The Treason of Isengard (79 page)

At the foot of the hill they passed between seven high green mounds. Already they were starred with small pale flowers, and in the shelter of their western flanks the grass was white with nodding flowers (blossoms) like tiny snowdrops. 'See, Legolas!'

said Aragorn, 'we are passing the mounds where the sires of Theoden sleep.' 'Yes,' said Legolas. 'Seven mounds there be, and seven long lives of men it is, since the Rohiroth came hither from the North. Two hundred times and more have the red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then,(3) and little change does it seem to us. But to them it seems so long ago, that their dwelling in the North is but a memory of song, and their speech is already sundered from their northern kin.'

The companions entered the gates. Horsemen guarded them, and led them to the hall. They dismounted and walked in up the echoing hall. There they saw Theoden the old. Beside him sat Gandalf, and at his feet Gimli the dwarf.

At the foot of the page, where this draft ends, is the note: '? News of the attack on Minas Tirith by Haradwaith in ships'; see pp. 434 - 5, 437.

It would be interesting to know what thought lay behind this story of the 'divided entry' into Eodoras; but whatever it was, the arrival there and even the entry into Winseld was accomplished, as it appears, without any ceremony, interrogation, or laying aside of arms. There is no suggestion of hostility or even suspicion towards the strangers, and this accords with the first outline given in the last chapter (see p. 437).

It will be seen in what follows that the entire conception of the situation at Eodoras arose during the writing of 'The King of the Golden Hall'.

While the story of the divided entry of the four companions was still maintained, however, a strongly 'Beowulfian' reception of Aragorn and Legolas at the gates was at once introduced, in a revised draft.(4)

... they came at last to the wide windswept walls and the gates of Eodoras. There sat men in bright mail upon proud steeds, who spoke to them in a strange tongue.

'Abidath cuman uncuthe! [Rejected at the time of writing: Hwaet sindon ge, lathe oththe leofe, the thus seldlice gewerede ridan cwomon to thisse barge gatum? No her inn gan moton ne waedla ne waepned mon, nefne we his naman witen. Nu ge feorran-cumene gecythath us on ofste: hu hatton ge? hwaet sindon eower aerende to Theoden urum hlaforde?(5) Aragorn understood these words] asking their names and errand. These words Aragorn understood and answered. 'Aragorn son of Arathorn am I,' he said, 'and with me is Legolas of Mirkwood.

These names maybe ye have already heard, and our coming is awaited? But we ask now to see Theoden your lord; for we come in friendship and it may be that our coming

Here this draft tails off. It does not seem that the story that Gandalf with Gimli went ahead on Shadowfax and entered Eodoras first was taken any further. It is curious, however, that when the story was changed my father seems to have forgotten Gimli: he is not named in the encounter with the guard at the gates, there is no mention of his surrendering his axe at the doors of the house, and my father even wrote 'Now the three companions went forward' up Theoden's hall.

These references were added in to the 'fair copy' manuscript, and

'three' changed to 'four'; and Gimli appears as the text was written when he strode forward, and was restrained by Gandalf, at Wormtongue's words about Lothlorien (TT p. 118). I do not think that this can have any narrative significance; but it was certainly an odd lapse, and not easy to explain.(6)

The story of the arrival at Eodoras was now revised again. Gandalf is present when the travellers are challenged at the gates, and the guards, crying Abidath cuman uncuthe, are rebuked by him for using the tongue of Rohan.(7) The flowers on the mounds (still seven) become nifredil, the flowers of Lorien (see note 4, and pp. 233 - 4); and Aragorn utters the verse Where now the horse and the rider?,(8) referring to 'Eorl the Old', changed at once to 'Eorl the Young', 'who rode down out of the North', and to 'his steed Felarof, father of horses' (TT p. 112). But at this stage Wormtongue had still not emerged, and the suspicion and hostility of the guards evidently proceeded from Theoden's unfortified dislike and distrust of Gandalf;(9) moreover Eomer had not returned to Eodoras since Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli parted from him:

'".Has not Eomer then returned and given warning of our coming?'

'Nay,' said the guard. 'He has not passed these gates. He was turned aside by messengers from Theoden, and went away west to the war without staying. But maybe, if what you say is true, Theoden will have knowledge of it. I will go to my lord and learn his will. But what names shall I report? ...'

'With this cf. TT p. 113. - In the original draft for the scene in which the travellers must lay aside their weapons before entering Theoden's house there is a brief description of it:

Before Theoden's hall there was a portico, with pillars made of mighty trees hewn in the upland forests and carved with interlacing figures gilded and painted. The doors also were of wood, carven in the likeness of many beasts and birds with jewelled eyes and golden claws.

It is curious that in the 'fair copy' manuscript, and thence in the final text, there is no description at all of the exterior of the house, and I think that it may have got lost in the complexities of redrafting and reordering of the material.(10)

As they stood in the darkness by the doors of the hall and saw on one of the hangings the figure of the young man on a white horse (TT

p. 116) Aragorn said: 'Behold Eorl the Young! Thus he rode out of the North to the Battle of the Field of Gorgoroth.' A very difficult draft preceding this has 'the Battle of Gorgoroth where Sauron was

[?overthrown],' making it clear that at this stage my father conceived that Eorl came south to the great battle in which Gil-galad and Elendil were slain and Isildur took the Ring.(11)

In the encounter with Theoden the manuscript evidence is not very easy to interpret, but it seems certain that it was at this point that Wormtongue entered the story; for what is obviously the very earliest description of Theoden, written in the faintest scribble, reads thus: At the far end of the hall beyond the hearth and facing the doors was a dais with three steps, and in the midst of the dais was a great chair. In the chair sat a man so bent with age that he seemed almost a dwarf. His white hair was [?braided] upon his

[?shoulders), his long beard was laid upon his knees. But his eyes burned with a keen light that glinted from afar off. Behind his chair stood two fair women. At his feet upon the steps sat a wizened [struck out: old] figure of a man with a pale wise face.

There was a silence.

In the 'fair copy' the text moves close to that of TT (pp. 116 - 17), and now appears the 'thin golden circlet' worn by Theoden (who is subsequently called 'King' in this manuscript); but he bears on his forehead 'a large green stone' (not the 'single white diamond' of TT: see p. 448), and there were still 'two fair women' standing behind his chair.

But though Wormtongue was present he did not, as the scene was first drafted, intervene, and it is Theoden who speaks of the death of the Second Master of the Mark, here called Eofored,(12) on the west marches of Rohan, and it is Theoden who names Gandalf Lathspell, Ill-news. Gandalf responds, as in TT, by speaking of the different ways which a man may come with evil tidings, and it is again Theoden, not Wormtongue, who retorts 'Verily he may, or he may be of a third kind', and who decries the idea that Gandalf had ever brought aid to Rohan: Last time it seemed to me that you asked my aid rather, and to get you from my land I astonished all men and myself also by lending you Shadowfax.'(13) At this stage Eomer s story remains as it was: 'Eomer has ridden away thither [to the west marches] with all but the last handful of my horsemen.'

At this point, however, before the conversation had proceeded any further, 'the pale man sitting upon the steps of the dais' began to play a part; for he now took over those parts of Theoden's remarks that are given to him in TT. Yet it is interesting to observe that my father did not introduce him into Theoden's household with the conscious intent that he should play the role that he did in fact come to play: for he still says, as Theoden had done, 'Now Eomer has ridden away thither with all but our last handful of horsemen.'(14)

After Gandalf's triumph over Wormtongue (who is not yet given any other name) Theoden is assisted down the hall by the two women, and he says to them: 'Go, Idis, and you too Eowyn sister-daughter!'(15) As they went, the younger of them looked back: 'very fair and slender she seemed. Her face was filled with gentle pity, and her eyes shone with unshed tears. So Aragorn saw her for the first time in the light of day, and after she was gone he stood still, looking at the dark doors and taking little heed of other things.'

Looking out from the porch of his house with Gandalf Theoden says: 'Not long now shall stand the high hall which Brego son of Brytta built' (cf. p. 435 and note 5; TT p. 120 'Brego son of Eorl'); and Gandalf tells him, as in TT, to send for Eomer. It was at this point in the writing of the chapter that there entered the story of the imprisonment of Eomer by the instigation of Wormtongue, who now receives his true name: Frana (Grima did not replace this till much later).

In TT when Gandalf spoke to Theoden (p. 121) 'his voice was low and secret, and none save the king heard what he said.' In the early form of the chapter, however, this was not so:

His voice was low and secret, and yet to those beside him keen and clear. Of Sauron he told, and the lady Galadriel, and of Elrond in Rivendell far away, of the Council and the setting forth of the Company of Nine, and all the perils of their road.

'Four only have come thus far,' he said. 'One is lost, Boromir prince of Gondor. Two were captured, but are free. And two have gone upon a dark Quest. Look eastward, Theoden! Into the heart of menace they have gone: two small folk, such as you in Rohan deem but the matter of children's tales. Yet doom hangs upon them. Our hope is with them - hope, if we can but stand meanwhile!'

There are several drafts for this passage preceding that in the fair copy just given, and in one of these occurs the following:

Of the Council and the setting forth of the Company of Nine. So he came at last to the Mines of Moria and the Battle upon the Bridge.

'Then it was not wholly false, the rumour that Eomer brought,' said Theoden.

'No indeed,' said Aragorn, 'for he did but repeat what I said to him. And until this time yestermorning we thought that Gandalf had fallen. Even now he has not said what befell him in Moria. We would gladly hear.'

'Nay,' said Gandalf. 'The sun is riding towards noon.'

This is clear evidence that my father had reached this point, at least, in

'The King of the Golden Hall' before he wrote the conclusion of 'The White Rider' in its later form: see p. 430.

The passage just given is followed by a brief outline: Eomer returns. Wes thu Theoden hal. He rejoices to see Theoden so much better; but begs pardon - save only for his advice to ride west. Says how the day's delay has grieved him.

Gandalf continues tale and holds out a hope (of Frodo in the East). But they must ride west.

Theoden bids them stay and rest. But Gandalf won't stay except for food ... Theoden has to take heart and send every man west. He himself is to lead his folk out of Eodoras into the secret refuge[?s] in the mountains - more defensible if all goes ill.

Eomer asks that Wormtongue should go west too. Shadowfax.

They set out. Gandalf fleets ahead.

As already mentioned, in the last third of the chapter, from the point where Legolas gazes far off and believes that he can see 'a glint of white' and 'a tiny tongue of flame' (TT p. 121), there is little further independent drafting, the manuscript in ink being written over the original pencilled text. But it is clear that the story as known from The Two Towers of the unmasking of Wormtongue, the rehabilitation of Eomer, the meal before departure, the gift of Shadowfax, was achieved almost unhesitatingly.(16) In an important respect, however, my father at first conceived things differently.

In this first version of 'The King of the Golden Hall' the Second Master of the Mark, slain in fighting at the River Isen, is Eofored, and he is not Theoden's son (p. 444 and note 12).(17) On the other hand, in addition to Eowyn (Eomer's sister, p. 437; addressed by Theoden as

'sister-daughter', p. 445), there is another lady in close association with Theoden, Idis - his daughter. All through this part of the chapter she is present, yet never once does she speak. When Gandalf asks Theoden who shall rule his people in his place when he departs to the war, he replies that Eowyn 'shall be lady in my stead'; and Gandalf says 'That is a good choice.' There is no mention of Idis here; yet she was still present, for at the meal before the riding of the host 'there also waiting upon the king were the ladies, Idis his daughter, and Eowyn sister of Eomer.' It was Eowyn who brought the wine, and Idis is again not mentioned; yet Hama still says, in response to Theoden's words that Eomer is the last of the House of Eorl (TT p. 128): 'I said not Eomer. He is not the last. There are Idis your daughter, and Eowyn his sister. They are wise and high-hearted.' But it was at this point that the brief existence of Idis came to an end; for the next words that my father wrote were: 'All love her. Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone.' All references to Idis were then removed from the manuscript.