The Return Of The Shadow Part 14
Note on the Entish Lands.
The name Entish Lands on Sketch I needs a word of explanation. Originally the region in which the h.o.a.rwell rose was called Dimrilldale(s) (p. 360), but when that name was displaced it was briefly called h.o.a.rdale (p. 432 note 3), and then Entish Dales, Entish Lands. Entish here was used in the Old English sense of ent, 'giant', the Entish Lands were the 'troll-lands' (cf. the later names Ettendales and Ettenmoors of this region in FR, containing Old English eoten 'giant'), and are in no way a.s.sociated with the Ents of The Lord of the Rings.
XII. AT RIVENDELL.
Some preliminary ideas for this chapter (which in FR is Book II, Chapter I, 'Many Meetings') have been given on p. 126. The original narrative draft is extant in a very rough ma.n.u.script, first in ink, then in pencil and petering out. It was variously emended and added to, but I give it here as my father seems to have set it down - granting that there is often no clear distinction between changes made at once and changes made after (and probably no significant distinction in time, in any case). This and the two following drafts all bear the number 'IX' without t.i.tle.
He awoke to find himself lying in bed; and also feeling a great deal better. 'Where am I and what's the time?' he said aloud to the ceiling. Its dark carved beams were touched by sunlight. Distantly he heard the sound of a waterfall.
'In Elrond's house, and it is ten o'clock in the morning: the morning of October 24th to be exact,'(1) said a voice.
'Gandalf!' said Bingo sitting up. There was the wizard sitting in a chair by the open window.
'Yes,' said the wizard. 'I'm here all tight - and you're lucky to be here too, after all the absurd things you have done since you left home.'
Bingo felt too peaceful and comfortable to argue - and in any case he did not imagine he would get the best of the argument: the memory came back to him of the disastrous short cut through the Old Forest, of his own stupidity in the inn, and of his nearly fatal madness in putting on the ring on Weathertop Hill.
There was a long silence broken only by the soft puffs of Gandalf's pipe as he blew smoke-rings out of the window.
'What happened at the Ford?' asked Bingo at last. 'It all seemed so dim somehow, and it still does.'
'Yes!' answered Gandalf. 'You were beginning to fade. They would have made a wraith of you before long - certainly if you had put on the Ring (2) again. How does the arm and side feel now?'
'I don't know,' said Bingo. 'It does not feel at all, which is better than aching, but'- he made an effort - 'I can move it a little again: yes: it feels as if it were coming back to life. It is not cold now,' he added, touching his right hand with his left.(3) 'Good! ' said Gandalf. 'Elrond bathed and doctored it for hours last night after you were brought in. He has great power and skill, but I was very anxious, for the craft and malice of the Enemy is very great.'
'Brought in?' said Bingo. 'Of course: the last I remember was the rush of water. What happened? Where are the others? Do tell me, Gandalf!'
'What happened - as far as I can make out from Glorfindel and Trotter (who both have some wits in their different ways) - was this: the pursuers made straight for you (as Glorfindel expected they would). The others might have been trampled down, but Glorfindel made them leap out of the way off the road. Nothing could save you if the white elf-horse could not; so they followed cautiously behind on foot, keeping out of sight as much as they could behind bushes and rocks. When they had got as near to the Ford as they dared go, they made a fire hastily, and rushed out on the Riders with flaming brands, just at the moment when the flood came down. Between the fire and water these pursuers were destroyed - if they can be wholly destroyed by such means - all but two that vanished into the wild.
'The rest of your party and the elf then crossed the ford, with some difficulty as it is too deep for hobbits and deep even for a horse. But Glorfindel crossed on your pony and regained his horse. They found you lying on your face in the gra.s.s at the top of the slope: pale and cold. At first they feared you were dead. They carried you towards Rivendell: a slow business, and I don't know when they would have arrived, if Elrond had not sent some Elves out to help you, at the same time as the water was released.' 'Did Elrond make the flood then?' asked Bingo.
'No, I did,'(4) said Gandalf. 'It is not very difficult magic, in a stream that comes down from the mountains. The sun has been fairly hot today. But I was surprised to find how well the river responded. The roar and rush was tremendous.'
'It was,' said Bingo. 'Did you also send Glorfindel?'
'Yes,' said Gandalf, ' - or rather, I asked Elrond to lend him to me. He is a wise and n.o.ble elf. Bilbo is - was - very fond of him. I also sent Rimbedir (5) (as they call him here) - that Trotter fellow. From what Merry tells me I gather he has been useful.'
'I should think he has,' said Bingo. 'I was very suspicious of him at first - but we should never have got here without him. I have grown very fond of him. I wish indeed that he was going to go on wandering with me as long as I must wander. It is an odd thing, you know, but I keep on feeling that I have seen him somewhere before.'
'I daresay you do,' said Gandalf. 'I often have that feeling when I look at a hobbit - they all seem to remind me of one another, don't you know. Really they are extraordinarily alike! '
'Nonsense,' said Bingo. 'Trotter is most peculiar. However I feel extremely hobbit-like myself, and I could wish that I was not doomed to wander. I have now had more than a month of it, and that is about 28 days too much for me.' He fell silent again, and began to doze. 'What did those dreadful pursuers do to me in Weathertop dell?' he said half to himself, on the edge of a shadowy dream.
'They attempted to pierce you with the sword of the Necromancer,' said Gandalf. 'But by some grace of fortune, or by your own courage (I have heard an account of the fight) and by the confusion caused by the elf-name which you cried, only your shoulder was grazed. But that was dangerous enough - especially with the ring on. For while the ring was on, you yourself were in the wraith-world, and subject to their weapons.(6) They could see you, and you them.'
'Why can we see their horses?'
'Because they are real horses. Just as the black robes they wear to give shape to their nothingness are real robes.'
'Then why, when all other animals - dogs, horses, ponies - are filled with terror of them, do these horses endure them on their backs?'
'Because they are born and bred under the power of the evil Lord in the dark kingdom. Not all his servants and chattels are wraiths! '
'It is all very threatening and confusing,' said Bingo sleepily. 'Well, you are quite safe for the present,' said Gandalf, 'and are mending rapidly. I should not worry about anything now, if I were you.'
'All right,' said Bingo, and fell fast asleep.(7) Bingo was now as you know in the Last Homely House west of the Mountains, on the edge of the wild, the house of Elrond: that house was (as Bilbo Baggins had long ago reported) 'a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep or work or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking, best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.' Merely to be there was a cure for weariness and sadness. As evening drew on Bingo woke up and found that he no longer felt like sleep but had a mind for food and drink, story-telling and singing. So he got up, and found his arm already nearly as useful as ever it had been. As soon as he was dressed he went in search of his friends. They were sitting in the porch of the house that faced west: shadows were fallen in the valley, but the light was still upon high eastern faces of the hills far above, and the air was warm. It was seldom cold in the fair valley of Rivendell. The sound of the waterfalls was loud in the stillness. There was a scent of trees and flowers [?in harmony].
'Hullo,' said Merry, 'here is our n.o.ble uncle. Three cheers for Bingo Lord of the Ring! '
'Hush! ' said Gandalf. 'Evil things do not come into this valley, but nonetheless we should not name them. The Lord of the Ring is not Bingo, but the Lord of the Dark Tower of Mordor,(8) whose power is growing again, and we are here sitting only in a fortress of peace. Outside it is getting dark.'
'Gandalf has been saying lots of cheerful things like that,' said Odo. 'Just to keep us in order: but it seems impossible somehow to feel gloomy or depressed in Elrond's house. I feel I could sing - if I knew how: only I never was any good at making up words or tunes.'
'You never were,' said Bingo, 'but I daresay even that could be cured in time, if you stayed here long enough. I feel much the same myself. Though at the moment I feel more hungry than anything else.'
His hunger was soon cured. For before long they were summoned to the evening meal. The hall was filled with many folk: elves for the most part, though there were a few guests and travellers of various sort. Elrond sat in the high seat, and next to him sat Gandalf. Bingo did not see Trotter or Glorfindel: they were probably at one of the other halls among their friends, but to his surprise he found sitting next to him a dwarf of venerable appearance and rich dress - his beard was white, nearly as white as the snow-white cloth of his garments; he wore a belt of silver and a chain of silver and diamonds.
'Welcome and well met,' said the dwarf, rising and bowing. 'Gloin at your service!' and he bowed again.
'Bingo Bolger-Baggins at your service and your family's,' replied Bingo. 'Am I right in imagining that you are the Gloin, one of the twelve companions of the great Thorin?'
'You are,' said he. 'And I need not ask, since I have already been told that you are the friend and adopted son of our dear friend Bilbo Baggins. I wonder much what brings four hobbits so far from their homes. Nothing like it has occurred since Bilbo left Hobbiton. But perhaps I should not ask this; since Elrond and Gandalf do not seem disposed to tell?'
'I think we will not speak of such things, at any rate yet,' said Bingo politely - he wanted to forget about his troubles for the moment. 'Though I am equally curious to know what brings so important a dwarf so far from the Mountain.'
Gloin looked at him and laughed - indeed he actually winked. 'I am no spoil-sport,' he said. 'So I will not tell you - yet. But there are many other things to tell.'
Throughout the meal they talked together. Bingo told news of the Shire, but he listened more than he talked, for Gloin had much to tell of the Dwarf-kingdom under the Mountain, and of Dale. There Dain was still king of the dwarfs,(9) and was now ancient (some 200 years old), venerable, and fabulously rich. Of the ten companions that had survived the battle, seven were still with him: Dwalin, Dori, Nori, Bifur and Bofur and Bombur.(10) But the last was now so fat that he could not move himself from his couch to his chair, and it took four young dwarves to lift him. In Dale the grandson of Bard, Brand son of Bain, was lord.
My father stopped here, and scribbled down a few notes before at once beginning the chapter anew. The notes at the end of the first draft include the following: What of Balin etc. They went to colonize (Ring needed to found colony?) Bilbo must be seen. Who is Trotter?
The second text is a clear ma.n.u.script, but it had proceeded no farther than Gandalf's account of the flood in the Bruinen when my father again stopped and started again. This is an intermediate text much nearer to the third than to the first, and need not be considered more closely. The third text, the last in this phase of the work, but again abandoned before its conclusion (going in fact scarcely any farther than the first draft), is very close to 'Many Meetings' in FR, but there are many minor differences (quite apart, of course, from those that are constant at this stage, as Trotter/Strider-Aragorn and the absence of Sam). The opening is now almost identical to that in FR, but the date is October 26, and Gandalf adds, after 'You were beginning to fade', 'Trotter noticed it, to his great alarm - though of course he said nothing.' But after Gandalf s 'It is no small feat...' (FR p. 232) the old narrative goes on: '... But I am delighted to have you all here safe. I am really rather to blame. I knew there were some risks - but if I had known more before I left the Shire I should have arranged matters differently. But things are moving fast,' he added in a lower voice as if to himself, 'even faster than I feared. I had to get here quickly. But if I had known the Riders were already out!'
'Did not you know that?' asked Bingo.
'No I did not - not until we came to Bree. It was Trotter that told me.(11)' And if I had not known Trotter and trusted him, I should have waited for you there. And as it has turned out, he saved you and brought you through in the end.'
'We should never have got here without him,' said Bingo. 'I was very suspicious of him at first, but I have grown very fond of him. Though he is rather queer. I wish that he was going to go on wandering with me - as long as I must wander. It is an odd thing, you know, but I keep on feeling that I have seen him somewhere before - that, that I ought to be able to put a name to him, a name different to Trotter.'
'I dare say you do,' laughed Gandalf. 'I often have that feeling when I look at a hobbit: they all seem to remind me of one another, if you know what I mean. They are wonderfully alike! '
'Nonsense!' said Bingo, sitting up again in protest. 'Trotter is most peculiar. And he has shoes! However, I am feeling a very ordinary hobbit myself at the moment. I wish now that I need not go any further. I have had more than a month of exile and adventures, and that is about four weeks more than enough for me.'(12) The text now becomes very close to that of FR pp. 233 - 4, but there are several differences. As in FR, Bingo cannot understand how he can be out in his reckoning of the date, but in this version Gandalf has told him that it is the 26th of October (not as in FR the 24th), and he calculates that they must have reached the Ford on the 23rd (the 20th in FR). On this question see the Note on Chronology on p. 219. In contrast to the first draft, where Gandalf says that Bingo was brought in to Rivendell 'last night', he has been unconscious for a long time, and the mortal danger of his wound is emphasized. Gandalf calls the weapon that was used 'a deadly blade, the knife of the Necromancer which remains in the wound', not 'a Morgul-knife', and he explains to Bingo that 'You would have become a Ring-wraith (the only hobbit Ring-wraith) and you would have been under the dominion of the Dark Lord. Also they would have got possession of the Ring. And the Dark Lord would have found some way of tormenting you for trying to keep it from him, and of striking at all your friends and kinsfolk through you, if he could.' He says that the Riders wear black robes 'to give shape to their nothingness in our world', and he includes among the servants of the Dark Lord 'orcs and goblins' and 'kings, warriors, and wizards.'
Gandalf's reply to Bingo's question 'Is Rivendell safe?' is similar to that in FR (pp. 234 - 5), but has some notable features: 'Yes, I hope so. He has seldom overcome any of the Elves in the past; and all Elves now are his enemies. The Elves of Rivendell are indeed descendants of his chief foes: the Gnomes, the Elvenwise ones, that came out of the Far West, and whom Elbereth Gilthoniel still protects.(13) They fear no Ring-wraiths, for they live at once in both worlds, and each world has only half power over them, while they have double power over both. But such places as Rivendell (or the Shire in its own way) will soon become besieged islands, if things go on as they are going. The Dark Lord is moving again. Dreadful is the power of the Necromancer. Still,' he said, standing suddenly up and sticking out his chin while his beard stuck out like bristling wire, 'the Wise say that he is doomed in the end. We will keep up our courage. You are mending rapidly, and you need not worry about anything at the moment.'
The pa.s.sage in which Gandalf looked closely at Frodo, and then spoke to himself, is lacking; but his story of the events at the Ford is in all essentials the same as in FR, with a few features still retained from the first draft - most important, Gandalf still says that two of the Riders escaped into the wild. The difficult pa.s.sage of the deep ford is still described, as in the first draft, and Gandalf still says 'I was surprised to find how well the river responded to a little simple magic.' But Elrond's power over the river, and Gandalf's waves like white horses with white riders, now enter. The end of Bingo's talk with Gandalf, however, has differences: '... I thought I was drowning - and all my friends and enemies together. It is wonderful that Elrond and Glorfindel and such great people should take all this trouble over me - not to mention Trotter.'
'Well - there are many reasons for that. I am one good reason. You may discover others.(14) For one thing they are - were - very fond of Bilbo Baggins.'
'What do you mean - "are fond of Bilbo"?' said Bingo sleepily.
'Did I say that? Just a slip of the tongue,' answered Gandalf. 'I thought I said "were".'
'I wish old Bilbo could have been here and heard all about this,' murmured Bingo. 'I could have made him laugh. The cow jumped over the moon. Hullo William!' he said. 'Poor old troll!' and then he fell asleep.
The next section of the narrative follows the first draft (p.208) pretty closely, but Bingo's discovery of green garments laid out for him now enters the story, with a further addition that only survived in part in FR: He put on his own best waistcoat with the gold b.u.t.tons (which he had brought in his luggage as his only remaining treasure). But it seemed very loose. Looking in a little mirror he was startled to see a very much thinner reflection of Bingo than he had seen for a long while. It looked remarkably like the young nephew of Bilbo that used to go tramping with his uncle in the Shire, though it was a bit pale in the face. 'And I feel like it,' he said, slapping his chest and tightening his waistcoat strap. Then he went in search of his friends.
There is nothing corresponding to Sam's entering Frodo's room.
The feast in Elrond's house moves far to the final text. The descriptions of Elrond, Gandalf, and Glorfindel now appear (they were written on an inserted slip, but it seems to belong to the same time) and in almost the same words as in FR (p. 239) - but there is mention of Elrond's smile, 'like the summer sun', and his laughter. There is no mention of Arwen. Bingo 'could not see Trotter, nor his nephews. They had been led to other tables.'
The conversation with Gloin proceeds as in the first draft, with some touches and phrases that move it to the final text (FR p.240). Gloin is now described as 'a dwarf of solemn dignity and rich dress', but he still winks (as he does not in FR).
At the point where the first draft ends (p. 210) my father only added a further couple of lines before again stopping: In Dale the grandson of Bard the Bowman ruled, Brand son of Bain son of Bard, and he was become a strong king whose realm included Esgaroth, and much land to the south of the great falls.(15) On the reverse of the sheet the conversation continues in a different script and a different ink: Gloin gives an account of Balin's history (his return to Moria) - but it is Frodo, not Bingo, that he is speaking with, and this side of the page belongs to a later phase in the writing of the book (see pp. 369, 391).
A pa.s.sage on a detached slip, forming part of Gandalf's conversation with Bingo, seems to belong to the time of the third draft of this chapter. There is no direction for its insertion into the text, and there is no echo of it in FR.
Things work out oddly. But for that 'short cut' you would not have met old Bombadil, nor had the one kind of sword the Riders fear.(16) Why did not I think of Bombadil before! If only he was not so far away, I would go straight back now and consult him. We have never had much to do with one another up till now. I don't think he quite approves of me somehow. He belongs to a much older generation, and my ways are not his. He keeps himself to himself and does not believe in travel. But I fancy somehow that we shall all need his help in the end - and that he may have to take an interest in things outside his own country.
Among my father's earliest ideas for this part of the story (p. 126) appears: 'Gandalf astonished to hear about Tom.' - Another brief pa.s.sage on the same slip of paper was struck out at the time of writing: Not to mention courage - and also swords and a strange and ancient name. Later on I must be told about that curious sword of yours, and how you knew the name of Elbereth.'
'I thought you knew everything.'
'No,' said Gandalf. 'You Some notes that were scribbled down at Sidmouth in Devon in the late summer of 1938 (see Carpenter, Biography, p. 187) on a page of doodles evidently represent my father's thoughts for the next stages of the story at this time: Consultation. Over M[isty] M[ountains]. Down Great River to Mordor. Dark Tower. Beyond (?) which is the Fiery Hill.
Story of Gilgalad told by Elrond? Who is Trotter? Glorfindel tells of his ancestry in Gondolin.
'The Quest of the Fiery Mountain' (preceded by 'Consultation of hobbits with Elrond and Gandalf') was mentioned in the outline given on p. 126, but here is the first hint of the journey that was to be undertaken from Rivendell, and the first mention of the Great River in the context of The Lord of the Rings.
My father had already asked the question 'Who is Trotter?' and he would ask it again. A hint of one solution, in the end rejected, has been met already in Bingo's words to Gandalf in this chapter: 'I keep on feeling that I have seen him somewhere before - that, that I ought to be able to put a name to him, a name different to Trotter'; and indeed earlier, in the inn at Bree (p. 154): 'He had a dark look - and yet there was something in it... that seemed friendly, and even familiar.'
Also very notable is 'Glorfindel tells of his ancestry in Gondolin.' Years later, long after the publication of The Lord of the Rings, my father gave a great deal of thought to the matter of Glorfindel, and at that time he wrote: '[The use of Glorfindel] in The Lord of the Rings is one of the cases of the somewhat random use of the names found in the older legends, now referred to as The Silmarillion, which escaped reconsideration in the final published form of The Lord of the Rings.' He came to the conclusion that Glorfindel of Gondolin, who fell to his death in combat with a Balrog after the sack of the city (II.192 - 4, IV.145), and Glorfindel of Rivendell were one and the same: he was released from Mandos and returned to Middle-earth in the Second Age.
A single loose page, which has nothing to connect it with any other writing, is perhaps the 'story of Gilgalad told by Elrond' mentioned in these notes, and I give it here. Other than the first, the changes noted were made subsequently, in pencil on the ma.n.u.script written in ink.
'Now in the dark days Sauron the Magician [first written Necromancer, then Necromancer written again above Magician] had been very powerful in the Great Lands, and nearly all living things had served him out of fear. And he pursued the Elves that lived on this side of the Sundering Sea with especial hatred, for they did not serve him, although they were afraid. And there were some Men that were friends of the Elves, though not many in the darkest of days.'
'And how,' said Bingo, 'did his overthrow come about [> was his power made less]?'
'It was in this way,' said Elrond. 'The lands and islands in the North-west of the Great Lands of the Old World were called long ago Beleriand. Here the Elves of the West had dwelt for a long while until [> during] the wars with the Power of darkness, in which the Power was defeated but the land destroyed. Sauron alone of his chief servants escaped. But still after the Elves had mostly departed [> Although most of the Elves returned] again into the West, there were many Elves and Elf-friends that dwelt [> still dwelt in after days] in that region. And thither came many of the Great Men of old out of the Far West Island which was called by the Elves Numenor (but by some Avallon) [> out of the land of Westernesse (that they called Numenor)]; for Sauron had destroyed their island [> land], and they were exiles and hated him. There was a king in Beleriand of Numenorean race and he was called Elendil, that is Elf-friend. And he made an alliance with the Elf-king of those lands, whose name is Gilgalad (Starlight), a descendant of Feanor the renowned. I remember well their council - for it reminded me of the great days of the ancient war, so many fair princes and captains were there, yet not so many or so fair as once had been.'
'You remember?' said Bingo, looking astonished at Elrond. 'But I thought this tale was of days very long ago.'
'So it is,' said Elrond laughing. 'But my memory reaches back a long way [> to long ago]. My father was Earendel who was born in Gondolin seven years before it fell, and my mother was Elwing daughter of Luthien daughter of King Thingol of Doriath, and I have seen many ages in the West of the world. I was at the council I speak of, for I was the minstrel and counsellor of Gilgalad. The armies of Elves and Men were joined once more, and we marched eastward, and crossed the Misty Mountains, and pa.s.sed into the inner lands far from the memory of the Sea. And we became weary, and sickness was heavy on us, made by the spells of Sauron - for we had come at last to Mordor, the Black Country, where Sauron had rebuilt his fortress. It is on part of that dreary land that the Forest of Mirkwood now stands,(17) and it derives its darkness and dread from the ancient evil [added: of the soil]. Sauron could not drive us away, for the power of the Elves was in those days still very great, though waning; and we besieged his stronghold for 7 [> 10] years. And at last Sauron came out in person, and wrestled with Gilgalad, and Elendil came to his rescue, and both were mortally wounded; but Sauron was thrown down, and his bodily shape was destroyed. His servants were dispelled and the host of Beleriand broke his stronghold and razed it to the ground. Gilgalad and Elendil died. But Sauron's evil spirit fled away and was hidden for a long while in waste places. Yet after an age he took shape again, and has long troubled the northern world [added: but his power is less than of old].
If this extremely interesting piece is compared with the end of the second version of The Fall of Numenor ('FN II') in V.28 - 9 it will be seen that while an important new element has entered the two texts are closely related and have closely similar phrases:.citing the form in FN II, 'in Beleriand there arose a king, who was of Numenorean race, and he was named Elendil, that is Elf-friend'; the hosts of the Alliance 'pa.s.sed the mountains and came into inner lands far from the Sea', 'they came at last even to Mordor the Black Country, where Sauron... had rebuilt his fortresses'; 'Thu was thrown down, and his bodily shape destroyed, and his servants were dispelled, and the host of Beleriand destroyed his dwelling', 'Thu's spirit fled far away, and was hidden in waste places.' Moreover in both texts Gil-galad is descended from Feanor. The new element is the appearance of Elrond as the minstrel and counsellor of Gil- galad (in FN II $2 Elrond was the first King of Numenor, and a mortal; a conception now of course abandoned, with the emergence of Elros his brother, V.332, $28). There is no suggestion here that any sort of 'Council' was in progress: it seems rather that Elrond was recounting the tale to Bingo, as Trotter had said on Weathertop (p. 179): you will hear it, I think, in Rivendell, when we get there. Elrond should tell it, for he knows it well.' But an element survived into FR (II) Chapter 2, 'The Council of Elrond': Bingo's amazement at the vast age of Elrond, and Elrond's reply, naming his lineage and recollecting the hosts of the Last Alliance.(18) NOTES.
1. On this puzzling date see the Note on Chronology, p. 219.
2. the Ring: changed from that ring.
3. touching his right hand arith his left: on the wound having been originally in Bingo's right shoulder see p. 190.
4. 'No, I did' changed from 'Yes'. Cf. the original sketch of the story (p. 126): 'Gandalf had sent the water down with Elrond's permission.'
5. Rimbedir as the Elvish name for Trotter appears in the pencilled draft of the last chapter, p. ig8 note 5 (Padathir in the overwritten text in ink). This shows that the present text was written before my father had rewritten the last chapter, or at least before he had completed it. Later he replaced Rimbedir by Padathir in the present pa.s.sage. - By 'I also sent Rimbedir' Gandalf must mean that he sent Trotter to them at The Prancing Pony.
6. This pa.s.sage was changed in the following text to the form in FR (p. 234), i.e. 'you yourself were half in the wraith-world, and they might have seized you', with the words 'and subject to their weapons' removed.
7. From this point the ma.n.u.script was continued in rapid pencil.
8. the Dark Tower of Mordor: see note 17.
9. On the plural form dwarfs see V.277.
10. Gloin is missed out (so also in the third text, where his name was inserted subsequently). The companions of Thorin not named are (as in FR) Balin, Ori, and Oin.
11. It was Trotter that told me: Gandalf left a letter for Bingo at Bree before he left on Monday 26 September, and in this he said that he had 'learned some news on the may' (from Hobbiton): 'Pursuit is getting close: there are 7 at least, perhaps more' (p. 154). When my father wrote this he cannot have had in mind Trotter's meeting with Gandalf on the Road on the Sunday morning (pp. 149, 154), because the first Black Rider did not come to Bree until the Monday evening (pp. 151, 157). It was no doubt when he decided that Gandalf learnt about the Black Riders from Trotter that he added the pa.s.sages on p. 153, where Trotter says 'I first saw the Riders last Sat.u.r.day away west of Bree, before I ran across Gandalf', and on p. 154, where he says that their conversation also included the Black Riders.
12. more than a month (as in the first draft) replaced 30 odd days at the time of writing. See the Note on Chronology on p. 219.
13. The Elves of Rivendell are indeed descendants of his chief foes: the Gnomes, the Elvenwise ones: see p. 71.
14. My father added in pencil at the foot of the page, but it is impossible to say when: 'The Ring is another, and is becoming more and more important.'
15. Cf. The Hobbit, Chapter X 'A Warm Welcome': At the southern end [of the Long Lake) the doubled waters [of the Running River and the Forest River] poured out again over high waterfalls and ran away hurriedly to unknown lands. In the still evening air the noise of the falls could be heard like a distant roar.
16. An isolated note says: 'What of the sword of the Barrow-wights? Why did the Black Riders fear it? - because it belonged to Western Men.' Cf. The Two Towers III. 1, p. 17.
17. Elrond's statement here that Mirkwood is itself in Mordor, 'the Black Country', and that the forest 'derives its darkness from the ancient evil' of the time when Sauron had his fortress in that region is interesting. Both here and in the very similar pa.s.sage in the second version of The Fall of Numenor (V.29) Sauron is said to have 'rebuilt' his fortress(es) in Mordor, and I take this to mean that it was in Mordor that he established himself after the downfall of Morgoth and the destruction of Angband. That fortress was destroyed by the hosts of the Last Alliance; and in the first version of The Eall of Numenor (V.18) when Thu was defeated and his dwelling destroyed 'he fled to a dark forest, and hid himself.' In The Hobbit the 'dark tower' of the Necromancer was in southern Mirkwood. At the end of The Hobbit it is told that the white wizards 'had at last driven the Necromancer from his dark hold in the south of Mirkwood', but it is not said that it was destroyed. If 'it is on part of that dreary land [Mordor] that the Forest of Mirkwood now stands', it might be argued that (at this stage of the development of the story) Sauron had returned there, to 'the Dark Tower of Mordor' - in the south of Mirkwood. (There seems no positive evidence that the geography of Middle-earth had yet been extended south and east of the map of Wilderland in The Hobbit, beyond the conception of the Fiery Mountain, whose actual placing seems to be entirely vague; and it certainly cannot be a.s.sumed that my father yet conceived of the mountain-defended land of Mordor far away in the South-east.) But I do not think this at all probable. Not long after the point we have reached, my father wrote in the chapter 'Ancient History' (p. 253) that the Necromancer 'had flown from Mirkwood [i.e. after his expulsion by the white wizards] only to reoccupy his ancient stronghold in the South, near the midst of the world in those days, in the Land of Mordor; and it was rumoured that the Black Tower had been raised anew.' 'His ancient stronghold' was of course the fortress destroyed in the,War of the Last Alliance.
18. For previous references to the story of Gil-galad and Elendil in the texts thus far see pp. 169, 179, 192.
Note on the Chronology.
In the first draft of this chapter Gandalf tells Bingo when he wakes up in Elrond's house that it is the morning of October 24; but this seems to be at variance with all the indications of date that have been given. (October 24 is the date in FR, p. 231, but this was differently achieved.) At Weathertop there is one day's difference between the original chronology and that of FR: they reached it on October 5 in the old version, but on October 6 in FR (see p. 175). The hobbits came back to the Road again from the lands to the south, and crossed it, on the sixth day from Weathertop (p. 192), i.e. October i x, whereas in FR they took an extra day (contrast 'At the end of the fourth day the ground began once more to rise' in the old version, p. 191, with FR p. 212, 'At the end of the fifth day'): thus there is now a lag of two days between the two accounts, and in FR they came back to the Road and crossed the Last Bridge on October 13. In the hills to the north of the Road, on the other hand, they took a day longer in the old version (see p. 193), and thus came down out of the hills, and met Glorfindel, on the evening of the 17th (the 18th in FR). There are no further differences in respect of chronology in this chapter, and therefore in the original story they reached the Ford on October 19 (October 20 in FR). How then can it be the 24th of October when Bingo wakes in Rivendell, if, as Gandalf says, he was 'brought in last night'?
In the second and third versions of the opening of this chapter the date on which Bingo woke up in Elrond's house becomes October 26, and he says that it ought to be the 24th: 'unless I lost count somewhere, we must have reached the Ford on the 23rd.' Gandalf tells him that Elrond tended him for 'three nights and two days, to be exact. The Elves brought you to Rivendell at night on the 23rd, and that is where you lost your count'; and he refers to Bingo's having borne the splinter of the blade for 'fifteen days or more' (seventeen in FR). This does not help at all with the chronological puzzle, for in all the drafts for the opening of Chapter IX my father was a.s.suming that the hobbits reached the Ford on October 23, and not, as the actual narrative seems clearly to show, on October r g. It is equally odd that Gandalf should say that Bingo had borne the splinter of the blade for 'fifteen days or more', if the crossing of the Ford actually was on the 23rd and Elrond finally removed the shard 'last night' (October 25): the total should be 20 (October 6 to 25); in FR the number is seventeen days (October 7 to 23).