The War of the Ring (45 page)

But if this is so, the stage was certainly fleeting. Apparently, even as he wrote this brief text my father began to move in a new direction.

The Orcs before the city 'fled before the sword of Elendil' - and that can only mean that it was Aragorn who came over the mountains and so reached Minas Tirith before the main host out of Rohan. The marginal note ('Men of Rohan come after the assembly. Only Aragorn rode ... to it', where the illegible word might be 'in' but does not look like it) was obviously written concurrently with the passage that it adjoins, since in the sketch of the war that then follows the Men of Rohan are obviously not present at the 'assembly' at Minas Tirith.

In the conclusion of the text there seems to be no suggestion that the city was laid under siege. Of course it is very easy to misinterpret these allusive and elliptical outlines, in which my father would pick out salient 'moments' and pass over others equally essential to the narrative in silence; but although 'the siege of Minas Tirith by the Haradwaith' is mentioned in 'The Story Foreseen from Fangorn'

(VII.437) I think that no siege is mentioned here because none existed, or at any rate not in a form significant for the narrative. The force of his remark 'It would be better geographically if the main attack were made to come from the direction of Kirith Ungol - and the Swertings only a diversion, which nearly turns the scale' must surely be that he had supposed hitherto that in the strategy of the Enemy the attack from the South was to be the major blow against the city. In the sketch of events given here the attack out of Mordor is repulsed with rapid victory by the forces riding out of Minas Tirith (which included Aragorn); but Gandalf 'stood on the hill' (of the city) and (if I read the words aright) 'watched afar': 'then comes the fleet of the Harns up from the Delta and the Swertings come up through Ithilien' - and

'nearly turn the scale'. And so here, where (so far as record goes) the charge of the Rohirrim in the morning first appeared, it is against the attack from the South that the horsemen ride. If the city had been in anything like a state of siege, it was surely besieged no longer when they came.

Of the names that appear in this text, Eodoras can be no more than a casual reversion to the earlier form. On Anarion (?) see note 22. The reference to 'the Five Streams of Lebennin' is remarkable, since in the first full text of the chapter 'Minas Tirith', deriving from the period of renewed work on Book V in 1946, Lebennin is still 'the Land of Seven Rivers' (see p. 278). So far as I know, neither Harns (presumably =

Haradwaith, Haradrim), nor the names of the rulers in Southern Gondor, Inram the tall of the Morthond Vale (? - see note 23), Benrodir prince of Anarion (?), Nosdiligand of the people of the Delta, ever appear again.

There are half a dozen outlines sketching out the content of 'Book Five and Last' - at this stage my father was determined that The Lord of the Rings should extend to one further 'part' only: as he wrote to Stanley Unwin in March 1945 (Letters no. 98): 'It is divided into Five Parts, of 10-12 chapters each (!). Four are completed and the last begun.' It is not easy to determine the order in which these outlines were written down, and though the sequence in which I give them seems to me probable other arrangements are possible. There is however fairly clear evidence that all belong with the abandoned openings of 'Minas Tirith' and 'The Muster of Rohan' in October 1944.

The outline that I give first, numbering it 'I', obviously belongs to the earlier time, in view of the date of Gandalf's arrival at Minas Tirith: 'Feb 5 or 6' (see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter); and the date February 8 of Theoden's arrival at Dunharrow appears to agree with the third version C and the fifth version F of the opening of 'The Muster of Rohan' (ibid.). A part of this text, all of it originally written in pencil, was overwritten in ink, but the part that was not is here and there altogether illegible.

(I) Book V

Gandalf comes with Pippin to Minas Tirith. Feb 5 or 6 [later

> 6].

Faramir. The allies come in. Urgent messages are sent to Theoden.

(Messages (27) must bid Rohirrim assemble at Edoras as soon as may be after the Full Moon of Feb. 6. Theoden reaches Dunharrow Feb. 8. Edoras Feb. 10...)(28)

Denethor only willing to hold his walls. Knowing war drawing near he has long sent out summons to allies. They are coming in. But the messengers to Theoden, his chief ally, have not returned yet.

Gandalf tells of Theoden's war. Gandalf and Pippin on battlements.

See shadow as Nazgul sweep over river. Faramir comes on night of Feb. [7 >)8. At same time [> Next day) comes news of war at Osgiliath. Orcs led by Nazgul have crossed river. Fleet from Umbar is approaching mouths of Anduin.

Faramir supports Gandalf's policy of attack by sortie on the plain. The first battle. The mountaineers drive the orcs back and burn ships. But orcs [?win through]. Nazgul. Minas Tirith forces driven back. Still Gandalf .... [?on] the battlements.

Theoden leaves Edoras Feb. 11 with Eomer and Eowyn. Ents drive off the attack in north of Rohan. They drive back orcs out of west [?Anorien] and [struck out: Feb. 15 Last Quarter.] Reach battle Feb. 15.(29) Siege relieved by the Rohirrim and the allies of Lebennin. Gandalf comes forth and the enemy driven off. Theoden slain and Eowyn slays the King of the Nazgul and is mortally wounded. They lie in state in the white tower.(30) Gandalf .....

[?Aragorn]. Cross the River at Osgiliath. Elves and Ents drive Orcs back. They reach Minas Morgul and press on to Dagorlad. Parley with Sauron.

Another outline, 'II', gives a brief, and increasingly brief, pencilled synopsis of each of the ten chapters that were to constitute Book V and complete The Lord of the Rings.

(II) Bk. V

1. Gandalf goes to Minas Tirith. Mustering of forces. War breaks out. Gondor driven back. No sign of Riders.

2. Theoden comes to Dunharrow. Beacons. Messengers a."rive from Minas Tirith. Also from far afield reporting orcs across the river in Wold.

Theoden rides on the evening of Feb. 8.(31) Eowyn goes with him.

Gamling is left in command in Westfold. The old seneschal of Edoras in Eastfold (Dunharrow).

Aragorn and Eomer ride to beat off orcs. They come back and rejoin main body reporting that Ents and Lorien Elves have driven back the north thrust. They ride to Minas Tirith.

3. Charge of the Riders of Rohan breaks siege. Death of Theoden and Eowyn in killing the Nazgul King. Gondor destroys ships of Harad and crosses into Ithilien.

4. Sack of Minas Morgul. Victorious Gandalf [?pursues] on to Dagorlad. Elves of Lorien and Ents come from North. Parley with Mor ..(32) Sauron's messenger.

5. Frodo from high tower sees the coming of the hosts of the West and the great assembly of secret army of Sauron.(34) Rescue of Frodo by Sam.

[?This army) goes out, as he and Sam pass into Gorgor all is still and empty and the noise of the war is far away.

Gandalf is ambushed in Kirith Ungol and comes to edge of defeat.

6. Destruction of the Ring. Fall of Baraddur. Allies enter Mordor. Rescue of Frodo by Eagle.

7. Return to Gondor. Crowning of Aragorn. Funeral of Theoden and Eowyn.

The Hobbits depart north. [Struck out: Pass Lorien and) Fall of Sauron.

Galadriel's land ruined.(34)

8. Rivendell.

9. Shire.

10. Epilogue. Sam's book.

There is no clear indication in this synopsis or in synopsis I that Aragorn entered Gondor by a different route (indeed in II, 5 2 the reverse seems to be implied).

This page carries also two notes deriving from the same time as the synopsis by chapters. One of these reads:

Gandalf keeps back, not to reveal himself. As the siege grows and the armies of Gondor are pressed back he looks in the Palantir. He catches sight of Frodo in tower and then Sauron cuts in. Gandalf gives a great shout and hurls the Stone from the battlements. It slays

? a captain. Gandalf is now revealed. He rides forth. Nazgul come.

[?Host] comes out of Dagorlad.

Above the third sentence is written: 'Sauron holding the coat'. - With this note cf. the words 'Episode of the Palantir and Gandalf' in outline A for 'Minas Tirith', p. 231. This is the original germ of the story of Denethor and the Palantir of the White Tower, and also perhaps of that of the revelation of Aragorn to Sauron in the Hornburg.

The second of these notes is as follows:

The Firien (Firgen) [added: or the Halifirien] is a hill surrounded by a dark pinewood (the Firienholt). In it is a great cave, the Dun-

. harrow. No one has ever been in the cave. It is said to be a haliern,(35) and to contain some ancient relic of old days before the Dark. ?

It is 22 miles up Harrowdale from Edoras.

This statement clearly agrees with the idea of Dunharrow that entered in the typescript H (p. 251), where the hill, clothed in a dark wood but with bare head, is named Firien and the wood Firienholt; and where it is told that 'in living memory none had ever dared to enter' Dunharrow. Perhaps this synopsis II and accompanying notes immediately preceded H.(36) The addition 'or the Halifirien' is not obviously later than the rest of this note on Dunharrow; it was presumably rejected at once, for in the companion typescript C of 'Minas Tirith' the names of all the beacons are in the final form, ending with 'the Halifirien on the borders of Rohan' (p. 233).

On the same piece of paper as synopsis II is a small sketch-map very hastily drawn in ink; this is reproduced on p. 258. At the top is Edoras at the entrance to the long valley of Harrowdale, through which flows the Snowbourn, rising in the Starkhorn at the head of the valley. The distance from the Starkhorn to Edoras is marked as 75 miles; on the First Map (IV(E), VII.319), where the valley runs south-west, the distance between Edoras and the mountain against which is written

'Dunharrow' is also 75 miles.(37) About half-way up the valley the path taken by Theoden and the Riders, following the course of the mountain-stream, is seen descending into Harrowdale from the west; this path crosses the stream before it joins the Snowbourn (whereas in all early versions of the opening of 'The Muster of Rohan', including (Harrowdale.)

the typescript H, the stone bridge is over the Snowbourn itself), and turns north towards Edoras, ending at a place marked by a small circle but without a name. The circle is enclosed within two lines forming an oval shape. It can be seen in the original that the lower line is the course of the Snowbourn as first drawn, and that the upper line was put in with a subsequent stroke. However these markings, and the detached crescent line above them, are to be interpreted, there can be no doubt that this is the site of Dunharrow; both from the fact that the path leads to it, and from the statement in the time-scheme D (p. 141):

'Theoden comes out of west into Harrowdale some miles ahove Dunharrow, and comes to Dunharrow before nightfall'

As regards the distances, if the Starkhorn is 75 miles from Edoras, then Dunharrow on this map is considerably less than 22 miles from Edoras (as stated in the note on the same page, cited above), indeed scarcely more than half as far; but perhaps the discrepancy can be accounted for by supposing that it was 22 miles on foot by a winding track, whereas the 75 miles is shown as a linear distance between two points.

An explanation of this curious stage in the evolution of the geography of Harrowdale can be found by combining the evidence of synopsis II, the time-scheme D, and the narrative opening of 'The Muster of Rohan' in the typescript H. Abandoning the idea that Dunharrow was a cavernous hold opening onto the green mountain-field that was called the Lap of Starkhorn (p. 245), and that within it there was a huge feasting-hall, to be used that very night to celebrate the King's return, my father at the same time moved its site far down the valley towards Edoras, and made it a cave or caves in a hill ('Firien') some 50 miles or so from the Starkhorn.

A third outline ('III') also sets out a scheme for Book V by chapters, but does not proceed very far.

(III) Book V.

Ch. 1. Gandalf and Pippin reach Minas Tirith (Feb. 6 morning).

They see Denethor. Reasons for the beacons: (a) news from scouts in Ithilien. (b) news reached Denethor on Feb. 5 that fleets of Southrons had set sail. Gondor musters its forces. Pippin sees full moon rising and wonders where Frodo is. No sign of Rohan.

2. Theoden comes to Dunharrow. Pukel men. (Feb. 6 [> 5)).

Beacons and messengers [added: morning 6]. Tidings of orc-invasions of Wold. Theoden rides out on night of Feb. 8 [> 6].

Eomer and Eowyn ride with him. Gamling is left in command in Westfold. The old seneschal of Edoras in Eastfold. [Aragorn and Eomer ride north to beat off orcs. They come back >] Eomer rides north to beat off orcs. He comes back and rejoins main body, reporting that Ents and Lorien Elves have destroyed the northern diversion. They all ride to Minas Tirith. Where is Aragorn? He went with his rangers over the mountains.

3. Great Darkness. Faramir returns (8). Host of Morghul crosses River (9). Southron fleets assail the south of Gondor (10 [) 9]).

Gondor defeated and besieged (10 [> 9]). Gandalf in White Tower does not yet reveal his power or ...... [?name].