Archie
2004-06-14 13:49:20 UTC
Chapter of the Week 9, Bk II. "The Great River"
"The Great River"
Please subscribe to new chapters at http://parasha.maoltuile.org
(courtesy of David Flood). Please comment on, criticise and follow this
posting as long as you feel interested.
Contents:
0.Preface
1.Tolkien goes boating
2.First impression from the regatta
3.Synopsis
4.On the landscape: from the Gladden to the Emyn Muil
5.On time in the Elf-land of Lorien
6.On bows
7.Trotter becomes Aragorn
7.Boromir's temptation
8.Eagles vs. hideous flying beasts
9.The Gate of Argonath
10.Miscellaneous remarks
0.Preface
Due to slightly unforeseen (but generally beneficial)
developments in the local labour market I have been cut
off from the AFT/RABT discussions for 3 long months; I am
quite reluctant to google the preceding CotW threads lest
my hard drive overflows, but I hope that this piece will
need few if any flashbacks to them.
It is my duty and pleasure to discuss chapter 9, "The
Great River", but before plunging into the waters of
Anduin I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to
Christopher Tolkien for publishing the UT and the volumes
of HoME, and to all AFT/RABT posters who would wait just
a moment before throwing Molotoff cocktails onto this
review/introduction.
1.Tolkien goes boating
It is desirable that this chapter be discussed with its
HoME-based textual history in mind. JRRT had drafted the
outline of the Breaking of the Fellowship before sitting
down to sketch the Great River; this is understandable
since the former is indeed much more important to the
overall plot and the moral ramifications of the story
than the details of the voyage down the Anduin. His pen
dashed away from the River and followed Frodo, Sam and
Gollum to the borders of the Dark Land while Frodo was
betrayed twice: first by Boromir, then by Gollum.
So the destination of the voyage was fixed, and the Great
River had to be the transition between dramatic scenes
and foreshadowing of the first betrayal (and Boromir's
temptation). It came out to be much more than that.
2.First impression from the regatta
There are two texts that I'd like to compare: the first
draft of the "Scattering of the Company" and the final
FotR one. It is remarkable to see at a glance how much of
the first draft survived in terms of syntactic structure
and wording; it is no less interesting to witness the
writer at work, changing words, swapping them, adding
little adverbs and compressing ideas and shades of ideas
into separate clauses.
The geographic and personal names are shuffled around and
changed quite noticeably, distances are stretched and the
map is altered; interested readers may be referred to the
HoME itself for further details, but by far the most
significant change from the first draft to the final one
is the coming of Aragorn in Trotter's place (see section
7.Trotter becomes Aragorn).
3.Synopsis
/*Ideas not present in the first draft are bracketed by
{curly braces}.*/
The Fellowship drifts down Anduin (see section 4.On the
landscape: from the Gladden to the Emyn Muil). Aragorn
fears delay and hastens travellers {with due regard to
their physical condition}. After two days they come in
sight of the Brown Lands on the east bank {and even
Aragorn doesn't know why the lands are that desolate and
lifeless}. {Once they see black swans in the sky. Aragorn
shows off his navigator's skills.} Pippin notices strange
gleam in Boromir's eyes. {Sam tells Frodo about his
suspicions of a certain Gollum following them only to
have his suspicions confirmed by Frodo and Aragorn.}
Aragorn urges the company to {keep watch and} speed
ahead, travelling by night to avoid detection. {Sam sees
a new Moon on the 7th day. Legolas spots an eagle in the
sky (see section 9.Eagles vs. hideous flying beasts).}
The boats enter the area of the Emyn Muil in the dark.
{Aragorn is uncertain whether they are close to the
rapids and assigns the watchman's duty to Sam.} At
noticing the rapids of Sarn Gebir Aragorn turns back; the
Fellowship is attacked by orcs from the east bank.
Despite being caught between the stream and the hail of
arrows, the company manages to escape {to the west bank}.
A great winged creature approaches them from the south,
but Legolas shoots it down, dismaying the orcs. Frodo has
the symptoms of a Nazgul syndrome; Boromir is too curious
about it.
Sam remarks that a whole month has passed since their
coming to Lorien (see section 5.On time in the Elf-land
of Lorien). Frodo is foolish enough to try to show off
his knowledge of wise matters by revealing the
whereabouts of one of the Elven Rings. Aragorn reprimands
him.
When the dawn breaks, the company sees dense fog on the
rapids and discusses the way to the Emyn Muil. Boromir
suggests going through Rohan to Minas Tirith; Aragorn
objects to this, offering instead taking the old portage
way round Sarn Gebir and then rowing down to climb upon
the Amon Hen. Boromir holds out till he gets to know that
Frodo would follow Aragorn... and suddenly changes his
mind. The Fellowship follows the trail found by Aragorn
and Legolas and toils to carry boats and luggage to the
other end of the trail. The next day they find themselves
speeding down a ravine with rocky walls until they descry
at a distance the mighty Pillars of Argonath. Everybody
is awed; everybody is frightened by the gigantic figures of the
Kings guarding the Gate - but Aragorn. He is
coming back to his kingdom from exile (see section
7.Trotter becomes Aragorn). Yet he is torn between duty
of helping Frodo and desire to come to Minas Tirith. The
boats enter the pale Nen Hithoel and moor at Path Galen
on the west bank. The Fellowship stands now on the
crossroads and the hour of decision is nigh.
4.On the landscape: from the Gladden to the Emyn Muil
One of my strongest feelings from the book. The forests
of the middle course of the Great River, the immense vast
spaces of the Brown Lands, the irises of the Gladden, the
sorrowful reeds and meadows of the field of Celebrant,
the cragged sides of the Emyn Muil and above all, the
area of Nen Hithoel, Argonath and the Rauros Falls, are
extremely vividly visualised in my mind, being places I'd
like to see most of all in M-E.
Questions:
1. Why doesn't Tolkien tell us when the company passes
the Gladden Fields?
2. What is the origin of the Brown Lands (they are more
like volcanic badlands - but time heals even those)? Why
is Sauron's malice there so enduring after 3000+ years?
3. Aragorn has little to say about the history of Rohan
on the way down to the Emyn Muil. I hypothesize it is a
remnant from the times there was not much known about
Rohan in Tolkien's imagination. Please tell me this is
not true - for any story-internal reasons.
5.On time in the Elf-land of Lorien
HoME lays out three successive timing schemes of the
journey of the Fellowship conceived by Tolkien (there are
several minor variations of the 1st and the 2nd):
I II FotR
Departure from Rivendell 24/XI 25/XII 25/XI
Arrival to Eregion 6/XII 6/I 8/I
Caradras (snow-storm) 9/XII 9/I 11/I
Entrance into Moria 11/XII 11/I 13/I
Escape from Moria 13/XII 13/I 15/I
Crossing the Silverlode 14/XII 14/I 16/I
Departure from Lorien 15/XII 15/I 16/II
Arrival at Tol Brandir/ 25/XII 25/I 25/II
Parth Galen
Flight of Frodo 26/XII 26/I 26/II
In the first two schemes the "outer world" time-span
spent in Lorien is 1 night, in the final one - a full
month. It is obvious that the final scheme is much less
magical. Why?
/* Of course, we know from trad.folk tales, Lord
Dunsany's 'KoE's D.' and JRRT's own 'On Fairy Stories'
that the Elves' time differs from our own.*/
-
Legolas stirred in his boat. "Nay, time does not tarry
ever," he said; "but change and growth is not in all
things and places alike. For the Elves the world moves,
and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift,
because they themselves change little, and all else ?eets
by: it is a grief to them. Slow, because they do not
count the running years, not for themselves. The passing
seasons are but ripples ever repeated in the long long
stream. Yet beneath the Sun all things must wear to an
end at last."
-
Legolas' remark is one of the most philosophical in the
whole LotR (rivalled only by his conversation with Gimli
in Minas Tirith about the deeds of men.) In other
versions his words are partly taken by Frodo.
6.On bows
a) Aragorn tells the hobbits that the orc-bows will
easily shoot across the river. How are orc-bows different
from Mannish ones (made from yew, presumably)? Are they
better or worse?
b) Tolkien rejected the idea of Legolas shooting from the
boat. Maybe he realised the inherent difficulties of
marksmanship in the dark from a rocking platform.
7.Trotter becomes Aragorn
This passage in the final text is forceful and quite
impressive:
"Fear not!" said a strange voice behind him. Frodo turned
and saw Strider, and yet not Strider; for the weatherworn
Ranger was no longer there. In the stern sat Aragorn son
of Arathorn, proud and erect, guiding the boat with
skilful strokes; his hood was cast back, and his dark
hair was blowing in the wind, a light was in his eyes: a
king returning from exile to his own land.
"Fear not!" he said. "Long have I desired to look upon
the likenesses of Isildur and AnĂ¡rion, my sires of old.
Under their shadow Elessar, the Elfstone son of Arathorn
of the House of Valandil Isildur's son heir of Elendil,
has nought to dread!"
-
Tolkien starts writing the passage with Trotter and, one
emendation after another, Trotter's background changes
profoundly: from Elfstone son of Elfhelm he becomes
Eldamir son of Eldakar son of Valandil, then turning into
Aragorn son of Arathorn and accepting the kingly name of
Elessar (the Elfstone). Thus Aragorn's genealogy deepens,
now going back for several thousand years.
8.Boromir's temptation
It is painted by 3 short sketches: Boromir bites nails
and peers at Frodo's boat; Boromir is too curious about
Frodo's feelings; Boromir suddenly changing his mind when
Frodo follows Aragorn. This is quite enough for Sam to
become suspicious, and more than enough for a reader. Or
is it not? I'd like everyone who remembers his/her first
reading of the FotR to say honestly whether these pieces
aroused any suspicions. Let's see how it works out.
A question: does Boromir's behaviour influence Aragorn's
decision to double night watches?
9.Eagles vs. hideous flying beasts
1. IIRC Legolas sees an eagle on January 24. What is that
eagle doing there?
2. Tactics of air support in Sauron's army aren't
perfect. Why is the Nazgul that reckless to fly in range
of elven bows? After all, he has already experienced the
level of defences around the Bearer at the Ford across
the Bruinen.
10.The Gate of Argonath
1. Stonework endures for 3 millennia despite water and
wind erosion. Is it plausible?
2. Mt.Rushmore, the Pillars of Argonath and the Sphynx
- who borrowed from whom :-)? As an addition: there are
gigantic statues of Stalin (torn down) and Lenin (still
standing) near Moscow, where >65 years ago a Moskva-Volga
channel was built by prisoners.
3. Why does the Wilderland end there? (silly, but
interesting)
11.Miscellaneous remarks
1. ":new Moon as thin as a nail-paring" - Samwise is
downright poetic, isn't he?
2. Boromir bites nails - what is that? Tolkien's deep
psychological insight or an out-of-character remark?
3. The next chapter's discussion is going to treat the
subject of the Hills of Sight and Hearing in depth (How
do they differ? Where do the powers of hearing and sight
come from? How is the power of the Ring enhanced by the
power of the hills?)
4. Gimli doesn't boast before Boromir as it may seem
upon the first reading; the Dwarf sounds insulted when
Boromir puts him into the same group with the hobbits and
doubts his strength. Is my impression correct? Boromir,
OTOH, is poking fun at "our sturdy dwarf" - in other
circumstances such jokes could lead to a severe rift in
the Fellowship.
5. Gollum re-appears. How does he know that he should
be waiting at the Gore and not at other borders of
Lorien? Is it 'chance as you call it in M-E' or smth.
else?
6. The swans are black. Why? Are they from Oz? Is it
another artefact of Tolkien's limited knowledge of the
natural sciences? (I admit mine is much more limited).
Archie
"The Great River"
Please subscribe to new chapters at http://parasha.maoltuile.org
(courtesy of David Flood). Please comment on, criticise and follow this
posting as long as you feel interested.
Contents:
0.Preface
1.Tolkien goes boating
2.First impression from the regatta
3.Synopsis
4.On the landscape: from the Gladden to the Emyn Muil
5.On time in the Elf-land of Lorien
6.On bows
7.Trotter becomes Aragorn
7.Boromir's temptation
8.Eagles vs. hideous flying beasts
9.The Gate of Argonath
10.Miscellaneous remarks
0.Preface
Due to slightly unforeseen (but generally beneficial)
developments in the local labour market I have been cut
off from the AFT/RABT discussions for 3 long months; I am
quite reluctant to google the preceding CotW threads lest
my hard drive overflows, but I hope that this piece will
need few if any flashbacks to them.
It is my duty and pleasure to discuss chapter 9, "The
Great River", but before plunging into the waters of
Anduin I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to
Christopher Tolkien for publishing the UT and the volumes
of HoME, and to all AFT/RABT posters who would wait just
a moment before throwing Molotoff cocktails onto this
review/introduction.
1.Tolkien goes boating
It is desirable that this chapter be discussed with its
HoME-based textual history in mind. JRRT had drafted the
outline of the Breaking of the Fellowship before sitting
down to sketch the Great River; this is understandable
since the former is indeed much more important to the
overall plot and the moral ramifications of the story
than the details of the voyage down the Anduin. His pen
dashed away from the River and followed Frodo, Sam and
Gollum to the borders of the Dark Land while Frodo was
betrayed twice: first by Boromir, then by Gollum.
So the destination of the voyage was fixed, and the Great
River had to be the transition between dramatic scenes
and foreshadowing of the first betrayal (and Boromir's
temptation). It came out to be much more than that.
2.First impression from the regatta
There are two texts that I'd like to compare: the first
draft of the "Scattering of the Company" and the final
FotR one. It is remarkable to see at a glance how much of
the first draft survived in terms of syntactic structure
and wording; it is no less interesting to witness the
writer at work, changing words, swapping them, adding
little adverbs and compressing ideas and shades of ideas
into separate clauses.
The geographic and personal names are shuffled around and
changed quite noticeably, distances are stretched and the
map is altered; interested readers may be referred to the
HoME itself for further details, but by far the most
significant change from the first draft to the final one
is the coming of Aragorn in Trotter's place (see section
7.Trotter becomes Aragorn).
3.Synopsis
/*Ideas not present in the first draft are bracketed by
{curly braces}.*/
The Fellowship drifts down Anduin (see section 4.On the
landscape: from the Gladden to the Emyn Muil). Aragorn
fears delay and hastens travellers {with due regard to
their physical condition}. After two days they come in
sight of the Brown Lands on the east bank {and even
Aragorn doesn't know why the lands are that desolate and
lifeless}. {Once they see black swans in the sky. Aragorn
shows off his navigator's skills.} Pippin notices strange
gleam in Boromir's eyes. {Sam tells Frodo about his
suspicions of a certain Gollum following them only to
have his suspicions confirmed by Frodo and Aragorn.}
Aragorn urges the company to {keep watch and} speed
ahead, travelling by night to avoid detection. {Sam sees
a new Moon on the 7th day. Legolas spots an eagle in the
sky (see section 9.Eagles vs. hideous flying beasts).}
The boats enter the area of the Emyn Muil in the dark.
{Aragorn is uncertain whether they are close to the
rapids and assigns the watchman's duty to Sam.} At
noticing the rapids of Sarn Gebir Aragorn turns back; the
Fellowship is attacked by orcs from the east bank.
Despite being caught between the stream and the hail of
arrows, the company manages to escape {to the west bank}.
A great winged creature approaches them from the south,
but Legolas shoots it down, dismaying the orcs. Frodo has
the symptoms of a Nazgul syndrome; Boromir is too curious
about it.
Sam remarks that a whole month has passed since their
coming to Lorien (see section 5.On time in the Elf-land
of Lorien). Frodo is foolish enough to try to show off
his knowledge of wise matters by revealing the
whereabouts of one of the Elven Rings. Aragorn reprimands
him.
When the dawn breaks, the company sees dense fog on the
rapids and discusses the way to the Emyn Muil. Boromir
suggests going through Rohan to Minas Tirith; Aragorn
objects to this, offering instead taking the old portage
way round Sarn Gebir and then rowing down to climb upon
the Amon Hen. Boromir holds out till he gets to know that
Frodo would follow Aragorn... and suddenly changes his
mind. The Fellowship follows the trail found by Aragorn
and Legolas and toils to carry boats and luggage to the
other end of the trail. The next day they find themselves
speeding down a ravine with rocky walls until they descry
at a distance the mighty Pillars of Argonath. Everybody
is awed; everybody is frightened by the gigantic figures of the
Kings guarding the Gate - but Aragorn. He is
coming back to his kingdom from exile (see section
7.Trotter becomes Aragorn). Yet he is torn between duty
of helping Frodo and desire to come to Minas Tirith. The
boats enter the pale Nen Hithoel and moor at Path Galen
on the west bank. The Fellowship stands now on the
crossroads and the hour of decision is nigh.
4.On the landscape: from the Gladden to the Emyn Muil
One of my strongest feelings from the book. The forests
of the middle course of the Great River, the immense vast
spaces of the Brown Lands, the irises of the Gladden, the
sorrowful reeds and meadows of the field of Celebrant,
the cragged sides of the Emyn Muil and above all, the
area of Nen Hithoel, Argonath and the Rauros Falls, are
extremely vividly visualised in my mind, being places I'd
like to see most of all in M-E.
Questions:
1. Why doesn't Tolkien tell us when the company passes
the Gladden Fields?
2. What is the origin of the Brown Lands (they are more
like volcanic badlands - but time heals even those)? Why
is Sauron's malice there so enduring after 3000+ years?
3. Aragorn has little to say about the history of Rohan
on the way down to the Emyn Muil. I hypothesize it is a
remnant from the times there was not much known about
Rohan in Tolkien's imagination. Please tell me this is
not true - for any story-internal reasons.
5.On time in the Elf-land of Lorien
HoME lays out three successive timing schemes of the
journey of the Fellowship conceived by Tolkien (there are
several minor variations of the 1st and the 2nd):
I II FotR
Departure from Rivendell 24/XI 25/XII 25/XI
Arrival to Eregion 6/XII 6/I 8/I
Caradras (snow-storm) 9/XII 9/I 11/I
Entrance into Moria 11/XII 11/I 13/I
Escape from Moria 13/XII 13/I 15/I
Crossing the Silverlode 14/XII 14/I 16/I
Departure from Lorien 15/XII 15/I 16/II
Arrival at Tol Brandir/ 25/XII 25/I 25/II
Parth Galen
Flight of Frodo 26/XII 26/I 26/II
In the first two schemes the "outer world" time-span
spent in Lorien is 1 night, in the final one - a full
month. It is obvious that the final scheme is much less
magical. Why?
/* Of course, we know from trad.folk tales, Lord
Dunsany's 'KoE's D.' and JRRT's own 'On Fairy Stories'
that the Elves' time differs from our own.*/
-
Legolas stirred in his boat. "Nay, time does not tarry
ever," he said; "but change and growth is not in all
things and places alike. For the Elves the world moves,
and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift,
because they themselves change little, and all else ?eets
by: it is a grief to them. Slow, because they do not
count the running years, not for themselves. The passing
seasons are but ripples ever repeated in the long long
stream. Yet beneath the Sun all things must wear to an
end at last."
-
Legolas' remark is one of the most philosophical in the
whole LotR (rivalled only by his conversation with Gimli
in Minas Tirith about the deeds of men.) In other
versions his words are partly taken by Frodo.
6.On bows
a) Aragorn tells the hobbits that the orc-bows will
easily shoot across the river. How are orc-bows different
from Mannish ones (made from yew, presumably)? Are they
better or worse?
b) Tolkien rejected the idea of Legolas shooting from the
boat. Maybe he realised the inherent difficulties of
marksmanship in the dark from a rocking platform.
7.Trotter becomes Aragorn
This passage in the final text is forceful and quite
impressive:
"Fear not!" said a strange voice behind him. Frodo turned
and saw Strider, and yet not Strider; for the weatherworn
Ranger was no longer there. In the stern sat Aragorn son
of Arathorn, proud and erect, guiding the boat with
skilful strokes; his hood was cast back, and his dark
hair was blowing in the wind, a light was in his eyes: a
king returning from exile to his own land.
"Fear not!" he said. "Long have I desired to look upon
the likenesses of Isildur and AnĂ¡rion, my sires of old.
Under their shadow Elessar, the Elfstone son of Arathorn
of the House of Valandil Isildur's son heir of Elendil,
has nought to dread!"
-
Tolkien starts writing the passage with Trotter and, one
emendation after another, Trotter's background changes
profoundly: from Elfstone son of Elfhelm he becomes
Eldamir son of Eldakar son of Valandil, then turning into
Aragorn son of Arathorn and accepting the kingly name of
Elessar (the Elfstone). Thus Aragorn's genealogy deepens,
now going back for several thousand years.
8.Boromir's temptation
It is painted by 3 short sketches: Boromir bites nails
and peers at Frodo's boat; Boromir is too curious about
Frodo's feelings; Boromir suddenly changing his mind when
Frodo follows Aragorn. This is quite enough for Sam to
become suspicious, and more than enough for a reader. Or
is it not? I'd like everyone who remembers his/her first
reading of the FotR to say honestly whether these pieces
aroused any suspicions. Let's see how it works out.
A question: does Boromir's behaviour influence Aragorn's
decision to double night watches?
9.Eagles vs. hideous flying beasts
1. IIRC Legolas sees an eagle on January 24. What is that
eagle doing there?
2. Tactics of air support in Sauron's army aren't
perfect. Why is the Nazgul that reckless to fly in range
of elven bows? After all, he has already experienced the
level of defences around the Bearer at the Ford across
the Bruinen.
10.The Gate of Argonath
1. Stonework endures for 3 millennia despite water and
wind erosion. Is it plausible?
2. Mt.Rushmore, the Pillars of Argonath and the Sphynx
- who borrowed from whom :-)? As an addition: there are
gigantic statues of Stalin (torn down) and Lenin (still
standing) near Moscow, where >65 years ago a Moskva-Volga
channel was built by prisoners.
3. Why does the Wilderland end there? (silly, but
interesting)
11.Miscellaneous remarks
1. ":new Moon as thin as a nail-paring" - Samwise is
downright poetic, isn't he?
2. Boromir bites nails - what is that? Tolkien's deep
psychological insight or an out-of-character remark?
3. The next chapter's discussion is going to treat the
subject of the Hills of Sight and Hearing in depth (How
do they differ? Where do the powers of hearing and sight
come from? How is the power of the Ring enhanced by the
power of the hills?)
4. Gimli doesn't boast before Boromir as it may seem
upon the first reading; the Dwarf sounds insulted when
Boromir puts him into the same group with the hobbits and
doubts his strength. Is my impression correct? Boromir,
OTOH, is poking fun at "our sturdy dwarf" - in other
circumstances such jokes could lead to a severe rift in
the Fellowship.
5. Gollum re-appears. How does he know that he should
be waiting at the Gore and not at other borders of
Lorien? Is it 'chance as you call it in M-E' or smth.
else?
6. The swans are black. Why? Are they from Oz? Is it
another artefact of Tolkien's limited knowledge of the
natural sciences? (I admit mine is much more limited).
Archie