returnoftheshadow72

by Miguel

  When they came into the hills, the conversation with Trotter arising from their sight of the ruined towers is somewhat different from that with Strider in FR (pp. 213 - 14):

  'Who lives in this land?' he [Bingo] asked; 'and who built these towers? Is this troll-country?'

  'No,' said Trotter; 'trolls do not build. No one lives in this land. Men once dwelt here, ages ago. But none now remain. They were an evil people, as far as tales and legends tell; for they came under the sway of the Dark Lord. It is said that they were overthrown by Elendil, as King of Western Men, who aided Gilgalad, when they made war on the Dark Lord.(3) But that was so long ago that the hills have forgotten them, though a shadow still lies on the land.'

  'Where did you learn such tales?' asked Frodo, 'if all the land is empty and forgetful? The birds and beasts do not tell tales of that sort.

  'Many things are remembered in Rivendell,' said Trotter.

  'Have you often been to Rivendell?' said Bingo.

  'I have,' said Trotter; 'many a time; and I wonder now that I

  was ever so foolish as to leave it. But it is not my fate to sit quiet, even in the fair house of Elrond.'

  The journey in the hills north of the Road had lasted for three days when the weather turned to rain, but two in FR (p. 214); thus the shorter journey from Weathertop till the return to the Road is made up, though there is still a difference of one day, since they had reached Weathertop a day earlier in the original story (p. 175): as I understand it, the first morning after the rain (FR p. 215) was in the old version that of October 16, but in FR that of October 17. When the rain stopped, on the eleventh day from Weathertop, and Trotter climbed up to see the lie of the land, he said when he came back:

  'We have got too far to the North; and we must find some way to turn southwards, or at least sharp to the East. If we keep on as we are going, we shall get into impassable country among the skirts of the Mountains. Somehow or other we must strike the Road again before it reaches the Ford. But even if we manage that fairly quickly, we still cannot hope to get to Rivendell for some days yet, four or even five I fear.'

  In the night spent up on the ridge (FR pp. 215 - 16) Sam's questioning of Strider concerning Frodo's wound is given to Merry; and Frodo's dream that 'endless dark wings were sweeping over him, and that on the wings rode pursuers seeking for him in all the hollows of the hills' is present. It is not said in the original text that 'the trees about him seemed shadowy and dim', nor on the following day that 'a mist seemed to obscure his sight' (FR pp. 215, 217); but later, when Glorfindel searched Bingo's wound with his finger (FR p. 223), 'he saw his friends' faces more clearly, though all day he had been troubled by the feeling that a shadow or a mist was coming between him and them.'

  When they came to the old trolls turned to stone, 'Trotter walked forward unconcernedly. "Hullo, William!" he said, and slapped the stooping troll soundly.' And he said: '"In any case you might have noticed that Bert has got a bird's nest behind his ear."' In FR the trolls' names from The Hobbit were excluded.

  After 'They rested in the clearing for a while, and had their midday meal right under the shadow of the trolls' large legs' the original narrative goes straight on with 'In the afternoon they went on down through the woods'; there is no suggestion that the Troll Song would be introduced here (see p.144). Their return to the Road is thus described:

  Eventually they came out upon the top of a high bank above the Road. This was now beginning to bend rather away from the river, and clung to the feet of the hills, some way up the side of the narrow valley at the bottom of which the river ran. Not far from the borders of the Road Trotter pointed out a stone in the grass; on it roughly cut and much weathered could still be seen two runic letters G B in a circle: (X B)

  'That,' he said, 'is the stone that once marked the place where Gandalf and Bilbo hid the trolls' gold.' Bingo looked at it - rather sadly: Bilbo and he himself had long ago spent all that gold.

  The Road, bending now northward, lay quiet under the shadows of early evening. There was no sign of any other travellers to be seen.

  Only minor differences (except in one matter) are to be recorded in the encounter with Glorfindel: the whole scene was present, and in very much the same words, from the beginning. The sentence in FR (p. 221) 'To Frodo it appeared that a white light was shining through the form and raiment of the rider, as if through a thin veil' is absent.(4) To Trotter Glorfindel cried out: Ai Padathir, Padathir! Mai govannen!(5) But it is not said subsequently that he spoke to Trotter 'in the elf-tongue' (FR p. 224); rather he spoke 'in a low tone.' The drink that Glorfindel gave them instantly reminded the hobbits of the drink in Bombadil's house, 'for the drink they took was refreshing like spring-water, but filled them also with a sense of warm vigour.' 'Cram-cake' is mentioned together with the stale bread and dried fruit which is all they had to eat.

  The conversation with Glorfindel on the road is different from that in FR (p. 222), for the number of the Black Riders was not known to anybody at this stage (not even to my father), and in FR Gandalf had not yet reached Rivendell when Glorfindel and others were sent out by Elrond nine days before - Elrond having heard news from the Elves led by Gildor whom the hobbits encountered in the Shire. The element of Glorfindel's leaving the jewel on the Last Bridge is also of course absent (p.192)

  'This is Glorfindel, one of those that dwell in Rivendell,' said Trotter. 'He has news for us.'

  'Hail and well met at last! ' said Glorfindel to Bingo. 'I was sent from Rivendell to look on the Road for your coming. Gandalf was anxious and afraid, for unless something evil had befallen you, you should have come there days ago.'

  'We have not been on the Road for many, many days until this day,' said Bingo.

  'Well, now you must return to it, and go with all speed,' said Glorfindel. 'A day's swift riding back westward there is a company of evil horsemen, and they are travelling this way with all the haste that frequent search of the land upon either side of the Road allows them. You must not halt here, nor anywhere tonight, but must journey on as long and far as you are able. For when they find your trail, where it rejoined the Road, they will search no longer but ride after you like the wind. I do not think they will miss your footsteps where the path runs down from Trolls-wood; for they have a dreadful skill in hunting by scent, and darkness helps and does not hinder them.'

  'Then why must we go on now by night, against the warning of Gandalf?'asked Merry.

  'Do not fear Gandalf's warning now,' answered Glorfindel. 'Speed is your chief hope; and now I will go with you. And I do not think that there is any peril ahead; but the pursuit is hard behind.'

  'But Bingo is wounded and sick and weary,' said Merry. 'He should not ride any more without rest! '

  Glorfindel shook his head and looked grave, when he heard the account of the attack upon the dell under Weathertop, and the hurt to Bingo's arm. He looked at the knife-hilt that Trotter had kept, and now drew out to show him. He shuddered.

  'There are evil things written on that hilt,' he said, 'though maybe they are not for your eyes to see. Keep it till we get to Rivendell, Padathir, but be wary, and handle it as little as you may.'

  The chief structural difference in the narrative of this chapter from that in FR appears in Glorfindel's words 'I do not think that there is any peril ahead'; contrast FR (p. 222): 'There are five behind us... Where the other four may be, I do not know. I fear that we may find the Ford is already held against us.'

  Only three Riders (at first) came out of the tree-hung cutting through which the Road passed before the flat mile to the Ford, not five as in FR (p. 225). The story is the same that Bingo halted, feeling the command of the Riders upon him to wait, but filled with sudden hatred drew his sword; and that Glorfindel cried to his horse, so that it sped away towards the Ford. But all the Riders were behind; there was no ambush by four of them lying in wait at the Ford. The conclusion of the chapter I give in full.

  'Ride on! Ride on!' cried Glorfindel and Trotter; and then Gl
orfindel spoke a word in the elf-tongue: nora-lim, nora-lim. At once the white horse sprang away and sped along the last lap of the Road. At the same moment the black horses of the Riders leaped down in pursuit; and others following came flying out of the wood. Bingo looking back over his shoulder thought he could count [as many as twelve >] at least seven. They seemed to run like the wind, and to grow swiftly larger and darker as they overtook him stride by stride. He could no longer see his friends. Through them and over them the Riders must now be hurtling. Bingo turned and lay forward, encouraging with urgent words. The Ford still seemed far ahead. Once more he looked back. It seemed to him that the Riders had cast aside their hoods and black cloaks; they appeared now to be robed in white and grey. Swords were in their pale hands, helm and crown were on their heads;(6) their cold eyes glittered from afar.

  Fear now swallowed up Bingo's mind. He thought no longer of his sword. No cry came from him. He shut his eyes and clung to the mane of the horse. The wind whistled in his ears, and wildly the bells rang, clear and shrill. It seemed bitter cold.

  Suddenly he heard the splash of water. It foamed about his feet. He felt the stumbling scramble of the horse as it struggled up the stony path, climbing the steep further bank of the river. He was across the Ford! But the Riders were now hard behind.

  At the top of the bank the horse halted snorting. Bingo turned about and opened his eyes. [Struck out as soon as written: Forgetting that the horse belonged to the folk of Rivendell and knew all that land, he determined to face his enemies, thinking it useless to] He felt that it was useless to try to escape over the long uncertain path from the Ford to the lip of Rivendell - if once the Riders crossed. Though they had all thought of the Ford as the goal of their flight and the end of peril, it came to him now that he knew of nothing that would prevent the dread Riders from crossing as easily as he. In any case he felt now commanded urgently to halt, and though again hatred stirred in him he had no longer the strength to refuse. He saw the horse of the foremost Rider check at the water, and rear up. With a great effort he stood in his stirrups and brandished his sword.

  'Go back! ' he cried. 'Go back to the Dark Lord and follow me no more.'(7) His voice sounded shrill in his ears. The Riders halted, but Bingo had not the power of Tom Bombadil(8). They laughed - a harsh chilling laughter. 'Come back! Come back! ' they called. 'To Mordor we will take you.'(9) 'Go back,' he whispered. 'The Ring, the Ring,' they cried with deadly voices, and immediately their leader rode forward into the water, closely followed by two others. 'By Elbereth and Luthien the fair,'(10) said Bingo with a last effort, lifting up his sword, 'you shall have neither me nor it.' Then the leader, who was now half across the river, stood up menacing in his stirrup and raised up his hand. Bingo grew dumb; he felt his tongue cleave to his mouth, and his eyes grow misty. His sword broke and fell out of his shaking hand. The horse under him reared and snorted, as the foremost of the black horses came near the shore.

  Even at that moment there came a roaring and a rushing: a noise of loud waters rolling many stones. Dimly he saw the river rise, and come galloping down along its course in a plumed cavalry of waves. The three Riders that were still upon the Ford disappeared, overwhelmed and buried under angry foam. Those that were behind drew back in dismay.

  With his last failing sense Bingo heard cries, and it seemed to him that behind the Riders there appeared suddenly one shining white figure followed by other smaller and more shadowy figures waving flames. Redly they flamed in the white mist that was over all. Two of the Riders turned and rode wildly away to the left down the bank of the river; the others borne by their plunging horses were driven into the flood, and carried away. Then Bingo heard a roaring in his ears and felt himself falling, as if the flood had reached up to the high bank, and engulfed him with his enemies. He heard and saw no more.

  NOTES.

  1. In the Lay of Leithian my father wrote athelas against the passage where

  Huan came and bore a leaf,

  of all the herbs of healing chief,

  that evergreen in woodland glade

  there grew with broad and hoary blade

  for the allaying of Beren's wound (III.266, 269).

  2. That river... flows through Rivendell: see the note on Rivendell, pp. 204-5.

  3. In the underlying pencilled text, which is here visible for a stretch, Trotter's words about the 'Big People' who used to live in those regions are much the same, but he says that they were overthrown by Elendil Orendil and Gil-galad; apparently Orendil was substituted for Elendil in the act of writing. Both names were struck out, and then Elendil again written in. See p. 174 note 25.

  4. The 'bit and bridle' of Glorfindel's horse flickered and flashed, as in the First Edition, where the Second Edition has 'headstall'. Cf. Letters no. 211, p. 279 (14 October 1958):

  ... bridle was casually and carelessly used for what I suppose should have been called a headstall. Or rather, since bit was added (I.221) long ago (Chapter I 12 was written very early) I had not considered the natural ways of elves with animals. Glorfindel's horse would have an ornamental headstall, carrying a plume, and with the straps studded with jewels and small bells; but Glorfindel would certainly not use a bit. I will change bridle and bit to headstall.

  5. The penxilled text, after various forms struck out, had Ai Rimbedir; this was then changed to Ai Padathir, etc., with a translation 'Hail Trotter, Trotter, well met.'

  .6. helm and crown were on their heads: in the story of the attack on Weathertop my father first wrote that all three Ringwraiths were crowned, but changed the text to say that only the leader ('the pale king' as Bingo called him) wore a crown (pp. 185 - 6 and note 10). Cf. the citation in note 8 below.

  7. The pencilled draft has: 'Ride back to the Dark Tower of your lord.' For early references to the Dark Tower see p. 131 note 5.

  8. It is interesting to look back to the earliest sketch for the flight over the Ford (p. 126):

  One day at last they halted on a rise and looked forward to the Ford. Galloping behind. Seven (3? 4?) Black-riders hastening along the Road. They have gold rings and crowns. Flight over Ford. Bingo flings a stone and imitates Tom Bombadil. Go back and ride away! The Riders halt as if astonished, and looking up at the hobbits on the bank the hobbits can see no faces in their hoods. Go back says Bingo, but he is not Tom Bombadil, and the riders ride into the ford.

  At that stage my father envisaged the hobbits crossing the Ford together; and the rising of the river does not destroy the Riders: they 'draw back just in time in dismay.'

  The words in the present text, retained in FR, 'Bingo (Frodo) had not the power of Tom Bombadil', must now refer to Bombadil's rout of the Barrow-wight; but behind them surely lies the unused idea of his power to arrest the onset of the evil beings by raising his hand in authority: cf. the outline given on p. 112, 'two Barrow- wights come galloping after them, but stop every time Tom Bombadil turns and looks at them', and the earlier part of the outline just cited (p. 125), where when they reach the Road west of Bree 'Tom turns and holds up his hand. They fly back.'

  9. This is the first occurrence of the name Mordor in The Lord of the Rings; see p. 131 note 5.

  10. In the pencilled text visible beneath the ink, Bingo took the names of Gil-galad and Elendil, together with that of Luthien.

  *

  In this chapter it is made plain that the commands of the Ring-wraiths are communicated wordlessly to the bearer of the Ring, and that they have great power over his will. Moreover the idea has now entered that the wound of the Ring-wraith's knife produces, or begins to produce, a similar effect to that brought about by putting on the Ring: the world becomes shadowy and dim to Bingo, and at the end of the chapter he can see the Riders plain, beneath the black wrappings that to others cloak their invisibility.

  Note on the course of the Road between Weathertop and Rivendell

  This was an element in the geography to which my father made various alterations in the Revised Edition of?he Lord of the Rings (1966). I set
out first three passages from the chapter 'Flight to the Ford' for comparison.