The Treason of Isengard (28 page)

Shadowfax. Not even the horses of the Nine are so tireless and swift....'

When Gandalf came to Crickhollow 'hope left me; till I found Hamilcar Bolger. He was still shaking like a leaf, but he had the wits to rouse all the Brandybucks.' This was changed at the time of writing to the reading of FR (p. 276): 'and I did not wait to gather news, or I might have been comforted.' His thought of Butterbur is expressed thus: ' "Butterbur they call him," thought I; "but he will be plain Bur when I leave him, or nothing at all: I will melt all the butter in him..." ' His account of his visit to Bree and his ride to Weathertop, and the siege of him there by the Riders, reached almost the final form (FR p. 277): his defence by fire ('such light and flame cannot have been seen on Weathertop since the war-beacons of old') now at last appears (see p. 56).

Lastly, Gandalf s journey from Weathertop to Rivendell, 'up the Hoarwell and through the Entish lands', took him ten days - 'I was only three days ahead of you at the end of the chase';(15) and he makes no further mention of Shadowfax (in FR he 'sent him back to his master', since he could not ride him on that journey).

At the end of Gandalf's tale there follows:

There was a silence. At last Elrond spoke again. 'This is grave news concerning Saruman,' he said. 'All trust is shaken in these days. But such falls and betrayals, alas! have happened before.(16) Of all the tales the tale of Frodo was most strange to me. I have known few hobbits save Bilbo here; and it seems to me now that he is perhaps not so alone and singular as I had thought. The world has changed much since I was last in the West. The Barrow-wights we knew of by many names;(17) and of the Old Forest, that was once both ancient and very great, many tales have been told; but never before have I heard tell of this strange ]

Bombadil. Is that his only name? I would like to know more of him. Do you know him, Gandalf?'

'I knew of him,' answered the wizard. 'Bombadil is one name.

He has called himself others, suiting himself to times and tongues. Tom-bombadil's for the Shirefolk; Erion is for Elves, Forn for the dwarves, and many names for men.(18) We have seldom met. I am a rolling-stone and he is a moss-gatherer.

There is work for both, but they seldom help one another. It might have been wise to have sought his aid, but I do not think I should have gained much.(19) He is a strange creature, and follows his own counsels - if he has any: chance serves him better.'

'Could we not now send messages to him, and obtain his help?' asked Erestor. 'It seems that he has a power even over the Ring.'

'That is not quite the way of it,' said Gandalf. 'The Ring has no power over him, or for him: it cannot either cheat or serve him. He is his own master. But he has no power over it, and he cannot alter the Ring itself, nor break its power over others.

And I think that the mastery of Bombadil is seen only on his own ground, from which he has never stepped within my memory.'(20)

The discussion of what to do with the Ring is much developed from the original form (VI.402 - 3), which had been little changed in the second version; but it remains far from the debate in FR (pp. 279 - 80).

It is still Gandalf, not as in FR Glorfindel, who expounds the ultimate futility of entrusting the Ring to Bombadil, since he could not withstand the assault of the Dark Lord (cf. p. 112); but then follows in the new version:

'In any case,' said Glorfindel, 'his ground is far away; and the Ring has come from his house hither only at great hazard. It would have to pass through far greater peril to return. If the Ring is to be hidden, it is here in Rivendell that we must hide it -

if Elrond has the might to withstand the coming of Sauron at the last, when all else is conquered.'

'I have not the might,' said Elrond.

'In that case,' said Glorfindel, 'there are but two things for us to attempt: we may send the Ring West over Sea; or we may destroy it.'(21)

'There is great peril in either course, but more hope in the former,' said Erestor: 'we must send the Ring West. For we cannot, as Gandalf has revealed, destroy it by our own skill; to destroy it we must send it to the Fire. But of all journeys that journey is the most perilous, and leads straight to the jaws of the Enemy.'

'I judge otherwise,' said Glorfindel. 'The peril of the road of flight is now the greater; for my heart tells me that Sauron will expect us to take the western way, when he hears what has befallen. Too often have we fled, and too seldom gone forward against him. As soon as news reached him that any from Rivendell were journeying westwards, he would pursue them swiftly, and he would send before us and destroy the Havens to prevent us. Let us hope, indeed, that he does not assail the Towers and the Havens in any case, so that hereafter the Elves may have no way of escape from the shadows of Middle-earth.'

'Then there are two courses,' said Erestor, 'and both are without hope. Who will read this riddle for us?'

'None here can do so,' said Elrond gravely. 'None can foretell what will betide if we take this road or that, whether good or ill

- if that is what is meant. But it is not hard to choose which is now the right road. The Ring must be sent to the Fire. All else is but postponement of our task. In the One Ring is hidden much of the ancient power of Sauron before it was first broken. Even though he himself has not yet regained it, that power still lives

[struck out: and works for him and towards him]. As long as the Ring remains on land or in the sea, he will not be overcome. He will have hope; and he will grow, and all men will be turned to him; and the fear lest the Ring come into his hand again will weigh on all hearts, and war will never cease.

'Yet it is even as Glorfindel says: the way of flight is now the more perilous. But on the other road, with speed and care travellers might go far unperceived. I do not say that there is great hope in this course; but there is in other courses less hope, and no lasting good.'

'I do not understand all this,' said Boromir. 'Though Saruman is a traitor, did he not have some glimpse of wisdom? Why should not the Elves and their friends use the Great Ring to defeat the Enemy? And I say that all men will not turn to him.

The Men of Minas Tirith are valiant and they will never submit.'

'Never is a long word, Boromir,' replied Elrond.

From this point the conclusion of the chapter remains little changed from the second version, whose pages my father retained here, which is to say that it is little changed from the original text, VI.403 ff.

Gloin's reply to Boromir's question about the Rings of the Dwarves now however takes this form (and appears thus in the typescript):

'I do not know,' answered Gloin. 'It was said in secret that Thror, father of Thrain, father of Thorin who fell in battle, possessed one that had descended from his sires. Some said it was the last. But where it now is no dwarf knows. We think maybe it was taken from him, ere Gandalf found him in the: dungeons of the Necromancer long ago, or maybe it was lost in the mines of Moria. We guess that it was partly in hope to find the ring of Thrain that Balin went to Moria. For the messages of Sauron aroused old memories. But it is long since we heard any news: it is unlikely that he found any Ring.'

'It is indeed unlikely,' said Gandalf. 'Those who say that the last ring was taken from Thror by the Necromancer speak truly.'

This passage was the product of emendation on the manuscript of the second version at different times, and in the result a strange confusion was produced.

In the earliest sketch for 'The Council of Elrond' (VI.398) Gloin said: 'Thrain of old had one that descended from his sires. We do not now know where it is. We think it was taken from him, ere you found him in the dungeons long ago (or maybe it was lost in Moria).' The same is said in the first full form of the chapter (VI.403), where however Gloin's words begin: 'It was said in secret that Thrain (father of Thror father of Thorin who fell in battle) possessed one that had descended from his sires.' This was a contradiction of the text of The Hobbit, where Thror was the father of Thrain, not his son; but it was repeated in the second version of 'The Council of Elrond' (p. 136 note 5). On this question see the Note at the end of this chapter, pp. 159 - 60.

In the present text the genealogy is corrected (Thror - Thrain -

Thorin), but it now becomes Thror who was found in the dungeons of the Necromancer, and Gandalf says that the ring was taken there from Thror; whereas in The Hobbit it was explicit that Thror was killed by a goblin in Moria, and his son Thrain was captured by the Necromancer. On the other hand Gloin says here that the Dwarves believe that it was partly in hope to find the ring of Thrain that Balin went to Moria.(22)

In the original version of the chapter Elrond had said (VI.404) that

'The Three Rings remain still', and he continued:

'They have conferred great power on the Elves, but they have never yet availed them in their strife with Sauron. For they came from Sauron himself, and can give no skill or knowledge that he did not already possess at their making. And to each race the rings of the Lord bring such powers as each desires and is capable of wielding.

The Elves desired not strength of domination or riches, but subtlety of craft and lore, and knowledge of the secrets of the world's being.

These things they have gained, yet with sorrow. But they will turn to evil if Sauron regains the Ruling Ring; for then all that the Elves have devised or learned with the power of the rings will become his, as was his purpose.'

This was largely retained in the second version (p. 112), with the difference that Elrond now declared that the Three Rings had been taken over the Sea. In the fifth version he says:

'The Three Rings remain. But of them I am not permitted to speak. Certainly they cannot be used by us. From them the Elvenkings have derived much power, but they have not been used for war, either good or evil. For the Elves desire not strength, or domination, or hoarded wealth, but subtlety of craft and lore...'

and continues as in the second version. Thus, while in the second version the original words 'For they came from Sauron himself' were removed but 'they can give no skill or knowledge that he did not himself already possess at their making' were retained, in this text the latter words are also lost. Yet Certainly they cannot be used by us in the new version seems to me to imply that they were made by Sauron; and the argument that I suggested (p. 112) in connection with the second version, that when Boromir says that they were made by Sauron he is not contradicted, holds here with equal force.

There were no further changes of any moment (23) from the original text of the chapter (VI.405 - 7, scarcely altered in the second version); but the chapter now ends at virtually the same point as in FR ('A nice pickle we have landed ourselves in, Mr. Frodo! '), continuing only with the brief further passage that goes back to the original version (VI.407):

'When must I start, Master Elrond?' asked Frodo.

'First you shall rest and recover full strength,' answered Elrond, guessing his mind. 'Rivendell is a fair place, and we will not send you away until you know it better. And meanwhile we will make plans for your guidance, and do what we can to mislead the Enemy and discover what he is about.'

NOTES.

1. Cf. VI.429 (the original text of 'The Ring Goes South'), where Gandalf said that the Mines of Moria 'were made by the Dwarves of Durin's clan many hundreds of years ago, when elves dwelt in Hollin'.

2. The first occurrence of the name Erebor, which in the narrative of LR is not found before Book V, Chapter IX of The Return of the King.

3. In the original edition of The Hobbit the goblin who slew Thror in Moria was not named, as he is not in the present passage ('he was slain by an Orc'). In the third edition of 1966 the name Azog was introduced (from LR) in Chapter I as that of the slayer of Thror, and a footnote was added in Chapter XVII stating that Bolg, leader of the Goblins in the Battle of Five Armies, was the son of Azog.

4. The new passage was written in ink over pencil, but the underlying text, which has been deciphered by Taum Santoski, was little changed. The name Anduin was not present, though Ond was already Ondor (see notes 6 and 7); and the translated name of Elendil's city Tarkilmar was both Westermanton and Aldemanton (Alde probably signifying 'old', sc. 'the "town" of the ancient Men (of the West)').

5. This is the first occurrence of the name Anduin, as originally written, in the narrative texts of LR - as they are here presented, but it is not in the over-written pencilled text of the passage (note 4).

6. This is the first occurrence of Ondor for Ond, and is so written in both pencilled text and ink overlay (note 4).

7. It is curious that here, in a passage of new manuscript, and again a few lines below, the form should have been first written Ond, whereas on p. 144 it is Ondor (note 6).