The War of the Ring (6 page)

[alas, he is indisposed and unable to receive guests. o] at the moment he is closeted with one Wormtongue discussing urgent business.'

'It is possible that we could help in the debate,' laughed Gandalf. 'But where is Treebeard? I have no time to jest with young hobbits.'

'So we find you at last,' said Aragorn. 'You have given us a long journey.'

'How long have you been at Isengard?' said Gimli.

'Less than a day,' said Pippin.(5)

I turn now to the first version of the story, that is the first completed and coherent manuscript. In this, Theoden's words with Gandalf about riding to Isengard (TT p. 149) have a different outcome:

'Nonetheless to Isengard I go,' said Gandalf. 'Let those who are weary rest. For soon there will be other work to do. I shall not stay long. My way lies eastward. Look for me in Eodoras, ere the moon is full!'

'Nay,' said Theoden. 'In the dark hour before dawn I doubted. But we will not part now. I will ride with you, if that is your counsel. And now I will send out messengers with tidings of victory through all the vales of the Mark; and they shall summon all men, old and young, to meet me at Eodoras, ere the moon wanes.'

'Good!' said Gandalf. 'Then in one hour we ride again....'(6) After a brief hour of rest and the breaking of their fast, those who were to ride to Isengard made ready to depart.(7) The account of the treatment of the men of Dunland and the burials (TT p. 150) reaches the final form,(8) but the description of the departure of the trees in the night and of the valley after they had gone, told in almost the same words as in TT,(9) first entered at this point, whereas in TT it is postponed till much later in the chapter (p. 158).

The passage of the wood, and Gimli's description to Legolas of the Caves of Helm's Deep, reach in the completed manuscript of the first version almost exactly the form in TT (pp; 152 - 3), but with a slight structural difference, in that here the company had already left the trees and come to the road-parting when this conversation took place: They passed through the wood and found that they had come to the bottom of the coomb, where the road from Helm's Deep branched, going one way to Eodoras and the other to the fords of the Isen. Legolas looked back with regret.

'Those are the strangest trees that ever I saw,' he said...

Thus at the end of their talk together the old version again differs:

'You have my promise,' said Legolas. 'But now we must leave all that behind. How far is it to Isengard, Gandalf?'

'It is about twelve [later > fourteen o eleven] leagues from the bottom of Deeping Coomb to the outer wall of Isengard,'(10) said the wizard, turning round.

'And what shall we see there?' asked Gimli. 'You may know, but 1 cannot guess.'

'I do not know myself for certain,' answered Gandalf. 'Things may have changed again, since I was there last night. But we shall all know before long. If we are eager for the answer to riddles, let us quicken the pace!'

[Added: 'Lead us!' said Theoden. 'But do not let Shadowfax set a pace we cannot keep!'

The company rode forward now with all the speed they could, over the wide grasses of the Westemnet.]

Thus the Caves of Helm's Deep do not receive from Gandalf here the name 'the Glittering Caves of Aglarond', which was only added to the typescript text at a later stage (see p. 77).

The first version of the story now becomes decisively different from that in The Two Towers (pp. 154 ff.).

The sun shone upon the vale about them. After the storm the morning was fresh, and a breeze was now flowing from the west between the mountains. The swelling grass-lands rose and fell, with long ridges and shallow dales like a wide green sea. Upon their left long slopes ran swiftly down to the Isen River, a grey ribbon that bent westward, winding away out of sight through the great Gap of Rohan to the distant shores of Belfalas.(11) Below them now lay the fords of Isen, where the river spread in stony shoals between long grassy terraces. They did not go that way. Gandalf led them due north, and they passed by, riding along the high ground on the east of the river; yet as they rode other eyes were turned towards the stony fords and the battlefield where so many good men of the Mark had fallen.(12) They saw crows wheeling and crying in the air, and borne upon the wind they heard the howling of wolves. The carrion-birds were gathered at the fords, and even the bright day had not driven them from their business.

'Alas!' cried Theoden. 'Shall we leave the steeds and riders of the Mark to be picked and torn by fowl and wolf? Let us turn aside! '

'There is no need, lord,' said Gandalf. 'The task would take us long, were it still left to do; but it is not. No horse or rider of your folk lies there unburied. Their graves are deep and their mounds are high; and long may they watch the fords! My friends have laboured there.(13) It is with the orcs, their masters, that the wolves and carrion-birds hold their feast: such is the friendship of their kind.'

'You accomplished much in an evening and a night, Gandalf my friend,' said Theoden.

'With the help of Shadowfax - and others,' answered Gandalf. 'And this I can report for your comfort: the losses in the battles of the ford were less grievous than we thought at first.

Many men were scattered but not slain. Some I guided to join Erkenwald, and some I gathered again and sent back to Eodoras. I found that all the strength of Saruman was hurrying to Helm's Deep; for the great force that had been ordered to go straight to Eodoras was turned aside and joined to those that had pursued Erkenwald. When it was known that you, Theoden King, were in the field, and Eomer beside you, a mad eagerness came upon them. To take you and slay Eomer was what Saruman most desired. Nonetheless I feared that wolf-riders and cruel plunderers might be sent swiftly to Eodoras and do great harm there, since it was unmanned. But now I think you need not fear; you will find the Golden Hall to welcome your return.'

They had been riding for about an hour since they left the Coomb, and already the dark mountainous arms of Nan Gurunir were opening wide before them. It seemed filled with smoke. Out of it the river flowed, now near upon their left.

Suddenly they were aware of a strange figure striding south along the stream towards them.

This last paragraph was replaced by the following: They had been riding for almost an hour [> It was close on noon. They had been riding for two hours](14) since they left the Coomb, and now the mountainous arms of Nan Gurunir began to stretch towards them. There seemed to be a mist about the hills, and they saw rising up out of deep shadows a vast spire of smoke and vapour; as it mounted it caught the light of the sun, and spread in glowing billows in the sky, and the wind bore them over the plain.

'What do you think of that, Gandalf?' said Theoden. 'One would say that all the Wizard's Vale was burning.'

'There is ever a fume above that valley in these days,' said Eomer; 'but I have never seen anything like this before. These are steams, rather than smokes. Some devilry Saruman is brewing to greet us.'

'Maybe,' said Gandalf. 'If so, we shall soon learn what it is.'(15) Out of the steaming vale the river Isen flowed, now close upon their left hand. As they were gazing north, they were suddenly aware of a strange figure striding south along the east bank of the stream. It went at great speed, walking stilted like a wading heron, and yet the long paces were as quick, rather, as the beat of wings; and as it approached they saw that it was very tall, a troll in height, or a young tree.

Many of the horsemen cried aloud in wonder, and some drew their swords. But Gandalf raised his hand.

'Let us wait,' he said. 'Here is a messenger for me.'

'A strange one to my eyes,' said Theoden. 'What kind of creature may it be?'

'It is long since you listened to tales by the fireside,' answered Gandalf; 'and in that rather than in white hairs you show your age, without increase in wisdom.'(16) There are children in your land that out of the twisted threads of many stories could have picked the answer to your question at a glance. Here comes an Ent, an Ent out of Fangorn, that your tongue calls the Entwood

- did you think the name was given only in idle fancy?(17) Nay, Theoden, it is otherwise: to them you are but the passing tale: all the years from Eorl the Young to Theoden the Old are of little count to them.'

Theoden was silent, and all the company halted, watching the strange figure with wondering eyes as it came quickly on to meet them. Man or troll, he was ten or twelve feet high, strong but slim, clad in glistening close-fitting grey and dappled brown, or else his smooth skin was like the rind of a fair rowan-tree. He had no weapon, and as he came his long shapely arms and many-fingered hands were raised in sign of peace. Now he stood before them, a few paces off, and his clear eyes, deep grey with glints of green, looked solemnly from face to face of the men that were gathered round him.(18) Then he spoke slowly, and his voice was resonant and musical.

'Is this the company of Theoden, master of the green fields of Men?' he said. 'Is Gandalf here? I seek Gandalf, the white rider.'

'I am here,' said Gandalf. 'What do you wish?'

'I am Bregalad Quickbeam,' answered the Ent. 'I come from Treebeard. He is eager for news of the battle, and he is anxious concerning the Huorns.(19) Also he is troubled in his mind about Saruman, and hopes that Gandalf will come soon to deal with him. [Added: There is no sign or sound from the tower.]'

Gandalf was silent for a moment, stroking his beard thoughtfully. 'Deal with him,' he said. 'That may have many meanings

[> That may have more meanings than one].(20) But how it will go, I cannot tell till I come. Tell Treebeard that I am on the way, and will hasten. And in the meanwhile, Bregalad, tell him not to be troubled about the Huorns. They have done their task, and taken no hurt. They will return.'

'That is good news,' said the Ent. 'May we soon meet again!'

He raised his hand, and turned, and strode off back up the river, so swiftly that before the king's company had recovered from their wonder he was already far away.

The riders now went at greater speed. At last they rode up into the long valley of Nan Gurunir. The land rose steeply, and the long arms of the Misty Mountains, reaching towards the plains, rose upon either side: steep, stony ridges, bare of trees.

The valley was sheltered, open only to the sunlit South, and watered by the young river winding in its midst. Fed by many springs and lesser streams among the rain-washed hills, it flowed and bubbled in its bed, already a swift strong water before it found the plain; and all about it once had lain a pleasant fertile land.(21)

The description of Nan Gurunir as it was now is almost as in TT

(p. 159), but after the words 'many doubted in their hearts, wondering to what dismal end their journey led' there follows: Soon they came upon a wide stone-bridge that with a single arch spanned the river, and crossing it they found a road that with a wide northward sweep brought them to the great highway to the fords: stone-paved it was, well-made and well-tended, and no blade of grass was seen in any joint or crack. Not far before them now they knew that the gates of Isengard must stand; and their hearts were heavy, but their eyes could not pierce the mists.

Thus the black pillar surmounted by the White Hand is absent.

Being on the east side of Isen they cross the river by a bridge, and come to 'the great highway to the fords'. In TT they followed that road on the west side of Isen up from the fords, and it was at this point that the road became 'a wide street, paved with great flat stones'.(22) Already in preliminary drafting the description of the Circle of Isengard reached almost its form in TT (pp. 159-60),(23) but that of the tower of Orthanc underwent many changes, which can be related to a series of contemporary illustrations. These descriptions, for clarity in my account, I label A, B, C, D.

The description in the preliminary draft is as follows: (A) And in the centre from which all the chained paths ran was a tower, a pinnacle of stone. The base of it, and that two hundred feet in height, was a great cone of rock left by the ancient builders and smoothers of the plain, but now upon it rose a tower of masonry, tier on tier, course on course, each drum smaller than the last. It ended short and flat, so that at the top there was a wide space fifty feet across, reached by a stair that came up the middle.

This description fits the picture captioned 'Orthanc (1)' that was reproduced as frontispiece to Vol. VII, The Treason of Isengard,(24) except in one respect: in the text there was 'a wide space fifty feet across' at the top, whereas in the picture the tower is surmounted by three pinnacles or horns (see under 'C' below).