by Miguel
'Gollum!' said Bingo. 'Do you mean that Gollum that Bilbo met? Is that his history? How very horrible and sad. I hate to think that he was connected with hobbits, however distantly.'
'But that surely was plain from Bilbo's own account,' said Gandalf. 'It is the only thing that explains the events - or partly explains them. There was a lot in the background of both their minds and memories that was very similar - they understood one another really (if you think of it) better than hobbits ever understood dwarves, elves, or goblins.'
'Still, Gollum must have been, or be, very much older than the oldest hobbit that ever lived in field or burrow,' said Bingo. 'That was the Ring,' said Gandalf. 'Of course it is a poor sort of long life that the Ring gives, a kind of stretched life rather than a continued growing - a sort of thinning and thinning. Frightfully wearisome, Bingo, in fact finally tormenting. Even Gollum came at last to feel it, to feel he could not bear it, and to understand dimly the cause of the torment. He had even made up his mind to get rid of it. But he was too full of malice. If you want to know, I believe he had begun to make a plan that he had not the courage left to carry out. There was nothing new to find out; nothing left but darkness, nothing to do but cold eating, and regretful remembering. He wanted to slip out and leave the mountains, and smell the open air even if it killed him - as he thought it probably would. But that would have meant leaving the Ring. And that is not easy to do. The longer you have had one the harder it is. It was especially hard for Gollum, as he had had a Ring for ages, and it hurt him and he hated it, and he wanted, when he could no longer bear to keep it, to hand it on to someone else to whom it would become a burden - [? bind] itself as a blessing and turn to a curse.(17) That is in fact the best way of getting rid of its power.'
'Why not give it to the goblins, then?' asked Bingo.
'I don't think Gollum would have found that amusing enough,' said Gandalf. 'The goblins are already so beastly and miserable that it was wasting malice on them. Also it would have been difficult to escape from the hunters if there was an invisible goblin to reckon with. But I suppose he might have put it in their path in the end (if he had plucked up enough courage to do anything); but for the unexpected arrival of Bilbo. You remember how surprised he was. But as soon as the riddles started a plan formed in his mind - or half-formed. I dare say his old bad habits would have beaten his resolves and he would have eaten Bilbo if it had proved easy. But there was the sword, you remember. In his heart, I fancy, he never seriously expected to get a chance of eating Bilbo.'
'But he never gave Bilbo the ring,' said Bingo. 'Bilbo had got it already! '
'I know,' said Gandalf. 'And that is why I said that Gollum's ancestry only partly explained events. There was, of course, something much more mysterious behind the whole thing - something quite beyond the Lord of the Rings himself, peculiar to Bilbo and his great Adventure. There was a queer fate over these rings, and especially over [? this] one. They got lost occasionally, and turned up in strange places. This one had already slipped away from its owner treacherously once before. It had slipped away from Gollum too. That is why I let Bilbo keep the ring so long.'(18) But for the moment I am trying to explain Gollum.'
'I see,' said Bingo doubtfully. 'But do you know what happened afterwards? '
'Not very clearly,' said Gandalf. 'I have heard a little, and can guess more. I think it certain that Gollum knew in the end that Bilbo had somehow got the Ring. He may well have guessed it soon. But in any case the news of the later events went all over Wilderland and far beyond, East, West, and South and North. The mountains were full of whispers and reports; and that would give Gollum enough to think about.(19) Anyway, it is said that Gollum left the mountains - for the goblins had become very few there, and the deep places more than ever dark and lonely, and the power of the ring had left him. He was probably feeling old, very old, but less timid. But I do not think he became less wicked. There is no news of what happened to him afterwards. Of course, it is quite likely that wind and the mere shadow of sunlight killed him pretty quickly. But it is possible that it did not. He was cunning. He could hide from daylight or moonlight till he slowly grew more used to things. I have in fact a horrible fancy that he made his slow sneaking way bit by bit to the dark tower, to the Necromancer, the Lord of the Rings. I think that Gollum is very likely the beginning of our present trouble; and that through him the Lord found out where to look for this last and most precious and potent of his Rings.'
'What a pity Bilbo did not stab the beastly creature when he said goodbye,' said Bingo....
'What nonsense you do talk sometimes, Bingo,' said Gandalf. 'Pity! It was pity that prevented him. And he could not do so, without doing wrong. It was against the rules. If he had done so he would not have had the ring, the ring would have had him at once. He might have been a wraith on the spot.'
'Of course, of course,' said Bingo. 'What a thing to say of Bilbo. Dear old Bilbo! But why did he keep the thing, or why did you let him? Didn't you warn him about it?'
'Yes,' said Gandalf. 'But even over Bilbo it had some power. Sentiment....... He liked to keep it as a memento. Let us be frank - he continued to be proud of his Great Adventure, and to look on the ring now and again warmed his memory, and made him feel just a trifle heroic. But he could hardly have helped himself anyway: if you think for a moment, it is not really very easy to get rid of a Ring once you have got it.'
'Why not?' said Bingo, after thinking for a moment. 'You can give it away, throw it away, or destroy it.'
'Yes,' said Gandalf - 'or you can surrender it: to the Master. That is if you wish to serve him, and to fall into his power, and to greatly increase his power.'
'But no one would wish to do that,' said Bingo, horrified. 'Nobody that you can imagine, perhaps,' answered Gandalf. 'Certainly not Bilbo. That is what made it difficult for him. He dared not throw it away lest it get into evil hands, and be misused, and find its way back to the Master after doing much evil. He would not give it away to bad folk for the same reason; and he would not give it away to good folk or people he knew and trusted because he did not wish to burden them with it, any sooner than he was obliged. And he could not destroy it.'
'Why not?'
'Well, how would you destroy it? Have you ever tried?'
'No; but I suppose one could hammer it, or melt it, or do both.'
'Try them,' said Gandalf, 'and you will find out what Bilbo found out long ago.'
Bingo drew the Ring out of an inner pocket, and looked at it. It was plain and smooth without device, emblem, or rune; but it was of gold, and as he looked at it it seemed to Bingo that its colour was rich and beautiful, and its roundness perfect. It was very admirable and wholly precious. He had thought of throwing it into the hot embers of the fire. He found he could not do so without a struggle. He weighed the Ring in his hand, and then with an effort of will he made a movement as if to throw it in the fire; but he found he had put it back in his pocket.
Gandalf laughed. 'You see? You have always regarded it as a great treasure, and an heirloom from Bilbo. Now you cannot easily get rid of it. Though as a matter of fact, even if you took it to an anvil and summoned enough will to strike it with a heavy hammer, you would make no dint on it. Your little wood-fire, of course, even if you blew all night with a bellows would hardly melt any gold. But old Adam Hornblower the smith down the road could not melt it in his furnace. They say only dragonfire can melt them - but I wonder if that is not a legend, or at any rate if there are any dragons now left in which the old fire is hot enough. I fancy you would have to find one of the Cracks of Earth in the depths of the Fiery Mountain, and drop it down into the Secret Fire, if you really wanted to destroy it.'(20)
'After all your talk,' said Bingo, half solemnly and half in pretended annoyance, 'I really do want to destroy it. I cannot think how Bilbo put up with it for so long, if he knew as much - but he actually used it sometimes, and joked about it to me.'
'The only thing to do with such perilous treasures that Adventu
re has bestowed on you is to take them lightheartedly,' said Gandalf. 'Bilbo never used the ring for any serious purpose after he came back. He knew that it was too serious a matter. And I think he taught you well - after he had chosen you as his heir from among all the hobbits of his kindred.'
There was a long silence again, while Gandalf puffed at his pipe in apparent content, though under his lids his eyes were watching Bingo intently. Bingo gazed at the red embers, that began to glow as the light faded and the room grew slowly dark. He was thinking about the fabled Cracks of Earth and the terror of the Fiery Mountain.
'Well?' said Gandalf at last. 'What are you thinking about? Are you making any plans or getting any ideas?'
'No,' said Bingo coming back to himself, and finding to his surprise that he was in the dark. 'Or perhaps yes! As far as I can see I have got to leave Hobbiton, leave the Shire, leave everything and go away and draw the danger after me. I must save the Shire somehow, though there have been times when I thought it too stupid and dull for anything, and fancied a big explosion or an invasion of dragons might do it good! But I don't feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering and adventures bearable. I shall feel there is some foothold somewhere, even if I can't ever stand on it myself again. But I suppose I must go alone. I feel rather minute, don't you know, and extremely uprooted, and, well, frightened, I suppose. Help me, Gandalf, best of friends.'
'Cheer up, Bingo, my lad,' said Gandalf, throwing two small logs of wood on the fire and puffing it with his mouth. Immediately the wood blazed up and filled the room with dancing light. 'No, I don't think you need or should go alone. Why not ask your three best friends to, beg them to, order them to (if you must) - I mean the three, the only three who you have (perhaps indiscreetly but perhaps with wise choice) told about your secret Ring: Odo, Frodo, and Marmaduke [written above: Meriadoc]. But you must go quickly - and make it a joke, Bingo, a joke, a huge joke, a resounding jest. Don't be mournful and serious. Jokes are really in your line. That's what Bilbo liked about you (among other things), if you care to know.'
'And where shall we go, and what shall we steer by, and what shall be our quest?' said Bingo, without a trace of a smile or the glimmer of a jest. 'When the huge joke is over, what then?'
'At present I have no idea,' said Gandalf, quite seriously and much to Bingo's surprise and dismay. 'But it will be just the opposite of Bilbo's adventure - to begin with, at any rate. You will set out on a journey without any known destination; and as far as you have any object it will not be to win new treasure but to get rid of a treasure that belongs (one might say) inevitably to you. But you cannot even start without going East, West, South, or North; and which shall we choose? Towards danger, and yet not too rashly or too straight towards it. Go East. Yes, yes, I have it. Make first for Rivendell, and then we shall see. Yes, we shall see then. Indeed, I begin to see already! ' Suddenly Gandalf began to chuckle. He rubbed his long gnarled hands together and cracked the finger-joints. He leant forward to Bingo. 'I have thought of a joke,' he said. 'Just a rough plan - you can set your comic wits to work on it.' And his beard wagged backwards and forwards as he whispered long in Bingo's ear. The fire burned low again - but suddenly in the darkness an unexpected sound rang out. Bingo was rocking with laughter.
NOTES.
1. My father's own thought is surely transparent here. Bingo introduces the subject of the Ring as if it had some connection with the Riders, whereas he is obviously intended to appear as quite unable even to guess at their significance; and there is no suggestion in the drafts that the Ring had been mentioned before this point.
2. (in the Shire): my father first wrote 'except Gandalf'. The words '(in the Shire)' probably mean no more than that: i.e., no one save Bilbo and Bingo, and outside the Shire only Gandalf, and anyone else whom Gandalf might possibly have told.
3. This is probably the first time that the expression The Lord of the Ring was used; and The Lord of the Rings occurs below (note 6). (My father gave The Lord of the Ring as the title of the new work in a letter to Allen and Unwin of 31 August 1938).
4. Hence the asking for Baggins: this is not mentioned in the manuscript drafts, but see the typescript version, p. 54 and note g. The following sentence, 'But somehow the search for Baggins failed, and then something must have been discovered about you' perhaps explains the story that Frodo Took met a Black Rider on the North Moor as early as the previous spring (see p. 71).
5. My father first wrote here that the clothing of one who has thus become permanently invisible was invisible also, but rejected the statement as soon as written.
6. This seems to be the first appearance of the expression?he Lord of the Rings; see note 3.
7. After this sentence my father wrote: 'Gollum I think some sort of distant kinsman of the goblin sort.' Since this is contradicted in the next sentence it was obviously rejected in the act of writing; he crossed it out later.
8. ninety years and more: see pp. 31-3.
9. At no point in this text is there any further mention of Bingo's 'worry', and the advice that he asks is entirely based on what Gandalf now tells him and which is obviously entirely new to him. There is also no further reference to the 'strange signs and portents of trouble brewing' spoken of in the next sentence, nor any explanation of Gandalf's remark (p. 81) that 'Gollum is very likely the beginning of our present trouble.'
10. This ends the first page of the manuscript. At the head of the second page my father wrote in pencil: 'Gandalf and Bingo discuss Rings and Gollum', and 'Draft: Later used in Chapter II', and he numbered the pages (previously unnumbered) in Greek letters, beginning at this point. Thus the first page is left out. But these pencillings were clearly put in long after, and in my view they cast no doubt on the validity of the opening section as an integral part of the text. May be it had at one time become separated and mislaid; but as the papers were found it was placed with the rest.
11. Rumour of the Party - decided on between Gandalf and Bingo at the end of this text - began to circulate early in September (p. 30).
12. In The Hobbit (Chapter I) Gandalf told Thorin at Bag End that he found his father Thrain 'in the dungeons of the Necromancer'. In the Tale of Years in LR Appendix B this, Gandalf's second visit to Dol Guldur, took place in the year 2850, forty years before Bilbo's birth; it was then that he 'discovered that its master was indeed Sauron' (cf. FR p. 263). But here the meaning is clearly that Gandalf went to the land of the Necromancer after Bilbo's acquisition of the Ring. Later my father altered the text in pencil to read: 'for I went back once more to the land of the Necromancer.'
13. Here the earlier draft concerning the Rings is used: see p. 75.
14. See FR p. 60 and LR Appendix A pp. 357-8.
15. This is the first germ of the story of the death of Isildur.
16. This is also derived from the text referred to in note 13.
17. This sentence as first written ended: 'and he wanted to hand it on to someone else.' It is to this that the following sentence refers.
18. The passage beginning 'There was a queer fate' was an addition, and 'That is why I let Bilbo keep the ring so long' refers to the sentence ending '... peculiar to Bilbo and his great Adventure.'
19. Cf. the draft passage given on p. 75: 'Of course Gollum himself may have heard news - all the mountains were full of it after the battle - and tried to get back the ring.'
20. The first mention of the Fiery Mountain and the Cracks of Earth in its depths.
*
It will be seen that a part of the 'Gollum' element in 'The Shadow of the Past' (Chapter 2 in FR) was at once very largely achieved, even though Digol * (later Deagol) is Gollum himself, and not his friend whom he murdered, though Gandalf had never seen him (and so no explanation is given of how he knows his history, which of its nature could only be derived from Gollum's own words), and though it is only surmised that he went at last to the Dark Lord.