returnoftheshadow72

by Miguel

  The Old Took now acquires the name Gerontius, as in LR (earlier he was 'Frodo the First', p. 251). Four sons are named here; in LR he had nine. Rosa Baggins, wife of one of them (Flambard), has appeared in the little genealogy found in Queries and Alterations (p. 222): there she is the sister of Bungo Baggins, and she married 'Young Took'. The tree given on p. 267 is maintained here in respect of Merry's parents; Frodo Took has become Folco Took, and his father Folcard (see p. 309). Odo, here with a double-barrelled name Took-Bolger, was said earlier (p. 251) to have a Took mother and to be a third cousin of Merry and Frodo (Folco), as is shown in this tree.

  Donnamira Took, second of the Old Took's daughters, is now named, and is the wife of Hugo Boffin, as in LR, where however no issue is recorded in the tree: on this see p. 386.

  Lastly, five further children (six in LR) of Mirabella Took and Gorboduc Brandybuck are given in addition to Primula, one of them being Rory Brandybuck (see p. 267, note 4), whose true name is here Roderick (Rorimac in LR); the other sons have Visigothic names altogether different from those in the Brandybuck tree in LR.

  Chapter II: 'Ancient History'.

  The earlier forms of this chapter are found on pp. 76 ff. and pp. 250 ff. The version in the third phase is in places difficult to interpret, for it was a good deal changed in the act of composition and very heavily altered afterwards, and it is not easy to distinguish the 'layers', moreover, it became divided up, with some of its pages remaining in England and some going to Marquette University.

  In general, the substance of the narrative remains remarkably close to that of the preceding version; my father had that before him, of course, and he was largely content merely to alter the expression as he went along - ubiquitously, but leaving the existing story little affected.

  Of the younger hobbits that Frodo went about with, the chief are now Meriadoc Brandybuck, Folco Took, and Odo Bolger (or. Folco for Frodo see p. 309); genealogical information about them is not provided (cf. p. 251). Frodo no longer 'walked all over the Shire,' nor was he 'often away from home'; rather, 'he did not go far afield, and after Bilbo left his walks gradually grew shorter and circled more and more round his own hole.' When he thought of leaving the Shire, and wondered what lay beyond its borders, 'half of him was now unwilling, and began to be afraid of walks abroad, lest the mud on his feet should carry him off.' The 'thin feeling' mentioned in the previous version (p. 252), 'as if he was being stretched out over a lot of days, and weeks, and months, but was not fully there', is no longer referred to, and Gandalf does not do so later in the chapter (cf. p. 266).

  In the account of Gandalf's visits to Hobbiton, the passage in the previous version describing his secret comings and taps on the window is moved, so that it refers to the earlier time when he came often (cf. FR p. 55), before his long absence of seven years (p. 268, note 6). The wizard reappeared 'about fifteen years after Bilbo's departure', and 'during the last year he had often come and stayed a long time.' The conversation at The Green Dragon took place in 'the spring of Frodo's forty-ninth year' (at the beginning of the next chapter in this phase Frodo decides to leave Bag End in September of 'this (his fiftieth) year': see p. 253 and note 8).

  In the passage concerning the rumours of trouble and the migrations in the wide world the site of Sauron's ancient stronghold in the South 'near the midst of the world in those days' (p. 253) becomes 'near the

  middle of the Great Land', but this was at once struck out; and the passage concerning giants becomes: 'Trolls and giants were abroad, of a new and more malevolent kind, no longer dull-witted but full of cunning and wizardry.' In the talk at the inn, the passage about the Grey Havens now appears, and the whole conversation moves almost to the form in FR (p. 54); but it is still Jo Button who saw the 'Tree-men' beyond the North Moors, though he works now for 'Mr Fosco Boffin' - with 'of Northope' added later, and then changed to 'at Overhill'. Fosco Boffin, Bilbo's first cousin once removed, appears in the Took genealogy given on p. 3 17; see p. 386.

  The opening of the conversation between Gandalf and Frodo at Bag End was changed, probably at or very soon after the time of composition, from a form very close to that of the preceding version (p. 255) and still including Gandalf's mention of his two visits to the land of the Necromancer. The new form reads:

  'You say the ring is dangerous, far more dangerous than I guess,' said Frodo at length. 'How long have you known that? And did Bilbo know? I wish you would tell me more now.'

  'At first I knew very little,' answered Gandalf slowly, as if searching back in memory. Already the days of the journey and the Dragon and the Battle of Five Armies began to seem dim and far-off. Perhaps even he was at last beginning to feel his age; and in any case many dark and strange adventures had befallen him since. 'Then after I came back from the South and the White Council, I began to wonder what kind of magic ring he possessed; but I said nothing to Bilbo. All seemed well with him, and I thought that that kind of power was powerless over him. So I thought; and I was right in a way; but not quite right. I ought perhaps to have found out more, sooner than I did, and then I should have warned him earlier. But before he left I told him what I could - by that time I had begun to suspect the truth, but I knew very little for certain.'

  'I am sure you did all you could,' said Frodo. 'You have been a good friend, and a wise counsellor to us. But it must have been a great blow to you when Bilbo disappeared.'

  In Gandalf's account of the Rings (p. 260) he now says: 'Slowly through the years he has been seeking for them, hoping to recall their power into his own hands, and hoping always to find the One'; and his words concerning the Three Rings were early changed from their form in the second version (p. 260, but with 'earth, sea, and sky' for 'earth, air, and sky'):

  What use they made of the Three Rings of Earth, Sea, and Sky, I do not know; nor do I know what has now become of them. Some say that hidden Elf-kings still keep them in fast places of the Middle-earth; but I believe they have long been carried far over

  the Great Sea.

  Gandalf, again by early or immediate change, now concludes his remarks about the Seven Rings of the Dwarves, which some say have perished in the fire of the dragons, with the words: 'Yet that account, maybe, is not wholly true'; he does not now refer to the belief that some of the Seven Rings are preserved, though no doubt he implies it (cf. the first draft for the Council of Elrond, p. 398).

  As my father first wrote here the passage about Gil-galad, he began by following the former text almost exactly, with 'Valandil, King of the Island' (see p. 260 and note 26), but he changed it in the act of writing to: 'and he made an alliance with Valandil, King of the men of Numenor, who came back over the sea from Westernesse into Middle-earth in those days.' Valandil was then changed to Elendil, probably almost immediately, and also at the subsequent occurrences of the name in this passage. Isildor of the second text is now written Isildur. Isildur's host was overwhelmed by 'Orcs', not 'Goblins' (see p. 437, note 35).

  To Gandalf's story of Gollum nothing is added or altered from the preceding version (see p. 261), save that 'his grandmother who ruled all the family turned him out of her hole.'

  The purport of Gandalf's discussion of Gollum's character and motives in respect of the Ring remains unchanged from the second version, though of course with continual slight development in expression, and in some passages with considerable expansion. The words 'Only Elves can stand it, and even they fade' (p. 261) are now omitted. Gandalf's meaning in his reply to Frodo's objection that Gollum never gave Bilbo the Ring is now made clearer:

  'But he never gave Bilbo the Ring,' said Frodo. 'Bilbo had already found it lying on the floor.'

  'I know, answered Gandalf, 'and I have always thought that that was one of the strangest things about Bilbo's adventure. That is why I said that Gollum's ancestry only partly explained what happened...'

  It is still Gandalf himself who found Gollum, though Frodo's exclamation 'You found Gollum! ' (p. 263) was subsequently changed to 'You have seen Gollum!', an
d Gandalf's reply to Frodo's question 'Did you find him there [in Mirkwood]?' (p. 264) was changed to 'I saw him there, but it was friends of mine who actually tracked him down, with the help of the Wood-elves.' Cf. the first version of the Council of Elrond, p. 401 and note 20. - Gandalf's account of Gollum's own story is expanded thus:

  What I have told you, Gollum was willing to tell - though not, of course, in the way I have reported it. Gollum is a liar, and you have to sift his words. For instance, you may remember that he told Bilbo he had the Ring as a birthday-present. Very unlikely on the face of it: incredible when one suspects what kind of ring it really was. It was said merely to make Bilbo willing to accept it as a harmless kind of toy - one of Gollum's hobbit-like thoughts. He repeated this nonsense to me, but I laughed at him. He then told me the truer story, with a lot of snivelling and snarling. He thought he was misunderstood and ill-treated...

  Gandalf still says, oddly, that Gollum 'had found out eventually, of course, that Bilbo had in some way got his Ring, and what his name was, and where he came from' (see p. 263 and note 32); indeed the point is now made more emphatically: 'And the news of later events went all over Wilderland, and Bilbo's name was spoken far and wide.'

  When Gandalf pauses after saying 'he made his slow sneaking way bit by bit, years ago, down to the Land of Mordor' the heavy silence mentioned in FR p. 68 falls, and 'there was now no sound of Sam's shears.' The phrase 'I think indeed that Gollum is the beginning of our present troubles' is retained: see p. 271, note 33.

  From '"Well anyway," said Frodo, "if Gollum could not be killed"' my father at first followed the earlier text (p.265) very closely, but then rewrote it in a changed form.

  'Well anyway,' said Frodo, 'if Gollum could not be killed, I wish Bilbo had not kept the Ring. Why did he?'

  'Is not that clear from what you have now heard? ' answered Gandalf. 'I remember you saying, when it first came to you, that it had its advantages, and that you wondered why Bilbo went off without it [see p. 242]. He had possessed it a long while before we knew that it was specially important. After that it was too late: there was the Ring itself to reckon with. It has a power and purpose of its own that clouds wise counsel. Even Bilbo could not altogether escape its influence. He developed a sentiment. Even when he knew that it came ultimately from the Necromancer he wished to keep it as a memento...'

  Lastly, the passage beginning 'I really do wish to destroy it!' (p. 266) was changed and amplified:

  'I really do wish to destroy it! ' cried Frodo. 'But I wish more that the Ring need never have come to me. Why was I chosen?'

  'Bilbo passed it on to you to save himself from destruction; and because he could find no one else. He did so reluctantly, but believing that, when you knew more, you would accept the burden for a while out of love for him. He thought you were safe: safe not to misuse it or to let it get into evil hands; safe from its power for a time; and safe in the quiet Shire of the hobbits from the knowledge of its maker. And I promised him to help you. He relied on that. Indeed for your sake and for his I have taken many perilous journeys.

  'Also I may say that I did not discover the letters of fire or their meaning or know for certain that this was the Ruling Ring until he had already decided to go. I did not tell him, for then he would not have burdened you. I let him go. He had had the Ring for sixty years, and it was telling on him, Frodo. It would have worn him down in the end, and I dare not guess what might then have happened.

  'But now, alas! I know more. I have seen Gollum. I have journeyed even to the Land of Mordor. I fear that the Enemy is searching. You are in a far graver peril than ever Bilbo dreamed of. So do not blame him.'

  'But I am not strong enough! ' said Frodo. 'You are wise and powerful. Will you not take the Ring?'

  'No!' said Gandalf springing to his feet. 'With that Ring I should have power too great and terrible. And over me it would gain a power still greater and more deadly.' His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. 'Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! '

  He went to the window and drew aside the curtain and shutters. Sunlight streamed back again into the room. Sam passed along the path outside, whistling. 'In any case,' said the wizard, turning back to Frodo, 'it is now too late. You would hate me and call me a thief; and our friendship would cease. Such is the power of the Ring. But together we will shoulder the burden that is laid on us.' He came and laid his hand on Frodo's shoulder. 'But we must do something soon,' he said. 'The Enemy is moving.'

  The same curious idea is still present here that Gandalf discovered the letters of fire on Bilbo's ring, and knew that it was the Ruling Ring, before Bilbo left but without telling him (i.e. without Bilbo's knowledge that this test had been made): see p. 266 and note 38. - Gandalf's remark (p. 321) 'I think indeed that Gollum is the beginning of our present troubles', retained from the second version, now perhaps becomes less obscure (see p. 271, note 33): 'I have been to the Land of Mordor. I fear that the Enemy is searching.'

  Chapter III: 'Delays are Dangerous'.

  The new text of the third chapter, now given this title (which had been scribbled in on the second version), was another fine clear manuscript, replacing its appallingly difficult predecessor (pp. 273 ff.).

  The chapter still begins with the gossip in The Ivy Bush and The Creen Dragon (p. 274 and note 1) before turning to the conversation between Gandalf and Frodo. In that conversation Gandalf does now refer, as in FR, to the possibility that it may be Frodo's task to find the Cracks of Doom - indeed he goes further:

  'And to go there but not come back again,' added Gandalf grimly. 'For in the end I think you must come to the Fiery Mountain, though you are not yet ready to make that your goal.'

  That with Merry's help (6) Frodo had chosen a little house at Crick- hollow (see p. 299) is now taken up from the pencilled change to the previous version (p. 283, note 2). Gandalf still leaves Hobbiton 'one wet dark evening in May'.

  But a major change enters the story with the departure of Odo Bolger (not Took-Bolger, as in the family tree, p. 317) with Merry Brandybuck in the third cart from Hobbiton. My father had proposed this earlier (p. 299): 'From here onwards [i.e. after the arrival in Buckland] Odo is presumed to have gone with Merry ahead. The preliminary journey was Frodo [Took], Bingo and Sam only. Frodo has a character a little more like Odo once had. Odo is now rather silent (and greedy).' But the text that followed this direction was obscure and contradictory, apparently on account of my opposition to the proposal (see p. 299). Now the deed was done properly.

  In the earlier versions of the chapter the young hobbits Frodo and Odo had distinct characters (see p. 70). The removal of Odo from the expedition does not mean, however, that Odo's character was removed; because my father always worked on the basis of preceding drafts, and a great deal of the original material of this chapter survived. Though Frodo Took, now renamed Folco Took (since Bingo had become Frodo), was the one who remained in the new narrative, he had to become the speaker of the things that the absent Odo had said - unless my father was to rewrite what he had written in a far more drastic way than he wished to. Despite the early note 'Sam Gamgee to replace Odo' (p. 250), Sam was too particularly conceived from the outset to be at all suitable to take up Odo's nonchalance. Moreover, in this version of the chapter the original contribution of Folco (Frodo) Took was in any case further reduced. The verse The Road goes ever on and on had already been given to Bingo in the second version (p. 278); now his account of meeting a Black Rider up on the North Moors was dropped, and his exclamation of delight when the singing of the Elves was heard ('Elves! How wonderful! I have always wished to hear elves singing under stars') was cut out apparently in the act of writing and replaced by Sam's hoarse whisper: 'Elves! ' So Folco Took, with a diminished part of 'his own', and acquiring much of 'Odo's', becomes 'Odo' more completely than my father apparently foresaw when he sa
id 'Frodo [Took] has a character a little more like Odo once had.'(7)

  Yet Folco's genealogical place remains; for Odo himself (once surnamed Took but now a Bolger with a Took mother) has gone on ahead to Buckland, where a separate and distinct adventure (already glimpsed in advance, pp. 302,304) will overtake him, while into Folco's place in the family tree of the Tooks, as first cousin of Merry Brandybuck (pp. 267, 3 I 7), will later step Peregrin Took (Pippin).

  Cosimo Sackville-Baggins' 'overshadowed wife Miranda' disappears again, together with the remark that he and his mother Lobelia lived at Bag End 'for many a year after' (p. 283, note 5). - The Road goes ever on and on now attains the final form (p. 284, note 10). - At the first appearance of the Black Rider on the road, in the passage cited on p. 278, 'Odo and Frodo' become 'Folco and Sam', and the text of FR (p. 84) is reached.

  As already noticed, Frodo Took's account of his meeting with a Black Rider on the North Moors of the Shire (p. 278) is now dropped, and the conversation between Bingo and Frodo Took on the subject of the Black Riders (p. 279) that follows Sam's revelation moves on to precisely the form in FR (p. 85), with of course Folco for Pippin. The brief halt of the Rider by the decayed tree in which the hobbits ate their supper is however retained in this version, and in the ensuing conversation Frodo still says, as did Bingo, that he will take the name of Mr Hill of Faraway. When the singing of the Elves is heard Frodo says, as in FR p. 88: 'One can meet them sometimes in the Woody End', but he still says as in the preceding version (p. 280) that they come in spring and autumn 'out of their own lands far beyond the River'. As in FR, the hymn to Elbereth is now said to be sung 'in the fair Elven-tongue', and at the end of it Frodo says: 'These are High-elves! They speak the name of Elbereth! '