Another scheme ('II') takes up at Dec. 22, but this is based on a later date of departure from Rivendell: Dec. 25, as in FR. The chronology of FR from Rivendell to Lothlorien was not yet reached, however, for two reasons: first, that the journey to Hollin still took eleven days and not fourteen (pp. 165, 169); and second, that in FR there are two Yule-days after Foreyule (December) 30 as against Dec. 31 in scheme II. Thus II is two days in advance of FR. The numerical dates in II, when the Company left Rivendell on Dec. 25, soon become identical to those in I, when they left on Nov. 24, simply because November has 30 days but December has 31; thus in I they crossed the Silverlode by the rope-bridge and entered the Gore on Dec. 14, and in II on Jan. 14. At this point the scheme in II reads:
Jan. 14 Over Silverlode
Time ceases
Jan. 15 Leave Lorien
Scheme II continues for some way on this basis before petering out. These therefore are the relations between the former chronology (I), the new (II), and FR:
In II the New Moon was on Jan. 21, just as in I it was on Dec. 21, and against this date in II is also: 'Battle with Orcs?' This was the seventh day of the voyage down Anduin, as in the texts. But it is odd that in both I and II the journey took eleven days, whereas in the texts it took nine (pp. 361 - 2).
At the foot of the page carrying scheme II my father wrote: 'Does Time cease at Lorien or go on faster? So that it might be Spring or nearly so.' With this cf. p. 363: 'The Power of the Lady was upon us. Slow for us there might time have passed, while the world hastened. Or in a little while we could savour much, while the world tarried. The latter was her will.'
Another chronology of far greater elaboration, made after the changes introduced in October 1944 (see p. 406), was still based on the conception that 'exterior' Time ceased in Lorien, for it begins:
Thurs. Jan. 19. Fifth day of voyage.
Fri. 20. Sixth day.
Sat. 21. Seventh day. Sam observes New Moon and is puzzled.
Lastly, another later scheme of dates begins:
They spend what seems many days in Lorien, but it is about the same time and date when they leave. [Added: In fact, one day later, time moving about 20 times slower (20 days = 1).]
Here the Company again leaves Lorien on Jan. 15, but the chronology of the journey approaches that of FR: 'Sam sees New Moon low in West after sunset' on Jan. 21, but as in FR the attack by Orcs takes place on the night of the eighth day, here Jan. 22; and Tol Brandir is reached at dusk on Jan. 24. Here this scheme ends; but across the page my father afterwards wrote these separate notes:
Why have any difference of time? Shift the dates a month forward. If Lorien time is not different, then no need for Sam to see the Moon.
Better to have no time difference.
A passage in the first manuscript of 'The White Rider' (p. 431) may be mentioned here: Gandalf tells that after his rescue by Gwaihir from the peak above Moria he came to Lothlorien and 'tarried there in the long time which in that land counts for but a brief hour of the world'.
Phases of the Moon
Either while the making of Time-scheme I was in progress or at some later point my father wrote at the head of the first page of it: Moons are after 1941 - 2 + 6 days. He changed this to + 5 days, and added: thus Full Moon Jan. 2 is Jan. 7. The phases of the Moon were entered on scheme I in red pencil, and it is very hard to know whether they belong with its making or were put in later. Many of these dates were much changed, but no discernible relation with the phases of 1941 - 2 emerges, the dates in the scheme varying between two to six days later. The phases as entered, also in red pencil, on scheme II, when the departure from Rivendell took place on Dec. 25, are however regularly five days later than those of 1941 - 2, beginning with New Moon on Dec. 23, and then First Quarter on Dec. 30, Full Moon Jan. 7, Last Quarter Jan. 15, New Moon Jan. 21 (against which is written the time: 9.32), First Quarter Jan. 29 (time 6.35), Full Moon Feb. 6. It is possible, therefore, though far from certain, that it was only with scheme II and the decision to postpone the departure from Rivendell by a month that my father decided to pattern the phases precisely on those of 1941 - 2.
It will be seen shortly (p. 379) that my father was working on 'The Departure of Boromir' in the winter of 1941 - 2. The postponement of the departure from Rivendell is first seen in an outline for the story following the ride of Gandalf and his companions from Fangorn to Eodoras (p. 434 and note 1; see also pp. 422 - 3).
XVIII. THE BREAKING OF THE FELLOWSHIP.
In the latter part of the original chapter 'XXI' initial drafting and 'fair copy' were a continuous process. Up to the point where Sam broke in on the discussion among the Company beside the river with 'Begging your pardons, but I don't think you understand Mr. Frodo at all' (FR p. 419), the drafting is very rough indeed, with separate passages written in slips and not forming a consecutive narrative, while the 'fair copy' is itself a mass of correction and rewriting in the act of composition. Some passages gave my father great difficulty and he experimented with their ordering and phraseology in many forms. But from that point, and evidently made after the 'fair copy' had reached it, there is a clear primary draft, in which the story just as it is in FR (pp. 419 - 23) 'wrote itself', on the basis of a preliminary outline; and the fair copy from here onwards can be properly so called. In this manuscript the text of FR was effectively reached throughout, but the division of 'XXI' into two, with a new chapter 'XXII The Breaking of the Fellowship', was not made until after the text had been completed.
At first Trotter is 'Elfstone', not corrected, in both draft and fair copy (see p. 361), but soon becomes 'Trotter', and is then so named throughout.
The draft text begins:
That night they went ashore, and camped upon a green sward beneath the slopes of [added: Amon Hen] the western hill. They set a watch, but they saw no sign of any enemy or spy. If Gollum had contrived to follow them, he remained unseen. 'I do not think he would dare the passage of the Gates,' said Elfstone. 'But he may have travelled far over the hills, while we were delayed at Pensarn. By now he knows the country well, and he will guess too much of our divided purposes.(1) For we have with us what he long possessed and it draws him ever towards us. "If they turned west at Pensarn," he will say, "then for a time I can do no more. Sooner or later I shall know, and then Gollum can find a way, even to the walls of Minas-Tirith. But if they did not turn west there is but one end to the river-road: Tol Brandir and Rauros, and the North Stair. There they must go West or East. I will watch upon the East." Likely enough he spied us with his fell eyes far off from the eastern beaches or from some post among the hills.'
The day came like fire and smoke...
Amon Hen looks as if it were added immediately, and is probably the first occurrence of the name. An addition to the draft text introduces the nocturnal conversation between Trotter and Frodo and the drawing of Sting to see what its blade would show - a sign that the attack by Orcs had now entered; but here it is Frodo who feels 'some shadow or threat', and it is Frodo who says 'I thought as much. Orcs are near. But how came they across the river? Never have I heard that they came into this region before', with an authoritative tone more characteristic of Trotter. In the fair copy Trotter's surmises about Gollum's intentions were lost, and the opening of the chapter 'The Breaking of the Fellowship' in FR was attained, except that the green lawn beneath Amon Hen was named Kelufain, subsequently changed to Calenbel.(2)
The description of Tol Brandir as Frodo saw it that morning, already in the primary draft very close to the final form (FR p. 412), with its sides springing sheer out of the running water (where 'no landing place could be seen'), shows that the idea of its inaccessibility was present (see p. 359). The conversation before Frodo departed from the Company alone was very largely achieved at once, but in the fair copy Trotter says: 'My own heart desires to go to Minas-Tirith, but that is for myself and apart from your Quest', this being rejected, probably immediately; and in both texts, in very similar words, he says: 'Very well, Frodo s
on of Drogo. You shall be alone. But do not let your thoughts be too dark. For after you have chosen you shall not be alone. I will not leave you, should you decide to go to the gates of Baraddur; and there are others of the same mind, I think.' To this Frodo replied, in the fair copy: 'I know, and it does not aid my choice [> it does not help me at all].' The primary draft continues:
The others remained behind near the shore, but Frodo got up and walked away. Sam watched his master with great concern. Then the Company turned again to debating what they could do to aid the Quest, hopeless as it seemed [struck out: and whether it were wise to try and end it swiftly or to delay]. Boromir spoke strongly, urging ever the wisdom of strong wills, and weapons, and great plans he drew for alliances, and victories to be, and the overthrow of Mordor.(3)
Sam slipped away unnoticed. 'If orcs are anywhere nigh,' he muttered, 'I am not going to let Mr. Frodo wander about alone. In his frame o' mind he would not see an elephant coming, or he might walk off the edge of a precipice.'
In the meanwhile aimlessly wandering Frodo found that his feet had led him up the slopes of the hill.
The idea that Sam left the Company at this point was evidently very soon abandoned.
The encounter with Boromir on Amon Hen was now developed from the form it had reached in the outline given on pp. 325 - 7, and with much difficulty the text of FR was achieved. I give here so much as I can puzzle out of the form in which my father first wrote down what Frodo saw when he looked out from Amon Hen wearing the Ring (for the brief suggestions in previous outlines see p. 327 and note 7 and p. 366 note 19): his writing here is at its most difficult, the marks very weak and the pen seeming to float or glide on the paper.
Northward he looked, and the Great River lay like a ribbon beneath him, and the Misty Mountains small and hard as broken teeth. Eastward into wide uncharted lands he looked. West he gazed and saw little horsemen galloping like the wind upon wide green plains, and beyond was the dark tower of [Isengard o] Orthanc in the ring of Isengard.
Southward he looked..... Ethir Anduin the mighty delta of the Great River, and myriads of seabirds [like a dust of white specks] whirling... like a white dust, and beneath them a green and silver sea rippling in endless moving lines.
But everywhere he looked he saw signs of war. The Misty Mountains were like anthills to his sight: orcs were [?pouring] out from countless [?holes]. Under the boughs of Mirkwood there was deadly strife. The land of the Beornings was aflame. A cloud was over Dimrilldale / Moria gates. Smoke rose upon the borders of Lorien. [Dol Dughul] Horsemen galloping wildly on the grass of Rohan, wolves poured forth from Isengard. From the grey southward Havens [or Haven] an endless column of armed men came. Out of the wild East men were moving in endless [?shining] swordmen, [?spearmen], bowmen upon horse; chariots and wains: whole peoples. All the power of the Dark Lord was in motion.
Then as he came back south he saw Minas Tirith. Far and beautiful it was, white-walled, many-towered, high upon its mountain seat strong in the sun: its battlements glittered with steel and its turrets were bright with many banners............. was Minas Morgul....... its dark walls carven with... shapes, its great tower like a tooth, its banners black, its gates like evil mouths, and to eastward the Shadow of Death the hopeless [?gates] of Gorgoroth. Then he saw the......... ... Mount [Doom >] Dum: the Hill of Fire and.... Baraddur.
Then suddenly his gaze halted. The [?mists cleared] and he cried aloud in fear. There was an eye in Baraddur. It did not sleep. And suddenly it had become aware of....... There was a fierce eagerness... [?will]... It leapt towards him, almost like a finger he felt it [?feeling] for him. In a minute it would nail him down, know just exactly [?to an inch] where he was. Amon Lhaw it touched, it glanced at Tol Brandir - he cast himself from the seat, [?crouching, covering] his head with his grey hood. He was crying out but whether he was saying Never will it get me, never, or Verily I come, I come to you, he could not say. [?Probably] both.
Then as a flash from some other point of power there came ... another thought. Take it off. Take it off. 0 foolish! Take it off. The two powers strove in him: for a moment perfectly balanced between their... points he writhed. Suddenly he was aware of himself.
In the complete manuscript that followed the draft, with much further correction and experimentation of phrase as he wrote, my father reached the final form; but the opening description of Frodo in the high seat (for which there is no earlier drafting) in this manuscript is of much interest. As first written, with a good deal of correction in the process, the passage read:
At first he could see little: he seemed to be in a world of mist in which there were only shadows. The Ring was on him. [Then the virtue (written above: power) of Amon Hen worked upon him] Then here and there the mists gave way and he saw many things: small and clear as if they were beneath him on a table and yet remote: the world seemed to have shrunk. [Added: He heard no sound, seeing only bright images that moved and changed.](4) He looked South and saw below his very feet the Great River curve and bend like a toppling wave and plunge over the falls of Rauros into a foaming pit: the fume rose like smoke and fell like rain lit by a glimmering rainbow of many colours. More remote still beyond the roaring pools were fens and black mountains, many streams winding like shining ribbons. Then the vision changed: nothing but water was below him, a wide rippling plain of silver, and an endless murmur of distant waves upon a shore he could not see.
He looked West and saw horsemen galloping like the wind: their
On beyond the falls his eye wandered, here crossing reed- grown fens, there marking the winding ribbons of swift streams leaping down from small hard black mo(untains).
At this point my father rejected the entire passage from the words 'Then the virtue (power) of Amon Hen worked upon him' and began again:
At first he could see little: he seemed to be in a world of mist in which there were only shadows. The Ring was on him. [Struck out at once: But also he sat now upon the seat of Sight which the Men of Numenor had made.] Then here and there the mists gave way and he saw many visions...
The new text then reaches the form in FR (p. 416); Frodo is sitting on 'the seat of Seeing, upon Amon Hen, the Hill of the Eye of the Men of Numenor.'
Frodo 'seemed to be in a world of mist in which there were only shadows. The Ring was on him. Then the power of Amon Hen worked upon him': and the mists began to break. Still clearer is the next stage of revision: '... The Ring was on him. But also he sat now upon the seat of Sight which the Men of Numenor had made. Then here and there the mists gave way...' Only one interpretation seems possible: the wearing of the Ring inhibited his sight - he was in a world of mists and shadows; but nonetheless he was sitting on the Seat of Seeing on the Hill of the Eye, and 'the power of Amon Hen worked upon him.' On the other hand, in the last outline written before this point in the narrative was actually reached, the idea of the 'Seat of Seeing' had not emerged (p. 327): Frodo was 'standing on rocks' in the Stone Hills when Boromir attempted to take the Ring. It is said there that from this place the range of the Mountains of Shadow could be glimpsed 'like a smudge of grey, and behind it a vague cloud lit beneath occasionally by a fitful glow'; but when Frodo put on the Ring 'he saw nothing about him but a grey formless mist, and far away (yet black and clear and hard) the Mountains of Mordor: the fire seemed very red.' In its origin, then, the peculiar clarity of Frodo's vision on this occasion derived solely from the wearing of the Ring. This question is discussed further on pp. 380 - 1.
When Frodo came down from the summit of Amon Hen, and putting on the Ring again 'vanished and passed down the hill like a rustle of the wind', the primary draft continues: 'The power of the Ring upon him had been renewed; and maybe it aided his choice, drawing him to Mordor, drawing him to the Shadow, alone.'
There exists a rough outline for the last part of the chapter, where the story turns from Frodo to the Company, sitting where he left them beside the river. This was written in faint pencil, subsequently inked over.
Frodo
does not come back in an hour. The hour wears on to two, and the sun is at noon. Trotter gets anxious. He saw Boromir go off, and return. 'Have you seen Frodo?' 'No,' said Boromir, lying with a half truth. 'I looked for him and could not see him.' [Added:? 'Yes,' said Boromir, 'but he ran from me and I could not find him.'] Trotter decides they must search and blames himself for allowing Frodo to go alone. Boromir comes back ?
Great agitation, and before Trotter can control them they all run off into the woods. Trotter sends Boromir after Merry and pippin. He runs himself toward the Hill of Amon Hen followed by Sam. But suddenly Sam stops and claps his head. 'You're a fool, Sam Gamgee. You know quite well what was in Mr. Frodo's mind. He knew he had to go East - that old Gandalf intended it. But he was afraid, and still more afraid of taking anyone with him...... He's run away, that's it - and ....... boat.'(5) Sam dashed down the path. The green camp-ground was empty. As he raced across it he gasped. A boat was grinding on the shingle - seemingly all by itself was slipping into the water. It was floating away. With a cry Sam raced to the water-edge and sprang after it. He missed it by a yard and fell into deep water. He went under with a gurgle.
Conversation of Sam and Frodo. They go off together.
At this stage my father was not intending to end the chapter here, and this sketch continues into the story of what became the first chapter of The Two Towers, III.1 'The Departure of Boromir'; but I postpone the remainder of it to the next chapter in this book.
The discussion among the members of the Company during Frodo's absence took draft after draft to achieve,(6) and though the actual content of what was said does not greatly differ from the form in FR (pp. 418 - 19) it was at first given in part to different speakers (thus in the earlier form it is Trotter who emphasizes, as does Gimli in FR, that on no member of the Company save Frodo was obligation laid).
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 7 - The Treason of Isengard Page 48
