PART ONE.
THE END OF THE
THIRD AGE.
I.
THE STORY OF FRODO AND SAM
IN MORDOR.
Long foreseen, the story of the destruction of the Ring in the fires of
Mount Doom was slow to reach its final form. I shall look back first
over the earlier conceptions that have appeared in The Return of the
Shadow and The Treason of Isengard, and then give some further
outlines of the story.
The conception of the Fiery Mountain, in which alone the Ring
could be destroyed, and to which the Quest will ultimately lead, goes
back to the earliest stages in the writing of The Lord of the Rings. It
first emerged in Gandalf's conversation with Bingo Bolger-Baggins,
predecessor of Frodo, at Bag End (VI.82): 'I fancy you would have to
find one of the Cracks of Earth in the depths of the Fiery Mountain,
and drop it down into the Secret Fire, if you really wanted to destroy
it.' Already in an outline that almost certainly dates from 1939
(VI.380) the scene on the Mountain appears:
At end
When Bingo [> Frodo] at last reaches Crack and Fiery Mountain he
cannot make himself throu the Ring away. ? He hears Necro-
mancer's voice offering him great reward - to share power with
him, if he will keep it.
At that moment Gollum - who had seemed to reform and had
guided them by secret ways through Mordor - comes up and
treacherously tries to take Ring. They wrestle and Gollum takes
Ring and falls into the Crack.
The mountain begins to rumble.
Two years later, in a substantial sketch of the story to come ('The
Story Foreseen from Moria') it was still far from clear to my father just
what happened on the Mountain (VII.209):
Orodruin [written above: Mount Doom] has three great fissures
North, West, South [> West, South, East] in its sides. They are very
deep and at an unguessable depth a glow of fire is seen. Every now
and again fire rolls out of mountain's heart down the terrific
channels. The mountain towers above Frodo. He comes to a flat
place on the mountain-side where the fissure is full of fire - Sauron's
well of fire. The Vultures are coming. He cannot throw Ring in. The
Vultures are coming. All goes dark in his eyes and he falls to his
knees. At that moment Gollum comes up and wrestles with him,
and takes Ring. Frodo falls flat.
Here perhaps Sam comes up, beats off a vulture and hurls himself
and Gollum into the gulf?
Subsequently in this same outline is found:
They escape [from Minas Morgol] but Gollum follows.
It is Sam that wrestles with Gollum and [?throws] him finally in
the gulf.
Not long after this, in the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien'
(VII.344), my father noted that 'Sam must fall out somehow' (presum-
ably at the beginning of the ascent of Mount Doom) and that Frodo
went up the mountain alone:
Sam must fall out somehow. Stumble and break leg: thinks it is a
crack in ground - really Gollum. [?Makes ?Make] Frodo go on
alone.
Frodo toils up Mount Doom. Earth quakes, the ground is hot.
There is a narrow path winding up. Three fissures. Near summit
there is Sauron's Fire-well. An opening in side of mountain leads
into a chamber the floor of which is split asunder by a cleft.
Frodo turns and looks North-west, sees the dust of battle. Faint
sound of horn. This is Windbeam the Horn of Elendil blown only in
extremity.
Birds circle over. Feet behind.
Since the publication of The Treason of Isengard there has come to
light an outline that is obviously closely related to this passage from
'The Story Foreseen from Lorien' (which does not necessarily mean
that it belongs to the same time) but is very much fuller. This I will
refer to as I. The opening sentences were added at the head of the page
but belong with the writing of the text.
(I) Sam falls and hurts leg (really tripped by Gollum). Frodo has to
go alone. (Gollum leaps on Sam as soon as Frodo is away.)
Frodo toils on alone up slope of Mt.Doom. Earth quakes; the
ground becomes hot. There is a narrow path winding up. It crosses
one great fissure by a dreadful bridge. (There are three fissures
(W. S. E.).) Near the summit is 'Sauron's Fire-well'. The path enters
an opening in the side of the Mt. and leads into a low chamber, the
floor of which is split by a profound fissure. Frodo turns back. He
looks NW and sees dust and smoke of battle? (Sound of horn - the
Horn of Elendil?) Suddenly he sees birds circling above: they come
down and he realizes that they are Nazgul! He crouches in the
chamber-opening but still dare not enter. He hears feet coming up
the path.
At same moment Frodo suddenly feels, many times multiplied,
the impact of the (unseen) searching eye; and of the enchantment of
the Ring. He does not wish to enter chamber or to throw away the
Ring. He hears or feels a deep, slow, but urgently persuasive voice
speaking: offering him life, peace, honour: rich reward: lordship:
power: finally a share in the Great Power - if he will stay and go
back with a Ring Wraith to Baraddur. This actually terrifies him. He
remains immovably balanced between resistance and yielding, tor-
mented, it seems to him a timeless, countless, age. Then suddenly a
new thought arose - not from outside - a thought born inside
himself: he would keep the Ring himself, and be master of all. Frodo
King of Kings. Hobbits should rule (of course he would not let
down his friends) and Frodo rule hobbits. He would make great
poems and sing great songs, and all the earth should blossom, and
all should be bidden to his feasts. He puts on the Ring! A great cry
rings out. Nazgul come swooping down from the North. The Eye
becomes suddenly like a beam of fire stabbing sheer and sharp out
of the northern smoke. He struggles now to take off the Ring - and
fails.
The Nazgul come circling down - ever nearer. With no clear
purpose Frodo withdraws into the chamber. Fire boils in the Crack
of Doom. All goes dark and Frodo falls to his knees.
At that moment Gollum arrives, panting, and grabs Frodo and
the Ring. They fight fiercely on the very brink of the chasm. Gollum
breaks Frodo's finger and gets Ring. Frodo falls in a swoon. Sam
crawls in while Gollum is dancing in glee and suddenly pushes
Gollum into the crack.
Fall of Mordor.
Perhaps better would be to make Gollum repent in a way. He is
utterly wretched, and commits suicide. Gollum has it, he cried. No
one else shall have it. I will destroy you all. He leaps into crack. Fire
goes mad. Frodo is like to be destroyed.
Nazgul shape at the door. Frodo is caught in the fire-chamber and
cannot get out!
Here we all end together, said the Ring Wraith.
Frodo is too weary and lifeless to say nay.
You first, said a voice, and Sam (with Sting?) stabs the Black
Rider from behind.
Frodo and Sam escape and flee down mountain-side. But they
could not escape the running molten lava. They see Eagles driving
the Nazgul. Eagles rescue them.
Make issue of fire below them so that bridge is cut off and a sea of
fire bars their retreat while mountain quivers and crumbles. Gandalf
on white eagle rescues them.
Against the sentence 'He is utterly wretched, and commits suicide'
my father subsequently wrote No.
Another outline, which I will call II, is closely related to outline I just
given. It is written in ink over a briefer pencilled text, very little of
which can be read - partly because of the overwriting, partly because
of the script itself (my father could not read the conclusion of the first
sentence and marked it with dots and a query).(1)
(II) Frodo now feels full force of the Eye....... ? He does not want
to enter Chamber of Fire or throw away the Ring. He seems to hear
a deep slow persuasive voice speaking: offering life and peace - then
rich reward, great wealth - then lordship and power - and finally a
share of the Great Power: if he will take Ring intact to the Dark
Tower. He rejects this, but stands still - while thought grows
(absurd though it may seem): he will keep it, wield it, and himself
have Power alone; be Master of All. After all he is a great hero.
Hobbits should become lords of men, and he their Lord, King
Frodo, Emperor Frodo. He thought of the great poems that would
be made, and mighty songs, and saw (as if far away) a great Feast,
and himself enthroned and all the kings of the world sitting at his
feet, while all the earth blossomed.
(Probably now Sauron is aware of the Ring and its peril, and this
is his last desperate throw to halt Frodo, until his messenger can
reach Orodruin.)
Frodo puts on Ring! A great cry rings out. A great shadow
swoops down from Baraddur, like a bird. The Wizard King is
coming. Frodo feels him - the one who stabbed him under
Weathertop. He is wearing Ring and has been seen. He struggles to
take off Ring and cannot. The Nazgul draws near as swift as storm.
Frodo's one idea is to escape it, and without thinking of his errand
he now flies into the Chamber of Fire. A great fissure goes across it
from left to right. Fire boils in it. All goes dark to Frodo and he falls
on his knees. At that moment Gollum arrives panting and grabs at
the Ring. That rouses Frodo, and they fight on the brink of the
chasm. Gollum breaks Frodo's finger and gets Ring. Frodo falls in
swoon. But Sam who has now arrived rushes in suddenly and
pushes Gollum over the brink. Gollum and Ring go into the Fire
together. The Mountain boils and erupts. Barad-dur falls. A great
dust and a dark shadow floats away NE on the rising SW wind.
Frodo suddenly thinks he can hear and smell Sea. A dreadful
shuddering cry is borne away and until it dies far off all men and
things stand still.
Frodo turns and sees door blocked by the Wizard King. The
mountain begins to erupt and crumble. Here we will perish
together, said the Wizard King. But Frodo draws Sting. He no
longer has any fear whatsoever. He is master of the Black Riders. He
commands the Black Rider to follow the Ring his master and drives
it into the Fire.
Then Frodo and Sam fly from the chamber. Fire is pouring out of
the mountain-side by three great channels W, SE, S, and makes a
burning moat all round. They are cut off.
Gandalf, of course, now knows that Frodo has succeeded and the
Ring has perished. He sends Gwaihir the Eagle to see what is
happening. Some of the eagles fall withered by flame?(2) But Gwaihir
sweeps down and carries off Sam and Frodo back to Gandalf,
Aragorn, etc. Joy at the reunion - especially of Merry and Pippin?
There seems to be no certain way in which to date this text, but the
reference to the coming of the Wizard King from Barad-dur shows at
any rate that his fate on the Pelennor Fields had not yet arisen. I incline
to think that it is relatively late, and would associate it tentatively with
the end of the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Forannest' (VIII.362):
Gandalf knows that Ring must have reached fire. Suddenly
Sauron is aware of the Ring and its peril. He sees Frodo afar off. In a
last desperate attempt he turns his thought from the Battle (so that
his men waver again and are pressed back) and tries to stop Frodo.
At same time he sends the Wizard King as Nazgul to the Mountain.
The whole plot is clear to him....
Gandalf bids Gwaihir fly swiftly to Orodruin.
With this d. the words of outline II just given: 'Probably now Sauron
is aware of the Ring and its peril, and this is his last desperate throw to
halt Frodo'; and 'Gandalf, of course, now knows that Frodo has
succeeded and the Ring has perished. He sends Gwaihir the Eagle to
see what is happening.'
I turn now to other outlines that preceded any actual narrative
writing of Book VI. The first of these, Outline III, also only came to
light recently; it is a somewhat disjointed page, with deletions and
additions, but all belonging,to the same time. I believe that time to be
the brief period of work (October 1944) when my father began
writing 'Minas Tirith' and 'The Muster of Rohan', and wrote also
many outlines for Book V; with the opening of the present text cf.
VIII.260: '[12] Gandalf and Aragorn and Eomer and Faramir defeat
Mordor. Cross into Ithilien. Ents arrive and Elves out of North.
Faramir invests Morghul and main force comes to Morannon. Parley.'
It will be seen that the story of the fighting and slaughter in the Tower
of Kirith Ungol had not yet arisen.
(III) They pass into Ithilien [12 >] 11 (3) [and turn >] Eomer and
Faramir invest Minas Morghul. The rest turn / north to Moran-
non. Joined by Ents and Elves out of Emyn Muil. Camp on [added:
S. edge (of)] Battle Plain [14 >) evening of 12. Parley. Messengers
[sic] of Sauron. Gandalf refuses. [Added: begins assault on
Morannon.]
Sam rescues Frodo night of 11/12. They descend into Mordor.
[Gollum comes after them. They see a vast host gathering in Kirith
Gorgor, and have to lie hid (12). 12/13 They go on and are tracked
by Gollum. This was struck out and replaced by the following:]
Frodo from the high tower holds up phial and as if with Elvish
sight (4) sees the white army in Ithilien. On the other side he sees the
vast secret host of Mordor (not yet revealed) gathered on the dead
fields of Gorgor. ? Sauron delays to take Frodo because of the
defeat at Gondor.
Mt.Doom (Orodruin) stands in plain at inner throat of Kirith
Gorgor, but a complete darkness comes over land, and all they can
see is Mt.Doom's fire and far away the Eye of Baraddur. They
cannot find a path? It is not until night of 12 that they reach rocky
slopes above the levels of Kirith Gorgor. There they see an immense
host camped: it is impossible to go further. They remain in hiding
during 13 - and are tracked down by Gollum. Suddenly the whole
host strikes camp and pours away leaving Mordor empty. Sauron
himself has gone out to war.(5) They cross plain and climb Mt.Doom.
Frodo looks back and sees the white army driven back.
Frodo captured on night 10/11. But Shagrat persuades Gorbag
not to send message at once,(6) until he's had a look for the real
warrior still loose. Orcs scatter and hunt in Kirith Ungol (11). Sam
at last finds way in - he has to go back and down pass (7) - then he
finds quite a small fort (8) of many houses and a gate and a path
leading up to the cliff. It is not until [evening >] night of 11 that he
manages to get in.
Rescue of Frodo early on 12. Shagrat sends message to Lugburz.
[Added: How do messages work. Signal from Tower to Eye. News.]
Nazgul arrives at Tower and takes coat of mail and [clothes etc. >]
a sword to Baraddur (12).
Frodo and Sam hide in rocks. The Gorgor plain is covered with
armies. They are in despair, for crossing is impossible. Slowly they
work their way north to where the defile narrows, to a point nearer
Mt.Doom [> Dum].(9)
Another outline (IV) describes the capture of Frodo and his rescue
by Sam from the Tower of Kirith Ungol; and this is yet another text of
which I was not aware until recently. Like outline II it is written in ink
over an underlying, and much briefer, pencilled text. It was written,
very obviously at the same time, on the reverse of a page that carries a
rejected preliminary version (also in ink over pencil) of the outline
'The march of Aragorn and defeat of the Haradrim' given in VIII.397 -
9, which preceded the writing of 'The Battle of the Pelennor Fields'
and very probably accompanied the outline 'The Story Foreseen from
Forannest' (see VIII.397). This preliminary version of 'The march of
Aragorn and defeat of the Haradrim', which contains remarkable
features, is given at the end of this chapter (p. 14).
In this outline IV Gorbag is expressly the 'Master of the Tower',
whereas in the fair copy manuscript of 'The Choices of Master
Samwise' he is the Orc from Minas Morghul, as in RK. It is notable
however that at his first appearance in this text he is the Orc from
Minas Morghul, changed immediately to Shagrat - which is however
marked with a query. This query suggests to me that after so much
changing back and forth of the names of these beauties (see VIII.225,
note 46) my father could not remember what decision he had come to,
and did not at this time check it with the manuscript of the end of
Book IV (cf. the case of 'Thror' and 'Thrain', VII.159 - 60). The same
uncertainty is seen in outline III above (see note 6).
(IV) Frodo is captured night of 10-11. Mar.12 Frodo in prison.
(Sauron is distracted by news of the Ents and defeat of his forces in
Eastemnet by Ents and Elves of Lorien.)
No message is sent for some time to Dark Tower - partly because
of general.......(10) Frodo is stripped, and the Mithril coat is found.
[Gorbag >] Shagrat (?) covets this, and tries to stop Gorbag
sending message: at first pleading need of searching for confederate.
But quarrel breaks out, and Shagrat and Gorbag fight and their men
take sides. Sam at last finds way in - by a front gate overlooking
Mordor - and a steep descent down into a long narrow dale or
trough beyond which is a lower ridge.(11) In end Gorbag (Master of
the Tower) wins, because he has more men, and Shagrat and all his
folk are slain. Gorbag then sends tidings to Baraddur together with
the Mithril coat - but overlooks Lorien cloak.(12) Gorbag has only
very few men left, and has to send two (since one won't go alone for
fear of the missing spy) to Baraddur. Sam slips in and slays one of
Gorbag's remaining two at the gate, another on stair, and so wins
his way in to the Upper Chamber. There he finds Gorbag. Sam takes
off his Ring and fights him and slays him. He then enters Frodo's
chamber. Frodo lying bound and naked; he has recovered his wits
owing to a draught given him by orcs to counter poison - but he has
talked in his delirium and revealed his name and his country, though
not his errand.(13) Frodo is filled with fear, for at first he thinks it is an
orc that enters. Then hatred for the bearer of the Ring seizes him
like a madness, and he reproaches Sam for a traitor and thief. Sam
in grief; but he speaks kindly, and the fit passes and Frodo weeps.
This is night of 13th. Sam and Frodo escape from Tower on 14th.
It might be a good thing to increase the reckoning of time that
Frodo, Sam and Gollum took to climb Kirith Ungol by a day, so that
Frodo is not taken until night of 11-12. Quarrel between Orcs on
12th and sending of message that night or morning of 13th when
Gorbag is victorious. Sam gets in on 13th. Otherwise Sam will have
to spend all 11, 12 and part of 13 trying to get into Tower.
Make Sam get in before fight and get mixed up with it. And so let
Sam hear message sent to Baraddur?
The last outline (V), while written independently of IV, evidently
belongs closely with it, and has the same story of the Tower of Kirith
Ungol - Gorbag is the captain of the garrison, and Sam slays him. This
text, giving the first detailed account of the journey of Frodo and Sam
to Mount Doom, is identical in appearance to 'The Story Foreseen
from Forannest' and was clearly a companion to it.
At the head of the page are written these notes on distances, which
were struck through:
Minas Tirith to Osgiliath (W. end) 24 - 5 miles. Width of city
[written above: ruin] 4 miles. East end of Osgiliath to Minas
Morghul about 60 miles (52 to Cross Roads?). Minas Morghul to
top of Kirith Ungol (and pass below Tower) 15 miles on flat. Kirith
Ungol to crest of next (lower) ridge beyond Trough is about 15
miles.
The opening paragraph of the main text is enclosed in square brackets
in the original. All the changes shown were made subsequently in
pencil, including the reduction of most of the dates by a day.
(V) [Gorbag sends swift runner to Baraddur on morn(ing) of 13th.
He does not reach plain and make contact with any horseman until
end [> morn(ing)] of 14th? A rider reaches Baraddur on 15th [>
night of 14], and at same time by Nazgul news of the defeat before
Gondor and the coming of Aragorn is brought to him [Sauron).(14)
He sends the Nazgul to Kirith Ungol to learn more. The Nazgul
discovers Tower full of dead and the prisoner flown.]
Sam rescues Frodo and slays Gorbag on 14th [> 13]. Frodo and
Sam escape: when clear of the Tower, they disguise themselves in
orc-guise. In this way they reach the bottom of the Trough at night
on 14th [> 13]. They are surprised that there seems no guard and
no one about; but they avoid the road. (A steep stair-path leads
down from Tower to join the main road from Minas Morghul over
Kirith Ungol pass to the Plain of Mordor and so to Baraddur.) The
darkness is that of night.(15)
On 15th [> 14) March they climb the inner ridge - about 1000
feet at most, sheer on W. side, falling in jumbled slopes on E. side.
They look out on the Plain of Mordor, but can see little owing to
dark [added: but the clouds are blown away]. Though by the
wizardry of Sauron the air is clear of smokes (so that his troops can
move) it hangs like a great pall in the upper air. It seems largely to
issue from Orodruin - or so they guess, where far away (50 miles)
under the pall there is a great glow, and a gush of flame. Baraddur
(further and S. of the Mountain) is mantled in impenetrable
shadow. Still, Frodo and Sam can see that all plain is full of troops.
Hosts of fires dot the land as far as they can see. They cannot hope
to cross. Frodo decides to try and find a point where the open land is
narrower, in or nearer to Kirith Gorgor. They descend into Trough
again and work north. They begin to count their food anxiously.
They are very short of water. Frodo weak after poison - though the
orcs gave him something to cure it, and lembas seems specially good
as antidote., he cannot go fast.(16) They manage 10 miles along
Trough.
On 16th [> 15] they continue to crawl along Trough, until they
are some 25 - 30 miles north of Kirith Ungol.
On 17th [> 16] they climb ridge again, and lie hid. They hardly
dare move again even in the gloom, since they can see below them
great hosts of warriors marching into the defile out of Mordor.
Frodo guesses they are going to war and wonders what is happening
to Gandalf etc. [Added: No, most of troops are now coming back
in.]
On 19th [> 18] being desperate they go down and hide in the
rocks at the edge of the defile. At last Sauron's troop-movements
cease. There is an ominous silence. Sauron is waiting for Gandalf to
come into trap. Night of 19 - 20 [> 18 - 19] Frodo and Sam try to
cross the defile into Ered-Lithui. (About this time let Sam have
suspicion that Gollum is still about, but say nothing to Frodo?)
After various adventures they get to Eredlithui at a point about 55
miles NW of Orodruin. 20 (part), 21, 22, 23 they are working along
slopes of Eredlithui.(17)
On 24th their food and water is all spent - and Frodo has little
strength left. Sam feels a blindness coming on and wonders if it is
due to water of Mordor.
24th. Frodo with a last effort - too desperate for fear - reaches
foot of Orodruin and on 25 begins the ascent. There is a constant
rumble underground like a war of thunder. It is night. Frodo looks
round fearing the ascent - a great compulsion of reluctance is on
him. He feels the weight of the Eye. And behold the mantle of
shadow over Baraddur is drawn aside: and like a window looking
into an inner fire he sees the Eye. He falls in a faint - but the regard
of the Eye is really towards Kirith Gorgor and the coming battle,
and it sweeps past Orodruin.
Frodo recovers and begins ascent of Mt.Doom. He finds a
winding path that leads up to some unknown destination; but it is
cut across by wide fissures. The whole mountain is shaking. Sam
half-blind is lagging behind. He trips and falls - but calls to Frodo to
go on: and then suddenly Gollum has him from behind and chokes
his cries. Frodo goes on alone not knowing that Sam is not behind,
and is in danger. Gollum would have killed Sam but is suddenly
filled with fear lest Frodo destroy Ring. Sam is half throttled, but he
struggles on as soon as Gollum releases him.
Here the text ends, and at the end my father wrote in pencil: 'Carry
on now with old sketch.' Possibly he was referring to outline II (p. 6),
although there seems reason to think (p. 7) that that outline belongs to
much the same time as the present text.
*
The chronology of writing.
I take it as certain that my father took up The Lord of the Rings again,
after the long halt at the end of 1944, in the latter part of 1946: this
was when he returned to the abandoned openings of the chapters
'Minas Tirith' and 'The Muster of Rohan'. For the subsequent
chronology of writing there is little evidence beyond the rather obscure
statements in his letters. On 30 September 1946 (Letters no.106, to
Stanley Unwin) he said that he 'picked it up again last week' and wrote
a further chapter, but there is really no knowing what this was; and on
7 December 1946 (Letters no.107, to Stanley Unwin) he wrote: 'I still
hope shortly to finish my "magnum opus": the Lord of the Rings: and
let you see it, before long, or before January. I am on the last chapters.'
In an unpublished letter to Stanley Unwin of 5 May 1947 he wrote:
'It [Farmer Giles] is hardly a worthy successor to "The Hobbit", but
on the real sequel life hardly allows me any time to work'; and in
another of 28 May 'I have not had a chance to do any writing.' On 31
July 1947 (Letters no.109) he was saying: 'The thing is to finish the
thing as devised and then let it be judged'; and a further eight months
on (7 April 1948, Letters no.114, to Hugh Brogan) he wrote: 'Only
the difficulty of writing the last chapters, and the shortage of paper
have so far prevented its printing. I hope at least to finish it this year
...' Then, on 31 October 1948 (Letters no.117, again to Hugh
Brogan), he said, 'I managed to go into "retreat" in the summer, and
am happy to announce that I succeeded at last in bringing the "Lord
of the Rings" to a successful conclusion.'
The only other evidence that I know of is found in two pages on
which my father made a list of candidates for an academic post with
notes on their previous experience. Against several of the names he
noted both date of birth and present age, from which it is clear that the
year was 1948. On the reverse of one of these pages is drafting for the
passage in 'The Land of Shadow' in which Frodo and Sam see the
darkness of Mordor being driven back (RK p. 196); the second part is
overwritten with drafting for the discussion of food and water in 'The
Tower of Kirith Ungol' (RK p. 190), while the reverse of it carries very
rough sketching of the discovery of Frodo by Sam in the Tower.
Thus in December 1946 he was 'on the last chapters' of The Lord of
the Rings, and hoped to finish it 'before January'; but in 1948 he was
drafting the opening chapters of Book VI. The explanation must be, I
think, that by the end of 1946 he had completed or largely completed
Book V, and so (in relation to the whole work) he could feel that he
was now 'on the last chapters'; and greatly underestimating (as he had
so often done before) how much needed to be told before he reached
the end, he thought that he could finish it within the month. But 1947
was largely unproductive, as the letters imply; and Book VI was not
written until 1948.
NOTES.
1. The few words and sentences that I can make out are sufficient to
show that the story in the underlying text was substantially the
same. The ink overwriting ends before the pencilled text does,
and the last sentence of the latter can be read: 'Thorndor sweeps
down and carries off Sam and Frodo. They rejoin the host on
Battle Plain.' The naming of the rescuing eagle Thorndor (earlier
form of Thorondor) is very surprising, but is perhaps to be
explained as an unconscious reminiscence (when writing at great
speed) of the rescue of Beren and Luthien in The Silmarillion.
2. Cf. the fate of the Nazgul in RK (p. 224): And into the heart of
the storm ... the Nazgul came, shooting like flaming bolts, as
caught in the fiery ruin of hill and sky they crackled, withered,
and went out.'
3. The dates are still in February. For the change in the month see
VIII.324 - 5; and with the chronology of this text cf. that given in
VIII.226.
4. Cf. the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Fangorn' (VII.438):
'Then return to Frodo. Make him look out onto impenetrable
night. Then use phial which has escaped ... By its light he sees
the forces of deliverance approach and the dark host go out to
meet them. On this I remarked (VII.440, note 15), The light of
the Phial of Galadriel must be conceived here to be of huge
power, a veritable star in the darkness.'
5. Sauron himself has gone out to war: despite the apparent plain
significance of the words, it is impossible that my father should
have meant that Sauron was no longer present in the Dark
Tower.
6. Gorbag replaced Yagul as the name of the Orc from Minas
Morghul in the fair copy manuscript of 'The Choices of Master
Samwise' (see VIII.225, note 46). Here 'Shagrat persuades Gor-
bag not to send message at once' suggests that Gorbag is the Orc
from the Tower, whereas a few lines later 'Shagrat sends message
to Lugburz'; see further outline IV, p. 9.
7. he has to go back and down pass: i.e., Sam had to go back out of
the tunnels and up to the pass, then down the other side of it (cf.
RK pp. 173-5).
8. quite a small fort: I think that this means, not 'only a small fort',
but 'an actual fort, if not very large, not simply a tower'.
9. For the spelling Mount Dum see VII.373, VIII.118.
10. My father could not read the pencilled words here and wrote
queries against them.
11. This is the first description of the Morgai (which is marked and
named on the Second Map, VIII.435, 438).
12. The outline 'The march of Aragorn and defeat of the Haradrim',
closely associated with the present text, has a brief passage about
the rescue of Frodo concerned with the cloak of Lorien
(VIII.398):
Rescue of Frodo. Frodo is lying naked in the Tower; but Sam
finds by some chance that the elven-cloak of Lorien is lying in a
corner. When they disguise themselves they put on the grey
cloaks over all and become practically invisible - in Mordor the
cloaks of the Elves become like a dark mantle of shadow.
13. Cf. 'The Story Foreseen from Forannest' (VIII.361):
He [the ambassador of Sauron to the Parley] bears the Mithril
coat and says that Sauron has already captured the messenger -
a hobbit. How does Sauron know? He would of course guess
from Gollum's previous visits that a small messenger might be
a hobbit. But it is probable that either Frodo talked in his
drugged sleep - not of the Ring, but of his name and country;
and that Gorbag had sent tidings.
14. A pencilled X is written against this sentence. Cf. 'The Story
Foreseen from Forannest' (VIII.360): 'Sauron ... first hears of
Frodo on 15 of March, and at the same time, by Nazgul, of the
defeat in Pelennor and the coming of Aragorn.... He sends the
Nazgul to Kirith Ungol to get Frodo...'
15. Against this paragraph is written in the margin: 'Frodo's horror
when Sam comes in and looks like a goblin. Hate for the
Ringbearer seizes him and bitter words of reproach for treachery
spring to his lips.'
16. In the margin is written here: 'Ring a great burden, worse since he
had been for a while free of it.'
17. Beside these dates is written '10 miles, 15, 15, 15'.
*
The rejected preliminary version o f 'The March of Aragorn
and defeat of the Haradrim'
I have mentioned (pp. 8 - 9) that on the reverse of the page bearing
outline IV (describing the capture and rescue of Frodo) is the original
form of the outline given in VIII.397-9, entitled 'The march of
Aragorn and defeat of the Haradrim'. This is a very puzzling text, and
I give it in full. It was in fact written in three forms. The first is a
pencilled text (a) as follows:
Aragorn takes Paths of the Dead early on March 8th. Comes out
of the tunnel (a grievous road) and reaches head of the Vale of
Morthond at dusk. He blows horns [struck out: and unfurls
standard] to amazement of the people; who acclaim [him] as a king
risen from the Dead. He rests three hours and bidding all to follow
and send out the war-arrows he rides for the Stone of Erech. This is
a stone set up between the mouths of Lamedui and the Ethir Anduin
delta to commemorate the landing of Isildur and Anarion. It is
about 275 miles by road from the issuing of the Paths of the Dead.
Aragorn rides 100 miles and reaches the Ringlo Vale (where men
are assembling) on March 9. There he gathers news and men. He
rides after short rest into Lamedon (10) and then goes to
Here this version was abandoned and a new start made, also in pencil,
at 'Aragorn takes Paths of the Dead'; but this text (b) was overwritten
in ink and can only be read here and there. The overwritten form (c)
reads thus:
Aragorn takes Paths of the Dead morn(ing) 8 March, passes
tunnels of the mountains and comes out into the head of Morthond
Vale at dusk. Men of the Dale are filled with fear for it seems to
them that behind the dark shapes of the living riders a great host of
shadowy men come nearly as swift as riders. Aragorn goes on
through night and reaches Stone of Erech at morn(ing) on March 9.
Stone of Erech was black stone fabled to have been brought from
Numenor, and set to mark the landing of Isildur and Anarion and
their reception as kings by the dark men of the land. It stood on the
shores of Cobas, near the outflow of Morthond, and about it was a
ruined wall within which was also a ruined tower. In the vault under
the tower forgotten was one of the Palantir[i]. From Erech a road
ran by [the] sea, skirting in a loop the hills of Tarnost, and so to
Ethir Anduin and the Lebennin.
At Stone of Erech Aragorn unfurls his standard (Isildur's) with
white crown and star and Tree and blows horns. Men come to him.
(The Shadow-men cannot be seen by day.) Aragorn learns that what
he saw in Palantir was true indeed: Men of Harad have landed on
the coasts near the Ethir, and their ships have sailed up the estuary
as far as Pelargir. There the men of Lebennin have made a block -
on the basis of an ancient defence. The Haradwaith are ravaging the
land. It is nearly 350 miles by coast road from Erech to Pelargir.
Aragorn sends out swift riders north into the Dales, summoning
what men remain to march on Pelargir. He does not himself take
coast-road, since it is infested, but after a rest he sets out at dusk of
March 9 - and goes like wind by rough paths over Linhir and so to
Fords of Lameduin (about 150 miles away). The Shadow Host is
seen to follow. He crosses Morthond at Linhir, passes into Ringlo
Vale, and sets all land aflame for war. He reaches Lameduin evening
of March 10. Men are assembled there, and are resisting an attempt
of the Haradwaith to cross Lebennin > NW. Aragorn and the
Shadow Host come out of the dark with the white star shining on
the banner and the Haradwaith are terrified. Many drowned in the
river Lameduin. Aragorn camps and crosses Lameduin into Leben-
nin and marches on Pelargir morn(ing) of 11 March. The terror of
'the Black King' precedes him, and the Haradwaith try to fly: some
ships escape down Anduin, but Aragorn comes up driving Harad-
waith before him. The Shadow Host camps on shores of Anduin
before Pelargir on evening of March 11th. By night they set fire in
guarded ships, destroy the Haradwaith and capture 2 vessels. On
morn(ing) of 12th they set out up Anduin, with Haradwaith
captains rowing.
The extraordinary thing about this, of course, is the site of Erech. It
seems plain beyond any question from all the evidence presented in
The War of the Ring (see especially the chapter 'Many Roads Lead
Eastward (1)') that from its first emergence Erech was in the southern
foothills of Ered Nimrais, near the source of Morthond: Erech stands
self-evidently in close relationship with the Paths of the Dead. Why
then did my father now move it, first (in a) to the coast between the
mouths of Lameduin and Ethir Anduin, and then (in b and c) to Cobas
Haven (north of Dol Amroth: see the Second Map, VIII.434)? I am
unable to propose any explanation.
The geography of the c-version is at first sight hard to follow. In a
Aragorn's route can be understood: all that is said here is that he rode
from the head of Morthond Vale 'for the Stone of Erech'; he reaches
the Ringlo Vale, and then continues into Lamedon (which at this stage
lay east of the river Lameduin: see VIII.437). The distance of 275 miles
from the issuing of the Paths of the Dead to Erech 'between the
mouths of Lamedui and the Ethir Anduin delta' is however much too
great, and was perhaps an error for 175. (On the form Lamedui see
VIII.436.) In version c, however, Aragorn leaves Erech 'on the shores
of Cobas, near the outflow of Morthond', and 'goes like wind by
rough paths over Linhir and so to Fords of Lameduin (about 150
miles away).... He crosses Morthond at Linhir, passes into Ringlo
Vale ... He reaches Lameduin.' As it stands this makes no sense; but
the explanation is that his journey is described twice in the same
passage. The first statement is comprised in the words 'He goes like
wind by rough paths over Linhir, and so to Fords of Lameduin (about
150 miles away).' The second statement is 'He crosses Morthond at
Linhir, passes into Ringlo Vale ... He reaches Lameduin.' This must
mean that Linhir is here in the earlier position, above Cobas Haven
(see VIII.437).
It is said in c that the coast road from Erech skirted in a loop 'the
Hills of Tarnost'. This name is written in pencil against a dot on the
square Q 12 of the Second Map, at the northern extremity of the hills
between the rivers Lameduin and Ringlo (see VIII.434, 437, where I
said that so far as I then knew the name Tarnost does not occur
elsewhere).
Lastly, in the concluding lines of b, which were not overwritten, the
name Haradrians is given to the Haradwaith.
II.
THE TOWER OF KIRITH UNGOL.
It seems that my father returned to the story of Frodo and Sam more
than three years after he had 'got the hero into such a fix' (as he said in
a letter of November 1944, VIII.218) 'that not even an author will be
able to extricate him without labour and difficulty.' As one of the
outlines given in the preceding chapter shows, however, he had
continued to give thought to the question, and while Book V was still
in progress he had discovered the essential element in Sam's rescue of
Frodo: the quarrel of Shagrat and Gorbag in the Tower of Kirith
Ungol, leading to the mutual slaughter of almost all the orcs both of
the Tower and of Minas Morgul before Sam arrived (p. 9).
His first draft ('A') of the new chapter extended as far as the point
where Sam, descending the path from the Cleft, sees the two orcs shot
down as they ran from the gateway of the Tower, and looking up at
the masonry of the walls on his left realises that to enter in 'the gate
was the only way' (RK p. 178). In this draft the text of RK was largely
achieved, but not in all respects. In the first place, the chapter begins
thus: 'For a while Sam stood stunned before the closed door. Far
within he heard the sounds of orc-voices clamouring...' It is clear that
he was not physically stunned, as he was in the final story. On this see
pp. 21-2.(1)
Secondly, when Sam, groping his way back from the under-gate in
the tunnel, wondered about his friends (RK p. 173), 'Out in the world
it was the dark before dawn on the twelfth of March in Shire-
reckoning, the third day since he and Frodo came to the Cross Roads,
and Aragorn was drawing near to Anduin and the fleet of Umbar, and
Merry was beginning the third day of his ride from Dunharrow, and
the forest of Druadan lay before him; but in Minas Tirith Pippin stood
sleepless on the walls [?waiting] for [the] Causeway Forts had fallen
and the enemy was coming.'
Thirdly, the fortress of Kirith Ungol was at first conceived as rising
'in four great tier's', not three as in RK (p. 176), and its strange
structure, as it were flowing down the mountain-side, is sketched on
the page of the draft (reproduced on p. 19) beside the description in
the text; this description, originally in pencil but overwritten in ink,
runs as follows:
And in that dreadful light Sam stood aghast; for now he could
see the Tower of Kirith Ungol in all its strength. The horn that
(The Tower of Kirith Ungol.)
those could see who came up the pass from the West was but its
topmost turret. Its eastern face stood up in four great tiers from
a shelf in the mountain wall some 500 feet below. Its back was
to the great cliff behind, and it was built in four pointed
bastions of cunning masonry, with sides facing north-east and
south-east, one above the other, diminishing> as they went up,
while about the lowest tier was a battlemented wall enclosing a
narrow courtyard. Its gate open[ed] on the SE into a broad
road. The wall at the [?outward] .... was upon the brink of a
precipice.
'[The bottom one was probably projected some 50 yards from the
cliff, the next 40, the next 30, the top 20 - and on the top [or tip] of
it was the turret-tower. Their heights were 50 ft., 40 ft., 30 ft., 20?]
With black blank eyes the windows stared over the plains of
Gorgoroth and Lithlad; some [? form(ed)] a line of red-lit holes,
climbing up. Maybe they marked some stair up to the turret.
With a sudden shock of perception Sam realized that this
stronghold had been built not to keep people out of Mordor,
but to keep them in! It was indeed in origin one of the works
of Gondor long ago: the easternmost outpost of the defence
of Ithilien and Minas Ithil, made when after the overthrow of
Sauron, in the days of the Last Alliance, the Men of the West
kept watch upon the evil land where still his creatures lurked.
But as with the Towers of the Teeth that watch[ed] over Kirith
Gorgor, Nargos and ? [sic](2), so here too the watch and ward
had failed and treachery had yielded up the Tower to the
Ringwraiths. [?And] now for long it had been occupied by evil
things. And since his return to Mordor Sauron had found it
useful.
The pencilled passage that follows the end of the overwriting in ink
reads as follows:
... keep watch upon the evil land where still his creatures
lurked. But as with the Towers of the Teeth upon Kirith Gorgor,
so here the watch and ward had failed and treachery had yielded
up the Tower. But Sauron too had found it useful. For he had
few servants and many slaves. Still its purpose was as of old to
keep people in.
Sam looked and he saw how the tower commanded the main
road from the pass behind; the road he was on was only a
narrow way that went corkscrewing down into the darkness
and seemed to join a broad way from the gate to the road.
This page was removed from the original draft text A on account of
the illustration (the only one that my father ever made of the Tower of
Kirith Ungol), which was squared off with rough lines, and placed
with the second fair copy manuscript (E), although by then the fortress
was built in three tiers not four.
This original draft continues on to its end thus, and in this appears
the most important difference from the story of RK (pp. 176-8):
There was no doubt of the path he must take, but the longer
he looked the less he liked it. He put on the Ring again and
began to go down. Now he could hear the cries and sounds of
fighting again. He was about halfway down when out of the
dark gate into the red glow came two orcs running. They did
not turn his way but were making for the main road, when they
fell and lay still. Apparently they had been shot down by others
from the wall of the lower course or from the shadow of the
gate.(3) After that no more came out. Sam went on. He came now
[to] the point where [the] descending path hugged the lower
wall of the tower as it stood out from the rock behind. There
was a narrow angle there. He stopped again, glad of the excuse;
but he soon saw that there was no way in. There was no
purchase in the smooth rock or [? jointed] masonry and 100 feet
above the wall hung beetling out. The gate was the only way.
Here the first draft stops. Thus the entire passage in RK (p. 177) in
which Sam is tempted to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, his
mind filling with grandiose fantasies (deriving from those of Frodo on
Mount Doom in outlines I and II, pp. 5 - 6), is lacking; but at the point
where the draft ends my father wrote (dearly at the same time): Sam
must not wear Ring. No doubt it was this perception that caused him
to abandon this text.
He began at once on a second draft, 'B', for most of its length
written legibly in ink, with the number 'LII'(4) and the title 'The Tower
of Kirith Ungol'. This opened in the same way as did A (p. 18): 'For a
while Sam stood stunned before the closed door. Far within he heard
the sounds of orc-voices clamouring...' In the fair copy manuscript of
'The Choices of Master Samwise' it had been said (following the
original draft) that 'Sam hurled himself against it, and fell', changed in
pencil to 'Sam hurled himself against the bolted plates, and fell to the
ground.' This was repeated in the first typescript of that chapter; only
in the second typescript was the word 'senseless' introduced. The
explanation of this is that while writing the present draft B of 'The
Tower of Kirith Ungol' my father was struck by a thought which he
noted in the margin of the page, telling himself that he 'must leave time
for Frodo to recover and to fight'(5) and that in order to achieve this
'Sam must swoon outside the undergate.' It was no doubt at this time
that he changed the opening of B:
For a while Sam stood dumb before the closed door. Then desperate
and mad he charged at the brazen door, and fell back stunned;
down into darkness he sank. How long it lasted he could not tell;
but when he came to himself still all was dark.
Against the passage in the draft A referring to other events in the
world at that hour (p. 18) my father noted: 'Make Frodo and Sam one
day more in Ephelduath. So Frodo is captured night of 12, when
Merry was in Druadan Forest and Faramir lay in fever and Pippin was
with the Lord, but Aragorn was manning his fleet.' In B the passage
now becomes:
Out westward in the world it was deep night upon the twelfth of
March by Shire-reckoning, three days since he and Frodo had
passed the peril of Minas Morgul; and now Aragorn was manning
the black fleet on Anduin, and Merry in the Forest of Druadan was
listening to the Wild Man, while in Minas Tirith the flames were
roaring and [the great assault upon the Gates had begun >] the
Lord sat beside the bed of Faramir in the White Tower.
Against 'March' in this passage my father scribbled in the margin:
'Make Hobbit names of months.'
At the point where Sam at the crest of the pass looked out over
Mordor to Orodruin ('the light of it ... now glared against the stark
rock faces, so that they seemed to be drenched with blood', RK p. 176)
my father halted briefly and wrote the following note across the page:
Change in the Ring as it comes in sight of the furnace where it was
made. Sam feels large - and naked. He knows that he must not use
the Ring or challenge the Eye; and he knows he is not big enough for
that. The Ring is to be a desperate burden and no help from now
onwards.
The Tower of Kirith Ungol is still built in four tiers, not three, and
the note concerning the dimensions of the bastions was retained (see
p. 20), though the dimensions were changed:
[The bottom tier projected some 40 yards from the nearly perpen-
dicular cliff, the second 30, the third 20, the topmost 10; and their
height diminished similarly, 80 ft., 70 ft., 60 ft., 40 ft., and the
topmost turret some 50 ft. above the top of.... mountain wall.]
The road from Minas Morgul over the Pass of Morgul is said here to
pass 'through a jagged cleft in the inner ridge out into the valley of
Gorgor on its way to the Dark Tower'; the name Morgai had not yet
been devised (cf. RK p. 176). Gorgor was changed, probably im-
mediately, to Gorgoroth (cf. VIII.256). The Towers of the Teeth were
at first not named in this text, but Narchost and Carchost was added.
in subsequently.
Following the note on the subject of the Ring just given, this draft
now effectively reaches the text of RK in the account of Sam's
temptation and his refusal of it, as far as the point where A ended
('The gate was the only way', RK p. 178). From this point B becomes
rough and is partly in outline form.
Sam wonders how many orcs lived in the Tower with Shagrat
and how many men Gorbag had [marginal note: Make Gor-
bag's men more numerous in last chapter of Book IV](6) and
what all the fighting was about. 'Now for it!' he cried. He drew
Sting and ran towards the open gate - only to feel a shock, as if
he had run into some web like Shelob's but invisible. He could
see no obstacle, but something too strong for his will to
overcome barred the way. Then just inside the gate he saw the
Two Watchers. They were as far as he could see in the gloom
like great figures sitting on chairs, each had three bodies, and
three heads, and their legs facing inward and outward and
across the gateway. Their heads were like vulture-faces, and on
their knees were laid clawlike hands.(7) They were carved of
black stone, it seemed, moveless, and yet they were aware; some
dreadful spirit of evil vigilance dwelt in them. They knew an
enemy, and forbade his entry (or escape). Greatly daring,
because there was now nothing else to do, Sam drew out the
phial of Galadriel. He seemed to see a glitter in the jet-wrought
eyes of the Watchers, but slowly he felt their opposition melt
into fear. He sprang through, but even as he did so, as if it was
some signal given by the Watchers, far up in the Tower he heard
a shrill cry.
In RK (p. 179), even as Sam sprang through the gateway, 'he was
aware, as plainly as if a bar of steel had snapped to behind him, that
their vigilance was renewed. And from those evil heads there came a
high shrill cry that echoed in the towering walls before him. Far up
above, like an answering signal, a harsh bell clanged a single stroke.'
In the margin of the present text, against the foregoing passage, is a
note: 'Or make Watchers close with a snap. Sam is in a trap once
more.'
The courtyard was full of slain orcs. Some lay here and there,
hewn down or shot, but many lay still grappling one another, as
they throttled or stabbed their opponents. Two archers right in
the gateway - probably those who shot down the escaping orcs
- lay pierced from behind with spears. [Sting, Sam noticed, was
only shining faintly.]
Sam rushed across the court, and to his relief found the door
at the base of the Tower ajar. He met no one. Torches are
flaring in brackets. A stair, opening on right, goes up. He runs
up it, and so out into the narrow yard before the second door.
'Well!' he said to himself, his spirits rising a little, 'Well! It looks
as if Shagrat or Gorbag was on my side and has done my job for
me. There's nobody left alive!'And with that he halted, suddenly
realizing the full meaning of what he had said: nobody was left
alive. 'Frodo! Frodo!' he called, forgetful of all else, and ran to
the second door. An orc leaps out at him [in margin: Two orcs].
Sam kills the [> one] orc and the other runs off yelling for
Shagrat. Sam climbs warily. The stair now rises at the back of
the entrance passage, and climbs right up to the Turret (the
Brazen Gate enters about on a level with the courtyard?). Sam
hears voices, and stalks them. The orc is pattering away up the
stairs. 'Shagrat!' he calls. 'Here he is, the other spy.' Sam
follows. He overhears the orc reporting to Shagrat. Shagrat is
lying wounded by dead body of Gorbag. All Gorbag's men have
been killed, but they have killed all Shagrat's but these two.
An isolated slip of paper seems very likely to be the continuation of
this outline, and the first sketching of the new story of the escape from
the Tower. The writing declines towards the end into such a scrawl
that many words and phrases are impossible to make out.
Shagrat has in vain tried to get messages away to Baraddur.
The Quarrel arose about the treasures. Gorbag coveted the
mithril coat, but pretended that they must search for the missing
spy first. He sent his men to capture wall and gate, and
demanded mithril coat. But Shagrat won't agree. Frodo was
thrust in chamber of turret and stripped. Shagrat gives him
some medicine and begins to question him. Shagrat puts things
together to send to Baraddur (Lugburz). Gorbag tries to fight
way in and slay Frodo.
Gorbag and Shagrat fight.
When Shagrat hears news (although orc says the other spy is
not a large warrior) he is frightened, as he is wounded. He
makes the treasures into a bundle and tries to creep off. He must
get to Lugburz. So when Sam leaps out with phial and shining
sword he flees. Sam pursues; but gives up for he [?hears] Frodo
[?crying]. He sees Shagrat far below rushing out of gate - and
does not at first realize the misfortune of news getting to
Lugburz. The orc left behind is tormenting Frodo. Sam rushes in
and slays him.
Scene of yielding up Ring. Frodo has lost his cloak and ....(8)
He has to dress in the orc's clothes [or in orcs' clothes]. Sam
does likewise but keeps cloak and Sting. Frodo has to have
orc-weapons. The sword is gone.(9) He tells Sam about the fight.
They make their plans.
The opposition of the Watchers. The Tower seems full of evil.
Cry goes up as they escape. And as if in answer a Nazgul comes
dropping down out of the black sky, [?shining .... ?with] a fell
red, and perches on the wall. Meanwhile they dash down the
road, and as soon as they can leave it and climb into the shelter
of the rocks near bottom of trough. They wonder what to do.
Food.(10) Drink. They had found Frodo's sack and ..... [?in
corner] rummaged - but orcs would not touch lembas. They
gathered up what was left of it, in broken fragments. Orcs must
drink. [?They see] [a] well in the courtyard. Sam tastes it - says
Frodo not to risk it. It seems all right. They fill their water
bottles. It is now 13th of March, make it 14th? They reckoned
they have [?enough] for about a week with care or at a
desperate pinch ten days. How far is it.
They climb to lower ridge and find they dare not go across the
plain at that point - where it is broad and full of enemies.
The Nazgul [?explores] Tower and sees there is [??trouble]
and flies off. Frodo thinks it best to go north to where the plain
narrows - he had seen sketch of Mordor in Elrond's house -
and away from Kirith Ungol to which [?? attention is now
directed]. He bemoans fact that Shagrat had got away with
tokens.
Chapter ends with the Nazgul shining red circling over Tower
[??and he cries as] ..... of orcs begin to search the [?pass] and
the road and lands about.
I believe that at this stage my father began the chapter again, and
this was the first completed manuscript ('D'). It was numbered 'LII'
but given a new title 'The Orc-tower'; the number was later changed
to 'L' (which I cannot explain) and the title 'The Tower of Kirith
Ungol' (which it had borne in the draft B) restored.
New initial drafting begins at the point where Sam enters the gate of
the Tower, but up to this point the final text was now written out on
the basis of the drafts A and B described above, in a form only
differing in a few minor points from that in RK. The chapter now
opens exactly as it does in the published work (see p. 22), and Sam
now has to climb back over the stone door leading into the passage to
the under-gate, since he still cannot find the catch (note 1). The events
'out westward in the world' are described in the same words as in RK
(with the addition, after 'Pippin watched the madness growing in the
eyes of Denethor', of 'and Gandalf laboured in the last defence'); but
the date ('noon upon the fourteenth day of March' in RK) is now
'morning upon the thirteenth day of March'. The name Morgai
appears as an early addition to the text (p. 22). The Tower now has
three tiers, and the note about the dimensions of the bastions, still
present (see pp. 20, 22), was accommodated to this: the tiers now
projected 40, 30 and 20 yards from the cliff, and their heights were 80,
70, and 60 feet, changed at the time of writing to 100, 75, and 50 feet.
'The top was 25 feet above Sam, and above it was the horn-turret,
another 50 feet.'(11)
From '"That's done it!" said Sam. "Now I've rung the front-door
bell!"' a draft text ('C') takes up. This is written in a script so difficult
that a good deal of it would be barely comprehensible had it not been
closely followed in the fair copy D.(12) The final story was now reached,
and there is little to record of these texts. At the point in the narrative
where Sam climbed up to the roof of the third (topmost) tier of the
Tower there is a little diagram in D showing the form of the open
space (not clearly seen in the drawing reproduced on p. 19): rectangu-
lar at the base but with the sides drawing together to a point (cf. the
'pointed bastions' referred to in the description of the Tower), roughly
in the shape of a haystack. To the statement that the stairhead was
'covered by a small domed chamber in the midst of the roof, with low
doors facing east and west' D adds 'Both were open': this was omitted
in the second manuscript ('E'), perhaps inadvertently. The name of the
sole surviving orc beside Shagrat is Radbug in both C and D (Snaga in
RK; see LR Appendix F, p. 409), Radbug being retained in the final
story as the name of an orc whose eyes Shagrat says that he had
squeezed out (RK p. 182); in C the orcs whom Sam saw running from
the gate and shot down as they fled are Lughorn and Ghash >
Mazgash (Lagduf and Muzgash in D, as in RK). Where in RK Snaga
declares that 'the great fighter' (Sam) is 'one of those bloody-handed
Elves, or one of the filthy tarks', and that his getting past the Watchers
is 'tark's work',(13) C has 'that's Elvish work'; D has 'one of these filthy
wizards maybe' and 'that's wizard's work' ('wizard' being changed in
pencil to 'tark', which appears in the second manuscript E as written).
Only in one point does the story as told in the draft C differ from
that in D. When Gorbag rouses himself from among the corpses on the
roof Sam sees in the latter, as in RK (p. 183), that he has in his hand 'a
broad-headed spear with a short broken haft'; in C on the other hand
he has 'a red [?and shining] sword. It was his own sword, the one he
left by Frodo.' With this cf. text B (p. 25 and note 9): 'Frodo has to
have orc-weapons. The sword is gone.'
Sam's sony as he sat on the stair in the horn-turret was much
worked on.(14) I give it here in the form that it has in D, which was
preceded by rougher but closely similar versions.
I sit upon the stones alone;
the fire is burning red,
the tower is tall, the mountains dark;
all living things are dead.
In western lands the sun may shine,
there flower and tree in spring
is opening, is blossoming;
and there the finches sing.
But here I sit alone and think
of days when grass u as green,
and earth was brown, and I was young:
they might have never been.
For they are past, for ever lost,
and here the shadows lie
deep upon my heavy heart,
and hope and daylight die.
But still I sit and think of you;
I see you far away
Walking down the homely roads
on a bright and windy day.
It was merry then when I could run
to answer to your call,
could hear your voice or take your hand;
but now the night must fall.
And now beyond the world I sit,
and know not where you lie!
O master dear, will you not hear
my voice before we die?
The second verse was altered on the manuscript:
For they are gone, for ever lost,
and buried here I lie
and deep beneath the shadows sink
where hope and daylight die.
At the same time the last two lines of the song became:
0 Master, will you hear my voice
and answer ere we die?
In this form the song appears in the second manuscript E. At a later
stage it was rewritten on this manuscript to become virtually a
different song, but still retaining almost unchanged the second half of
the original first verse, which now became the opening lines:
In western lands the Sun may shine;
there flower and tree in Spring
are opening, are blossoming,
and there the finches sing.
Further correction of these lines on the manuscript produced the final
form (RK p. 185).
A last point concerns the ladder: 'Suddenly the answer dawned on
Sam: the topmost chamber was reached by a trap-door in the roof of
the passage', RK p. 185. In my account of the fair copy manuscript of
'The Choices of Master Samwise' I did not describe a development in
the last words of Shagrat and Gorbag that Sam overheard before they
passed through the under-gate of the Tower (TT p. 351). In the draft
text, only Shagrat speaks:
'Yes, up to the top chamber,' Shagrat was saying, 'right at the top.
No way down but by the narrow stair from,the Look-out Room
below. He'll be safe there.'
In the fair copy this was retained, but Shagrat begins 'Yes, that'll do'
(as if the suggestion had come from Gorbag), and 'the ladder' was
substituted for 'the narrow stair'. It is thus seen that this element in the
story was already present when Book IV was completed. The further
development in the conversation of the orcs, in which Gorbag argues
against Shagrat's proposal, and Shagrat declares that he does not trust
all of his own 'lads', nor any of Gorbag's, nor Gorbag himself (and
does not mention that the topmost chamber was reached by ladder),
was added to the first typescript of 'The Choices of Master Samwise'
at this time, as is seen from the fact that rough drafting for it is found
on a page carrying drafts for passages for 'The Land of Shadow'.
Curiously, my father wrote at the head of this: 'No way up but by a
ladder, as if this idea had only now emerged.(15)
NOTES.
1. When Sam came back to the stone door of the orc-passage 'on the
inner side he found the catch' (whereas in RK he could not find it
and had to climb over). This was retained in the second draft B.
2. For earlier names of the Towers of the Teeth see the Index to The
War of the Ring, entries Naglath Morn, Nelig Myrn. The name
Nargos here is a reversion to one of the original names (Gorgos
and Nargos) of the towers guarding Kirith Ungol, when that was
still the name of the chief pass into Mordor: see VII.344 and
note 41.
3. These two orcs, who survived into the final text (RK p. 178),
originally appeared in outline IV (p. 9) as messengers sent to
Barad-dur. At that time there was no suggestion that they did not
make good their errand.
4. At this stage, presumably, 'The Pyre of Denethor' and 'The
Houses of Healing' constituted the two parts of Chapter XLIX
(VIII.386), while the remainder of Book V was divided between L
and LI (the fair copy manuscript of 'The Black Gate Opens' is
numbered LI).
5. In the event, of course, Frodo did not fight, and no draft of this
period suggests that he did. Possibly at this stage, before he had
come to write the new story of the rescue of Frodo, my father was
still thinking in terms of the original plot in 'The Story Foreseen
from Lorien', when Frodo was more active (VII.335 ff.).
6. In the fair copy manuscript of 'The Choices of Master Samwise'
Sam asked himself: 'How many are there? Thirty, forty, or
more?' The change to 'Thirty of forty from the tower at least, and
a lot more than that from down below, I guess' (TT p. 344) was
made on the first typescript of the chapter. - In outline IV (p. 9)
the orcs of the Tower are the more numerous.
7. Cf. the original conception of the Sentinels guarding the entrance
to Minas Morgul in 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien' written
years before (VII.340 - 1): 'It was as if some will denying the
passage was drawn like invisible ropes across his path. He felt the
pressure of unseen eyes.... The Sentinels sat there: dark and
still. They did not move their clawlike hands laid on their knees,
they did not move their shrouded heads in which no faces could
be seen ...' See also the diagrammatic sketch of the Sentinels in
VII.348.
8. The illegible word might possibly be jewel (i.e. the brooch of his
elven-cloak).
9. The sword is gone: this is Sam's sword from the Barrow-downs;
cf. 'The Choices of Master Samwise' (TT p. 340): ' "If I'm to go
on," he said, "then I must take your sword, by your leave, Mr.
Frodo, but I'll put this one to lie by you, as it lay by the old king
in the barrow..." ' See pp. 26 - 7.
10. This passage concerning their provision of food and water is
marked to stand earlier - no doubt after the words 'They make
their plans'. The illegible words in the sentence following 'Food.
Drink.' could conceivably be read as stick thrust, i.e. 'They had
found Frodo's sack and stick thrust in corner, rummaged.'
11. A few other differences of detail are worth recording. Where in
RK (p. 176) the text reads: 'not even the black shadows, lying
deep where the red glow could not reach, would shield him long
from the night-eyed orcs' D continues: 'that were moving to and
fro.'. This was taken up from the draft B, and remained into the
second manuscript of the chapter (E), where it was removed. -
Sam's rejection of the temptation to claim the Ring as his own was
expressed thus: 'The one small garden of a free gardener was all
his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands
to command, not the hands of others. Service given with love was
his nature, not to command service, whether by fear or in proud
benevolence.' - After the words 'He was not really in any doubt'
(RK p. 177) there follows in D: 'but he was lonely and he was not
used to it, or to acting on his own.' To this my father subsequently
added, before striking it all out, 'Since no one else was there he
had to talk to himself.'
12. Some passages are absent from the draft C, but not I think
because pages are lost: rather D becomes here the initial narrative
composition. Thus the passage in RK p. 181 from 'Up, up he
went' to ' "Curse you, Snaga, you little maggot" ' is missing; and
here the D text becomes notably rougher and full of corrections
in the act of writing. The very rough draft C stops near the
beginning of Sam's conversation with Frodo in the topmost
chamber (RK p. 187), and from that point there are only isolated
passages of drafting extant; but the latter part of D was much
corrected in the act of writing, and was probably now to a large
extent the primary composition.
13. Cf. LR Appendix F (RK p. 409): in Orkish Westron 'tark, "man of
Gondor", was a debased form of tarkil, a Quenya word used in
Westron for one of Numenorean descent'.
14. For my father's original ideas for the song that Sam sang in this
predicament see VII.333.
15. When Frodo and Sam passed out through the gate of the Tower
Frodo cried: Alla elenion ancalima! Alla was not changed to Aiya
until the book was in type (cf. VIII.223, note 29).
III.
THE LAND OF SHADOW.
It seems plain that 'The Land of Shadow' was achieved swiftly and in a
single burst of writing; the draft material (here compendiously called
'A') consists largely of very roughly written passages immediately
transferred to and developed in the first continuous manuscript ('B'),
which was given the number 'LIII' (see p. 25) and the title 'Mount
Doom', subsequently changed to 'The Land of Shadow'. Only in a few
passages did my father go momentarily down an unsuccessful turn in
the story.
The first of these concerns the overhearing by Sam and Frodo of the
conversation of orcs in the valley beneath the Morgai, which was at
first conceived very differently from the story in RK (pp. 202 - 3). The
draft text A is here, as throughout, exceedingly difficult to read.
Presently [three >] two orcs came into view. They were in black
without tokens and were armed with bows, a small breed,
black-skinned with wide snuffling nostrils, evidently trackers of
some kind........ they were talking in some hideous unintel-
ligible speech; but as they passed snuffling among the stones
scarcely 20 yards from where the hobbits lurked Frodo saw that
one was carrying on his arm a black mail-shirt very like the one
that he had abandoned. He sniffed it as [he] went as if to recall
its scent. All at once lifting his head he let out a cry. It was
answered, and from the other direction (from Kirith Ungol now
some miles behind) ... large fighting orcs came up with shields
....... [?painted] with the Eye.
A [? babble] of talk in the common tongue now broke out.
'Nar,' said the tracker, 'not a trace further along. Nor o' this
smell, but we're not [?easy]. Somebody that has no business
here has been about. Different smell, but a bad smell: we've lost
that too, it went up into the mountains.'
'A lot of use you little snufflers are,' grunted a bigger orc. 'I
reckon eyes are better than your snotty noses. Have you seen
anything?'
'What's to look for?' grunted the tracker.
Amid much further orcish dissension in confused drafting the final
story emerges, with two orcs only, a soldier and a small tracker: my
father had some trouble in deciding which offensive remark belonged
to which speaker.
Drafting for the passage in which Sam described to Frodo all that
had happened (RK p. 204) runs thus:
When he had finished Frodo said nothing for some time, but
took Sam's hand and pressed it. At length he stirred. 'So this is
what comes of eavesdropping, Sam,' he said. 'But I wonder if
you'll ever get back. Perhaps it would have been safer to have
been turned into a toad as Gandalf threatened. Do you remem-
ber that day, Sam,' he said, 'and clipping the edges under the
window?'
'I do, Mr. Frodo. And I bet things are in [a] nasty mess there
now with [?that] Lobelia and her Cosimo,(1) begging your
pardon. There'll be trouble if ever we get back.'
'I shouldn't worry about that if I were you,' said Frodo.
'We've got to go on again now. East, East, Sam, not West. I
wonder how long it will be before we are caught and all this
slinking and toiling will be over?'
It is curious that Sam, speaking darkly of the state of affairs in the
Shire, should ascribe it to Lobelia and Cosimo Sackville-Baggins. In
the original sketch of the Mirror of Lothlorien, when it was King
Galdaran's Mirror, and when it was Frodo who saw the visions of the
Shire, he was to see 'Cosimo Sackville-Baggins very rich, buying up
land'; but there is no mention of Cosimo in the first narrative of the
scene (VII.249, 253).
Frodo's entrusting of Sting and the Phial of Galadriel to Sam entered
in the first manuscript (B) in this form:
'You must keep the Lady's gift for me, Sam,' he said, 'I've
nowhere to store it now, except in my hand, and I need both in
the dark. And you must keep Sting too, since I have lost your
sword. I have got an orc-blade, but I do not think it is my part to
strike any blows again.'
It was at this time, as it appears, that my father came to a new
perception of the lands in the north-western extremity of Mordor, and
saw that the vale behind the Morannon was closed also at the
southward end by great spurs that thrust out from Ephel Duath and
Ered Lithui. As first written in B, Frodo told Sam this concerning his
knowledge of Mordor (cf. RK p. 204):
'No very clear notion, Sam,' said Frodo. 'In Rivendell before I
set out I saw old maps made before the Dark Lord came back
here, and I remember them vaguely. I had a little secret plan
with names and distances: it was given to me by Elrond, but
that has gone with all my other things. I think it was ten leagues
or even a dozen from the Bridge to the Narrows, a point where
the western and northern ranges send out spurs and make a sort
of gate to the deep valley that lies behind the Morannon. The
Mountain stands out alone on the plain, but nearer the northern
range. Nearly fifty miles I think from the Narrows, more, of
course, if we have to keep to the edge of the hills on the other
side.'
In a revised version of this Frodo says: 'I guess, not counting our
wasted climb, we've done say [twenty miles >] six or seven leagues
north from the Bridge since we started.' The final version in this
manuscript gives seven leagues as the distance they have traversed, 'ten
leagues or so' from the Bridge to the meeting of the mountain-spurs,
and still fifty miles from there to Mount Doom. In RK these distances
are twelve leagues, not seven; twenty leagues, not ten; and sixty miles,
not fifty: see further the Note on Geography at the end of this chapter.
When Frodo and Sam at last set eyes on the north-western confines
of Mordor as seen from the south (RK p. 205) the names Durthang
and Carach Angren 'the Iron Jaws' appear in the original draft, but the
valley behind Carach Angren is named the Narch.(2) The draft text is
here partly illegible, but enough can be read to show that the
landscape was perfectly clear to my father's eyes as soon as he reached
this point in the narrative. In the B text the name Isenmouthe appears,
though the valley behind is still called the deep dark valley of Narch.'(3)
A notable feature in the original draft of the story is that there is no
mention of Gollum (see RK p. 206). While Frodo slept Sam went off
by himself and found water, as in RK, but then 'the rest of that grey
day passed without incident. Frodo slept for [?hours]. Sam did not
wake him, but trusting once more to "luck" slept for a long while
beside him.' Gollum enters in the B text in these words:
At that moment he thought he caught a glimpse of a black
form or shadow flitting among the stones above, near to Frodo's
hiding. He was almost back to his master before he was sure.
There was Gollum indeed! If his will could have given him
strength for a great bound Sam would have sprung straight on
his enemy's back; but at that moment Gollum became aware of
him and looked back. Sam had a quick glimpse of two pale eyes
now filled with a mad malevolent light, and then Gollum,
jumping from rock to rock with great agility, fled away onto the
ridge and vanished over its crest.
The end of the chapter, the story of Frodo and Sam being forced to
join the orc+and coming down from Durthang and their escape from
it in the confusion at the road-meeting near the Isenmouthe, was
achieved in all but minor details unhesitatingly.
NOTES.
1. For Cosimo Sackville-Baggins, later Lotho, see VI.283, VII.32.
2. It was while working on the latter part of 'The Land of Shadow'
that my father first mapped this new conception of the north-
western extremity of Mordor, on a slip of paper that bears on the
reverse drafting for the story of the forced march of Frodo and
Sam in the troop of orcs moving from Durthang to the Isen-
mouthe. On this little sketch-map the closed vale between the
Morannon and the Isenmouthe is named The Narch, subsequently
overwritten Udun. In my description of the Second Map in
VIII.438 I noted that the vale was first marked Gorgoroth, but that
this was struck out, 'and in its place was pencilled here the name
March Udun.' It is in fact clear that Narch alone was first written,
and that Udun was intended as a replacement.
3. This was changed later to 'the deep dale of Kirith Gorgor', and
then to 'the deep dale of Udun' (see note 2).
4. A few such details from the earliest form of the conclusion of the
chapter may be mentioned. The orc 'slave-drivers' are called 'two
of the large fierce uruks, the fighting-orcs', and this seems to be the
first time that the word was used (though the name Uruk-hai had
appeared long since, VII.409, VIII.22, see also p. 436); and it is
said that 'one of the slave-drivers with night-sighted eyes spied the
two figures by the roadside.' Where in RK this orc says 'All your
folk should have been inside Udun before yesterday evening' he
says here 'inside the Narch-line'; and following his words 'Don't
you know we're at war?' he adds: 'If the elvish folk get the best of
it, they won't treat you so kindly.'
Note on the Geography.
In the first draft of the chapter, when Frodo and Sam climbed to the
crest of the Morgai and looking out eastwards saw Mount Doom, it
was 'still 30 miles away, perhaps, due East from where the hobbits
stood.' In the B text, in the following manuscript, and in the final
typescript for the printer, the distance became 'seven leagues or more',
and was only altered to 'forty miles at least' (RK p. 200) at a late stage.
It is impossible to relate '30 miles', still less 'seven leagues', to any of
the maps. On the Second Map the distance due East from the Morgai
to Mount Doom (in its second, more westerly, position, see VIII.438)
is just under 50 miles, while on the Third Map (the last general
small-scale map that my father made) it became 80 miles. On the
large-scale map of Rohan, Gondor and Mordor the distance is
somewhat under 60 miles, as Mount Doom was first placed; but when
it was moved further to the west it became about 43 miles (under 40 in
my redrawing of the map published in The Return of the King), with
which the text of RK agrees.
The distance from the Morgai bridge below Kirith Ungol to the
Isenmouthe was roughly estimated from memory by Frodo (p. 33) as
'ten leagues or even a dozen' (30 - 36 miles); and 'ten leagues at least'
remained into the final typescript before being changed to the figure in
RK (p. 204), 'twenty leagues at least'. The Second Map does not allow
of precise measurement of the distance from the Morgai bridge to the
Isenmouthe, since the conception of the closing of the vale behind the
Morannon by spurs of Ephel Duath and Ered Lithui had not arisen
when it was made, but it could be minimally calculated as between 30
and 40 miles; on the large-scale map it becomes 56 miles or just under
19 leagues, agreeing with the twenty leagues of RK.
Frodo's estimation of the distance from the Isenmouthe to Mount
Doom as about fifty miles likewise remained through all the texts until
replaced at the very end by sixty. This distance is roughly 50 miles
on the Second Map, about 80 on the Third Map, and 62 on the
large-scale map as Mount Doom was first placed; when it was moved
further west the distance from the Isenmouthe became 50 miles. The
change of 50 to 60 at the end of the textual history of RK is thus,
strangely, the reverse of the development of the map.
In the original draft Sam and Frodo joined the road to the
Isenmouthe 'after it had already run down some 4 miles from the
orc-hold of Durthang and turned away somewhat northward so that
the long descent behind was hidden from them [?hurrying] on the
stony road. They had been going an hour and had covered perhaps
some 3 miles without meeting any enemy when they heard what they
had all along dreaded ...' In B 'they came at last to the road where,
after descending swiftly from Durthang, it became more level and ran
under the ridge towards the Isenmouthe, a distance of perhaps ten
miles.' As in A, they had only been on the road for an hour when they
were overtaken by the orcs, and it is added in B at this point 'it was
maybe six miles yet before the road would leave its high shelf and go
down into the plain.' In the following manuscript and in the final
typescript for the printer the hobbits still reached the road 'at the point
where it swung east towards the Isenmouthe ten miles away', and it
was still after only an hour on the road that they halted, and were
shortly afterwards overtaken. On the typescript my father emended
'ten miles' to 'twenty miles', and 'an hour' to 'three hours', but the
final reading of RK was 'after doing some twelve miles, they halted.'
On the large-scale map the track of Frodo and Sam up the valley
below the Morgai is marked, and the point where their track joined
the road from Durthang is 20 miles from the Isenmouthe; the change
in the text was thus very probably made to accommodate it to the
map. The change whereby the hobbits had gone for three hours or
twelve miles along the road before being overtaken clearly followed
from the increased distance to the Isenmouthe, in order to reduce the
time that Frodo and Sam had to submit to the punishing pace set by
the orcs before they escaped.
Note on the Chronology.
Dates are written in the margins of the original texts of this chapter. At
this stage the chronology of the journey from Kirith Ungol can be set
out thus:
March 14 Dawn: Frodo and Sam climb down into the valley
below the Morgai. Wind changes and the darkness begins to be
driven back.
Night of March 14 - 15: They sleep below the crest of the
Morgai; Sam sees a star.
March 15 They reach the top of the Morgai and see Mount
Doom; descend and continue up the valley; overhear the two orcs
quarrelling.
Night of March 15 - 16: They continue up the valley north-
ward.
March 16 They spend the day in hiding in the valley.
Night of March 16 - 1 7: They continue up the valley.
March 17 In hiding. They see Durthang and the road descending
from it. Gollum reappears.
Night of March 17 - 1 8: They take the road from Durthang and
are forced to join the orc-company.
This chronology accords with the date March 14 of the Battle of the
Pelennor Fields (see VIII.428 - 9); in both the drafting A and the first
manuscript B of the chapter 'It was the morning of the fourteenth of
March ... Theoden lay dying on the Pelennor Fields.' Here in RK
(p. 196) it was the morning of March 15; and all the dates as given
above are in the final story one day later.
IV.
MOUNT DOOM.
The original draft of the chapter 'Mount Doom' was written con-
tinuously with the first completed manuscript B of 'The Land of
Shadow', which at this stage was called 'Mount Doom' (see p. 31); but
the division into two chapters was soon made.
The latter part of the original single chapter (which I will continue
to call 'B') is remarkable in that the primary drafting constitutes a
completed text, with scarcely anything in the way of preparatory
sketching of individual passages, and while the text is rough and full
of corrections made at the time of composition it is legible almost
throughout; moreover many passages underwent only the most minor
changes later. It is possible that some more primitive material has
disappeared, but it seems to me far more probable that the long
thought which my father had given to the ascent of Mount Doom and
the destruction of the Ring enabled him, when at last he came to write
it, to achieve it more quickly and surely than almost any earlier
chapter in The Lord of the Rings. He had known from far back (see
p. 3) that when Frodo (still called 'Bingo') came to the Crack of Doom
he would be unable to cast away the Ring, and that Gollum would
take it and fall into the chasm. But how did he fall? In subsequent
outlines Sam's part was pondered. My father knew that Sam was
attacked by Gollum on the way up the Mountain and delayed, so that
Frodo made the final ascent alone; and he knew that Gollum got hold
of the Ring by taking Frodo's finger with it. But for a long time he
thought that it was Sam who, finally making his way to the Chamber
of Fire, pushed Gollum with the Ring into the abyss. In none of the
later outlines given in Chapter I did he achieve the final articulation of
the story; but there seems good reason to think that these belong to the
period of the writing of Book V, and if my chronological deductions
are correct (see pp. 12 - 13), he had had plenty of time to 'find out what
really happened' before he came actually to describe the final moments
of the Quest.
As I have said, the final form of 'Mount Doom' was quite largely
achieved in the first draft (B), and I give the following brief passage
(interesting also for another reason) as exemplification (cf. RK
p. 223):
'Master!' he cried. Then Frodo stirred, and spoke with a clear
voice, indeed a voice clearer and more powerful than Sam had
ever heard him use, and it rose above the throb and turmoils of
the chasm of Mount Doom, echoing in the roof and walls.
'I have come,' he said. 'But I cannot do what I have come to
do. I will not do it. The Ring is mine.' And suddenly he vanished
from Sam's sight. Sam gasped, but at that moment many things
happened. Something struck Sam violently in the back, his legs
were knocked from under him and he was flung aside striking
his head against the stony floor. He lay still.
And far away as Frodo put on the Ring the Power in
Baraddur was shaken and the Tower trembled from its founda-
tions to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly
aware of him, the Eye piercing all shadows looked across the
plain to the door in Orodruin, and all the plot [> devices] was
laid bare to it. Its wrath blazed like a sudden flame and its fear
was like a great black smoke, for it knew its deadly peril, the
thread upon which hung its doom. From all its policies and
webs its mind shook free, and through all its realm a tremor ran,
its slaves quailed, and its armies halted and its captains suddenly
steerless bereft of will wavered and despaired. But its thought
was now bent with all its overwhelming force upon the
Mountain; and at its summons wheeling with a ...ing cry in a
last desperate race there flew, faster than the wind, the Nazgul,
the Ringwraiths, with a storm of wings they hurtled towards
Mount Doom.
Frodo's words 'But I cannot do what I have come to do' were
changed subsequently on the B-text to 'But I do not choose now to do
what I have come to do.' I do not think that the difference is very
significant, since it was already a central element in the outlines that
Frodo would choose to keep the Ring himself; the change in his words
does no more than emphasize that he fully willed his act. (In the
second text of the chapter, the fair copy manuscript 'C',(1) Sam cried
out just before this not merely 'Master!' as in the first text and in RK
but 'Master! Do it quick!' - these words being bracketed probably at
the time of setting them down.)
This passage is notable in showing the degree to which my father
had come to identify the Eye of Barad-dur with the mind and will of
Sauron, so that he could speak of 'its wrath, its fear, its thought'. In
the second text C he shifted from 'its' to 'his' as he wrote out this
passage anew.
Some other differences in the original text are worth recording. On
the morning after they escaped from the orc-band marching to the
Isenmouthe, following Frodo's words 'I can manage it. I must' (RK
p. 211) text B at first continued:
In the end they decided to crawl in such cover as they could
towards the north-range [and then turn south >) until they were
further from the vigilance on the ramparts, and then turn south.
As they went from hollow to hollow or along cracks in the
stony ground, keeping always if they could some screen between
them and the north, they saw that the most easterly of the three
roads went also in the same direction. It was in fact the road to
the Dark Tower, as Frodo guessed.
He looked at it. 'I shall wear myself out in a day of this
crawling and stooping,' he said. 'If we are to go on we must risk
it. We must take the road.'
Here my father stopped, struck this out, and replaced it by a passage
very close to that in RK, where it is Sam who sees that they can go no
further in this fashion and must risk taking the road to the Dark
Tower.
Another slight difference in the original text follows Frodo's words
to Sam on the morning on which they left the road and turned south
towards Mount Doom: 'I can't manage it, Sam. It is such a weight to
carry, such a weight' (RK p. 214).
Sam knew what he meant, but seeking for some encourage-
ment amid despair he answered: 'Well, Mr Frodo, why not
lighten the load a bit. We're going that way as straight as we can
make.' He pointed to the Mountain. 'No good taking anything
we're not sure to need.'
Like a child, distracted from its trouble by some game of make-
believe, Frodo considered his words seriously for a moment.
Then 'Of course,' he said. 'Leave everything behind we don't
want. Travel light, that's the thing, Sam!' He picked up his orc-
shield and flung it away, and threw his helmet after it; and
undoing his heavy belt cast it and the sword and sheath with it
clattering on the ground. Even his grey cloak he threw away.
Sam looked at him with pity.
This was struck out immediately and replaced by the text of RK, in
which Sam suggests that he should bear the Ring for a while. But
neither in the text B nor in the fair copy C is there mention of the phial
of Galadriel or of the little box that she gave to Sam.(2)
The height of Mount Doom was at first differently conceived: 'It
was indeed some 3000 feet or so from foot to the.... broken crater at
its crown. A third of that height now lay below him ...' Text C still
differs from RK (p. 218): 'The confused and tumbled shoulders of its
great sprawling base rose for maybe three (3) thousand feet above the
plain, and above them was reared, almost as high again, its tall central
cone, like a vast oast or chimney capped by a jagged crater. But
already Sam stood half way up the base ...' (where RK has 'half as
high again' and 'more than half way up'). My father's drawing,
reproduced in Pictures by J. R. R. Tolkien no. 30, and in this book on
p. 42, from a small page that carries also a scrap of drafting for this
part of the chapter, seems to show the final conception, with the cone
'half as high again' in relation to the 'base'; but in this drawing the
door of the Sammath Naur is at the foot of the cone, whereas in all
versions of the text the climbing road came 'high in the upper cone,
but still far from the reeking summit, to a dark entrance'.(4)
When Gollum fell upon Sam as he carried Frodo up the road, both
in the original text and in the fair copy C Sam not only tore the backs
of his hands as he crashed forward (RK p. 220) but also cut his
forehead on the ground. In B, against the words 'But Sam gave him no
more heed. He suddenly remembered his master. He looked up the
path and could not see him' (RK p. 222) my father wrote in the
margin: 'his head was bleeding?' This was not taken up in C, but a
little earlier, after the words 'Sam's hand wavered. His mind was hot
with wrath and the memory of evil' (RK p. 221) C has: 'Blood trickled
down his forehead.' Both these references to Sam's bleeding forehead
were later struck from C. It is not clear to me what my father had in
mind here. At first sight there might seem to be a connection with
Sam s blindness in outline V (p. 11): Sam feels a blindness coming on
and wonders if it is due to water of Mordor ... Sam half-blind is
lagging behind', but that seems to have been introduced to explain
how it was that when Gollum attacked Frodo went on unaware of
what had happened; whereas here the blood in Sam's eyes was the
result of Gollum's attack, and he himself urged Frodo to go on.
Possibly the cutting of his forehead was intended to explain why Sam
could not see Frodo when he looked up the path, and was removed
when my father came to the point when Sam was again felled by
Gollum in the Sammath Naur: 'He was dazed, and blood streaming
from his head dripped in his eyes' (RK p. 223).
When Sam urged Frodo to go on up alone while he dealt with
Gollum Frodo replied, both in B and C: 'The Quest shall now be all
fulfilled', where in RK he said: 'This is the end at last.'
At the end of the chapter, after the words 'Down like lashing whips
fell a torrent of black rain' (RK p. 224), the first text moves at once to
' "Well, this is the end, Sam," said a voice by his side.' Here my father
wrote in the margin soon after: 'Put in here (or in next chapter?) vision
of the cloudwrack out of Baraddur [?growing] to shape of a vast black
[?man] that stretches out a menacing unavailing arm and is blown
away.' The word 'man' is very unclear but I cannot see how else it
could be read. Later at this point in the manuscript he wrote 'Fall of
Ringwraiths' with a mark of insertion, and the passage 'And into the
heart of the storm, with a cry that pierced all other sounds...' appears
in C.
Lastly, Sam's feelings were thus described in B: 'If he felt anything in
all that ruin of the world, it was perhaps most of all a great joy, to be
servant once again, and know his master [added: and surrender to him
the leadership].' This was repeated in C, but rejected and replaced by
the reading of RK. In Frodo's final words he did not, in the original
text, speak of forgiving Gollum.(5)
NOTES.
1. The fair copy- manuscript C is entitled 'Mount Doom' and
numbered 'LIV' (see pp. 31, 37), the number changed subsequently
to 'LII' (see p. 25).
2. Sam's vain use of the Phial when he entered the Sammath Naur
(RK p. 222) appears in B. The addition concerning the Phial and
the box was made later to text C.
The passage in which Sam remembered paddling in the Pool at
Bywater with the children of Farmer Cotton (RK p. 216) is also
absent from B. This is one of the few passages in this chapter for
which a separate draft is found (before its introduction into text
C), and here the names of the Cotton children are seen emerging.
3. three was changed in pencil to two on the manuscript (C), but
three survived.
4. In both B and C, despite the earlier statement (as in RK p. 219)
that the road came 'high in the upper cone ... to a dark entrance',
it is said in the passage corresponding to that in RK p. 222 that the
road 'with a last course passed across the base of the cone and
came to the dark door', where in RK 'with a last eastward course
[it] passed in a cutting along the face of the cone and came to the
dark door'.
In B there is a little sketch of Mount Doom which my father
struck through, and here the entrance to the Sammath Naur is
placed about a third of the way up the cone (which is here shorter
in relation to the base than in the drawing reproduced on p. 42).
The road here disappears round the eastern side of the cone, below
the door, and seems (the drawing is hard to make out) to reappear
further up, coming from the left (east) and ending at the door.
5. A couple of points concerning names in this chapter may be
mentioned. In the opening paragraph both B and C have 'He heard
the scuffling and cries die down as the troops passed on into the
Narch', where RK has 'passed on through the Isenmouthe'; see
p. 33. The name Sammath Naur does not appear in B, but enters in
C without any initial hesitation as to its form.
(Mount Doom.)
Note on the Chronology.
The chronology was still a day behind that of RK (see p. 36). At
nightfall of the day on which they escaped from the orc-band at the
Isenmouthe my father wrote in the margin of text B '18 ends'; this was
March 19 in RK (in The Tale of Years 'Frodo and Samwise escape and
begin their journey along the road to the Barad-dur'). The reference to
the passing of the Cross Roads by the Captains of the West and the
burning of the fields of Imlad Morghul (so spelt) is however present in
B at the same point as in RK (p. 212): see VIII.432.
In B, against the words 'There came at last a dreadful evening; and
even as the Captains of the West drew near the end of the living lands,
the two wanderers came to an hour of blank despair' (cf. RK p. 212),
my father wrote 'end of 22'. This was the same date as in RK, and thus
there follows in the original text 'Five days had passed since they
escaped the orcs' (i.e. March 18 - 22), where RK has 'Four'.
V.
THE FIELD OF KORMALLEN.
In the first draft of this chapter my father again achieved for most of its
length an extraordinarily close approach to the final form, and this is
the more remarkable when one considers that he had no plan or
outline before him. There had been many mentions of a great feast to
follow the final victory (VII.212, 345, 448; VIII.275, 397), but
nothing had ever been said of it beyond the fact that it was to take
place in Minas Tirith.(1) That this text ('A') was indeed the first setting
down on paper of the story and that nothing preceded it seems
obvious from the nature of the manuscript itself, which has all the
marks of primary composition.(2) It was followed by a fair copy
manuscript ('B'), bearing the number and title 'LV The Field of
Kormallen', which was also pencilled in later on A.
Not until the end of the minstrel's song of Frodo of the Nine Fingers
and the Ring of Doom did the first text A diverge in any narrative
point, and little even in expression, from the form in RK. There are
however several interesting details.
One of these concerns the Eagles. As the passage (RK p. 226)
describing their coming above the Morannon was first written it read:
There came Gwaihir, the Wind-lord, and Lhandroval his
brother, greatest of all the eagles of the north, mightiest of the
descendants of [added: Great > old] Thorondor who built his
eyries in the immeasurable peaks of Thangorodrim [changed
immediately to the Encircling Mountains] when Middle-earth
was young.
In the Quenta $15 (IV.137) it is told that after the Battle of
Unnumbered Tears 'Thorndor King of Eagles removed his eyries from
Thangorodrim to the northward heights of the Encircling Mountains
[about the plain of Gondolin], and there he kept watch, sitting upon
the cairn of King Fingolfin.' In the Quenta Silmarillion of 1937 there is
no mention of the Eagles dwelling on Thangorodrim, and at the time
of the fall of Fingolfin in his duel with Morgoth, before the Battle of
Unnumbered Tears, Thorondor came for the rescue of the king's body
'from his eyrie among the peaks of Gochressiel' (i.e. the Encircling
Mountains; V.285, $147). On the other hand, in the abandoned story
'Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin' given in Unfinished Tales, a story
that I believe to have been written in 1951, Voronwe speaks to Tuor of
'the folk of Thorondor, who dwelt once even on Thangorodrim ere
Morgoth grew so mighty, and dwell now in the Mountains of Turgon
since the fall of Fingolfin' (p. 43).
Gwaihir the Windlord had of course appeared often before this in
The Lord of the Rings (for long Gwaewar, but becoming Gwaihir in
the course of the writing of 'The White Rider', VII.430). In the Quenta
Silmarillion (see V.301) Gwaewar had been one of the three eagles
that came to Angband for the rescue of Beren and Luthien; the earliest
form of that passage reads:
Thorondor led them, and the others were Lhandroval (Wide-wing)
and Gwaewar his vassal.
The following text (also belonging to 1937) has:
Thorondor was their leader; and with him were his mightiest
vassals, wide-winged Lhandroval, and Gwaewar lord of the wind.
In a revision of the passage which can be dated to 1951 Gwaewar was
changed to Gwaihir. As I have noticed in V.301, the names of the
vassals of Thorondor were suppressed in the published Silmarillion
(p. 182) on account of the present passage in RK, but this was certainly
mistaken: it is clear that my father deliberately repeated the names. As
in so many other cases in The Lord of the Rings, he took the name
Gwaewar for the great eagle, friend of Gandalf, from The Silmarillion,
and when Gwaihir replaced Gwaewar in The Lord of the Rings he
made the same change to the eagle's name in The Silmarillion. Now he
took also Lhandroval (3) to be the name of Gwaihir's brother; and
added a new name, Meneldor (RK p. 228).
At the fall of the Black Gate Gandalf said only: 'The Realm of
Sauron is ended'; but to this my father added, probably immediately:
'So passes the Third Age of the World.' This was placed within
brackets, and 'The Ringbearer has fulfilled his Quest' written in the
margin.
To Gwaihir Gandalf said: 'You will not find me a burden any
greater than when you bore me from Zirakinbar where my old life
burned away.' Zirakinbar remained through all the texts of the
chapter and was only changed to Zirakzigil on the galley proof. On
these names see VII.174 and 431 with note 6.
Another difference in A which survived long (into the final type-
script of the chapter) was the absence of Sam's expression of
astonishment at seeing Gandalf at his bedside ('Gandalf! I thought you
were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself....', RK p. 230);
The date of the Field of Kormallen (as the name was spelt until the
final typescript) was expressed by Gandalf thus in A:
'Noon?' said Sam, puzzling his brains. 'Noon of what day?'
'The third day of the New Year,' said Gandalf, 'or if you like
the twenty-eighth day of March in the Shire-reckoning. But in
Gondor the New Year will always begin upon the 25th of
March when Sauron fell, and when you were brought out of the
fire to the King....'(4)
If March 25th was New Year's Day, the 28th was the fourth day of
the New Year in Gondor, and my father wrote 'fourth' above 'third',
without however striking out 'third'. In pencil he wrote 'seventh'
against this, and 'the last day' above 'the twenty-eighth day', although
this would give 31 days to the month. His reason for this is obscurely
indicated by a note in the margin: 'More time required for [?gathering]
of goods, say' (i.e., 'say the seventh').(5)
In the fair copy B as written Gandalf said 'The Seventh of the New
Year; or if you like, the last day of March in the Shire-reckoning'; this
was changed later to 'The Fourteenth of the New Year' and 'the sixth
day of April in the Shire-reckoning'. Even allowing 31 days to the
month, the sixth of April would be the thirteenth day of the New Year,
and 'sixth' was afterwards changed to 'seventh', and finally to 'eighth',
as in RK. I do not know precisely what considerations impelled my
father so greatly to prolong the time during which Sam and Frodo lay
asleep.
Their first conversation with Gandalf ends thus in A:
'What shall we wear?' said Sam, for all he could see were the
old and tattered clothes that they had journeyed in, lying folded
on the ground beside their beds.
'The clothes that you were found in,' said Gandalf. 'No silks
and linen, nor any armour or heraldry, could be more honour-
able. But afterwards we shall see.'
This survived through all the texts to the galley, where 'The clothes
that you were found in' was changed to 'The clothes that you
journeyed in'. It was not until the Second Edition of 1966 that the
passage was altered and extended, by changing Gandalf's words to
'The clothes that you wore on your way to Mordor.(6) Even the orc-rags
that you bore in the black land, Frodo, shall be preserved', and by his
return of the Phial of Galadriel and the box that she gave to Sam (RK
pp. 230 - 1; cf. p. 39 and note 2).
The crying of praise as Frodo and Sam came to the Field of
Kormallen underwent many changes. In all the texts of the chapter
Old English phrases cried by the Riders of Rohan were mingled. The
form of the 'Praise' in A runs thus (with some punctuation added from
the B-text, which is closely similar):
Long live the balflings! Praise them with great praise! Cuio i
Pheriannath anann, aglar anann! Praise them with great praise!
Hale, hale cumath, wesath hale awa to aldre. Froda and
Samwis! Praise them! Kuivie, kuivie! laurea'esselinen!(7) Praise
them!
In the fair copy B the Old English words were changed to
Wilcuman, wilcuman, Froda and Samwis! and the Quenya words
became Laitalle, laitalle, andave laita! In the first typescript the Old
English Uton herian holbytlan! was added before Laitalle, laitalle; and
in the second (final) typescript the Quenya words became A laituvar,
laituvar, andave laita! This was then changed on the typescript to
A laita te, laita te! Andave laituvalme! Thus the form as it appears on
the galley proof is:
Long live the Halflings! Praise them with great praise! Cuio i
Pheriannath anann! Aglar anann! Praise them with great praise!
Wilcuman, wilcuman, Froda and Samwis! Praise them! Uton
herian holbytlan! A laita te, laita te! Andave laituvalmet! Praise
them! The Ringbearers, praise them with great praise!
The final text of the 'Praise', as it appears in RK, was typed onto the
galley proof.
From the end of the minstrel's song (RK p. 232) the original text A
runs thus:
And then Aragorn stood up and all the host rose, and they
passed to a pavilion made ready, there to eat and drink and
make merry.
But as Sam and Frodo stepped down with Aragorn from the
throne Sam caught sight of a small man-at-arms as it seemed in
the silver and sable of the guards of the king: but he was small
and he wondered what such a boy was doing in such an army.
Then suddenly he exclaimed: 'Why, look Mr Frodo. Look here.
Bless me if it's not Pippin, Mr Peregrin Took I should say. Bless
me but I can see there's more tales than ours to hear. It'll take
weeks before we get it all right.'
'Yes,' said Frodo. 'I can see myself locked up in a room
somewhere making notes for days or Bilbo will be bitterly
disappointed.'
And so they passed to the feast and at a sign from Aragorn
Pippin went with them.(8)
The page carrying this text was rejected; on the back of it is an
outline of the story to come (see p. 51, 'The Story Foreseen from
Kormallen'). A replacement page was substituted, but again the
development turned out to be unsatisfactory:
But first Frodo and Sam were led apart and taken to a tent,
and there their old raiment was taken off, but folded and set
aside with honour; and clean linen was brought to them. But
Gandalf came and with him went an esquire, no more than a
small lad he seemed, though clad in the silver and sable of the
king's guard, and to the wonder of Frodo and Sam they bore the
sword and the elven-cloak and the mithril-coat that had been
taken from them; and for Sam they brought a coat of gilded
mail, and on Frodo's right hand upon the middle (9) and little
fingers they set small rings of mithril set each with a gem like a
star. But the wonder of all these things was as little to the
wonder on Sam's face as he looked on the face of the esquire
and knew him.
And he cried out: 'Why look, Mr. Frodo. Look here! Save me,
if it isn't Pippin, Mr. Peregrin Took, I should say. Why bless us
all, but I can see there's more tales to tell than ours. It will take
weeks of talk before we get it all sized up.'
'It will indeed,' said Pippin. 'But at present it is time for a
feast, and you must not keep it waiting. Later on, Frodo must be
locked up in a tower in Minas Tirith till he's made notes of all
our doings, or Bilbo will be dreadfully disappointed.'
This passage was at once reconstructed to remove Pippin from the
scene, and Gandalf comes to the tent alone, as in RK (p. 233). When
he has set the rings of mithril on Frodo's fingers the feast follows at
once:
... and on Frodo's right hand, upon the middle and little
fingers, he set fine rings of mithril, slender as threads of silk but
bearing each a small gem shining like a star.(10) And when they
were made ready, and circlets of silver were set upon their
heads, they went to the feast, and sat with Gandalf, and there
was Aragorn and King Eomer of Rohan and all the Captains of
the West, and there too were Legolas and Gimli.
[Struck out at once: 'That's six of the Company,' said Sam to
Frodo. 'Where are the o(thers)] But when wine was brought
there came in an esquire to serve the Kings of Gondor and
Rohan, or so he seemed, and he was clad in the silver and sable
of the guards of the King; but he was small, and Sam wondered
what such a boy was doing in an army of mighty men. [Then
follows Sam's recognition of Pippin, as above.]
'It will indeed,' said Pippin, 'and we'll begin as soon as this
feast is ended. In the meantime you can try Gandalf. He's not as
close as he used to be, though he laughs now more than he
talks.'
And so at last the glad day ended; and when the sun was gone
and the crescent moon (11) rode slowly above the mist of Anduin
and flickered through the fluttering leaves, Frodo and Sam sat
amid the night-fragrance of fair Ithilien, and talked deep into
the night with Pippin and Gandalf and Legolas and Gimli.
At last Gandalf rose. 'The hands of the King are hands of
healing, dear friends,' he said. 'But you went near to the very
brink of death, and though you have slept long and blessedly,
still it is now time to rest again. Not you only, Frodo and Sam,
but you Peregrin also. For when they lifted you from under the
slain it is said that even Aragorn despaired of you.'
Probably at once, this was emended throughout to make Merry also
present (see note 8), and the last part of it (Gandalf's parting words)
was in turn rejected. In very rough further drafting the final text was
approached, though not achieved, in the manuscript A. Gimli's speech
(RK p. 234) at this time ended thus:
'... And when I heaved that great carcase off you, then I made
sure you were dead. I could have torn out my beard. And that
was but a week ago. To bed now you go. And so shall I.'
From this it is seen that it was 'the seventh day of the New Year': see
p. 46.(12) The draft continues to its end thus:
'And I,' said Legolas, 'shall walk in the woods of this fair
land, which is rest enough. And in days to come, if my Elven
lord will allow it, some of our folk shall remove hither, for it is
more lovely than any lands they have yet dwelt in;(13) and then it
will be blessed for a while. But Anduin is near and Anduin leads
down to the sea. To the sea, to the sea, and the white gulls
crying, to the sea and the sea and the white foam flying,' and so
singing he went away down the hill.
And then the others departed and Frodo and Sam went to
their beds and slept; and in the morning the host prepared to
return to Minas Tirith. The ships had come and they were lying
under Cair Andros, and soon all would be set across the Great
River, and so in peace and ease fare over the green swards
of Anorien and to the Pelennor and the towers under tall
Mindolluin, the city of the men of Gondor, last memory of
Westernesse.
Thus the name Kormallen did not enter in the original text of the
chapter, and it is not said that the Field was near to Henneth Annun;
but scribbled drafting put in later on the last page of the manuscript
shows the final text emerging:
And in the morning they rose again and spent many days in
Ithilien, for the Field of Kormallen where the host was en-
camped was near to Henneth Annun, and they wandered here
and there visiting the scenes of their adventures, but Sam lingered
ever in some shadow of the woods to find maybe some sight of
the Oliphaunt. And when he heard that in the seige of Gondor
there had been fifty of them at the least, but all were dead, he
thought it a great loss. And in the meanwhile the host rested, for
they had laboured much and had fought long and hard against
the remnant of the Easterlings and Southrons; and they waited
also for those that were to return.
In the fair copy B the final text of the First Edition was present in all
but a few points, most of which have been mentioned in the foregoing
account and in the notes;(14) but an important change in the description
of the dressing of Frodo and Sam before the feast (RK p. 233) was
made in the Second Edition. As the text stood in the First Edition
(going back unchanged to the fair copy manuscript B) it ran:
... For Sam he brought a coat of gilded mail, and his elven-cloak all
healed of the soils and hurts that it had suffered; and when the
Hobbits were made ready, and circlets of silver were set upon their
heads, they went to the King's feast, and they sat at his table with
Gandalf ...
In the Second Edition the passage was added in which Gandalf
brought Sting and Sam's sword, and Frodo had to be persuaded to
wear a sword and to accept back Sting. At this time also the reference
was added to 'the Standing Silence' before the feast began.
NOTES.
1. There had been a suggestion (VIII.397) that the tale of the
passage of the Paths of the Dead should be told at the 'feast of
victory in Minas Tirith', but that idea had of course been
overtaken.
2. It may be that the first draft of 'The Field of Kormallen' was
written before the fair copy manuscript of 'Mount Doom'. A
pointer to this is the fact that where in RK (p. 228) 'a great smoke
and steam belched from the Sammath Naur' A has 'a great fire
belched from the cave': see p. 41 note 5.
3. The first draft A has the spelling Lhandroval at all occurrences,
but the fair copy B has Landroval, as in RK.
4. Both in A and B it is Frodo who asks 'What king, and who is he?'
On the first typescript Sam's question 'What shall we wear?' was
transferred to Frodo, but in the final typescript given back to
Sam.
5. Perhaps to be compared is the sentence in 'The Steward and the
King', RK pp. 241-2: 'Merry was summoned [from Minas Tirith]
and rode away with the wains that took store of goods to
Osgiliath and thence by ship to Cair Andros.'
6. Frodo was naked when Sam found him in the Tower of Kirith
Ungol; he had to dress in 'long hairy breeches of some unclean
beast-fell, and a tunic of dirty leather' (RK p. 189).
7. laurea' esselinen was changed at the time of writing to an-
kalim' esselinen.
8. At this stage, when only a little time had passed since the fall of
Sauron, Merry would still have been in Minas Tirith; cf. note 5.
9. My father named the penultimate finger (the 'fourth finger' or
'ring-finger') the 'third finger'; so Frodo's 'third finger was
missing' (RK p. 229).
10. The rings of mithril set on Frodo's fingers were retained in the fair
copy B, where the passage was struck out.
11. The 'crescent moon' remained in B and in the first typescript,
where it was changed to 'the round moon'.
12. It is strange that in B Gimli said here, not as in RK 'And it is only
a day yet since you were first up and abroad again', but 'a few
days' (this being corrected on the manuscript).
13. This sentence was retained in B and the first typescript, where it
was struck out.
14. To these may be added the retention of the name Narch in 'And
they passed over the Narch and Gorgoroth' (RK p. 228),
subsequently emended to Udun. At the end of the chapter it was
said at first in B that 'when the month of May was passed seven
days the Captains of the West set out again', but this was changed
to 'when the month of May was drawing near', and at the same
time the last sentence of the chapter was changed from 'for the
King would enter his gates with the rising of the Sun' by the
addition of the words 'it was the Eve of May, and (the King
would enter...)'.
THE STORY FORESEEN FROM KORMALLEN.
This page (see p. 47) was scribbled down in pencil in my father's most
impossible handwriting. I have not marked with queries a number of
words that I think are probable but not altogether certain, and I have
expanded several names given only as initials. The first sentence was
written separately from the rest of the outline, whether before or after.
Gimli explains how Pippin was saved.
Next scene - The Host sets out from Cair Andros and [read in] the
ships and passes into Gondor.
Scene shifts to Merry and to Faramir and Eowyn.
Return of King Elessar. His crowning. His judgements ..... of
Berithil.
The hobbits wait. For there is to be a wedding. Elrond and Galadriel
and Celeborn come and bring Finduilas.
The wedding of Aragorn and Finduilas.
Also Faramir and Eowyn.
The end of the Third Age is presaged. What the Rings had done.
Their power waned. Galadriel and Elrond prepare to depart.
The hobbits return with Eomer to the funeral of Theoden and then
on through the Gap of Rohan [? with..... and the Dunedain].
They come on Saruman and he is [?pardoned].
They come to Rivendell and see Bilbo. Bilbo gives him Sting and the
coat. But he is getting old.
They come back to the Shire [added in margin: via Bree, pick up
pony] and drive out Cosimo Sackville-Baggins. Lobelia is dead -
she had a fit in [?quarrel]. Sam replants the trees. Frodo goes back
to Bag End. All is quiet for a year or two. And then one day Frodo
takes Sam for a walking [? tour] to the Woody End. And [?behold
there go many] Elves. Frodo rides to the Havens and says farewell
to Bilbo. End of the Third Age.
Sam's Book.
It is plain that my father wrote this outline while he was working on
'The Field of Kormallen', and indeed the precise stage in that work can
probably be deduced: for Gimli's words at the end of the evening, in
which he spoke of finding Pippin under the heap of slain, had not
entered ('Gimli explains how Pippin was saved'). The precise placing
of these notes in the history of the composition of Book VI gives them
a particular interest. Several features of the end of the story now
appear for the first time: as the marriage of Faramir and Eowyn;
Bilbo's giving of the mithril-coat and Sting to Frodo ('forgetting that
he had already done so', RK p. 265); the time of peace and quiet after
the return of the hobbits to the Shire (but that 'Sam's casket restores
Trees' had been known for a long time, VII.286); and Frodo's walk
with Sam to the Woody End. But the death, before the return of the
hobbits, of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins in a fit (of fury? - the word I
have given as quarrel is scarcely more than a guess) was not
permanent: she would be resurrected, survive her imprisonment
during the troubles of the Shire, and end her days in a much more
enlightened fashion.
This outline is as elliptical as were so many of my father's sketches
of the further course of the story, concentrating on particular elements
and ignoring or only hinting at others; and it is hard to know what
narrative idea underlay the words 'Frodo rides to the Havens and says
farewell to Bilbo'. Many years before (VI.380) he had written that
when 'Bingo' returned to the Shire he would make peace, and would
then 'settle down in a little hut on the high green ridge - until one day
he goes with the Elves west beyond the towers' (cf. also another note
of that time, VI.379: 'Island in sea. Take Frodo there in end'). In the
outline 'The Story Foreseen from Moria' (VII.212) he had concluded
his synopsis thus:
XXVIII What happens to Shire?
Last scene. Sailing away of Elves [added: Bilbo with them]...
XXIX Sam and Frodo go into a green land by the Sea?
In another note of that period (VII.287) he said: 'When old, Sam and
Frodo set sail to island of West... Bilbo finishes the story.' Probably
about the time of the writing of 'The King of the Golden Hall' he had
written (VII.451) that in old age Frodo with Sam had seen Galadriel
and Bilbo. On the other hand, in his letter to me of 29 November 1944
(see VIII.219) he was entirely clear - and accurate - in his prevision:
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).
Since this is of course the story in the last chapter of The Lord of the
Rings it is strange indeed to find in the present text that he had
departed from it - for 'Frodo rides to the Havens and says farewell to
Bilbo' can obviously be interpreted in no other way. I suspect therefore
that there is in fact no mystery: that in notes written at great speed my
father merely miswrote 'Bilbo' for 'Sam'.
Remarkable also is the reference to the encounter with Saruman -
the word pardoned here is not certain, but can hardly be read
otherwise. That they would meet Saruman again on the homeward
journey was an old idea (see 'The Story Foreseen from Moria',
VII.212), but then it had taken place at Isengard, and the matter of
that scene had of course been removed to a much earlier place in the
narrative (VII.436). A later note (VII.287) says that 'Saruman becomes
a wandering conjuror and trickster', but nothing further has been told
of him since he was left a prisoner in Orthanc guarded by the Ents
until now.
VI.
THE STEWARD AND THE KING.
My remarks about 'The Field of Kormallen' (p. 44) can be repeated of
'The Steward and the King': the preliminary draft ('A') of this chapter,
though written roughly and rapidly, was changed very little after-
wards. There are nonetheless a number of differences in detail.(1)
A had no title, but 'Faramir and Eowyn' was pencilled in subse-
quently. A fair copy manuscript 'B' followed, with the chapter-
number 'LVI' but no title; to this text the title 'The Watchers on the
Walls' was added in pencil, and this was changed to 'The Steward and
the King'. In B the page-numbers run only as far as 'And she abode
there until King Eomer came' (RK p. 243); at 'All things were now
made ready in the City', at the top of a new page, a new numbering
from '1' begins.
Of this chapter my father made a third, very fine manuscript 'C',
numbering it 'LIV'. Beneath the title 'The Steward and the King' he
pencilled '(i) The Steward'; but although there is a large space in the
text after 'And she remained there until King Eomer came', where the
new page-numbering begins in B, there is no second sub-title.
At the beginning of the chapter in A the Warden of the Houses of
Healing, after the words 'He sighed and shook his head' (RK p. 237), '
continues:
'It may come thus to us all yet,' he said, 'choosing or not
choosing. But in the meantime we must endure with patience
the hours of waiting. It is not always the easier part. But for you,
Lady, you will be the better prepared to face evil that may come
in your own manner, if you do as the healers bid, while there is
still time.'
This was rejected before the chapter had proceeded much further,
for similar words were given to Faramir subsequently in the initial text
(RK p. 238). And when the Warden looked out from his window and
saw Faramir and Eowyn, finding in the sight a lightening of his care, it
is said: 'For it had been reported to him that the Lord Aragorn had
said "If she wakes to despair then she will die, unless other healing
comes which I cannot give."'
The blue mantle set with stars which Faramir gave to Eowyn when
the weather turned cold is in A said to have been made for his mother
'Emmeril', changed in the act of writing to 'Rothinel of Amroth, who
died untimely'. This name survived into the following manuscript B,
where it was changed to Finduilas (see pp. 58-9).
The words of the Eagle that bore tidings to Minas Tirith of the fall
of the Dark Tower were first reported thus:
The realm of Sauron hath ended and the Ring of Doom is no
more and the King is victorious, he has passed through the
Black Gate in triumph and all his enemies are fled.
The name Kormallen entered in this text. My father left a blank for
the name as he wrote: 'And Eowyn did not go, though her brother sent
word begging her to come to the field of [between Henneth Annun
and Cair Andros]' (cf. RK p. 242 and p. 50 above), but he evidently
wrote the name in the margin at once, since it appears in the text as
written a few lines later.
In the conversation between Eowyn and Faramir that follows she
said, in A, 'I love or have loved another.' This survived in B, where her
words were changed to 'I hoped to be loved by another', and then at
once to 'I wished'.
Somewhat later in the chapter (RK p. 244) Ioreth (now so spelt;
hitherto Yoreth) names the hobbits Periannath (cf. Ernil i Pheriannath
in the chapter 'Minas Tirith', RK p. 41, Ernil a Pheriannath VIII.287),
and this survived into the First Edition of LR, changed to Periain in the
Second.
There were substantial differences in the original account of Ara-
gorn's coming to Minas Tirith and his coronation before the walls
from the story in RK (pp. 244-6). The entry of Aragorn, Gandalf,
Eomer, Imrahil and the four hobbits into the cleared space before the
Gateway was very briefly described in A: there was no mention of the
Dunedain nor of Aragorn's apparel. The casket in which the White
Crown was laid was not described ('of black lebethron bound with
silver' B, as in RK; cf. VIII.180). When Faramir, surrendering his office
as 'the Last Steward of Gondor', gave Aragorn the white rod Aragorn
did not return it to him; he said nothing to Faramir at this point, and
Faramir at once proclaimed: 'Men of Gondor, you have no longer a
Steward, for behold one has returned to claim the kingship at last.
Here is Aragorn son of Arathorn ...' Among Aragorn's titles Faramir
names him 'chieftain of the Dunedain of the North' and does not name
him 'bearer of the Star of the North'. After the description of the
crown there follows:
And Aragorn knelt, and Faramir upon the one hand and upon
the other the Prince Imrahil set the crown upon his head, and
then Gandalf laid his hand on Aragorn's shoulder and bade him
arise. And when he arose all that beheld him gazed in silence...
and a light was about him. And then Faramir said 'Behold the
King!' and he broke his white rod.
Lastly, when Aragorn came to the Citadel a marginal addition to A
says that 'the banner of Tree Crown and Stars was raised above it'
('the banner of the Tree and the Stars' B, as in RK); see VIII.279, 389,
399.
The reference to the Dunedain 'in silver and grey' and the descrip-
tion of Aragorn's black mail and white mantle clasped with a great
green stone was added to B, but the 'star upon his forehead bound by a
slender fillet of silver' did not enter until the Second Edition; similarly
Faramir still proclaimed him 'chieftain of the Dunedain of the North'
('of Arnor', Second Edition) and did not name him 'bearer of the Star
of the North' in the First Edition (see VIII.299, 309; 389 and note 10).
Rough marginal additions to A make Aragorn return the white rod
to Faramir with the words 'That office is not yet wholly at an end' (cf.
RK p. 245: 'That office is not ended, and it shall be thine and thy heirs'
as long as my line shall last'), and give a first draft of his wish that he
should be crowned by those 'by whose labours and valour I have come
to my inheritance'. Here the ceremony takes this form: 'Gandalf took
the crown and bade Frodo and Sam lay their hands also upon it, and
they set the White Crown of Gondor upon the head of Aragorn';
whereas in RK, at Aragorn's request, Frodo brought the crown to
Gandalf, who then performed the crowning alone. In B the text of RK
was reached at all points in this scene apart from the words of Elendil
repeated by Aragorn when he held up the crown,(2) which take the
form: Et Earello Endorenna lendien. Simane maruvan, ar hildinyar,
kenn' Iluve-metta! A translation pencilled in later is virtually the same
as that in RK (p. 246): Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth have I
come. Here will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.'
In the third manuscript C the words remained the same as in B, apart
from tenn' (as in RK) for kenn', but were subsequently changed to Et
Earello Endorenna nilendie. Sinome nimaruva yo hildinyar tenn'
Ambar-metta!
A notable visitor to Minas Tirith among the many embassies that
came to the King is found in A:
... and the slaves of Mordor he set free and gave them all the
lands about Lake Nurnen for their own. And last of all there
came to him Ghan-buri-Ghan of the Wild Woods and two of
the headmen, and they were clad in garments of green leaves to
do honour to the king, and they laid their foreheads on his feet;
but he bade them rise up and blessed them and gave them the
Forest of Druadan for their own, so that no man should ever
enter it without their leave.
This was not rejected on the manuscript, but it is not present in B.
For the further history of the last encounter with the Wild Men of the
Woods see pp. 61 - 2, 67 - 8.
Eowyn's words to Faramir (RK p. 248), saying that she must now
return to Rohan with Eomer, but that after the funeral of Theoden she
will return, are absent from A (but were added to B). The statements in
RK that the Riders of Rohan left Minas Tirith on the eighth of May
and that the sons of Elrond went with them are not found in any of the
texts, and they remain absent in the First Edition; on the other hand
the return of Elladan and Elrohir to Minas Tirith with the company
from Rivendell and Lothlorien (RK p. 250) is already found in A. It is
told in A that 'the Companions of the Ring lived with Gandalf in a
house in the Citadel, and went to and fro as they wished; but Legolas
sat most[ly] on the walls and looked south towards the sea.' That the
house was in the Citadel was not repeated in B, which retained
however the words concerning Legolas; these were lost, possibly
unintentionally, in C.
In the story of the ascent of Mindolluin by Gandalf and Aragorn
(RK pp. 248-50) there are some differences from the final form to
mention. In the original text it is not said that they went up by night
and surveyed the lands in the early morning, nor is there mention of
the ancient path to the hallow 'where only the kings had been wont to
go'; and Gandalf in his words to Aragorn does not speak of the Three
Rings, but says:
'... For though much has been saved, much is passing away.
And all these lands that you see, and those that lie about, shall
be dwellings and realms of Men, whom you must guide. For this
is the beginning of the Dominion of Men, and other kindreds
will depart, dwindle, and fade.'
B has the final text in all this. In A Aragorn says 'I have still twice the
span of other men'; this was retained through the following texts and
not changed until the galley proof to the reading of RK (where there is
a difference between the First and Second Editions: in the First he says
'I may have life far longer than other men', but in the Second 'I shall').
When Aragorn saw the sapling at the edge of the snow he cried, in
A, En tuvien!, which in B becomes En a tuvien! This was retained in C
but corrected to En [?in]tuviet; on the final (typescript) text of the
chapter this was retained, but then erased and Ye! utuvienyes written
in its place. The passage continues in A, in extremely difficult
handwriting:
'... I have found it, for here is a scion of Nimloth eldest of
trees. And how comes it here, for it is not yet itself seven years
old?'
And Gandalf said: 'Verily here is a sapling of the line of
Telperion Ninquelote that the Elves of Middle-earth name
Nimloth. Nimloth the fair of many names, Silivros and
Celeborn (3) and Galathilion of old. But who shall say how it
comes here in the hour that is appointed? But the birds of the air
are many, and maybe down the ages as lord followed lord.....
in the City and the tree withered, here where none looked for it
the [?race] of Nimloth has [?flowered already] hidden on the
mountain, even as Elendil's race lay hid in the wastes of the
North. Yet the line of Nimloth is older far than your line, lord
Elessar.'
With the names that appear in this passage cf. the Quenta Silmaril-
lion in V.209, $16:
Silpion the one was called in Valinor, and Telperion and Ninquelote
and many names in song beside; but the Gnomes name him
Galathilion.
A footnote to the text (V.210) adds:
Other names of Silpion among the Gnomes are Silivros glimmering
rain (which in Elvish form is Silmerosse), Nimloth pale blossom,
Celeborn tree of silver...
B has here the text of RK, in which Aragorn does not name 'the Eldest
of Trees', and Gandalf says: 'Verily this is a sapling of the line of
Nimloth the fair; and that was a seedling of Galathilion, and that a
fruit of Telperion of many names, Eldest of Trees.' In The Silmarillion
chapter 5 (p. 59) it is told that Yavanna made for the Elves of Tirion
... a tree like to a lesser image of Telperion, save that it did not give
light of its own being; Galathilion it was named in the Sindarin
tongue. This tree was planted in the courts beneath the Mindon and
there flourished, and its seedlings were many in Eldamar. Of these
one was afterwards planted in Tol Eressea, and it prospered there,
and was named Celeborn; thence came in the fullness of time, as is
elsewhere told, Nimloth, the White Tree of Numenor.(4)
In A the sapling did not 'hold only lightly to the earth', but 'Aragorn
and Gandalf dug deep.'
In the account of the riding from Rivendell and Lorien at the end of
the chapter it is not said in any of the texts that Elrond brought the
sceptre of Annuminas and surrendered it to Aragorn; this was only
inserted on the final proof. Elrond's daughter is named Finduilas
(VIII.370, 386, 425; at this stage Faramir's mother was named
Rothinel, p. 54); and in A my father added, after 'Finduilas his
daughter', '[and daughter of Celebrian child of Galadriel].' This is the
first mention of Celebrian, by this or any name. In the last sentence of
the chapter in A Aragorn 'wedded Finduilas Halfelven'; this name
survived into B, where Faramir's mother Rothinel was changed to
Finduilas, and Elrond's daughter Finduilas was changed to Arwen,
called Undomiel.(5)
NOTES.
1. All names in RK not mentioned in my account can be presumed to
be present already in A, with the exception of Beregond, which
was only changed from Berithil on manuscript C. Thus Elfhelm is
called 'Elfhelm the Marshal' (RK p. 244; cf. VIII.352); and the
last king of the line of Anarion is Earnur, here first named (RK
p. 245; cf. VIII.153). The rather puzzling reference to Min-Rimmon
(RK p. 245: 'tidings had gone out into all parts of Gondor, from
Min-Rimmon even to Pinnath Gelin and the far coasts of the sea')
goes back to A.
2. The words of Elendil do not appear in A.
3. In A the name Celeborn is spelt with C; so also Celebrian. In this
chapter and in the next the C spelling reverted to K in the
finely-written third manuscripts, but on both it was then corrected
back to C.
4. Cf. also the Akallabeth in The Silmarillion, p. 263, and Of the
Rings of Power and the Third Age, ibid. p. 291.
5. Arwen first emerged in the fair copy of the following chapter,
'Many Partings': see p. 66.
Note on the Chronology
A curious point of chronology that arises in this chapter concerns the
lapse of time between the departure of the host from Minas Tirith and
the destruction of the Ring.
At the beginning of the chapter, against the words 'When the
Captains were but two days gone', the figure '19' is written in the
margin of A, i.e. March 19. This is the chronology described in
VIII.432, according to which the march from Minas Tirith began on
the 17th (the 18th in RK).
When in RK (p. 239) it is said that 'the fifth day came since the Lady
Eowyn went first to Faramir', and that was the day of the destruction
of the Ring and the fall of the Dark Tower, the same is said in A (and
subsequent texts); and at the head of that page my father noted: 'F.
sees E. on 19. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.' This day was therefore the
24th of March. But this is strange, since already in the first draft of
'The Field of Kormallen' Gandalf had declared that 'in Gondor the
New Year will always begin on the 25th of March when Sauron fell
...' (p. 46). In A, Eowyn says that this day was 'seven days since
[Aragorn] rode away' (RK p. 240), which agrees with the date of
March 24 for the destruction of the Ring. But my father changed
'seven', as he wrote, to 'nine', which would presumably give March 26
as the day of deliverance. He then changed 'nine' to 'eight', giving the
25th as the day, and 'eight' is the reading in B and C, changed in C to
'seven' as in RK: this presumably implies that the date of the departure
from Minas Tirith had been changed to the 18th. - On the significance
of the date 25 March see T. A. Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth
(1982) pp. 151 - 2.
VII.
MANY PARTINGS.
The original draft of this chapter ('A') was paginated continuously
with that of 'The Steward and the King' and bore no title. In com-
parison with its subsequent form my father's initial account of the
'many partings' was remarkably brief and spare; and though his
handwriting is very difficult and here and there altogether illegible I
shall give a substantial part of it in full, for it differs in very many
points from the story in RK.
The opening, however, remained almost unchanged from first draft
to final text (apart from Queen Finduilas for Queen Arwen), as far as
'"Then I beg leave to depart soon," said Frodo.' Then follows (with
no mention of the Queen's gift):
'In three days we will go,' said Aragorn. 'For we shall ride
with you great part of the way. We too have errands to do.'
And so it was that the King of Gondor and his Queen set out
once more upon the North Roads, and many knights rode with
them; and the Princes of Dol Amroth and of Ithilien; and King
Eomer and his householdmen were also in that riding, for he
had come to the wedding of his lord and brother. And with slow
songs of the Mark they brought from the Halls [probably for
Hallows] and his resting in Rath Dinen King Theoden upon a
golden bier; and as one that still slept deeply they laid him upon
a great wain with Riders of Rohan all about it, and his banner
borne before. And Merry being his esquire, and a Knight of the
Riddermark, rode upon the wain and kept the arms of the dead
king. But for the other companions steeds were furnished
according to their stature, and Frodo and Sam rode at the king's
side with Gandalf upon Shadowfax; and with them also went
Legolas and Gimli upon Hasufel (1) who had borne them so far.(2)
And slowly and at peace they passed into Anorien. And
?...... the Greywood (3) under Amon Din.
Here my father stopped and asked whether the homage of the Wild
Men should be put here - referring, presumably, to the story in the
original text of 'The Steward and the King', where Ghan-buri-Ghan
and two of his headmen actually came to Minas Tirith (p. 56). He then
wrote: 'and there stood Ghan-buri-Ghan by the eaves of the trees, and
did them homage as they passed' (see p. 67). The text continues:
And so at last after many days (15?) they brought King
Theoden back to his own land, and they came to Edoras, and
there they stayed and rested; and never so fair and full of light
was the Golden Hall, for no king of the City of the South had
ever come thither before. And there they held the funeral of
Theoden, and he was laid in a house of stone with many fair
things, and over him was raised a great mound, the eighth of
those upon the east side of the Barrowfields, and it was covered
with green turves of grass [and] of fair Evermind. And then the
Riders of the King's House rode about it, and one among them
sang a song of Theoden Thengel's son that brought light to the
eyes of the folk of the Mark and stirred the hearts of all, even
those that knew not [that] speech. And Merry who stood at the
foot of the mound wept.(4)
And when the burial was over and the last song was ended
there was a great feast in the hall, and when they came to the
time when all should drink to the memories of mighty men forth
came Eowyn Lady of Rohan, golden as the sun and white as
snow, and she brought forth the cup to Eomer King of the
Mark, and he drank to the memory of Theoden. And then a
minstrel sang naming all the kings of the [?Mark] in their order,
and last King Eomer; and Aragorn arose and [?wished him] hail
[and] drank to him. And then Gandalf arose and bid all men
rise, and they rose, and he said: 'Here is a last hail (5) ere the feast
endeth. Last but not least. For I name now [one >] those who
shall not be forgotten and without whose valour nought else
that was done would have availed; and I name before you all
Frodo of the Shire and Samwise his servant. And the bards and
the minstrels should give them new names: Bronwe athan
Harthad and Harthad Uluithiad, Endurance beyond Hope and
Hope unquenchable.'(6)
And to those names men drank in honour; but Sam went very
red, and murmured to Frodo: 'I don't know what my Dad
would think of the change: he was always against outlandish
names. "The gentry can do as they please," he said, "with their
Roriuses and Ronshuses, but for plain folk something shorter
wears better." But even if I could say the name, I think it don't
suit. My hope ........ low, Mr. Frodo, .........'(7)
The announcement by Eomer of the betrothal of Faramir and
Eowyn and the words of Eowyn with Aragorn are particularly hard to
read, but the passage does not differ significantly from that in RK (pp.
255-6). The text then continues:
And after the feast those that were to go took leave of King
Eomer, and Faramir abode with him, for he would not be far
from Eowyn any longer. And Finduilas also remained and took
leave of her father and brethren. But Aragorn rode on with the
companions, and they passed on to Helm's Deep and there
rested. And then Legolas repaid his vow to Gimli and went into
the Glittering Caves; and when he returned he was silent, for he
said that only Gimli could find fit words. 'And now,' said he,
'we will go to Fangorn', at which Gimli looked little pleased.
And so they passed.... to Isengard and saw how the Ents had
busied themselves, for all the stone circle was removed and was
planted with trees, but in the midst of the orchards Orthanc rose
up still, tall and [? unapproachable]. And there was Treebeard
and other Ents to welcome them, and he praised all their deeds,
of which it seemed he had full tidings. 'But Ents played their
part,' said he. 'And there would have been no Golden Hall to
return to but for Treebeard and his folk. For we caught a great
army of those - burarum - those orcs that were coming down
through the Wold and we drove them away. Or otherwise the
king of the grassland would [?have never] ridden far.'
And Gandalf praised his work, and at last he said farewell
with many long words, saying that he had added some new
lines. And when Merry and Pippin at last said farewell he ....
them and said 'Well, my merry folk! Take a draught before you
go!' And they said 'Yes, indeed! ' And he looked at them over the
bowl, and he said 'Take care! For you have already grown since
I saw you!' And they laughed, and then he [?went] sad, and he
said 'And don't forget that if you ever hear news of the Entwives
you must send word to us.' And Aragorn said 'The East lands
now lie open.' But Treebeard shook his head and said that it
was far away.
But Legolas and Gimli here said goodbye, and went into
Fangorn, and from there they purposed [? to journey] together
to their own countries. 'Alas, that our lands lie so far apart! But
we will send word to Rivendell.' And Elrond looked at them
and said: 'Send rather to the Shire.'
Then they rode to the Gap of Rohan, and Aragorn took leave
of them in that very place where Pippin had looked in the
Palantir. And Pippin said 'I wish we could have one to see all
our friends.' 'But one only now remains,' said Aragorn .....,
'and the king must keep that. But forget not that my realm lies
now also in the North; and later on I may come again.'
And so slowly they passed in[to] the waste lands west of the
mountains and fared north, and summer wore away; and
Galadriel and Celeborn and their folk passed over the Dimrill
Stair and went back to Lorien. But Elrond and Gandalf and the
hobbits came back at last to Rivendell.
The chapter ends in this earliest form with very rough sketching of
the time that the hobbits spent with Bilbo, but most of the essentials of
the final form are present. The chief difference lies in Bilbo's gifts:
'Then Bilbo gave Frodo his coat and sword, and he gave Sam a lot of
books of lore, and he gave Merry and Pippin a lot of good advice.'
Bilbo's verse (The Road goes ever on and on) is lacking, but that there
should be a verse at this point is indicated on the manuscript.
Gandalf's intimation that he would go with the hobbits 'at least as far
as Bree' is lacking; and at the departure from Rivendell Elrond's words
of farewell to Frodo, though the same as in RK (suggesting that 'about
this time of the year' he should 'look for Bilbo in the woods of the
Shire'), were heard also by the others: 'And they did not fully
understand what he meant, and Gandalf of course would not explain.'
The text then runs straight on into what would become the opening of
the next chapter, 'Homeward Bound'.
This first manuscript was greatly enlarged by the insertion of new
material. The story of the visit to Isengard was elaborated, and
Treebeard's account of the release of Saruman from Orthanc now
enters - the necessary prelude, of course, to the encounter with
Saruman and Wormtongue on the northward journey of the remain-
ing company. There are a number of differences from the text of RK,
but they are minor.(8) The farewell speeches of Treebeard with Cele-
born and Galadriel now appear, differing from the final form only in
the Quenya phrase: O vanimar vanimalion ontari (see note 16).
A long rider takes up at the words 'Then they rode towards the Gap
of Rohan' (cf. RK p. 260), and the departure of Aragorn is told in
almost the same words as in RK; but Galadriel said to him: 'Elfstone,
through darkness you have come to your desire. Use well the days of
light', and Celeborn said: 'Kinsman, farewell, but your doom is like to
mine; for our treasure shall outlast us both' (see pp. 124-5 and note 16).
The story of the meeting with Saruman, which had been very
obliquely referred to in 'The Story Foreseen from Kormallen' ('They
come on Saruman and he is [?pardoned]', p. 52), was now fully told,
but with a number of differences, one very notable. No indication is
given of where or when the encounter took place: after the company
had crossed the Isen they 'passed into the waste land west of the
mountains, and they turned north, and summer wore away. And many
days afterward they overtook an old man leaning on a staff...' See
further p. 69.
To Saruman's remark 'I am seeking a way out of his realm' Gandalf
at first replies:
'Then you are going the wrong way [bracketed: as seems to
be your doom], unless you wish to pass into the utter North and
there freeze to death. For from the Sea in the West to Anduin
and thence many days' march east is the realm of the King, and
east ere long it will spread beyond the water of Runaeluin.'(9)
Without striking this out my father replaced it by:
'Then you have far to go,' said Gandalf, 'and should be going
eastward. Yet even so you would have to travel far, and find the
border of his realm ever marching up behind you.'
This was struck through, and the final text here is: ' "Then you have
far to go," said Gandalf, "and I see no hope in your journey...." '
Wormtongue still names himself Frana, not Grima (cf. VII.445,
VIII.55). Most curious is my father's remarkably different initial
conception of Saruman's response to Merry's generosity (the sentence
that I have bracketed was presumably rejected):
'Mine, mine, yes, and dearly paid for,' said Saruman, clutch-
ing at the pouch. And then suddenly he seemed touched. 'Well, I
thank you,' he said. '[You do not crow, and your kind looks
maybe are not feigned.] You seem an honest fellow, and maybe
you did not come to crow over me. I'll tell you something. When
you come to the Shire beware of Cosimo, and make haste, or
you may go short of leaf.'
'Thankyou,' said Merry, 'and if you get tired of wandering in
the wild come to the Shire.'
My father knew that Saruman acquired his supply of pipe-weed
from the Shire (see VIII.59, note 8). There is no certain indication that
he had at this stage begun to conceive of any more far-reaching
relations between Saruman and Cosimo Sackville-Baggins, but in the
original draft of 'The Scouring of the Shire' this idea was very fully
present (see p. 84). On the other hand, it is a very notable feature of
that draft that Saruman was not present in person in the Shire and did
not preside over the last stages of its spoliation.
Since as will be seen subsequently the whole of the conclusion of
The Lord of the Rings from 'Many Partings' to the 'Epilogue' was
written in one continuous draft, it seems perfectly possible that all this
new material was introduced into the original draft of 'Many Partings'
after the first draft of 'The Scouring of the Shire' had been written. If
this is so, it was very probably when writing and developing the
present passage that my father first conceived of Saruman's visit to the
Shire (as in the story itself the decision to do so also arose in Saruman's
mind at this juncture, RK p. 298); possibly it was in fact Merry's
extraordinarily artless invitation (though immediately abandoned, as
will be seen in a moment) that was the germ of the story.
Precisely what my father had in mind when he wrote Saruman's
words here, 'When you come to the Shire beware of Cosimo, and
make haste, or you may go short of leaf', I do not know. It certainly
shows that Saruman knew what was going on there, but equally
certainly it was intended to be taken as good advice on Saruman's part
to repay Merry for his gift. But my father marked Merry's reply with a
large query, and at once, on the same page, recognising that the pride,
bitterness and malevolence of Saruman could never be pierced by such
a gesture on the part of Merry Brandybuck, he wrote the passage that
stands in RK (p. 262): 'This is but a repayment in token. You took
more, I'll be bound...'
The first draft A was followed by a much-needed fair copy 'B', and
that (as in 'The Steward and the King') by a third text 'C' in my
father's most handsome script. B was subsequently given the number
and title 'LVII Many Partings'.(10) While the final form of the chapter
was very largely achieved in B, there remain a number of minor
differences from the text of RK; I mention here some of the more
noteworthy, and collect a few further details in note 16.
It was in B that the name Arwen at last emerged. In the opening
paragraph of the chapter in this text the Queen was named Ellonel,
but this was at once changed back to Finduilas, and she is Finduilas at
the two following occurrences (and Evenstar in 'But wear this now in
memory of Elfstone and Evenstar with whom your life has been
woven,' RK p. 253). It must have been at this point that my father
determined that her name was not Finduilas, and that he must find out
what it was; for on a page of rough drafting for sentences in the
opening of the chapter he is seen experimenting with other names, as
Amareth, Emrahil. He wrote Elrond Elladan Elrohir Emrahil, Fin-
duilas > Emrahil, and beside this (evidently to avoid the clash with
Imrahil) Imrahil > Ildramir; but then, clearly and firmly, Arwen
Undomiel. Immediately after this in text B as written Eomer says to
Gimli 'But now I will put Queen Arwen Evenstar first' (RK p. 253).
In a first form of Arwen's words to Frodo she says: 'Mine is the
choice of Luthien, and I have chosen as she at last', the words 'at last*
being omitted in a second version of the passage; and of her gift to him
she says in B:
'... But in my stead you shall go, Ringbearer, when the time
comes, and if you then desire it: for your wounds have been
grievous and your burden heavy. But you shall pass into the
West until all your wounds and weariness are healed. [Struck
out at once: Take this token and Elrond will not refuse you.'
And she took from her hair a white gem like a star] Take with
you the Phial of Galadriel and Cirdan will not refuse you. But
wear this now in memory of Elfstone and Evenstar with whom
your life has been woven!' And she took a white gem...
In the third manuscript C the text of RK was reached.
Merethrond, the Great Hall of Feasts in Minas Tirith (RK p. 253) is
said in B to be 'in the Citadel' (a statement omitted in C). On a page of
rough drafting for this passage my father dashed off a little plan of the
Citadel. This is shown as a circle with seven small circles (towers) at
equal distances within the circumference, one of these standing beside
the entrance. Beyond the Court of the Fountain is marked, at the
centre, the White Tower and Hall of the Kings, and beyond that again,
on the west side of the Citadel, the King's House. To the right (north)
of the White Tower is the Hall of Feasts. The outlines of other
buildings are roughed in between the towers.
When Aragorn and Eomer came to the Hallows 'they came to the
tomb that had been built in Rath Dinen' (where C has the reading of
RK, 'the tombs in Rath Dinen'); and returning with the bier they
'passed through the City, where all the people stood in silence; but the
knights of Rohan that followed the bier sang in their own tongue a
lament for the fallen' (so in A, p. 61, 'with slow songs of the Mark').
This was changed to 'the knights of Rohan ... walked also in silence,
for the time for song was not yet come' (cf. RK p. 253).
The encounter with Ghan-buri-Ghan (see pp. 61 - 2) was further
developed, re-using the original passage in the previous chapter (p. 56)
where Ghan-buri-Ghan came to Minas Tirith:
... and they came to the Grey Wood under Amon Din. And
there beside the road in the shadow of the trees stood Ghan of
the Wild Woods and two of his headmen beside him, and they
were clad all in garments of green leaves to do honour to the
king. For Ghan-buri-Ghan said: 'He was great king; he drove
away dark with bright iron. And now men of Stonehouses have
king, he will not let dark come back.' And he and his headmen
laid their foreheads upon Aragorn's feet; and he bade them rise
up, and he blessed them, and gave them the Forest of Druadan
to be their own, so that no man should ever enter it without
their leave. Then they bowed and vanished into the trees.
This was struck through, and a version replacing it is found written
on the last page of text B of 'The Steward and the King', almost as in
RK (p. 254), in which the Wild Men remain invisible and only their
drums are heard. In this version the heralds added: 'and whoso slays
one of his people slays the king's friends.'
All the names of the Kings of the Mark, recited by the minstrel in the
Golden Hall, are now given, but my father missed out Folcwine,
great-grandfather of Theoden: this was a mere slip, since Folcwine
appears in the earliest list of the kings (VIII.408), and without him
there are only seven mounds on the east side of the Barrowfield. But
the omission escaped notice, and Folcwine was not inserted until the
Second Edition. The eleventh king (Hama in the original list) now
becomes Leof (changed to Leofa in the Second Edition).(11)
In the parting of Merry from Eomer and Eowyn (RK p. 256) they
address him as 'Meriadoc of the Shire and of the Mark' - the name
Holdwine ('of the Mark') was only introduced on the galley proof;
and Eomer says this of the gift of the horn, which he does not attribute
to Eowyn:
'... but you will take naught but the arms that were given to
you. This I suffer, because though we are of other lands and
kind, still you are to me a dear kinsman whose love can only be
requited with love. But this one gift I beg you now to take...'
The horn is described in the same words as in RK; but then follows:
'This is an heirloom of our house,' said Eowyn, 'and in the
deeps of time it was made for our forefathers by the dwarves
[struck out: of Dale], and Eorl the Young brought it from the
North.'
The statement that the horn 'came from the hoard of Scatha the
Worm' entered on the galley proof.
The meeting with Treebeard reaches in this text B the form in RK
at almost all points. Treebeard's denunciation of the Orcs runs
here: henulka-morimaite-quingatelko-tingahondo-rakkalepta-sauri-
kumba.(12) A curious point is that Gandalf says here The Third Age
begins', which was repeated in C but there emended to 'The New Age
begins' as in RK. With this may be compared my father's letter of
November 1944 (Letters no. 91, also VIII.219): 'So ends the Middle
Age and the Dominion of Men begins', and, further back, Saruman's
speech to Gandalf in Isengard (VII.150): 'The Elder Days are gone.
The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning'; but
in 'The Story Foreseen from Kormallen' (p. 52) is found 'The end of
the Third Age is presaged' and 'End of the Third Age'.
Gandalf's response to Treebeard's report that he had allowed
Saruman to go free remains as it was in A (see note 8): Treebeard now
says 'A snake without fangs may crawl where he will', but this does
not yet prompt Gandalf to the observation that Saruman 'had still one
tooth left... the poison of his voice', which entered in C. Gimli, in his
farewell, still concludes as in A (p. 63): 'Alas! that our lands lie so far
apart. But we will send word to Rivendell when we may'; to which
Elrond now replies: 'Send rather to Gondor, or else to the Shire! '
Again as in A (note 8), Treebeard does not say when the release of
Saruman had taken place, and this remained into the First Edition; in
the Second Edition 'Yes, he is gone' was changed to 'Yes, he is gone
seven days.'(13)
The actual encounter with Saruman now differed virtually not at all
from RK, but the placing of it was somewhat different in the First
Edition from the revised version in the Second. The text of the First
Edition ran thus (RK pp. 260-1):
Soon the dwindling company came to the Isen, and crossed over
it, and came into the waste lands beyond, and then they turned
northwards, and passed by the borders of Dunland. And the
Dunlendings fled and hid themselves, for they were afraid of Elvish
folk, though few indeed ever came to their country. But the
travellers did not heed them, for they were still a great company and
were well provided with all that they needed; and they went on their
way at their leisure, setting up tents when they would; and as they
went the summer wore away.
After they had passed by Dunland and were come to places where
few folk dwelt, and even birds and beasts were seldom to be seen,
they journeyed through a wood climbing down from the hills at the
feet of the Misty Mountains that now marched on their right hand.
As they came out again into open country they overtook an old man
leaning on a staff...
As noted above, in the Second Edition Treebeard told Gandalf that
Saruman had been gone seven days; and in the revision of the passage
just cited the First Edition text 'After they had passed by Dunland and
were come to places where few folk dwelt, and even birds and beasts
were seldom to be seen, they journeyed through a wood ...' was
altered to 'On the sixth day since their parting from the King they
journeyed through a wood ...' By this change the company was still
in Dunland when they came upon Saruman, and a little later in the
narrative, after 'I fancy he could do some mischief still in a small mean
way' (RK p. 263), my father added in the Second Edition: 'Next day
they went on into northern Dunland, where no men now dwelt,
though it was a green and pleasant country' (northern Dunland, rather
than the country north of Dunland, now becoming the uninhabited
region).
From this point, the end of the Saruman episode, the text B
continues:
September came in with a golden morning shimmering above
silver mists; and looking out they saw away to the east the sun
catching three peaks that thrust up through floating cloud into
the sky: Caradhras, Celebras, and Fanuiras.(14) They were near
once more to the Gates of Moria. And now came another
parting...
This must mean that it was on the first of September that they saw the
Mountains of Moria. This was developed by a late emendation to C to
the reading of the First Edition:
September came in with golden days and silver nights. At last
a fair morning dawned, shimmering above gleaming mists; and
looking from their camp on a low hill the travellers saw away in
the east the Sun catching three peaks that thrust up into the sky
through floating clouds: Caradhras, Celebdil, and Fanuidhol.
They were near to the Gates of Moria.
Here now for seven days they tarried, for the time was at
hand for another parting...
In the Second Edition this passage (from 'September came in ...')
was extended by references to the Swanfleet river, the falls, and the
ford by which the company crossed.(15)
In various small points B received further alteration in the story of
the sojourn of the hobbits in Rivendell, but effectively the final form
was now reached.(16)
NOTES.
1. Hasufel was presumably no more than a slip of memory, though
it survived until emended on the third manuscript. Hasufel was
Aragorn's horse of Rohan, and the horse that carried Legolas and
Gimli was Arod.
2. Pippin is not mentioned, but in a rejected form of the passage it is
said that he 'rode with the Prince of Ithilien, for he was the
esquire of the Steward.'
3. the Greywood: previously named ('Grey Woods') only on a small
map in a draft text of 'The Ride of the Rohirrim', VIII.353.
4. Here there is a mark of insertion, probably referring to verses that
would be given at this point (although there are no verses here in
the second and third manuscripts: see note 16).
5. In wished him hail (if correctly read) in the preceding sentence
hail means 'health, happiness, welfare'; in Gandalf's Here is a
last hail the word seems to be used elliptically, as if 'Here is a last
drinking (of) hail'.
6. The word that I give as athan is very unclear and uncertain.
7. Gandalf's praise of Frodo and Sam, and this engaging glimpse of
the Gaffer amid the ceremoniousness of Edoras, had disappeared
in the second text. Ronshus is evidently his clipped form of
Gerontius, the name of the Old Took; and I suppose that he
attached the 'learned' or high-falutin ending -us to Rory (Brandy-
buck). But the Gaffer's views were not entirely lost. When
discussing with Frodo the name of his eldest child ('The Grey
Havens', RK p. 306) Sam said: 'I've heard some beautiful names
on my travels, but I suppose they're a bit too grand for daily wear
and tear, as you might say. The Gaffer, he says: "Make it short,
and then you won't have to cut it short before you can use it." ' -
Sam's final remark is unfortunately altogether illegible; the word
preceding lou might possibly be getting, or pretty, but the word
preceding that is certainly not u as.
8. The two sentinel trees that grew now where the gates of Isengard
had stood do not appear. The words of Aragorn and Gandalf
with Treebeard after his mention of the destruction of the Orcs
(whom he apostrophises only in English adjectives) in the Wold
were different from those in RK (p. 258), though a part of this
dialogue was used a little later in the final text:
'We know it,' said Aragorn, 'and never shall it be forgotten,
nor your storming of Isengard, and it is our hope that your
forest may grow again in peace. There is room and to spare
west of the mountains.'
'Forest may grow,' said Treebeard sadly; 'woods may spread,
but not Ents; there are no Entings now.'
'Never at least while the Mark and Gondor remain,' said
Gandalf; 'and that will have to be very long indeed to seem
long to Ents. But what of your most important task, Fangorn?
Treebeard does not say how long it was since Saruman had gone
(see p. 69); and Gandalf does not tell him that Saruman had
found his soft spot and persuaded him by 'the poison of his voice',
but says merely 'Well, he's gone then, and that is all there is to be
said' (reminiscent of his resigned 'Well, well, he is gone' when he
heard from Legolas at the Council of Elrond of Gollum's escape,
FR p. 269). Quickbeam does not appear in the handing over of
the keys to Orthanc: ' "It is locked," said Treebeard, "locked by
Saruman, and here are the keys," and he gave three black keys to
Aragorn.'
9. Runaeluin: the last four letters are not perfectly clear, but this
seems much the most probable interpretation. Can Runaeluin be
the Sea of Rhun?
10. The third manuscript C was given the chapter-number 'LV'. This
reduction of the numbers by two begins with 'The Tower of
Kirith Ungol' (p. 25).
11. In the First Edition, while the eleventh king is named Leo f by the
minstrel in Edoras in 'Many Partings', in the list of the Kings of
the Mark in Appendix A (II) the eleventh king is Brytta, with no
explanation given. In the Second Edition the explanation was
added: 'He was called by his people Leofa, for he was loved by
all; he was openhanded and a help to all the needy.'
12. The English adjectives in B are the same as those in RK: 'evileyed,
blackhanded, bowlegged, flinthearted, clawfingered, foulbellied,
bloodthirsty'. In C the words quingatelko and rakkalepta were
omitted, and then henulka and saurikumba were struck out and
tingahondo changed to sincahondo. Finally sincahondo was
changed on the printer's typescript to sincahonda as in RK.
13. On a copy of the First Edition that my father used to make
alterations for incorporation in the Second Edition he added to the
section 'The Chief Days from the Fall of the Barad-dur to the End
of the Third Age' in Appendix B the entry 'August 15 Treebeard
releases Saruman', but this was not for some reason included in
the Second Edition. See the Note on Chronology below.
14. On the names Celebras and Fanuiras see VII.174, 306.
15. The course of this river was marked already on the First Map
(VII.305), flowing down from the Misty Mountains to join the
Greyflood above Tharbad. It was not referred to in the text of the
First Edition, but was named the Glanduin in Appendix A (I, iii,
first paragraph). The accidents or misunderstandings that be-
devilled its representation on the map accompanying The Lord of
the Rings are detailed in Unfinished Tales pp. 263 - 5.
16. It is not said in B that the only part of the hobbits' story that
really interested Bilbo was the account of the crowning and
marriage of Aragorn; nor that he had forgotten that he had
already given Sting and the mithril-coat to Frodo; nor that his
books of lore had red backs. All these changes entered in the third
manuscript C. The books were labelled Translations from the
Elvish, by B. B. Esquire; Esquire was removed on the galley
proof.
I record here various other details, mostly concerning names, in
which B differed from RK.
The reference to Merry as 'a Knight of the Riddermark' was
retained from A (p. 61) and then struck out. On Hasufel for Arod
see note 1.
The alliterative verses of the song of the Riders of Rohan as
they rode round Theoden's barrow were only introduced on a
rider to the fourth text, the typescript for the printer, together
with the passage preceding them in which the song of the Riders
brought to mind 'the voice of Eorl crying above the battle upon
the Field of Celebrant', and 'the horn of Helm was loud in the
mountains'. The king's minstrel, who made the song, was
Gleowin in B, Gleowine in C; and the Barrowfields of A become
the Barrowfield in B.
In Eomer's farewell words to Merry (RK p. 256) he speaks of
his deeds 'upon the fields of Mundberg', emended on C to
Mundburg (see VIII.355 - 6).
Treebeard's name of Lorien was spelt Laurelindorinan, and
this survived into the First Edition, becoming Laurelindorenan in
the Second. He still says to Galadriel and Celeborn O vanimar
vanimalion ontari (p. 64), 0 being changed to A on text B and
ontari to nostari on C. The comma after vanimar was added in
the Second Edition. In VIII.20 I mentioned late notes of my
father's on the fragments of other languages found in The Lord of
the Rings, which for the greater part of the book are so hastily
written as to be mostly unusable. His translation of O vanimar,
vanimalion nostari can however be made out (in the light of the
Quenya words themselves): 'fair ones begetters of fair ones', and
with this is a note 'nosta beget'; cf. the Etymologies in Vol.V,
stems BAN, NO, ONO.
Wormtongue's name remained Frana (p. 65) in B and C, but
was changed to Grima on the final typescript; and Gandalf still
calls Butterbur Barnabas (RK p. 265).
Note on the Chronology.
In the original draft A of this chapter there were scarcely any
indications of chronology: Aragorn tells Frodo (p. 61) that they will
depart from Minas Tirith in three days' time, but this only relates to
the end of 'the days of rejoicing', of indeterminate length; and it was
fifteen days' journey from Minas Tirith to Rohan.
In B Aragorn tells Frodo that they will leave in seven days, and that
'in three days now Eomer will return hither to bear Theoden back to
rest in the Mark', as he duly did; and all this is retained in The Lord of
the Rings, together with the fifteen days of the journey to Rohan. But
neither B nor C give much more indication than did the original draft
of the time taken over the. stages of the journey from Edoras to
Rivendell, and it may be that my father did not attend to the matter
closely until the final preparation of the book. It is a curious fact that
the chronology of 'The Chief Days from the Fall of the Barad-dur to
the End of the Third Age' in Appendix B (and which is the same in this
respect in both editions) does not agree with the text of 'Many
Partings' in respect either of Eomer's return in relation to the setting
out for Edoras or of the time taken on that journey. In the chronology
of 'The Chief Days' Eomer returned to Minas Tirith on July 18, and
the riding from the City with King Theoden's wain took place on the
following day, July 19, not four days later as in Many Partings., while
the arrival at Edoras is dated August 7, eighteen days later, not fifteen
as in the text.
As I have noted already, no indication of date was given for the
meeting of Saruman with the travellers as they rode north even in the
First Edition; in the Second Edition the passage was altered to say that
the meeting took place on the sixth day since they parted from the
King, and they were still in Dunland (see p. 69). But in fact this dating
was already present in the First Edition, in the chronology of 'The
Chief Days' in The Tale of Years:
August 22 They come to Isengard; they take leave of the King of
the West at sunset.
August 28 They overtake Saruman; Saruman turns towards the
Shire.
As the third text C was written it was still on September 1 that the
travellers saw the Mountains of Moria, but late emendation (see p. 70)
produced, or satisfied, the chronology of 'The Chief Days':
September 6 They halt in sight of the Mountains of Moria.
September 13 Celeborn and Galadriel depart, the others set out
for Rivendell.
On September 21, the day before Bilbo's birthday, Gandalf and the
hobbits returned to Rivendell, having taken (being mounted) a much
shorter time than they took to reach Moria on their outward journey,
nine months before.
VIII.
HOMEWARD BOUND.
The original draft A of 'Many Partings' continued on into the opening
of 'Homeward Bound' (see p. 64), but my father drew a line of
separation, and began a new pagination, probably at an early stage. At
the same time he scribbled in a title for the new chapter: 'Homecom-
ing'. This text runs on with continuous pagination right through to the
end of The Lord of the Rings, and included the Epilogue.
This last of the first drafts ends the work in style: if not the most
difficult of all the manuscripts of The Lord of the Rings it certainly has
few rivals. As far as the Battle of Bywater (see p. 93) it gives the
impression of having been written in one long burst, and with
increasing rapidity. Ideas that appear in earlier reaches of the text are
contradicted later without correction of the former passages. In the
part of it that corresponds to 'Homeward Bound' and the beginning of
'The Scouring of the Shire', however, the text does not present
excessive difficulty, chiefly because the final form of the story was not
very substantially changed from that in the original draft, but also
because my father's handwriting, while very rough throughout,
declined only gradually as the text proceeded.
I break the text here into three chapters as in RK. Throughout, the
original draft is of course called 'A'. Of the tale of the visit to The
Prancing Pony there is not a great deal to record. It opens thus (RK
p. 268):
So now they turned their faces for home; and though they
rode now they rode but slowly. But they were at peace and in no
haste, and if they missed their companions of their adventures,
still they had Gandalf, and the journey went well enough when
once they passed beyond Weathertop. For at the Fords of
Bruinen Frodo halted and was loth to ride through, and from
here on to Weathertop he was silent and ill at ease; but Gandalf
said nothing.
And when they came to the hill he said 'Let us hasten', and
would not look towards it. 'My wound aches,' he said, 'and the
memory of darkness is heavy on me. Are there not things,
Gandalf, that cannot ever be wholly healed?'
'Alas, it is so,' said Gandalf.
'It is so I guess with my wounds,' said Frodo....
This page of A (carrying the end of the later 'Many Partings' and the
beginning of 'Homeward Bound') was replaced, in all probability very
soon, by a new page with a chapter number, 'LVIII', and in this the
opening passage draws nearer to that in RK: the date of the crossing of
the Fords of Bruinen is given (the sixth of October, as in RK), and
Frodo speaks of his pain there, not below Weathertop; but he says:
'It's my shoulder, my wound aches. And my finger too, the one that is
gone, but I feel pain in it, and the memory of darkness is heavy on
me.'(1)
When Butterbur came to the door of The Prancing Pony he did not,
as in RK, misunderstand Nob's cry 'They've come back' and come
rushing out armed with a club:
And out came Barnabas wiping his hand on his apron and
looking as bustled as ever, though there seemed few folk about,
and not much talk in the Common Room; indeed he looked in
the dim lamplight rather more wrinkled and careworn.
'Well, well,' he said, 'I never expected to see any of you
folk again and that's a fact: going off into the wild with that
Trotter ...'
Whatever response Butterbur made to Gandalf's request 'And if you
have any tobacco we'll bless you. Ours has long since been finished' is
not reported. When Butterbur objects (RK p. 272) that he doesn't
want 'a whole crowd of strangers settling here and camping there and
tearing up the wild country' Gandalf tells him:
'... There's room enough for realms between Isen and
Greyflood, and along the shores between Greyflood and Brandy-
wine. And many-folk used to dwell north away, a hundred
miles and more from you, on the North Down[s] and by
Nenuial or Evendimmer, if you have heard of it. I should not
wonder if the Deadmen's Dike is filled with living men again.
Kings' Norbury is its right name in your tongue. One day the
King may come again.'(2)
Apart from these passages the text of 'Homeward Bound' in RK was
virtually present in the draft text,(3) though naturally with many small
changes in the dialogue still to come, until the end of the chapter: here
there is a notable difference in the story. The conversation of the
hobbits as they left Bree is much as in RK, but without Merry's
reference to pipe-weed and without Gandalf's reference to Saruman
and his interest in the Shire:
'I wonder what he [Butterbur] means,' said Frodo.
'I can guess some of it at any rate,' said Sam gloomily. 'What I
saw in the Mirror. Trees cut down and all, and the old gaffer
tumed out. l ought to have turned back sooner.'
'Whatever it is it'll be that Cosimo at the bottom of it,' said
pippin.
'Deep but not at the bottom,' said Gandalf.
This stands near but not at the foot of a page. Across the empty space
my father wrote this note:
Gandalf should stay at Bree. He should say: 'You may find
trouble, but I want you to settle it yourselves. Wizards should
not interfere in such things. Don't crack nuts with a sledge-
hammer, or you'll crack the kernels. And many times over
anyway. I'll be along some time.'
The empty space had perhaps been intended to mark a pause; at any
rate this note was written in later (though not much later), since
the text continues on the following page and Gandalf has not left the
hobbits: he is present at and plays a part in the encounter with the
gate-guards on the Brandywine Bridge (at the beginning of the next
chapter in RK, 'The Scouring of the Shire': pp. 79 - 80).
They passed the point on the East Road where they had taken
leave of Bombadil, and half they expected to see him standing
there to greet them as they went by. But there was no sign of
him, and there was a grey mist over the Barrow-down[s]
southward and a deep veil hid the Old Forest far away.
Frodo halted and looked wistfully south. 'I should like to see
the old fellow again. I wonder how he's getting on.'
'As well as ever, you may be sure,' said Gandalf. 'Quite
untroubled, and if I may say so not at all interested in anything
that has happened to us. There will be time later to visit him. If I
were you I should press on for home now, or we'll not come to
Brandywine Bridge till the gates are locked.'
'But there aren't any gates,' said Merry, 'at least not on the
Road. There's the Buckland Gate of course.'
'There weren't any gates, you mean,' said Gandalf. 'I think
you'll find some now.'
They did. It was long after dark when tired and wet they came
to the Brandywine and found the way barred at both ends of the
Bridge...
The first draft was followed by a fair copy ('B') of 'Homeward
Bound' with that title, and then by a fine and elegant manuscript ('C').
Already in B the final form of the chapter was achieved at almost every
point.(4)
NOTES.
1. The reason for the change was that the recurrence of the pain of
Frodo's wound should depend on the date, not on the place. See
further p. 112, notes 3 and 4.
2. The name Nenuial first occurs here. The curious (but certain) form
Evendimmer, I cannot explain; Evendim (and Fornost Erain)
appear in the second text of the chapter.
3. The return of Bill the Pony is recorded by Butterbur in almost the
same words as in RK (cf. VII.448, VIII.219). - Two other minor
points may be mentioned here. Gandalf's sword (RK p. 272) is
called Orcrist (the name of the sword of Thorin Oakenshield): this
was a mere slip, which however survived into the third manuscript
of the chapter, where it was changed to Glamdring. The entrance
into Bree by the road from Weathertop was called 'the East-gate',
and only changed to 'the South-gate' on the typescript for the
printer; cf. the plan of Bree, VI.335.
4. In his parting words to the hobbits Gandalf says in B: 'I am not
coming to the Shire. You must settle its affairs yourselves. To bring
me in would be using a sledgehammer to crack nuts.' With the last
sentence cf. the note, written on text A, given on p. 77. - Trotter
and Cosimo survived into the third manuscript C and were only
then changed to Strider and Lotho; Barnabas survived into the
final typescript and was corrected on that to Barliman.
IX.
THE SCOURING OF THE SHIRE.
As has been seen in the last chapter, the long draft text A moves on
into what became 'The Scouring of the Shire' without break; Gan-
dalf's departure to seek out Tom Bombadil, where the chapter break
would come, was not yet present. When the travellers came to the
Brandywine Bridge their reception was just as in RK, but Sam's
shouted 'I'll tear your notice down when I find it' is followed by:
'Come along now!' said the wizard. 'My name is Gandalf.
And here is a Brandybuck, a Took, a Baggins, and a Gamgee, so
if you don't open up quick there will be more trouble than you
bargain for, and long before sunrise.'
At that a window slammed, and a crowd of hobbits poured
out of the house with lanterns, and they opened the far gate, and
some came over the Bridge. When they looked at the travellers
they seemed more frightened than ever.
'Come, come,' said Merry, recognizing one of the hobbits. 'If
you don't know me, Hob Hayward, you ought to....'
Before the narrative had proceeded much further the text was
corrected and Gandalf's words were given to Frodo: '"Come along
now!" said Frodo. "My name is Frodo Baggins. And here is a
Brandybuck, a Took, and a Gamgee..." '
The questioning of Hob Hayward (RK p. 277) is a tangle of names
and titles. So far as I can see, it ran thus as first written, with some
changes made immediately:
'I'm sorry, Mr. Merry, but we have orders.'
'Whose orders?'
'The Mayor's, Mr. Merry, and the Chief Shirriff's.'
'Who's the Mayor?' said Frodo.
'Mr. [Cosimo >] Sackville of Bag-End.'
'Oh is he, indeed,' said Frodo. 'And who's the Chief Shirriff?'
'Mr. [Baggins >] Sackville of Bag-End.'
'Oh, indeed. Well, I'm glad he's dropped the Baggins at least.
And he'll leave Bag-End too if I hear any more nonsense.'
A hush fell on the hobbits beyond the gate. 'It won't do no
good to talk that way,' said Hob. 'He'll get to hear of it. And if
you make so much noise you'll wake up the Big Man.'
'I'll wake him up in a way that'll surprise him,' said Gandalf.
'If you mean that your precious Mayor is employing ruffians out
of the wild, then we've not come back too soon.' He leaped
from his horse and put his hand to the gate and tore the notice
from it, and threw it on the path in the faces of the hobbits.(1)
This was the last appearance of Gandalf before the final leave-
taking at the Grey Havens.(2) 'Gandalf' was changed here to 'Frodo',
and 'horse' to 'pony', and it was presumably at this point that the note
given on p. 77 ('Gandalf should stay at Bree ...') was written on the
manuscript. It will be seen in what follows that in this original version
of the story Frodo played a far more aggressive and masterful part in
the events than he does in RK, even to the slaying of more than one of
the ruffians at Bywater and their leader at Bag End, despite his words
to Sam already present in the first manuscript of 'The Land of Shadow'
(p. 32; RK p. 204): 'I do not think it.is my part to strike any blows
again' (see the added sentence given in note 23).
The account of the hobbits' lodging that night in the guard-house by
the Brandywine Bridge is much as in the final form, but lacks a few
details (as Hob Hayward's remark that stocks of pipe-weed had been
'going away quietly' even before Frodo and his companions left the
Shire, and the remonstrance of other hobbits against Hob's indiscre-
tion, RK p. 279). It is Frodo, not Merry, who threatens Bill Ferny and
gets rid of him. In the story of their 'arrest' at Frogmorton (3) 'one of the
Shirriffs' told them that on the orders of the Chief Shirriff (see note 1)
they were to be taken to the Lock-holes in Michel Delving (cf. RK
p. 280), which is where the term first appears (see pp. 98-9). It turns
out that, unlike the later story, Robin Smallburrow was actually the
leader of the band of Shirriffs (see p. 95):
To the discomfiture of the Shirriffs Frodo and his companions
all roared with laughter. 'Go on,' said Frodo. 'Robin Smallbur-
row, you're Hobbiton-bred. Don't be silly. But if you're going
our way we'll go with you as quiet as you could wish.'
'Which way be you going, Mister Baggins?' said Shirriff
Smallburrows,(4) a grin appearing on his face which he quickly
smoothed away.
'Hobbiton, of course,' said Frodo. 'Bag End. But you needn't
come any further than you wish.'
'Very well, Mr. Baggins,' said the Shirriff, 'but don't forget
we've arrested you.'
Sam's conversation with Robin Smallburrows was concluded more
abruptly in A (cf. RK pp. 281 - 2):
'... You know how I went for a Shirriff seven years ago, before
all this. Gave you a chance of walking round the Shire and
seeing folk and hearing the news, and keeping an eye on the
inns. But we all has to swear to do as the Mayor bids. That was
all right in the days of old Flourdumpling. Do you remember
him? - old Will Whitfoot of Michel Delving. But it's different
now. Yet we still has to swear.'
'You shouldn't,' said Sam, 'you should cut out the Shir-
riffing.'
'Not allowed to,' said Robin.
'If I hear "not allowed" much oftener,' said Sam, 'I'm going
to get angry.'
'Can't say I'd be sorry to see it,' said Robin, and he dropped
his voice. 'Tell you the truth, your coming back and Mr. Frodo
and all is the best that's happened in a year. The Mayor's in a
fine taking.'
'He'll be in a fine getting before many days are over,' said
Sam.
The Shire-house (5) at Frogmorton was as bad as the gate-
houses....
It was Frodo, not Merry, who made the Shirriffs march in front on
the journey from Frogmorton, and there is no mention of his looking
'rather sad and thoughtful' as his companions laughed and sang. The
incident of the old 'gaffer' by the wayside who laughed at the absurd
scene, and Merry's refusal to allow the Shirriffs to molest him, is
absent;(6) but when the Shirriffs gave up their forced march at the
Three-Farthing Stone while Frodo and his friends rode on to Bywater,
the leader saying that they were breaking arrest and he could not be
answerable, it was again Frodo, not Pippin, who said 'We'll break a
good many things yet, and not ask you to answer.'
The horror especially of Frodo and Sam when they came to Bywater
and saw what had been done there is told in A very much as in the final
form; but from Sam's words 'I want to find the Gaffer' (RK p. 283) I
give the text in full, for differences now begin to multiply, and before
long the story evolves in a way totally unlike that of the final form of
the chapter. By this point my father's handwriting is of extraordinary
difficulty, and gets worse; it has been a struggle to elucidate it even to
the extent that it is printed here. I have supplied much of the
punctuation, and I have silently entered omitted words where these are
obvious, corrected words given wrong endings, and so forth.
'It'll be dark, Sam, before we can get there,' said Frodo. 'We'll
get there in the morning. One night now won't make any
difference.'
'I wish we'd turned down into Buckland first,' said Merry. 'I
feel trouble's ahead. We'd have heard all the news there and got
some help. Whatever Cosimo's been up to it can't have gone far
in Buckland. Bucklanders wouldn't stand any dictating from
him!'
All the houses were shut and no one greeted them. And they
wondered why, till coming to the Green Dragon, almost the last
house on the Hobbiton side, they were astonished and disturbed
to see four ill-favoured men lounging at the street-end. Squint-
eyed fellows like the one they saw at Bree. 'And at Isengard too,'
muttered Merry. They had clubs in their hands and horns in
their belts. When they saw the travellers they left the wall they
had been leaning on and walked into the road, blocking the
way.
'Where do you think you're going?' said one. 'This ain't the
road to Michel Delving. And where's the perishing Shirriffs?'
'Coming along nicely,' said Frodo. 'A bit footsore maybe.
We'll wait for them.'
'Garn, I told the Boss [> Big Sharkey] it was no good sending
the little fools. We ought to have a'gone, but the Boss [>
Sharkey] says no, and ......... [> the Boss let him have his
way.](7)
'And if you had gone, what difference would that have made,
pray?' said Frodo quietly. 'We are not used to footpads in this
country, but we know how to deal with them.'
'Footpads, eh,' said the man, 'so that's your tone, is it? I'll
learn you manners if you ain't careful. Don't you trust too much
to the Boss's kind heart. [Added in margin: He's all right if you
treat him right, but he won't stand talk of that sort.] He's soft
enough. But he's only a hobbit. And this country needs some-
thing a bit bigger to keep it in order. It'll get it, too, and before
the year's out, or my name's not Sharkey. Then you'll learn a
thing or two, you little rat-folk.'
'Well,' said Frodo, 'I find that very interesting. I was thinking
of waiting here and calling in the morning, but now I think I had
better call on the Boss at once, if you mean my cousin Mr.
Cosimo. He'd like to know what's afoot in good time.'
The squinting man laughed. 'Oh, he knows alright though he
pretends not to. When we've finished with bosses we get rid of
them. And of anyone who gets in our way, see?' [Added in
margin, as a replacement or variant: '0, Cosimo,' he said, and
he laughed again and looked sidelong at his mates. 'Ah, Boss
Cosimo! [Struck out: He knows all right, or he did.] Don't you
worry about him. He sleeps sound, and I shouldn't try and wake
him now. But we're not going to let you pass. We get enough of
....... in our way.']
'Yes, I see,' said Frodo. 'I'm beginning to see a great deal. But
I fear you're behind the times and the news here, Ruffian
Sharkey. Your day's over. You come from Isengard, I think.
Well, I have myself come from the South, and this news may
concern you. The Dark Tower has fallen, there is a King in
Gondor, Isengard is no more, and Saruman is a beggar in the
wilderness. You are the fingers of a hand that has been cut off,
and arm and body too are dead. The King's messengers will be
coming soon up the Greenway, not bullies of Isengard.'
The man stared at him, taken aback for a moment. Then he
sneered. 'Swagger it, swagger it, little cock-a-whoop on your
pony,' he said. 'Big words and fat lies won't scare us. King's
messengers?' he said. 'When I see them I'll take notice maybe.'
This was too much for Pippin. As he thought of the minstrel
upon Kormallen and the praise of all the fair host, and here this
squint-eyed rascal calling the Ringbearer little cock-a-whoop.
[sic]
He flashed out his sword and rode forward, casting aside his
cloak so that the silver and sable of Gondor which he still wore
could be seen. 'We are the King's messengers,' he said. '[And I'm
the squire of Frodo of the Nine Fingers, Knight of Gondor, and
down you go in the road on your knees or we'll deal with you.
>] And I am the esquire of the Lord of Minas Tirith, and here is
Frodo of the Nine Fingers renowned among all peoples of the
West. You're a fool. Down on your knees in the road, or I'll set
this troll's bane in you.' His sword glinted red in the last rays of
the sun. Merry and Sam drew and rode up beside him; but
Frodo made no move.
The man and his fellows taken aback by the weapons and the
sudden fierce speech gave way and ran off up the road to
Hobbiton, but they blew their horns as they ran.
'Well, we've come back none too soon,' said Merry.
'Not a day too soon,' said Frodo. 'Poor Cosimo. I hope we
haven't sealed his doom.'
'What do you mean, Frodo?' said Pippin. 'Poor Cosimo?
I'd seal his doom if I could get at him.'
'I don't think you understand it all quite,' said Frodo.
'Though you should. You've been in Isengard. But I've had
Gandalf to talk to, and we've talked much on the long miles.
Poor Cosimo! Well, yes. He's both wicked and silly. But he's
caught in his own net. Can't you see? He started trading with
Saruman and got rich secretly and bought up this and that on
the quiet, and then he's [?hired] these ruffians. Saruman sent
them to "help" him, and show him how to build and [??repair]
... all ... And now of course they're running things in his
name - and not in his name for long. He's a prisoner [?really] in
Bag End, I expect.'
'Well, I am staggered,' said Pippin. 'Of all the ends to our
journey this is the last I expected: to fight half-orcs in the Shire
itself to rescue Cosimo the Pimple of all people!'(8)
'Fight?' said Merry. 'Well, it looks like it. But we're after all
only 4 hobbits even if we're armed. We don't know how many
ruffians there are about. I think we may really need the
sledgehammer for this nut after all.'(9)
'Well, we can't help Cousin Pimple tonight,' said Frodo. 'We
must find cover for the night.'
'I've an idea, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam. 'Let's go to old Jeremy
Cotton's.(10) He used to be a stout fellow, and he has a lot of lads,
all friends of mine.'
'What, Farmer Cotton down South Lane?' said Frodo. 'We'll
try it!' They turned and a few yards back rode into the lane, and
in a quarter of a mile came to the gates. Though it was early all
the farmhouse was dark, and not a dog barked. ' "Not
allowed", I suppose,' grunted Sam. They knocked on the door,
twice. Then slowly a window was opened just above and a head
peered out.
'Nay, it's none o' them ruffians,' whispered a voice. 'It's only
hobbits.'
'Don't you pay no heed anyway, Jeremy,' said a voice (the
farmer's wife by the sound of it). 'It'll only bring trouble, and
we've had enough.'
'Go away, there's good fellows,' said the farmer hoarsely.
'Not the front door anyway. If there's anything you want badly
come round to the back first thing in the morning before they're
about. There's a lot in the street now.'
'We know that,' said Frodo. 'But we've sent them off. It's Mr.
Frodo Baggins and friends here. We've come back. But we want
shelter for a night. The barn will do.'
'Mr. Frodo Baggins?' gasped the farmer. 'Aye, and Sam with
him,' added Sam.
'All right! But don't shout,' said the farmer. 'I'm coming
down.'
The bolts were drawn back stealthily and it crossed Sam's
mind that he had never known that door to be locked let alone
bolted before. Farmer Cotton put a head round and looked at
them in the gloaming. His eyes grew round as he looked at them
and then grave. 'Well,' he said, 'voices sound all right, but I
wouldn't a' knowed you. Come in.' There was dim light in the
passage, and he scanned their faces closely. 'Right enough,' he
said, and laughed with relief. 'Mr. Baggins and Sam and Mr.
Merry and Mr. Pippin. Well, you're welcome, more than
welcome. But it's a sorry homecoming. You've been away too
long.'
'What's come of my gaffer?' said Sam anxiously.
'Not too well, but not too bad,' said Farmer Cotton. 'He's in
one of [?they new] Shire-houses, but he comes to my backdoor
and I sees he's better fed than some of the poor things. He's not
too bad.'
Sam drew a breath of relief. 'Shire-houses,' he said. 'I'll burn
the lot down yet.'
They went into the kitchen and sat down by the fire, which
the farmer blew up to a blaze. 'We go to bed early these days,'
he said. 'Lights o'night bring unwelcome questions. And these
ruffians, they lurk about at night and lie abed late. Early
morning's our best time.'
They talked for a while and learned that Frodo's guesses had
been near the mark. There were some twenty ruffians quartered
in Hobbiton, and Cosimo was up at Bag End; but was never
seen outside of it. 'His ma, they took her and put her in the
Lockholes at Michel Delving three [? months] ago,' said the
farmer. 'I'm less sorry for her than I am for some as they've
took. But she did stand up to them proper, there's no denying.
Ordered them out of the house, and so they took her.'
'Hm,' said Frodo. 'Then I am afraid .we've brought you
trouble. For we've threatened four of them and sent them off.
The chief of them is one Sharkey by his own naming. I feared
there were more. They blew horns and went off.'
'Ah, I heard 'em,' said the farmer. 'That's why we shut down.
They'll be after you soon enough, unless you've scared 'em more
than I guess. Not but what I think they'd run quick enough from
anything of their own size. We'd clear 'em out of the country if
only we'd get together.'
'Have they got any weapons?'
'They don't show 'em, no more than whips, clubs, and knives,
enough for their dirty work,' said the farmer. 'But maybe they
have. Some have got bows and arrows, anyhow, and shoot
[?pretty quick] and straight. They've shot three in this district to
my knowledge.' Sam ground his teeth.
There came a great bang at the front door. The farmer went
quietly down the passage putting out the light and the others
followed him. There was a second louder bang. 'Open up you
old rat, or we'll burn you out,' shouted a hoarse voice outside.
'I am coming,' said the farmer, all of a [?quake.] 'Slip up and
see how many there is,' said Sam. And he [?rattled the chains]
and....... ed the bolts as the farmer ran up the stairs and back.
'I should say a dozen at the least, but all the lot, I guess,' he
said.
'All the better,' said Frodo. 'Now for it.'
The four hobbits stood back to the wall towards which the
door swung. The farmer [?unbolted] the bolts, turned the key,
and then [? slipped back] up the stairs. The door swung open
and in [?peered] the head and shoulders of Sharkey. They let
him come in; and then quickly Frodo drove the point of his
sword into his neck. He fell, and there was a howl of rage
outside. 'Burn them, burn them,' voices cried, 'go and get fuel.'
'Nar, dig them out,' said two, and thrust into the passage. They
had swords in their hands, but Frodo now behind the door
swung it suddenly in the face of the rear one, while... Sam ran
Sting through the other.(11) Then the hobbits leaped out. The
ruffian who had been down on his face was [? leaning against the
doorpost]. He fled, blood pouring from his nose. The farmer...
took the sword from the fallen ruffian and stood guard at the
door. The hobbits ranged about the yards stealthily. They came
on two ruffians bringing wood from the woodpile and .... ed
and killed them before they knew they were attacked. 'It is like a
rat hunt,' said Sam. 'But that's only four and one with a broken
nose.'
At that moment they heard Merry shouting, 'Gondor to the
Mark', and they ran and found him in a corner of the stack yard
with four ruffians [?pressing] on him, but held at bay by his
sword. They had only knives and clubs. Frodo and Sam came
running from one side and Pippin from another. The ruffians
fled blowing horns, but one more fell to Frodo's sword before
he could escape.
They heard the farmer calling. They ran back. 'One less,' said
Farmer Cotton. 'I got him as he ran. The rest have run off down
the lane blowing like a hunt.'
'That's six altogether,' said Frodo. 'But no doubt the horns
will bring more. How many are there in the neighbourhood?'
'Not many,' said the farmer. 'They mostly bide here or at
Michel Delving, and go anywhere's there's any dirty work. No
more of [? them's] come in since last spring. I... say there's not
much [more than] a hundred in the whole Shire. If we could
only join together.'
'Then let's start tonight,' said Frodo. 'Rouse up the folk. Put
lights in the houses. Get out all the lads and grown hobbits.
Block the road south and send out scouts round the place.'
It was not long before all Bywater was alive and awake again.
Lights shining in windows and people at their doors. And there
were even cheers for Mr. Frodo. Some lit a bonfire at the Road
Bend (12) and danced round it. It was after all not more than [the]
six[th of] October (13) on a fair evening of late autumn. Others
went off to spy the land round about.
Those that went up Hobbiton way said that there was quite a
hubbub there. News of Mr. Frodo's return had come in and folk
were coming out. The ruffians seemed to have left the place
clear. 'Bolted towards Michel Delving where they've made the
Lockholes into a fortress, that's what they've a' done, I guess,'
said Farmer Cotton. 'But they'll come back. There's no way
from the West.(14) They don t go down the Tuckborough way.
They've never given in there. And they've [?beaten] up more
than one ruffian in the Took-house.(15) There is a kind o' siege
going on.'
'We'll send word to them. Who'll go?' No answer.
'I'll go of course,' said Pippin. 'It's my own country. I'm
proud of it. It's not more than 14 miles, as the crow flies or as
Took goes who knows all the ways, from here where I stand to
the Long Smial of [?Tuckborough] where I was born.(16) Anyone
come with me? Well, never mind. I'll be bringing some [?stout]
Tooklanders this way in the morning.'
Frodo sent out other messengers to all hamlets and farms near
enough for folk to be willing to run to them.
Nothing more that night.
In the morning from Hobbiton and Bywater and round about
there were about 100 fullgrown hobbits gathered together with
sticks, staves, knives, pitchforks and mattocks and axes and
scythes. Messages came in to say that a dozen or more ruffians
had been seen going west to Michel Delving the evening before.
Then a hobbit ran in to say that about fifty Tooklanders had
come in on ponies to the East Road junction and a couple of
hundred were marching up behind. 'Whole country's up, like a
fire,' he said. 'It's grand! Right glad we are you came back, Mr.
Frodo. That's what we needed.'
Frodo now had forces enough. He had [?the] block..... the
East.....(17) and put a lot of them behind the hedge on each side
of the way. They were under Pippin's command. 'I don't know
what you think,' he said to Merry and Sam. 'But it seems to me
that either the ruffians are all going to gather in Michel Delving
and-fight it out there: in that case we'll have to raise the Shire
and go and dig them out; or more likely they'll come back in full
force this way to their precious Boss. It's forty miles if it's a foot
to Michel Delving. Unless they get ponies (which wouldn't help
much) or have got horses they can't come back for a day or
two.'
'They'll send a messenger,' said Sam, 'and wait somewhere till
their friends arrive; that'll speed things up a bit. Even so I don't
see how they can do it till the day after tomorrow at quickest.'
'Well then,' said Frodo, 'we'd best spend the time by going to
Hobbiton and have a word with Cousin Cosimo.'
'Right you are, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam, 'and I'll look up the
gaffer.'
So leaving Pippin in charge on the Road and Farmer Cotton
in Bywater, Frodo, Sam and Merry rode on to Hobbiton. It was
one of the saddest days of their lives. The great chimney rose up
before them, and as they came in sight of the village they saw
that the old mill was gone and a great red brick building
straddled the stream. All along the Bywater road every tree was
felled, and little ugly houses with no gardens in [?desert]..... of
ash or gravel. As they looked up the hill they gasped. The old
farm on the right had been turned into a [?long ?big] work-
shop or [? building] with many new windows. The chestnuts
were gone. Bagshot Row was a yawning sand-pit, and Bag End
up beyond could not be seen for a row of sheds and ugly huts.(18)
[The following was struck out and replaced immediately: A
[?surly dirty] ill-favoured hobbit was lounging at the new
mill-door. He was [?smut]-faced and [?chewing]. 'As good a
small model of Bill Ferny as I've seen,' said Sam.
Ted Sandyman did not seem to recognize them but stared at
them with a leer until they had nearly passed.
'Going to see the Boss?' he said. 'It's a bit early. But you'll see
the notice on the gate. Are you the folks that have been making
all the row down at Bywater? If you are, I shouldn't [?try] the
Boss. He's angry. Take my advice and sheer off. You're not
wanted. We've got work to do in the Shire now and we don't
want noisy riffraff.'
'You don't always get what you want, Ted Sandyman,' said
Sam. 'And I can tell you what's coming to you, whether you like
it or no: a bath.' He jumped from his pony and before the
astonished Ted knew what was coming Sam hit him square on
the nose, and lifting him with an effort threw him over the
bridge with a splash.]
A dirty surly-looking hobbit was lounging on the bridge by
the mill. He was grimy-faced and grimy-handed, and was
chewing. 'As good a small copy of Bill Ferny as you could ask
for!' said Sam. 'So that's what Ted Sandyman admires, is it. I'm
not surprised.'
Ted looked at him and spat. 'Going to see the Boss?' he said.
'If you are you're too early. He don't see no visitors till eleven,
not even them as thinks themselves high and mighty. And he
won't see you anyway. You're for the Lockholes, where you
belong. Take my advice and sheer off before they come for you.
We don't want you. We've work to do in the Shire now.'
'So I see,' said Sam. 'No time for a bath, but time for
wall-propping. Well, never you mind, Ted, we'll find you
something to do before this year's much older. And in the
meantime keep your mouth shut. I've a score to pay in this
village, and don't you make it any longer with your sneers, or
you'll foot a bill too big for you to pay.'
Ted laughed. 'You're out o' date, Mr. Samwise, with your
elves and your dragons. If I were you I'd go and catch one of
them ships that [are] [?always] sailing, according to your tale.
Go back to Babyland and rock your cradle, and don't bother us.
We're going to make a big town here with twenty mills. A
hundred new houses next year. Big stuff coming up from the
South. Chaps who can work metals, and make big holes in the
ground. There'll be forges a-humming and [? steamwhistles] and
wheels going round. Elves can't do things like that.'
Sam looked at him, and his retorts died on his lips. He shook
his head.
'Don't worry, Sam,' said Frodo. 'He's day-dreaming, poor
wretch. And he's right behind the times. Let him be. But what
we shall do with [him] is a bit of a worry. I hope there's not
many caught the disease.'
'If I had known all the mischief Saruman had been up to,' said
Merry, 'I'd have stuffed my pouch down his throat.'
They went sadly up the winding road to Bag End. The Field of
the Party was all hillocks, as if moles had gone mad in it, but by
some miracle the tree was still standing, now forlorn and nearly
leafless.(19) They came at last to the door. The bell-chain dangled
loose. No bell could be rung, no knocking was answered. At last
they pushed and the door opened. They went in. The place
stank, it was full of filth and disorder, but it did not appear to
have been lived in for some time. 'Where is that miserable
Cosimo hiding?' they said. There was nothing living to be found
in any room save mice and rats.
'This is worse than Mordor,' said Frodo. 'Much worse in
some ways.' 'Ah,' said Sam, 'it goes home as they say, because
this is home, and it's all so, so mean, dirty [and] shabby. I'm
very sorry, Mr. Frodo. But I'm glad I didn't know before. All the
time in the bad places we've been in I've had the Shire in mind,
and that's what I've rested on, if you take my meaning. I'd not
have had a hope if I'd known all this.'
'I understand,' said Frodo. 'I said much the same to Gandalf
long ago.(20) Never mind, Sam. It's our task to put it all right
again. Hard work, but we'll not mind. Your box will come in
useful.'
'My box?' said Sam. 'Glory and sunshine, Mr. Frodo, but of
course. She knew, of course she knew. Showed me a bit in the
Mirror. Bless her. I'd well-nigh forgotten it. But let's find that
Boss first.'
'Hi you, what're you doing? Come out of it!' A loud voice
rang out. They ran to the door and saw a large man, bowlegged,
squinteyed, [?painfully ??bent] coming up the field from
one of the sheds. 'What in Mordor do you mean by it?' he
shouted. 'Come out of it. Come here, you Shire-rats. I [?saw]
you.'
They came out and went to meet him. When they drew near
enough for him to see them he stopped and looked at them, and
to Frodo it seemed that he was.... [?and] a little afraid. 'We're
looking for the Boss,' he said, 'or so I think you call him. Mr.
Cosimo of Bag End. I'm his cousin. I used to live here.'
'Hi lads, hi, [?come here],' shouted the man. 'Here they are.
We've got 'em.'
But there was no answer.
Frodo smiled. 'I think, Ruffian Sharkey, [? we] should cry
"We've got him"? If you're calling for your other ruffians I'm
afraid they've made off. To Michel Delving, I'm told. I am told
you sleep sound.(21) Well, what about it now. The hobbits drew
their swords and pressed near him; but he backed away. Very
orc-like all his movements were, and he stooped now with his
hands nearly touching the ground. 'Blast and grind the fools,' he
said. 'Why didn't they warn me?'
'They thought of themselves first, I expect,' said Frodo, 'and
anyway you've given strict orders that your sleep is not to be
disturbed. It s on every notice. Come. I want to see the Boss.
Where is he?'
The man looked puzzled. Then he laughed. 'You're looking at
him,' he said. 'I'm the Boss. I'm Sharkey all right.'
'Then where is Mr. Cosimo of Bag End?'
'Don't ask me,' said the man. 'He saw what was coming, and
he legged it one night. Poor booby. But it saved us the trouble of
wringing his neck. We'd had enough of him. And we've got on
better without him. He hadn't the guts of his ma.'
'I see,' said Frodo. 'So you ruffians from Isengard have been
bullying this country for a year, and [??pretending] to be Mayor
and Shirriff and what not, and eating most of the food and
... ing folk and setting up your filthy hutches. What for?'
'Who are you,' said the man, 'to "what for" me? I'm the Boss.
And I do what I like. These little swine have got to learn how to
work and I'm here to learn 'em. Saruman wants goods and he
wants provisions, and he wants a lot of things lying idle here.
And he'll get them, or we'll screw the necks of all you little rats
and take the land for ourselves.'
'Isengard is a ruin and Saruman walks as a beggar,' said
Frodo. 'You've outlived your time, Ruffian Sharkey. The Dark
Tower has fallen and there is a King in Gondor, and there is a
King also in the North. We come from the King. I give you three
days. After that you are outlaw, and if you're found in this Shire
you shall be killed, as you killed the [?wretch] Cosimo. I see in
your eye that you lie, and in your hands that you strangled him.
Your way leads downhill and [to] the East. Quick now!'
The orc-man looked at them with such a leer of hatred as they
had not seen even in all their adventures. '... you're liars like all
your kind. Elf-friends and....... ... And four to one, which makes
you so bold.'
'Very well,' said Frodo, 'one to one.' He took off his cloak.
Suddenly he shone, a small gallant figure clad in mithril like an
elf-prince. Sting was in his hand;(22) but he was not much more
than half Sharkey's stature'. Sharkey had a sword, and he drew
it, and in a [?fury] hewed double-handed at Frodo. But Frodo
using the advantage of his size and [?courage] ran in close
holding his cloak as a shield and slashed his leg above the knee.
And then as with a groan and a curse the orc-man [?toppled]
over him he stabbed upwards, and Sting passed clean through
his body.
So died Sharkey the Boss [?on the] .... where Bilbo's garden
had been. Frodo [??crawling] from under him looked at him as
he wiped Sting on the grass. 'Well,' he said, 'if ever Bilbo hears
of this he'll believe the world has really changed! When Gandalf
and I sat here long ago, I think that at least one thing I could
never have guessed would be that the last stroke of the battle
would be at this door.'(23)
'Why not?' said Sam. 'Very right and proper. And I'm glad
that it was yours, Mr. Frodo. But if I may say so, though it was a
grand day at Kormallen, and the happiest I have known, I never
have felt that you got as much praise as you deserve.'
'Of course not, Sam,' said Frodo. 'I'm a hobbit. But why
grumble? You've been far more neglected yourself. There's
never only one hero in any true tale, Sam, and all the good folk
are in others' debt. But if one had to choose one and one only,
I'd choose Samwise.'
'Then you'd be wrong, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam. 'For without
you I'm nothing. But you and me together, Mr. Frodo: well,
that's more than either alone.'
'It's more than anything I've heard of,' said Merry. 'But as for
the last stroke of battle, I'm not so sure. You've finished the
beastly Boss, while I only looked on. I've a [?feeling] from the
horns in the distance you'll find that Pippin and the Tooks have
had the last word. Thank heaven my..... is Took Brandybuck.'
It was as he said. While they had dealt with the Boss things
had flared up in Bywater. The ruffians were no fools. They had
sent a man on a horse to [?within) horn cry of Michel Delving
(for they had many horn-signals). By midnight they had all
assembled at Waymoot,(24) 18 miles west of the Bywater Road
[?crossing]. They had [?horses of their own] on the White
Downs and rode like the fire. They charged the road-barrier at
10 a.m. but fifty were slain. The others had scattered and
escaped. Pippin had killed [?five] and was wounded himself.
So ended the [?? fierce] battle of Bywater, the only battle ever
fought in the Shire. And it has at least a chapter all to itself in all
standard histories.
It was some time before the last ruffians were hunted out.
And oddly enough, little though the hobbits were inclined to
believe it, quite a number turned out to be far from incurable.
This ends a page, and with it the now fearsomely difficult writing
comes to an end: for the next page is perfectly legible, and this better
script continues to the end of the draft, which is also the end of The
Lord of the Rings. The pagination is continuous, however, and the
. likeliest explanation seems to be that there was simply a break in
composition at this point.
The division between 'The Scouring of the Shire' and 'The Grey
Havens' occurs at a point in RK that has nothing corresponding in the
original draft, but it is convenient to make a break here, after one
further paragraph concerning the fate of the 'ruffians', and to give the
further continuation of the draft in the following chapters.
If they gave themselves up they were kindly treated, and fed
(for they were usually half-starved after hiding in the woods),
and then shown to the borders. This sort were Dunlanders, not
orc-men/halfbreeds, who had originally come because their
own land was wretched, and Saruman had told them there was
a good country with plenty to eat away North. It is said that
they found their own country very much better in the days of
the King and were glad to return; but certainly the reports that
they spread (enlarged for the covering of their own shame) of
the numerous and warlike, not to say ferocious, hobbits of the
Shire did something to preserve the hobbits from further
trouble.
It is very striking that here, virtually at the end of The Lord of the
Rings and in an element in the whole that my father had long
meditated, the story when he first wrote it down should have been so
different from its final form (or that he so signally failed to see 'what
really happened'!). And this is not only because the original story took
a wrong direction, as it turned out, when all four of the 'travellers'
went to Farmer Cotton's house, nor because he did not perceive that it
was Saruman who was the real 'Boss', Sharkey, at Bag End, but most
of all because Frodo is portrayed here at every stage as an energetic
and commanding intelligence, warlike and resolute in action; and the
final text of the chapter had been very largely achieved when the
changed conception of Frodo's part in the Scouring of the Shire
entered.
It is perhaps a minor question, to try to resolve how my father was
developing the idea of 'Sharkey' as he wrote this text, but it is certainly
not easy to do so. The statements made are as follows:
The chief of the orcish men at Bywater said (p. 82) that he had told
the Boss that it was no good sending hobbits, and that the men ought
to have gone, but the Boss had said no. This was changed to make the
man say that he had given this advice to 'Big Sharkey', but Sharkey
had said no, and 'the Boss let him have his way'.
Later in the same conversation, this man says: 'It'll get it too, and
before the year's out, or my name's not Sharkey.' Then Frodo calls
him (p. 83) 'Ruffian Sharkey'.
When the ruffians came to Farmer Cotton's house it was 'Sharkey'
who peered in at the door,"and Frodo slew him with his sword.
The man who accosted the hobbits at Bag End (whose orc-like
character is much emphasised) is called by Frodo 'Ruffian Sharkey'
(p. 91).
Frodo tells this man that he wants to see the Boss; to which he
replies: 'I'm the Boss. I'm Sharkey all right.'
Subsequently Frodo again calls him 'Ruffian Sharkey'; and he slays
him with Sting in single combat.
As the text stands there can be no solution to this unless it is
supposed that my father changed his conception as he wrote without
altering the earlier passages. This would probably mean that the name
'Sharkey', whatever its basis as a name, was transferred from the
squint-eyed rascal at Bywater when my father saw that 'the Boss'
(Cosimo Sackville-Baggins) was being used now purely nominally by
some more ruthless and sinister presence at Bag End: this was
Sharkey'.(25) Then, suddenly, after the present draft was completed, my
father saw who it really was that had supplanted Cosimo, and
Saruman took over the name Sharkey'.(26)
At any rate, it is altogether certain that Saruman only entered the
Shire in person in the course of the development of the present
chapter. On the other hand, his previous baleful association with
Cosimo Sackville-Baggins was present in the original draft, as is seen
from Frodo's remarks at Bywater (p. 84) and Merry's at Bag End
(p. 90: If I had known all the mischief Saruman had been up to, I d
have stuffed my pouch down his throat').
It required much further work to attain the story as it stands in The
Return of the King, and the vehicle of this development was the
complicated second manuscript 'B', which was numbered 'LIX' and at
first given the title 'The Mending of the Shire'. It seems very probable
that Saruman's presence at Bag End had already arisen when my
father began writing this text, and the references to 'Sharkey' are as in
RK; but while in detail and in wording it advances far towards the
final form he was still following A in certain features, and the major
shift in the plot (whereby the fight at Farmer Cotton's house was
removed) took place in the course of the writing of the manuscript.
Before that point in the story is reached the most notable feature is
that Frodo retains his dominance and his resolute captaincy. The
incident of the old 'gaffer' who jeered at the band of Shirriffs on their
forced march from Frogmorton entered in B, but it was Frodo, not
Merry, who sharply ordered their leader to leave him alone. The
leader was still, and explicitly, Robin Smallburrow ('"Smallburrow!"
said Frodo. "Order your fellows back to their places at once"'); but
his displacement by the officious and anonymous leader took place in
the course of the writing of this manuscript.(27)
There was a notable development in B of Frodo's exposition to
Pippin concerning Cosimo and Saruman and the pass to which the
Shire has been brought (see pp. 83 - 4). This was removed (cf. RK
p. 285) when, on a rider inserted into B, it became Farmer Cotton who
recounted from personal knowledge the recent history; but Cotton, of
course, did not know who Sharkey was, and presumably would not
have been much enlightened to learn that he was Saruman.
'I don't think you understand it quite,' said Frodo. 'Though
: you were at Isengard, and have heard all that I have since. Yes,
Poor Cosimo! He has been a wicked fool. But he's caught in his
own net now. Don't you see? Saruman became interested in us
and in the Shire a good while ago, and began spying. [Added: So
Gandalf said.] A good many of the strange folk that had been
prowling about for a long while before we started must have
been sent by him. I suppose he got into touch with Cosimo that
way. Cosimo was rich enough, but he always did want more. I
expect he started trading with Saruman, and getting richer
secretly, and buying up this and that on the quiet. [Added:
Saruman needed supplies for his war.]'
'Ah!' said Sam, 'tobacco, a weakness of Saruman's. [> 'Yes!'
said Pippin. 'And tobacco for himself and his favourites!] I
suppose that Cosimo must have got his hands on most of it. And
on the South-farthing fields, too, I shouldn't wonder.'
'I expect so,' said Frodo. 'But he soon got bigger ideas than
that. He began hiring [> He seems to have hired] ruffians; or
Saruman sent them to him, to "help him". Chimneys, tree-
hacking, all those shoddy little houses. They look like imitations
of Saruman's notions of "improvement". But now, of course,
the ruffians are on top...'
The text then becomes that of RK; but after Frodo's admonition on
the subject of killing (RK p. 285) it continues thus, following and
expanding A (p. 84):
'It depends on how many of these ruffians there are,' said '
Merry. 'If there are a lot, then it will certainly mean fighting,
Frodo. And it isn't going to be as easy after this. It may prove a
nut tough enough for Gandalf's sledgehammer. After all we're
only four hobbits, even if we're armed.'
'Well, we can't help Cousin Pimple tonight,' said Pippin; 'we
need to find more out. You heard that horn-blowing? There's
evidently more ruffians near at hand. We ought to get under
cover soon. Tonight will be dangerous.'
'I've an idea,' said Sam. 'Let's go to old Cotton's. He always
was a stout fellow, and he's a lot of lads that were all friends of
mine.'
'D'you mean Farmer Cotton down South Lane?' said Frodo.
'We'll try him! '
They turned, and a few yards back came on South Lane -
leading out of the main road; in about a quarter of a mile it
brought them to the farmer's gates.
In the story of their arrival at the farm, their welcome there and
conversation with Farmer Cotton, my father followed A (pp. 84 - 6)
closely, with some minor expansion but no movement away from the
draft narrative (except that the imprisonment of Lobelia Sackville-
Baggins is made longer: '"They took his ma six months ago," said
Cotton, "end o' last April" '). But from the bang on the front door the
story changes:
There came at that moment a loud bang on the door. Farmer
Cotton went softly down the passage, putting out the light. The
others followed. There was a second louder bang.
'Open up, you old rat, or we'll burn you out! ' shouted a
hoarse voice outside. Mrs. Cotton in a nearby room stifled a
scream. Down the stairs that led into the kitchen five young
hobbits came clattering from the two upper rooms where they
slept. They had thick sticks, but nothing more.
'I'm coming,' shouted the farmer, rattling the chains and
making a to-do with the bolts. 'How many is there?' he
whispered to his sons. 'A dozen at least,' said Young Tom, the
eldest, 'maybe all the lot.'
'All the better,' said Frodo. 'Now for it! Open up and then get
back. Don't join in, unless we need help badly.'
The four hobbits with swords drawn stood back to the wall
against which the door swung. There came a great blow on the
lock, but at that moment the farmer drew the last bolt, and
slipped back with his sons some paces down the passage [added:
and round the corner out of sight]. The door opened slowly and
in peered the head of the ruffian they had already met. He
stepped forward, stooping, holding a sword in his hand. As
soon as he was well inside, the hobbits, who were now behind
the opened door, flung it back with a crash. While Frodo slipped
a bolt back, the three others leaped on the ruffian from behind,
threw him down on his face and sat on him. He felt a cold blade
of steel at his neck.
'Keep still and quiet! ' said Sam. 'Cotton! ' called Merry.
'Rope! We've got one. Tie him up!'
But the ruffians outside began attacking the door again, while
some were smashing the windows with stones. 'Prisoner!' said
Frodo. 'You seem a leader. Stop your men, or you will pay for
the damage!'
They dragged him close to the door. 'Go home, you fools! ' he
shouted. 'They've got me, and they'll do for me, if you go on.
Clear out! Tell Sharkey! '
'What for?' a voice answered from outside. 'We know what
Sharkey wants. Come on, lads! Burn the whole lot inside!
Sharkey won't miss that boob; he's no use for them as makes
mistakes. Burn the lot! Look alive and get the fuel! '
'Try again!' said Sam grimly.
The prisoner now desperately frightened screamed out: Hi,
lads! No burnings! No more burnings, Sharkey said. Send a
messenger. You might find it was you as had made a mistake.
Hi! D'you hear?'
'All right, lads!' said the other voice. 'Two of you ride back
quick. Two go for fuel. The rest make a ring round the place!'
'Well, what's the next move?' said Farmer Cotton. 'At least
they won't start burning until they've ridden to Bag-end and
back: say half an hour, allowing for some talk. The murdering
villains! Never thought they'd start burning. They burned a lot
of folk out earlier, but they've not done [any] for a long while.
We understood the Boss had stopped it. But see here! I've got
the wife and my daughter Rosie to think of.'
'There's only two things to be done,' said Frodo. 'One of us
has got to slip out and get help: rouse the folk. There must be
200 grown hobbits not far away. Or else we've got to burst out
in a pack with your wife and daughter in a huddle, and do it
quick, while two are away and before more come.'
'Too much risk for the one [that] slips out,' said Cotton.
'Burst out together, that's the ticket, and make a dash up the
lane.'
The concluding passage, from 'There's only two things to be done,'
was written in a rapidly degenerating scribble, and the text ends here,
not at the foot of a page. The story of the attack on the farmhouse had
already shifted strongly away from that in the original draft (in which
Frodo and Sam slew two of the marauders at the front door and four
others were killed in the yard before the remainder fled); and at this
point my father decided that he had taken a wrong turning. Perhaps he
could not see any credible way in which they could burst out of the
house (with the young Cottons and their mother in the midst) and
through the ring of men unscathed. At any rate, the whole of this part
of the B text, from ' "D'you mean Farmer Cotton down South Lane?"
said Frodo' (p. 96), was removed from the manuscript and replaced by
a new start, with Frodo's saying in response to Sam's suggestion that
they all go to Farmer Cotton's: 'No! It's no good getting "under
cover" ', as in RK (p. 286), where however it is Merry who says this. It
is Frodo also, not Merry, who answers Pippin's question 'Do what?'
with 'Raise the Shire! Now! Wake all our people!', and tells Sam that
he can make a dash for Cotton's farm if he wants to; he ends 'Now,
Merry, you have a horn of the Mark. Let us hear it!'
The story of the return of the four hobbits to the middle of Bywater,
Merry's horn-call, Sam's meeting with Farmer Cotton and his sons, his
visit to Mrs. Cotton and Rose, and the fire made by the villagers, is
told in virtually the same words as in RK (pp. 286 - 8), the only
difference being that it was on the orders of Frodo, not of Merry, that
barriers were set up across the road at each end of Bywater. When
Farmer Cotton tells that the Boss (as he is still named throughout B,
though emended later to 'the Chief') has not been seen for a week or
two B diverges a little from RK, for Tom Cotton the younger
interrupts his father at this point:
'They took his ma, that Lobelia,' put in Young Tom. 'That'd
be six months back, when they started putting up sheds at Bag
End without her leave. She ordered 'em off. So they took her.
Put her in the Lock-holes. They've took others that we miss
more; but there's no denying she stood up to 'em bolder than
most.'
'That's where most of them are,' said the farmer, 'over at
Michel Delving. They've made the old Lock-holes into a regular
fort, we hear, and they go from there roaming round, "gather-
ing". Still I guess that there's no more than a couple of hundred
the Shire all told. We can master '*em, if we stick together.'
'Have they got any weapons?' asked Merry.
This perhaps implies that the Lock-holes were a prison in the days
before any 'ruffian' came to the Shire. Subsequently Young Tom's
story of Lobelia was removed from this part of the narrative, and
replaced by Pippin's question 'Hobbiton's not their only place, is it?',
which leads into Farmer Cotton's account of where else the 'ruffians'
hung out beside Hobbiton, as in RK (p. 288), and a different idea of
the origin of the Lock-holes: 'some old tunnels at Michel Delving'.
Merry's question 'Have they got any weapons?' leads, as in RK, to
Farmer Cotton's account of the resistance of the Tooks, but without
his reference to Pippin's father (Paladin Took), the Thain, and his
refusal to have anything to do with the pretensions of Lotho (Cosimo):
'There you are, Frodo! ' said Merry. 'I knew we'd have to
fight. Well, they started it.'
'Not exactly,' said Farmer Cotton, 'leastways not the shoot-
ing. Tooks started that. You see, the Tooks have got those deep
holes in the Green Hills, the Smiles (28) as they call 'em, and the
ruffians can't come at 'em...'
With Frodo still firmly in the saddle at Bywater, Merry rode off with
Pippin to Tuckborough (as he does not in RK). After they had gone,
Frodo reiterated his injunction against any killing that could be
avoided (as in RK, p. 289), but then continued: 'We shall be having a
visit from the Hobbiton gang very soon. It's over an hour since we sent
the four ruffians off from here. Do nothing, until I give the word. Let
them come on!' In RK it is Merry who gives the warning that the men
from Hobbiton will soon be coming to Bywater, and he concludes
'Now I've got a plan'; to which Frodo merely replies 'Very good. You
make the arrangements.' The arrival of the men, and the trapping of
them beside the fire where Farmer Cotton was standing apparently all
alone, follows exactly as in the final story, except that it is of course
Frodo, not Merry, who accosts the leader; and when this encounter is
over, and the men bundled off into one of their own huts, Farmer
Cotton says 'You came back in the nick, Mr. Frodo.'
Then follows Cotton's account to Sam of the condition of the Gaffer
('he's in one of them new Shire-houses, Boss-houses I call 'em'), and
Sam's departure to fetch him, virtually as in RK (p. 291). Once again,
it is Frodo not Merry who posts look-outs and guards, and he goes off
alone with Farmer Cotton to his house: 'He sat with the family in the
kitchen, and they asked a few polite questions, but were far more
concerned with events in the Shire. In the middle of the talk in burst
Sam, with the Gaffer.' The farmer's account of the 'troubles', ending
with Young Tom's story of the carting off of Lobelia to the Lock-holes
(RK p. 291 - 3), was inserted into B on a long rider; and at this time
Frodo's earlier suppositions about how it all began (p. 95) and Young
Tom's earlier remarks about Lobelia (p. 98) were removed.(29)
The incursion of the Gaffer into the Cottons' kitchen is told as in
RK (pp. 293 - 4); but then follows in B:
In the morning early they heard the ringing call of Merry's
horn, and in marched nearly a hundred of Tooks and other
hobbits from Tuckborough and the Green Hills. The Shire was
all alight, they said, and the ruffians that prowled round
Tookland had fled; east to the Erandywine mostly, pursued by
other Tooks.
There were now enough forces for a strong guard on the East
Road from Michel Delving to Brandywine, and for another
guard in Bywater. When all that had been settled and put in the
charge of Pippin, Frodo and Sam and Merry with Farmer
Cotton and an escort of fifty set out for Hobbiton.
The text then continues with the story of their coming to Hobbiton
and meeting with Ted Sandyman, and their entry into Bag End, told
almost word for word as in RK (pp. 296-7);(30) and ends with the
advent of Saruman and his murder by Wormtongue (on which see pp.
102-3). The text B ends just as does the chapter in RK, with Merry's
saying 'And the very last end of the War, I hope', Frodo's calling it 'the
very last stroke', and Sam's saying 'I shan't call it the end, till we've
cleared up the mess.' But there is thus no Battle of Bywater!
The Battle is found on inserted pages that are numbered as
additional ('19a, 19b') to the consecutive pagination of the text just
described. If this pagination means that these pages were written and
inserted subsequently, and it is hard to see what else it could mean, it
might seem that my father (still following the story in A, in which the
visit to Hobbiton preceded the battle, p. 92) had driven on to the end
of the Bag End episode without realising that the story of the Battle of
Bywater had yet to be told. But this seems incredible. Far more likely
he saw, as he wrote the story of the visit to Hobbiton, that the order of
the narration in A must be reversed, so that the chapter would end
with the last stroke of the War 'at the very door of Bag End'; but he
postponed the battle, and inserted it subsequently into the text already
continuously paginated.
Whenever this was done, the existing text (in which the dispositions
for defence next morning were followed at once by the visit to
Hobbiton) was altered to that of RK (p. 294), and the approach of
the men along the road from Waymoot and their ambush on the
high-banked road to Bywater was told almost as in the final story: the
few differences in this passage are chiefly caused by Merry's having
gone to Tuckborough with Pippin. The messenger from the Tookland
does not refer to the Thain (see p. 99), and tells that 'Mr. Peregrin and
Mr. Merry are coming on with all the folk we can spare'; it was Nick
Cotton, not Merry, who had been out all night and reported the
approach of the men, whom he estimated to number 'fifty or more'
(close on a hundred', RK); and when the Tooks came in 'the ringing
call of Merry's horn was heard.' But from the point where the way
back out of the ambush was blocked against the ruffian men, when the
hobbits pushed out more carts onto the road, the B text diverges
remarkably from the story told in RK:
A voice spoke to them from above. 'Well,' said Frodo, 'you
have walked into a trap. Your fellows from Hobbiton did the
same, and are all prisoners now. Lay down your weapons! Then
go back twenty paces and sit down. Any who try to break out
will be shot.'
Many of the men, in spite of the curses of their more
villainous mates, at once obeyed. But more than a score turned
about and charged back down the lane. Hobbit archers at gaps
in the hedges shot down six before they reached the waggons.
Some of them gave up, but ten or more burst through and
dashed off, and scattered across country making for the Woody
End it seemed.
Merry blew a loud horn-call. There were answering calls
from a distance. 'They won't get far!' he said. 'All that country
is now alive with hunters.'
The dead ruffians were laden on waggons and taken off and
buried in an old gravel-pit nearby, the Battle Pits as they were
called ever afterwards. The others were marched off to the
village to join their fellows.
So ended the Battle of Bywater, 1419, the [only >] last battle
fought in the Shire, and the only battle since the Greenfields,
1137,(31) away up in the North Farthing. In consequence,
although it only cost six ruffian lives and no hobbits it has a
chapter to itself in all the standard histories, and the names of
all those who took part were made into a Roll and learned by
heart. The very considerable rise in the fame and fortunes of the
Cottons dates from this time.
The connection with the visit to Hobbiton was made in these words:
When all was settled, and a late midday meal had been eaten,
Merry said: 'Well now, Frodo, it's time to deal with the Chief.'
Farmer Cotton collected an escort of some fifty sturdy hobbits,
and then they set out on foot for Bag End: Frodo, Sam, Merry
and Pippin led the way.
The words 'When all was settled' are used now to refer to the ending
of the battle and the disposal of the dead and captured ruffians;
previously (p. 100) they had referred to the arrangements made to
meet the approaching enemy.
The story of the meeting with Saruman at Bag End was written out
twice in B, the first form soon declining into a scribble when my father
thought better of the opening of the episode. The first opening I give
here:
'No doubt, no doubt. But you did not, and so I am able to
welcome you home!' There standing at the door was Saruman,
looking well-fed and a great deal less wretched than before; his
eyes gleamed with malice and amusement.
A sudden light broke on Frodo. 'Sharkey!' he said. Saruman
laughed. 'So you've heard that, have you? I believe all my men
used to call me that in the better times. They were so devoted.
And so it has followed me up here, has it? Really I find that
quite cheering.'
'I cannot imagine why,' said Frodo. 'And what are you doing
here anyway? Just a little shabby mischief? Gandalf said he
thought you were still capable of that.'
[Struck out: 'Need you ask?' said Saruman.] 'You make me
laugh, you hobbit lordlings,' said Saruman. 'Riding along with
all these great people so secure and so pleased with yourselves;
thinking you have done great things and can now just come
back and laze in the country. Saruman's home can be ruined,
and he can be turned out. But not Mr. Baggins. Oh, no! He's
really important.
'But Mr. Baggins is a fool all the same. And can't even mind
his own affairs, always minding other people's. To be expected
of a pupil of Gandalf. He must dawdle on the way, and ride
twice as far as he need. The Shire would be all right. Well, after
our little meeting I thought I might get ahead of you and learn
you a lesson. It would have been a sharper lesson if only you
had dawdled longer. Still I have done a little that you'll find it
hard to mend in your time. It'll be a warning to you to leave
other folk alone, and not to be so cocksure. And it will give me
something quite pleasant to think about,.to set against my own
injuries.*
The second version of the episode in B is virtually as in RK, except
that it entirely lacks any reference to the dreadful corpse of Saruman
and the mist that rose above it and loomed 'as a pale shrouded figure'
over the Hill of Hobbiton; and this passage did not enter until my
father wrote it in on the page proofs of The Return of the King.
A note that he pencilled against the episode in a copy of the First
Edition is interesting:
Saruman turned back into Dunland (32) on Aug. 28. He then
made for the old South Road and then went north over the
Greyflood at Tharbad, and thence NW. to Sarn Ford, and so
into the Shire and to Hobbiton on Sept. 22: a journey of about
460 [miles] in 25 days. He thus averaged about 18 miles a day -
evidently hastening as well as he could. He had thus only 38
days in which to work his mischief in the Shire; but much of it
had already been done by the ruffians according to his orders -
already planned and issued before the sack of Isengard.
September 22 is the date given in The Tale of Years for Saruman's
coming to the Shire, and October 30 for the coming of the 'travellers'
to the Brandywine Bridge.
At a late stage of work on the B text (but before the insertion of the
long rider in which Farmer Cotton recounts the history of the Shire
since Frodo and his companions left, see p. 100 and note 29) my father
perceived that Frodo's experience had so changed him, so withdrawn
him, as to render him incapable of any such role in the Scouring of the
Shire as had been portrayed. The text as it stood required no large
recasting; the entirely different picture of Frodo's part in the events
was brought about by many small alterations (often by doing no more
than changing 'Frodo' to 'Merry') and a few brief additions. Virtually
all of these have been noticed in the foregoing account.
A third, very fine manuscript ('C') followed B, and here the text of
RK was reached in all but a few passages, most of these being very
minor matters. It was on this manuscript that Cosimo Sackville-
Baggins became Lotho, and the references to the Thain were intro-
duced (see pp. 99, 101). The number of men at the Battle of Bywater
had been enlarged to 'more than seventy', and the battle had become
much fiercer, with the trapped men climbing the banks above the road
and attacking the hobbits, already as C was first written; by later
emendation the numbers of the men and of the slain on both sides
were further increased. The original reading of C 'Merry himself slew
the largest of the ruffians' was altered to '... the leader, a great
squint-eyed brute like a huge orc'; with this cf. the description of the
orc-man 'Sharkey' at Bag End in the A version, pp. 90 - 1. Lastly, an
important addition was made to C concerning Frodo: 'Frodo had been
in the battle, but he had not drawn sword, and his chief part had been
to prevent the hobbits in their wrath at their losses from slaying those
of their enemies who threw down their weapons' (RK pp. 295 - 6).
There lacked now only the passage describing the departure of the
spirit of Saruman, and his corpse.
NOTES.
1. Subsequently the passage was corrected in pencil. The question
'Who's the Mayor?' was given to Merry, and the answer became
'The Boss at Bag End'; Frodo's 'And who's the Chief Shirriff?'
received the same answer. Then follows: 'Boss? Boss? You mean
Mr. Cosimo, I suppose.' 'I suppose so, Mr. Baggins, but we have
to say just The Boss nowadays.'
Further on, where in RK (p. 279) it is said that 'The new
"Chief" evidently had means of getting news, A has the New
Mayor [?or] Chief Shirriff'; but this was changed to 'the Boss or
Chief Shirriff'. When 'arrested' at Frogmorton Frodo and his
companions are told that 'It's [Mayor's >] the Chief Shirriff's
orders', where RK (p. 280) has 'It's the Chief's orders'.
2. But see p. 111.
3. The village was named Frogbarn, with Frogmorton written above
as an alternative (and Frogmorton occurs in the text subsequent-
ly); and the date of their ride from the Brandywine Bridge was
'the fifth of November in the Shire-reckoning', with '1st' (the date
in RK) written above. The village was 'about 25 miles from the
Bridge' ('about twenty-two miles' in RK).
4. The name Smallburrow was written so, as in RK, at the first
occurrence, but thereafter Smallburrows.
5. 'Shire-house' is used in A for 'Shirriff-house' in RK. Sam asks
what the term means, and Robin Smallburrows replies: 'Well,
you ought to know, Sam. You were in one last night, and didn't
find it to your liking, we hear.'
6. See p. 95.
7. The text here is very difficult. Above '(I told) the Boss' my father
first wrote 'Long Tom' before changing this to 'Big Sharkey'. The
end of the ruffian's remarks as first written cannot be read: 'but
the Boss says no, and [?Long Tom]..... way' (just possibly 'goes
his way').
8. There is a note on the manuscript here which is partly illegible:
'....... only Cosimo....... What happened to Otho?' In 'Three
is Company' (The Fellowship of the Ring p. 75) it is said that
Otho Sackville-Baggins 'had died some years before, at the ripe
but disappointed age of 102', and this goes back to an early stage.
9. See the note given on p. 77 ('Gandalf should stay at Bree...').
10. In RK Farmer Cotton is named Tom.
11. Sting had been given to Sam by Frodo in 'The Land of Shadow'
(p. 32; RK p. 204); but Frodo wields Sting in his combat at Bag
End with the chief of the orc-men (p. 92). In a passage that was
introduced in the Second Edition Frodo was induced to receive it
back at the Field of Cormallen (see p. 50).
12. the Road Bend: the westward turn in the road to Hobbiton at
Bywater Pool. On the large-scale map of the Shire that I made in
1943 (VI.107) the bend is more marked and more nearly a right
angle than it is on the small map in The Fellowship of the Ring.
13. October is a slip for November: see note 3.
14. By 'There's no way from the West' Farmer Cotton meant, I
suppose, that there was no other way back from Michel Delving
but by taking the East Road, since the ruffians could not or would
not pass through the Tookland.
15. There are a couple of pages of roughly pencilled text which
repeat, with minor alterations and extensions, this section of the
chapter in A, made perhaps because my father recognised the
near-illegibility of the original, and these pages have provided
help in elucidating it here and there (characteristically, the words
or phrases that defy elucidation in the original text are expressed
differently in the second). At this point the pencilled text has:
'They've caught a ruffian or two and thrashed 'em in the Tookus'
(Tookus < Took-house, as workhouse became workus).
16. I do not know whether the Long Smial is to be equated with the
Took-house. - This is the first appearance of the word smial,
which seems clearly to be written thus, although in the second
text of 'The Scouring of the Shire' it is written Smiles (see p. 99
and note 28). Since Pippin was born in the Long Smial, it must be
the forerunner of the Great Smials. These were at Tuckborough
(Pippin speaks in Fangorn Forest of 'the Great Place of the Tooks
away back in the Smials at Tuckborough', TT p. 64), but the
name as written here is not in fact Tuckborough: it looks more
like Tuckbery (not Tuckbury). However, there are many words
wrongly written in this manuscript (in the next line of the text,
for instance, the word I have given as '[?stout]' can really only be
interpreted as 'stood').
17. The text could conceivably be interpreted as 'he had the block on
the East [Road] strengthened', although no road-block on the
East Road has been mentioned. The second, pencilled text of this
part of the chapter (see note 15) has here: 'He had a block made
on the Road at the waymeet.' This text gives out a few lines
beyond this point.
18. It is interesting to look back at early references to the destruction
in the Shire. In a note probably belonging to the time of the
outline 'The Story Foreseen from Moria' (VII.216) my father
wrote: 'Cosimo has industrialised it. Factories and smoke. The
Sandymans have a biscuit factory. Iron is found'; and in the
earliest reference to the Mirror in Lothlorien Frodo was to see
'Trees being felled and a tall building being made where the old
mill was. Gaffer Gamgee turned out. Open trouble, almost war,
between Marish and Buckland on one hand - and 'the West.
Cosimo Sackville-Baggins very rich, buying up land' (VII.249; cf.
also VII.253, where there is a reference to the tall chimney being
built on the site of the old mill).
In 'The old farm on the right' one should possibly read 'left' for
'right'; cf. my father's painting of Hobbiton, and the words of the
final text of 'The Scouring of the Shire' (RK p. 296): 'The Old
Grange on the west side had been knocked down, and its place
taken by rows of tarred sheds.'
19. Later in this manuscript (p. 108) the Tree in the Party Field had
been cut down and burned.
20. The reference is to 'The Shadow of the Past' (FR p. 71): 'I feel
that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall
find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere
there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.'
21. I am told you sleep sound: cf. the words of the orc-man at
Bywater, speaking of Cosimo (an addition to the text, p. 83): 'He
sleeps sound, and I shouldn't try and wake him now.'
22. Earlier in this narrative Sam wielded Sting: p. 86 and note 11.
23. At the top of the page on which Frodo's words appear my father
wrote: 'Ah, and you said in Mordor you'd never strike another
blow,' said Sam. 'Just shows you never know.' See p. 80.
24. Waymoot: Waymeet in RK. My original large-scale map of the
Shire made in 1943 (VI.107) has Waymoot, as also that pub-
lished in The Fellowship of the Ring; but the second manuscript
of 'The Scouring of the Shire' has Waymeet. Presumably my
father changed his mind about the form but neglected the map.
25. It is not explained how Frodo knew that this person, when he met
him at Bag End, was called 'Sharkey'.
26. Cf. Saruman's words at the end of the chapter (p. 102): 'I believe
all my men used to call me that in the better times. They were so
devoted' (RK: 'All my people used to call me that in Isengard, I
believe. A sign of affection, possibly'). The footnote to the text in
RK p. 298 'It was probably Orkish in origin: Sharku [Second
Edition Sharku], "old man" ' was not added until the book was in
page proof.
27. A rewritten account of the arrest at Frogmorton and Sam's
conversation with Robin Smallburrow was inserted into manu-
script B. This is almost as in RK, but as first written Robin's reply
to Sam's question 'So that's how the news of us reached you, was
it?' was different:
'Not directly. A message came down from the Chief at Bag
End, about two hours ago, that you were to be arrested. I
reckon someone must have slipped down from the Bridge to
Stock, where there's a small gang of his Men. Someone went
through Frogmorton on a big horse last night.'
This was changed at once to the text of RK (p. 282), but with
'One [runner] came in from Bamfurlong last night'. Bamfurlong
was the reading of the First Edition here. In the Second Edition it
was changed to Whitfurrows (which though shown on the map of
the Shire was never mentioned in the text of the First Edition),
and the name Bamfurlong was given to Maggot's farm in 'A Short
Cut to Mushrooms' (FR p. 100): 'We are on old Farmer Maggot's
land' of the First Edition became 'This is Bamfurlong; old Farmer
Maggot's land.'
28. Cf. the Long Smial in A (note 16). A draft for the present passage
has: 'those deep places the Old Smiles in the Green Hills'. I would
guess that my father introduced Smiles as being the most natural
spelling if the old word had survived into Modern English, but
then abandoned it (it was changed to Smials on the B text) as
being capable of an absurd interpretation. Cf. Appendix F (II,
'On Translation'): 'smial (or smile) "burrow" is a likely form for
a descendant of smygel'.
29. This rider was inserted at a late stage, for as in RK Merry
interrupts Farmer Cotton with a question ('Who is this Shar-
key?'); thus he was no longer away in Tuckborough with Pippin,
but had assumed his role as commander of the operations at
Bywater.
30. The only differences worth noting are that the trees had been
felled along the Bywater Road 'for fuel for the engine'; and that a
few men were still present in the huts at Hobbiton, who 'when
they saw the force that approached fled away over the fields.'
31. It is said in the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings that 'before this
story opens' 'the only [battle] that had ever been fought within
the borders of the Shire was beyond living memory: the Battle of
Greenfields, S.R.1147, in which Bandobras Took routed an
invasion of Orcs.' The date 1137 was corrected to 1147 on the
text C. - See p. 119.
32. In the First Edition the meeting with Saruman took place after the
company had left Dunland: see p. 69.
X.
THE GREY HAVENS.
The original writing down of the last chapter of The Lord of the Rings
was the continuation of the long uninterrupted draft text ('A') that
extends back through 'The Scouring of the Shire' and 'Homeward
Bound' (see pp. 75, 79), and which I left at the end of the Battle of
Bywater on p. 93. That text continues:
And so the year drew to its end. Even Sam could find no fault
with Frodo's fame and honour in his own country. The Tooks
were too secure in their traditional position - and after all their
folkland was the only one that had never given in to the ruffians
- and also too generous to be really jealous; yet it was plain that
the name of Baggins would become the most famous in
Hobbit-history.
From this point the text of A, rough but now fully legible, differs
chiefly from the final form of the chapter not in what is actually told
nor in how it is told but in the absence of several significant features
and a good deal of detail that were added in later. For example, while
the rescue of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins from the Lockholes in Michel
Delving and the disposition of her property is told much as in RK,
there is no mention of Fredegar Bolger; and nothing is said of the
hunting out of the gangs of men in the south of the Shire by Merry and
Pippin. Frodo became the Mayor, not the Deputy Mayor, although the
difference was only one of title, since he made it a condition of his
acceptance that Will Whitfoot should become Mayor again 'as soon as
the mess is cleared up'; and his inactivity in the office is not mentioned.
As my father first set it down the account in RK (pp. 302 - 4) of the
work of restoration and repair, of Sam's planting of young trees, of the
fruitfulness of the year 1420,(1) and of Sam's marriage to Rose Cotton
was very largely reached. In this text there is no reference to 'Sharkey's
Men', and the jocular name given in Bywater to the restored Bagshot
Row was 'Ruffians' End'. The seed in Galadriel's box is described as
'like a nut or a dried berry', its colour golden-yellow; Sam planted it in
the Party Field 'where the tree had been burned' (see p. 90).
There is in A no reference to Frodo's first illness in March of 1420,
when in Sam's absence Farmer Cotton found him on his bed 'clutching
a white gem that hung on a chain about his neck' (the gift of Arwen
recorded in 'Many Partings'). The passage in RK (p. 305) describing
the finery and magnificence of Merry and Pippin, in contrast to the
'ordinary attire' of Frodo and Sam, is lacking, and so the further
reference to the white jewel that Frodo always wore is also absent.
Since my father had written a couple of pages earlier that 'Even Sam
could find no fault with Frodo's fame and honour in his own country',
the sharply contrasting picture in RK is of course lacking: 'Frodo
dropped quietly out of all the doings of the Shire, and Sam was pained
to notice how little honour he had in his own country. Few people
knew or wanted to know about his deeds and adventures...'
Frodo's illness on the sixth of October 1420, the date of the attack
of the Ringwraiths at Weathertop two years before, is recorded, but
not that in March 1421. The naming of Sam's eldest daughter Elanor
('born on 25 March as Sam duly noted') on Frodo's suggestion is told,
and the big book with red leather covers is described, without however
any mention of the title page and the sequence of Bilbo's rejected titles;
the writing in the book ended at Chapter 77 (the number being
marked with a query).(2)
The last part of the chapter was set down with great sureness,
though not all elements in the final story were immediately present. At
the meeting of Frodo and Sam with the Elves in the Woody End there
is no mention of the Great Rings of Elrond and Galadriel;(3) at
Mithlond Cirdan the Shipwright does not appear (but enters in a later
marginal addition), nor is Gandalf said to bear the Third Ring; and
Frodo's sight of the 'far green country under a swift sunrise' is absent
(though this also is roughed in marginally; the linking of Frodo's
passage over the Sea 'with the vision he had of a far green country in
the house of Tom Bombadil' had been referred to in my father's letter
of November 1944, see p. 53). I give here the text of A from the
coming of the company to Mithlond:
And when they had passed the Shire by the south skirts of the
White Downs they came to the Far Downs and the Towers and
looked on the Sea; and rode down at last to Mithlond the Grey
Havens in the long firth of Lune. And there was a ship lying at
the haven, and upon the quays stood one robed also in white. It
was Gandalf, and he welcomed them; and they were glad for
then they knew that he also would take ship with them.
But Sam was now sad at heart, and it seemed to him that if
the parting would be bitter, even worse would be the lonely ride
home. But even as they stood there and were ready to go
aboard, up rode Merry and Pippin in great haste. And amid his
tears Pippin laughed. 'You tried to give us the slip once before
and failed, Frodo, and this time you have nearly done it, but
you've failed again.' 'It was not Sam this time who gave you
away,' said Merry, 'but Gandalf himself.'
'Yes,' said Gandalf. 'It will be better to ride back three
together than one alone. Well, here at last, dear friends, on the
shores of the Sea comes an end of our fellowship in Middle-
earth. Go in peace; and I will not say, do not weep, for not all
tears are an evil.'
Then Frodo kissed Merry and Pippin and last of all Sam, and
went aboard, and the sails were drawn up, and the wind blew,
and slowly the ship sailed away down the [?pale] Gulf of Lune.
And it was night again; and Sam looked on the grey sea and saw
a shadow on the waters that was lost in the West. And he stood
a while hearing the sigh and murmur of the waves on the shores
of Middle-earth, and the sound of it remained in his heart for
ever, though he never spoke of it. And Merry and Pippin stood
silent beside him.
The long ride back to the Shire is told in almost the same words as in
The Return of the King. And thus the Third Age was brought to its
final end, in this most memorable of partings, without hesitation and
with assured simplicity; the unmistakeable voices of Merry and
Pippin, the still more unmistakeable voice of Gandalf in his last words
on Middle-earth, and the beginning of the voyage that was bearing
away into the True West the hobbits, Bilbo and Frodo, leaving Sam
behind.
A manuscript of the chapter as a separate entity ('B') followed,
subsequently numbered 'LX' and entitled 'The Grey Havens'. It was
written before the changed view of Frodo's reputation in the Shire had
entered, but with emendations and additions it reached the final form
in almost all the features in which A differed from it. My father did not
yet realise, however, that Fredegar Bolger languished in the Lockholes
along with Will Whitfoot and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins; and of
Lobelia it was said in a first draft of the passage concerning her that
'She never got over the news of poor Cosimo's murder, and she said
that it was not his fault; he was led astray by that wicked Sharkey and
never meant any harm.'
Frodo's first illness was still absent as B was originally written, and
when it was introduced it was in these words:
Sam was away on his forestry work in March, and Frodo was
glad, for he had been feeling ill, and it would have been difficult
to conceal from Sam. On the twelfth of March (4) he was in pain
and weighed down with a great sense of darkness, and could do
little more than walk about clasping the jewel of Queen Arwen.
But after a while the fit passed.
An idea that was never carried further appears in a hastily scribbled
passage on this manuscript, apparently intended for inclusion before
'Little Elanor was nearly six months old, and 1421 had passed to its
autumn' (RK p. 306):
At midsummer Gandalf appeared suddenly, and his visit was
long remembered for the astonishing things that happened to all
the bonfires (which hobbit [?children] light on midsummer's
eve). The whole Shire was lit with lights of many colours until
the dawn came, and it seemed that the fire [??ran wild for him]
over all the land so that the grass was kindled with glittering
jewels, and the trees were hung with red and gold blossom all
through the night, and the Shire was full of light and song until
the dawn came.
No other trace of this idea is found. Perhaps my father felt that
when Gandalf declared that his time was over he meant no less.(5)
The title page of the Red Book of Westmarch first appears in B, with
Bilbo's titles written one above the other and all struck through (which
was the meaning of the word 'so' in 'crossed out one after another,
so.', RK p. 307):
Memoirs of An Amateur Burglar
My Unexpected Journey
There and Back Again and What Happened After
Adventures of Five Hobbits
The Case of the Great Ring (compiled from the records
and notes of B. Baggins and others)
What the Bagginses Did in the War of the Ring
(here Bilbo's hand ended and Frodo had written:)
The
Downfall
of
The Lord of the Rings
and
The Return of the King
(as seen by B. and F. Baggins, S. Gamgee, M. Brandybuck, P. Took,
supplemented by information provided by the Wise)
In the typescript that followed B the following was added:
Together with certain excerpts from Books of Lore
translated by B. Baggins in Rivendell (6)
In B appeared the Three Rings of the Elves on the fingers of their
bearers, but they were not yet named. It was not until the book was in
galley proof that 'Vilya, mightiest of the Three' was added to the
description of Elrond's Ring, Gandalf's Ring was named 'Narya the
Great', and that of Galadriel became 'Nenya, the ring wrought of
mithril'.
Lastly, both in A and in B my father set within square brackets, his
usual sign of doubt, certain of Frodo's words to Sam in the Woody
End, thus: 'No, Sam. Not yet anyway, not further than the Havens.
[Though you too were a Ringbearer, if only for a little while: your
time may come.]'
NOTES.
1. Absent from the account of the year 1420 is the sentence in RK,
p. 303: 'All the children born or begotten in that year, and there
were many, were fair to see and strong, and most of them had a
rich golden hair that had before been rare among hobbits.' This
entered in the first typescript text. See p. 134, note 12.
2. In the following text the last, unfinished chapter in the Red Book
was numbered '72', and on the first typescript this was changed to
'80', as in RK.
3. The chant to Elbereth began thus:
O Elbereth Gilthoniel
Silivren pennar oriel!
Gilthoniel O Elbereth...
Cf. VI.394. This was repeated in the second text of the chapter, but
oriel was emended to iriel. This in turn was repeated on the first
typescript, and then the opening was changed to its form in RK:
A! Elbereth Gilthoniel
silivren penna miriel
o menel aglar elenath...
To Bilbo's question (RK p. 309) 'Are you coming?' Frodo replies
here: 'Yes, I am coming, before the wound returns. And the
Ringbearers should go together.' Frodo was speaking of the
sickness that had come on him on October the sixth, the date of his
wounding at Weathertop, in each of the following years. It was
now 22 September (Bilbo's birthday); on the twenty-ninth of the
month the ship sailed from the Grey Havens. On the third
anniversary of the attack at Weathertop The Lord of. the Rings
ends, for it was on that day, according to The Tale of Years, that
Sam returned to Bag End.
4. The date was corrected to the thirteenth of March on the following
typescript text. This in the final chronology was the anniversary of
the poisoning of Frodo by Shelob, as noted in The Tale of Years.
Frodo's third illness, in the following year, also fell on March 13,
according to The Tale of Years.
5. But he had perhaps intended that a final visit by Gandalf to the
Shire should be recorded; as Gandalf said when he parted from the
hobbits in the note on the draft manuscript of 'Homeward Bound'
(p. 77): 'I'll be along some time.'
6. In the two typescript texts of the chapter the crossings-out were
omitted, and Bilbo's first title 'Memoirs of an Amateur Burglar'
was replaced by 'My Diary'. 'What Happened After' was still
shown as an addition, and the words 'and friends' were added
after 'Bagginses' in Bilbo's final title; in the margins of both
typescripts my father noted that the corrections were to be printed
as such, representing the original title-page. The final form of the
page was introduced on the galley proof.
XI.
THE EPILOGUE.
The words that end The Lord of the Rings, '"Well, I'm back," he
said', were not intended to do so when my father wrote them in the
long draft manuscript A which has been followed in the previous
chapters. It is obvious from the manuscript that the text continued on
without break;(1) and there is in fact no indication that my father
thought of what he was writing as markedly separate from what
preceded. I' give now this last part of A: very rough, but legible
throughout. The ages of Sam's children were added, almost certainly
at the time of writing: Elanor 15, Frodo 13, Rose 11, Merry 9,
Pippin 7.
And one evening in March [added: 1436](2) Master Samwise.
Gamgee was taking his ease by a fire in his study, and the
children were all gathered about him, as was not at all unusual,
though it was always supposed to be a special treat.
He had been reading aloud (as was usual) from a big Red
Book on a stand, and on a stool beside him sat Elanor, and she
was a beautiful child more fair-skinned than most hobbit-maids
and more slender, and she was now running up into her 'teens;
and there was Frodo-lad on the heathrug, in spite of his name as
good a copy of Sam as you could wish, and Rose, Merry, and
Pippin were sitting in chairs much too big for them. Goldilocks
had gone to bed, for in this Frodo's foretelling had made a slight
error and she came after Pippin, and was still only five and the
Red Book rather too much for her yet. But she was not the
last of the line, for Sam and Rose seemed likely to rival old
Gerontius Took in the number of their children as successfully
as Bilbo had passed his age. There was little Ham, and there was
Daisie in her cradle.
'Well dear,' said Sam, 'it grew there once, because I saw it
with my own eyes.'
'Does it grow there still, daddy?'
'I don't see why it shouldn't, Ellie. I've never been on my
travels again, as you know, having all you young folk to mind -
regular ragtag and bobtail old Saruman would have called it.
But Mr. Merry and Mr. Pippin, they've been south more than
once, for they sort of belong there too now.'
'And haven't they grown big?' said Merry. 'I wish I could
grow big like Mr. Meriadoc of Buckland. He's the biggest
hobbit that ever was: bigger than Bandobras.'
'Not bigger than Mr. Peregrin of Tuckborough,' said Pippin,
'and he's got hair that's almost golden. Is he Prince Peregrin
away down in the Stone City, dad?'
'Well, he's never said so,' said Sam, 'but he's highly thought
of, that I know. But now where were [we] getting to?'
'Nowhere,' said Frodo-lad. 'I want to hear about the Spider
again. I like the parts best where you come in, dad.'
'But dad, you were talking about Lorien,' said Elanor, 'and
whether my flower still grows there.'
'I expect it does, Ellie dear. For as I was saying, Mr. Merry, he
says that though the Lady has gone the Elves still live there.'
'When can I go and see? I want to see Elves, dad, and I want
to see my own flower.'
'If you look in a glass you'll see one that is sweeter,' said Sam,
'though I should not be telling you, for you'll find it out soon
enough for yourself.'
'But that isn't the same. I want to see the green hill and the
white flowers and the golden and hear the Elves sing.'
'Then maybe you will one day,' said Sam. 'I said the same
when I was your age, and long after, and there didn't seem no
hope, and yet it came true.'
'But the Elves are sailing away still, aren't they, and soon
there'll be none, will there, dad?' said Rose; 'and then all will be
just places, and very nice, but, but...'
'But what, Rosie-lass?'
'But not like in stories.'
'Well, it would be so if they all was to sail,' said Sam. 'But I
am told they aren't sailing any more. The Ring has left the
Havens, and those that made up their mind to stay when Master
Elrond left are staying. And so there'll be Elves still for many
and many a day.'
'Still I think it was very sad when Master Elrond left
Rivendell and the Lady left Lorien,' said Elanor. 'What hap-
pened to Celeborn? Is he very sad?'
'I expect so, dear. Elves are sad; and that's what makes them
so beautiful, and why we can't see much of them. He lives in his
own land as he always has done,' said Sam. 'Lorien is his land,
and he loves trees.'
'No one else in the world hasn't got a Mallorn like we have,
have they? said Merry. Only us and Lord Keleborn.'(3)
'So I believe,' said Sam. Secretly it was one of the greatest
prides of his life. 'Well, Keleborn lives among the Trees, and he
is happy in his Elvish way, I don't doubt. They can afford to
wait, Elves can. His time is not come yet. The Lady came to his
land and now she is gone;(4) and he has the land still. When he
tires of it he can leave it. So with Legolas, he came with his
people and they live in the land across the River, Ithilien, if you
can say that, and they've made it very lovely, according to Mr.
Pippin. But he'll go to Sea one day, I don't doubt. But not while
Gimli's still alive.'
'What's happened to Gimli?' said Frodo-lad. 'I liked him.
Please can I have an axe soon, dad? Are there any orcs left?'
'I daresay there are if you know where to look,' said Sam.
'But not in the Shire, and you won't have an axe for chopping
off heads, Frodo-lad. We don't make them. But Gimli, he came
down to work for the King in the City, and he and his folk
worked so long they got used to it and proud of their work, and
in the end they settled up in the mountains up away west behind
the City, and there they are still. And Gimli goes once every
other year to see the Glittering Caves.'
'And does Legolas go to see Treebeard?' asked Elanor.
'I can't say, dear,' said Sam. 'I've never heard of anyone as has
ever seen an Ent since those days. If Mr. Merry or Mr. Pippin
have they keep it secret. Very close are Ents.'
'And have they never found the Entwives?'
'Well, we've seen none here, have we?' said Sam.
'No,' said Rosie-lass; 'but I look for them when I go in a
wood. I would like the Entwives to be found.'
'So would I,' said Sam, 'but I'm afraid that is an old trouble,
too old and too deep for folks like us to mend, my dear. But
now no more questions tonight, at least not till after supper.'
'But that won't be fair,' said both Merry and Pippin, who
were not in their teens. 'We shall have to go directly to bed.'
'Don't talk like that to me,' said Sam sternly. 'If it ain't fair
for Ellie and Fro to sit up after supper it ain't fair for them to be
born sooner, and it ain't fair that I'm your dad and you're not
mine. So no more of that, take your turn and what's due in your
time, or I'll tell the King.'
They had heard this threat before, but something in Sam's
voice made it sound more serious on this occasion. 'When will
you see the King?' said Frodo-lad.
'Sooner than you think,' said Sam. 'Well now, let's be fair. I'll
tell you all, stay-uppers and go-to-bedders, a big secret. But
don't you go whispering and waking up the youngsters. Keep it
till tomorrow.'
A dead hush of expectancy fell on all the children: they
watched him as hobbit-children of other times had watched the
wizard Gandalf.
'The King's coming here,' said Sam solemnly.
'Coming to Bag End!' cried the children.
'No,' said Sam. 'But he's coming north. He won't come into
the Shire because he has given orders that no Big Folk are to
enter this land again after those Ruffians; and he will not come
himself just to show he means it. But he will come to the Bridge.
And - ' Sam paused. 'He has issued a very special invitation
to every one of you. Yes, by name! '
Sam went to a drawer and took out a large scroll. It was
black and written in letters of silver.
'When did that come, dad?' said Merry.
'It came with the Southfarthing post three days ago [turitten
above: on Wednesday],' said Elanor. 'I saw it. It was wrapped in
silk and sealed with big seals.'
'Quite right, my bright eyes,' said Sam.'Now look.'He unrolled
it. 'It is written in Elvish and in Plain Language,' said Sam. 'And
it says: Elessar Aragorn Arathornsson the Elfstone King of
Gondor and Lord of the Westlands will approach the Bridge of
Baranduin on the first day of Spring, or in the Shire-reckoning the
twenty-fifth day of March next, and desires there to greet all his
friends. In especial he desires to see Master Samwise Mayor o f the
Shire, and Rose his wife, and Elanor, Rose, Goldilocks and
Daisie his daughters, and Frodo, Merry, and Pippin and Ham fast
his sons. There you are, there are all your names.'
'But they aren't the same in both lists,' said Elanor, who could
read.
'Ah,' said Sam, 'that's because the first list is Elvish. You*re
the same, Ellie, in both, because your name is Elvish; but Frodo
is Iorhail, and Rose is Beril, and Merry is Riben [> R..el >
Gelir], and Pippin is Cordof, and Goldilocks is Glorfinniel, and
Hamfast is Marthanc, and Daisy [so spelt] is Arien. So now you
know.'
'Well that's splendid,' said Frodo, 'now we all have Elvish
names, but what is yours, dad?'
'Well, that's rather peculiar,' said Sam, 'for in the Elvish part,
if you must know, what the King says is Master Perhail who
should rather be called Lanhail, and that means, I believe,
"Samwise or Halfwise who should rather be called Plain-wise".
So now you know what the King thinks of your dad you'll
maybe give more heed to what he says.'
'And ask him lots more questions,' said Frodo.
'When is March the 25th?' said Pippin, to whom days were
still the longest measures of time that could really be grasped. 'Is
it soon?'
'It's a week today,' said Elanor. 'When shall we start?'
'And what shall we wear?' said Rose.
'Ah,' said Sam. 'Mistress Rose will have a say in that. But
you'll be surprised, my dears. We have had warning of this a
long time and we've prepared for the day. You're going in the
most lovely clothes you've ever seen, and we're riding in a
coach. And if you're all very good and look as lovely as you do
now I shouldn't be at all surprised if the King does not ask us to
go with him to his house up by the Lake. And the Queen will be
there.'
'And shall we stay up to supper?' said Rose, to whom the
nearness of promotion made this an ever-present concern.
'We shall stay for weeks, until the hay-harvest at least,' said
Sam. 'And we shall do what the King says. But as for staying up
to supper, no doubt the Queen will have a word. And now if
you haven't enough to whisper about for hours, and to dream
about till the sun rises, then I don't know what more I can tell
you.'
The stars were shining in a clear sky: it was the first day of the
clear bright spell that came every year to the Shire at the end of
March, and was every year welcomed and praised as something
surprising for the time of the year.
All the children were in bed. Lights were glimmering still in
Hobbiton and in many houses dotted about the darkening
countryside. Sam stood at the door and looked away eastward.
He drew Mistress Rose to him and held her close to his side. ]
'March 18th [> 25th]',(5) he said. 'This time seventeen years ago,
Rose wife, I did not think I should ever see thee again. But I kept
on hoping.'
['And I never hoped at all, Sam,' she said, 'until that very day;
and then suddenly I did. In the middle of the morning I began
singing, and father said "Quiet lass, or the Ruffians will come,"
and I said "Let them come. Their time will soon be over. My
Sam's coming back." And he came.'](6)
'And you came back,' said Rose.
'I did,' said Sam; 'to the most belovedest place in all the
world. I was torn in two then, lass, but now I am all whole. And
all that I have, and all that I have had I still have.'
Here the text as it was written ends, but subsequently my father
added to it the following:
They went in and shut the door. But even as he did so Sam
heard suddenly the sigh and murmur of the sea on the shores of
Middle-earth.
It cannot be doubted that this was how he intended at that time that
The Lord of the Rings should end.
A fair copy ('B') followed, and this was headed 'Epilogue', without
chapter-number; subsequently 'Epilogue' was altered to 'The End of
the Book', again without number. The changes made to the original
draft were remarkably few: very minor adjustments and improve-
ments in the flow of the conversation between Sam and his children,
and the alteration or enlargement of certain details.
Merry Gamgee now knows that Bandobras Took 'killed the goblin-
king, the reference is to An Unexpected Party in The Hobbit, where
it is told that the Bullroarer 'charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount
Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfim-
bul's head clean off with a wooden club.' Of the sailing of the Elves
Sam now says, not that 'they aren't sailing any more', but that 'they
are not sailing often now', and he continues: 'Those that stayed behind
when Elrond left are mostly going to stay for good, or for a very long
time. But they are more and more difficult to find or to talk to.' Of
Ents he observes that they are 'very close, very secret-like, and they
don't like people very much'; and of the Dwarves who came from
Erebor to Minas Tirith with Gimli he says 'I hear they've settled up in
the White Mountains not very far from the City', while 'Gimli goes
once a year to see the Glittering Caves' (in Appendix A III, at end, it is
said that Gimli 'became Lord of the Glittering Caves').
The King's letter now begins Aragorn Arathornsson Elessar the
Elfstone; and the date of his coming to the Brandywine Bridge was
now 'the eighth day of Spring, or in the Shire-reckoning the second of
April', since my father had decided, already while writing A (see note
5), that the 25th of March was not the day on which the King would
came to the Bridge, but the day on which The Lord of the Rings came
to an end.(7)
Daisie Gamgee's name is now Erien (Arien in A); and in the King's
letter he calls Sam Master Perhail who should rather be called
Panthail, which Sam interprets as 'Master Samwise who ought to be
called Fullwise'.
Other changes were made to B later, and these were taken up into
the third and final text 'C' of this version of the 'Epilogue', a
typescript. To this my father gave the revised title of B, 'The End of the
Book', with a chapter-number 'LVIII',(8) but he then struck out both
title and number and reverted to 'Epilogue.' The text now opens thus:
One evening in the March of 1436 Master Samwise Gamgee
was taking his ease by the fire in his study, and his children were
gathered round him, as was not at all unusual. Though it was
always supposed to be a special occasion, a Royal Command, it
was one more often commanded by the subjects than by the
King.
This day, however, really was a special occasion. For one
thing it was Elanor s birthday;(9) for another, Sam had been read-
ing aloud from a big Red Book, and he had just come to the very
end, after a slow progress through its many chapters that had
taken many months. On a stool beside him sat Elanor...
Sam now says of the Entwives: 'I think maybe the Entwives don't
want to be found'; and after his words 'But now no more questions
tonight' the following passage was introduced:
'Just one more, please! ' begged Merry. 'I've wanted to ask
before, but Ellie and Fro get in so many questions there's never
any room for mine.'
'Well then, just one more,' said Sam.
'About horses,' said Merry. 'How many horses did the Riders
lose in the battle, and have they grown lots more? And what
happened to Legolas's horse? And what did Gandalf do with
Shadowfax? And can I have a pony soon?' he ended breath-
lessly.
'That's a lot more than one question: you're worse than
Gollum,' said Sam. 'You're going to have a pony next birthday,
as I've told you before. Legolas let his horse run back free to
Rohan from Isengard; and the Riders have more horses than
ever, because nobody steals them any longer; and Shadowfax
went in the White Ship with Gandalf: of course Gandalf
couldn't have a' left him behind. Now that'll have to do. No
more questions. At least not till after supper.'
The letter of the King now begins Aragorn Tarantar (at which Sam
explains 'that's Trotter') Aranthornsson &c. Tarantar was altered on
the typescript to Telcontar ('that's Strider'): see VIII.390 and note 14.
Rose's name in Elvish becomes Meril (for Beril), and Hamfast's
Baravorn (for Marthanc); the Elvish name of Daisy (so spelt in C)
reverts to Arien (for Erien), the form in A.
Though never published, of course, this version of the Epilogue is, I
believe, quite well known, from copies made from the text at
Marquette University. My father would never in fact have published
it, even had he decided in the end to conclude The Lord of the Rings
with an epilogue, for it was superseded by a second version, in which
while much of Sam's news from beyond the Shire was retained its
framework and presentation were radically changed.(10) Of this there
are two texts. The first is a good clear manuscript with few correc-
tions; it has neither title nor chapter-number. The second is a
typescript, which though made by my father followed the manuscript
very closely indeed; this is entitled 'Epilogue', with the chapter-number
'X' (i.e. of Book Six). I give here the text of the typescript in full.
The second version of the Epilogue.
EPILOGUE.
One evening in the March of 1436 Master Samwise Gamgee
was in his study at Bag End. He was sitting at the old well-worn
l, desk, and with many pauses for thought he was writing in his
slow round hand on sheets of loose paper. Propped up on a stand
at his side was a large red book in manuscript.
Not long before he had been reading aloud from it to his
family. For the day was a special one: the birthday of his
daughter Elanor. That evening before supper he had come at
last to the very end of the Book. The long progress through its
many chapters, even with omissions that he had thought
advisable, had taken some months, for he only read aloud on
great days. At the birthday reading, besides Elanor, Frodo-lad
had been present, and Rosie-lass, and young Merry and Pippin;
but the other children had not been there. The Red Book was
not for them yet, and they were safely in bed. Goldilocks was
only five years old, for in this Frodo's foretelling had made a
slight error, and she came after Pippin. But she was not the last
of the line, for Samwise and Rose seemed likely to rival old
Gerontius Took as successfully in the number of their children
as Bilbo had in the number of his years. There was little Ham,
[and there was Daisy still in her cradle >] and Daisy, and there
was Primrose still in her cradle.(11)
Now Sam was 'having a bit of quiet'. Supper was over. Only
Elanor was with him, still up because it was her birthday. She
sat without a sound, staring at the fire, and now and again
glancing at her father. She was a beautiful girl, more fair of skin
than most hobbit-maidens, and more slender, and the firelight
glinted in her red-gold hair. To her, by gift if not by inheritance,
a memory of elven-grace had descended.(12)
'What are you doing, Sam-dad (13) dear?' she said at last. 'You
said you were going to rest, and I hoped you would talk to me.'
'Just a moment, Elanorelle, said Sam,(14) as she came and set
her arms about him and peered over his shoulder.
'It looks like Questions and Answers,' she said.
'And so it is,' said Sam. 'Mr. Frodo, he left the last pages of
the Book to me, but I have never yet durst to put hand to them. I
am still making notes, as old Mr. Bilbo would have said. Here's
all the many questions Mother Rose and you and the children
have asked, and I am writing out the answers, when I know
them. Most of the questions are yours, because only you has
heard all the Book more than once.'
'Three times,' said Elanor, looking at the carefully written
page that lay under Sam's hand.
Q. Dwarves, @c. Frodo-lad says he likes them best. What
happened to Gimli? Have the Mines of Moria been
opened again? Are there any Orcs left?
A. Gimli: he came back to work for the King, as he said, and
he brought many of his folk from the North, and they
worked in Gondor so long that they got used to it, and
they settled there, up in the White Mountains not far from
the City. Gimli goes once a year to the Glittering Caves.
How do I know? Information from Mr. Peregrin, who
often goes back to Minas Tirith, where he is very highly
thought of.
Moria: I have heard no news. Maybe the foretelling about
Durin is not for our time.(15) Dark places still need a lot of
cleaning up. I guess it will take a lot of trouble and daring
deeds yet to root out the evil creatures from the halls of
Moria. For there are certainly plenty of Orcs left in such
places. It is not likely that we shall ever get quite rid of
them.
Q. Legolas. Did he go back to the King? Will he stay there?
A. Yes, he did. He came south with Gimli, and he brought
many of his people from Greenwood the Great (so they
call it now). They say it was a wonderful sight to see
companies of Dwarves and Elves journeying together. The
Elves have made the City, and the land where Prince
Faramir lives, more beautiful than ever. Yes, Legolas will
stay there, at any rate as long as Gimli does; but I think he
will go to the Sea one day. Mr. Meriadoc told me all this,
for he has visited the Lady Eowyn in her white house.
Q. Horses. Merry is interested in these; very anxious for a
pony of his own. How many horses did the Riders lose in
the battles, and have they got some more now? What
happened to Legolas's horse? What did Gandalf do with
Shadowfax?
A. Shadowfax went in the White Ship with Gandalf, of
course. I saw that myself. I also saw Legolas let his horse
run free back to Rohan from Isengard. Mr. Meriadoc says
he does not know how many horses were lost; but there
are more than ever in Rohan now, because no one steals
them any longer. The Riders also have many ponies,
especially in Harrowdale: white, brown, and grey. Next
year when he comes back from a visit to King Eomer he
means to bring one for his namesake.
Q. Ents. Elanor would like to hear more about them. What
did Legolas see in Fangorn; and does he ever see
Treebeard now? Rosie-lass very anxious about Entwives.
She looks for them whenever she goes in a wood. Will
they ever be found? She would like them to be.
A. Legolas and Gimli have not told what they saw, so far as I
have heard. I have not heard of any one that has seen an
Ent since those days. Ents are very secret, and they do not
like people much, big or little. I should like the Entwives
to be found, too; but I am afraid that trouble is too old
and deep for Shire-folk to mend. I think, maybe, Entwives
do not want to be found; and maybe Ents are now tired of
looking.
'Well dear,' said Sam, 'this top page, this is only today's
batch.' He sighed. 'It isn't fit to go in the Book like that. It isn't a
bit like the story as Mr. Frodo wrote it. But I shall have to make
a chapter or two in proper style, somehow. Mr. Meriadoc might
help me. He's clever at writing, and he's making a splendid
book all about plants.'
'Don't write any more tonight. Talk to me, Sam-dad! ' said
Elanor, and drew him to a seat by the fire.
'Tell me,' she said, as they sat close together with the soft
golden light on their faces, 'tell me about Lorien. Does my
flower grow there still, Sam-dad?'
'Well dear, Celeborn still lives there among his trees and his
Elves, and there I don't doubt your flower grows still. Though
now I have got you to look at, I don't hanker after it so much.'
'But I don't want to look at myself, Sam-dad. I want to look
at other things. I want to see the hill of Amroth where the King
met Arwen, and the silver trees, and the little white niphredil,
and the golden elanor in the grass that is always green. And I
want to hear Elves singing.'
'Then, maybe, you will one day, Elanor. I said the same when
I was your age, and long after it, and there didn't seem to be no
hope. And yet I saw them, and I heard them.'
'I was afraid they were all sailing away, Sam-dad. Then soon
there would be none here; and then everywhere would be just
places, and'
'And what, Elanorelle?'
'And the light would have faded.'
I-:-8 ?.
won't go out yet. It won't ever go quite out, I think now, since I
have had you to talk to. For it seems to me now that people can ]
remember it who have never seen it. And yet,' he sighed, 'even
that is not the same as really seeing it, like I did.'
'Like really being in a story?' said Elanor. 'A story is quite
different, even when it is about what happened. I wish I could
go back to old days!'
'Folk of our sort often wish that,' said Sam. 'You came at the
end of a great Age, Elanorelle; but though it's over, as we say,
things don't really end sharp like that. It's more like a winter
sunset. The High Elves have nearly all gone now with Elrond.
But not quite all; and those that didn't go will wait now for a
while. And the others, the ones that belong here, will last even
longer. There are still things for you to see, and maybe you'll see
them sooner than you hope.'
Elanor was silent for some time before she spoke again. 'I did
not understand at first what Celeborn meant when he said
goodbye to the King,' she said. 'But I think I do now. He knew
that Lady Arwen would stay, but that Galadriel would leave
him.(16) I think it was very sad for him. And for you, dear
Sam-dad.' Her hand felt for his, and his brown hand clasped her
slender fingers. 'For your treasure went too. I am glad Frodo of
the Ring saw me, but I wish I could remember seeing him.'
'It was sad, Elanorelle,' said Sam, kissing her hair. 'It was, but
[it] isn't now. For why? Well, for one thing, Mr. Frodo has gone
where the elven-light isn't fading; and he deserved his reward.
But I have had mine, too. I have had lots of treasures. I am a
very rich hobbit. And there is one other reason, which I shall
whisper to you, a secret I have never told before to no one, nor
put in the Book yet. Before he went Mr. Frodo said that my time
maybe would come. I can wait. I think maybe we haven't said
farewell for good. But I can wait. I have learned that much from
the Elves at any rate. They are not so troubled about time. And
so I think Celeborn is still happy among his trees, in an Elvish
way. His time hasn't come, and he isn't tired of his land yet.
When he is tired he can go.'
'And when you're tired, you will go, Sam-dad. You will go to
the Havens with the Elves. Then I shall go with you. I shall not
part with you, like Arwen did with Elrond.'
'Maybe, maybe,' said Sam kissing her gently. 'And maybe
not. The choice of Luthien and Arwen comes to many,
Elanorelle, or something like it; and it isn't wise to choose
before the time.
'And now, my dearest, I think that it's time even a lass of
fifteen spring-times should go to her bed. And I have words to
say to Mother Rose.'
Elanor stood up, and passed her hand lightly through Sam's
curling brown hair, already flecked with grey. 'Good night,
Sam-dad. But'
'I don't want good night but,' said Sam.
'But won't you show it me first? I was going to say.'
'Show you what, dear?'
'The King's letter, of course. You have had it now more than
a week.'
Sam sat up. 'Good gracious!' he said. 'How stories do repeat
themselves! And you get paid back in your own coin and all.
How we spied on poor Mr. Frodo! And now our own spy on us,
meaning no more harm than we did, I hope. But how do you
know about it?'
'There was no need for spying,' said Elanor. 'If you wanted it
kept secret, you were not nearly careful enough. It came by the
Southfarthing post early on Wednesday last week. I saw you
take it in. All wrapped in white silk and sealed with great black
seals: any one who had heard the Book would have guessed at
once that it came from the King. Is it good news? Won't you
show it me, Sam-dad?'
'Well, as you're so deep in, you'd better be right in,' said Sam.
'But no conspiracies now. If I show you, you join the grown-
ups' side and must play fair. I'll tell the others in my own time.
The King is coming.'
'He's coming here?' Elanor cried. 'To Bag End?'
'No, dear,' said Sam. 'But he's coming north again, as he
hasn't done since you was a mite.(17) But now his house is ready.
He won't come into the Shire, because he's given orders that no
Big Folk are to enter the land again after those Ruffians, and he
won't break his own rules. But he will ride to the Bridge. And
he's sent a very special invitation to every one of us, every one
by name.'
Sam went to a drawer, unlocked it, and took out a scroll, and
slipped off its case. It was written in two columns with fair silver
letters upon black. He unrolled it, and set a candle beside it on
the desk, so that Elanor could see it.
'How splendid!' she cried. 'I can read the Plain Language, but
what does the other side say? I think it is Elvish, but you've
taught me so few Elvish words yet.'
'Yes, it's written in a kind of Elvish that the great folk of
Gondor use,' said Sam. 'I have made it out, enough at least to be
sure that it says much the same, only it turns all our names into
Elvish. Yours is the same on both sides, Elanor, because your
name is Elvish. But Frodo is Iorhael, and Rose is Meril, and
Merry is Gelir, and Pippin is Cordof, and Goldilocks is
Glorfinniel, and Hamfast is Baravorn, and Daisy is Eirien. So
now you know.'
'How wonderful!' she said. 'Now we have all got Elvish
names. What a splendid end to my birthday! But what is your
name, Sam-dad? You didn't mention it.'
'Well, it's rather peculiar,' said Sam. 'For in the Elvish part, if
you must know, the King says: "Master Perhael who should be
called Panthael". And that means: Samwise who ought to be
called Fullwise. So now you know what the King thinks of your
old father.'
Not a bit more than I do, Sam-dad, Perhael-adar (18) dearest,'
said Elanor. 'But it says the second of April, only a week
today!(19) When shall we start? We ought to be getting ready.
What shall we wear?'
'You must ask Mother Rose about all that,' said Sam. 'But we
have been getting ready. We had a warning of this a long time
ago; and we've said naught about it, only because we didn't
want you all to lose your sleep of nights, not just yet. You have
all got to look your best and beautifullest. You will all have
beautiful clothes, and we shall drive in a coach.'
'Shall I make three curtsies, or only one?' said Elanor.
'One will do, one each for the King and the Queen,' said Sam.
'For though it doesn't say so in the letter, Elanorelle, I think the
Queen will be there. And when you've seen her, my dear, you'll
know what a lady of the Elves looks like, save that none are so
beautiful. And there's more to it even than that. For I shall be
surprised if the King doesn't bid us to his great house by Lake
Evendim. And there will be Elladan and Elrohir, who still live in
Rivendell - and with them will be Elves, Elanorelle, and they
will sing by the water in the twilight. That is why I said you
might see them sooner than you guessed.'
Elanor said nothing, but stood looking at the fire, and her
eyes shone like stars. At last she sighed and stirred. 'How long
shall we stay?' she asked. 'I suppose we shall have to come
back?'
'Yes, and we shall want to, in a way,' said Sam. 'But we might
stay until hay-harvest, when I must be back here. Good night,
Elanorelle. Sleep now till the sun rises. You'll have no need of
dreams.'
'Good night, Sam-dad. And don't work any more. For I know
what your chapter should be. Write down our talk together -
but not to-night.' She kissed him, and passed out of the room;
and it seemed to Sam that the fire burned low at her going.
The stars were shining in a clear dark sky. It was the second
day of the bright and cloudless spell that came every year to the
Shire towards the end of March, and was every year welcomed
and praised as something surprising for the season. All the
children were now in bed. It was late, but here and there lights
were still glimmering in Hobbiton, and in houses dotted about
the night-folded countryside.
Master Samwise stood at the door and looked away east-
ward. He drew Mistress Rose to him, and set his arm about her.
'March the twenty-fifth!' he said. 'This day seventeen years
ago, Rose wife, I didn't think I should ever see thee again. But I
kept on hoping.'
'I never hoped at all, Sam,' she said, 'not until that very day;
and then suddenly I did. About noon it was, and I felt so glad
that I began singing. And mother said: "Quiet, lass! There's
ruffians about." And I said: "Let them come! Their time will
soon be over. Sam's coming back." And you came.'
'I did,' said Sam. 'To the most belovedest place in all the
world. To my Rose and my garden.'
They went in, and Sam shut the door. But even as he did so, he
heard suddenly, deep and unstilled, the sigh and murmur of the
Sea upon the shores of Middle-earth.
In this second Epilogue Sam does not read out the King's letter
(since Elanor could read), but associated with it (as is seen from the
name-forms Eirien, Perhael, Panthael) are three 'facsimiles' of the
letter, written in tengwar in two columns.
The first of these ('I') is reproduced on p. 130. It is accompanied by
a transliteration into 'plain letters' of both the English and the
Sindarin. The transliteration of the English does not precisely corres-
pond to the tengwar text, for the former omits Aratbornsson, and
adds day where the tengwar text has 'the thirty-first of the Stirring'.
The words and Arnor, ar Arnor were added in to both the tengwar
texts and are lacking in the transliterations. As my father wrote them
they read as follows:
Aragorn Strider The Elfstone, King of Gondor and Lord of
the Westlands, will approach the Bridge of Baranduin on the
eighth day of Spring, or in the Shire-reckoning the second
day of April. And he desires to greet there all his friends.
In especial he desires to see Master Samwise, Mayor of the
Shire, and Rose his wife; and Elanor, Rose, Goldilocks, and
Daisy his daughters; and Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Ham fast
his sons.
To Samwise and Rose the King's greeting from Minas
Tirith, the thirty-first day of the Stirring, being
the twenty-third of February in their reckoning.
A ?E ?
Elessar Telcontar: Aragorn Arathornion Edhelharn, aran
Gondor ar Hir i Mbair Annui, anglennatha i Varanduiniant
erin dolothen Ethuil, egor ben genediad Drannail erin
Gwirith edwen. Ar e anira ennas suilannad mhellyn in
phain: edregol e anira tirad i Cherdir Perhael (i sennui
Panthael estathar aen) Condir i Drann, ar Meril bess din,
ar Elanor, Meril, Glorfinniel, ar Eirien sellath din; ar
Iorhael, Gelir, Cordof, ar Baravorn, ionnath din.
A Pherhael ar am Meril suilad uin aran o Minas
Tirith nelchaenen uin Echuir.
A ?E ?
The change of pen after ar Elanor was no doubt made in order to fit
the Sindarin text onto the page.
The second 'facsimile' ('II'), not accompanied by a transliteration
and not reproduced here, is very similar to I, but and Arnor, ar Arnor
is part of the texts as written, there is no variation in the boldness of
the lettering, and the texts end at the words his sons, ionnath din,
followed by the initials A ?E, so that there is here no mention of the
date and place of the letter.
The third of these pages ('III'), preserved with the typescript text of
the second Epilogue and accompanied by a transliteration, is repro-
duced on p. 131. In this case the use of vowel-tehtar above conson-
nants in the Sindarin text greatly reduced its length. The English text is
the same as in I, but the note of the.date is different: 'From Minas
Tirith, the twenty-third of February 6341' [= 1436]. The Sindarin text
differs from that of I and II in the word order:
Aragorn Arathornion Edhelharn anglennatha iVaranduiniant
erin dolothen Ethuil (egor ben genediad Drannail erin Gwirith
edwen) ar ennas anira i aran Gondor ar Arnor ar Hir iMbair
Annui [written Anui](20) suilannad mhellyn in phain...
The note of date at the end of the Sindarin text reads:
a Pherhael ar am Meril suilad uin aran o Minas Tirith
nelchaenen ned Echuir: 61.(21)
It emerges from the account of his works that my father wrote for
Milton Waldman in 1951 that the second version of the Epilogue was
written at a very late stage. In this account he included what he called
'a long and yet bald resume' of the story of The Lord of the Rings; this
was omitted in Letters (no. 131), and I give here its closing passages.
The 'Scouring of the Shire' ending in the last battle ever fought there
occupies a chapter. It is followed by a second spring, a marvellous
restoration and enhancement of beauty, chiefly wrought by Sam
(with the help of gifts given him in Lorien). But Frodo cannot be
healed. For the preservation of the Shire he has sacrificed himself,
even in health, and has no heart to enjoy it. Sam has to choose
(First copy of the King's letter.)
(Third copy of the King's letter.)
between love of master and of wife. In the end he goes with Frodo
on a last journey. At night in the woods, where Sam first met Elves
on the outward journey, they meet the twilit cavalcade from
Rivendell. The Elves and the Three Rings, and Gandalf (Guardian
of the Third Age) are going to the Grey Havens, to set sail for the
West, never to return. Bilbo is with them. To Bilbo and Frodo the
special grace is granted to go with the Elves they loved - an
Arthurian ending, in which it is, of course, not made explicit
whether this is an 'allegory' of death, or a mode of healing and
restoration leading to a return. They ride to the Grey Havens, and
take ship: Gandalf with the Red Ring, Elrond (with the Blue) and
the greater part of his household, and Galadriel of Lorien with the
White Ring, and with them depart Bilbo and Frodo. It is hinted that
they come to Eressea. But Sam standing stricken on the stone quay
sees only the white ship slip down the grey estuary and fade into the
darkling West. He stays long unmoving listening to the sound of the
Sea on the shores of the world.
Then he rides home; his wife welcomes him to the firelight and his
first child, and he says simply Well, I've come back.'(22) There is a
brief epilogue in which we see Sam among his children, a glance at
his love for Elanor (the Elvish name of a flower in Lorien) his eldest,
who by a strange gift has the looks and beauty of an elven-maid; in
her all his love and longing for Elves is resolved and satisfied. He is
busy, contented, many times mayor of the Shire, and struggling to
finish off the Red Book, begun by Bilbo and nearly completed by
Frodo, in which all the events (told in The Hobbit and The Lord [of
the Rings]) are recorded. The whole ends with Sam and his wife
standing outside Bag-end, as the children are asleep, looking at the
stars in the cool spring sky. Sam tells his wife of his bliss and
content, and goes in, but as he closes the door he hears the sighing of
the Sea on the shores of the world.
It is clear from the words 'we see Sam among his children' that my
father was referring to the first version of the Epilogue.
He was persuaded by others to omit the Epilogue from The Lord of
the Rings. In a letter to Naomi Mitchison of 25 April 1954 (Letters no.
144) he wrote:
Hobbit-children were delightful, but I am afraid that the only
glimpses of them in this book are found at the beginning of vol. I.
An epilogue giving a further glimpse (though of a rather exceptional
family) has been so universally condemned that I shall not insert it.
One must stop somewhere.
He seems both to have accepted and to have regretted that decision.
On 24 October 1955, a few days after the publication of The Return
of the King, he wrote to Katherine Farrer (Letters no. 173):
I still feel the picture incomplete without something on Samwise
and Elanor, but I could not devise anything that would not have
destroyed the ending, more than the hints (possibly sufficient) in
the appendices.
NOTES.
1. The 'Epilogue' text begins at the head of a page, but this is merely
because the words ' "Well, I'm back," he said' stand at the foot of
the preceding one.
2. '1436' was pencilled in subsequently. Apparently my father first
wrote 'And one evening Master Samwise...', but changed this at
once to 'And one evening in March Master Samwise ...' This
does not suggest the passage of many years since the sailing of the
ship from Mithlond, but that such was the case is immediately
plain in the same opening sentence ('and the children were all
gathered about him'); the absence of a date in the text as first
written must therefore be casual and without significance.
3. Keleborn: immediately above the name was spelt Celeborn; here,
the K was changed from C in the act of writing the letter.
4. On the development of the legends of Galadriel and Celeborn see
The History of Galadriel and Celeborn in Unfinished Tales, Part
Two $IV.
5. March 18th [> 25th]: the King had declared in his letter that he
would be coming to the Brandywine Bridge on March 25; Elanor
had said that that was 'a week today'; and as my father wrote this
concluding passage Sam said to Rose at the door of Bag End
'March 18th'. On the change to the 25th, apparently made
immediately, see note 7.
6. The brackets are in the original.
7. The change in the King's letter from March 25 to April 2 was in
fact, and at first sight very oddly, an emendation made on the B
text. This question of the dates is minor, complicated, and
explicable. When my father wrote the text A the great day of the
King's coming north to the Brandywine Bridge was to be the 25th
of March, the date of the destruction of the Ring and the
downfall of Sauron (see pp. 59 - 60); and Elanor said (p. 118) that
that was 'a week today', so that the occasion of Sam's conversa-
tion with his children recorded in the Epilogue was March 18.
When Sam and Rose stood outside Bag End that night Sam said:
'March 18th. Seventeen years ago ...' (p. 118). My father
changed '18' to '25' on the manuscript A (and probably at the
same time added in the words 'This time (seventeen years ago)')
because he decided, just at that point, that the end of The Lord of
the Rings (in its Epilogue) should fall on that date (possibly also
because he recalled that it was Elanor's birthday, which had of
course been chosen for the same reason); but he failed to
postpone the date in the King's letter earlier in A (p. 117).
Writing out the fair copy B, in which he followed A very
closely, he momentarily forgot this decision, and repeated the
date in A of the King's coming to the Bridge, March 25.
Subsequently, while writing B, he realised that this was now
erroneous, and changed it to April 2; so at the end of B Sam says
(as he had in A): 'March the twenty-fifth! This time seventeen
years ago...'
Elanor's answer to Pippin's question 'When is the second of
April?' was changed subsequently on B from 'a week today' to 'a
week tomorrow', which is the reading in the typescript C. This,
however, was erroneous, since it gives March thirty-one days;
'a week today' was restored in the second version of the Epilogue,
p. 127.
8. Chapter-number 'LVIII': the basis of the revised numbering of
the chapters of Book Six is not clear to me. The sequence ran
from LII 'The Tower of Kirith Ungol' (p. 25) to LX 'The Grey
Havens' (p. 110), but on some of the chapters these numbers
were reduced by two; here the reduction is by three.
9. Elanor's birth on 25 March (1421) was mentioned in the original
draft of 'The Grey Havens', p. 109.
10. In this second version Sam is making notes, which are cited and
which are an essential part of the Epilogue, for the filling of the
empty pages at the end of the Red Book; and it seems odd that the
title 'The End of the Book', so suitable to the second version,
should have been used, and rejected, on texts B and C of the first
(pp. 119 - 20).
11. This emendation was made on the typescript only. In 'The
Longfather-tree of Master Samwise' in Appendix C Daisy
Gamgee was born in 1433 and Primrose in 1435; Bilbo Gamgee
was born in the year of the Epilogue, 1436, and was followed by
three further children, making thirteen in all.
12. A footnote to the record of the birth of Elanor in The Tale of
Years states: 'She became known as "the Fair" because of her
beauty; many said that she looked more like an elf-maid than a
hobbit. She had golden hair, which had been very rare in the
Shire; but two others of Samwise's daughters were also golden-
haired, and so were many of the children born at this time.' Cf.
the reference in 'The Grey Havens' to the golden-haired children
born in the Shire in the year 1420 (RK p. 303; see p. 112, note 1).
13. Sam-dad: this address to Sam by his children entered in text B of
the first version.
14. In the manuscript 'said Sam' is followed by 'sucking his pen-
holder'; this was probably omitted inadvertently, as were other
phrases afterwards picked up and reinserted in the typescript.
15. Sam was no doubt thinking of the end of Gimli's song in Moria,
by which he was greatly struck (FR p. 330):
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till Durin wakes again from sleep.
Or else of Gimli's words when Frodo and Sam looked with him
into Mirrormere: 'O Kheled-zaram fair and wonderful! There lies
the crown of Durin till he wakes.' '"What did you see?" said
Pippin to Sam, but Sam was too deep in thought to answer' (FR
p. 348).
16. Elanor's words refer to RK p. 260 ('Many Partings'): 'But
Celeborn said: "Kinsman, farewell! May your doom be other
than mine, and your treasure remain with you to the end!"' For
the original form of Celeborn's farewell to Aragorn see p. 64.
17. I do not know of any other reference to this northern journey of
Aragorn in the early years of his reign.
18. In the manuscript (which had ai forms, later emended, in the
names Iorhail, Perhail, Panthail) Elanor calls her father Panthail-
adar.
19. only a week today: see note 7, at end.
20. My father's transliteration has ar ennas i aran Gondor ar Arnor
ar Hir iMbair Annui anira...
21. 61 = 16, i.e. year 16 of the Fourth Age, which means that the
Fourth Age began in 1421 (see Appendix D to The Lord of the
Rings, at end).
22. In all the texts of 'The Grey Havens' from the earliest draft Sam
said to Rose when he returned to Bag End Well, I m back. Well,
I've come back' does not mean the same thing.
APPENDIX.
Drawings of Orthanc and Dunharrow.
When I wrote Volume VIII, The War of the Ring, it entirely and most
regrettably escaped my memory that there are several unpublished
drawings of Orthanc and Dunharrow in the Bodleian Library. As
these are of much interest I reproduce them belatedly here, as a final
appendix to the history of The Lord of the Rings.
The upper drawing on the page called here 'Orthanc I' shows a
conception essentially similar to that of the little sketch 'Orthanc 3' '
reproduced in VIII.33 and described in the first manuscript of the
chapter 'The Voice of Saruman', VIII.61. In this, the tower was
founded on a huge arch spanning the great cleft in the rock; flights of
stairs led up on two sides to a narrow platform beneath the arch,
whence further stairs ran up 'to dark doors on either side, opening in
the shadow of the arch's feet'. But in the present drawing the rock of
Orthanc is enormously much greater in relation to the tower than in
'Orthanc 3'; the tower has only three tiers (seven in 'Orthanc 3' and in
the description associated with it, VIII.32 - 3); and the horns at the
summit are very much smaller.
In the lower drawing on this page, showing the Circle of Isengard
in Nan Gurunir between the mountains' arms, is seen the feature
described in the original drafting of the chapter 'The Road to Isengard'
but rejected from the first completed manuscript (VIII.43, note 23):
the western side of the Circle was formed by the mountain-wall itself.
The dark letter C was a change made later to the faintly pencilled
name of the Wizard's Vale, Nan Gurunir becoming Nan Curunir.
The page 'Orthanc II' carries two designs for 'Orthanc's roof'; and
on 'Orthanc III' the final conception is seen emerging, in which the
'rock' of Orthanc becomes itself the 'tower'. The drawing on the right
has in fact been previously published: it was used in The Lord of the
Rings Calendar 1977, and so appears in Pictures by J. R. R. Tolkien,
no. 27 (see VIII.44, note 26).
The two pages of drawings of Dunharrow are not easy to interpret,
more especially 'Dunharrow I' (for the early conceptions of Dunhar-
row and the first sketches see VIII.235 ff.). Of 'Dunharrow I' it can at
least be said that this idea of the approach to the Hold was never
described in words. Apparently, the path winding up from the valley
passed near the top of the cliff through the great door in the
foreground and entered a steeply ascending tunnel, climbing up by
stairs inside the cliff, the head of which can be seen emerging from a
large opening or hole in the flat land above. The single menhir, first
mentioned in the text F of the original work on the chapter 'The
Muster of Rohan' (VIII.246) as standing in the rock-ringed floor of the
Hold, is seen; but since there is no sign of the lines of standing stones
across the upland (nor of the Pukel-men at the turns in the climbing
path) I would be inclined to place this drawing after the earliest drafts
of the chapter and the little sketches reproduced in VIII.239 but before
the writing of the text F.
A very puzzling feature of this drawing is the wavy line at bottom
left, hiding one of the bends in the climbing path.
The upper drawing on the page 'Dunharrow II' has a general
likeness in the lie of the mountain side to the coloured drawing
reproduced as the first frontispiece (but which should have been the
second) to The War of the Ring, but there the resemblance ceases. In
that other picture a double line of huge standing stones crosses the
upland from the brink of the cliff to a dark cleft in the mountain,
where the road so marked out disappears; and I suggested (VIII.250)
that the dark cleft is '"the gate of the Hold", the "Hold" itself, the
"recess" or "amphitheatre" with doors and windows in the cliff at
the rear, being in this picture invisible.' In the present drawing the
Pukel-men are seen at the turns of the path coming up from the valley;
at the top of the cliff the road continues to wind, but the turns are now
marked by pointed stones. There is then a straight stretch across the
upland field, unmarked by stones; and the road passing (apparently)
between two stones or pillars leads into the Hold, in which the door
into the cliff behind can be seen. In the left-hand lower drawing the
Pukel-men reappear, and in the right-hand drawing a double line of
cone-shaped stones leads across the upland and into the Hold, with a
single stone standing in the middle of the 'amphitheatre'.
My guess is that the upper drawing on this page shows a stage in the
development of the conception of Dunharrow when the Pukel-men
had emerged, but not the double line of stones: these are seen at the
moment of their emergence in one of the lower sketches. In relation to
the manuscript evidence, 'Dunharrow I' would then belong with, but
actually precede, the text F of 'The Muster of Rohan', in which both
the Pukel-men (then called the Hoker-men) and the lines of stones are
present.
(Orthanc I.)
(Orthanc II.)
(Orthanc III.)
(Dunharrow I.)
(Dunharrow II.)
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