It is obvious that no part was foreseen for Merry in the great event; and it seems that (in strong contrast to the final story, RK p. 117) it was the beheading of the great bird that in itself caused the defeat and flight of the Lord of the Nazgûl, deprived of his steed.
Whatever its relative dating, the piece certainly gives an impression of having been composed in isolation, a draft for a scene that my father saw vividly before he reached this point in the actual writing of the story. When he did so, he evidently had it before him, as is suggested by the words of the Lord of the Nazgûl (cf. RK p. 116).
When my father came to write the story of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields he all but achieved the form in which it stands in The Return of the King in a single manuscript ('A'). He adopted here the method of building up the completed narrative through massive correction and interpolation of his initial text; and the greater part if not all of this work clearly belongs to the same time. Beneath the writing in ink on the first page of this manuscript there is however a pencilled text, and bears further on the subject of Théoden and the Lord of the Nazgûl.
This underlying text is largely illegible on account of the ink overwriting, which is closely-packed, but from what can be seen it seems not to have differed greatly (the opening paragraph of the chapter, mostly legible, is very close to the ink version on top of it) - as far as the passage where the golden shield of Théoden is dimmed, horses reared and screamed, and men falling from their horses lay upon the ground. But then follows: 'And through the ranks of the enemy a wide lane opened.' The rest of the pencilled text is almost entirely lost, but isolated words and phrases can be made out: 'There came riding ..... a great ..... [struck out: The Black Captain) ..... stood ..... the Black Captain robed ..... and above the robes was a crown ..... ' This can scarcely mean anything other than that the Lord of the Nazgûl did not descend upon the battle borne upon the back of a great vulture.
Various statements have been made on this subject, beginning with that in Outline V, cited above, that the Nazgûl was 'unhorsed'. In the rough draft of 'The Siege of Gondor' (p. 331) Gandalf, speaking to Pippin of the Wizard King, says that 'he has not [struck out(?): yet] taken to winged steeds'; in the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Forannest' (p. 359) 'the Wizard King takes to the air and becomes Nazgûl'; and of course there is the evidence of 'The Fall of Théoden in the Battle of Osgiliath'. That my father should at this stage have abandoned, however briefly, the story of the Winged Nazgûl descending upon Théoden is certainly surprising; but it seems plain that he did so. The first manuscript A has no title, and was paginated continuously with 'The Ride of the Rohirrim'; a subsequent fair copy manuscript ('B') was afterwards given the number and title 'XLVIII The Battle of the Pelennor Fields'. The opening passage in A is distinct from the form in RK:
But it was no orc-chief or brigand that led the assault on Gondor. Who knows whether his Master himself had set a date to the darkness, designing the fall of the City for that very hour and needing light for the hunting of those that fled, or fortune had betrayed him and the world turned against him? None can tell. Dismayed he may have been, cheated of victory even as he grasped it. Cheated, not yet robbed. He was still in command, wielding great power, Lord of the Nazgûl. He had many weapons. He left the Gates and vanished.
There is no mention of Dernhelm in the passage 'He [Théoden] slackened his speed a little, seeking new foes, and his knights came behind him. Elfhelm's men were among the siege-engines ...', where RK has 'and his knights came about him, and Dernhelm was with them.' This shows, I think, that Dernhelm was still conceived to have been riding with the king's knights throughout the journey from ' Edoras.(5)
When the Lord of the Nazgûl says to Éowyn (6) No living man may hinder me!' she replies, as the text was first written: 'I am no living man. You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund's daughter. You stand between me and my kin. Begone! For though I have slain no living thing, yet I will slay the dead [> yet I will slay the Undead].' This rests on the earlier form of the prophecy concerning the Lord of the Nazgûl: 'he is not doomed to fall before men of war or wisdom; but in the hour of his victory to be overthrown by one who has slain no living thing' (pp. 334-5). This was changed on the manuscript to: 'Begone, if thou be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will hew thee, if thou touch me.'
In the passage that follows, Éowyn's hair is described as 'shorn upon her neck', and this survived through the fair copy 8 into the first typescript, where it was changed to the reading of RK (p. 116): 'her bright hair, released from its bonds'. And Merry's thought is directly reported: 'I must do something. If only I can get away from those eyes! '
After the great cry of the Lord of the Nazgûl as he departed there follows: 'And far up above [?the] Nazgûl hearing that cry were filled with great terror, and fled away to Baraddur bearing ill tidings.' This was not taken up into the fair copy (B).(7)
At Théoden's death the text here is briefer, and no reference is made to the taking up of the banner from its dead bearer and the sign made by the king that it be given to Eomer: 'Grief and dismay fell upon Eomer as he leaped from the saddle and stood by the king. Slowly the old man opened his eyes again. "Hail, King of the Mark!" he said....' In the fair copy B the banner-bearer is named Guthwin (Guthláf in RK).
Of Merry s sword it was first said in this text, So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse. Glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago, for the sorcerer-king he knew and the dread realm of Angmar in the ancient North, hating all his deeds.' The text of RK (pp. 119 - 20), 'who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dúnedain were young was substituted, probably at once.(8) The passage (RK p. 120) recording the burying of the carcase of the great beast and of Snowmane, with the horse's epitaph, is absent; and the great rain that came from the sea ('it seemed that all things wept for Théoden and Éowyn', recalling the grief for Baldr) likewise, being added in only on the first typescript. A page of the manuscript (A) in which the encounter of the Prince of Dol Amroth with the bearers of Théoden and Éowyn is described, and his discovery that Éowyn was still alive, was rejected and at once rewritten; in the rejected form occurs this passage in the words of the Prince (still given no other name) with the bearers:
'Bring him to the City,' he said. 'The gate is wide open, and by his own deed the way thither is made free.' And then he rose and looked on Éowyn and was amazed. 'Here is a woman!' he said. 'Do even the women of Rohan come to war in our aid?' he asked.
'It is the Lady Éowyn sister of King Eomer,' they said. 'And we do not know how she came here, but it seems that she took the place of one of his knights. [Rejected at once: Dernhelm ... a young kinsman of the king.] It is a grief beyond words to us.
This is the only trace of the idea that Éowyn escaped detection by substituting herself for a young Rider among the king's knights actually named Dernhelm. No doubt it arose here and was abandoned here; probably because of the meaning of the name (derne 'hidden, secret'; cf. the earlier name by which Éowyn was to ride, Grímhelm, p. 355 note 6).
In the rewritten version of this passage the text of RK is reached, and here at last appears the name Imrahil of the Prince of Dol Amroth, entering apparently without any hesitation as to its form.
Among the horsemen of Gondor (RK p. 121) appears Húrin the Tall, 'Warden of the City', changed at once to 'Warden of the Keys'. In an immediately rejected version of the passage in which the new hosts streaming in from Osgiliath are described it was said of the Black Captain: 'He was gone, and the Nazgûl in fear had fled back to Mordor bearing ill tidings' (see note 7); but this was lost in the rewriting of the passage, where appear Gothmog lieutenant of Morghul,(9) the Variags of Khand (both names written without any precedent forms), and the black 'half-trolls' of Far Harad.(10) The course of Anduin, as seen by the watchmen on the walls when the black fleet approached (RK p. 122), was first described thus:
For south away the river went in a knee about the ou
t-thrust of the hills of Emyn Arnen in lower Ithilien,(11) and Anduin bent then in upon the Pelennor so that its outwall was there built upon the brink, and that at the nearest was no more than [five >] four miles from the Gates; [added: and quays and landings were made there for boats coming upstream from the Outlands;] but thence the river flowed southeast for three leagues and all that reach could be seen in line by farsighted men on high. And they looking forth cried in dismay, for lo! up the reach of Arnen a black fleet could be seen ...
Striking out this passage my father noted against the first part of it: 'This is now told before in XLIV' (i.e. the chapter 'Minas Tirith'). He was referring to a rider introduced into the first typescript of that chapter (see p. 294 note 30) entirely recasting the original description of the Pelennor and the Outlands (pp. 278, 287) to its form in RK (p. 22), where the bend in Anduin about Emyn Arnen appears. This rider was already in existence, though obviously belonging to this phase of writing, as is seen from the name Lonnath-ernin of the landings, subsequently changed (presumably at this very juncture) to Harlond. In the present text the passage just cited was removed immediately, and the much briefer passage as found in this place in RK (p. 122) follows in the manuscript, with the name Harlond.(12)
The great banner of Aragorn is described in the same words as in RK (p. 123), except that in the sentence 'for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond' the italicised words are absent. In the fair copy manuscript (B) 'by Finduilas Elrond's daughter'(13) was added in the margin, changed later to 'Arwen daughter of Elrond'.
Aragorn is named 'Elessar, Isildur's heir'; and when men leapt from the ships to the quays 'There came Legolas and Gimli wielding his axe, and Halbarad with the standard, and Elboron and Elrohir with stars on their brow, and the dourhanded Dúnedain, Rangers of the North; and in the hand of Aragorn Branding was like a new fire kindled,
Narsil reforged (14) as deadly as of old, and about his helm there was a kingly crown.' Thus Elboron still survived, for Elladan (see pp. 297, 302), the change being made on the fair copy. Branding, for Andúril, Flame of the West, remained until changed on the first typescript; while 'about his helm there was a kingly crown' was not replaced by 'upon his brow was the Star of Elendil' until the book was in proof.
At the end of the chapter as first written Duinhir of Morthond is named among the fallen, whereas in RK it is his sons, 'Duilin and his: brother' (Derufin), who were trampled by the Mûmakil.(15) Grimbold of Grimslade is not named (though he has appeared in 'The Ride of the Rohirrim'), and instead the sentence in which he is named in RK
reads: 'Neither Hirluin the Fair would return to his green hills, nor Elfhelm to Eastfold [written above: Westfold],(16) nor Halbarad to the Northlands, dourhanded Ranger.' In the alliterative song 'The Mounds of Mundburg' (not yet so named) there was much variation in the recording of those who died in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The earliest complete, though still very rough, form of the song reads:
As long after a maker (17) in Rohan said in his song:
We heard in the hills the horns ringing,(18)
of swords shining in the South kingdom:
steeds went striding to the Stoningland
a wind in the morning, war at sunrise.
There Théoden fell, Thengling mighty,
life and lordship long had he wielded
hoar king and high, Harding and Crimbold,
Dúnhere and [Elfhelm >] Marculf, Déorwin the marshal.
Hirluin the fair to the hills by the sea,
nor Forlong the great to the flowering vales
ever of Arnach in his own country
returned in triumph, nor the tall bowman
doughty Duinhir to the dark waters,
meres of Morthond under mountain-shadows.
Death in the morning and at day's ending
lords took and lowly. Long now they sleep
under grass in Gondor by the Great River.
Red it ran then. Red was the sunset,
the hills under heaven high snowmantled
bloodred burning. Blood dyed the earth
in the Field of Mundberg in the far country.
Another rough text, moving nearer to the final form in some lines but petering out before the conclusion, has in the line corresponding to the 8th in the version just given Dúnhere and [Elfhelm >] Guthwin, Déorwin the marshal. Guthwin was the banner-bearer of the king (see p. 368). The first good text reaches the final form (with the name Rammas Echor in the last line) in all but the names of the dead Riders:
Harding and Guthwin,
Dúnhere and Marculf, Déorwin and Grimbold,
Herufare and Herubrand, Horn and Fastred,
fought and fell there in a far country;
in the mounds of Mundberg under mould they lie
with their league-fellows, lords of Gondor.(19)
NOTES.
1. Cf. the initial drafting for the end of 'The Siege of Gondor' (p. 337), ... crown that sat upon no visible head save only for the light of his pale eyes.'
2. dwimorlakes: 'illusions, phantoms'. Old English (ge)dwimor, -er; cf. Wormtongue's name Dwimordene of Lórien in 'The King of the Golden Hall' (TT p. 118), and Dwimorberg. In the present chapter in RK (p. 116) Éowyn calls the Lord of the Nazgûl 'foul dwimmer-laik', -laik being the Old Norse ending -leikr corresponding to Old English -lac, here 'modernised' as -lake.
3. Théoden son of Thengel: see p. 355 note 9.
4. The word is most naturally read as 'sound', in which case my father inadvertently repeated it instead of the word he had in mind, e.g. 'riding'.
5. The statement in 'The Ride of the Rohirrim' that 'Dernhelm had left his place and in the darkness was moving steadily forward until at last he was riding just in rear of the king's guard' (p. 353) was added after the writing of the present passage; see also p. 356 note 17.
6. Éowyn calls the Lord of the Nazgûl 'foul dwimmerlake', where -lake was changed subsequently to -lord. See note 2.
7. Cf. 'The Story Foreseen from Forannest', p. 360, in which it is said that Sauron heard from the Nazgûl of the defeat on the Pelennor and the corning of Aragorn.
8. For the first appearance of Angmar see p. 334, and of Dúnedain p. 363 note 6.
9. The name Gothmog is one of the original names of the tradition, going back to The Book of Lost Tales; Lord of Balrogs, slayer of Fëanor and Fingon.
10. Khand, Near Harad, and Far Harad were roughly entered on the Second Map.
11. Emyn Arnen has replaced Haramon (see p. 359 and note 3). On the origin of the great bend in the Anduin around the hills of Emyn Arnen see p. 438.
12. As first written, those who saw the black sails cried out: 'The Corsairs of Umbar! See! The Corsairs are coming. They have overrun Amroth and Belfalas and Lebennin are destroyed!'
13. In the First Age Finduilas was the daughter of Orodreth King of Nargothrond; she plays a major part in the Turinssaga.
14. Narsil reforged: although it has been said that Aragorn gave the name Branding to the Sword of Elendil after its reforging (see VII.274 and note 19), its ancient name has never been told until now.
15. In the account of the men of the Outlands entering Minas Tirith given on p. 287 Duinhir is mentioned, but not his sons.
16. In LR Elfhelm was not slain in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, but survived to command the three thousand Riders of Rohan who were sent to 'waylay the West Road against the enemy that was in Anórien' (RK p. 158; the leader of this force was not named in the First Edition, but Elfhelm is named in both editions as among those who stood before the gates of Minas Tirith when the Captains of the West returned, RK p. 244).
17. maker: used in the long since lost sense 'poet'.
18. We heard of the horns in the hills ringing is a variant entered at the time of writing both in this text and in that following.
19. Guthwin was later changed to Cuthlaf on this manuscript (see p. 368). Herufare is written so (for expected -fara) both here and (apparently) in a scrap of rough dr
afting for the passage; Herefara in RK.
X. THE PYRE OF DENETHOR.
The original brief draft of this chapter ('A'), mercifully written fairly legibly in ink and not in pencil subsequently overwritten, extended from 'When the dark shadow at the Gate withdrew' as far as 'There was no guard at the gate of the Citadel. "Berithil has gone then," said Pippin' (RK p. 127). The final text was naturally not reached in every turn of expression or every detail, but apart from the absence of the meeting with Prince Imrahil as Gandalf and Pippin rode up from the Gate on Shadowfax there is no narrative difference of any significance.(1) At this point my father stopped and set down a brief outline ('B').
? Porter dead at Closed Door. ? They see fire and smoke below as they hurry down the winding road. Berithil has rebelled, and taking some of the guard has fought with the household men. Before they could gain entrance to the tomb, one of these dashed back and set a torch in the wood. But Berithil was just in time to save Faramir. But Denethor leaped back into the flames and was now dead. Gandalf closed the door. 'That ends a chapter!' he said. 'Let the Stewards burn - their days are over.' Light is growing fast. Faramir is borne away to the house where women were who remained in city to tend sick.
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 8 - The War of the Ring Page 47
