The Treason of Isengard (24 page)

(2) Gandalf's account of the Rings, and of the identification of Bilbo's Ring with Isildur's Bane;

(3) The story of the hunt for Gollum;

(4) Galdor's tidings of Gollum's escape;

(5) Frodo's story;

(6) 'Gandalf's captivity';

(7) 'Question about Tom Bombadil'.

Although in FR (2) was very greatly enlarged, and embraces Aragorn's story (3), this is essentially the final sequence, with the exception of (5): in FR Frodo follows Bilbo. An intervention, following Frodo's story, by the Elf from the Grey Havens (Galdor, not yet present) leads in FR to Gandalf's two long accounts (2) and (6), into which (4) comes as an interruption.

The sequence given above is found in the fifth version, to be given (in part) shortly; and the way in which the speeches at the Council were relinked to achieve the final sequence can be understood from a comparison of FR with the material presented here.

Gandalf's Tale.

I think it very likely, indeed almost certain, that it was at this juncture, before he began on the fifth version of 'The Council of Elrond', that my father finally set down the full story of why Gandalf failed to return to Hobbiton before Frodo's departure. Only a few hints towards this had been put in writing. Saruman appeared for the first time in the outline dated 26 - 27 August 1940 (pp. 70 - 1), where the earliest ideas concerning him and his role emerge. He dwells at Angrobel or Irongarth, on the borders of Rohan; he 'sends out a message that there is important news' (that the Ringwraiths had come forth from Mordor); Gandalf wants his help against them; but Saruman has 'fallen and gone over to Sauron'. At that stage my father was still entirely uncertain what in fact happened to Gandalf -

whether he was pursued by the Riders to the top of a mountain from which he could not escape, or whether he was handed over to Treebeard and imprisoned by him; and in that outline there is no mention of his escape from whatever durance he suffered. In the brief scheme given on p. 116, however, there is mention of 'Gandalf's story of Saruman and the eagle'; and the question is touched on there, how did the Eagles know where to seek for Gandalf? - unless he had gone at once to Rivendell when he left the Shire in June, and had told Elrond of his intention.

Now at last the final story emerges; and the earlier conception of the Western Tower, an Elf-tower of Emyn Beraid, in which Gandalf stood guarded by the Ringwraiths sitting motionless on their horses, as Frodo saw them in his dream (see pp. 33 - 6), changes into Orthanc, Saruman's tower within the circuit of the 'Irongarth'; and Saruman is his captor.

This first draft, for which my father used the blue booklet-covers of the 'August 1940' examination script, was written in his most rapid handwriting, in which words were often reduced to mere marks or lines with slight undulations, and I have not been able to interpret it at every point. But this original text of Gandalf's story is of much interest, and I give it here in full so well as I can. It will be seen that while the texture of the narrative is thinner than in the final form (FR

pp. 269 ff.), many essential features were already present. The pages of the manuscript are lettered from 'b' onwards, showing that the first page is lost.

'It has', said Gandalf, 'and I was about to give an account.(24) At the end of June a cloud of anxiety came upon my mind and I went through the Shire to its southern borders. I had long felt a foreboding of some danger that was still hidden from me. I passed down the Baranduin as far as Sarn Ford, and there I met a messenger. I found I knew him well, for he leapt from his horse when he saw me and hailed me: it was Radagast who dwelt once upon a time near the southern borders of Mirkwood.

Here my father broke off, and without striking out what he had written began again in the course of the second sentence.

and rode round the borders of the Shire, for I felt a foreboding of some danger that was still hidden from me. I found nothing, though I came upon many fugitives, and it seemed to me that on many a fear sat of which they could not speak. I came up from the South and along the Greenway, and not far from Bree I came upon a man sitting by the roadside. His [? dappled grey]

horse was standing by. When he saw me he leaped to his feet and hailed me. It was Radagast my cousin,(25) who dwelt once upon a time near the southern borders of Mirkwood. I had lost sight of him for many years. "I am seeking you," he said. "But I am a stranger in these parts, and I heard a rumour that you were in a land called by a strange name: the Shire." "I was," said I,

"and you are near.... [?River] but [?far] to East. What do you want with me so urgently?" For he is never a great traveller.

'He then told me dread news and revealed to me what I had feared without knowing it. This is what he said. "The Nine

'Wraiths are released," he said. "The Enemy must have some great and urgent need, but what it is that should make him look to these desolate... parts where men and wealth are scanty I do not know.>

them. [Added in pencil: They have taken the guise of horsemen, clad in black as of old.)"

'Then my heart failed for a moment; for the Chief of the Nine was of old the greatest of all the wizards of Men, and I have no '

power to withstand the Nine Riders when he leads them.

'"Who sent you?" I asked. "It was Saruman the [Grey >]

White,"(26) he said, [added in pencil,

had a light of hope. For Saruman the [Grey )] White is as you know the greatest among us, and was chief of the White Council. Radagast the Grey [in pencil > Brown] is of course a master of shapes and changes of hue,(27) and has much lore of beast, bird, and herb; but Saruman has long studied the works of the Enemy to defeat him, and the lore of rings was his especial knowledge. The last of the 19 rings he had....(28)

' "I will go to Saruman," I said. "Then you must go now,"

said Radagast; "for the time is very short, and even if you set out this hour you will hardly come to him before the Nine cross the Seven Rivers.(29) I myself shall take my horse and ride away now, since my errand is at an end." And with that he mounted and rode off without another word - and that seemed to me very strange. [Marginal addition: and would have ridden off there and then. "Stay a moment, Radagast," I said. "We need help of many kinds. Send out messages to all the birds and beasts that are your friends. Tell them to bring news to Saruman and Gandalf. Let any message go to Orthanc."](30) But I could not follow him. I had ridden far and Galeroc (31) was weary. I stayed the night in Bree and departed at dawn - and if I ever see the [?innkeeper] again there will be no Butter left in Butterbur. I will melt the fat from him....(32) But bless him, he is a worthy man and seems to have shown a stout heart. I shall probably relent. However, being in great need I trusted him to send the message to Frodo, and went off at dawn; and I came at last to the dwelling of Saruman the White. And that is in Isengard, in the north of the Black Mountains in the South.(33) There there is a circle of sheer-sided hills that enclose a vale, and in the midst of the vale is a tower of stone that is called, Orthanc. I came to the great gate in the wall of rock and they said that Saruman expected me,(34) and I rode in, and the gate closed behind, and a sudden fear came on me.

'Saruman was there but he had changed. He wore a ring on his finger. "So you have come, Gandalf," he said to me, and I seemed to see a deadly laughter in his eyes. "Yes, I have come for your aid, Saruman the White." But that title seemed to fill him with anger. "For aid?" he said coldly. "It is seldom heard that Gandalf the Grey sought for aid, one so cunning and so wise, wandering about the lands, and concerning himself in every business, be it his own or others".'

'"But now matters are afoot," I said, "that need all our strengths [?in union]. The Chief of the Nine is guised as a Rider in Black and his companions likewise. This Radagast told me."

'"Radagast the Brown," he said, and shook with laughter.

"Radagast the Simple, Radagast the Fool. [Added in pencil: Yet he had just the wits to play the part that I set him.] He must have played his part well nonetheless. For here you are [added in pencil: and that is the purpose of the message]. And, Gandalf the Grey, here you will stay. For I am Saruman: Saruman the Wise, Saruman of many colours. For white cloth may be dyed, and the white page overwritten, and the white light broken."

[Pencilled in margin without direction for insertion: And I looked then and saw that his robes were not white as had been his custom, but were of many hues, and with every movement he changed hue.]

' "In which case it is no longer white," I said. "For white may be blended of many colours, but many colours are not white."

"You need not speak to me as to one of the fools that you make your friends," he said. "I have not brought you here to be instructed, but to give you a choice. A new power has arisen.

Against it there is no hope. With it there is such hope as we never had before. The power is going to win. [Added in margin without direction for insertion: We fight against it in vain - and in any case foolishly; for we have looked always at it from the outside with hatred, and have not considered what are its further purposes. We have seen only the things done, often under necessity, or caused by resistance and foolish rebellion.] I shall grow as it grows, until all things are ours. In the end, I - or toe, if you will join me - may in the end come to control that Power. Indeed why not? Could not we by this means accomplish all, and more than all, that we have striven for before with the help of the weak Men and fugitive Elves?"

' "Be brief!" I said. "Name your choice! It is this, is it not? To submit as you have to Sauron [alternative reading: To submit to you and to Sauron], or what?"

' "To stay here till the end," said he.

' "Till what end?"

' "Till the Lord has time to consider what fate for you would give him most pleasure."

'They took me,' said Gandalf, 'and placed me on the pinnacle of Orthanc, in the place where Saruman of old was wont to watch the stars. There is no descent but by a narrow stair. And the vale that was once fair was filled with wolves and orcs, for Saruman was there mustering a great force for the service of his new master.(35) I had no chance of escape, and my days were bitter. For I had but little room in which to walk to and fro, and brood on the coming of the Riders to the North. But there was always a hope that Frodo had set forth as I had bidden, and would reach Rivendell ere the inescapable pursuit began. But both my fear and my hope were cheated. For I made the mistake that others have made. I did not yet understand that in the Shire the power of Sauron would halt and fumble, and the hunt be at a loss. And my hope was founded on an innkeeper: one of the best in the world, but not made to be a tool in high matters.'

'Who sent the eagles?' said Frodo eagerly, for suddenly the strange dream that he had had came back to him.

Gandalf looked at him in surprise. 'I thought you asked what had happened to me,' he said. 'But you seem to know, and don't need... the telling of my tale...'

'Your words have recalled a dream,' said Frodo, 'that I thought only a dream and had forgotten.'

'Well, said Gandalf, your dream was true.(36) Gandalf was caught like a fly in a spider's web; yet he is an old fly that has known many spiders. I was not content to send a message only to the Shire. At first I feared, as Saruman wished that I should, that Radagast had also fallen. But it is not so: he trusted Saruman, who had not revealed his purposes to him. And the very fact that Saruman had so successfully deceived Radagast proved the undoing of his scheme. For Radagast did as I bid.(37) And the Eagles of the Misty Mountains kept watch and they saw the mustering of orcs, and got news of the escape of Gollum, and they sent word to Orthanc of this to me. And so it was when the moon was still young on a night of autumn that Gwaewar the Windlord (38) chief of the eagles came to me; and I spoke to him and he bore me away before Saruman was aware, and the orcs and wolves that he released found me not.

' "How far can you bear me?" said I to Gwaewar.

' "Many leagues," he said; "but not to the ends of the earth.

Had I known that you wished to fly I would have brought helpers. I was sent as the swiftest and as a bearer of [?tidings]."

' "Then I must have a steed," I said, "and a steed of surpassing swiftness; for I have never had such a need."

' "Then I will take you to Rohan," he said, "for that is not far off. For in Rohan [added: the? Riddermark] the Rohiroth (39) the horse-masters dwell still, and there are no horses like the horses of that land."

' "But are they yet to be trusted?" "They pay tribute... yearly in horses to Mordor," said Gwaewar, "but they are not yet under the yoke;(40) yet their doom is not far off, if Saruman is fallen."

'I reached Rohan ere dawn, and there I got a horse the like of which I have never seen.'

'He is indeed a fine steed,' said [Elrond >] Aragorn; 'and it grieves me that Sauron should have such tribute. For in the steeds of Rohan there is a strain that ... descended from the Elder Days.'