The War of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien Read Free Book Online Page B

white rider.'
    'I am here,' said Gandalf. 'What do you wish?'

    'I am Bregalad Quickbeam,' answered the Ent. 'I come from Treebeard. He is eager for news of the battle, and he is anxious concerning the Huorns. (19) Also he is troubled in his mind about Saruman, and hopes that Gandalf will come soon to deal with him. [Added: There is no sign or sound from the tower.]'

    Gandalf was silent for a moment, stroking his beard thoughtfully. 'Deal with him,' he said. 'That may have many meanings [> That may have more meanings than one]. (20) But how it will go, I cannot tell till I come. Tell Treebeard that I am on the way, and will hasten. And in the meanwhile, Bregalad, tell him not to be troubled about the Huorns. They have done their task, and taken no hurt. They will return.'

    'That is good news,' said the Ent. 'May we soon meet again!' He raised his hand, and turned, and strode off back up the river, so swiftly that before the king's company had recovered from their wonder he was already far away.

    The riders now went at greater speed. At last they rode up into the long valley of Nan Gurunir. The land rose steeply, and the long arms of the Misty Mountains, reaching towards the plains, rose upon either side: steep, stony ridges, bare of trees. The valley was sheltered, open only to the sunlit South, and watered by the young river winding in its midst. Fed by many springs and lesser streams among the rain-washed hills, it flowed and bubbled in its bed, already a swift strong water before it found the plain; and all about it once had lain a pleasant fertile land. (21)
 
The description of Nan Gurunir as it was now is almost as in TT (p. 159), but after the words 'many doubted in their hearts, wondering to what dismal end their journey led' there follows:
 
    Soon they came upon a wide stone-bridge that with a single arch spanned the river, and crossing it they found a road that with a wide northward sweep brought them to the great highway to the fords: stone-paved it was, well-made and well-tended, and no blade of grass was seen in any joint or crack. Not far before them now they knew that the gates of Isengard must stand; and their hearts were heavy, but their eyes could not pierce the mists.
 
Thus the black pillar surmounted by the White Hand is absent. Being on the east side of Isen they cross the river by a bridge, and come to 'the great highway to the fords'. In TT they followed that road on the west side of Isen up from the fords, and it was at this point that the road became 'a wide street, paved with great flat stones'. (22)
Already in preliminary drafting the description of the Circle of Isengard reached almost its form in TT (pp. 159-60), (23) but that of the tower of Orthanc underwent many changes, which can be related to a series of contemporary illustrations. These descriptions, for clarity in my account, I label A, B, C, D.

The description in the preliminary draft is as follows:
     
    (A) And in the centre from which all the chained paths ran was a tower, a pinnacle of stone. The base of it, and that two hundred feet in height, was a great cone of rock left by the ancient builders and smoothers of the plain, but now upon it rose a tower of masonry, tier on tier, course on course, each drum smaller than the last. It ended short and flat, so that at the top there was a wide space fifty feet across, reached by a stair that came up the middle.
 
This description fits the picture captioned 'Orthanc (1)' that was reproduced as frontispiece to Vol. VII, The Treason of Isengard, (24) except in one respect: in the text there was 'a wide space fifty feet across' at the top, whereas in the picture the tower is surmounted by three pinnacles or horns (see under 'C' below).

In the completed manuscript of the first version the description begins in the same way, (25) but after 'left by the ancient builders and smoothers of the plain' it continues:
 
    (B) ... a tower of masonry marvellously tall and slender, like a stone