The earliest extant account of Gandalf's summons to Shadow- fax with his three great whistles, and his coming across the plain to the eaves of Fangorn with Arod and Hasofel returning, is already exactly as in TT (see p. 432); and this seems to fit the story in the present text, for Gandalf says to Shadowfax 'It is a long way from Rivendell, my friend; but you are wise and swift, and come at need,' and he says to Legolas 'I bent my thought upon him, bidding him to make haste; for yesterday he was far away in the south of this land.' (On the other hand, Legolas says 'I have not seen his like before', which does not suggest that Shadowfax had been at Rivendell when the Company was there.)
The story in the published LR is extremely difficult to under- stand. In 'The Council of Elrond' (FR p. 278) Gandalf says: 'It took me nearly fourteen days from Weathertop, for I could not ride among the rocks of the troll-fells, and Shadowfax departed. I sent him back to his master...' This was about October 4. The next we hear is in 'The Riders of Rohan', where Eomer still tells Aragorn that Shadowfax had returned 'seven nights ago' (but 'now the horse is wild and will let no man handle him'), to which Aragorn replies: 'Then Shadowfax has found his way alone from the far North; for it was there that he and Gandalf parted.' But it was now February 30, so that on his return nearly five months had elapsed since Gandalf dismissed him at Weathertop! And then, at the end of 'The White Rider' (TT p. 108), there is the passage already cited: 'It is a long way from Rivendell, my friend; but you are wise and swift and come at need.' It is hard to resist the conclusion that the alteration in Gandalf's story to the Council of Elrond was not carried through.
3. Middlemarch: Enedwaith, between Greyflood and Anduin; see Maps II and III, pp. 305, 309.
4. Cf. the outline given on p. 389: 'Minas Tirith defeats Harad- waith.' - All these names (Harwan, Silharrows; Harrowland, Sunharrowland) are derived from the Old English Sigelhearwan 'Ethiopians'. My father's article in two parts entitled Sigelwara land (Medium AEvum 1 and 3, Dec.1932 and June 1934) studied the etymology and meaning of the name Sigelhearwan, and concluded that while the meaning of the first element Sigel was certainly 'Sun', that of the second element hearwan was not discoverable, a symbol ... of that large part of ancient English language and lore which has now vanished beyond recall, swa hit no maere [as if it had never been].' With these names cf. Sunlands, Swertings, p. 313. - Tolfalas appears on the original element of the First Map (see p. 298, and Map III" on p. 308). - On
Elostirion for Osgiliath see p. 423.
5. In LR the father of Eorl was Leod, and Brego was Eorl's son;
Brytta was the eleventh King of the Mark, some two and a half centuries after Brego (see LR Appendix A (II)).
6. These remarks of Saruman's, from 'we at least...', were brack- eted at the time of writing.
7. This sketch of the 'affable' Saruman and Gandalf's breaking of his staff is derived very closely from 'The Story Foreseen from Moria', p. 212; cf. also p. 422.
8. Chapter XXVI is 'The White Rider'.
9. The Second Master was first called Marhath (p. 390; this name was then given to the Fourth Master, p. 400), then Eowin (pp. 393 - 4).
10. For the name of the Golden Hall see p. 402.
11. Thus the passage on pp. 434 - 5 (in which Theoden in his initial conversation with Gandalf speaks of the attack by the Harad- waith on Minas Tirith) bracketed with the note that it should be placed after the victorious return to Eodoras has already been moved.
12. I have not found an explanation of the conception underlying this. Possibly to be compared are Gandalf's words in The Return of the King, Ch. 1 Minas Tirith, p. 31: by some chance the blood of Westernesse runs nearly true in him; as it does in his other son, Faramir, and yet did not in Boromir whom he loved hest.' But this was written several years later.
13. The smoke seen rising at sunset of the day before in the direction of the Gap of Rohan (p. 432).
14. On the taking of Frodo to a guard-tower (not to Minas Morgul) see p. 344 and note 39, and p. 412.
15. The light of the Phial of Galadriel must be conceived here to be of huge power, a veritable star in the darkness.
16. I do not follow the thought here: for Sam's taking of the Ring must in any case be told before Frodo is carried off by the Orcs.
XXVI. THE KING OF THE GOLDEN HALL.
The textual history of this chapter is much the same as that of 'The White Rider': the first coherent and legible manuscript is also in a sense the first extant text of the chapter, because the rough drafts were set down, section by section, as the main manuscript proceeded. In other words, that manuscript was the vehicle of the development of the narrative, and the distinction between 'draft' and 'fair copy' is not at all a distinction between two separate manuscript entities, the one completed as a whole before the other was begun. For almost all of the last third of the chapter, however, there is no independent drafting, for the initial conception in pencil was overwritten in ink.
A substantial part of the chapter was in being in some form before Gandalf's story of the Balrog was added to 'The White Rider' (see p. 430), and the point of separation of 'The King of the Golden Hall' (not so named) from 'The White Rider' was twice changed.(1)
In the earliest stage of the narrative, abandoned before it had gone far, Gandalf (with Gimli) left Aragorn and Legolas before they came to Eodoras:
'Eodoras those courts are called,' said Gandalf, 'and Winseld is that golden hall. There dwells Theoden (2) son of Thengel, lord of the mark of Rohan. We are come with the rising of the day. Now the road lies plain to see before you. Make what speed you may!'
Then suddenly he spoke to Shadowfax, and like an arrow from the bow the great horse sprang forward. Even as they gazed, he was gone: a flash of silver, a wind in the grass, a vision that fled and faded from their sight.
Swiftly they urged their horses in pursuit, but if they had Walked upon their feet they would have had as much chance of overtaking him. They had gone only a small part of the way When Legolas exclaimed: 'That was a mighty leap! Shadowfax has sprung across the mountain stream and already he has passed up the hill and vanished from my sight.'
The morning was bright and clear about them, and birds were singing, when Aragorn and Legolas came to the stream; running swiftly down into the plain it bent across their path, turning east to feed the Entwash away to the left in its marshy bed. Here there were many willow-trees, already in this southern land blushing red at the tips of twigs in presage of spring. They found a ford, much trampled upon either bank with the passage of horses, and passed over, and so at length they too rode up along the green road to Eodoras.
At the foot of the hill they passed between seven high green mounds. Already they were starred with small pale flowers, and in the shelter of their western flanks the grass was white with nodding flowers (blossoms) like tiny snowdrops. 'See, Legolas!' said Aragorn, 'we are passing the mounds where the sires of Theoden sleep.' 'Yes,' said Legolas. 'Seven mounds there be, and seven long lives of men it is, since the Rohiroth came hither from the North. Two hundred times and more have the red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then,(3) and little change does it seem to us. But to them it seems so long ago, that their dwelling in the North is but a memory of song, and their speech is already sundered from their northern kin.'
The companions entered the gates. Horsemen guarded them, and led them to the hall. They dismounted and walked in up the echoing hall. There they saw Theoden the old. Beside him sat Gandalf, and at his feet Gimli the dwarf.
At the foot of the page, where this draft ends, is the note: '? News of the attack on Minas Tirith by Haradwaith in ships'; see pp. 434 - 5, 437. It would be interesting to know what thought lay behind this story of the 'divided entry' into Eodoras; but whatever it was, the arrival there and even the entry into Winseld was accomplished, as it appears, without any ceremony, interrogation, or laying aside of arms. There is no suggestion of hostility or even suspicion towards the strangers, and this accords with the first outline given in the last chapter
(see p. 437). It will be seen in what follows that the entire conception of the situation at Eodoras arose during the writing of 'The King of the Golden Hall'.
While the story of the divided entry of the four companions was still maintained, however, a strongly 'Beowulfian' reception of Aragorn and Legolas at the gates was at once introduced, in a revised draft.(4)
... they came at last to the wide windswept walls and the gates of Eodoras. There sat men in bright mail upon proud steeds, who spoke to them in a strange tongue.
'Abidath cuman uncuthe! [Rejected at the time of writing: Hwaet sindon ge, lathe oththe leofe, the thus seldlice gewerede ridan cwomon to thisse barge gatum? No her inn gan moton ne waedla ne waepned mon, nefne we his naman witen. Nu ge feorran-cumene gecythath us on ofste: hu hatton ge? hwaet sindon eower aerende to Theoden urum hlaforde?(5) Aragorn understood these words] asking their names and errand. These words Aragorn understood and answered. 'Aragorn son of Arathorn am I,' he said, 'and with me is Legolas of Mirkwood.
These names maybe ye have already heard, and our coming is awaited? But we ask now to see Theoden your lord; for we come in friendship and it may be that our coming
Here this draft tails off. It does not seem that the story that Gandalf with Gimli went ahead on Shadowfax and entered Eodoras first was taken any further. It is curious, however, that when the story was changed my father seems to have forgotten Gimli: he is not named in the encounter with the guard at the gates, there is no mention of his surrendering his axe at the doors of the house, and my father even wrote 'Now the three companions went forward' up Theoden's hall. These references were added in to the 'fair copy' manuscript, and 'three' changed to 'four'; and Gimli appears as the text was written when he strode forward, and was restrained by Gandalf, at Wormton- gue's words about Lothlorien (TT p. 118). I do not think that this can have any narrative significance; but it was certainly an odd lapse, and not easy to explain.(6)
The story of the arrival at Eodoras was now revised again. Gandalf is present when the travellers are challenged at the gates, and the guards, crying Abidath cuman uncuthe, are rebuked by him for using the tongue of Rohan.(7) The flowers on the mounds (still seven) become nifredil, the flowers of Lorien (see note 4, and pp. 233 - 4); and Aragorn utters the verse Where now the horse and the rider?,(8) referring to 'Eorl the Old', changed at once to 'Eorl the Young', 'who rode down out of the North', and to 'his steed Felarof, father of horses' (TT p. 112). But at this stage Wormtongue had still not emerged, and the suspicion and hostility of the guards evidently proceeded from Theoden's unfortified dislike and distrust of Gandalf;(9) moreover Eomer had not returned to Eodoras since Ara- gorn, Legolas and Gimli parted from him:
'".Has not Eomer then returned and given warning of our coming?'
'Nay,' said the guard. 'He has not passed these gates. He was turned aside by messengers from Theoden, and went away west to the war without staying. But maybe, if what you say is true, Theoden will have knowledge of it. I will go to my lord and learn his will. But what names shall I report? ...'
'With this cf. TT p. 113. - In the original draft for the scene in which the travellers must lay aside their weapons before entering Theoden's house there is a brief description of it:
Before Theoden's hall there was a portico, with pillars made of mighty trees hewn in the upland forests and carved with interlacing figures gilded and painted. The doors also were of wood, carven in the likeness of many beasts and birds with jewelled eyes and golden claws.
It is curious that in the 'fair copy' manuscript, and thence in the final text, there is no description at all of the exterior of the house, and I think that it may have got lost in the complexities of redrafting and reordering of the material.(10)
As they stood in the darkness by the doors of the hall and saw on one of the hangings the figure of the young man on a white horse (TT p. 116) Aragorn said: 'Behold Eorl the Young! Thus he rode out of the North to the Battle of the Field of Gorgoroth.' A very difficult draft preceding this has 'the Battle of Gorgoroth where Sauron was [?overthrown],' making it clear that at this stage my father conceived that Eorl came south to the great battle in which Gil-galad and Elendil were slain and Isildur took the Ring.(11)
In the encounter with Theoden the manuscript evidence is not very easy to interpret, but it seems certain that it was at this point that Wormtongue entered the story; for what is obviously the very earliest description of Theoden, written in the faintest scribble, reads thus:
At the far end of the hall beyond the hearth and facing the doors was a dais with three steps, and in the midst of the dais was a great chair. In the chair sat a man so bent with age that he seemed almost a dwarf. His white hair was [?braided] upon his [?shoulders), his long beard was laid upon his knees. But his eyes burned with a keen light that glinted from afar off. Behind his chair stood two fair women. At his feet upon the steps sat a wizened [struck out: old] figure of a man with a pale wise face. There was a silence.
In the 'fair copy' the text moves close to that of TT (pp. 116 - 17), and now appears the 'thin golden circlet' worn by Theoden (who is subsequently called 'King' in this manuscript); but he bears on his forehead 'a large green stone' (not the 'single white diamond' of TT: see p. 448), and there were still 'two fair women' standing behind his chair.
But though Wormtongue was present he did not, as the scene was first drafted, intervene, and it is Theoden who speaks of the death of the Second Master of the Mark, here called Eofored,(12) on the west marches of Rohan, and it is Theoden who names Gandalf Lathspell, Ill-news. Gandalf responds, as in TT, by speaking of the different ways which a man may come with evil tidings, and it is again Theoden, not Wormtongue, who retorts 'Verily he may, or he may be of a third kind', and who decries the idea that Gandalf had ever brought aid to Rohan: Last time it seemed to me that you asked my aid rather, and to get you from my land I astonished all men and myself also by lending you Shadowfax.'(13) At this stage Eomer s story remains as it was: 'Eomer has ridden away thither [to the west marches] with all but the last handful of my horsemen.'
At this point, however, before the conversation had proceeded any further, 'the pale man sitting upon the steps of the dais' began to play a part; for he now took over those parts of Theoden's remarks that are given to him in TT. Yet it is interesting to observe that my father did not introduce him into Theoden's household with the conscious intent that he should play the role that he did in fact come to play: for he still says, as Theoden had done, 'Now Eomer has ridden away thither with all but our last handful of horsemen.'(14)
After Gandalf's triumph over Wormtongue (who is not yet given any other name) Theoden is assisted down the hall by the two women, and he says to them: 'Go, Idis, and you too Eowyn sister-daughter!'(15) As they went, the younger of them looked back: 'very fair and slender she seemed. Her face was filled with gentle pity, and her eyes shone with unshed tears. So Aragorn saw her for the first time in the light of day, and after she was gone he stood still, looking at the dark doors and taking little heed of other things.'
Looking out from the porch of his house with Gandalf Theoden says: 'Not long now shall stand the high hall which Brego son of Brytta built' (cf. p. 435 and note 5; TT p. 120 'Brego son of Eorl'); and Gandalf tells him, as in TT, to send for Eomer. It was at this point in the writing of the chapter that there entered the story of the imprisonment of Eomer by the instigation of Wormtongue, who now receives his true name: Frana (Grima did not replace this till much later).
In TT when Gandalf spoke to Theoden (p. 121) 'his voice was low and secret, and none save the king heard what he said.' In the early form of the chapter, however, this was not so:
His voice was low and secret, and yet to those beside him keen and clear. Of Sauron he told, and the lady Galadriel, and of Elrond in Rivendell far away, of the Council and the setting forth of the Company of Nine, and all the perils of their road.
'Four only have come thus far,' he said. 'One is lost, Boromir prince of Gondor. Two were captured, but are
free. And two have gone upon a dark Quest. Look eastward, Theoden! Into the heart of menace they have gone: two small folk, such as you in Rohan deem but the matter of children's tales. Yet doom hangs upon them. Our hope is with them - hope, if we can but stand meanwhile!'
There are several drafts for this passage preceding that in the fair copy just given, and in one of these occurs the following:
Of the Council and the setting forth of the Company of Nine. So he came at last to the Mines of Moria and the Battle upon the Bridge.
'Then it was not wholly false, the rumour that Eomer brought,' said Theoden.
'No indeed,' said Aragorn, 'for he did but repeat what I said to him. And until this time yestermorning we thought that Gandalf had fallen. Even now he has not said what befell him in Moria. We would gladly hear.'
'Nay,' said Gandalf. 'The sun is riding towards noon.'
This is clear evidence that my father had reached this point, at least, in 'The King of the Golden Hall' before he wrote the conclusion of 'The White Rider' in its later form: see p. 430.
The passage just given is followed by a brief outline:
Eomer returns. Wes thu Theoden hal. He rejoices to see Theoden so much better; but begs pardon - save only for his advice to ride west. Says how the day's delay has grieved him.
The History of Middle Earth: Volume 7 - The Treason of Isengard Page 57