Part 13 (1/2)

There are other very roughly written texts giving a resume of a part of 'The Silmarillion' found among the papers at this point. They attempt to condense a much greater part of the history of the Elder Days than that strictly concerned with the story of Beren and Luthien, and have interesting features which must be mentioned, though their discussion scarcely falls within the history of the writing of The Lord of the Rings. Most notable is the following pa.s.sage: For as it is told the Blessed Realms of the West were illumined by the Two Trees, Galathilion the Silver Cherry, and Galagloriel that is Golden Rain. But Morgoth, the greatest of the Powers, made war upon the G.o.ds, and he destroyed the Trees, and fled. And he took with him the immortal gems, the Silmarils, that were made by the Elves of the light of the Trees, and in which alone now the ancient radiance of the days of bliss remained. In the north of the Middle-earth he set up his throne Angband, the Halls of Iron under Thangorodrim the Mountain of Thunder; and he grew in strength and darkness; and he brought forth the Orcs and goblins, and the Balrogs, demons of fire. But the High Elves of the West forsook the land of the G.o.ds and returned to the earth, and made war upon him to regain the jewels.

The names Galathilion and Caladloriel first appear in the Quenta Silmarillion (V.209 - 10) as the Gnomish names for Silpion and Laurelin. 'Silver Cherry' and 'Golden Rain' are not the actual meanings of the names (as seems to be implied here): see the Etymologies in Vol. V, stems GALAD- (where the form Galagloriel is also given), LAWAR-, THIL-. That the blossom of Silpion was like that of a cherry-tree, and the flowers of Laurelin like those of the laburnum ('Golden Rain') was however often said (see e.g. V.209). On Morgoth 'the greatest of the Powers' see V. 157 and note 4. Very curious is the statement here that when Morgoth returned to Middle-earth after the destruction of the Trees 'he brought forth the Orcs and goblins, and the Balrogs, demons of fire.' It was certainly my father's view at this period that the Orcs were then first engendered (see V. 233, $62 and commentary), but the Balrogs were far older in their beginning (V. 212, $18), and indeed came to rescue Morgoth from Ungoliante at the time of his return: 'to his aid there came the Balrogs that lived yet in the deepest places of his ancient fortress.'

The term 'High Elves' is here used to mean the Elves of Valinor, not, as in the Quenta Silmarillion, the First Kindred (Lindar, Vanyar): see V. 214, $25 and commentary.

A very surprising point is the mention, a little later in this text, of Finrod Inglor the fair (see p. 72). In the first edition of LR (Appendices) Finrod was still the name of third son of Finwe, as in the Quenta Silmarillion, and his son was Felagund (in QS also named Inglor); it was not till the second edition of 1966 that Finrod son of Finwe became Finarfin, and his son Inglor Felagund became Finrod Felagund.

In another of these drafts the minstrel of Doriath is named Iverin, not Dairon; see note 6.

10. My father first wrote here: 'upon their long grey hair were crowns and helms of pale gold'. This was no doubt changed at once, with the emergence immediately below of the tall king, a crown on his long hair. See p. 198 note 6.

11. For Morthu see V.393, stem THUS-.

My father's practice at this time of overwriting his first pencilled drafts largely denies the possibility of seeing the earliest forms of the narrative. In this chapter the underlying text can only be made out here and there and with great difficulty; but at least it can be seen that the opening pa.s.sage quickly declined into an abbreviated outline for the story. Trotter's tales were only to be concerned with animals of the wild; and then follows at once: 'Fight in dell', with a sketch in a few lines, scribbled down at great speed, of which however something can be disinterred: Bingo is tempted to put on ring. He does so. The riders [?come] at him. He sees them plain - fell white faces..... He draws his sword and it s.h.i.+nes like fire. They draw back but one Rider with long silver hair and a [? red hand] leaps forward. Bingo..... hears himself shouting Elbereth Gilthoniel..... struck at the leg of the Rider. He felt ..... cold [? pain] in the shoulder. There was a flash.....

The attack on the dell entered before the idea that Trotter should chant to them, and tell them a tale of ancient days; and the material of his tale remains in this ma.n.u.script in a very rough state, the primary stage of composition, obviously demanding the compression that it afterwards received.

More developed pencilled drafting takes up again from the point where Trotter comes to an end, and from what can be read it seems that the final story of the attack by the Ring-wraiths was now fully present. Then, apart from a few details (as that there are three Ring-wraiths, not five), the text written in ink on top of the draft achieved the finished story: no element in the potent scene, the fearful suspense on the cold hillside in the moonlight, the dark shapes looking down on the hobbits huddled round the fire, the irresistible demand on the Ringbearer to reveal himself, and the final revelation of what lay beneath the black cloaks of the Riders, is absent - and all is told virtually in the very words of The Fellows.h.i.+p of the Ring. The significance of the Ring, in its power to reveal and to be revealed, its operation as a bridge between two worlds, two modes of being, has been attained, once and for all.

The completeness, and the resonance, of this scene on Weathertop Hill is the more remarkable, when we consider that (in relation to The lard of the Rings as it was ultimately achieved) all was still extremely restricted in scope. If the nature of the Ring in its effect on the bearer was now fully conceived, there is as yet no suggestion that the fate of Middle- earth lay within its tiny circle. It is indeed far from certain that the idea of the Ruling Ring had yet arisen. Of the great lands and histories east and south of the Misty Mountains - of Lothlorien, Fangorn, Isengard, Rohan, the Numenorean kingdoms - there is no shadow of a hint. I very much doubt that when the Ring-wraiths rose up over the lip of the dell beneath Weathertop my father foresaw any more of the Journey than that the Ring must pa.s.s over the Mountains and find its end in the depths of the Fiery Mountain (p. 126). In October 1938 he could still say to Stanley Unwin (see p. 173) that he had hopes of being able to submit the new story early in the following year.

XI. FROM WEATHERTOP TO THE FORD.

The ma.n.u.script of the original Chapter VIII continues, without any break, in the same form, ink over pencil. While in the earlier part of this chapter I have given the full original text even in the concluding pa.s.sage, where there is scarcely any material difference from FR (since the attack of the Ring-wraiths is a scene of exceptional importance), in this part I do not do so throughout. The narrative is very close to that of FR Chapter 12, 'Flight to the Ford' (with a fair number of minor differences and some less minor), and for much of its length the wording almost the same. In those parts where the original text is not given, however, it can be understood that all differences of any significance are remarked. After it is told that the hobbits (Sam in FR) heard Bingo's voice crying out strange words, it is further said that they 'had seen a red flash; and Trotter came das.h.i.+ng up with flaming wood.' So also in the fragmentary outline given on pp. r 88 - g 'There was a flash'; but this is absent in FR. Perhaps the reference is to Bingo's sword that 'flickered redly as if it was a firebrand' (p. 186), a detail preserved in FR p. 208. Trotter's first return to the dell is slightly differently told, but this is chiefly because Sam's distrust of Strider is of course absent, and there is nothing in the old version corresponding to Strider's words to Sam apart (FR pp. 209-10). When Trotter lifted the black cloak from the ground he said only: 'That was the stroke of your sword. What harm it did to the Rider I do not know. Fire is better.'

Athelas is not said to have been brought by Men of the West to Middle- earth: 'it is a healing plant, known only to Elves, and to some of those who walk in the wild: athelas they name it.'(1) A curious detail is that when athelas was applied to Bingo's wound he 'felt the pain and the sense of frozen cold lessen in his right side'; and again later in the chapter 'his right arm was lifeless' (FR p. 215). Similarly, when Bingo drew his sword and faced the Riders at the Ford, my father first wrote: 'His sword he had hung at his right side; with his left hand he gripped the hilt and drew it', though this he struck out. He evidently decided that it was Bingo's left shoulder that was stabbed, and therefore wrote in the word 'left' in the description of the actual wounding (p. 186); but he did not correct the occurrences of 'right' just mentioned.

When they left the dell beneath Weathertop they took Gandalf's firewood with them ('For Trotter said that from now onwards fire-wood must always be a part of their stores, when they were away from trees'). Nothing is said of the rejuvenation of Bill Ferny's pony (if indeed it was Bill Ferny's, p. 175). The distant cries of Black Riders which they heard as they crossed the Road in FR (p. 211) are absent from the old version. The description of the eastward journey from Weathertop is at first fairly close to that in FR, though the timing is slightly different; but the geography was to be significantly altered. I give the pa.s.sage following the words 'Even Trotter seemed tired and dejected' (FR p. 212) in full.

Before the first day's march was over Bingo's pain began to grow again, but for a long time he did not speak of it. In this way three or four days pa.s.sed without the ground or the scene changing much, except that behind them Weathertop slowly sank, and before them the distant mountains loomed a little nearer. The weather remained dry, but was grey with cloud; and they were oppressed with the fear of pursuit. But of this there was no sign by day; and though they kept watch by night nothing happened. They dreaded to see black shapes stalking in the dim grey night under the waxing moon veiled by thin cloud; but they saw nothing, and heard nothing, but the sigh of withering leaves and gra.s.s. It seemed that, as they had hardly dared to hope, their swift crossing of the Road had not been marked, and their enemy had for the moment lost their trail.

At the end of the fourth day the ground began once more to rise slowly out of the wide shallow valley into which they had come. Trotter now bent their course again towards the north-east; and before long, as they reached the top of a slow-climbing slope, they saw ahead a huddle of wooded hills. Late on the fifth day they came to a ridge on which a few gaunt fir-trees stood. A little below them the Road could be seen curving away towards a small river that gleamed pale in a thin ray of suns.h.i.+ne, far away on their right. Next day, early in the morning, they again crossed the Road. Looking anxiously along it, westward and eastward, they hurried quickly across, and went towards the wooded hills.

Trotter was still leading them in as straight a line as the country allowed towards the distant Ford. In the hills their path would be more uncertain, but they could no longer keep to the south side of the Road, because the land became bare and stony and ahead lay the river. 'That river,' he said, 'comes down out of the Mountains, and flows through Rivendell.(2) It is not wide, but it is deep and strong, being fed by the many small torrents that come out of the wooded hills. Over these the Road goes by little fords or bridges; but there is no ford or bridge over the river until we come to the Ford under the Mountains.' The hobbits looked at the dark hills ahead, and though they were glad to leave the cheerless lands behind them, the land ahead seemed threatening and unfriendly.

In the developed geography, the Road traverses two rivers between Weathertop and Rivendell: the h.o.a.rwell or Mitheithel that flowed down out of the Ettenmoors, crossed by the Last Bridge, and the Loudwater or Bruinen, crossed by the Ford of Rivendell; these rivers joined a long way to the south, becoming the Greyflood. In the original story, on the other hand, there is only one river, not named, flowing down through Rivendell and crossed at the Ford.

In FR the travellers came down, early in the morning on the seventh day out from Weathertop, to the Road (i.e. approaching it from the south), and went along it for a mile or two to the Last Bridge, where Strider found the elf-stone lying in the mud; they crossed the bridge, and after a further mile turned off the Road to the left and went up into the hills. In the original story, they came to the Road early on the sixth day and crossed it, going up into the hills; there is no river (h.o.a.rwell) and no bridge. Some sort of explanation is given why they had to cross the Road here and stay no longer to the south of it: 'the land became bare and stony and ahead lay the river.' But the fact of there being no ford or bridge over the river except that below Rivendell only meant that that is where they would have to cross; it does not in itself explain why they could not stay south of the Road until they got there. Thus it is only the 'bare and stony' nature of the land south of the Road that really offers an explanation: Trotter sought to pa.s.s through country that provided more concealment? The 'real' explanation, it might be said, why they crossed the Road and went up into the wooded hills is quite other: my father had already suggested, when sketching out the story from the Barrow-downs to Rivendell (p. 126), that the hobbits should 'foolishly turn aside to visit Troll Stones'. On the other hand, Trotter was taking the straightest line to the Ford that he could (p. 191), and the sketches on p. 201 show clearly that the great southward loop of the Road (already mentioned in the original text, p. 199) must force him to cross it and go up into the hills to the north. - On the different chronology in the two versions see the Note on Chronology, p. 219.

When they came into the hills, the conversation with Trotter arising from their sight of the ruined towers is somewhat different from that with Strider in FR (pp. 213 - 14): 'Who lives in this land?' he [Bingo] asked; 'and who built these towers? Is this troll-country?'

'No,' said Trotter; 'trolls do not build. No one lives in this land. Men once dwelt here, ages ago. But none now remain. They were an evil people, as far as tales and legends tell; for they came under the sway of the Dark Lord. It is said that they were overthrown by Elendil, as King of Western Men, who aided Gilgalad, when they made war on the Dark Lord.(3) But that was so long ago that the hills have forgotten them, though a shadow still lies on the land.'

'Where did you learn such tales?' asked Frodo, 'if all the land is empty and forgetful? The birds and beasts do not tell tales of that sort.

'Many things are remembered in Rivendell,' said Trotter.

'Have you often been to Rivendell?' said Bingo.

'I have,' said Trotter; 'many a time; and I wonder now that I was ever so foolish as to leave it. But it is not my fate to sit quiet, even in the fair house of Elrond.'

The journey in the hills north of the Road had lasted for three days when the weather turned to rain, but two in FR (p. 214); thus the shorter journey from Weathertop till the return to the Road is made up, though there is still a difference of one day, since they had reached Weathertop a day earlier in the original story (p. 175): as I understand it, the first morning after the rain (FR p. 215) was in the old version that of October 16, but in FR that of October 17. When the rain stopped, on the eleventh day from Weathertop, and Trotter climbed up to see the lie of the land, he said when he came back: 'We have got too far to the North; and we must find some way to turn southwards, or at least sharp to the East. If we keep on as we are going, we shall get into impa.s.sable country among the skirts of the Mountains. Somehow or other we must strike the Road again before it reaches the Ford. But even if we manage that fairly quickly, we still cannot hope to get to Rivendell for some days yet, four or even five I fear.'

In the night spent up on the ridge (FR pp. 215 - 16) Sam's questioning of Strider concerning Frodo's wound is given to Merry; and Frodo's dream that 'endless dark wings were sweeping over him, and that on the wings rode pursuers seeking for him in all the hollows of the hills' is present. It is not said in the original text that 'the trees about him seemed shadowy and dim', nor on the following day that 'a mist seemed to obscure his sight' (FR pp. 215, 217); but later, when Glorfindel searched Bingo's wound with his finger (FR p. 223), 'he saw his friends' faces more clearly, though all day he had been troubled by the feeling that a shadow or a mist was coming between him and them.'

When they came to the old trolls turned to stone, 'Trotter walked forward unconcernedly. ”Hullo, William!” he said, and slapped the stooping troll soundly.' And he said: '”In any case you might have noticed that Bert has got a bird's nest behind his ear.”' In FR the trolls' names from The Hobbit were excluded.

After 'They rested in the clearing for a while, and had their midday meal right under the shadow of the trolls' large legs' the original narrative goes straight on with 'In the afternoon they went on down through the woods'; there is no suggestion that the Troll Song would be introduced here (see p.144). Their return to the Road is thus described: Eventually they came out upon the top of a high bank above the Road. This was now beginning to bend rather away from the river, and clung to the feet of the hills, some way up the side of the narrow valley at the bottom of which the river ran. Not far from the borders of the Road Trotter pointed out a stone in the gra.s.s; on it roughly cut and much weathered could still be seen two runic letters G B in a circle: (X B) 'That,' he said, 'is the stone that once marked the place where Gandalf and Bilbo hid the trolls' gold.' Bingo looked at it - rather sadly: Bilbo and he himself had long ago spent all that gold.

The Road, bending now northward, lay quiet under the shadows of early evening. There was no sign of any other travellers to be seen.

Only minor differences (except in one matter) are to be recorded in the encounter with Glorfindel: the whole scene was present, and in very much the same words, from the beginning. The sentence in FR (p. 221) 'To Frodo it appeared that a white light was s.h.i.+ning through the form and raiment of the rider, as if through a thin veil' is absent.(4) To Trotter Glorfindel cried out: Ai Padathir, Padathir! Mai govannen!(5) But it is not said subsequently that he spoke to Trotter 'in the elf-tongue' (FR p. 224); rather he spoke 'in a low tone.' The drink that Glorfindel gave them instantly reminded the hobbits of the drink in Bombadil's house, 'for the drink they took was refres.h.i.+ng like spring-water, but filled them also with a sense of warm vigour.' 'Cram-cake' is mentioned together with the stale bread and dried fruit which is all they had to eat.

The conversation with Glorfindel on the road is different from that in FR (p. 222), for the number of the Black Riders was not known to anybody at this stage (not even to my father), and in FR Gandalf had not yet reached Rivendell when Glorfindel and others were sent out by Elrond nine days before - Elrond having heard news from the Elves led by Gildor whom the hobbits encountered in the s.h.i.+re. The element of Glorfindel's leaving the jewel on the Last Bridge is also of course absent (p.192) 'This is Glorfindel, one of those that dwell in Rivendell,' said Trotter. 'He has news for us.'

'Hail and well met at last! ' said Glorfindel to Bingo. 'I was sent from Rivendell to look on the Road for your coming. Gandalf was anxious and afraid, for unless something evil had befallen you, you should have come there days ago.'

'We have not been on the Road for many, many days until this day,' said Bingo.

'Well, now you must return to it, and go with all speed,' said Glorfindel. 'A day's swift riding back westward there is a company of evil hors.e.m.e.n, and they are travelling this way with all the haste that frequent search of the land upon either side of the Road allows them. You must not halt here, nor anywhere tonight, but must journey on as long and far as you are able. For when they find your trail, where it rejoined the Road, they will search no longer but ride after you like the wind. I do not think they will miss your footsteps where the path runs down from Trolls-wood; for they have a dreadful skill in hunting by scent, and darkness helps and does not hinder them.'

'Then why must we go on now by night, against the warning of Gandalf?'asked Merry.

'Do not fear Gandalf's warning now,' answered Glorfindel. 'Speed is your chief hope; and now I will go with you. And I do not think that there is any peril ahead; but the pursuit is hard behind.'

'But Bingo is wounded and sick and weary,' said Merry. 'He should not ride any more without rest! '

Glorfindel shook his head and looked grave, when he heard the account of the attack upon the dell under Weathertop, and the hurt to Bingo's arm. He looked at the knife-hilt that Trotter had kept, and now drew out to show him. He shuddered.

'There are evil things written on that hilt,' he said, 'though maybe they are not for your eyes to see. Keep it till we get to Rivendell, Padathir, but be wary, and handle it as little as you may.'

The chief structural difference in the narrative of this chapter from that in FR appears in Glorfindel's words 'I do not think that there is any peril ahead'; contrast FR (p. 222): 'There are five behind us... Where the other four may be, I do not know. I fear that we may find the Ford is already held against us.'

Only three Riders (at first) came out of the tree-hung cutting through which the Road pa.s.sed before the flat mile to the Ford, not five as in FR (p. 225). The story is the same that Bingo halted, feeling the command of the Riders upon him to wait, but filled with sudden hatred drew his sword; and that Glorfindel cried to his horse, so that it sped away towards the Ford. But all the Riders were behind; there was no ambush by four of them lying in wait at the Ford. The conclusion of the chapter I give in full.

'Ride on! Ride on!' cried Glorfindel and Trotter; and then Glorfindel spoke a word in the elf-tongue: nora-lim, nora-lim. At once the white horse sprang away and sped along the last lap of the Road. At the same moment the black horses of the Riders leaped down in pursuit; and others following came flying out of the wood. Bingo looking back over his shoulder thought he could count [as many as twelve >] at least seven. They seemed to run like the wind, and to grow swiftly larger and darker as they overtook him stride by stride. He could no longer see his friends. Through them and over them the Riders must now be hurtling. Bingo turned and lay forward, encouraging with urgent words. The Ford still seemed far ahead. Once more he looked back. It seemed to him that the Riders had cast aside their hoods and black cloaks; they appeared now to be robed in white and grey. Swords were in their pale hands, helm and crown were on their heads;(6) their cold eyes glittered from afar.

Fear now swallowed up Bingo's mind. He thought no longer of his sword. No cry came from him. He shut his eyes and clung to the mane of the horse. The wind whistled in his ears, and wildly the bells rang, clear and shrill. It seemed bitter cold.

Suddenly he heard the splash of water. It foamed about his feet. He felt the stumbling scramble of the horse as it struggled up the stony path, climbing the steep further bank of the river. He was across the Ford! But the Riders were now hard behind.

At the top of the bank the horse halted snorting. Bingo turned about and opened his eyes. [Struck out as soon as written: Forgetting that the horse belonged to the folk of Rivendell and knew all that land, he determined to face his enemies, thinking it useless to] He felt that it was useless to try to escape over the long uncertain path from the Ford to the lip of Rivendell - if once the Riders crossed. Though they had all thought of the Ford as the goal of their flight and the end of peril, it came to him now that he knew of nothing that would prevent the dread Riders from crossing as easily as he. In any case he felt now commanded urgently to halt, and though again hatred stirred in him he had no longer the strength to refuse. He saw the horse of the foremost Rider check at the water, and rear up. With a great effort he stood in his stirrups and brandished his sword.

'Go back! ' he cried. 'Go back to the Dark Lord and follow me no more.'(7) His voice sounded shrill in his ears. The Riders halted, but Bingo had not the power of Tom Bombadil(8). They laughed - a harsh chilling laughter. 'Come back! Come back! ' they called. 'To Mordor we will take you.'(9) 'Go back,' he whispered. 'The Ring, the Ring,' they cried with deadly voices, and immediately their leader rode forward into the water, closely followed by two others. 'By Elbereth and Luthien the fair,'(10) said Bingo with a last effort, lifting up his sword, 'you shall have neither me nor it.' Then the leader, who was now half across the river, stood up menacing in his stirrup and raised up his hand. Bingo grew dumb; he felt his tongue cleave to his mouth, and his eyes grow misty. His sword broke and fell out of his shaking hand. The horse under him reared and snorted, as the foremost of the black horses came near the sh.o.r.e.