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

Took, and Faramond Took, reverting to his former name Folco, became Folco Boffin (who 'went home after lunch' in FR, p. 77). These corrections to the new text of Chapter III were evidently made before my father rewrote the ending of Chapter V, where 'Pippin' first appears in a text as written and not by later correction.
    Thus it is that Peregrin Took of LR occupies the same genealogical place as did Frodo Took of the earliest phases (see VI.267, note 4): and thus 'Folco' of the 'third phase' manuscripts is corrected everywhere to 'Pippin'.
    It would be legitimate, I think, to see in all this a single or particular hobbit-character, who appears under an array of names: Odo, Frodo, Folco, Faramond, Peregrin, Hamilcar, Fredegar, and the very ephemeral Olo (VI.299) - Tooks, Boffins, and Bolgers. Though no doubt a very 'typical' hobbit of the Shire, this 'character' is in relation to his companions very distinct: cheerful, nonchalant, irrepressible, commonsensical, limited, and extremely fond of his creature comforts.
    I will call this character 'X'. He begins as Odo Took, but becomes Odo Bolger. My father gets rid of him from the first journey (to Buckland), and as a result Frodo Took (Merry Brandybuck's first cousin), who had been potentially a very different character (see VI.70), becomes
    'X', while retaining the name Frodo Took. Odo, however, reappears, because he has gone on ahead to Buckland with Merry Brandybuck while the others are walking; he may be called 'XX'. He will have a separate adventure, riding with Gandalf to Weathertop and ultimately turning up again at Rivendell, where (for a very brief time in the development of the narrative) he will rejoin 'X', now renamed 'Folco Took' (since Bingo Baggins has taken over the name Frodo).
    In the 'third phase' of the narrative, then, 'X' is Folco Took, Merry's cousin; and 'XX' is Odo Bolger. But now 'X' is renamed Faramond Took, and 'XX' is renamed Hamilcar Bolger. A new character called Peregrin Boffin appears: beginning as a much older figure, originally a hobbit of the Shire who became through his experiences a most unusual person, known as 'Trotter', he, or rather his name, survives to become one of Frodo's younger friends. 'Faramond Took' is pushed aside and left with scarcely any role at all, becoming the shadowy Folco Boffin; and 'Peregrin Boffin', becoming 'Peregrin Took' or
    'Pippin', becomes 'X' - and Merry's first cousin.
    Looking back to the beginning, therefore, 'Pippin' of LR will largely take over 'Odo's' remarks; but as I said (VI.70), 'the way in which this came about was strangely tortuous, and was by no means a simple substitution of one name for another.' For Pippin is Merry's first cousin, and is derived through Folco/Faramond from the original Frodo Took: he is not derived from Odo, who was moved sideways, so to speak, becoming Hamilcar (Fredegar). But Pippin is derived from Odo, in the sense that he like Odo is 'X'.

    For the rest, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins' son, while keeping his name Cosimo, loses his pimples and gains 'sandy-haired' as his defining epithet. Gaffer Gamgee's observation on the subject of having Lobelia as his neighbour is recorded: ' "I can't abide changes at my time of life, said he (he was 99),(18) "and anyhow not changes for the worst.
    In FR the Gaffer's complaint was reported by Gandalf to the Council of Elrond (p. 276).
    From the point where my father merely retained the manuscript of the 'third phase', and in subsequent chapters, 'Folco' was corrected to
    'Pippin'.

    Chapter IV: 'A Short Cut to Mushrooms'.

    In this case the third phase manuscript was retained intact (apart from
    'Peregrin' or 'Pippin' for 'Folco' throughout), the final form having already been attained (see VI.325).

    Chapter V: 'A Conspiracy Unmasked'
    (with 'The Dream of the Tower').

    A rough draft of a rewriting of the end of this chapter survives (for the previous forms of the passage see VI.104-5, 301 - 2, 326). Odo has become Hamilcar, and the