The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (52 page)

20. The Balrog
never speaks or makes any vocal sound
at all. Above all he
does not
laugh or sneer. . . . . Z may think that he knows more about Balrogs than I do, but he cannot expect me to agree with him.

21 ff. ‘
A splendid sight. It is the home of Galadriel … an Elvenqueen
.' (She is not in fact one.)
‘Delicate spires and tiny minarets of Elven-color are cleverly woven into a beautiful
[
ly
]
designed castle.'
I think this deplorable in itself, and in places impertinent. Will Z please pay my text some respect, at least in descriptions that are obviously central to the general tone and style of the book! I will in no circumstances accept this treatment of Lórien, even if Z personally prefers ‘tiny' fairies and the gimcrack of conventional modern fairy-tales.

The disappearance of the temptation of Galadriel is significant. Practically everything having moral import has vanished from the synopsis.

22.
Lembas
, ‘waybread', is called a ‘food concentrate'. As I have shown I dislike strongly any pulling of my tale towards the style and feature of ‘contes des fées', or French fairy-stories. I dislike equally any pull towards ‘scientification', of which this expression is an example. Both modes are alien to my story.

We are not exploring the Moon or any other more improbable region. No analysis in any laboratory would discover chemical properties of
lembas
that made it superior to other cakes of wheat-meal.

I only comment on the expression here as an indication of attitude. It
is no doubt casual; and nothing of this kind or style will (I hope) escape into the actual dialogue.

In the book
lembas
has two functions. It is a ‘machine' or device for making credible the long marches with little provision, in a world in which as I have said ‘miles are miles'. But that is relatively unimportant. It also has a much larger significance, of what one might hesitatingly call a ‘religious' kind. This becomes later apparent, especially in the chapter ‘Mount Doom' (III 213
⁵
and subsequently). I cannot find that Z has made any particular use of
lembas
even as a device; and the whole of ‘Mount Doom' has disappeared in the distorted confusion that Z has made of the ending. As far as I can see
lembas
might as well disappear altogether.

I do earnestly hope that in the assignment of actual speeches to the characters they will be represented as I have presented them: in style and sentiment. I should resent perversion of the characters (and do resent it, so far as it appears in this sketch) even more than the spoiling of the plot and scenery.

Parts II & III.
I have spent much space on criticizing even details in Part I. It has been easier, because Part I in general respects the line of narrative in the book, and retains some of its original coherence. Part II exemplifies all the faults of Part I; but it is far more unsatisfactory, & still more so Part III, in more serious respects. It almost seems as if Z, having spent much time and work on Part I, now found himself short not only of space but of patience to deal with the two more difficult volumes in which the action becomes more fast and complicated. He has in any case elected to treat them in a way that produces a confusion that mounts at last almost to a delirium. . . . .

The narrative now divides into two main branches: 1. Prime Action, the Ringbearers. 2. Subsidiary Action, the rest of the Company leading to the ‘heroic' matter.
It is essential that these two branches should each be treated in coherent sequence.
Both to render them intelligible as a story, and because they are totally different in tone and scenery. Jumbling them together entirely destroys these things.

31. I deeply regret this handling of the ‘Treebeard' chapter, whether necessary or not. I have already suspected Z of not being interested in trees: unfortunate, since the story is so largely concerned with them. But surely what we have here is in any case a quite unintelligible glimpse? What are Ents?

31 to 32. We pass now to a dwelling of Men in an ‘heroic age'. Z does not
seem to appreciate this.
I hope the artists do.
But he and they have really only to follow what is said, and not alter it to suit their fancy (out of place).

In such a time private ‘chambers' played no part. Théoden probably had none, unless he had a sleeping ‘bower' in a separate small ‘outhouse'. He received guests or emissaries, seated on the dais in his royal hall. This is quite clear in the book; and the scene should be much more effective to illustrate.

31 to 32. Why do not Théoden and Gandalf go into the open before the doors, as I have told? Though I have somewhat enriched the culture of the ‘heroic' Rohirrim, it did
not
run to glass windows that could be thrown open!! We might be in a hotel. (The ‘east windows' of the hall, II 116, 119,
⁶
were slits under the eaves, unglazed.)

Even if the king of such a people had a ‘bower', it could not become ‘a beehive of bustling activity'!! The bustle takes place outside and in the town. What is showable of it should occur on the wide pavement before the great doors.

33. I am afraid that I do not find the glimpse of the ‘defence of the Hornburg' – this would be a better title, since Helm's Deep, the ravine behind, is not shown – entirely satisfactory. It would, I guess, be a fairly meaningless scene in a picture, stuck in in this way. Actually I myself should be inclined to cut it right out, if it cannot be made more coherent and a more significant part of the story. . . . . If both the Ents and the Hornburg cannot be treated at sufficient length to make sense, then one should go. It should be the Hornburg, which is incidental to the main story; and there would be this additional gain that we are going to have a big battle (of which as much should be made as possible), but battles tend to be too similar: the big one would gain by having no competitor.

34. Why on earth should Z say that the hobbits ‘were munching ridiculously long sandwiches'? Ridiculous indeed. I do not see how any author could be expected to be ‘pleased' by such silly alterations. One hobbit was sleeping, the other smoking.

The spiral staircase ‘weaving' round the Tower [Orthanc] comes from Z's fancy not my tale. I prefer the latter. The tower was 500 feet high. There was a flight of 27 steps leading to the great door; above which was a window and a balcony.

Z is altogether too fond of the words
hypnosis
and
hypnotic.
Neither genuine hypnosis, nor scientifictitious variants, occur in my tale. Saruman's voice was not hypnotic but persuasive. Those who listened to
him were not in danger of falling into a trance, but of agreeing with his arguments, while fully awake. It was always open to one to reject,
by free will and reason
, both his voice while speaking and its after-impressions. Saruman corrupted the reasoning powers.

Z has cut out the end of the book, including Saruman's proper death. In that case I can see no good reason for making him die. Saruman would never have committed suicide: to cling to life to its basest dregs is the way of the sort of person he had become. If Z wants Saruman tidied up (I cannot see why, where so many threads are left loose) Gandalf should say something to this effect: as Saruman collapses under the excommunication: ‘Since you will not come out and aid us, here in Orthanc you shall stay till you rot, Saruman. Let the Ents look to it!'

Part III. . . .
is totally unacceptable to me, as a whole and in detail
. If it is meant as notes only for a section of something like the pictorial length of I and II, then in the filling out it must be brought into relation with the book, and its gross alterations of that corrected. If it is meant to represent only a kind of short finale, then all I can say is:
The Lord of the Rings
cannot be garbled like that.

14 October 1958

Merton College, Oxford

Dear Miss Beare,

I am afraid that this reply is too late to be useful for the event; but it was not possible to write before. I have only just returned from a year's leave, one object of which was to enable me to complete some of the ‘learned' works neglected during my preoccupation with unprofessional trifles (such as
The Lord of the Rings
): I record the tone of many of my colleagues. Actually the time has mainly been occupied with grave troubles, including the illness of my wife; but I was all through August working long hours, seven days a week, against time, to finish a piece of work before going to Ireland on official business. I arrived back a few days ago, just in time for our Michaelmas Term.

In a momentary lull I will try and answer your questions briefly. I do not ‘know all the answers'. Much of my own book puzzles me; & in any case much of it was written so long ago (anything up to 20 years) that I read it now as if it were from a strange hand.

The use of O on II p. 339 is an error. Mine in fact, taken over from p. 338, where
Gilthoniel O Elbereth
is, of course, a quotation of I p. 88, which was a ‘translation', English in all but proper names. Sam's invocation is, however, in pure Elvish and should have had
A
as in I p. 250. Since hobbit-language is represented as English, O could be defended as an inaccuracy of his own; but I do not propose to defend it. He was ‘inspired' to make this invocation in a language he did not know (II 338). Though it is, of course, in the style and metre of the hymnfragment, I think it is composed or inspired for his particular situation.

It means, more or less: ‘
O Elbereth Starkindler
(in the past tense: the title belongs to mythical pre-history and does not refer to a permanent function)
from heaven gazing-afar, to thee I cry now in the shadow of (the fear of) death. O look towards me, Everwhite!' Everwhite
is an inadequate translation; as is equally the
snow-white
of I 88. The element
ui
(Primitive Elvish
oio
) means
ever;
both
fan
- and
los(s)
convey
white
, but
fan
connotes the whiteness of clouds (in the sun);
loss
refers to
snow
.

Amon Uilos
, in High-elven
Oiolosse,
^fn69
was one of the names of the highest peak of the Mountains of Valinor, upon which Manwe and Varda dwelt. So that an Elf using or hearing the name
Fanuilos
, would not think of (or picture) only a majestic figure robed in white, standing in a high place and gazing eastward to mortal lands, he would at the same time picture an immense peak, snow-capped, crowned with a piercing or dazzling white cloud.

Ancalima
= ‘exceedingly bright'. Element
kal
^fn70
the usual stem for
words referring to light;
kălĭma
, ‘shining brilliant';
an-
superlative or intensive prefix.

Question 1. I could, I suppose, answer: ‘a trick-cyclist can ride a bicycle with handle-bars!' But actually
bridle
was casually and carelessly used for what I suppose should have been called a
headstall
.
¹
Or rather, since
bit
was added (1221) long ago (Chapter 112 was written very early) I had not considered the natural ways of elves with animals. Glorfindel's horse would have an ornamental
headstall,
carrying a plume, and with the straps studded with jewels and small bells; but Glor. would certainly not use a
bit.
I will change
bridle and bit
to
headstall
.

Question 2. This question, & its implications, are answered in the ‘Downfall of Númenor', which is not yet published, but which I cannot set out now. You cannot press the One Ring too hard, for it is of course a mythical feature, even though the world of the tales is conceived in more or less historical terms. The Ring of Sauron is only one of the various mythical treatments of the placing of one's life, or power, in some external object, which is thus exposed to capture or destruction with disastrous results to oneself. If I were to ‘philosophize' this myth, or at least the Ring of Sauron, I should say it was a mythical way of representing the truth that
potency
(or perhaps rather
potentiality
) if it is to be exercised, and produce results, has to be externalized and so as it were passes, to a greater or less degree, out of one's direct control. A man who wishes to exert ‘power' must have subjects, who are not himself. But he then depends on them.