of Mordor (cf. RK p. 204):
'No very clear notion, Sam,' said Frodo. 'In Rivendell before I set out I saw old maps made before the Dark Lord came back here, and I remember them vaguely. I had a little secret plan with names and distances: it was given to me by Elrond, but that has gone with all my other things. I think it was ten leagues or even a dozen from the Bridge to the Narrows, a point where the western and northern ranges send out spurs and make a sort of gate to the deep valley that lies behind the Morannon. The Mountain stands out alone on the plain, but nearer the northern range. Nearly fifty miles I think from the Narrows, more, of course, if we have to keep to the edge of the hills on the other side.'
In a revised version of this Frodo says: 'I guess, not counting our wasted climb, we've done say [twenty miles >] six or seven leagues north from the Bridge since we started.' The final version in this manuscript gives seven leagues as the distance they have traversed, 'ten leagues or so' from the Bridge to the meeting of the mountain-spurs, and still fifty miles from there to Mount Doom. In RK these distances are twelve leagues, not seven; twenty leagues, not ten; and sixty miles, not fifty: see further the Note on Geography at the end of this chapter.
When Frodo and Sam at last set eyes on the north-western confines of Mordor as seen from the south (RK p. 205) the names Durthang and Carach Angren 'the Iron Jaws' appear in the original draft, but the valley behind Carach Angren is named the Narch.(2) The draft text is here partly illegible, but enough can be read to show that the landscape was perfectly clear to my father's eyes as soon as he reached this point in the narrative. In the B text the name Isenmouthe appears, though the valley behind is still called the deep dark valley of Narch.'(3) A notable feature in the original draft of the story is that there is no mention of Gollum (see RK p. 206). While Frodo slept Sam went off by himself and found water, as in RK, but then 'the rest of that grey day passed without incident. Frodo slept for [?hours]. Sam did not wake him, but trusting once more to "luck" slept for a long while beside him.' Gollum enters in the B text in these words: At that moment he thought he caught a glimpse of a black form or shadow flitting among the stones above, near to Frodo's hiding. He was almost back to his master before he was sure.
There was Gollum indeed! If his will could have given him strength for a great bound Sam would have sprung straight on his enemy's back; but at that moment Gollum became aware of him and looked back. Sam had a quick glimpse of two pale eyes now filled with a mad malevolent light, and then Gollum, jumping from rock to rock with great agility, fled away onto the ridge and vanished over its crest.
The end of the chapter, the story of Frodo and Sam being forced to join the orc+and coming down from Durthang and their escape from it in the confusion at the road-meeting near the Isenmouthe, was achieved in all but minor details unhesitatingly.
NOTES.
1. For Cosimo Sackville-Baggins, later Lotho, see VI.283, VII.32.
2. It was while working on the latter part of 'The Land of Shadow'
that my father first mapped this new conception of the north-western extremity of Mordor, on a slip of paper that bears on the reverse drafting for the story of the forced march of Frodo and Sam in the troop of orcs moving from Durthang to the Isenmouthe. On this little sketch-map the closed vale between the Morannon and the Isenmouthe is named The Narch, subsequently overwritten Udun. In my description of the Second Map in VIII.438 I noted that the vale was first marked Gorgoroth, but that this was struck out, 'and in its place was pencilled here the name March Udun.' It is in fact clear that Narch alone was first written, and that Udun was intended as a replacement.
3. This was changed later to 'the deep dale of Kirith Gorgor', and then to 'the deep dale of Udun' (see
'No very clear notion, Sam,' said Frodo. 'In Rivendell before I set out I saw old maps made before the Dark Lord came back here, and I remember them vaguely. I had a little secret plan with names and distances: it was given to me by Elrond, but that has gone with all my other things. I think it was ten leagues or even a dozen from the Bridge to the Narrows, a point where the western and northern ranges send out spurs and make a sort of gate to the deep valley that lies behind the Morannon. The Mountain stands out alone on the plain, but nearer the northern range. Nearly fifty miles I think from the Narrows, more, of course, if we have to keep to the edge of the hills on the other side.'
In a revised version of this Frodo says: 'I guess, not counting our wasted climb, we've done say [twenty miles >] six or seven leagues north from the Bridge since we started.' The final version in this manuscript gives seven leagues as the distance they have traversed, 'ten leagues or so' from the Bridge to the meeting of the mountain-spurs, and still fifty miles from there to Mount Doom. In RK these distances are twelve leagues, not seven; twenty leagues, not ten; and sixty miles, not fifty: see further the Note on Geography at the end of this chapter.
When Frodo and Sam at last set eyes on the north-western confines of Mordor as seen from the south (RK p. 205) the names Durthang and Carach Angren 'the Iron Jaws' appear in the original draft, but the valley behind Carach Angren is named the Narch.(2) The draft text is here partly illegible, but enough can be read to show that the landscape was perfectly clear to my father's eyes as soon as he reached this point in the narrative. In the B text the name Isenmouthe appears, though the valley behind is still called the deep dark valley of Narch.'(3) A notable feature in the original draft of the story is that there is no mention of Gollum (see RK p. 206). While Frodo slept Sam went off by himself and found water, as in RK, but then 'the rest of that grey day passed without incident. Frodo slept for [?hours]. Sam did not wake him, but trusting once more to "luck" slept for a long while beside him.' Gollum enters in the B text in these words: At that moment he thought he caught a glimpse of a black form or shadow flitting among the stones above, near to Frodo's hiding. He was almost back to his master before he was sure.
There was Gollum indeed! If his will could have given him strength for a great bound Sam would have sprung straight on his enemy's back; but at that moment Gollum became aware of him and looked back. Sam had a quick glimpse of two pale eyes now filled with a mad malevolent light, and then Gollum, jumping from rock to rock with great agility, fled away onto the ridge and vanished over its crest.
The end of the chapter, the story of Frodo and Sam being forced to join the orc+and coming down from Durthang and their escape from it in the confusion at the road-meeting near the Isenmouthe, was achieved in all but minor details unhesitatingly.
NOTES.
1. For Cosimo Sackville-Baggins, later Lotho, see VI.283, VII.32.
2. It was while working on the latter part of 'The Land of Shadow'
that my father first mapped this new conception of the north-western extremity of Mordor, on a slip of paper that bears on the reverse drafting for the story of the forced march of Frodo and Sam in the troop of orcs moving from Durthang to the Isenmouthe. On this little sketch-map the closed vale between the Morannon and the Isenmouthe is named The Narch, subsequently overwritten Udun. In my description of the Second Map in VIII.438 I noted that the vale was first marked Gorgoroth, but that this was struck out, 'and in its place was pencilled here the name March Udun.' It is in fact clear that Narch alone was first written, and that Udun was intended as a replacement.
3. This was changed later to 'the deep dale of Kirith Gorgor', and then to 'the deep dale of Udun' (see
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