Part 28 (2/2)

'Then you know of Moria?' said Frodo, looking at him in surprise.

'Yes, I know of the mines,' said Trotter quietly. 'I went there once, and the memory is evil; but if you want to know, I was always in favour of trying that way rather than an open pa.s.s(40) I will follow Gandalf - though I should have followed him more willingly if we could have come to the gate of Moria more secretly.' 'Well, come now,' said Gandalf. 'I would not put such a choice to you, if there were any hope in other roads, or any hope in retreat. Will you try Moria, or go back to Rivendell?'

'We must risk the Mines,' said Frodo.

As I have said, it is remarkable how substantially the structure of the story was achieved at the very beginning, while the differences in the dramatis personae are so great. It is indeed very curious, that before my father had even written the first complete draft of 'The Council of Elrond' he had decided that the Company should include an Elf and a Dwarf (p. 397), as seems now so natural and inevitable, and yet in 'The Ring Goes South' we have only Gandalf and Boromir and five hobbits (one of whom, admittedly, is the most unusually far-travelled and widely experienced Trotter).

But as often in the history of The Lord of the Rings much of the earliest writing remained, for example in the detail of conversation, and yet such conversation appears later s.h.i.+fted into new contexts, given to different speakers, and acquiring new resonance as the 'world' and its history grew and expanded. A striking example is given in note 8, where in the original text 'Trotter sat with his head bowed to his knees' as they waited to depart from Rivendell, while in FR 'Aragorn sat with his head bowed to his knees; only Elrond knew fully what this hour meant to him.' The question presents itself: what is really the relation between Trotter = Peregrin Boffin and Strider = Aragorn?

It would obviously not be true to say merely that there was a role to be played in the story, and that at first this role was played by a Hobbit but afterwards by a Man. In particular cases, looked at narrowly without the larger context, this might seem a sufficient or nearly sufficient account: the necessary or fixed action was that Sam Gamgee's companion should hiss 'Lie flat and still' and pull him down into the shade of a holly-bush (p. 420, FR p. 298). But this says very little. I would be inclined to think that the original figure (the mysterious person who encounters the hobbits in the inn at Bree) was capable of development in different directions without losing important elements of his 'ident.i.ty' as a recognisable character - even though the choice of one direction or another would lead to quite different historical and racial 'ident.i.ties' in Middle- earth. So Trotter was not simply switched from Hobbit to Man - though such a switch could take place in the case of Mr. b.u.t.terbur with very little disturbance. Rather, he had been potentially Aragorn for a long time; and when my father decided that Trotter was Aragorn and was not Peregrin Boffin his stature and his history were totally changed, but a great deal of the 'indivisible' Trotter remained in Aragorn and determined his nature.

It may also be thought that in the story of the attempt on Cris-caron Trotter is diminished from the role he had played in the narrative of the journey from Bree to Rivendell, in which, though a hobbit, he is set altogether apart from the others, a wise and resourceful leader of great experience in whom all their hope rests. Now, in these physical circ.u.mstances, and beside Boromir, he is one of the helpless 'little folk', as Boromir says, to be set on a pony. Of course, this question cannot be approached without hindsight; if Trotter had in fact remained a hobbit in The Lord of the Rings it would not arise. Yet considerations along these lines may have been an element in the decision about him which my father would now shortly take.

NOTES.

1. An isolated page, certainly of this time, does give a preliminary sketch of the pa.s.sage that begins approximately at 'As the light grew stronger' on p. 426. The writing is at the extreme limit of legibility, in rapid pencil now very faint.

Grey light grew revealing a snow... world in which the path by which they had climbed could scarcely be seen. The snow was no longer falling but the sky threatened more to come.

'The sooner we move and begin to get down the better,' said Gandalf. This was easier said than done. Hobbits. One on each journey. [Struck out: Boromir carries Frodo (.. precious burden).] Boromir and Gandalf go ahead and feel the way. In places Boromir vanished almost to his neck. They began to despair for the snow was soft.......... With great labour they had gone only 1/4 mile down and were all getting exhausted. But suddenly they found the snow less thick - 'even that seems to have been specially aimed at us' said Gandalf. Boromir strode ahead and came back reporting that it was [?soon only white]. At lact when daylight was broad they came back to places almost clear of snow.

G. points out the place they had started from the evening before. Council. What is to be done. Moria.

The page continues with some preliminary strokes for the scene outside the West Gate of Moria; see p. 444.

2. Dates were put in marginally against this sentence: 'Nov. 7th?' and 'Nov. 10 - 11'; in addition, 'a fortnight' was changed to '3 weeks' and 'a week old or more' to 'nearly 2 weeks old'.

3. After 'as far as' my father first wrote Dimbar, perhaps intending 'Dimbar in the Dimrill-dales'. The name Dimbar had appeared in the Quenta Silmarillion (V.261), of the empty land between the rivers Sirion and Mindeb.

For this application of Dimrill-dale(s) (north of Rivendell) see p. 360. When the name Dimrill-dale was transferred southwards and to the other side of the Misty Mountains it was replaced in the north by h.o.a.rdale, and this name was pencilled later on the text here.

4. This is the first occurrence of the names Cladden (River) and Gladden Fields. The river had been shown on the Map of Wilderland in The Hobbit, with marshy land at its confluence with the Great River, suggesting a region where 'gladdens' would grow.

At the foot of the page is a note that applies to the names in this pa.s.sage: 'These names are given in Hobbit [fas.h.i.+on >] translation. Their real names were Tum Dincelon; Arad .Dain (Annerchin); Crandir Redway; and Palathrin (Palath = Iris).' Tum Dincelon is Dimrill-dale, in the original application (note 3). I do not understand the reference of 'Arad Dain (Annerchin)'. My father first wrote Tar and struck it out before writing Arad. For the names of the River Redway see note 15. In the Etymologies the Noldorin word palath = 'surface' (V. 380).

5. Cf. the Map of Wilderland in The Hobbit; 'Goblin Gate and Eyrie.'

6. According to The Tale of Years in LR (Appendix B) the Company left Rivendell on 25 December.

7. This pa.s.sage was rewritten over and over again, and it is impossible to interpret the sequence precisely: but it is clear that my father first envisaged the Company as mounted, with Boromir's 'great brown horse', Gandalf's white horse, and seven ponies, five for the five hobbits, and two pack-animals (see note 25). An intermediate stage saw Boromir alone on foot: 'There were ponies for all the hobbits to ride where the road allowed, and Gandalf of course had his horse; but Boromir strode on foot, as he had come. The men of his race did not ride horses.' The text printed is certainly the final formulation at this stage, and is of course different from that in FR (p. 293), where the sole beast of burden was Bill Ferny's pony, whom Sam called Bill.

8. Cf. FR p. 293: 'Aragorn sat with his head bowed to his knees; only Elrond knew fully what this hour meant to him.' See p. 430.

9. This is the first occurrence of Hollin; but the Elvish name Eregion does not appear. In the Etymologies (V.356) the Elvish name of Hollin is Regornion. - In FR (p. 296) Gandalf says that they have come 45 leagues, but that was as the crow flies: 'many long miles further our feet have walked.'

10. See the Note on Geography, pp. 440- 1.

11. At the first occurrence the name of the 'red horn mountain' was replaced over and over again: first it was Bliscarn, then Carnbeleg or Ruddyhorn, then, Tarager see the Etymoloies, V.391); also written on the margins of the page are Caradras = Ruddihorn, and Rhascaron. All these names appear on the contemporary map (p. 439). At the next occurrence Carnbeleg was replaced by Taragaer, and subsequently the name first written was Caradras replaced by Taragaer, and finally Taragaer. I give Taragaer throughout, as being apparently the preferred name at this stage. Changes made in red ink at some later stage brought back Caradras.

12. On the dividing of the Misty Mountains into an eastern and a western arm see the Note on Geography, p. 438. My father wrote here first 'the great vale', and the replacement word is probably but not certainly 'land'.

13. The name of the vale was first Carndoom the Red Valley; above was written Carondun and Doon-Caron, but these were struck out. Elsewhere on this page is Narodum = Red Vale; and the name in the text was corrected in red ink to Dimrill-dale: Nanduhiriath (in FR Nanduhirion). On the former application of Dimrill-dale see note 3. At subsequent occurrences the name is Carndoom, Caron-doom, Caron-dun, Dun Caron, and at the last the name was replaced in red ink by Gla.s.smere in Dimrilldale (note 37). Among these forms, all meaning 'Red Valley', I have rather arbitrarily chosen Caron-dun to stand as the consistent form in the text.

14. The name of the pa.s.s was first written Criscarn, with Cris-caron as a rejected alternative; at subsequent occurrences both appear, but with the preference to Cris-caron (also Cris-carron, Cris Caron), which I adopt. Dimrill-stair replaces it twice in red ink, in the present pa.s.sage thus: 'over the pa.s.s that was [read is] called Dimrill-stair (Pendrethdulur) under the side of Caradras.' The pa.s.s was afterwards called the Redhorn Gate, the Dimrill-stair being the descent from the pa.s.s on the eastern side; cf. note 21. With Pendrethdulur cf. the Etymologies, V.380, pendrath 'pa.s.sage up or down a slope, stairway'.

15. The River Redway, the later Silverlode, has been referred to in an outline dated August 1939 (p. 381), and at its occurrence at the beginning of the chapter the Elvish name Crandir is given (note 4). Here, above Redway, are written the names Rathgarn (struck out); Rathcarn; Nenning (struck out); and Caradras or Redway. Written in the margin is also Narosir = Redway. At this time Nenning had not yet appeared in The Silmarillion and the Annals of Beleriand as the name of the river in Beleriand west of Narog, .which was still called Eglor. In red ink the name Celebrin was subst.i.tuted (Celebrant in FR). The river is called Caradras on the contemporary map (p. 439).

16. It was said in the outline given on p. 410 that Beleghir the Great River divided into many channels in Fangorn Forest. See the map, p. 439.

17. While in FR (p. 298) Aragorn says that he has seen hawks flying high up, he does not say, as Trotter does here, 'That would account for the silence.'

18. southwards: changed in pencil from northwards.

19. It was now 28 November (since they walked for three nights after this and attempted Cris-caron on 2 December, pp. 422, 424). In notes on phases of the Moon (found on the back of a page in the previous section of this ma.n.u.script) my father gave the following dates, showing that on the night of the 28th the Moon was in its first quarter: 20. This incident was retained in FR, but it is not explained. The Winged Nazgul had not yet crossed the River (The Two Towers pp. 101, 201).

21. As written in ink, and before changes in pencil produced the pa.s.sage given, Gandalf said: 'Winter is behind. There is snow coming. In fact it has come. The peaks behind are whiter than they were.' Trotter's reply is the same, but he ends: 'we may get caught in a blizzard before we get over the pa.s.s.' In the margin my father wrote: '? Cut out prophecy of snow - let it come suddenly.' He struck this out, but the pa.s.sage as emended makes the threat of snow seem less certain.

The words 'on our way to the red pa.s.s of Cris-caron' were emended in red ink to 'on our way up the Dimrill-stair'; see note 14.

22. My father first wrote here (emending it to the text given at the time of writing): 'But we have to go on, and we have to cross the mountains here or go back. The pa.s.ses further south are too far away, and were all guarded years ago - they lead straight into the country of the [Beardless Men Mani Aroman >] Hors.e.m.e.n.' In the rewritten pa.s.sage, the reference to the pa.s.ses further south is removed, but it reappears a little later: 'further south the pa.s.ses are held' (cf. FR p. 300: Further south there are no pa.s.ses, till one comes to the Gap of Rohan').

Before the name Rohan was reached several others were written, Thanador, Ulthanador, Borthendor, Orothan[ador]. After Rohan is written: [= Rochan(dor) = Horseland]. This is unquestionably the point at which the name Rohan arose. Cf. the Etymologies, V.384: Quenya rokko, Noldorin roch, horse.

A scribble in the margin seems to change 'The Horse-kings have long been in the service of Sauron' to 'Rohan where the Horsekings or Horselords are.' Cf. FR p. 300: 'Who knows which side now the inarshals of the Horse-lords serve?'

23. In the original story Trotter favoured the pa.s.sage of Moria and Gandalf the pa.s.s; in FR (p. 300) it was Aragorn who favoured the pa.s.s.

24. This pa.s.sage, from 'Trotter and I have doubts of the weather', is a rewriting in pencil of a much longer pa.s.sage in which Gandalf introduced at this point the subject of Moria. Gandalf says: 'Trotter thinks we are likely to be caught in a heavy snow-storm before we get across [see note 21]. I think we shall have to attempt it, all the same. But there is another way, or there used to be. I don't know whether you have heard of the Mines of Moria, or the Black [Pit >] Gulf?'

Gandalf then describes Moria; and after this the original text continues: The hearts of the travellers sank at his words. All of them would have voted at once for the cold and perils of the high pa.s.s rather than for the black gulfs of Moria. But Gandalf did not ask for a vote. After a silence he said: 'There is no need to ask you to decide. I know which way you would choose, and I choose the same. We will try the pa.s.s.'

The introduction of Moria was postponed until after the Company had been forced back from the pa.s.s by the snowstorm; and Gandalf's words about it reappear there in closely similar form (see p. 429 and note 38). The second occurrence of the pa.s.sage is in ink and an integral part of the chapter.

25. 'pack ponies' is a pencilled emendation from 'horses and ponies'; see note 7. But when the travellers halt under the overhanging cliff the reference to 'the two ponies' (p.424) is in the text as first written.

26. This sentence was marked with a query and enclosed within square brackets at the time of writing. Later my father wrote here: 'Not all evil things are Sauron['s]', and 'The hawks' (referring presumably to the hawks which Trotter saw high up over Hollin, and said 'accounted for the silence', p. 420); and in the margin: 'Gimli says Caradras had an ill name even in days when Sauron was of little account' (see FR p. 303).

27. As first written (but at once rejected) the content of these speeches (from '”This is hopeless,” said Gandalf. ”You can call it the wind if you like...”') was more condensed and was given entirely to Gandalf.

28. In the same pa.s.sage in FR (p. 303) the date is 12 January; the Company had left Rivendell on 25 December, and so had been in the wilderness for nineteen nights. But in the original story the journey was shorter: 'when they had been about ten days on the road the weather grew better' (p. 418), whereas FR (p. 295) has 'a fortnight'.

29. This sentence replaced (probably at once): 'But the snow continued to fall unrelenting, and at length Gandalf had to admit that being buried in snow was at the moment the chief danger.' With the words had to admit cf. notes 23 and 30.

30 'Trotter' was changed in pencil to 'Gandalf'. In the context of the story at this stage Trotter would be the more likely to say this (see notes 23 and 29), but in the rough preliminary draft given in note 1 it is said by Gandalf.

31. My father pencilled here: 'Boromir knows snow from the Black Mountains. He was born a mountaineer'; but he struck this out. It is said in the outline given on p. 410 that Fangorn Forest extended up to the Black Mountains (changed from Blue Mountains, which are referred to on the contemporary map).

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