Boromir takes Frodo apart and talks to him. Begs to see Ring again. Evil enters into his heart and he tries to daunt Frodo and then to take it by force. Frodo is obliged to slip it on to escape him. (What does he see then - cloud all round him getting nearer and many fell voices in air?)
Frodo seeing that evil has entered into the Company dare not stay and does not want to imperil hobbits or others. He flies. His loss is not discovered for some time because of Boromir's lies. (Boromir says he has climbed a tree and will be coming back soon?) The hunt eventually fails because Frodo went a long way invisible.
The search. Sam is lost. He tries to track Frodo and comes on Gollum. He follows Gollum and Gollum leads him to Frodo. Frodo hears following feet. And flies. But Sam comes up too to his surprise. The two are too much for Gollum. Gollum is daunted by Frodo - who has a power over him as Ringbearer. (But use of Ring proves bad since it re-establishes power of Ring over Frodo after his cure. At end he cannot willingly part with it.)
Gollum pleads for forgiveness and feigns reform. They make him lead them through the Dead Marshes. (Green faces in the pools.) Lithlad Plain of Ash. The Searching Eye of Barad-dur (a single light in a high window).
* At point where Sam, Frodo and Gollum meet return to others - for whose adventures see later. But they should be told at this point.
The Gap of Gorgoroth not far from Fire Mountain. There are Orc guard-towers on either side of Gorgoroth.(3) They see a host of evil led by Black Riders. Gollum betrays Frodo. He is beaten off, but escapes shrieking to the Black Riders. The Black Riders now have taken form of demonic eagles and fly before host, or [? take eagle-like] vulture birds as steeds.
Frodo toils up Mountain to find Crack.
Rumour of Battle had already reached Frodo, Sam and Gollum. (That is why the host of Mordor was riding out.) While Frodo is toiling up Mountain he looks back and sees Battle gathering. He hears faint sound of horns in the hills. A great dust where the Horsemen are coming. Thunder from Baraddur and a black storm comes up on an East wind. Frodo wonders what is happening but has no hope that he himself can be saved. The Ringwraiths swoop back. They have heard Gollum's cries.
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?
Function for Sam? Is he to die? (He said there is something I have to do before [I die >] the end.)(4)
Sam could get hold of the Ring. Frodo betrayed by Gollum and taken by orcs (?) to Minas Morgol.(5) They take his ring and find it is no good; they put him in a dungeon, and threaten to send him to Baraddur.
How can Sam get hold of Ring? He keeps watch at night and hears Gollum muttering to himself, words of hatred for Frodo. He draws his sword and leaps on Gollum, [?dragging] him off. He tries to [insert utter] horrible words over Frodo - incanta- tion of sleep. A spider charm, or does Gollum get spiders' help? There is a ravine, a spiders' glen, they have to pass at entrance to Gorgoroth. Gollum gets spiders to put spell of sleep on Frodo. Sam drives them off. But cannot wake him. He then gets idea of taking Ring. He sits beside Frodo. Gollum betrays Frodo to the Orc-guard. They are overwhelmed and Sam knocked silly with a club. He puts on Ring and follows Frodo. (A ring from Mazarbul would be useful.)(6)
Sam comes and uses Ring. Passes into Morgol and finds Frodo. Frodo feels hatred of Sam and sees him as an orc. But suddenly the orc speaks and holds out Ring and says: Take it. Then Frodo sees it is Sam. They creep out. Frodo is unable.... Sam dresses up like an orc.
They escape but Gollum follows.
It is Sam that wrestles with Gollum and [? throws] him finally in the gulf.
How are Sam and Frodo saved from the eruption?(7)
An additional passage, but contemporary with the rest, is marked for insertion to this part of the outline.
When Ring melts Dark Tower falls or is buried in ash. A great black cloud and shadow floats away east on a rising west wind. (The smell and sound of the Sea?)
Eruption. The forces of Mordor flee and Horsemen of Rohan pursue.
Frodo standing on side of Fire Mountain holds up sword. He now commands Ringwraiths and bids them be gone. They fall to earth and vanish like wisps of smoke with a terrible wail.
How is Frodo (and Sam) saved from Eruption?
Story turns for a while - after first meeting of Sam, Frodo and Gollum - to others.
Owing to Boromir's treachery and Frodo's use of Ring the
hunt fails. Merry and Pippin are distracted by loss of Sam and Frodo. They themselves get lost following echoes. They come to Entwash and the Topless Forest,(8) and fall in with Treebeard and his Three Giants.
Legolas and Gimli also get lost and get captured by Saruman.?
Boromir and Aragorn (who notes a change in Boromir - who is keen to break off the chase and go home) reach Minas Tirith, which is besieged by Sauron except at back. ? Siege is briefly told from point of view of watchers on battlements. Evil has now hold of Boromir who is jealous of Aragorn. The Lord of Minas Tirith is slain (9) and they choose Aragorn. Boromir deserts and sneaks off to Saruman, to get his help in becoming Lord of Minas Tirith.
How does Gandalf reappear?
All this section, concerned with the 'western story', was struck out and replaced, immediately, by a fuller and altered version, in which the idea that Legolas and Gimli were captured by Saruman is rejected and their new story is linked to the reappearance of Gandalf.
Story turns for a while to the others - ? after first meeting of Sam, Frodo and Gollum.
(one chapter) Owing to Boromir's treachery and Frodo's use of Ring the hunt fails. Aragorn is overwhelmed with grief, thinking he has failed trust as Gandalf's successor. Merry and Pippin are distracted by losing Sam and Frodo, and wandering far (deluded by echoes) they also get lost. Merry and Pippin come up Entwash into Fangorn and have adventure with Treebeard.
Treebeard turns out a decent giant. They tell him their tale. He is very perturbed by news of Saruman, and more so by the fall of Gandalf. He won't go near Mordor. He offers to carry them to Rohan and perhaps Minas Tirith. They set off.
(one chapter) Boromir, Aragorn, and Legolas and Gimli.
Legolas feels the Company is broken up, and Gimli has no more heart. The four part. Aragorn and Boromir to Minas Tirith, Legolas and Gimli north. Legolas means to join Elves of Lothlorien for a while. Gimli means to go back up Anduin to Mirkwood and so home. They journey together. Legolas and Gimli both sing laments. Suddenly they meet Gandalf!
Gandalf's story. Overcame Balrog. The gulf was not deep (only a kind of moat and was full of silent water). He followed the channel and got down into the Deeps. ?? Clad himself in Mithril-mail and fought his way out slaying many trolls.
[?Does] Gandalf shine in the sun. He has a new power after overcoming of Balrog? He is now clad in white.
Gandalf is dreadfully downcast at the news of the loss of Frodo. He hastens south again with Legolas and Gimli.
(one chapter) Inside Minas Tirith. Aragorn began to suspect Boromir at the time of the loss of Frodo. A sudden change seems to come over Boromir. He is anxious to go away home at once and not look for Frodo.
Minas Tirith is besieged by Sauron's forces that have crossed Anduin at Osgiliath, and by Saruman who is come up in rear. There seems no hope. Evil has now got complete hold of Boromir. The Lord of Minas Tirith is slain. They choose Aragorn as chief. Boromir is jealous and enraged - he deserts and sneaks off to Saruman, seeking his aid in getting lordship.
> At this point the siege must be broken by Gandalf with Legolas and Gimli and by Treebeard. (But not too much fighting or it will spoil last battle of Gorgoroth.) Gandalf might simply walk through lines, or else have a contest with Saruman. Treebeard walks through. They see a huge tree walking over plain.
Saruman shuts himself up in Isengard.
Sally from Minas Tirith. Gandalf drives Black Riders back and takes crossing of Anduin at Osgiliath. Horsemen ride behind him to Gorgoroth. Hear a great wind and see flames out of Fire Mountain.
Somehow or other Frodo and Sam must be found in Gorgor- oth. Possibly by Merry and Pippin. (If any one of the hobbits is slain it must be the cowardly Pippin doing something brave. For instance -
Here the outline breaks off, but after a large space continues again lower down on the same page, and now with numbered chapters, beginning at 'XXVI'. Since 'Moria (ii)' was XVII, my father envisaged eight further chapters to this point.
After fall of Mordor. They return to Minas Tirith. Feast. Aragorn comes to meet them. Moon rises [?on] Minas Morgol.
XXVI Aragorn looks out and sees moon rise over Minas Morgol. He remains behind - and becomes Lord of Minas Ithil. What about Boromir? Does he repent? [Written later in margin: No - slain by Aragorn.]
Gandalf calls at Isengard (see addition). [This addition is found on a separate slip: On way home: they ride horses from Rohan. The[y] call at Isengard. Gandalf knocks. Saruman comes out very affable. 'Ah, my dear Gandalf. What a mess the world is in. Really we must consult together - such men as we are needed. Now what about our spheres of influence?'
Gandalf looks at him. 'I am the White Wizard now,' he said - 'look at your many colours.' Saruman is [?clad] in a filthy mud colour. 'They seem to have run.' Gandalf takes his staff and breaks it over his knee. [?He gives a thin shriek.] 'Go, Saruman,' he said, 'and beg from the charitable for a day's digging.'
Isengard is given to the Dwarves. Or to Radagast?]
They ride home to Rivendell.
XXVII Song of the Banished Shadow.
Rivendell. Meeting with Bilbo.
XXVIII What happens to Shire?
Last scene. Sailing away of Elves [added faintly: Bilbo with them] and the [sic]
XXIX Sam and Frodo go into a green land by the Sea?
Certain of these narrative ideas had appeared before, in the earlier plot-sketches referred to on p. 207, such as the siege of Minas Tirith, Frodo's separation from the Company and Sam's seeking for him, Gollum's seeming reform and guidance to the Mountain of Fire, the Searching Eye, the 'host of evil' led by Black Riders, Gollum's treachery, Frodo's inability to cast the Ring into the Fire, and the eruption of the Mountain. But now the structure becomes more solid and secure.
To look through this new outline in sequence: the fact that nothing is told here about Lothlorien (though its people are mentioned- 'Elves befriend them', and later it is told that it was Legolas' intention 'to join Elves of Lothlorien for a while') suggests, not that the Lothlorien story had been written, but that my father was on the verge of writing it and had no need to set down much about it. If it had been written he would surely not have included it in the outline at all; and the words 'While they are up trees orcs go by - also Gollum' look like the first written emergence of this element in the story. But the actual name Lothlorien has already made its appearance in the LR papers, in the new version of 'The Ring Goes South', p. 167.
The 'angle' between the river flowing down from Dimrill Dale (Redway, Blackroot, Silverlode) and the Great River (see the original rough sketch-map given in VI.439) is now called Angle. Here the Company 'remained long', but there is no indication whether Elves of Lothlorien were present. It is at Angle that a major feature of the structure of LR first enters. In an earlier outline (VI.410) Frodo becomes separated from the Company, involuntarily as it seems, through fear of Gollum; but now (being already determined to go directly to Mordor rather than by way of Minas Tirith) he is brought to the point of fleeing away alone through Boromir, who desires to appropriate the Ring for the purposes of Minas Tirith. Already my father foresaw that Boromir, speaking to Frodo apart, would ask to see the Ring again, that (as is implied) Frodo would refuse, and that Boromir would then try to take it by force and oblige Frodo to put it on in order to escape from him - explaining how it was that Frodo got clear away and could not be found despite the hunt for him. On the other hand, since all this takes place at Angle, there is no journey down Anduin, boats are never mentioned - and there is no mention even of Frodo's need to cross the river. The whole story of how Sam i would come to accompany Frodo on his journey to the Fiery Mountain would be entirely changed (though not before it had been further developed from its form in this outline).
In the account of that journey several new names appear. Lithlad the Plain of Ash appears once in LR (The Two Towers IV.3, 'the mournful plains of Lithlad and of Gorgoroth'), though for some reason the name was not entered on either of the maps published in LR; it is found however on the First Map (p. 309) and subsequently. The plain of Lithlad lay south of Ered Lithui, the Ash Mountains, away to the east of Barad - dur; there would thus seem no reason for Frodo and Sam ever to have come to it, as seems to be implied in this outline. The valley of Gorgoroth, above which was built the Dark Tower, appears in the fifth version of 'The Council of Elrond' (p. 144), and the Gap of Gorgoroth ('with Orc guard-towers on either side') in this outline is the first intimation of a pass between the mountain-walls fencing Mordor on north and west (afterwards Udun, between the Morannon and the Isenmouthe).
The winged Nazgul - Black Riders horsed now upon vultures - appear, but here in the role of leaders of the host of Mordor as it rides out to battle. Sam's part in the final events was still very shadowy and speculative, but already the idea enters that Gollum (whose inner motives seem to have been far less complex in respect of Frodo than they afterwards became) would betray Sam and Frodo to spiders in a ravine or glen 'at the entrance to Gorgoroth'. At this stage, as will be seen later, the entry into Mordor by way of the Stairs of Cirith Ungol did not exist, and when that name appears it will bear a different geographical sense. The spiders seem to have arisen in the context of explaining how Sam came to take the Ring from Frodo; and features of the later story begin to take shape: Sam's rout of the spider(s), Gollum's betrayal of the unconscious Frodo to the orcs, his capture and imprisonment (but here in Minas Morgol), Sam's entry into the fortress wearing the Ring, Frodo's sudden hatred of Sam whom he sees as an orc, and their escape.
The Breaking of the Fellowship imposed on my father the need to follow two distinct narrative paths, but he would still follow the fortunes of Frodo and Sam somewhat further before returning to the others (since the reunion of Sam and Frodo, involving Sam's first falling in with Gollum, was much less swiftly achieved than it is in FR).
The second narrative again takes a huge step forward here, but there was still a great way to go. Most important, Merry and Pippin now move into a central position in the story, and it is they (not as in a former outline Frodo, VI.410) who encounter Treebeard - although the entire narrative of the attack by Orcs on the camp beneath Amon Hen, Boromir's death, the forced march across Rohan, and the battle between the Rohirrim and the Orcs on the eaves of Fangorn is absent. Merry and Pippin merely become lost as they seek for Frodo and Sam, and wandering along the river Entwash (which here first appears) come to the Forest of Fangorn without any relation to the larger story; but through them Treebeard (now finally established as a 'decent' sort of person, cf. p. 71) comes to play a part in the breaking of the siege of Minas Tirith.
On the other hand, for Aragorn and Boromir my father had at this time a plan almost wholly different from what would soon emerge. Departing together to Minas Tirith, the original Company will be still further fragmented, for Legolas and Gimli (escaping the fate of capture by Saruman momentarily projected for them, p. 210) set off north together. It is indeed Legolas and Gimli who fall in with Gandalf returned, now clad in white and possessed of new powers, and
with him they turn back and hasten south; but there is no indication of where they met him (save that it was south of Lothlorien), and in fact no indication of geography for any of these events. Rohan plays no part in the story at all (beyond the several mentions of the Horsemen riding against Mordor), and the Siege of Minas Tirith is (mysteriously) to be 'broken by Gandalf with Legolas and Gimli and by Treebeard.' Boromir would play a shameful part, treacherously fleeing to Saruman (a faint adumbration of Wormtongue?) in his hatred for Aragorn, chosen to be successor to the slain lord of Minas Tirith. Isengard remains inviolate, and the Ents do not appear (10) - yet the visit of Gandalf to Saruman in his fortress, and his humiliation, is present, placed here on the homeward journey.
Much of the narrative 'material', it may be said, was now assem- bled. But the structure of that narrative in the lands west of Anduin as my father now foresaw it would be wholly changed, and changed above all by the emergence of the Kingdom of Rohan into the full light of the story, and of its relations with Gondor and with Isengard.(11)
NOTES.
1. 'Reach Lothlorien Dec. 15': this date does not agree with the chronology, which is surprising. The time-scheme referred to on p. 169, which clearly accompanied this state of the narrative, continues on from 'December 9 Snow on Caradras' (a date that actually appears in the text) thus:
Dec. 10 Retreat. Wolves at night.
Dec. 11. Start for Moria. Reach Doors at sundown. Travel in Mines till midnight (15 miles).
Dec. 12. Well-chamber. All day in Moria (20 miles). Night in 21st Hall.
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 7 - The Treason of Isengard Page 28
