The Treason of Isengard by J. R. R. Tolkien Read Free Book Online

have to find the Cracks of Doom in the depths of Orodruin, the Fire-Mountain, and cast the Ring in there, if he really wished to destroy it, or put it beyond all reach until the End.

    The name Orodruin is met here for the first time.(15) In another point also the former version is retained: Gandalf still says when he goes to the window and draws aside the curtain (VI.322):

    'In any case it is now too late. You would come to hate me and call me a thief; and our friendship would cease. Such is the power of the Ring. Keep it, and together we will shoulder the burden that is laid on us.'

    Lastly, Gandalf does not in this version give Frodo a 'travelling name'
    ('When you go, go as Mr. Underhill', FR p. 72).

    The subsequent history of this chapter, traced in detail, would itself almost constitute a book, for apart from the marvellous intricacies of the route by which the story of Gollum and the 'birthday present' was ultimately resolved, Gandalf's conversation with Frodo became the vehicle for the developing history of the Rings of Power, afterwards removed from this place, and the chapter could not be treated separately from 'The Council of Elrond'. But the great mass of this work, and probably all of it, belongs to a later time than we have reached; and in any case the attempt to trace in 'linear' fashion the history of the writing of The Lord of the Rings cannot at the same time take full account of the great constructions that were rising behind the onward movement of the tale. So far as the story of Bilbo and Gollum is concerned it seems that this fourth version of 'Ancient History', in which my father was still constrained within the words of the original story told in The Hobbit, remained for some time as the accepted form.

    Chapter III: 'Three is Company'.

    The third version of this chapter, described in VI.323 - 5, was also revised at this time. The title was now changed from 'Delays are Dangerous' to 'Three is Company' (cf. the original title, 'Three's Company and Four's More', VI.49 and note 2); and the order of the opening passages was reversed, so that the chapter now begins as in FR with ' "You ought to go quietly, and you ought to go soon," said Gandalf', and his conversation with Frodo precedes the speculations in the Ivy Bush and Green Dragon (see VI.274 and note 1). This reorganisation and rewriting was very roughly done on the pages of the third phase manuscript and on inserted riders ('A'); the revised opening was then written out fair ('B'), as far as Gaffer Gamgee's conversation with the Black Rider in Bagshot Row, and the remainder of the existing text added to it, to form textually speaking a hybrid, just as in the case of the first two chapters.
    The draft revision A of Gandalf s departure from Bag End takes this form:

    Gandalf stayed at Bag-End for over two months. But one evening, soon after Frodo's plan had been arranged, he suddenly announced that he was going off again next morning. 'I need to stretch my legs a bit, before our journey begins,' he said.
    'Besides, I think I ought to go and look round, and see what news I can pick up down south on the borders, before we start.'
    He spoke lightly, but it seemed to Frodo that he looked rather grave and thoughtful. 'Has anything happened? Have you heard something?' he asked.
    'Well, yes, to tell you the truth,' said the wizard, 'I did hear something today that made me a bit anxious. But I won't say anything, unless I find out more for certain. If I think it necessary for you to get off at once, I shall come back immediately. In the meanwhile stick to your plan...'

    The remainder of his farewell words are as in FR (p. 76), except that he says 'I think you will need my company on the Road', not that

    'after all' Frodo 'may' need it. As written in the fair copy B the passage is the same as this, except that Gandalf no longer refers to 'our journey - he says: I need to stretch my legs a bit. There are one or two things I must see to: I have been idle