'Ill!' said Denethor, and suddenly his eyes blazed. 'Why do you ask? Do you need my judgement? Your bearing is lowly as is fitting, but it is long since you turned from your own way at my counsel. You have spoken skilfully and discreetly, but have I not seen your eyes fixed on Mithrandir, seeking to learn how much you should say? He has your heart in keeping.
'My son, your father is old, but he is not yet a dotard. I can see and hear as was my wont, and not much of what you have left unsaid or half said is now hidden. I know the answer to the riddling words and to other riddles besides. Now I understand the ...(7) of Boromir and his [?death].'
'If you [are] angry, father,' said Faramir, 'tell me what other courses you would have had me take.'
'You have done as I should have expected, for I know you well,' said Denethor. 'Ever your desire is to be lordly and generous as a king of old - gracious and gentle. And that well befits men of high lineage who sit in power amid peace. But in these black hours gentleness may be bought with death.'
'So be it,' said Faramir.
'So be it,' said Denethor; 'but not by your death only. The death also of your father and of all your people whom it will be your part to rule ere long - now Boromir is no more.' He paused, clutching his [?wand].
'Do you wish then,' said Faramir, 'that our places had been exchanged?'
'Yes, I wish that indeed,' said Denethor. 'Or no,' and then he shook his head; and rising suddenly laid his hand on his son's shoulder. 'Do not judge me harshly, my son,' he said, 'or think that I am harsh. Love is not blind. I knew your brother also. I would wish only that he had been in your place, if I were sure of one thing.'
'And what is that, my father?'
'That he was as strong in heart as you, and as trustworthy, That taking this thing he had brought it to me, and not fallen under thraldom. For Faramir, and you Mithrandir, amid all your far flung policies, there is another way that is not yours nor Boromir's. It is one thing to take and wield this power for one's own victory - you, Mithrandir, may think what you will of me - '
'What I think of you is at least one part of my mind that you do not seem to have read,' said Gandalf.
'As you will, but I have in this as much wisdom as yourself,' said Denethor. 'I would not use it. On the other hand, at this
hour to send the bearer, and such a one, helpless into Mordor itself, or as my son to let him go with that burden to Kirith Ungol, that also seems to me folly patent.'
'What then is wisdom?' said Gandalf.
'To do neither,' answered Denethor. 'Certainly not to risk the maker recovering it to our final ruin. To keep it - hidden, deep hidden, yet not used - hidden beyond his grasp until at last [?either] he wins all by war and we are dead.(8) Would that I had that thing now: in the deep chambers of this citadel, and then we should not shake with dread ...'
The remainder of the conversation between Gandalf and Denethor reaches effectively the form in RK, p. 87 (but Gandalf says: 'had you taken this thing by force or daunting you would not have escaped'; 'if you had received this thing, it would have overthrown you', RK). The episode ends thus in the draft:
He turned to Faramir. 'What news from the garrison at Osgiliath? '
'I have sent the company from Ithilien to strengthen it, as I said,' replied Faramir. 'It will be there, I think, that the first assault will fall.'
He rose, and suddenly he swayed and leant upon his father. 'You are weary, my son,' said Denethor. 'You have not spoken of your ride from Men Falros - and the dreadful wings.'
'I do not wish to,' said Faramir.
'Then do not so,' said Denethor. 'Go now to sleep, and think that such things shall not come here within shot of our bows - not this night at least. Tomorrow will need new counsels.'
Gandalf's talk with Pippin after they returned to their lodging as it stands in RK (pp. 88 - 9) was closely approached here,(9) and I cite only one brief passage:
'... But in truth I believe that the news that Faramir brings has more hope in it than seemed at first. For if Frodo was still so far away yestermorn, then that which I hoped might be has probably happened. The Enemy has made war in haste without the Ring and thinking that it is with us. And even if all goes as plans, and it will not if I can prevent it, he will have his eyes many places, far from his own land. There is a gleam of hope there. So I told Aragorn when we rode to Rohan.(10) But still, I did not expect it so soon. Something else has happened to stir him.'
The draft text now races towards its more and more illegible conclusion. Some passages were added in ink, and these I include, marking them as such, since they clearly belong to much the same time. The last section opens with 'The next day came like a brown dusk' (RK p. 89), and continues very much as in the final text as far as the departure of Faramir to Osgiliath and the mutterings against Denethor.
'The Lord drives his son too hard, and now he must do duty for the one that is dead as well.' [Added in ink: But in truth Faramir went at his own will, and he it was that most swayed the council of the captains.](11) The council of the Lord had decided that with the threat in the South their force was too weak to make any stroke of war on their own part. They must man the defences and wait. Yet ever Faramir had urged that their outer defences must not be abandoned, and the River was the one that the Enemy should buy most dearly. It could not be crossed by a great host north of Men Falros because of the marshes, and away south in Lebennin it became too broad without many boats. So now he was gone again, taking such few men as Denethor would spare to strengthen the force that held the western ruins of Osgiliath. [Added in ink: 'But hold not too long so far afield,' said Denethor as he went out. 'Though you slay ten times your number at the crossing, the Enemy has more to spare. And your retreat will be hazardous. And do not forget that ... danger in the North. Not one army only will be sent at this time from the Black Gate.']
Hardly had he gone when a rider came in reporting that a host was approaching and ... had reached East Osgiliath. [Added in ink: and a Black Captain of great terror [?came] there out of Minas Morghul.] Wirh that ominous news ended Pippin's third day in the Tower.
The next day the darkness, though perhaps little more, weighed yet heavier on men's minds, and it seemed that slowly fear grew. Late in the day evil news was brought by riders. The passage of the Anduin had been won. Faramir was retreating to the Pelennor Wall and the fort[s] that guarded the entrance of the causeway into the townlands; but he could not hold them long. He was much outnumbered and had 4 leagues or more of open land to cross with few defences when he must give back again.
'Mithrandir's help fails now,' said some. For Gandalf had ridden down to Osgiliath at Faramir's side.(12) But others said 'Nay, he has never given any, not of such a kind. He is not a captain of war.'
But late that night he returned riding with the last wains filled with wounded men. 'They have paid dearly for the causeway,' he said, 'although they had prepared all things well. They have been building barges and boats secretly in East Osgiliath to the ruin of Ithilien's trees. But the river is now half choked with them. But he has come whom I feared.' 'Not the Dark Lord,' cried Pippin, 'No, he will not come except in triumph,' said Gandalf. 'He wields others as his weapons. I speak of one whom you have met. The Wizard King, captain of those you called the Black Riders. Most fell of all the servants of the Dark Tower. But he has not [struck out (?): yet] taken to winged steeds. [In him I am not overmatched, and yet still I am matched, for he was a member of our order before evil took him.](13) Now his fury and malice are grown to the full, and men fly before him. [Written in ink at the head of the page: But the Wizard King has not shown himself. He wields far behind a great fear that will drive his soldiers whither he will, even to cast themselves into the River thar others [?can] walk on their bodies. But he will come forth yet.]'
So the storm broke at last.
The next day the causeway fort[s] 'fell and Faramir began his desperate retreat across the Pelennor, [in ink, replacing a passage in pencil: the enemy pouring through the wall behin
d and sweeping away the ... rearguard. Fires glowing red in the mist could be seen far off, and once and again [a] red flash and then slowly a dull rumble would come rolling across the darkened fields. The ... were destroying the wall and blasting great breaches in it so that they could enter at any point. Soon the tide of war [?would cross]. The companies of Gondor could be seen [?hastening] back. And with that out of the](14) And now the Nazgûl [?stooped again] and the retreat became a rout, and [?many] men threw away spear and shield and sword and ran shrieking, or flung themselves to the ground and were trampled. Then there was a sortie from the city led by the Prince of Dol Amroth kinsman of Faramir and his folk, and Gandalf at his side. In the [?notch] of time they came up, and [?two] miles from the city drove back the enemy, making great slaughter, for the enemy cavalry were [?few] and [?little] ...; the Nazgûl [?would (not) stand] the onslaught of Gandalf, for their Captain was not with them.
So now the City prepared for a last siege. The Pelennor wall was abandoned, and all that could be [?withdrawn] behind the gates. Orcs and [?wild horsemen] roam[ed] the townlands lighting the black night with fires, and the more bold rode within earshot of watchers on the walls, crying with hideous voices, and many bore upon their spears the heads of men they had slain and hewn.
Here the draft C ends. It was followed by a fair copy manuscript ('D'), in which the text of RK was very largely achieved: but it took a great deal of further work to reach it. This manuscript can be seen as divided roughly between the part that was based on C, and the part that extended beyond the point where C ended. Like the draft, it is numbered 'XLVI', but has no title; and the chapter again begins with the words 'It had been dark all day.'
In the first part it is notable that while my father went to great pains with the detail of expression, and clearly intended it to stand, in all those passages in which Denethor showed himself less coldly obdurate and hostile to Faramir than he became in The Return of the King the original draft was followed closely. His sudden softening in response to Faramir's question 'Do you wish then that our places had been exchanged?' (p. 328) remains:
'Yes, I wish that indeed,' said Denethor. 'Or no.' And then he shook his head, and rising swiftly he laid his hand upon his son's bowed head. 'Do not judge me harshly, my son,' he said quietly, 'or believe me more harsh than I am. I knew your brother well also. Love is not blind. I could wish that Boromir had been at Henneth Annûn when this thing came there, only if I were sure of one thing.'
'Sure of what, my father?'
'That he was as strong in heart and selfless as you, my son. That taking this thing he would have brought it here and surrendered it, and not fallen swiftly under its thraldom. For, Faramir - and you too, Mithrandir, amid all your wide webs and policies - there is a third way, that is neither the folly of wizards nor the lust of warriors....'
It is certain that there was no element of embittered banter in these words, That he was as strong in heart and selfless as you, my son. Denethor was coldly watchful as always of those he spoke to, but he expressed the true bearing of his mind. His gentler good-night to Faramir, with a suggestion of a comforting word (p. 329), remains; and in this brief passage it can be seen how Denethor's harshness towards Faramir was enforced in later revision by the slightest of touches: as in the movement from 'You are weary, my son' to 'You are weary, I see.' Again, in the debate on the following day (p. 330), it is still Faramir who argues that an attempt must be made to hold the outer defences at the, line of the Anduin (but so far does the new writing go towards the actual words of RK (pp. 89 - 90) that when my father came to revise passage he had little more to do than to give the speeches to rent speakers). In this version the speech made by Prince Imrahil (RK p. 90), warning of another host that may come from Mordor, is given to Gandalf, and it is Faramir who is adamant and concludes the debate with words that afterwards became his father's:
'Much must be risked in war,' said Faramir. 'But I will not yield the River and the fields of Pelennor unfought, unless my father commands me beyond denial.'
'I do not,' said Denethor. 'Farewell, and may your judgement prove just: at least so much that I may sec you again. Farewell!'
When he rejected this account of what happened at that meeting of the council my father wrote in the margin of the page: 'This must be altered to make Faramir only go to please his father against his own counsel and to "take Boromir's place".' And on a slip of paper he wrote a brief statement of how, and why, the existing portrayal of Denethor's relations with Faramir must be changed:
The early conversation of Faramir and his father and motives must be altered. Denethor must be harsh. He must say he did wish Boromir had been at Henneth Annûn - for he would have been loyal to his father and brought him the Ring. (Gandalf may correct this.) Faramir grieved but patient. Then Denethor must be all for holding Osgiliath 'like Boromir did', while Faramir (and Gandalf?) are against it, using the arguments previously given to Denethor. At length in submission, but proudly, to please his father and show him that not only Boromir was brave [he] accepts the command at Osgiliath. Men in the City do not like it.
This will not only be truer to previous situation, but will explain Denethor's breaking up when Faramir is brought back dying, as it seems.
The first part of this passage was struck through, as far as 'Faramir grieved but patient', and the second part allowed to stand; but this was then rejected also. Finally the whole was marked with a tick, when my father at length decided that this was how it should in fact be.
Also on this slip is a note written independently: Something should be said between Gandalf and Pippin about the scene between Faramir and his father', but this suggestion was not taken up.
Not only in these passages, but in almost all the points where the draft C differed from RK, the manuscript D, as my father first wrote it, retained his first conceptions.(15) When (in relation to further progress in the narrative) the very substantial alterations to this part of the chapter in D were carried out I cannot say for certain. After this, the text as it stands in RK was present in all essentials; but at this stage my father was still uncertain whether or not to adopt the 'longer opening', as he called it, in which the chapter opens with Gandalf's waking Pippin in their lodging (see pp. 324 - 5).(16)
Drafting for the latter part of the chapter is not as coherent and continuous as it is for the former. My impression is that having written the fair copy manuscript D on the basis of the draft C so far as it went, or so far as it usefully went, my father then simply went on with it, writing sections of draft pari passu with progress on the fair copy, which was itself in places the primary composition. There is no way of knowing over how long a period all this work was spread.
The last part of C, from 'The next day the darkness, though perhaps little more, weighed yet heavier on men's minds' (p. 330), where the draft text became very cursory and rushed, was developed to the form in RK (pp. 91 ff.): Gandalf does not now ride down to Osgiliath with Faramir, and the account of the barge-building in East Osgiliath and the fear of the Black Captain is given by the messenger; it is only at this news that Gandalf leaves the 'City, returning at mid-morning on the next day with the wains bearing the wounded, and there follows his conversation with Denethor (RK pp. 91 - 3), here set 'in a high chamber near the summit of the White Tower'. In this all is almost as in the final form; but Denethor, revealing the mail in which he was clad beneath his long cloak, says nothing of it (he does not reveal that he wears it night and day), and Gandalf still as in the draft (p. 331) reminds Pippin who the Black Captain is: 'You have met him, Peregrin son of Paladin, though then he was far from home, veiled to your eyes, when he stalked the Ringbearer. Now he is come forth in power again, growing as his Master grows.' Gandalf now names him 'King of Angmar long ago', and this is the first appearance of the conception of the Kingdom of Angmar in the texts of The Lord of the Rings. To Denethor's 'Or can it be that you have withdrawn because you are overmastered?' (causing Pippin to fear that 'Gandalf would be stung to sudden
wrath') the wizard answers 'lightly' ('softly' in RK); and after 'But our trial of strength is not come yet' he recalls a prophecy concerning the fate of the Lord of the Nazgûl different from that in the brief outline given on p. 326:
'... And if words spoken of old come true, he is not doomed to fall before warrior or wise [> men of war or wisdom]; but in the hour of his victory to be overthrown by one who has never slain a man [> by one who has slain no living thing]....'
In RK this becomes: 'not by the hand of man shall he fall, and hidden from the Wise is the doom that awaits him' (cf. RK p. 116). At the end of this conversation Denethor says: 'Some have unjustly accused you, Mithrandir, of delighting to bear ill news'; before 'unjustly' my father pencilled 'no doubt', but afterwards removed both qualifications. For all the story of the sortie for the rescue of Faramir and the out-companies and the mounting of the siege there is preliminary drafting, in which almost all features of the final narrative were already present.(17) In the fair copy there is a remarkable addition pencilled in to the description of the Nazgûl circling over the City on the first day of the siege:
The Nazgûl came once more, slaves of the Nine Rings, and to each, since now they were utterly subject to his will, their Lord had given again that ring of power that he had used of old.
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 8 - The War of the Ring Page 42
