Sauron Defeated (2 page)

Here perhaps Sam comes up, beats off a vulture and hurls himself and Gollum into the gulf?

Subsequently in this same outline is found:

They escape [from Minas Morgol] but Gollum follows.

It is Sam that wrestles with Gollum and [?throws] him finally in the gulf.

Not long after this, in the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Lorien'

(VII.344), my father noted that 'Sam must fall out somehow' (presumably at the beginning of the ascent of Mount Doom) and that Frodo went up the mountain alone:

Sam must fall out somehow. Stumble and break leg: thinks it is a crack in ground - really Gollum. [?Makes ?Make] Frodo go on alone.

Frodo toils up Mount Doom. Earth quakes, the ground is hot.

There is a narrow path winding up. Three fissures. Near summit there is Sauron's Fire-well. An opening in side of mountain leads into a chamber the floor of which is split asunder by a cleft.

Frodo turns and looks North-west, sees the dust of battle. Faint sound of horn. This is Windbeam the Horn of Elendil blown only in extremity.

Birds circle over. Feet behind.

Since the publication of The Treason of Isengard there has come to light an outline that is obviously closely related to this passage from

'The Story Foreseen from Lorien' (which does not necessarily mean that it belongs to the same time) but is very much fuller. This I will refer to as I. The opening sentences were added at the head of the page but belong with the writing of the text.

(I) Sam falls and hurts leg (really tripped by Gollum). Frodo has to go alone. (Gollum leaps on Sam as soon as Frodo is away.) Frodo toils on alone up slope of Mt.Doom. Earth quakes; the ground becomes hot. There is a narrow path winding up. It crosses one great fissure by a dreadful bridge. (There are three fissures (W. S. E.).) Near the summit is 'Sauron's Fire-well'. The path enters an opening in the side of the Mt. and leads into a low chamber, the floor of which is split by a profound fissure. Frodo turns back. He looks NW and sees dust and smoke of battle? (Sound of horn - the Horn of Elendil?) Suddenly he sees birds circling above: they come down and he realizes that they are Nazgul! He crouches in the chamber-opening but still dare not enter. He hears feet coming up the path.

At same moment Frodo suddenly feels, many times multiplied, the impact of the (unseen) searching eye; and of the enchantment of the Ring. He does not wish to enter chamber or to throw away the Ring. He hears or feels a deep, slow, but urgently persuasive voice speaking: offering him life, peace, honour: rich reward: lordship: power: finally a share in the Great Power - if he will stay and go back with a Ring Wraith to Baraddur. This actually terrifies him. He remains immovably balanced between resistance and yielding, tormented, it seems to him a timeless, countless, age. Then suddenly a new thought arose - not from outside - a thought born inside himself: he would keep the Ring himself, and be master of all. Frodo King of Kings. Hobbits should rule (of course he would not let down his friends) and Frodo rule hobbits. He would make great poems and sing great songs, and all the earth should blossom, and all should be bidden to his feasts. He puts on the Ring! A great cry rings out. Nazgul come swooping down from the North. The Eye becomes suddenly like a beam of fire stabbing sheer and sharp out of the northern smoke. He struggles now to take off the Ring - and fails.

The Nazgul come circling down - ever nearer. With no clear purpose Frodo withdraws into the chamber. Fire boils in the Crack of Doom. All goes dark and Frodo falls to his knees.

At that moment Gollum arrives, panting, and grabs Frodo and the Ring. They fight fiercely on the very brink of the chasm. Gollum breaks Frodo's finger and gets Ring. Frodo falls in a swoon. Sam crawls in while Gollum is dancing in glee and suddenly pushes Gollum into the crack.

Fall of Mordor.

Perhaps better would be to make Gollum repent in a way. He is utterly wretched, and commits suicide. Gollum has it, he cried. No one else shall have it. I will destroy you all. He leaps into crack. Fire goes mad. Frodo is like to be destroyed.

Nazgul shape at the door. Frodo is caught in the fire-chamber and cannot get out!

Here we all end together, said the Ring Wraith.

Frodo is too weary and lifeless to say nay.

You first, said a voice, and Sam (with Sting?) stabs the Black Rider from behind.

Frodo and Sam escape and flee down mountain-side. But they could not escape the running molten lava. They see Eagles driving the Nazgul. Eagles rescue them.

Make issue of fire below them so that bridge is cut off and a sea of fire bars their retreat while mountain quivers and crumbles. Gandalf on white eagle rescues them.

Against the sentence 'He is utterly wretched, and commits suicide'

my father subsequently wrote No.

Another outline, which I will call II, is closely related to outline I just given. It is written in ink over a briefer pencilled text, very little of which can be read - partly because of the overwriting, partly because of the script itself (my father could not read the conclusion of the first sentence and marked it with dots and a query).(1)

(II) Frodo now feels full force of the Eye....... ? He does not want to enter Chamber of Fire or throw away the Ring. He seems to hear a deep slow persuasive voice speaking: offering life and peace - then rich reward, great wealth - then lordship and power - and finally a share of the Great Power: if he will take Ring intact to the Dark Tower. He rejects this, but stands still - while thought grows (absurd though it may seem): he will keep it, wield it, and himself have Power alone; be Master of All. After all he is a great hero.

Hobbits should become lords of men, and he their Lord, King Frodo, Emperor Frodo. He thought of the great poems that would be made, and mighty songs, and saw (as if far away) a great Feast, and himself enthroned and all the kings of the world sitting at his feet, while all the earth blossomed.

(Probably now Sauron is aware of the Ring and its peril, and this is his last desperate throw to halt Frodo, until his messenger can reach Orodruin.)

Frodo puts on Ring! A great cry rings out. A great shadow swoops down from Baraddur, like a bird. The Wizard King is coming. Frodo feels him - the one who stabbed him under Weathertop. He is wearing Ring and has been seen. He struggles to take off Ring and cannot. The Nazgul draws near as swift as storm.

Frodo's one idea is to escape it, and without thinking of his errand he now flies into the Chamber of Fire. A great fissure goes across it from left to right. Fire boils in it. All goes dark to Frodo and he falls on his knees. At that moment Gollum arrives panting and grabs at the Ring. That rouses Frodo, and they fight on the brink of the chasm. Gollum breaks Frodo's finger and gets Ring. Frodo falls in swoon. But Sam who has now arrived rushes in suddenly and pushes Gollum over the brink. Gollum and Ring go into the Fire together. The Mountain boils and erupts. Barad-dur falls. A great dust and a dark shadow floats away NE on the rising SW wind.

Frodo suddenly thinks he can hear and smell Sea. A dreadful shuddering cry is borne away and until it dies far off all men and things stand still.

Frodo turns and sees door blocked by the Wizard King. The mountain begins to erupt and crumble. Here we will perish together, said the Wizard King. But Frodo draws Sting. He no longer has any fear whatsoever. He is master of the Black Riders. He commands the Black Rider to follow the Ring his master and drives it into the Fire.

Then Frodo and Sam fly from the chamber. Fire is pouring out of the mountain-side by three great channels W, SE, S, and makes a burning moat all round. They are cut off.

Gandalf, of course, now knows that Frodo has succeeded and the Ring has perished. He sends Gwaihir the Eagle to see what is happening. Some of the eagles fall withered by flame?(2) But Gwaihir sweeps down and carries off Sam and Frodo back to Gandalf, Aragorn, etc. Joy at the reunion - especially of Merry and Pippin?

There seems to be no certain way in which to date this text, but the reference to the coming of the Wizard King from Barad-dur shows at any rate that his fate on the Pelennor Fields had not yet arisen. I incline to think that it is relatively late, and would associate it tentatively with the end of the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Forannest' (VIII.362): Gandalf knows that Ring must have reached fire. Suddenly Sauron is aware of the Ring and its peril. He sees Frodo afar off. In a last desperate attempt he turns his thought from the Battle (so that his men waver again and are pressed back) and tries to stop Frodo.

At same time he sends the Wizard King as Nazgul to the Mountain.

The whole plot is clear to him....

Gandalf bids Gwaihir fly swiftly to Orodruin.

With this d. the words of outline II just given: 'Probably now Sauron is aware of the Ring and its peril, and this is his last desperate throw to halt Frodo'; and 'Gandalf, of course, now knows that Frodo has succeeded and the Ring has perished. He sends Gwaihir the Eagle to see what is happening.'

I turn now to other outlines that preceded any actual narrative writing of Book VI. The first of these, Outline III, also only came to light recently; it is a somewhat disjointed page, with deletions and additions, but all belonging,to the same time. I believe that time to be the brief period of work (October 1944) when my father began writing 'Minas Tirith' and 'The Muster of Rohan', and wrote also many outlines for Book V; with the opening of the present text cf.

VIII.260: '[12] Gandalf and Aragorn and Eomer and Faramir defeat Mordor. Cross into Ithilien. Ents arrive and Elves out of North.

Faramir invests Morghul and main force comes to Morannon. Parley.'

It will be seen that the story of the fighting and slaughter in the Tower of Kirith Ungol had not yet arisen.

(III) They pass into Ithilien [12 >] 11 (3) [and turn >] Eomer and Faramir invest Minas Morghul. The rest turn / north to Morannon. Joined by Ents and Elves out of Emyn Muil. Camp on [added: S. edge (of)] Battle Plain [14 >) evening of 12. Parley. Messengers

[sic] of Sauron. Gandalf refuses. [Added: begins assault on Morannon.]

Sam rescues Frodo night of 11/12. They descend into Mordor.

[Gollum comes after them. They see a vast host gathering in Kirith Gorgor, and have to lie hid (12). 12/13 They go on and are tracked by Gollum. This was struck out and replaced by the following:]

Frodo from the high tower holds up phial and as if with Elvish sight (4) sees the white army in Ithilien. On the other side he sees the vast secret host of Mordor (not yet revealed) gathered on the dead fields of Gorgor. ? Sauron delays to take Frodo because of the defeat at Gondor.

Mt.Doom (Orodruin) stands in plain at inner throat of Kirith Gorgor, but a complete darkness comes over land, and all they can see is Mt.Doom's fire and far away the Eye of Baraddur. They cannot find a path? It is not until night of 12 that they reach rocky slopes above the levels of Kirith Gorgor. There they see an immense host camped: it is impossible to go further. They remain in hiding during 13 - and are tracked down by Gollum. Suddenly the whole host strikes camp and pours away leaving Mordor empty. Sauron himself has gone out to war.(5) They cross plain and climb Mt.Doom.

Frodo looks back and sees the white army driven back.

Frodo captured on night 10/11. But Shagrat persuades Gorbag not to send message at once,(6) until he's had a look for the real warrior still loose. Orcs scatter and hunt in Kirith Ungol (11). Sam at last finds way in - he has to go back and down pass (7) - then he finds quite a small fort (8) of many houses and a gate and a path leading up to the cliff. It is not until [evening >] night of 11 that he manages to get in.

Rescue of Frodo early on 12. Shagrat sends message to Lugburz.

[Added: How do messages work. Signal from Tower to Eye. News.]

Nazgul arrives at Tower and takes coat of mail and [clothes etc. >]

a sword to Baraddur (12).

Frodo and Sam hide in rocks. The Gorgor plain is covered with armies. They are in despair, for crossing is impossible. Slowly they work their way north to where the defile narrows, to a point nearer Mt.Doom [> Dum].(9)

Another outline (IV) describes the capture of Frodo and his rescue by Sam from the Tower of Kirith Ungol; and this is yet another text of which I was not aware until recently. Like outline II it is written in ink over an underlying, and much briefer, pencilled text. It was written, very obviously at the same time, on the reverse of a page that carries a rejected preliminary version (also in ink over pencil) of the outline

'The march of Aragorn and defeat of the Haradrim' given in VIII.397 -

9, which preceded the writing of 'The Battle of the Pelennor Fields'