fair blend of folly and mischief.
Quick end better. Quick!
They round a corner. Sam sees red light in an arch. Under-
ground door to tower. Horrified to see that tunnel deceived
him: they're further ahead than he thought. He runs forward
but the iron door closes with a clang. He is outside in the
darkness.
Now go back to Gandalf.
[Added: Make most of goblin conversation await the rescue
chapter?]
In the next stage of development my father returned to the words
'At last with a great effort he stood up and turned away and seeing
nothing but a grey mist stumbled forward towards the pass now
straight ahead' (p. 211), and now continued thus (cf. TT pp. 342-3):
He had not far to go. The tunnel was some fifty yards behind;
the cleft a couple of hundred yards or less. There was a path
visible in the dusk running now quickly up, with the cliff on one
side, and on the other a low wall of rock rising steadily to
another cliff. Soon there were broad shallow steps. Now the
orc-tower was right above him, frowning black, and in it the red
eye glowed. Now he was passing up the steps and the cleft was
before him.
'I have made up my mind,' he kept saying to himself. But he
had not. What he did, though he had long to think it out, was
altogether against the grain. To stick by his master was his true
nature. 'Have I got it wrong,' he muttered. 'Was there some-
thing else to do?' As the sheer sides of the cleft closed about him
and before he reached the summit, before he looked upon the
descending path beyond, he turned, torn intolerably within. He
looked back. He could still see like a small blot in the gathering
gloom the mouth of the tunnel; and he thought he could see or
guess where Frodo lay, almost he fancied there was a light or a
glimmer of it down there. Through tears he saw that lonely,
stony high place where all his life had fallen into ruin.
What was the 'light, or a glimmer of it' (meaning, I suppose, 'a light,
or the glimmer of a light') that Sam saw? It survives in TT (p. 343):
'He fancied there was a glimmer on the ground down there, or perhaps
it was some trick of his tears'. Can the original meaning have been that
there was a faint shining from the Phial of Galadriel, very probably at
this stage (see pp. 210-11) still left clasped in Frodo's hand?
From '"No I can't do it," he said' (p. 211) my father repeated the
original text almost exactly, but excising the return of Gollum. When
he came to Sam's putting on the Ring he wrote: 'The Ring. With a
sudden impulse he drew it out and put it on. The weight of it weighed
down his hand. For a moment he noticed no change, and then he
seemed to see clearer.' But at this point he stopped, marked what he
had written with an X, and wrote: 'No! hear[d] clearer, crack of stone,
cry of bird, voices, Shelob bubbling wretchedly deep in the rocks.
Voices in the dungeons of the tower. But all was not dark but hazy,
and himself like a black solid rock and the Ring like hot gold. Difficult
to believe in his invisibility.' The account of Sam's understanding of
what the Orcs said here takes this form: 'Did the Ring give power of
tongues or did it give him comprehension of all that had been under its
power [written above: Sauron's servants], so that he heard direct?
Certainly the voices seemed close in his ears and it was very difficult to
judge their distance.' With a reference to the Ring's increasing power
in that region and its not conferring courage on its wearer this draft
ends, followed by an outline of the salient points in what Sam heard:
Why such a long delay of Orcs to come? Terrified of Shelob. They
know another spy is about. Leader says orders are for messengers to
go to Morgul and direct to Baraddur Lugburz. Orcs [?groan]. Talk
of Shelob and the Spider's worm [who] has been here before. News
of war.
In further drafting the coming of the Orc-bands is described thus:
Then suddenly he heard cries and voices. He stood still.
Orc-voices: he had heard them in Moria and Lorien and on the
Great River and would never forget them. Wheeling about he
saw small red lights, torches perhaps, issuing from the tunnel
away below. And only a few yards below him, out of the very
cliff as it seemed, through some gap or gate near the tower's
foot he had not noticed as he passed debating on the road, there
were more lights. Orc-bands. They were come at last to hunt.
The red eye had not been wholly blind.
And a noise of feet and shouts came also through the cleft.
Orcs were coming up to the pass out of Mordor too.
This conception of three Orc-bands converging survived into the
fair copy manuscript, where however it was removed at once, or soon,
for there is no further reference to it; here 'orcs were coming up to the
pass out of the land beyond', while 'only a few yards off' lights and
'black orc-shapes' were coming through 'some gap or gate at the
tower's foot'. In the event (TT p. 343) the Orcs of the tower appeared
from the far side of the Cleft.
The draft continues:
Fear overwhelmed him. How could he escape? So now his
chapter would be ended. It had not had above a page longer
than Frodo's. How could he save the Ring? The Ring. He was
not aware of any thought or decision: he simply found himself
drawing out the chain and taking the Ring in his hand. The orcs
coming towards him grew louder. Then he put it on.(44)
The achievement of the conversation between the leaders of the two
Orc-bands in the tunnel took a good deal of work, extending into the
fair copy, and to detail all the rearrangements, shifts of speakers, and
so on would require a great deal of space. But there is one draft that
deserves quotation in full, for very little of it survived. Here the two
Orcs, and especially he of Minas Morghul, are greatly concerned with
the precise timing of the various communications that had passed.
In the darkness [of the tunnel] he seemed now more at home;
but he could not overcome his weariness. He could see the light
of torches a little way ahead, but he could not gain on them.
Goblins go fast in tunnels, especially those which they have
themselves made, and all the many passages in this region of the
mountains were their work, even the main tunnel and the great
deep pit where Shelob housed. In the Dark Years they had been
made, until Shelob came and made her lair there, and to escape
her they had bored new passages, too narrow for her [as she
slowly grew >] growth, that crossed and recrossed the straight
way.(45)
Sam heard the clamour of their many voices flat and hard in
the dead air, and somewhere he heard two voices louder than
the rest. The leaders of the two parties seemed to be wrangling
as they went.
'Can't you stop your rabble's racket?' said one. 'I don't care
what happens to them, but I don't want Shelob down on me and
my lads.'
'Yours are making more than half the noise,' said the other.
'But let the lads play. No need to worry about Shelob for a bit.
She's sat on a pin or something, and none of us will weep.
Didn't you see the signs then? A claw cut off, filthy gore all the
way to that cursed crack (if we've stopped it once we've stopped
it a hundred times). Let the lads play. We've struck a bit of luck
at last: we've got something He wants.'
'Yes, we, Shagrat.(46) We, mark you. But why we're going to
your miserable tower I don't know. We found the spy, my lot
were there first. He should be ours. He should be taken back to
Dushgoi.'(47)
'Now, now, still at it. I've said before all there is to be said,
but if you must have more arguments, they're here: I've got ten
more swords than you, and thirty more just up yonder at call.
See? Anyway orders are orders, and I've mine.'
'And I've mine.'
'Yes, and I know them, for I was told 'em by Lugburz, see?
Yagfil (48) from Dushgoi will patrol until he meets your guard, or
as far as Ungol top: be will report to you before returning to
report to Dushgoi. Your report was nothing. Very useful. You
can take it back to Dushgoi as soon as you like.'
'I will, but I don't like [to] just yet. I found the spy, and I must
know more before I go. The Lords of Dushgoi have some secret
of quick messages and they will get the news to Lugburz quicker
than anyone you can send direct.'
'I know all that, and I'm not stopping you taking news to
them. I know all the messages. They trust me in Lugburz, He
knows a good orc when he sees one. This is what happened:
message from Dushgoi to Lugburz: Watchers uneasy. Fear
elvish agent passed up the Stair. Guard pass. Message from
Lugburz to Ungol: Dushgoi uneasy. Redouble vigilance. Make
contact. Send report by Dushgoi and direct. And there you are.'
'No, I'm not there, not yet. I'm going to take a report back,
my own report, Master Shagrat, and I want to know this first.
When did you get this message? We set out as soon as possible
after the forces left, and we see no sign of you till we're right
through the Tunnel - a filthy place and inside your area. Then
we see you just starting. Now I guess you got that message early
today, this morning probably, and you've been drinking since to
give you the guts to look at the hole. That's what you think of
orders that don't suit you.'
'I've no need to account for myself to you Dushgoi horseboys,
Master Yagul. But if you're so curious to know: the message
from Dushgoi was sent out late: things seem a bit slack with the
Lord away. Lugburz did not get it till last night, mark you, nor
me till this afternoon. By which time messages were hardly
needed. I'd had my lads out some time. There were very odd
things happening. Lights in the tunnel, lights outside, shouting
and whatnot. But Shelob was about. My lads saw her, and her
worm.'
'What's that?'
The remainder of this text is very rough working for what follows
from this point in TT (pp. 348 - 50). In a following draft Yagool (as he
is spelt) says of Frodo: 'What is it, d'you think? Elvish I thought by his
nasty smooth peaky face. But undersized.' Here the conversation
moves closer to the form in TT, and the long discussion between
Yagool and Shagrat about the messages is greatly reduced, though the
messages are still given, in very much the same form; but that from
Minas Morghul begins Nazgul of Dushgoi to Lugburz. In another
brief passage of drafting this dialogue occurs:
'I tell you, nearly two days ago the Night Watcher smelt
something, but will you believe me it was nearly another day
before they started to send a message to Lugburz.'
'How do they do that?' said Shagrat. 'I've often wondered.'
'I don't know and I don't want to ...'
The manuscript of 'The Choices of Master Samwise'(49) was in
almost all respects very close to the chapter in The Two Towers.
Various points in which it differed as first written have been noticed,
but there remain a few others. The following account of Shelob was
rejected as soon as written and replaced by that in TT (p. 337):
Shelob was not as dragons are, no softer spot had she save
only in her eyes; not as the lesser breeds of Mirkwood was their
dam, and her age-old hide, knobbed and pitted with corruption
but ever thickened with layer on layer within, could not be
pierced by any blade of Middle-earth, not though elf or dwarf
should make it and all runes were written upon it, not though
the hand of [struck out: Fingon wielded it whose] Beren or of
Turin wielded it.
Shagrat's reply to Yagul's opening sally ('Tired of lurking up there,
thinking of coming down to fight?') took this form:
'Tired! You've said it. Waiting for nothing, except to be made
into Shelob's meat. But we've got orders, too. Old Shagram's in
a fine taking. Your lot's to blame. These Dushgoi bogey-men:
sending messages to Lugburz.'
This was rejected as soon as written, replaced by 'Orders to you. I'm in
command of this Pass. So speak civil', and with it went the last
appearance of the name Dushgoi of Minas Morghul. Who 'old
Shagram' was is not clear, but he is evidently 'old Nuzu' of the original
draft (p. 212), also reported to be 'in a taking', apparently because the
garrison of the Tower of Kirith Ungol had been depleted. Possibly he
was the actual captain of the Tower, until this point, when Shagrat
asserts that he himself is the commander of the pass; but Shagrat's
words in the draft cited on p. 216, 'They trust me in Lugburz, He
knows a good orc when he sees one' suggest that he was so already.
Lastly, the words of Sam's Elvish invocation (TT p. 339) in his fight
with the Spider take in a draft for this passage the same form as they
did in the original verse chanted in Rivendell (VI.394), and this form
was retained in the manuscript as written, the only difference being lir
for dir in the third line:(50)
O Elbereth Gilthoniel
sir evrin pennar oriel
lir avos-eithen miriel
This was changed on the manuscript to give this text:
O Elbereth Gilthoniel
silevrin pennar oriel
hir avas-eithen miriel
a tiro'men Gilthoniel!
*
It was a long time before my father returned to Frodo and Sam. In
October 1944 he briefly took up again the stories 'west of Anduin'
from where he had left them nearly two years earlier, but soon
abandoned them (see pp. 233 - 5).
On 29 November 1944 (Letters no. 91), when he was sending me
the typescripts of 'Shelob's Lair' and 'The Choices of Master Sam-
wise', he said that he had 'got the hero into such a fix that not even an
author will be able to extricate him without labour and difficulty.' He
had by this time conceived the structure of The Lord of the Rings as
five 'Books', of which four were written (cf. also his letter to Stanley
Unwin of March 1945, Letters no. 98); and in this same letter of
November 1944 he forecast what was still to come:
Book Five and Last opens with the ride of Gandalf to Minas Tirith,
with which The Palantir, last chapter of Book Three closed. Some of
this is written or sketched.(51) Then should follow the raising of the
siege of Minas Tirith by the onset of the Riders of Rohan, in which
King Theoden falls; the driving back of the enemy, by Gandalf and
Aragorn, to the Black Gate; the parley in which Sauron shows
various tokens (such as the mithril coat) to prove that he has
captured Frodo, but Gandalf refuses to treat (a horrible dilemma, all
the same, even for a wizard). Then we shift back to Frodo, and his
rescue by Sam. From a high place they see all Sauron's vast reserves
loosed through the Black Gate, and then hurry on to Mount Doom
through a deserted Mordor. With the destruction of the Ring, the
exact manner of which is not certain - all these last bits were written
ages ago, but no longer fit in detail, nor in elevation (for the whole
thing has become much larger and loftier) - Baraddur crashes, and
the forces of Gandalf sweep into Mordor. Frodo and Sam, fighting
with the last Nazgul on an island of rock surrounded by the fire of
the erupting Mount Doom, are rescued by Gandalf's eagle; and
then the clearing up of all loose threads, down even to Bill Ferny's
pony,(52) must take place. A lot of this work will be done in a final
chapter where Sam is found reading out of an enormous book to his
children, and answering all their questions about what happened to
everybody (that will link up with his discourse on the nature of
stories in the Stairs of Kirith Ungol). But the final scene will be the
passage of Bilbo and Elrond and Galadriel through the woods of the
Shire on their way to the Grey Havens. Frodo will join them and
pass over the Sea (linking with the vision he had of a far green
country in the house of Tom Bombadil). So ends the Middle Age
and the Dominion of Men begins, and Aragorn far away on the
throne of Gondor labours to bring some order and to preserve some
memory of old among the welter of men that Sauron has poured
into the West. But Elrond has gone, and all the High Elves. What
happens to the Ents I don't yet know. It will probably work out very
differently from this plan when it really gets written, as the thing
seems to write itself once I get going, as if the truth comes out then,
only imperfectly glimpsed in the preliminary sketch.
From a letter to Stanley Unwin written on 21 July 1946 (Letters no.
105), now more than two years since the doors of the underground
entrance to the Tower of Kirith Ungol were slammed in Sam's face,
and getting on for two since 'the beacons flared in Anorien and
Theoden came to Harrowdale', it is dear that he had done no more.
He was then hopeful that he would soon be able to begin writing
again; and in another letter to Stanley Unwin of 7 December 1946
(Letters no. 107) he was 'on the last chapters'.
NOTES.
1. This text went back in turn to an earlier outline, 'The Story
Foreseen from Moria', VII.209.
2. At that time Kirith Ungol was the name of the main pass into
Mordor.
3. The first mention of the Tower of Kirith Ungol.
4. As I have noted in VII.260, Sam's visions in the Mirror of
Galadriel were already in the fair copy manuscript of 'Galadriel'
almost exactly as in FR (p. 377); the actual words used in the
manuscript of this vision were: 'and now he thought he saw
Frodo lying fast asleep under a great dark cliff: his face was pale.'
When my father wrote this the words of the outline 'The Story
Foreseen from Moria' (VII.209) had already been written: 'Gol-
lum gets spiders to put spell of sleep on Frodo. Sam drives them
off. But cannot wake him.'
5. The illegible word might possibly be 'grin'.
6. The fair copy manuscript, with some correction and addition
from the time of composition, reaches the text of TT, pp.
312-17, in all respects save one: the passage describing Frodo's
dash towards the bridge is still absent. The manuscript reads
here:
... Frodo felt his senses reeling and his limbs weakening.
Sam took his master's arm. 'Hold up, Mr Frodo!' he
whispered, but his breath seemed to tear the air like a whistle.
'Not that way! Gollum says not that way - thank goodness! I
agree with him for once.'
Frodo took a grip on himself and wrenched his eyes away.
The reading of TT, introduced later, thus in part returns to the
outline given on p. 186.
7. In general I do not go into the detail of textual problems, but this
is a very unusual case, and the reconstruction of the evolution of
the story to some degree depends on the view taken of it; I
therefore give here some account of it.
Page 4 of the manuscript, on which the pencilled draft though
overwritten can mostly be read, ends with the words: 'Then he
saw that a faint light was welling through his fingers and he
thrust it in his bosom.' Page 5 was likewise originally a page of
rough, continuous, pencil drafting. The top of this page, some 14
lines or so, was erased, and the later narrative was written in this
space (ending at 'and there it suddenly entered a narrow opening
in the rock. They had come to the first stair that Gollum had
spoken of', TT p. 317). Towards the end of this short section,
however, the erasure was not complete, and the following can be
read: 'not the odour of decay in the valley below ..... that the
hobbits could recognize, a'. Thus the original narrative was here
entirely different, for within a short space they are already at the
mouth of the tunnel.
The strange thing is that from this point the original pencilled
draft (continuing with 'repellent evil taint on the air'), not erased
any further but overwritten, was overwritten with the earlier
narrative ('Version 1'). Thus as the text in ink stands on this page
it reads:
... and there it suddenly entered a narrow opening in the rock.
They had come to the first stair that Gollum had spoken of [TT
p. 317].
repellent evil taint on the air.
The text following on from 'that Gollum had spoken of' is found
on another sheet. The only explanation that I can see is that my
father for some reason left the first (approximately) fourteen lines
in pencil, and only began to overwrite it in ink at an arbitrary
point ('repellent evil taint on the air'). The first part of the page
thus fell victim to erasure and re-use when the later story had
come into being, but from the point where it had been overwrit-
ten in ink the earlier story (Version 1) could not be so used, and
was merely struck out.
8. This version of the sentence is found in isolation on a slip, slightly
different from and beginning slightly earlier than the form of it
that can be read in the pencilled draft (see note 7).
9. With 'then as fear left him it began to burn' cf. the derived
passage in 'Shelob's Lair', TT p. 329: 'then as its power waxed,
and hope grew in Frodo's mind, it began to burn'; cf. also 'As if
his indomitable spirit had set its potency in motion, the glass
blazed suddenly' (TT p. 339).
10. This much of 'Version 1' (struck through) was preserved in the
manuscript because the page carried a portion of the later story
also, as explained in note 7.
11. The Bodleian page '617', like page '5', is written in ink over the
underlying pencilled draft. At this point there is an adjective,
describing the webs and ending in -ing, which my father could
not read; he therefore merely let the pencilled word stand,
without writing anything on top of it.
12. The words hold my star-glass behind me are underlined in the
original - possibly because my father was emphasising to himself
that Frodo had actually given the phial to Sam, though whereas
in TT (p. 334) Sam did not give it back to Frodo, later in this
version (p. 198) he takes it from Frodo's hand during his fight
with Ungoliant.
Frodo drew Sting: on the previous page '5' of the manuscript
Frodo had already drawn Sting (p. 193), but this, I feel certain, is
no more than an oversight, and does not call into question the
succession of the two pages.
13. In the margin is written here: 'Dis. into a side hole?', where 'Dis.'
obviously stands for 'Disappears'. This was added later, when my
father was pondering the idea that Gollum in fact disappeared
while they were still in the tunnel.
14. At the foot of the page is written in pencil: 'Make Gollum come
reluctantly back.' This clearly belongs with the underlying pencil-
led draft; when over-writing the draft in ink my father put a
query against these words.
15. The caption of the picture, Shelob's Lair, was added afterwards;
at this time the name of the Great Spider was Ungoliant (p. 196).
16. At the time of writing, page 415 of 'Version 1' is in the United
States, page 617 in England, and page 819 in France.
17. This is the first appearance of the one Great Spider (as opposed to
many spiders).
18. On the name Ungoliant(e), derived from The Silmarillion, see the
Etymologies, V.396.
19. When Sam twisted round as Gollum seized him from behind, in
TT Gollum's hold on Sam's mouth slipped, whereas in Version 1
it was his hold with his left hand on Sam's neck that slipped
(down to his waist). Thus it is not said in Version 1 that 'all the
while Gollum's other hand was tightening on Sam's throat'. When
Sam hurled himself backwards and landed on Gollum 'a sharp
hiss came out of him, and for a breathless second his left arm that
was about Sam's waist relaxed' (in TT 'for a second his hand
upon Sam's throat loosened'). Sam's second blow, falling across
Gollum's back, did not break the staff, and the third blow aimed
by Sam was with the staff, not with his sword.
20. Sam's staff was not broken at the second blow, as it was in TT;
see notes 19 and 42.
21. The handwriting is so difficult that my father pencilled in glosses
here and there where he had evidently been puzzled by what he
had written not long before. - It is often the case with a very
difficult preliminary draft, which can really only be deciphered by
recourse to the following text, that some particularly puzzling
word or phrase cannot be solved in this way: another expression
appears in its place; and in such cases one may often suspect that
my father could not make it out himself. Cf. note 11.
22. On the right is seen the 'Wraith-road' from Minas Morghul rising
to the main pass in this region (p. 195).
23. The brackets round this sentence, seen in the reproduction, were
put in subsequently, and probably the question mark also. On the
tunnel being the work of Orcs see p. 215.
24. I cannot read the word at the bottom of the plan of the tunnels,
also in blue ball-point pen, though possibly it also reads 'orc-
path'.
25. Here appears the name Imlad Morghul (see p. 176).
26. On lines 3-4 of the page reproduced on p. 204 are the words
'where forgotten winters in the Dark Years had gnawed and
carved the sunless stone.' In TT (p. 319) the words in the Dark
Years are absent. Seven lines from the bottom of the page the text
reads: 'or so it seemed to him in feeling not in reason', with
pencilled correction to the reading of TT: 'or so it seemed to him
in that dark hour of weariness, still labouring in the stony
shadows under Kirith Ungol.'
27. The illegible words look most like 'flies back'. If this is what they
are, the meaning must be very elliptically expressed: Frodo flees
and the eyes pursue, but every time he turns round holding up the
phial the eyes halt.
28. A trace of a stage in which the 'trap' or 'hole' in the floor of the
tunnel was present as well as the branching ways is found on a
slip carrying very disjointed drafting:
Suddenly a thought came into Frodo's mind. Gollum, he had
been ahead: where was he? Had he fallen into that awful
lurking hole? 'Gollum! I wonder whether he's all right,' he
muttered. 'Smeagol! '
Groping in the dark they found that the opening or arch to
the left was blocked a few feet inside, or so it seemed: they
could not push their way in, it was
he called or tried to call Smeagol! But his voice cracked and
They tried first the opening to the left, but quickly it grew
narrower and turned away mounting by long shallow steps
towards the mountain wall. 'It can't be this way,' said Frodo.
'We must try the other.'
'We'll take the broader way,' said Frodo. 'Any passage that
turns sideways .....'
29. Frodo's cry here has the form Alla Earendel Elenion Ankalima,
and Alla remained through the following texts, only being
changed to Aiya after the book was in type.
30. The word picked in TT p. 330 ('but at its edge a blue fire flicked')
is an error for flickered which was missed in the proof.
31. Perhaps for no other reason than that this section of the
manuscript had become very ragged through emendation, and
would have to be replaced, it had well before this point degener-
ated into rough pencil, at the end becoming an outline very hard
to read.
32. The reference is to The Hobbit, Chapter Ill 'A Short Rest', where
Elrond, speaking of the swords Glamdring and Orcrist taken
from the trolls' hoard, says (in the text of the original edition):
'They are old swords, very old swords of the elves that are now
called Gnomes. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-
wars.'
33. This sentence ('For though once long ago he had seen it ...') was
at first retained in the final fair copy manuscript, with the
addition: 'neither did he understand his master.'
34. It is dearly written in the 'fair copy' style, but with some
repetition and other features pointing to immediate composition,
and it was corrected subsequently in pencil; I cite it here as
corrected.
35. These words are used also in the story in The Two Towers
(p. 330), but there only Shelob knows of the web at the end of
the tunnel.
36. If this part of the draft did in fact belong with Version 1 there had
been no encounter with the Spider in the tunnel, so that when this
scene (surviving of course in TT, p. 339) was first written this was
the first time that she had been confronted with the light of
Earendel's star in the Phial of Galadriel.
37. The words 'foul but already pitiable' are read from a subsequent
gloss of my father's. He gave up on the next word and wrote a
query about it; it may perhaps be 'scuttle'. The words 'but
already pitiable' are notable. In TT there is no trace of the
thought that Shelob, entirely hateful and evil, denier of light and
life, could ever be 'pitiable' even when defeated and hideously
wounded.
38. This goes back to the original outline 'The Story Foreseen from
Lorien' (p. 185), as does Sam's thought of building a cairn of
stones, and the phrase later in this passage 'an elvish beauty as of
one that is long past the shadows', which survives in TT.
39. Cf. the initial outline, p. 190: Turns back - resolved to lie down
by Frodo till death comes. Then he sees Gollum come and paw
him. He gives a start and runs back. But orcs come out and
Gollum bolts.'
40. The first occurrence of the name Shelob (see p. 183).
41. Cf. the sentence added earlier in this draft at the point where Sam
puts on the Ring: 'His hand hangs weighed down and useless.'
42. In the original account of Sam's fight with Gollum his staff was
not broken (notes 19 and 20); this was where, and why, that
element entered the story. The words 'The staff cracked and
broke' were added to the fair copy (TT p. 335).
43. This is obscure. A proper name beginning with B, possibly
Ballung or something similar, is followed by a sign that might
represent 'and' or 'or', but 'and' would mean that Leader and
says were miswritten for Leaders and say, and though in this
exceedingly rapid script words are frequently defective or mis-
written the sentence reappears (p. 214), and there the words are
again Leader and says. Perhaps my father intended 'or' and was
merely hesitating between two possible names for the Orc.
44. On this page of drafting is a hasty pencilled sketch of the final
approach to the Cleft, and a little plan of the tunnel. In the first of
these the place where Frodo lay is marked by an X on the path,
and just to the left of it in the cliff-wall is the opening from which
Shelob came. Another entry is seen in the distance at the top of
the steps leading to the summit of the pass, at the foot of the cliff
on which the Tower stands.
The plan of the tunnel is reproduced here. It will be seen that it
differs from the elaborate earlier plan reproduced on p. 201 in
that only one passage is shown leading to the left off the main
tunnel at the eastern end, curving round and leading to the
Tower.
45. With this account of the origin of the tunnels cf. the outline
accompanying the plan (p. 199): 'This tunnel is of orc-make (?)
and has the usual branching passages.' It survived into the fair
copy, where it was subsequently replaced by that in TT (p. 346).
46. The names of the leaders of the Orc-bands were rather bewilder-
ingly changed in the drafts (and some transient forms cannot be
read). At first (p. 212) they were Gazmog (of the Tower) and
Zaglun (of Minas Morghul), and in another brief draft of their
genial greetings they become Yagul and Uftak Zaglun - so
written: Zaglun may have been intended to replace Uftak, but on
the other hand the double-barrelled Orc-name Naglur-Danlo is
found (p. 212). The name Ufthak was subsequently given to the
Orc found (and left where he was) by Shagrat and his friends in
Shelob's larder, 'wide awake and glaring' (TT p. 350). In the
present text the names were at first Yagul (of the Tower) and
Shagrat (of Minas Morghul), but were reversed in the course of
writing (and in a following draft the names became reversed
again at one point, though not I think intentionally). At this
point, where the Orc from Morghul is speaking, my father first
wrote Shag[rat), changed it to Yagul, and then again changed it to
Shagrat. See note 48. - Yagul was replaced by Gorbag in the
course of writing the fair copy.
47. Dushgoi: Orc name for Minas Morghul.
48. The text actually has Shagrat here, but this should have been
changed to Yagsil (see note 46).
49. The story of the ascent of the Pass of Kirith Ungol was early
divided into three chapters, with the titles which were never
changed; the numbers being XXXVIII, XXXIX, and XL. See my
father's letters cited on pp. 183-4.
50. After the verse my father wrote: 'such words in the Noldorin
tongue as his waking mind knew not', striking this out at once.
51. This was work done in October 1944: see pp. 233-4.
52. Cf. VII.448.
Note on the Chronology.
Time-scheme D continues somewhat further than does C (see p. 182):
Friday Feb. 10 Frodo and Sam come to Shelob's lair early in the
morning. They get out in the late afternoon - nearly at top of the
pass. Frodo is captured and carried to orc-tower at night.
Saturday Feb. 11 Attack at dawn on besieged Minas Tirith. Riders
of Rohan suddenly arrive and charge, overthrowing the leaguer.
Fall of Theoden. Host of Mordor flung into River.
Sunday Feb. 12 Gandalf (Eomer and Aragorn and Faramir)
advance into Ithilien.
Time-scheme S goes no further than February 8.
Pencilled entries were added to February 11 in Scheme D: 'Sam at
the Iron Door early hours of Feb. 11. Sam gets into orc-tower. Rescues
Frodo. They fly and descend into Mordor'; and 'Ships of Harad
burnt'.
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