The History of Middle Earth: Volume 8 - The War of the Ring

by J. R. R. Tolkien

  12. The words hold my star-glass behind me are underlined in the original - possibly because my father was emphasising to himself that Frodo had actually given the phial to Sam, though whereas in TT (p. 334) Sam did not give it back to Frodo, later in this version (p. 198) he takes it from Frodo's hand during his fight with Ungoliant.

  Frodo drew Sting: on the previous page '5' of the manuscript Frodo had already drawn Sting (p. 193), but this, I feel certain, is no more than an oversight, and does not call into question the succession of the two pages.

  13. In the margin is written here: 'Dis. into a side hole?', where 'Dis.' obviously stands for 'Disappears'. This was added later, when my father was pondering the idea that Gollum in fact disappeared while they were still in the tunnel.

  14. At the foot of the page is written in pencil: 'Make Gollum come reluctantly back.' This clearly belongs with the underlying pencilled draft; when over-writing the draft in ink my father put a query against these words.

  15. The caption of the picture, Shelob's Lair, was added afterwards; at this time the name of the Great Spider was Ungoliant (p. 196).

  16. At the time of writing, page 415 of 'Version 1' is in the United States, page 617 in England, and page 819 in France.

  17. This is the first appearance of the one Great Spider (as opposed to many spiders).

  18. On the name Ungoliant(e), derived from The Silmarillion, see the Etymologies, V.396.

  19. When Sam twisted round as Gollum seized him from behind, in TT Gollum's hold on Sam's mouth slipped, whereas in Version 1 it was his hold with his left hand on Sam's neck that slipped (down to his waist). Thus it is not said in Version 1 that 'all the while Gollum's other hand was tightening on Sam's throat'. When Sam hurled himself backwards and landed on Gollum 'a sharp hiss came out of him, and for a breathless second his left arm that was about Sam's waist relaxed' (in TT 'for a second his hand upon Sam's throat loosened'). Sam's second blow, falling across Gollum's back, did not break the staff, and the third blow aimed by Sam was with the staff, not with his sword.

  20. Sam's staff was not broken at the second blow, as it was in TT; see notes 19 and 42.

  21. The handwriting is so difficult that my father pencilled in glosses here and there where he had evidently been puzzled by what he had written not long before. - It is often the case with a very difficult preliminary draft, which can really only be deciphered by recourse to the following text, that some particularly puzzling word or phrase cannot be solved in this way: another expression appears in its place; and in such cases one may often suspect that my father could not make it out himself. Cf. note 11.

  22. On the right is seen the 'Wraith-road' from Minas Morghul rising to the main pass in this region (p. 195).

  23. The brackets round this sentence, seen in the reproduction, were put in subsequently, and probably the question mark also. On the tunnel being the work of Orcs see p. 215.

  24. I cannot read the word at the bottom of the plan of the tunnels, also in blue ball-point pen, though possibly it also reads 'orc- path'.

  25. Here appears the name Imlad Morghul (see p. 176).

  26. On lines 3-4 of the page reproduced on p. 204 are the words 'where forgotten winters in the Dark Years had gnawed and carved the sunless stone.' In TT (p. 319) the words in the Dark Years are absent. Seven lines from the bottom of the page the text reads: 'or so it seemed to him in feeling not in reason', with pencilled correction to the reading of TT: 'or so it seemed to him in that dark hour of weariness, still labouring in the stony shadows under Kirith Ungol.'

  27. The illegible words look most like 'flies back'. If this is what they are, the meaning must be very elliptically expressed: Frodo flees and the eyes pursue, but every time he turns round holding up the phial the eyes halt.

  28. A trace of a stage in which the 'trap' or 'hole' in the floor of the tunnel was present as well as the branching ways is found on a slip carrying very disjointed drafting:

  Suddenly a thought came into Frodo's mind. Gollum, he had been ahead: where was he? Had he fallen into that awful lurking hole? 'Gollum! I wonder whether he's all right,' he muttered. 'Smeagol! '

  Groping in the dark they found that the opening or arch to the left was blocked a few feet inside, or so it seemed: they could not push their way in, it was he called or tried to call Smeagol! But his voice cracked and

  They tried first the opening to the left, but quickly it grew narrower and turned away mounting by long shallow steps towards the mountain wall. 'It can't be this way,' said Frodo. 'We must try the other.'

  'We'll take the broader way,' said Frodo. 'Any passage that turns sideways .....'

  29. Frodo's cry here has the form Alla Earendel Elenion Ankalima, and Alla remained through the following texts, only being changed to Aiya after the book was in type.

  30. The word picked in TT p. 330 ('but at its edge a blue fire flicked') is an error for flickered which was missed in the proof.

  31. Perhaps for no other reason than that this section of the manuscript had become very ragged through emendation, and would have to be replaced, it had well before this point degenerated into rough pencil, at the end becoming an outline very hard to read.

  32. The reference is to The Hobbit, Chapter Ill 'A Short Rest', where Elrond, speaking of the swords Glamdring and Orcrist taken from the trolls' hoard, says (in the text of the original edition): 'They are old swords, very old swords of the elves that are now called Gnomes. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin- wars.'

  33. This sentence ('For though once long ago he had seen it ...') was at first retained in the final fair copy manuscript, with the addition: 'neither did he understand his master.'

  34. It is dearly written in the 'fair copy' style, but with some repetition and other features pointing to immediate composition, and it was corrected subsequently in pencil; I cite it here as corrected.

  35. These words are used also in the story in The Two Towers (p. 330), but there only Shelob knows of the web at the end of the tunnel.

  36. If this part of the draft did in fact belong with Version 1 there had been no encounter with the Spider in the tunnel, so that when this scene (surviving of course in TT, p. 339) was first written this was the first time that she had been confronted with the light of Earendel's star in the Phial of Galadriel.

  37. The words 'foul but already pitiable' are read from a subsequent gloss of my father's. He gave up on the next word and wrote a query about it; it may perhaps be 'scuttle'. The words 'but already pitiable' are notable. In TT there is no trace of the thought that Shelob, entirely hateful and evil, denier of light and life, could ever be 'pitiable' even when defeated and hideously wounded.

  38. This goes back to the original outline 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien' (p. 185), as does Sam's thought of building a cairn of stones, and the phrase later in this passage 'an elvish beauty as of one that is long past the shadows', which survives in TT.

  39. Cf. the initial outline, p. 190: Turns back - resolved to lie down by Frodo till death comes. Then he sees Gollum come and paw him. He gives a start and runs back. But orcs come out and Gollum bolts.'

  40. The first occurrence of the name Shelob (see p. 183).

  41. Cf. the sentence added earlier in this draft at the point where Sam puts on the Ring: 'His hand hangs weighed down and useless.'

  42. In the original account of Sam's fight with Gollum his staff was not broken (notes 19 and 20); this was where, and why, that element entered the story. The words 'The staff cracked and broke' were added to the fair copy (TT p. 335).

  43. This is obscure. A proper name beginning with B, possibly Ballung or something similar, is followed by a sign that might represent 'and' or 'or', but 'and' would mean that Leader and says were miswritten for Leaders and say, and though in this exceedingly rapid script words are frequently defective or miswritten the sentence reappears (p. 214), and there the words are again Leader and says. Perhaps my father intended 'or' and was merely hesitating between two possible names for the
Orc.

  44. On this page of drafting is a hasty pencilled sketch of the final approach to the Cleft, and a little plan of the tunnel. In the first of these the place where Frodo lay is marked by an X on the path, and just to the left of it in the cliff-wall is the opening from which Shelob came. Another entry is seen in the distance at the top of the steps leading to the summit of the pass, at the foot of the cliff on which the Tower stands.

  The plan of the tunnel is reproduced here. It will be seen that it differs from the elaborate earlier plan reproduced on p. 201 in that only one passage is shown leading to the left off the main tunnel at the eastern end, curving round and leading to the Tower.

  45. With this account of the origin of the tunnels cf. the outline accompanying the plan (p. 199): 'This tunnel is of orc-make (?) and has the usual branching passages.' It survived into the fair copy, where it was subsequently replaced by that in TT (p. 346).

  46. The names of the leaders of the Orc-bands were rather bewilderingly changed in the drafts (and some transient forms cannot be read). At first (p. 212) they were Gazmog (of the Tower) and Zaglûn (of Minas Morghul), and in another brief draft of their genial greetings they become Yagûl and Uftak Zaglûn - so written: Zaglûn may have been intended to replace Uftak, but on the other hand the double-barrelled Orc-name Naglur-Danlo is found (p. 212). The name Ufthak was subsequently given to the Orc found (and left where he was) by Shagrat and his friends in Shelob's larder, 'wide awake and glaring' (TT p. 350). In the present text the names were at first Yagûl (of the Tower) and Shagrat (of Minas Morghul), but were reversed in the course of writing (and in a following draft the names became reversed again at one point, though not I think intentionally). At this point, where the Orc from Morghul is speaking, my father first wrote Shag[rat), changed it to Yagûl, and then again changed it to Shagrat. See note 48. - Yagûl was replaced by Gorbag in the course of writing the fair copy.

  47. Dushgoi: Orc name for Minas Morghul.

  48. The text actually has Shagrat here, but this should have been changed to Yagsil (see note 46).

  49. The story of the ascent of the Pass of Kirith Ungol was early divided into three chapters, with the titles which were never changed; the numbers being XXXVIII, XXXIX, and XL. See my father's letters cited on pp. 183-4.

  50. After the verse my father wrote: 'such words in the Noldorin tongue as his waking mind knew not', striking this out at once.

  51. This was work done in October 1944: see pp. 233-4.

  52. Cf. VII.448.

  Note on the Chronology.

  Time-scheme D continues somewhat further than does C (see p. 182):

  Friday Feb. 10 Frodo and Sam come to Shelob's lair early in the morning. They get out in the late afternoon - nearly at top of the pass. Frodo is captured and carried to orc-tower at night.

  Saturday Feb. 11 Attack at dawn on besieged Minas Tirith. Riders of Rohan suddenly arrive and charge, overthrowing the leaguer. Fall of Théoden. Host of Mordor flung into River.

  Sunday Feb. 12 Gandalf (Eomer and Aragorn and Faramir) advance into Ithilien.

  Time-scheme S goes no further than February 8.

  Pencilled entries were added to February 11 in Scheme D: 'Sam at the Iron Door early hours of Feb. 11. Sam gets into orc-tower. Rescues Frodo. They fly and descend into Mordor'; and 'Ships of Harad burnt'.

  PART THREE.

  MINAS TIRITH.

  I. ADDENDUM TO 'THE TREASON OF ISENGARD'.

  After the publication of 'The Treason of Isengard' I came upon the following manuscript page. It had ended up in a bundle of much later writings concerned with the events of Books V and VI, and when going through these papers I had failed to see its significance. It is in fact the concluding page of the first of the two outlines that I gave under the heading 'The Story Foreseen from Fangorn' in VII.434 ff.; and since it represents my father's earliest recorded conception of the events of Book V this seems the best place to give it. I repeat first the conclusion of the part printed in Vol. VII (p. 437):

  News comes at the feast [at Eodoras] or next morning of the siege of Minas Tirith by the Haradwaith.... The horsemen of Rohan ride East, with Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Merry and Pippin. Gandalf as the White Rider.... Vision of Minas Tirith from afar.

  The text begins in the same pale ink as was used for the earlier part of the outline but soon turns to pencil. At the head of the page is written (later, in a different ink): Homeric catalogue. Forlong the Fat. The folk of Lebennin' (see p. 287).

  Battle before walls. Sorties from city. Aragorn puts the Haradwaith to flight. Aragorn enters into Minas Tirith and becomes their chief. Recollection of the boding words (as spoken by Boromir).

  The forces of Minas Tirith and Rohan under Aragorn and Gandalf cross the Anduin and retake Elostirion. The Nazgûl. How Gandalf drove them back. Wherever the shadow of the Nazgûl fell there was a blind darkness. Men fell flat, or fled. But about Gandalf there was always a light - and where he rode the shadow retreated.

  The forces of West worst Minas Morghul [written above: Morgol] and drive back the enemy to the Field of Nomen's Land before Kirith Ungol. Here comes the embassy of Sauron. He sends to say that [Here the ink text ends and is followed by pencil, the word that crossed out] to Gandalf and Aragorn that he has got Frodo the Ringbearer captive. (Dismay of Aragorn.)

  Sauron's messenger declares that Frodo has begged for deliverance at any price. Sauron's price is the immediate withdrawal of all forces west of Anduin - and eventual surrender of all land up to west of Misty Mountains (as far as Isen). As token Sauron's messenger shows Sting (or some other object taken - the phial?) taken when Frodo was prisoner - this would have to be something Sam overlooked [written in margin: mithril coat]. But Gandalf utterly rejects the terms.

  'Keep your captive until the battle is over, Sauron! For verily if the day goes to me and we do not then find him unharmed, it shall go very ill with you. Not you alone have power. To me also a power is given of retribution, and to you it will seem very terrible. But if the day is yours then you must do with us all that remain alive as you will. So indeed you would do in any case, whatever oath or treaty you might now make.'

  Gandalf explains that Frodo is probably not captive - for at any rate Sauron has not got the Ring. Otherwise he would not seek to parley.

  The story must return to Sam and Frodo at the moment when Gandalf and Aragorn ride past Minas Morghul. ? And go down to moment when Ring is destroyed.

  Then just as Gandalf rejects parley there is a great spout of flame, and the forces of Sauron fly. Aragorn and Gandalf and their host pour into Gorgoroth.

  Part of Battle could be seen by Frodo from [?his] tower while a prisoner.

  With the last part of this text compare the second part of the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Fangorn', VII.438.

  II. BOOK FIVE BEGUN AND ABANDONED

  (i) Minas Tirith

  My father recorded years later (see p. 77 and not 19) that before the long gap in the writing of The Lord of the Rings in 1943-4 he had written the beginnings of Book V Chapters 1 and 3 (“Minas Tirith” and and “The Muster of Rohan”); but “there as the beacons flared in Anórien and Théoden came to Harrowdale I stopped”. A preliminary question is whether the abandoned opening of “Minas Tirith” still exists and can be identified.

  What is certainly the earliest of several “beginnings” (“A”) consists first of a few lines clearly written in ink:

  Pippin looked out from Gandalf’s arms. Though he was awake now he felt that he was still in a swift-moving dream. Still the world of grey and green rushed by and the sun rose and sank and the wind sang in his ears. He tried to reckon the time; but he could not be sure.

  Two days ago it was that he saw the sun glinting on the roof of the king’s great house, and then he had slept, dimly aware of the bustle and a coming and going about him. Coming of Nazgûl. Then more darkness and wind, and then again. Yes, this must be the third riding. The stars seemed to be fleeing overhead.

  He stirred.
Where we are, he said.

  Passing [?through] the land of Anórien, which is [?a realm] of Gondor, said Gandalf. Now we have turned southward. Dawn is at hand. Open your eyes.

  Beacons. Messengers riding West.

  Description of Minas Tirith and its immense concentric walls.

  They come to presence of Denethor and hear news which Gandalf supplements.

  Gandalf emains hidden [?communing] with himself. Pippin on the battlements. The allies come in. Faramir returns. War and siege. Gondor defeated. Ships of Harad. New force from North. Episode of the Palantír and Gandalf.

  No sign of Riders.

  This pencilled continuation was obviously written all at one time, and it was written therefore after May 1944, when Faramir, whose return to Minas Tirith is mentioned here, entered the story of The Lord of the Rings: it is new work on the story after Book IV had been completed. That the brief initial passage in ink ('Pippin looked out from Gandalf's arms ...') should be separated from its pencilled continuation by a long interval seems to me so unlikely as to be out of the question. Far more probably my father abandoned it because he had changed his mind about Gandalf's riding by day, and (as he often did in such cases) then sketched out the changed conception very rapidly (see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter).