The History of the Hobbit
Page 97
22 This entry is added to the typescript, having been preceded by rough drafting on a separate sheet of paper; see the Draftings section at the end of this chapter.
23 This change, from the first edition’s ‘Excitable little man’, had already been made in the fifth printing of 1951; see page 749. For the changes in the preceding lines, compare the suggested replacement or correction with the published text (e.g., DAA.47). For example, ‘/19 delete magic’ (which is added at the same time as the entries discussed in Text Notes 22 & 25) means that the line ‘Gandalf struck a blue light on the end of his magic staff’ should now read ‘. . . the end of his staff’. The replacement of ‘the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel’ (page 27, line 16) by ‘the whee of a rocket going up in the sky’ was no doubt to remove a perceived anachronism, fireworks being firmly established as part of Middle-earth in a way mechanisms like steam engines were not.
24 Golfimbul is changed to ‘Gulfimbul’, either because of the further evolution of Tolkien’s languages (cf. Mt. Gondobad > Gundabad, page 675) or because Tolkien had now dropped the ‘golf’ joke and so no longer needed (or wanted) the -golf- element to appear in the goblin-king’s name.
25 This phrase, added to the typescript at the same time as the entry noted in Text Note 22, is one of the few for which drafting exists; see the Draftings section at the end of this chapter.
26 Written in pencil beside this, apparently as a possible replacement: ‘funny beards?’
27 That is, for the reading in the second edition ‘(Look at the map at the beginning of this book, and you will see there the runes in red.)’, Tolkien now proposed that an asterisk be inserted in the text and a footnote added to the bottom of the page which would read ‘*See the copy of the plan at the beginning of this book.’
28 The extended row of ellipses, here and throughout this chapter, is in Tolkien’s original.
29 This was originally followed with ‘And anyway there are no more battle’, then this unfinished sentence was cancelled.
30 By small deer, Tolkien does not mean hobbit-sized deer, appealing though the image is, but ‘small game’ – that is, creatures such as rabbits, squirrels, and the like. Cf. Shakespeare’s King Lear: ‘Mice, and Rats, and such small Deare, Haue been Tom’s food for seuen long yeare’ (Act III, scene iv, lines 144–145).
The conversation to which Gandalf refers (‘we have discussed all that . . . we decided . . .’) is described in more detail in ‘The Quest of Erebor’.
31 Several lines of typed drafting, which gave more information about the dwarven exodus from the Grey Mountains, were deleted following this sentence:
Many years ago, in [Dain >] my great-grandfather’s time, our family was driven out of the far North, and [Dain was slain by a dragon >] returned to this Mountain on the map, where their ancestors had lived for a while long ago [> once upon a time]. They brought such wealth as they could save >
This seems to have been replaced with
. . . driven out of the far North, and return with their goods and their tools to this Mountain on the map where our ancestors had lived for a while once upon a time.
This Dain is of course Dáin I, the figure who replaced Thrym Thistlebeard as Thrór’s father in the published dwarven genealogy, said in ‘Durin’s Folk’ to have been killed by ‘a great cold-drake’ (LotR.1109) and in the family tree by ‘a dragon’ (ibid.1117). His youngest son, Grór, founded the dwarven colony in the Iron Hills at the same time his heir, Thrór, re-established the Kingdom under the Mountain at Erebor.
See also the Draftings section at the end of this chapter for rough drafts on a separate sheet [Ad.Ms.H.18] of this passage relating to Thrain the Old and Thror’s return to the Lonely Mountain.
32 This marks the first appearance in the main text of ‘Thrain the Old’ by that name (an appellation that arose during the drafting given at the end of this chapter); in ‘Durin’s Folk’ (LotR.1109 & 1117) and the 1950 Prefatory Note to the second edition he had been simply ‘Thráin I’. This is yet another of the proposed 1960 Hobbit changes that got carried over into the 1966 third edition; cf. DAA.54.
33 This passage originally read
. . . to this Mountain on the map, where our ancestors had lived for a while, once upon a time. There they mined and they tunnelled, and they made [great halls >] wide halls and great workshops
The changes from ‘wide’ to deeper and ‘great’ to greater emphasize the continuity of the dwarven community building on and expanding what had come before, whereas the original readings convey the impression that the earlier settlement was completely dwarfed (so to speak) by the magnificence of the new establishment.
34 Originally these sentences read ‘Alas! Undoubtedly that was what brought the dragon upon us! Their greed has long ears.’
35 Originally this read ‘as long as they live, five thousand years maybe’.
36 The addition of still, typed in the margin and marked for insertion here, suggests that the battles between dragons mentioned in the next clause seriously reduced their numbers. Compare Farmer Giles of Ham, which suggests a number of dragons dwelling close together in the mountains, at least one of whom is killed and eaten (by the returning C. Dives) by the end of the story.
The specific detail a few lines later that Smaug came from beyond the Grey Mountains appears here for the first time, but this is merely a confirmation of the legend on Thror’s Map: ‘Far to the North are the Grey Mountains & the Withered Heath whence came the Great Worms.’
37 ‘as low as coalmining, or even road-mending’ replaces ‘as low as black-smith-work or even coalmining’, either because Tolkien wished not to disparage blacksmithing (which he celebrates in passing in Smith of Wootton Major only a few years later [circa 1964] as a useful craft that is also an appealing art), or because he wished to allude to the association between dwarves and stone roads that appears elsewhere in the legendarium.
38 Azog’s name enters The Hobbit at this point, this being one of the 1960 changes that carried over into the published third edition of six years later; cf. DAA.56–7 and 339. The name first appeared in ‘Durin’s Folk’ (LotR.1110–12) and was now imported back into The Hobbit retroactively, replacing the anonymous goblin of the first and second editions.
I have been unable to locate any authoritative gloss for the meaning of Azog’s name; even the language it is in is unknown. It may be Magol, like his son Bolg (see page 710), but given the gap of years between their invention and the linguistic situation as it stood at the time Tolkien was writing the Lord of the Rings Appendices, azog is more probably a word in Black Speech (cf. LotR.1165) – cf. for instance the similarity between azog and nazg, attested from the Ring-inscription (ibid., 271), which share three out of four letters all in the same sequence.
39 To this Tolkien added, then deleted ‘and the key’ (i.e., ‘this map and the key’). For more on his hesitancy over whether the wizard gained one item or two from the dying dwarf, note that when two paragraphs later Gandalf ceremoniously hands Thorin the map there is no mention of the key, although in the paragraphs that follow Gandalf mentions the key twice. See also Text Note 44.
40 ‘a few weeks ago’: their first meeting is described in ‘Durin’s Folk’ (LotR.1115). For a different account of that encounter, see ‘The Quest of Erebor’; cf. Unfinished Tales (UT.322 & 332–5) and The Annotated Hobbit (DAA.368–77).
41 Rather surprisingly, Tolkien did not at this point have several of the dwarves present – e.g., Balin and Dwalin, and possibly others – reveal that they had accompanied Thrain on his unfortunate expedition; cf. LotR.1114. This is all the more unexpected, because while they did not know what ultimately became of Thrain, they certainly could have revealed to his son the purpose of his final mission rather than leave him completely in the dark for a full century about his missing father.
42 In full, including cancellations, Gandalf’s reply reads:
‘Do not ask! Not at night. NO, not even at noon!’ said Gandalf. [Only th
ose whom >] I will not speak of it.’
It is interesting that Gandalf refers to this remarkable achievement – in which he joins Beren, Lúthien, and Sméagol as the only characters in the whole legendarium known to have escaped from a Dark Lord’s lair – as a ‘task’; presumably one laid upon him by the White Council.
43 Originally Gandalf’s reply began:
‘Don’t speak as a fool!’ said Gandalf. ‘Grief has robbed you of your wits. The one that you name is an enemy . . .’
44 Tolkien first wrote ‘Give it to my son’, meaning the map; when Tolkien decided that this should include the key mentioned in the previous sentence as well, he changed the pronoun to match, although no account of the wizard presenting Thorin with the key, as in the published book, was added back to the text above.
Interestingly, the four words ‘even from their tombs’ are typed over pencil drafting, suggesting that the typescript at some point halted in the middle of this page (Ts. page 14; Ad.Ms.H.75) after the words ‘four corners of the Earth’, which was originally followed by a full stop.
45 Bilbo’s remark was originally the even more naive ‘which will take a day or two’.
Draftings
New Chapter I was composed on the typewriter and, like New Chapter II and the fragment of New Chapter III which follow, is itself the sole text of this new version of the book’s opening. However, drafting for three individual passages does survive, on two separate sheets. The first, Ad.Ms.H.12, is the back of a page whose brief text I give at the end of the next chapter under the heading ‘Queries and Reminders’ (see page 811). Ad.Ms.H.12 has some nearly illegible drafting for two passages that appeared in New Chapter I. The first passage reads:
and he thought it an important occasion. If it had been allowed he might have come at last to the explanation.
This is clearly a suggested replacement for ‘He was an important dwarf. If he had been allowed, he would probably have gone on like this until he was out of breath, without telling any one there anything that was not known already. But he was rudely interrupted . . .’ (second edition page 27, lines Ioff; DAA.47). See page 778 and Text Note 22 above for the addition to the typescript which seems to be Tolkien’s final version of this passage. The second passage reads:
a dragon of nine spells of
a dragon out of [> under] nine spells of sleep
even [the >] a drunken dragon.
would be the end of us: it would wake a stone dragon out of an enchanted sleep
These in turn are clearly an attempt to arrive at a satisfactory replacement for Gloin’s ‘one shriek like that in a moment of excitement would be enough to wake the dragon and all his relatives, and kill the lot of us’ (second edition page 28, lines 13ff; DAA.48). See page 778 and Text Note 25 above for Tolkien’s actual addition to the typescript for this passage.
The second sheet with drafting, Ad.Ms.H.18, forms the verso of the notes on phases of the moon that I give as section (iv) in the ‘Timelines and Itinerary’ chapter below (Ad.Ms.H.17; see page 831). Here Tolkien is bringing material from the Prefatory Note to the second edition about Thrain I (see page 753) and working it into harmony with what Thorin says about his family on pages 32 and 242 of the second edition (the passages about long ago being driven out of the far north and about the discovery of the Arkenstone, respectively; cf. DAA.54 & 287). Not all of this drafting, most of it hastily written in faded pencil, is legible; I give what I can make out of it to show how Tolkien worked his way to the final wording, with illegible words or passages replaced by ellipses (. . .) and doubtful words enclosed by french brackets < > as usual. At one point Tolkien himself uses an ellipsis to indicate an omitted passage; this is given below as a closed ellipsis (…..) without spaces between the dots.
p. 2422 TN1 Thrain Arkenstone . . .
[cancelled: back >] my family was driven out far north . . . came back . . .
. . . Old Thrain my ancestor. Long ago . . . . . .
It was discovered by my far ancestor Thrain the Old [but >] . . . they mined
[added in blue ball-point ink: 32, 242]
. . . grandfather Thror’s time my family were driven out of the North [added: back] and.....Map.
[p. 24 >] 32 and 2422
Unlike the preceding, which is written in pencil, the final paragraph of drafting on this page is in blue ball-point ink:
Long ago in my grandfather Thror’s time my [> his] family were [> was] driven out of the Far North and [they] came back with all their wealth and
This final paragraph of drafting in turn directly underlies those passages given in Text Notes 31, 32, and 33 above. Not only do these draftings, sketchy though they are, mark the emergence of the name ‘Thrain the Old’ (see pp. 780 & 788) but they resolve one lingering question from Tolkien’s earlier confusion of the two competing Thror-Thrain-Thorin/Thrain-Thror-Thorin genealogies: why, if Thror was the last King under the Mountain, did Thorin refer to the Arkenstone as ‘the Arkenstone of Thrain’ (second edition page 242)? The now-familiar answer appears here for the first time in a typically Tolkienian resolution: Thror was indeed Last King, yet the appellation ‘Arkenstone of Thrain’ is also correct because it refers to a different Thrain, just as the Prefatory Note established was the case on Thror’s Map.
Thus Tolkien finally resolved a contradiction accidentally introduced into the text before its first publication; all that would have been required to remove the last traces of the confusion would have been to substitute fathers for father in the second paragraph of Chapter XVI (‘For the Arkenstone of my father . . . I name unto myself’) and fathers’ for father’s in Chapter XVII (‘That stone was my father’s, and is mine . . . how came you by the heirloom of my house . . . ?’). But unfortunately Tolkien either did not realize that these two small changes remained to be made (since the 1960 Hobbit never reached so far) or, as seems more likely, he was well aware of it but made no note to that effect at the time and had forgotten this detail when forced to hastily revisit the book in 1965 for the 1966 third edition.
TEXT NOTES
1 I cannot explain the superscript here, which also occurs again further down the page. It does not refer to the second paragraph on that page, which describes the Arkenstone; it is the first paragraph which alludes to its discovery ‘beneath the roots of the Mountain’.
New Chapter II
The Broken Bridge
The typescript for New Chapter II starts at the top of a new page [Ad.Ms.H.25] but otherwise strongly resembles the last six pages of New Chapter I and clearly marks a continuation of the same text. As before, rather than a continuous narrative this Fifth Phase material varies between short bits of replacement text and longer extended scenes. The most notable addition is the scene of crossing the river beside the broken bridge, necessitated by discrepancies that arose when Bilbo’s adventure, which had taken place ‘off the map’ (literally, since they had not yet entered the area covered by the Wilderland map at this point),† had to be superimposed upon Frodo’s well-mapped journey covering the same terrain. Tolkien’s solution was to alter both The Hobbit (see below) and the second edition of The Lord of the Rings (see HME VI.199–203) to match if possible the final published LotR map.
† It is not until they reach the ford early in Chapter III that Gandalf informs them that they ‘are come to the very edge of the Wild’ (DAA.88), and indeed the ‘Edge of the Wild’ is helpfully drawn as a double red line on the Wilderland Map published as the back endpaper of the second edition.
p. 40/13. and each pony was s
lung about with bundles and blankets and saddlebags. Four were without riders: two laden with foodbags and gear for cooking and camping; one more for Balin; and last a very small pony (with no baggage), evidently for Bilbo. The whole expedition had clearly been prepared long beforeTN1
p. 41/2 white horse called Rohald.TN2 He brought no pocket-handkerchiefs, but he did bring a couple of blankets and Bilbo’s pipe and tobacco...... rode forward all that day and the next. After this substitute for except line 5 to William p 46/5 the following:TN3
They were still in the Shire, of course, and went at a leisurely pace, spending the nights in good inns; not until the Saturday afternoon did they cross the great bridge over the Brandywine River and enter what Bilbo called the Outlands, where outlandish things might be expected at any turn. At last he felt that his Adventure had begun.
But beyond the Bridge the road was still good, and there were wide lands looking wholesome enough. They met or came up with a number of folk on lawful business: dwarves for the most part going east or west with packs on their backs. Some belonged to Thorin’s people of the western mountains, and they saluted him with a low bow; some were of poorer sort, pedlars of iron-ware, tinkers, or road-menders. There were a few Men, farmers mostly, ambling along on large fat horses; and several hobbits on foot. They stared at Thorin’s company, but gave them no more than a grin and a nod.
In a day or two they came to Bree on the Hill. There they spent their last comfortable night for many a day to come, in the great inn of Bree, the Prancing Pony, well-known to the hobbits of the east side of the Shire.TN4 Bree was as far as Bilbo’s knowledge reached, even by hearsay. Beyond it the lands had been desolate for many long years. When in a day’s journey more they came to the Last Inn, they found it deserted. They camped in its ruins, and next day they passed into a barren country with great marshes on their left as far as eye could see. They went very slowly now, sparing their laden ponies and often trudging on foot, for the road became very bad, rutted and pitted, and in places almostTN5 lost in soft bog. The weather remained dry – as far as Bree it had been as fair as May can be, even in legends – but it was grey now and rather sad.