The War of the Ring (70 page)

'pipeweed' and 'sweet galenas'. For the name galenas see p. 38.

XII.

THE LAST DEBATE.

At some time before he began work on this chapter my father set down an outline entitled 'The march of Aragorn and defeat of [the]

Haradrim.' This must have preceded 'The Battle of the Pelennor Fields', since the name Haramon appears, not Emyn Arnen (see p. 370

and note 11);(1) it was almost certainly a companion to the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Forannest' (pp. 359 ff.), but is obviously best given here. At the head of the page my father afterwards pencilled a note asking whether it might not be a good idea 'to have part of this told by a man of Morthond Vale', but nothing ever came of this.

.Pencilled changes made to the text are shown.

Aragorn takes 'Paths of the Dead' morning of 8 March, passes tunnels of mountains. (This tale will have to be told in brief later, probably at feast of victory in Minas Tirith - by Gimli and/or Legolas.) They see skeleton in armour of Bealdor son of Brego.(2) But except for dark and a feeling of dread meet no evil. The tunnels become the issuing caverns of Morthond.

It is dusk [> afternoon] of 8 March when Aragorn and his company come out into the uplands of the head of the Vale of Morthond,. and ride to Stone of Erech.(3) This was a black stone, according to legend brought from Numenor, set up to mark the meeting place of Isildur and Anarion with the last king of the dark men of the Mountains, who swore allegiance to the sons of Elendil, vowing to aid them and their kin for ever, 'even though Death should take us.' The stone was enclosed in a now ruined ring-wall and beside it the Gondorians had anciently erected a tower, and there had been kept one of the palantiri. No men went near the tower. Rumour of terror flies through the vales, for the 'King of the Dead' has come back - and behold behind the living men a great host of shadow-men, some riding some striding but all moving like the wind, are seen.

Aragorn goes to Erech at midnight, blows horns (and dim shadow horns echo him) and unfurls banner. The star on it shines in the dark. He finds the palantir (unsullied) buried in a vault. From Erech he sets out [added: dark] morn of March 9

[added: at 5 a.m.]. For [read From ?] Erech to Fords of Lameduin (say Linhir?) is 175 miles direct, about 200 by road.(4) Great terror and wonder precedes his march. At Linhir on Lameduin men of Lebennin and Lamedon are defending passage of river against Haradwaith. Aragorn reaches Linhir at evening on March 10 after two days and night[s] forced riding with host of shadow behind in the deepening dark of Mordor.

All fly before him. Aragorn crosses Lameduin into Lebennin at morning of March 11 and hastens to Pelargir [added: 100

miles].(5)

From this point the outline, becoming very rough, was struck out and replaced, immediately, by a new text on the reverse of the sheet of paper. At the head of this page is the following brief passage concerning Frodo and Sam, which (while certainly written at the same time as the outline of Aragorn's journey) probably already stood there:

Rescue of Frodo. Frodo is lying naked in the Tower; but Sam finds by some chance that the elven-cloak of Lorien is lying in a corner. When they disguise themselves they put on the grey cloaks over all and become practically invisible - in Mordor the cloaks of the Elves become like a dark mantle of shadow.

Then follows, returning to the outline:

Aragorn crosses into Lebennin on March 11th (morning) and rides with all speed to Pelargir - the Shadow Host follows. The Haradrim fly before him in dismay. Some hearing news of his coming in time get their ships off and escape down Anduin, but most are not manned. Early on 12th Aragorn comes on the fleet driving all before him. Many of the ships are stuffed with captives, and they are partly manned (especially the oars) by captives taken in raids on Gondor, or slave-descendants of captives taken long before. These revolt. So Aragorn captures many ships and mans them, though several are burned. He works feverishly because he knows that doom of Minas Tirith is near, if he does not come in time. That night the Shadow Host vanishes and goes back into the mountain valleys, and finally disappears into the Paths of the Dead and is never seen again to come forth.(6)

He sets out at 6 a.m. on 13 March, rowing. On the south plain of Lebennin the Anduin is very broad (5 - 7 miles) and slow. So with many oars they make about 4 miles an hour and by 6 a.m. on 14th are 100 miles on way. It is 125 miles by river from Pelargir to that place where Anduin takes a west-loop round the feet of Haramon, a great hill in South Ithilien, and bends into the Pelennor, so that here the Ramas-Coren is but 15

[> 5] miles from the City,(7) and stands right on the water brink.

Just before that point the river course runs nearly North-South (slightly N.W.) and points straight towards Minas Tirith so that watchers can see that reach - about 10 miles long.(8) On morning of the 15th [written above: 14] a wind rises

[added: at dawn) and freshens from S.W. The cloud and gloom begins to roll back. They hoist sails and now go with [struck out: more] speed. About 9 a.m. they can be seen by watchers from Minas Tirith who are dismayed. As soon as Aragorn catches sight of the city, and of the enemy, he hoists his standard (the White Crown with the stars of Sun and Moon on either hand: Elendil's badge).(9) A sun-gleam from the S.E. lights it up and it shines afar like white fire. Aragorn lands and drives off enemy.

Especially notable here is the recurrence of the idea that appeared in

'Many Roads Lead Eastward' (pp. 300, etc.): there was a palantir at Erech (in the earlier chapter Aragorn seemed to say that the Stone of Erech was itself the palantir, p. 309 note 10). This Stone replaced that of Aglarond (pp. 76 - 8), so that there were still five palantiri in the South.

When my father came to write the chapter his intention - and achievement - was that in it should be recounted not only the debate of the commanders following the Battle of the Pelennor Fields but also the story of the journey of the Grey Company as recounted by Gimli and Legolas to Merry and Pippin - and that it should then carry the story on to the arrival of the Host of the West before the Morannon.

The manuscript, or manuscript corpus, was originally entitled 'The Parley at the Black Gate'.(10) It was a huge labour to achieve the final arrangement, entailing draft upon draft upon draft, with the most complicated re-use of existing pages, or parts of them, as he experimented with different solutions to the structural problem. It is more than likely that when this great mass of manuscript and typescript left his hands it was already in dire confusion, and its subsequent ordering into wholly factitious textual entities made it seem that in 'The Last Debate' my attempt to discern the true sequence of the writing of The Lord of the Rings would finally founder. But it has proved otherwise, and since no significant element seems to have been lost out of the whole complex the sequence of development in fact emerges here at least as clearly as in some far less difficult parts of the narrative. But of course to describe in detail each textual pathway would demand far more space than can be allowed to it.

It seems that before my father began the coherent drafting of the chapter - while he was in fact still writing 'The Houses of Healing' - he set down a form of the speeches at the opening of the debate that had arisen in his mind and would not be postponed.(11) Since a great deal of this does not appear in RK 1 give it in full.

'My lords,' said Gandalf. '"Go forth and fight! Vanity! You may triumph on the fields of Pelennor for a day. But against the Power that now arises there is no victory." So said the Steward of this City before he died. And though I do not bring you counsels of despair, yet ponder the truth in this. The people of the West are diminished; far and wide the lands lie empty. And it is long since your rule retreated and left the wild peoples to themselves, and they do not know you; and [they] will come seeking new lands to dwell in. Now were it but a matter of war between Men, such as has been for many ages, I would say: You are now too few to march East either in wrath or friendship, to subdue or to teach. Yet you might take thought together, and make such boundaries, and such forts and strongholds, as could long be maintained and restrain the gathering tide [>

?wild]. But your war is not only against numbers, and swords and spears, and untamed peoples. You have an Enemy of great power and malice, and he grows, and he it is that fills all the hearts of the wild peoples with hate, and directs and governs that hatred, and so they are become no longer like waves that may roll at whiles against your battiements, to be withstood with valour and defeated with forethought. They are rising in, a great tide to engulf you. What then shall you do? Seek to overthrow your Enemy.'

'Overlate should we begin that task!' said Prince Imrahil.

'[Had Minas Morgul been destroyed in ages past, and the watch upon the Black Gate maintained We slept, and no sooner had he re-entered the Nameless Land] We slept, and awoke to find him already grown beyond our measure. And to destroy him we must overthrow first all the allies that he has gathered.'

'That is true,' said Gandalf. 'And their numbers are too great, as Denethor indeed saw. Therefore this war is without final hope, whether you sit here to endure siege upon siege, or march out to be overwhelmed beyond the River. Prudence would counsel you to await onset in strong places, for so at least shall the time before the end be made a little longer.

'But now into the midst of all these counsels of war comes the Ring. Here is a thing which could command victory even in our present plight.'

'I have heard only rumour of this,' said Imrahil. 'Is it not said the One Ring of Sauron of old has come back to light, and that if he regain it then he will be as mighty as he was in the Dark Years?'

'It is said so and said truly,' answered Gandalf. 'Only he will be more mighty than of old and more secure. For there is no longer any land beyond the Sea from which help may come;

[and those who dwell beyond even the West will not move, for they have committed the Great Lands to the keeping of Men.]'(12)

'But if we should find the Ring and wield it, how would it give us victory?' asked Imrahil.

'It would not do so all in a day,' answered Gandalf. 'But were it to come to the hand of some one of power [?or] royalty, as say the Lord Aragorn, or the Steward of this City, or Elrond of Imladrist,(13) or even to me, then he being the Ringlord would wax ever in power and the desire of power; and all minds he would cow or dominate so that they would blindly do his will.

And he could not be slain. More: the deepest secrets of the mind and heart of Sauron would become plain to him, so that the Dark Lord could do nothing unforeseen. The Ringlord would suck the very power and thought from him, so that all would forsake his allegiance and follow the Ringlord, and they would serve him and worship him as a God. And so Sauron would be overthrown utterly and fade into oblivion; but behold, there would be Sauron still ..... but upon the other side, [a tyrant brooking no freedom, shrinking from no deed of evil to hold his sway and to widen it].'

'And worse,' said Aragorn. 'For all thar is left of the ancient power and wisdom of the West he would also have broken and corrupted.'

'Then what is the use of this Ring?' said Imrahil.

'Victory,' said [Gandalf >] Hurin Warden of the Keys.(14) 'At least we should have won the war, and not this foul lord of Mordor.'

'So might many a brave knight of the Mark or the Realm speak,' said Imrahil. 'But surely more wisdom is required of lords in council. Victory is in itself worthless. Unless Gondor stand for some good, then let it not stand at all; and if Mordor doth not stand for some evil that we will not brook in Mordor or out of it, then let it triumph.'

'Triumph it will, say or do what we will, or so it seems,' said

: Hurin. 'But after many words still I do not hear what is our present purpose. Surely, it is but a plain choice between staying here and marching forth. And if those who are wiser or more farsighted than I tell me there is no long[er] hope in waiting here, then I for one am for marching forth, and taking doom by the outstretched hand. So we may give it a wrench at the least before it grips us.'

'And in this at any rate I approve Hurin's words,' said Gandalf. 'For all my speech was leading to just such counsel.

This is not a war for victory that cannot be won by arms.(15) I have rejected the use of the Ring, for that would make victory the same as defeat. I have (like a fool, said Denethor) set the Ring at a great risk that our Enemy will regain it, and so utterly overwhelm us; for to retain it would he to risk the certainty that ere the last throes came upon us one among us would take it, and so bring about at least as great an evil. But still we have set our hands to war. For resist we must while we have strength -