returnoftheshadow72

by Miguel

  17. Against this passage my father wrote in the margin: 'Ring-wraiths later' (see p. 260). In the original text (p. 78, and cf. the draft on which that was based, p. 75) the Wraiths are mentioned at this point.

  18. My father wrote 'Nine, Seven, Three, and One', reversing 'Nine' and 'Three' in pencil. - Here appears explicitly for the first time the distinction between the lesser Rings and the Rings of Power.

  19. The text as written, but probably changed immediately, was: 'but could see both the world under the sun and the phantom world [> the world of shadow] in which the invisible creatures of the Lord moved.'

  20. With this account of the relation of the power of the Rings to the innate qualities of those who bore them, and of the potency of the One Ring in the hand of its maker, compare Queries and Alterations, note 12 (p. 227), where the idea of the Ruling Ring first explicitly appears.

  21. Cf. p. 212, and Queries and Alterations, note 10 (p. 225).

  22. Here the Three Rings of the Elves appear in the text as first written (and the Nine Rings of Men in the next paragraph): see note 14. In the draft of the Ring-verse given at the end of note 14 the Three Rings are 'of earth, sea, and sky', whereas here they are 'of earth, air, and sky.'

  23. wizards: cf. p. 211, where Gandalf at Rivendell likewise includes 'wizards' among the servants of the Dark Lord.

  24. the middle-earth was changed from the middle-world, which is used earlier in this passage and again subsequently.

  25. The meaning appears to be that after the loss of the Ruling Ring to the Necromancer, the Ring-wraiths could no longer function as his servants; they were not definitively destroyed, but they had no effective existence. Gandalf was soon to be proved wrong in this opinion, of course; and it may be that my father introduced it here to explain Gandalf's failure to take them into account. In FR he is less confident: 'It is many a year since the Nine walked abroad. Yet who knows? As the Shadow grows once more, they too may walk again.'

  26. The name of the King of Men was first written Valandil; above this my father wrote Eand Orendil. The next part of Gandalf's story was constantly changed in the act of composition, and at subsequent occurrences the name of the King varies between Valandil > Orendil/Elendil, Elendil > Orendil, and then Orendil unchanged; I read Orendil throughout. For previous hesitation over the name see p. 174 note 25 and p. 197 note 3.

  27. Here my father first wrote. "but ere he fell Gilgalad cut the One Ring from the hand finger of Sauron, and gave it to Ithildor that stood by, but Ithildor took it for his own.' This was changed at the time of writing to the text given. hand finger was left thus; I read finger because that is the word used in the next text of this chapter. - Ithildor was changed to Isildor at each occurrence until the last in this passage, where Isildor was the form first written. See note 29.

  28. The original reading here was: 'but the Ring [or >] and his fate betrayed him'.

  29. The story of the One Ring now moves further. In the original text (p. 78) it was simply that the Ring 'fell from the hand of an elf as he swam across a river; and it betrayed him, for he was Hying from pursuit in the old wars, and he became visible to his enemies, and the goblins slew him.' In Queries and Alterations note 12 (p. 226) a new element was proposed: that the Ring was 'taken from the Lord himself when Gilgalad wrestled with him, and taken by a flying Elf'; the implication clearly being that Gilgalad took it (as said at first in the present text, see note 27). Now the Elf becomes Isildor son of Orendil (Flendil: note 26).

  30. This passage, from 'And there has also always been a queer fate', was enclosed in brackets with a query; and the last sentence, 'But the evil they work...', additionally enclosed in double brackets with a double query. The sentences immediately following (Gandalf's 'And that too may be a comforting thought, or not', and the first part of Bingo's reply) are a pencilled addition. But it is not clear to me why Bingo should be discouraged by the suggestion that the evil wrought by the Rings could turn to good and against the design of their maker.

  31. Bingo's version has slight deviations from the text in The Hobbit. - It is not very evident what Gandalf had deduced from Gollum's first riddle.

  32. In place of this passage, from 'He had found out eventually', the text as first written had (much as in the original version, p. So): 'I think it is certain that Gollum knew after a time that Bilbo had in some way got "his" Ring. One can imagine...'

  With the pencilled extension Gandalf's explanation of how Gollum knew that the hobbit had got the Ring is extended to cover the fact that Gollum also found out what his name was. But this is odd, since in the original story in The Hobbit as in the revised version Bilbo told Gollum his name: '"What iss he, my precious?" whisperered Gollum. "I am Mr Bilbo Baggins..."' See further note 34 (and cf. FR p. 66).

  33. This phrase of Gandalf's, 'I think indeed that Gollum is the beginning of our present troubles', is repeated from the original text (p. 81), and here as there seems to refer to the fact that the Dark Lord was known to Gandalf to be seeking the Ring in the direction of the Shire. But it is still not really explained what kind of searching could lead Gandalf to describe it as 'our present trouble', since he knew nothing of the Black Riders (see Queries and Alterations, p. 224). He can hardly be referring to those things mentioned earlier in the chapter (p. 253): Men moving North and West, goblins multiplying, new kinds of trolls; for these were surely large manifestations of the growing power of the Dark Lord, rather than of the search for the Ring.

  34. Here follows: '(for his ears are keen and his spies legion)', marked in pencil for deletion. This change perhaps goes with the puzzling addition referred to in note 32, where Gandalf suggests that Gollum had eventually found out Bilbo's name; for in that case, if Gollum had indeed been to Mordor, he himself could have told the Necromancer that 'Baggins' had taken the Ring.

  35. From this point the text is written in faint pencil.

  36. Above 'nineteen' is pencilled '20'. This is the first occurrence of the term 'Rings of Power'.

  37. From this point the text is again in ink, a good clear manuscript to the end of the chapter.

  38 The meaning must surely be that Gandalf had 'discovered the letters of fire' on the Ring before Bilbo left Hobbiton; which is curious, since Gandalf also says that he did not tell Bilbo, and it is hard to imagine him conducting the test without Bilbo knowing of it. In FR (p. 65), when Frodo asked him when he discovered the fire-writing, he replied: 'Just now in this room, of course. But I expected to find it. I have come back from dark journeys and long search to make that final test.' Gandalf's words on p. 256 could be taken to mean that he did not know for certain until now: 'I do not yet know quite all. Give me the Ring a minute.' But they cannot mean this; and he refers (p. 262) to the fire-writing on the Ring as if it had been one of the main pieces of evidence in his deduction of the story which he now told to Bingo.

  My father later pencilled an 'X' in the margin of the text here, and scribbled 'did not know until recently'.

  39. See p. 252.

  40. The original drafting for the episode is extant, scribbled faintly at the end of the manuscript of the original version of the chapter, and is naturally less finished; but already in this draft the final text is fully present except in details of expression.

  XVI. DELAYS ARE DANGEROUS.

  From 'Ancient History' my father proceeded to the revision of the original second chapter, which had been given the title 'Three's Company and Four's More' (p. 49); this new version becomes Chapter III, but was given no title. Later, he scribbled in at the head of the text 'Delays are Dangerous' (which is the title ab initio of the following version of the chapter), and it is convenient to adopt this here.

  Some exceedingly rough and fluid notes - the continuation of those mentioned at the beginning of the last chapter, p. 250 - are all that exist by way of preparatory writing for this revision. I have already noticed (p. 250) that the story of Bingo's dinner-party for Merry, Frodo Took, and Odo Bolger on the eve of departure was devised here, and tha
t against this my father wrote 'Sam Gamgee to replace Odo' (these notes preceded the writing of 'Ancient History', where Sam Gamgee first emerged). But Odo could not be got rid of so easily. The notes continue:

  Gandalf was supposed to come to party but did not turn up. Bingo waits till Friday [September 23] but foolishly did not wait any longer, as Sackville-Bagginses threaten to turn him out: but sets off on Friday night. Gives out he is going to stay with Merry and return to his Brandybuck relations.

  A rejected suggestion that Odo remained at Hobbiton 'to give news to Gandalf' shows my father already pondering this question, which after a long history of change would ultimately lead to Fredegar Bolger remaining at Crickhollow (FR p. 118). In these notes a Brandybuck with the Arthurian name of Lanorac (changed from Bercilak), a cousin of Merry's, 'has been ordered to have all ready' in Buckland; and there is a suggestion for the story after they leave Buckland and enter the Old Forest: 'Frodo wants to come but is told no: to give news to Gandalf. Merry says nothing - but does come: locks door and throws key over hedge.' With this cf. Queries and Alterations, note 2 (p. 221): Frodo says goodbye at Bucklebury. Only Merry and Bingo ride on into exile - because Merry insists. Bingo originally intended to go alone' (this was written before Sam Gamgee entered).

  The text of the new version of this chapter is the most complicated document yet encountered. It begins as manuscript, in which part of the narrative is in two variant forms, and then turns back to the original typescript (given in full on pp. 49 - 65), which was heavily corrected in two forms (with different inks to cover different versions): some of the more extensive changes are on inserted slips. At the end my father abandoned the old typescript and concluded the chapter in a new manuscript - the first part of it in three versions. To present the whole complex in this book is obviously impossible, and is in any case in no way necessary for the understanding of the development of the narrative.

  The initial portion in manuscript extends as far as the beginning of the hobbits' walk on the first night ('They went very quietly over fields and along hedgerows and the borders of coppices, until night fell', p. 50), and the opening of the chapter presents an entirely new narrative. Leaving aside for the moment the passage existing in variant forms, the new text while very rough reaches in all essentials the final form in FR, pp. 74 - 80. There are many differences still in wording, and the chapter begins with the local gossip about the sale of Bag End and then proceeds to Bingo's discussion with Gandalf about his departure, rather than the other way about,(1) but differences of substance are few and mostly slight. More emphasis is placed on the fact that the 22nd of September was in that year again a Thursday (as it was in FR, p. 77): that seemed to [Bingo s] fancy to mark the date as the proper one for setting out to follow Bilbo.' Gandalf's tone to Bingo is a bit grimmer, and has more asperity; and he does not refer to the possibility that it may, or may not, be Bingo's task to find the Cracks of Doom. His parting words to him are significantly different from what he says in FR; and Bingo's state of mind on the eve of his own departure is given a different emphasis. I give here a portion of the text, taking it up from the point where Gandalf says that the direction which Bingo takes when he leaves Hobbiton should not be known (FR p. 74, at bottom).

  'Well now,' said Bingo, 'do you know I have mostly thought just about going, and have never decided on the direction! For where shall I go, and by what shall I steer, and what is to be my quest? This will indeed be the opposite of Bilbo's adventure: setting out without any known destination, and to get rid of a treasure, not to find one.'

  'And to go there but not come back again, likely enough,' added Gandalf grimly.

  'That I know,' said Bingo, pretending not to be impressed. 'But seriously, in what direction shall I start?'

  'Towards danger, but not too rashly, nor too straight towards it,' answered Gandalf. 'Make first for Rivendell, if you will at least take that much advice. After that we shall see - if you ever get there: the Road is not as easy as it was.'

  'Rivendell!' said Bingo. 'Very good. That will please Sam.' He did not add that it pleased him too; and that though he had not decided, he had often thought of making for the house of Elrond; if only because he thought that perhaps Bilbo, after he had become free again, had chosen that way too.

  The decision to go Eastwards directed Bingo's later plans. It was for this reason that he gave out that he was removing to Buckland, and actually did ask his Brandybuck cousins, Merry and Lanorac and the rest, to look out for a little place for him to live in.(2) In the meantime he went on much as usual, and the summer passed. Gandalf had gone off again. But he was invited to the farewell party, and had promised to arrive on the day before, or at latest on the 22nd itself. 'Don't go till you see me, Bingo,' he said, as he took his leave one wet dark evening in May. 'I may have news, and useful information about the Road. And I may want to come with you.'(3)

  The autumn came on. No news came from Gandalf. There began to be signs of activity at Bag-End. Two covered carts went off laden. They were understood to be conveying such furniture as Mr Baggins had not sold to the Sackville-Bagginses to his new house in Buckland by way of the Brandywine Bridge. Odo Bolger, Merry Brandybuck, and Frodo Took were staying there with Bingo. The four of them seemed to be busy packing and the hole was all upside-down. On Wednesday September 21 Bingo began to look out anxiously for Gandalf, but there was no sign of him. His birthday morning September 22 dawned, as fair and clear as it had for Bilbo's party long ago (as it now seemed to Bingo). But still Gandalf did not appear. In the evening Bingo gave his farewell party. The absence of Gandalf rather worried Bingo and a little damped his spirits, which had been steadily rising - as every cool and misty autumn morning brought him closer to the day of his going. The only wrench now was parting from his young friends. The danger did not seem so threatening. He wanted to be off - at once. Everyone had been told that he was leaving for Bucklebury as soon as possible after his birthday. The Sackville-Bagginses got possession after midnight on the 23rd. All the same, he wanted to see Gandalf first. But his three friends were in high spirits...

  From the end of Bingo's birthday dinner to the beginning of the hobbits' night walk the new text is almost the same as that in FR (pp. 77-80), apart from the different hobbits present (and still leaving aside the part existing in variant forms). The third cart, bearing 'the remaining and more valuable things', went off as in FR on the morning of the 23rd; at first Odo Bolger was said to be in charge of this, but he was changed, apparently at once, to Merry Brandybuck. (In FR Merry was accompanied by Fredegar Bolger, and my father queried in the margin here: 'Merry and Odo?'). Now enters the story of Bingo's overhearing Gaffer Gamgee talking (in almost the same words as in FR) to a stranger

  at the end of Bagshot Row: the first germ of this has been seen in Queries and Alterations, note 3 (p. 222). The only real difference is that the old discussion among the hobbits (p. 49) whether to walk far or not is still present, Odo disagreeing with Frodo and Bingo; but there are now four of them, and Bingo asks Sam for his opinion:

  'Well, sir,' he answered, taking off his hat and looking up at the sky, 'I do guess that it may be pretty warm tomorrow. And walking in the sun, even at this time o' year, with a load on your back, can be wearisome, like. I votes with Mr Frodo, if you ask me.'

  The variant section was written continuously with the preceding narrative - that is to say, it is the story as my father first intended to tell it, and the other version was written subsequently, at first as an alternative. The divergence begins after Merry's departure for Buckland on Friday September 23, Bingo's last day at' Bag End.

  After lunch people began to arrive - some by invitation, others brought by rumour and curiosity. They found the door open, and Bingo on the mat in the hall waiting to greet them. Inside the hall was piled an assortment of packages, bric-a-brac and small articles of furniture. On every package and item there was a label tied....

  On the manuscript my father wrote later that 'this variant depending on shorten
ing in Chapter I and the transference of parting gifts etc. to I I I' was now rejected. The shortening of Chapter I proposed is in fact the short variant of the story of the aftermath of Bilbo's party which has been described on pp. 241 - 2: as I noted there, 'the entire "business" of the presents, and the invasion of Bag End, was in this variant removed', for it was now to be transferred to Bingo's departure - or at least, was under the option of being so transferred. Thus a further twist is given to the serpentine history of this element in ?he Lard of the Rings: for what is involved is not of course a simple reversion to the story as it was at the end of the 'first phase' of 'A Long-expected Party', where also the gifts were Bingo's, not Bilbo's. The new idea was that the gifts,(4) the invasion of Bag End, the ejection of the hobbits excavating in the pantry, and the fight with Sancho Proudfoot (his adversary here being Cosimo Sackville- Baggins,(5) supported by his mother, who broke her umbrella on Sancho's head) - that all this took place not after the great Birthday Party (which was now Bilbo's), but after Bingo's own discreet birthday party before his departure.

  It is possible and even probable that my father's intention in this was to reduce the element of Hobbiton comedy that confronts the reader at the outset, and introduce sooner, in 'Ancient History', the very much weightier matters that had come into being since 'A Long-expected Party' was first written.