The old man who said he had escaped from Orthanc on an eagle! And demanded a horse and got it! Some said he was a wizard. And Shadowfax... [?came back] only a day ago.
Eomer says some orcs fled towards Wold. Aragorn may meet other Riders: Marhath the Fourth Master [see p. 390] is there with a few men. Aragorn wishes to go on. Eomer gives him token to show Marhath. Aragorn pledges his word to return to Theoden and vindicate Eomer. Farewell.
In the part of the B-text developed from these notes the hobbits are called the 'Half-high', not as in TT the 'Halflings': in Gimli's reference to 'the words that troubled Minas Tirith' he says 'They spoke of the Half-high', as in the form of the verse in the fifth version of 'The Council of Elrond (p. 146).(20) Aragorn s reply to the scoffing question of Eothain 'Are we walking in legends or on the green earth under the daylight?' here takes the form: 'One may do both; and the latter is not always the safer' (added to the manuscript: 'But the green earth is a legend seen under the light of day'). Eomer's remarks about Gandalf, which were achieved in this form through a mass of small changes, now read thus:
'Gandalf?' said Eomer. 'We have heard of him. An old man of that name used to appear at times in our land. None knew whence he came or where he went. His coming was ever the herald of strange events. Indeed since his last coming all things have gone amiss. Our trouble with Saruman began from that. time. Until then we had counted Saruman our friend, but Gandalf said that evil was afoot in Isengard. Indeed he declared that he had been a prisoner in Orthanc and had escaped. Riding on an eagle! Nonetheless he asked us for a horse! What arts he used I cannot guess, but Theoden gave him one of the mearas: the steeds that only the First Master of the Mark may ride; for it is said that [they are descended from the horses which the Men of Westernesse brought over the Great Seas >] their sires came out of the Lost Land over the Great Sea when the Kings of Men came out of the Deeps to Gondor. Shadowfax was the name of that horse. We wondered if evil had befallen the old man; for seven nights ago Shadowfax returned.'(21)
'But Gandalf left Shadowfax far in the North at Rivendell,' said Aragorn. 'Or so I thought.(22) But, alas, however that may be, Gandalf is gone down into the shadows.' Aragorn now told briefly the story of their journey from Moria. To his account of Lorien Eomer listened with amazement. At last Aragorn spoke of the assault of the orcs on Calen-bel, and the fall of Boromir.
Only shortly before in this text the name was still Ondor. In view of the fact that it is Ondor in the draft and fair copy of 'Treebeard', it may be that the alteration of the sentence about the mearas, in which the form Gondor appears, was made later. On the actual date of the change Ondor ) Gondor see p. 423.
In the remainder of the conversation with Eomer there are only these differences from the text of TT (pp. 38-41) to notice. There is no suggestion yet of Wormtongue: Eomer does not speak of 'some, close to the king's ear, that speak craven counsels'. He says that there has been war with Saruman 'since the summer' ('for many months', TT); and he remarks of Saruman himself that 'He walks about like an old man, indeed there are some that say Gandalf was only old Saruman in disguise: certainly they are much alike to look on.'(23) In his account of his own present expedition Eomer does not refer to his going without Theoden's leave:
'... I do not know how it all will end. There is battle even now away upon the Westemnet under the shadow of Isengard. Hardly could we be spared. But scouts warned us [> Theoden] of the orc-host coming down out of the East Wall three nights ago: among them they reported some that bore the badges of Saruman. We overtook them yesterday at nightfall, only a little way from the edges of the Forest. We surrounded them, and gave battle at dawn. We lost fifteen of my eored and twelve horses, alas!'
On the chronology see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter. Eomer tells of the Orcs that came in from the East across the Great River, and the Isengard Orcs that came out of the Forest. The story of the finding of Pippin's brooch was still in its former place (p. 397), as is seen from Aragorn's words here: 'Yet our friends are not behind. We had a clear token that they were with the Orcs when they descended into the plain.'(24)
At the end of the conversation Eomer says:
'... But it is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. One may pardon Eothain, my squire. The world is all turned strange. Old men upon eagles; and raiment that deceives the eye; and Elves with bows, and folk that have spoken with the Lady of the Wood, and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken ere the Fathers of the Fathers rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times. It is against our law to let strangers wander free in our land, and doubly so at this time of peril. I beg you to come back honourably with me, and you will not.'
Aragorn in his reply tells (as in TT p. 41) that he had been in Rohan, and had spoken with Eomund father of Eomer, and with Theoden, and with Thengel that was Master before him. None of them would have desired to force a man to abandon friends whom the orcs had seized, while hope or even doubt remained.' Eomer relents. He requests that Aragorn return with the horses over the Entwade to '... torras where Theoden now sits.' This name was changed at once or very soon to Meodarn, Meduarn ('Mead-hall'), and then to 'Winseld ['Wine-hall'], the high house in Eodor.' Eodor (singular, fence, enclosure, dwelling ) is seen on Map IV (p. 317),. Eodoras (plural) on Map IV(D-E) (p. 319). Eothain's surliness at the loan of the horses is not present. The horses were first given names in Modern English, that for Aragorn being 'Windmane' and that for Legolas 'Whitelock'; these were changed to the Old English names found in TT, Hasofel ('Grey-coat', cf. Hasupada, note 21) and Arod ('Swift').
In the last part of the chapter, after the Riders had gone, the story is for most of its length at once almost as in the final text; but Aragorn's words about Fangorn, the earliest account of it that my father wrote,(25) took this form:
'I do not know what fables men have made out of old knowledge,' said Aragorn. 'And of the truth little is now known, even to Keleborn. But I have heard tell that in Fangorn, clinging here on the east side of the last slopes of the Misty Mountains, the ancient trees have taken refuge that once marched dark and proud over the wide lands, before even the first Elves awoke in the world. Between the Baranduin and the Barrowdowns is another forest of old trees; but it is not as great as Fangorn. Some say that both are but the last strongholds of one mighty wood, more vast than Mirkwood the Great, that held under its dominion all the countries through which now flow the Greyflood and the Baranduin; others say that Fangorn is not akin to the Old Forest, and that its secret is of other kind.'
This was rejected at once and replaced by a shorter passage, close to Aragorn's words in TT (p. 45), though Elrond is not here cited as his authority: 'Some say the two are akin, the last strongholds of the mighty woods of the Elder days, in which the Elves strayed, when they first awoke.'
At the end of the chapter, when Gimli was watchman and all was silent, save that the tree rustled and that 'the horses, picketed a little way off, stirred now and again,' the old man appeared; and his apparition and disappearance are told in precisely the same words as in TT, except that he was 'clad in rags', not in a great cloak, and his hat was 'battered', not 'wide-brimmed'. But the chapter ended altogether differently.
There was no trace of him to be found near at hand; and they did not dare to wander far - the moon was hidden in cloud, and the night was very dark. [Struck out: The horses remained quiet, and seemed to feel nothing amiss.] ? The horses were restive, straining at their tether-ropes, showing the whites of their eyes. It was a little while before Legolas could quiet them.
For some time the companions discussed this strange event. 'It was Saruman, of that I feel certain,' said Gimli. 'You remember the words of Eomer. He will come back, or bring more trouble upon us. I wish that the morning were not so far off.'
'Well, in the meantime there is nothing we can do,' said Aragorn, 'nothing but to get what rest we can, while we are still allowed to rest. I will watch now for a while, Gimli.'
Th
e night passed slowly, but nothing further happened, in any of their two-hour watches. The old man did not appear again.
While this is no more than a guess, I suspect that when my father wrote this he thought that it was Gandalf, and not Saruman, who stood so briefly in the light of the fire (cf. the outline given on p. 389).(26)
NOTES.
1. Sarn-Gebir runs North-South: see Map IV, pp. 317 - 18.
2. This means that the eagle was seen in the direction of Fangorn; see p. 396.
3. I forgot most of what I knew: cf. TT p. 98.
4. Haradwaith is here the name of a people: see p. 434, and cf. Enedwaith, rendered 'Middlemarch' on the First Map (Map II, p. 305), but afterwards (while remaining the name of a region) 'Middle-folk.'
5. On Mar- and Eo- names in Rohan see Unfinished Tales p. 311 note 6 and p. 315 note 36. - Names in Eo- are not written with an accent at this period.
6. None of the successive variants of this section of the First Map illustrate this.
7. Methen Amon: earliest name of Methedras - which appears on the First Map (Map IV, p. 319). For Methen see the Etymol- ogies, V.373, stem MET: Noldorin methen 'end'; and see note 18.
8. This is the first occurrence of the name Entwade in the texts: see p. 366, note 16.
9. Aragorn does not (of course) cry out: What news from the North, Riders of Rohan?'; it is said only that he 'hailed them in a loud voice.'
10. This is the first occurrence of the name Arathorn of Aragorn's father, replacing earlier Kelegorn (cf. also Eldakar p. 360, Valatar p. 362).
11. Gandalf's escape from Orthanc.
12. This passage is found later in TT (p. 33). The reference there to Eorl the Young is here absent; and the Brandings of Dale (named from King Brand son of Bain son of Bard) are in TT the Bardings (which was added to the First Map, p. 307). See note 19.
13. In a design of my father's for the cover of The Return of the King the throne is shown with four feet. This design, in white, gold and green on a black ground shows (as he noted) 'the empty throne awaiting return of the King' with outstretching wings; the Winged Crown; the white-flowering Tree, with seven stars; and dimly seen beyond in the darkness a vision of the fall of Sauron. This design, in simplified form, was used for the cover of the India paper edition of The Lord of the Rings published by George Allen and Unwin in 1969.
14. Yet Gandalf had himself been in, or over, those regions, it seems: 'No, I did not find them. There was a darkness over the valleys of the Emyn Muil, and I did not know of their captivity, until the eagle told me.'
15. Altered later to: 'It has been scored with the pin, which is broken off.' - An error in the text of TT may be mentioned here. Aragorn did not say (p. 26) that Pippin was smaller than the other' - he would not refer to Merry in such a remote tone - but 'smaller than the others', i.e. Merry and Frodo and Sam.
16. to the west: subsequently changed back to to the south.
17. This is the first occurrence in the texts of the name Eastemnet, which is found on the First Map (Map IV, p. 319). Westemnet occurs later in this text (p. 401).
18. Here, as they looked about them, they saw to their right 'the windy uplands of the Wold of Rohan', and beyond Fangorn the last great peak of the Misty Mountains (first named Methen Amon, p. 391 and note 7), Methendol, immediately changed to Methedras.
19. The passage in which Aragorn tells Gimli what he knows of the
Riders of Rohan (TT p. 33), which had first appeared much earlier in B (p. 395), was transferred subsequently to the place that it occupies in TT on an inserted rider. This retains almost exactly the form in which it was first written, without mention of Eorl the Young, but with Bardings for Brandings.
20. In the preliminary drafting the Old English form is used: Halfheah (Halfheh, Heal fheh).
21. A pencilled rider was inserted into the manuscript later as a substitute for this speech: here the origin of the mearas remains the same, but in other respects the text of TT is largely reached: Gandalf (not yet called Greyhame) is murmured by some in Rohan to be a bringer of ill, Theoden is called King, and his anger against Gandalf for taking Shadowfax and the horse's wildness after his return appear. By an addition to the rider Eomer says: 'We know that name, or Gondelf as we have it.' Gondelf is an 'Anglo-Saxonising' of Norse Gandalf(r). At the foot of the page is written the Old English word Hasupada ('Grey-coat'), and it appears from a subsequent typescript text of the chapter that this refers to Gandalf ( Greyhame ): ' " Gandalf!" said Eomer.
22. On Shadowfax at Rivendell and after see pp. 390 and 438 note 2.
23. Eomer calls Saruman 'a wizard of great power', changed to 'a wizard and man of craft', and that to 'a wizard and very crafty'. Against the word wizard is pencilled wicca (Old English, 'wizard', surviving at any rate until recently as witch, masculine, not distinct in form from witch deriving from the Old English feminine wicce).
24. These words are in themselves ambiguous, but what my father intended is shown, I think, by the fact that he afterwards corrected them on the manuscript to 'We had a clear token that one at least was still with the orcs not far from the East Wall.' The original story was still present when he wrote the outline for the next chapter.
25. If the very early images, when Treebeard was a Giant and his forest correspondingly gigantic (VI.382 - 4, 410), are excepted.
26. Other supports, admittedly slight, for this idea are the statements that the old man was 'clad in rags' (cf. Trotter's vision on Amon Hen, p. 380); that he had a 'battered hat' (cf. Frodo's song in Lorien, FR p. 375: an old man in a battered hat); and that 'the horses remained quiet, and seemed to feel nothing amiss.' - It is curious that Aragorn's words in TT, p. 46 (when the old man was certainly Saruman, TT p. 102) 'I marked also that this old man had a hat not a hood' were an addition to the text made long after.
Note on the Chronology.
'The Riders of Rohan' is unusual in that the narrative underwent an important change in structure long after it was to all intents and purposes completed.
I set out below the relations between the time-scheme in the second text (B) and that in The Two Towers. 'Day 1' is the day of Boromir's death.
In B, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli took two days and two nights after their descent from the 'East Wall' to reach the isolated hill at the northern end of the downs where they met the Riders; in TT they took three days and two nights to reach that place, and passed the third night there. In B, they encountered the Riders returning in the morning after the battle at dawn; in TT the meeting was on the following day: the Riders had passed a whole further day and night by the eaves of Fangorn before setting off south again.
This change in the chronology, with very substantial rewriting and reordering (TT pp. 27 ff.) of the existing chapter, was introduced in October 1944. On 12 October my father wrote a letter to me in South Africa in which he said (Letters no. 84):
I began trying to write again (I would, on the brink of term!) on Tuesday, but I struck a most awkward error (one or two days) in the synchronization, v. important at this stage, of movements of Frodo and the others, which has cost labour and thought and will require tiresome small alterations in many chapters...
Four days later he wrote again (Letters no. 85):
I have been struggling with the dislocated chronology of the Ring, which has proved most vexatious ... I think I have solved it all at last by small map alterations, and by inserting an extra day's Entmoot, and extra days into Trotter's chase and Frodo's jour- ney...
(On the extra day of the Entmoot see p. 419.)
In one point however the text of TT retains an uncorrected vestige of the original story. Eomer tells Aragorn (p. 39) that 'scouts warned me of the orc-host coming down out of the East Wall three nights ago,' just as he does in the B text (p. 401). But in B this was said on the morning of Day 4, and the reference is to the night of Day 1
; in TT it was said on the morning of Day 5. It was therefore not three nights ago, but four, that the Orcs came down from the Emyn Muil.
In The Tale of Years in Appendix B to LR the dates are:
Feb. 26. Eomer hears of the descent of the Orc-band from the Emyn Muil.
Feb. 27. Eomer sets out from Eastfold about midnight to pursue the Orcs.
Feb. 28. Eomer overtakes the Orcs.
Feb. 29. The Rohirrim attack at sunrise and destroy the Orcs.
Feb. 30. Eomer returning to Edoras meets Aragorn.
Thus Eomer's 'three nights ago' in TT cannot be explained by taking it to refer, not to the descent of the Orcs into Rohan, but to his receiving news of it.
XXI THE URUK-HAI.
For this chapter there exists, first, a brief outline as follows:
Some want to go North. Some say ought to go straight to Mordor. The great orcs were ordered to go to Isengard.
They carry prisoners. Neither of them are the One. They haven't got it. Kill 'em. But they're hobbits. Saruman said bring any hobbit, alive. Curse Saruman. Who does he think he is? A good master and lord. Man's flesh to eat.
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 7 - The Treason of Isengard Page 52