Notes and drafts written on the 'August 1940' examination script show my father pondering this further. One manuscript page reads as follows:
Chapter XV. Cut out converse in garden.(1)
Begin by saying hobbits were displeased with Sam.
Tell them of the scouts going out.
Elrond then says union of forces is impossible. We cannot send or summon great force to aid Frodo. We must send out messages to all free folk to resist as long as possible, and that a new hope, though faint, is born. But with Frodo must go helpers, and they should represent all the Free Folk. Nine should be the number to set against the Nine Evil Servants. But we should support the war in Minas Tirith.
Galdor Legolas (2)
Hobbits
Frodo 1
Sam (promised) 2
Wizard
Gandalf 3
Elf
Legolas 4
Half-elf
Erestor 5
The road should go to Minas Tirith, therefore so far at least should go:
Men
Aragorn 6
Boromir 7
Dwarf
Gimli son of Gloin 8
Merry, Pippin. They insist on going. [Struck out: Pippin only if Erestor does not go.] Elrond says there may be . work in the Shire, and it may prove ill if they all go.
Shall Pippin return to the Shire?
Then come preparations, and the scene with Bilbo and Frodo and giving of Sting &c.
Here the number of Nine members of the Company, expressly corresponding to the Nine Ringwraiths, is reached;(3) but even so there remains a doubt as to its composition where the hobbits are concerned (see p. 115), and my father's lingering feeling that one at least should return to the Shire at this stage was still a, factor, especially since the inclusion of Erestor 'Half-elf'(4) took the number to eight. But this was the last moment of indecision. A short draft, written hastily in ink on the same paper, introduces t he final complement of the Company of the Ring. On it my father pencilled: 'Sketch of reduction of the choosing of the Company'.(5)
In the end after the matter had been much debated by Elrond and Gandalf it was decided that the Nine of the Company of the Ring should be the four hobbits, aided by Gandalf; and that Legolas
should represent the Elves, and Gimli son of Gloin the Dwarves. On behalf of Men Aragorn should go, and Boromir. For they were
going to Minas Tirith, and Aragorn counselled that the Company
should go that way, and even maybe go first to that city. Elrond was reluctant to send Merry and Pippin, but Gandalf [?supported].
My father now proceeded to a new text of 'The Ring Goes South'; and of preliminary work nothing survives, if any existed, apart from a few passages in rough drafting from the beginning of the chapter. The new version is a good clear manuscript in ink, using in part the 'August 1940' script that had been used for the drafting of major developments in 'The Council of Elrond'. The story now advanced confidently, and for long stretches scarcely differs from that in FR in the actual wording of the narrative and the speeches of the characters. There are a number of later emendations, a good many of which can be shown to come from a little later in the same period of composition. As written, the chapter had no title, various possibilities being pencilled in afterwards: although in the original text, when the chapter was continuous with 'The Council of Elrond', there was a sub-heading 'The Ring Goes South' (VI.415), my father now tried also 'The Company of the Ring Departs' and 'The Ring Sets Out'.
Since the previous chapter now ended where it ends in FR, at the conclusion of the Council, the ensuing conversation among the hobbits, interrupted by Gandalf, was moved to the beginning of 'The Ring Goes South'. My father now took up his direction to 'cut out converse in garden' (see note 1), and the chapter begins exactly as in FR, with the hobbits talking in Bilbo's room later on the same day, and Gandalf looking in through the window. The new conversation almost reaches the form in FR (pp. 285 - 7), and only the following differences need be mentioned. Gandalf speaks of 'the Elves of Mirkwood', not of 'Thranduil's folk in Mirkwood', and he does not say that 'Aragorn has gone with Elrond's sons' (who had not yet emerged); and Bilbo's remarks about the season of their departure were first written:
'... you can't wait now till Spring, and you can't go till the scouts come back. So off you go nice and comfortable just when winter's beginning to bite.'
'Quite in the Gandalf manner,' said Pippin.
'Exactly,' said Gandalf.
This was replaced at once by Bilbo's verse (When winter first begins to bite) that he speaks here in FR. Lastly, Gandalf says: 'In this matter Elrond will have [the decision >] much to say, and your friend Trotter, Aragorn the tarkil, too' (FR: 'and your friend the Strider'). While still writing the opening of the chapter, my father hesitated about the structure. One possibility seems to have been to keep the new conversation in Bilbo's room but to put it back into the end of 'The Council of Elrond', ending at Sam's remark 'And where will they live? That's what I often wonder'; another, to cut out the conversation among the hobbits, and Gandalf's intervention at the window, almost in its entirety. He went so far as to provide a brief substitute passage; but decided against it.(6)
The chronology in FR, according to which the Company stayed more than two months in Rivendell and left on 25 December, had not yet entered. In the second version of 'The Council of Elrond', which continued for some distance into the narrative of 'The Ring Goes South', 'the hobbits had been some three weeks in the house of Elrond, and November was passing' when the scouts began to return; and at the Choosing of the Company the date of departure was settled for 'the following Thursday, November the seventeenth' (pp. 113, 115).(7) In the new text the same was said ('some three weeks ... November was passing'), but this was changed, probably at once, to 'The hobbits had been nearly a month in the house of Elrond, and November was half over, when the scouts began to return'; and subsequently (as in FR p. 290) Elrond says: 'In seven days the Company must depart.' No actual date for the leaving of Rivendell is now mentioned, but it had been postponed to nearer the end of the month (actually to 24 November, see p. 169).
The account of the journeys of the scouts moves on from the previous versions (VI.415 - 16 and VII.113 - 14), and largely attains the text in FR, apart from there being, as at the beginning of the chapter, no mention of Aragorn's having left Rivendell, nor of the sons of Elrond. Those scouts who went north had gone 'beyond the Hoarwell into the Entishlands', and those who went west had 'searched the lands far down the Greyflood, as far as Tharbad where the old North Road crossed the river by the ruined town'. This is where Tharbad first appears.(8) Those who had climbed the pass at the sources of the Gladden(9) had reached the old home of Radagast at Rhosgobel': this is where Rhosqobel is first named, and in the margin my father wrote 'Brown hay'.(10)
These last had returned up the Redway (11) and over the high pass that was called the Dimrill Stair'. The name 'Dimrill Stair' for the pass beneath Caradras has appeared in later emendations to the original version of 'The Ring Goes South' (VI.433 - 4, notes 14 and 21). In the present passage the name was not emended at any stage; but further on in the chapter, where in this text Gandalf says 'If we climb the pass that is called the Dimrill Stair ... we shall come down into the deep dale of the Dwarves', my father (much later) emended the manuscript to the reading of FR (p. 296): 'If we climb the pass that is called the Redhorn Gate ... we shall come down by the Dimrill Stair into the deep vale of the Dwarves' (and thus Robert Foster, in The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, defines Dimrill Stair as 'Path leading from Azanulbizar to the Redhorn Pass'). The name of the pass (called in this text the 'Dimrill Pass' as well as the 'Dimrill Stair') was changed also at other occurrences in this chapter, but at this place my father having missed it in the manuscript it was retained in the typescript that soon followed (note 6), and so survived into FR, p. 287: 'over the high pass that was called the Dimrill Stair' - an error that was never picked up.
The Choosing of t
he Company is found in this manuscript in two alternative versions. Though the essential content is the same in both, and both end with the inclusion of Merry and Pippin after Gandalf's advocacy, the one written first is rather nearer to the preceding version (pp. 113 - 15): the chief difference between them being that in the first the formation of the Company is seen as it takes place, whereas in the second (which is almost identical to the form in FR) the deliberations have been largely completed and Elrond announces the decision to the hobbits.(12)
There are several differences worth noticing in the first of these versions. After Gandalf's remark that his fate 'seems much entangled with hobbits' Elrond says: 'You will be needed many times before the journey's end, Gandalf; but maybe when there is most need you will not be there. This is your greatest peril, and I shall not have peace till I see you again.' The loss of Gandalf was of course foreseen (VI.443, 462). Aragorn, after saying to Frodo that since he himself is going to Minas Tirith their roads lie together for many hundreds of leagues, adds: 'Indeed it is my counsel that you should go first to that city'. And after saying that for the two unfilled places needed to make nine he may be able to find some 'of my own kindred and household' Elrond continues (but the passage was at once deleted): 'The elf-lords I may not send, for though their power is great it is not great enough. They cannot walk unhidden from wrath and spirit of evil, and news of the Company would reach Mordor by day or night.'
In these passages, and throughout the rest of the chapter (in intention), Aragorn was again changed to Elfstone, and son of Kelegorn to son of Elfhelm (see pp. 277 - 8), as also was Trotter, except where he is directly addressed thus by one of the hobbits.
The reforging of the Sword of Elendil now enters, and the descrip- tion of it is at once precisely as in FR (p. 290), with the 'device of seven stars set between the crescent moon and the rayed sun', save that the reforged sword is given no name. This was added in somewhat later: 'And Elfstone gave it a new name and called it Branding' (see p. 274 and note 19).
For the next part of the chapter (Bilbo and Frodo during the last days at Rivendell) my father simply took over the actual manuscript pages of the second version of 'The Council of Elrond', from 'The weather had grown cold... ' (p. 115); this passage was already close to the form in FR.(13) After I should like to write the second book, if I am spared' (which is where the second version of 'The Council of Elrond' ended) my father wrote on the manuscript 'Verses?', but Bilbo's song I sit beside the fire and think is not found in this manuscript. The original workings for the song are extant, however, and certainly belong to this time.(14)
The day of departure was 'a cold grey day near the end of November' (see p. 164). At first there were two ponies, as in the original version (VI.416), but 'Bill' bought in Bree, and greatly invigorated by his stay in Rivendell, was substituted as my father wrote.(15) The departure was at this time much more briefly treated than it is in FR: there is no blowing of Boromir's war-horn, no account of the arms borne by each member of the Company or of the clothing provided by Elrond, and no mention of Sam's checking through his belongings - so that the important minor element of his discovery that he has no rope is absent (cf. pp. 183, 280).
The story of the journey from Rivendell to Hollin is now very close to FR, but there are differences in geography and geographical names, which were evolving as the new version progressed. The journey had still taken 'some ten days' to the point where the weather changed (VI.418), whereas in FR it took a fortnight; and there was only one great peak, not three. An Elvish name for Hollin: 'Nan-eregdos in the elfspeech was added, apparently at the time of writing.(16) Gandalf estimates that they have come 'fifty leagues as the crow flies' ('five- and-forty leagues as the crow flies' FR, 'eighty leagues' in the original version). And where in the first version, in reply to the observation of Faramond (Pippin) that since the mountains are ahead they must have turned east, Gandalf said 'No, it is the mountains that have turned', he now replies, 'No, it is the mountains that have bent west' (FR: 'Beyond those peaks the range bends round south-west'). On this difficult question of geography see VI.440 - 1.
Gimli's speech about the Mountains is present, almost word for word as in FR, except that the three peaks not yet being devised his words 'we have wrought the image of those mountains into many works of metal and of stone, and into many songs and tales' seem to have a more general bearing. But he continues (as in FR): 'Only once before have I seen them from afar in waking life, but I know them and their names, for under them lies Khazad-dum, the Dwarrowdelf, that is now called the Black [Gulf >] Pit,(17) Moria in the elvish tongue', and it seems that he is here speaking of certain notable and outstanding peaks, distinctive in the chain of the Misty Mountains, beneath which lay Moria. (The three great Mountains of Moria were in any case just about to enter, in Gimli's next speech.) Here he says, as in FR, 'Yonder stands Barazinbar, the Redhorn, cruel Caradhras', 'cruel' being altered at the moment of writing from 'the windy', and that from 'the tall', as also was Caradhras from Caradras.(18) And he speaks also of Azanul- bizar, the Dimrill-dale that elves call Nanduhirion .(19)
Gandalf's reply, and Gimli's further words about the Mirrormere, are a difficult complex of rapid changes in the manuscript, when new elements are seen at the moment of emergence. With some slight doubt as to the precise sequence of correction, the passage seems to have developed thus:
'It is for Dimrill-dale that we are making,' said Gandalf. 'If we climb the pass that is called the Dimrill Stair under the red side of Caradhras, we shall come down into the deep dale of the Dwarves.(20) There the River [Redway rises in the black wat(er) Morthond Blackroot >] Morthond the cold rises in the Mirror- mere.'
'Dark is the water of Kheledzaram,' said Gimli, 'and mirrors only the far sky and three white peaks; and cold is the water of Buzundush. My heart trembles at the thought that I may see them soon.'
Obviously, it was as my father began to write the words he intended: 'the River Redway rises in the black wat[er of the Mirrormere]' that he changed the name of the river to Morthond, 'Blackroot'; and I think that it was here also that the three peaks above Moria entered, mirrored in the water.(21) He then wrote a new passage, no doubt intended to supersede part of that just given, but struck it out, probably immediately:
There lies Kheledzaram, the Mirror-mere, deep and dark, in which can be seen only the far sky and three white peaks. From it issues Buzundush, the Blackroot River, Morthond cold and swift. My heart trembles at the thought that I may see them soon.'(22)
Gandalf replying said: '... we at least cannot stay in that valley. We must go down the Morthond into the woods of Lothlorien...' (FR: 'into the secret woods'). This is where, as it seems, the name Lothlorien first appears. And when Merry asked: 'Yes, and where then?' the wizard answered: 'To the end of the journey - in the end. It may be that you will pass through Fangorn, which some call the Topless Forest. But we must not look too far ahead....' The reference to Fangorn was deleted.
Several versions of Legolas' words about the forgotten Elves of Hollin were written before the final form was achieved: the first reads:
'That is true,' said Legolas. 'But the Elves of this land were of a strange race, and the spirit that dwells here is alien to me, who am of the woodland folk. Here dwelt Noldor, the Elven-wise, and all the stones about cry to me with many voices: they built high towers to heaven, and delved deep to earth, and they are gone. They are gone. They sought the Havens long ago.'
The story of the great silence over all the land of Hollin, the flights of black crows, Pippin's disappointment at the news and Sam's failure to comprehend the geography, the mysterious passage of something against the stars, and the sight of Caradhras close before them on the third morning from Hollin, all this is told in words that remained virtually unchanged in FR, save for a few details. Trotter says that the crows are 'not natives to this place', but does not add that 'they are crebain out of Fangorn and Dunland'; and after saying that he has glimpsed many hawks flying high up, he says 'That woul
d account for the silence of all the birds', this being struck out immediately (see VI.420 and note 17). Sam calls Caradhras 'this Ruddyhorn, or whatever its name is', as he did in the original version (VI.421), but Ruddyhorn was then to be its accepted English name (VI.419 and note 11).
As the Company walked on the ancient road from Hollin to the Pass, the moon rose over the mountains almost at the full'; as in the original version it is said that the light was unwelcome to Trotter and Gandalf, and 'they were relieved when at last late in the night the moon set and left them to the stars'. In the original text it was a crescent moon (VI.421 and note 19), and 'it stayed but a little while'; in FR the moon was full, and still low in the western sky when the shadow passed across the stars.
In the original version it was Trotter who favoured the passage of Moria, Gandalf who favoured the Pass, and what they said was coloured by their opinions. This was still the case when my father came to the new version, although what is said is virtually what is said in FR (p. 300):
'Winter is behind,' [Gandalf] said quietly to Trotter. 'The peaks away north are whiter than they were; snow is lying far down their shoulders.'
'And tonight,' said Trotter, 'we shall be on our way high up the Dimrill Stair. If we are not seen by watchers on that narrow path, and waylaid by some evil, the weather may prove as deadly an enemy as any. What do you think of our course now?'
Frodo overheard these words [&c. as in FR]
'I think no good of any part of our course from beginning to end, as you know well, Aragorn', answered Gandalf, his tone sharpened by anxiety. 'But we must go on. It is no good our delaying the passage of the mountains. Further south there are no passes, till one comes to the Gap of Rohan. I do not trust that way, since the fall of Saruman. Who knows which side now the marshals of the Horse-lords serve?'
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 7 - The Treason of Isengard Page 22