Read Online Sauron Defeated by J. R. R. Tolkien - Free Book Online
Authors: J. R. R. Tolkien
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point where it swung east towards the Isenmouthe ten miles away', and it was still after only an hour on the road that they halted, and were shortly afterwards overtaken. On the typescript my father emended
'ten miles' to 'twenty miles', and 'an hour' to 'three hours', but the final reading of RK was 'after doing some twelve miles, they halted.'
On the large-scale map the track of Frodo and Sam up the valley below the Morgai is marked, and the point where their track joined the road from Durthang is 20 miles from the Isenmouthe; the change in the text was thus very probably made to accommodate it to the map. The change whereby the hobbits had gone for three hours or twelve miles along the road before being overtaken clearly followed from the increased distance to the Isenmouthe, in order to reduce the time that Frodo and Sam had to submit to the punishing pace set by the orcs before they escaped.
Note on the Chronology.
Dates are written in the margins of the original texts of this chapter. At this stage the chronology of the journey from Kirith Ungol can be set out thus:
March 14 Dawn: Frodo and Sam climb down into the valley below the Morgai. Wind changes and the darkness begins to be driven back.
Night of March 14 - 15: They sleep below the crest of the Morgai; Sam sees a star.
March 15 They reach the top of the Morgai and see Mount Doom; descend and continue up the valley; overhear the two orcs quarrelling.
Night of March 15 - 16: They continue up the valley northward.
March 16 They spend the day in hiding in the valley.
Night of March 16 - 1 7: They continue up the valley.
March 17 In hiding. They see Durthang and the road descending from it. Gollum reappears.
Night of March 17 - 1 8: They take the road from Durthang and are forced to join the orc-company.
This chronology accords with the date March 14 of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (see VIII.428 - 9); in both the drafting A and the first manuscript B of the chapter 'It was the morning of the fourteenth of March ... Theoden lay dying on the Pelennor Fields.' Here in RK
(p. 196) it was the morning of March 15; and all the dates as given above are in the final story one day later.
IV.
MOUNT DOOM.
The original draft of the chapter 'Mount Doom' was written continuously with the first completed manuscript B of 'The Land of Shadow', which at this stage was called 'Mount Doom' (see p. 31); but the division into two chapters was soon made.
The latter part of the original single chapter (which I will continue to call 'B') is remarkable in that the primary drafting constitutes a completed text, with scarcely anything in the way of preparatory sketching of individual passages, and while the text is rough and full of corrections made at the time of composition it is legible almost throughout; moreover many passages underwent only the most minor changes later. It is possible that some more primitive material has disappeared, but it seems to me far more probable that the long thought which my father had given to the ascent of Mount Doom and the destruction of the Ring enabled him, when at last he came to write it, to achieve it more quickly and surely than almost any earlier chapter in The Lord of the Rings. He had known from far back (see p. 3) that when Frodo (still called 'Bingo') came to the Crack of Doom he would be unable to cast away the Ring, and that Gollum would take it and fall into the chasm. But how did he fall? In subsequent outlines Sam's part was pondered. My father knew that Sam was attacked by Gollum on the way up the Mountain and delayed, so that Frodo made the final ascent alone; and he knew that Gollum got hold of the Ring by taking Frodo's finger with it. But for a long time he thought that it was Sam who, finally making his way to the Chamber of Fire, pushed Gollum with the Ring into the abyss. In none of the later outlines given in Chapter I did he achieve the final articulation of the story; but there seems good reason to think that
'ten miles' to 'twenty miles', and 'an hour' to 'three hours', but the final reading of RK was 'after doing some twelve miles, they halted.'
On the large-scale map the track of Frodo and Sam up the valley below the Morgai is marked, and the point where their track joined the road from Durthang is 20 miles from the Isenmouthe; the change in the text was thus very probably made to accommodate it to the map. The change whereby the hobbits had gone for three hours or twelve miles along the road before being overtaken clearly followed from the increased distance to the Isenmouthe, in order to reduce the time that Frodo and Sam had to submit to the punishing pace set by the orcs before they escaped.
Note on the Chronology.
Dates are written in the margins of the original texts of this chapter. At this stage the chronology of the journey from Kirith Ungol can be set out thus:
March 14 Dawn: Frodo and Sam climb down into the valley below the Morgai. Wind changes and the darkness begins to be driven back.
Night of March 14 - 15: They sleep below the crest of the Morgai; Sam sees a star.
March 15 They reach the top of the Morgai and see Mount Doom; descend and continue up the valley; overhear the two orcs quarrelling.
Night of March 15 - 16: They continue up the valley northward.
March 16 They spend the day in hiding in the valley.
Night of March 16 - 1 7: They continue up the valley.
March 17 In hiding. They see Durthang and the road descending from it. Gollum reappears.
Night of March 17 - 1 8: They take the road from Durthang and are forced to join the orc-company.
This chronology accords with the date March 14 of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (see VIII.428 - 9); in both the drafting A and the first manuscript B of the chapter 'It was the morning of the fourteenth of March ... Theoden lay dying on the Pelennor Fields.' Here in RK
(p. 196) it was the morning of March 15; and all the dates as given above are in the final story one day later.
IV.
MOUNT DOOM.
The original draft of the chapter 'Mount Doom' was written continuously with the first completed manuscript B of 'The Land of Shadow', which at this stage was called 'Mount Doom' (see p. 31); but the division into two chapters was soon made.
The latter part of the original single chapter (which I will continue to call 'B') is remarkable in that the primary drafting constitutes a completed text, with scarcely anything in the way of preparatory sketching of individual passages, and while the text is rough and full of corrections made at the time of composition it is legible almost throughout; moreover many passages underwent only the most minor changes later. It is possible that some more primitive material has disappeared, but it seems to me far more probable that the long thought which my father had given to the ascent of Mount Doom and the destruction of the Ring enabled him, when at last he came to write it, to achieve it more quickly and surely than almost any earlier chapter in The Lord of the Rings. He had known from far back (see p. 3) that when Frodo (still called 'Bingo') came to the Crack of Doom he would be unable to cast away the Ring, and that Gollum would take it and fall into the chasm. But how did he fall? In subsequent outlines Sam's part was pondered. My father knew that Sam was attacked by Gollum on the way up the Mountain and delayed, so that Frodo made the final ascent alone; and he knew that Gollum got hold of the Ring by taking Frodo's finger with it. But for a long time he thought that it was Sam who, finally making his way to the Chamber of Fire, pushed Gollum with the Ring into the abyss. In none of the later outlines given in Chapter I did he achieve the final articulation of the story; but there seems good reason to think that
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