The War of the Ring (67 page)

Yield me now Faramir!'

It is hard to know what these last words imply, since at this point Gandalf must have already raised Faramir from the stone table and moved towards the door. It seems possible that some drafting has been lost, which would have made clearer the evolution of the final structure in this chapter.

At any rate, my father now began another text ('G'), for which he used the initial pages of D (p. 376), but soon diverged into new manuscript, roughly written but now completing the chapter; and here the substance and structure of RK was reached with few differences.

The manuscript had originally no title, but at some point he wrote on it 'XLVIII The Pyre of Denethor': at that stage, presumably, he was treating 'The Ride of the Rohirrim' and 'The Battle of the Pelennor Fields' as one chapter (see pp. 351, 367). 'XLVIII' was subsequently changed to 'XLIX' and 'V.6'.(5)

As first written, the different view of Denethor's knowledge of Aragorn and the black fleet was preserved, though changed later on the manuscript to the final form (on this question see pp. 390 - 1).

Gandalf still said 'So passes the Stewardship of Gondor' for 'So passes Denethor, son of Ecthelion'; and in his address to Berithil and the servants of Denethor who stood by he said: 'But Berithil of the guard owed allegiance first to his captain, Faramir, to succour him while he lived' (cf. p. 377). This was changed on the manuscript to read:

'... For you servants of the Lord owed obedience to him only.

And he who says: "my master is not in his mind, and knows not what he bids; I will not do it", is in peril, unless he has knowledge and wisdom. But to Berithil of the guard such discernment was a duty, whereas (6) also he owed allegiance first to his captain, Faramir, to succour him while he lived.'

This was preserved in the fair copy ('H') that followed, and was not rewritten to the form in RK (p. 131) until the typescript stage was reached. At the end of this passage my father wrote, as in D, that Gandalf and Berithil bore Faramir to 'the houses of the sick', but he changed this to 'the Houses of Healing', with the Elvish name Berin a Nestad, changed at once to Bair Nestedriu, both of which were struck out; but a little later in the chapter ('So now at last they passed into the high circles of the City, and in the light of morning they went towards the houses that were set apart for the tending of men hurt or dying', cf.

RK p. 131) the name Bair Nestedriu reappears. In the fair copy H

there is no Elvish name for the Houses of Healing in the first of these passages, but at the second the form Bair Nestad is found. In the first typescript, in this same passage, the name is Edeb na Nestad, which was struck through.

At this time the story was that Gandalf and Pippin rode through the Closed Door on their way to Rath Dinen (see note 3). Now, as Berithil and Gandalf bore the bier, 'behind them walked Pippin and beside him Shadowfax with downcast head'; and when they came back to the Door (here called 'the Steward's Door' as in RK; 'the Stewards' Door'

in the fair copy) Gandalf sent Shadowfax back to his stable, dismissing him in the same words that in RK (p. 127) he used when they first came to the Door.

At the point in the narrative where the dome of the House of the Stewards in Rath Dinen cracked and fell, and 'then in terror the servants fled, and followed Gandalf', my father set down an outline, which was struck through.

Gandalf must say something about the Stone. How it was kept in Tower but only kings supposed to look in it.(7) Denethor in his grief when Faramir returned must have looked in it -

hence his madness and despair. For though not yielding to Enemy (like Saruman) he got an impression of the Dark Lord's overwhelming might. The will of the Lord thus entered the Tower, confused all counsels, and kept Gandalf from the field.

All this takes about 1 1/2 hours to nearly 8 o'clock? So as they come out into the upper circles they hear the dreadful shriek of the Nazgul's end. Gandalf forbodes evil. Does Gandalf look out from a high place? When [he] has put Faramir in the sick quarters with Berithil as his servant and guard, Gandalf and Pippin go back down towards the Gates and meet the cortege, with bodies of Eowyn and Theoden.(8) Gandalf takes charge; but Pippin goes in search of Merry; and meets him wandering half blind. Eventually Gandalf and Pippin stand on battlement and watch progress of battle. Gandalf says he is not needed there so much as with the sick. Pippin (and Gandalf?) see the coming of Aragorn and the fleet. Eventually the captains return after victory at the Red Sunset.

Council must follow next day. Is any account of Aragorn's march put in at council?

The text in this manuscript (G) was then continued to the end; and when my father came to record Gandalf's words about the palantir of Minas Tirith they took this form:

'... Alas! but now I perceive how it was thai his will was able to enter among us into the very heart of this City.

'Long have I guessed that here in the White Tower, as at Orthanc, one of the great Stones of Sight was preserved.

Denethor did not in the days of his wisdom ever presume to use it, nor to challenge Sauron, knowing the limits of his own powers. But in his grief for Faramir, distraught by the hopeless peril of his City, he must have dared to do this: to look in the Stone. He hoped maybe to see if help was drawing nigh; but the ways of the Rohirrim in the North were hidden; and he saw at first only what was preparing in the South. And then slowly his eye was drawn east, to see what it was willed that he should see.

And this vision [struck oat: true or false] of the great might of Mordor, fed the despair that was already in his heart until it rose and engulfed his mind.'

['That fits well with what I saw,' said Pippin. 'The Lord went away from the room where Faramir lay; and it was when he came back chat I first thought he was changed, old and broken.'

'It was in the very hour that Faramir was brought back that many saw a strange light in the topmost chamber of the Tower,'

said Berithil.

'Alas! then I guess truly,' said Gandalf.] 'Thus the will of Sauron entered into the Tower; and thus I have been delayed here....'

The passage that I have enclosed in square brackets was an addition, but pretty clearly one made at the time of writing. In the fair copy manuscript of 'The Siege of Gondor' the passage describing how Prince Imrahil brought Faramir to the White Tower after his rescue, how Denethor then went up to the secret room under the summit of the Tower, and how a light was seen flickering there (RK pp. 94 - 5), was absent: see p. 340 note 17. It was no doubt at this time that it was added. The fair copy H retains the form of the passage just given; it was not until later that it was revised to introduce Gandalf's guess that Denethor had looked many times into the palantir, and Berithil's corroboration 'But we have seen that light before, and it has been rumoured in the City that the Lord would at times wrestle in thought with his Enemy.' In the original manuscript of 'Minas Tirith' he had said to Pippin as they sat on the battlements that Denethor was reputed to be able to 'read somewhat of the mind of the Enemy' as he sat in his high chamber at night, but he did not then add the words

'wrestling with him', nor 'And so it is that he is old, worn before his time' (RK p. 37; p. 292 note 21). Thus Pippin's words, preserved in RK, 'it was only when he returned that I first thought he was changed, old and broken' were written when my father believed that it was only now and for the first time that Denethor had dared to look into the Seeing Stone of Minas Tirith.

NOTES.

1. Gandalf says here: 'Is it not a law in the City that those who wear the black and silver must stay in the Citadel unless their lord leaves it?' And Pippin replies: 'He has left it.' For a previous use of this passage in a different context see p. 338 and note 23.

2. Cf. the original manuscript of the chapter 'Minas Tirith', p. 281:

'And Denethor at least does not expect him in any way, for he does not know that he exists.' This in fact survived through all the typescripts and was only changed on the proof to the reading of RK: 'Though if he comes, it is likely to be in some way that no one expects, not even Denethor.'

3. A minor narrative difference is that when Gandalf and Pippin came to the Closed Door on Shadowfax they rode through it, though on the steep winding road beyond 'they could go only at a walk.' In RK Gandalf 'dismounted and bade Shadowfax return to his stable' (see p. 380).

4. When writing a very rapid draft my father would move from 'thou'

to 'you' in the same speech, but his intention from the first was certainly that in this scene Denethor should 'thou' Gandalf, while Gandalf should use 'you'. In one passage confusion between 'thou'

and 'you' remains in RK (Denethor's speech beginning 'Hope on then!', p. 129). Here in the fair copy manuscript my father wrote:

'Do I not know that you commanded this halfling here to keep silence?'; subsequently he changed 'you commanded' to 'thou commandedst', but presumably because he disliked this form he changed the sentence to 'Do I not know that this halfling was commanded by thee ...' At the same time he added the sentence

'That you brought him hither to be a spy within in my very chamber?', changing it immediately and for the same reason to

'That he was brought hither ...' For some reason the 'you'

constructions reappeared in the first typescript, and so remained.

5. 'V.6', not 'V.7' as in RK, because 'The Passing of the Grey Company' and 'The Muster of Rohan' were still one chapter,

'Many Roads Lead Eastward'. The fair copy manuscript (H) was also numbered 'XLIX' and 'V.6', with the title '(a) The Pyre of Denethor'.

6. The meaning of whereas here is 'inasmuch as', 'seeing that'.

7. I take this to mean, in a colloquial sense of 'supposed', 'it was only the kings who were held to be permitted to look in it', rather than

'it was only the kings who looked in it, as it was thought.'

The story now was that Eowyn was still alive: p. 369.

XI.

THE HOUSES OF HEALING.

On the same page that my father used for the original opening draft (A) of 'The Pyre of Denethor' (p. 374) he also wrote a brief passage for another place in the narrative, beginning: '"Well, Meriadoc, where are you going?" He looked up, and there was Gandalf.' This was, I feel certain, the opening of a new chapter; and since it stands first on the page, with the opening of 'The Pyre of Denethor' below it, it seems to me likely that my father for a moment thought to continue the narrative after 'The Battle of the Pelennor Fields' in this way. But however this may be, he subsequently on another page (numbered 'a') wrote a new opening ('A mist was in Merry's eyes of tears and of weariness when they drew near to the ruined Gates of Minas Tirith'), and joined this on to the first opening (now numbered 'b') already in existence. This first part ('a') of the brief composite text is already very close indeed to the opening of the chapter in RK; the second (earlier) part 'b' differs from the text of RK in that it is Gandalf, not Pippin, who finds Merry wandering in the streets of the City:

'Well, Meriadoc, where are you going?'

He looked up, and the mist before his eyes cleared a little,(1) and there was Gandalf. He was in a narrow empty street, and no one else was there. He passed his hand over his eyes. 'Where is the king?' he said, 'and Eowyn, and - ' he stumbled and sat down on a doorstep and began to weep again.

'They have gone into the Citadel,' said Gandalf. 'You must have fallen asleep on your feet and taken a wrong turning. You are worn out, and I will ask no questions yet, save one: are you hurt, or wounded?'

'No,' said Merry, 'well, no, I don't think so. But I cannot use my right arm, not since I stabbed him. The sword has burned away like wood.'

Gandalf looked grave. 'Well, you must come with me. I will carry you. You are not fit to walk. They should not have let you.

But then they did not know about you or they would have shown you more honour. But when you know more you will pardon them: many dreadful things have happened in this City.'

'Pardon them? What for?' said Merry. 'All I want is a bed if there's one to have.'

'You'll have chat,' said Gandalf, 'but you may need more.' He looked grave and careworn. 'Here is yet another on my hands,'

he sighed. 'After war comes the woe and hopeless oft seems the task of the healer.'

At this point the part 'b' ends and is followed by 'When the dark shadow at the Gate withdrew Gandalf still sat motionless', the opening of 'The Pyre of Denethor', as described above.

My father now wrote an outline, obviously before the story had proceeded further.

Pippin meets Merry wandering half blind and witless - (as in scene previously written: but not humorous). Merry also is taken to sickhouse (Faramir, Eowyn, Merry).

[King Theoden is laid on bier in Hall of the Tower covered with gold. His body is embalmed after the manner of Gondor.

Long after when the Rohirrim carried it back to Rohan and laid it in the mounds, it was said that he slept there in peace unchanged, clad in the cloth of gold of Gondor, save that his hair and beard still grew but were golden, and a river of gold would at times flow from Theoden's Howe. Also a voice would be heard crying