by Miguel
'The sooner we make a move, and get down again, the better,' said Trotter.(30) 'There is more snow still to fall up here! ' But much as they all desired to get down again it was easier to speak of it than to manage it. The snow round about was already some feet deep: up to the necks of the hobbits or over their heads in places; and it was still soft. If they had [had] northern sledges or snowshoes [they] would have been of little use. Gandalf could only just manage to get forward with labour, more like swimming (and burrowing) than walking. Boromir was the tallest of the party: being some six feet high and broad-shouldered as well. He went ahead a little way to test the path. The snow was everywhere above even his knees, and in many places he sank up to the waist. The situation looked fairly desperate.
'I will go on down if I can,' he said.(31) 'As far as I can make out our course of last night, the path seems to turn right round a
or two below the turn we ought to come on to a flat space at the top ] of a long steep slope - very heavy going it was coming up. From there I may be able to get some view and some idea of how the snow lies further down.' He struggled forward slowly, and after a while disappeared round the turn.
It was nearly an hour before he came back, tired but with some encouraging news. 'There is a deep wind drift just the other side of the turn, and I was nearly buried in it; but beyond that the snow quickly gets less. At the top of the slope it is no more than ankle- deep and it is only sprinkled on the ground from there down: or so it seems.'
'It may be only sprinkled further down,' grunted Gandalf; 'but it is not sprinkled up here. Even the snow seems to have been aimed specially at us.'
'How are toe to get to the turn?' asked Trotter.
'I don't know!' said Boromir. 'it is a pity Gandalf can't produce flame enough to melt us a pathway.'
'I daresay it is,' snapped Candaif; 'but even I need a few materials to work upon. I car. kindle fire not feed it. What you want is a dragon not a wizard.'
'Indeed I think a tame dragon would actually be more useful at the moment than a wild wizard,' said Boromir - with a laugh that did not in any way appease Gandalf.
'At the moment, at the moment,' he replied. 'Later on we may see. I am old enough to be your great-grandfather's ancestor - but I am not doddery yet. It will serve you right if you meet a wild dragon.'(32)
'Well, well! When heads are at a loss bodies must serve they say in my country,' said Boromir. 'We must just try and thrust our way through. Put the little folk on the ponies, two on each. I will carry the smallest; you go behind, Gandalf, and I will go in front.' At once he set about unloading the ponies of their burdens. 'I will come back for these when we have forced a passage,' he said. Frodo and Sam were mounted on one of the ponies, Merry and Trotter on the other. Then picking up Faramond Boromir strode forward.
Slowly they ploughed their way forward. It took some time to reach the bend, but they did so without mishap. After a short halt they laboured on to the edge of the drift. Suddenly Boromir stumbled on some hidden stone, and fell headlong. Faramond was thrown from his shoulder into deep snow and disappeared. The pony behind reared and then fell also, tumbling both Frodo and Sam into the drift. Trotter however managed to hold back the second pony.
For some moments all was confusion. But Boromir got up, shaking the snow from his face and eyes, and went to the head of the floundering and kicking pony. When he had got it onto its feet again, he went to the rescue of the hobbits who had vanished into deep holes in the yielding snow. Picking up first Faramond and then Frodo he ploughed his way through the remainder of the drift and set them on their feet beyond. He then returned for the pony and Sam. 'Follow now in my track! ' he cried to the remaining three. 'The worst is over! '
At last they all came to the head of the long slope. Gandalf bowed to Boromir. 'If I was testy,' he said, 'forgive me. Even the wisest wizard does not like to see his plans go awry. Thank goodness for plain strength and good sense. We are grateful to you, Boromir of Ond.'(33)
They looked out from the high place where they stood over the lands. Daylight was now as full as it would be, unless the heavy clouds were broken. Far below, and over the tumbled country falling away from the foot of the incline, Frodo thought he could see the dell from which they had started to climb the night before.
His legs ached and his head was dizzy as he thought of the long painful march down again. In the distance, below him but still high above the lower hills, he saw many black specks moving in the air. 'The birds again,' he said in a low voice, pointing. 'It can't be helped now, said Gandalf. 'Whether they are good or bad, or nothing to do with us, we must go on down at once.' The wind was blowing stiffly again over the pass hidden in the clouds behind; and already some snowflakes were drifting down.
It was late in the afternoon, and the grey light was already again waning fast when they got back to their camp of the previous night. They were weary and very hungry. The mountains were veiled in a deepening dusk full of snow: even there in the foothills snow was falling gently. The birds had vanished.
They had no fuel for a fire, and made themselves as warm as they could with all their spare furs and blankets. Gandalf spared them each one more mouthful of the cordial. When they had eaten, Gandalf called a council.
'We cannot of course go on again tonight,' he said. 'We all need a good rest, and I think we had better stay here till tomorrow evening.'
'And when we move where are we to go to?' asked Frodo. 'It is no use trying the pass again; but you said yourself last night in this very spot that we could not now cross the passes further north because of winter, nor further south because of enemies.'
'There is no need to remind me,' said Gandalf. 'The choice is now between going on with our journey - by some road or other - or returning to Rivendell.'
The faces of the hobbits revealed plainly enough the pleasure they felt at the mere mention of returning to Rivendell. Sam's face brightened visibly, and he glanced at his master. But Frodo looked troubled.
'I wish I was back in Rivendell,' he acknowledged. 'But would not that be going back also on all that was spoken and decided there?' he asked.
'Yes,' replied Gandalf. 'Our journey was already delayed perhaps too long. After the winter it would be quite vain. If we return it will mean the siege of Rivendell, and likely enough its fall and destruction.'
'Then we must go on,' said Frodo with a sigh, and Sam sank back into gloom. 'We must go on - if there is any road to take.' 'There is, or there may be,' said Gandalf. 'But I have not mentioned it to you before, and have hardly even thought of it while there was hope of the pass of Cris-caron. For it is not a pleasant road.'
'If it is worse than the pass of Cris-caron it must be very nasty indeed,' said Merry. 'But you had better now tell us about it.' 'Have you ever heard of the Mines of Moria or the Black Gulf?'(34) asked Gandalf.
'Yes,' answered Frodo. 'I think so. I seem to remember Bilbo speaking of them long ago, when he told me tales of the dwarves and goblins. But I have no idea where they are.'
'They are not far away,' said the wizard. 'They are in these mountains. They were made by the Dwarves of Durin's clan many hundreds of years ago, when elves dwelt in Hollin, and there was peace between the two races. In those ancient days Durin dwelt in Caron-dun, and there was traffic on the Great River. But the Goblins - fierce orcs (35) in great number - drove them out after many wars, and most of the dwarves that escaped removed far into the North. They have often tried to regain these mines, but never so far as I know have they succeeded. King Thror was killed there after he fled from Dale when the dragon came, as you may remember from Bilbo's tales. As Gloin told us, the dwarves of Dale think Balin came here, but no news has come from him. '(36)
'How can the mines [of the] Black Gulf help us?' asked Boromir. 'It sounds a name of ill-omen.'
'It is so, or has become so,' answered Gandalf. 'But one must tread the path need chooses. If there are orcs in the mines, it will prove ill for us. But most of the goblins of the Misty Mountains were de
stroyed in the Battle of Five Armies at the Lonely Mountain. There is a chance that the mines are still deserted. There is even a chance that dwarves are there, and that Balin lives in secret in some deep hall. If either of these chances prove true, then we may get through. For the mines go right through and under this western arm of the mountains. The tunnels of Moria were of old the most famous in the northern world. There were two secret gates on the western side, though the chief entrance was on the East looking upon Caron-dun.(37) I passed right through, many years ago, when I was looking for Thror and Thrain. But I have never been since - I have never wished to repeat the experience.'(38) 'And I don't wish for it even once,' said Merry. 'Nor me,' muttered Sam.
'Of course not,' said Gandalf. 'Who would? But the question is, will you follow me, if I take the risk?'
There was no answer for some time. 'How far are the western gates?'asked Frodo at length.
'About ten (39) miles south of Cris-caron,' said Trotter.
'Then you know of Moria?' said Frodo, looking at him in surprise.
'Yes, I know of the mines,' said Trotter quietly. 'I went there once, and the memory is evil; but if you want to know, I was always in favour of trying that way rather than an open pass(40) I will follow Gandalf - though I should have followed him more willingly if we could have come to the gate of Moria more secretly.' 'Well, come now,' said Gandalf. 'I would not put such a choice to you, if there were any hope in other roads, or any hope in retreat. Will you try Moria, or go back to Rivendell?'
'We must risk the Mines,' said Frodo.
As I have said, it is remarkable how substantially the structure of the story was achieved at the very beginning, while the differences in the dramatis personae are so great. It is indeed very curious, that before my father had even written the first complete draft of 'The Council of Elrond' he had decided that the Company should include an Elf and a Dwarf (p. 397), as seems now so natural and inevitable, and yet in 'The Ring Goes South' we have only Gandalf and Boromir and five hobbits (one of whom, admittedly, is the most unusually far-travelled and widely experienced Trotter).
But as often in the history of The Lord of the Rings much of the earliest writing remained, for example in the detail of conversation, and yet such conversation appears later shifted into new contexts, given to different speakers, and acquiring new resonance as the 'world' and its history grew and expanded. A striking example is given in note 8, where in the original text 'Trotter sat with his head bowed to his knees' as they waited to depart from Rivendell, while in FR 'Aragorn sat with his head bowed to his knees; only Elrond knew fully what this hour meant to him.' The question presents itself: what is really the relation between Trotter = Peregrin Boffin and Strider = Aragorn?
It would obviously not be true to say merely that there was a role to be played in the story, and that at first this role was played by a Hobbit but afterwards by a Man. In particular cases, looked at narrowly without the larger context, this might seem a sufficient or nearly sufficient account: the necessary or fixed action was that Sam Gamgee's companion should hiss 'Lie flat and still' and pull him down into the shade of a holly-bush (p. 420, FR p. 298). But this says very little. I would be inclined to think that the original figure (the mysterious person who encounters the hobbits in the inn at Bree) was capable of development in different directions without losing important elements of his 'identity' as a recognisable character - even though the choice of one direction or another would lead to quite different historical and racial 'identities' in Middle- earth. So Trotter was not simply switched from Hobbit to Man - though such a switch could take place in the case of Mr. Butterbur with very little disturbance. Rather, he had been potentially Aragorn for a long time; and when my father decided that Trotter was Aragorn and was not Peregrin Boffin his stature and his history were totally changed, but a great deal of the 'indivisible' Trotter remained in Aragorn and determined his nature.
It may also be thought that in the story of the attempt on Cris-caron Trotter is diminished from the role he had played in the narrative of the journey from Bree to Rivendell, in which, though a hobbit, he is set altogether apart from the others, a wise and resourceful leader of great experience in whom all their hope rests. Now, in these physical circumstances, and beside Boromir, he is one of the helpless 'little folk', as Boromir says, to be set on a pony. Of course, this question cannot be approached without hindsight; if Trotter had in fact remained a hobbit in The Lord of the Rings it would not arise. Yet considerations along these lines may have been an element in the decision about him which my father would now shortly take.
NOTES.
1. An isolated page, certainly of this time, does give a preliminary sketch of the passage that begins approximately at 'As the light grew stronger' on p. 426. The writing is at the extreme limit of legibility, in rapid pencil now very faint.
Grey light grew revealing a snow... world in which the path by which they had climbed could scarcely be seen. The snow was no longer falling but the sky threatened more to come.
'The sooner we move and begin to get down the better,' said Gandalf. This was easier said than done. Hobbits. One on each journey. [Struck out: Boromir carries Frodo (.. precious burden).] Boromir and Gandalf go ahead and feel the way. In places Boromir vanished almost to his neck. They began to despair for the snow was soft.......... With great labour they had gone only 1/4 mile down and were all getting exhausted. But suddenly they found the snow less thick - 'even that seems to have been specially aimed at us' said Gandalf. Boromir strode ahead and came back reporting that it was [?soon only white]. At lact when daylight was broad they came back to places almost clear of snow.
G. points out the place they had started from the evening before. Council. What is to be done. Moria.
The page continues with some preliminary strokes for the scene outside the West Gate of Moria; see p. 444.
2. Dates were put in marginally against this sentence: 'Nov. 7th?' and 'Nov. 10 - 11'; in addition, 'a fortnight' was changed to '3 weeks' and 'a week old or more' to 'nearly 2 weeks old'.
3. After 'as far as' my father first wrote Dimbar, perhaps intending 'Dimbar in the Dimrill-dales'. The name Dimbar had appeared in the Quenta Silmarillion (V.261), of the empty land between the rivers Sirion and Mindeb.
For this application of Dimrill-dale(s) (north of Rivendell) see p. 360. When the name Dimrill-dale was transferred southwards and to the other side of the Misty Mountains it was replaced in the north by Hoardale, and this name was pencilled later on the text here.
4. This is the first occurrence of the names Cladden (River) and Gladden Fields. The river had been shown on the Map of Wilderland in The Hobbit, with marshy land at its confluence with the Great River, suggesting a region where 'gladdens' would grow.
At the foot of the page is a note that applies to the names in this passage: 'These names are given in Hobbit [fashion >] translation. Their real names were Tum Dincelon; Arad .Dain (Annerchin); Crandir Redway; and Palathrin (Palath = Iris).' Tum Dincelon is Dimrill-dale, in the original application (note 3). I do not understand the reference of 'Arad Dain (Annerchin)'. My father first wrote Tar and struck it out before writing Arad. For the names of the River Redway see note 15. In the Etymologies the Noldorin word palath = 'surface' (V. 380).
5. Cf. the Map of Wilderland in The Hobbit; 'Goblin Gate and Eyrie.'
6. According to The Tale of Years in LR (Appendix B) the Company left Rivendell on 25 December.
7. This passage was rewritten over and over again, and it is impossible to interpret the sequence precisely: but it is clear that my father first envisaged the Company as mounted, with Boromir's 'great brown horse', Gandalf's white horse, and seven ponies, five for the five hobbits, and two pack-animals (see note 25). An intermediate stage saw Boromir alone on foot: 'There were ponies for all the hobbits to ride where the road allowed, and Gandalf of course had his horse; but Boromir strode on foot, as he had come. The men of his race did not ride horses.' The text printed is certainly the final fo
rmulation at this stage, and is of course different from that in FR (p. 293), where the sole beast of burden was Bill Ferny's pony, whom Sam called Bill.
8. Cf. FR p. 293: 'Aragorn sat with his head bowed to his knees; only Elrond knew fully what this hour meant to him.' See p. 430.
9. This is the first occurrence of Hollin; but the Elvish name Eregion does not appear. In the Etymologies (V.356) the Elvish name of Hollin is Regornion. - In FR (p. 296) Gandalf says that they have
come 45 leagues, but that was as the crow flies: 'many long miles further our feet have walked.'
10. See the Note on Geography, pp. 440- 1.
11. At the first occurrence the name of the 'red horn mountain' was replaced over and over again: first it was Bliscarn, then Carnbeleg or Ruddyhorn, then, Tarager see the Etymoloies, V.391); also written on the margins of the page are Caradras = Ruddihorn, and Rhascaron. All these names appear on the contemporary map (p. 439). At the next occurrence Carnbeleg was replaced by Taragaer, and subsequently the name first written was Caradras replaced by Taragaer, and finally Taragaer. I give Taragaer throughout, as being apparently the preferred name at this stage. Changes made in red ink at some later stage brought back Caradras.