The War of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
Authors: J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy, Literary Criticism, European, Epic, English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, Science Fiction & Fantasy, History and Criticism, Fantasy Fiction; English, Middle Earth (Imaginary place), Fantastic fiction; English, Tolkien; J. R. R - Criticism; Textual, Fantasy Fiction; English - Authorship
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horn, that at the tip branched into three tines; and between the tines there was a narrow space where a man could stand a thousand feet above the vale.
This accompanies the drawing labelled 'Orthanc (2)', reproduced on p. 33, where the basal cone is black, and steeper than in 'Orthanc (1)', and the tower much more slender. Against this second description of the tower my father subsequently wrote:
(C) Or - if first picture [i.e. 'Orthanc (1)'] is adopted (but with cone-like rock as in second picture) [i.e. 'Orthanc (2)']:
[a tower of masonry] marvellously tall and strong. Seven round tiers it had, dwindling in girth and height, and at the top were three black horns of stone upon a narrow space where a man could stand a thousand feet above the plain.
This precisely fits 'Orthanc (1)'. It seems likely then that that picture was made after the first description 'A' was written, since it differs from 'A' in that the tower possess three horns at the summit.
The accounts 'B' and 'C' were rejected together and replaced in the manuscript by the following (all this work obviously belonging to the same period):
(D) And in the centre, from which all the chained paths ran, there stood an island in a pool, a great cone of rock, two hundred feet in height, left by the ancient builders and smoothers [> levellers] of the plain, black and smooth and exceeding hard. A yawning chasm clove it from tip to middle into two great fangs and over the chasm was a mighty arch of masonry, and upon the arch a tower was founded, marvellously tall and strong. Seven round tiers it had, dwindling in girth and height, and at the top were three black horns of stone upon a narrow space, where a man could stand a thousand feet above the plain.
This conception is illustrated in the drawings 'Orthanc (3)' and '(4)' on the same page as 'Orthanc (2)' and reproduced below (the distinction between the two enters into successive descriptions of the tower in 'The Voice of Saruman', pp. 61-2). On the back of the page bearing 'Orthanc (1)' my father wrote: 'This is wrong. The rock should be steeper and cloven, and the tower should be founded over an arch (with greater "horns" at top), as is shown in small sketch (3).' He also wrote here: 'Omit the water-course', but struck this out. A stream or 'moat' surrounding the basal cone is seen in 'Orthanc (1)'. In description 'D' the tower stands on 'an island in a pool' ('in the lake', see note 25 ).
Finally, a rider was inserted into the first manuscript bearing the definitive description as found in TT (p. 160): 'A peak and isle of rock it was, black, and gleaming hard; four mighty piers of many-sided stone were welded into one, but near the summit they opened into gaping horns, their pinnacles sharp as the points of spears, keen-edged as knives'. The only difference here from the final text is that my father first wrote that the top of Orthanc was three hundred feet above the plain; but this was changed, perhaps at once, to five hundred as in TT. On this rider he wrote: 'to fit Picture (5)', which is reproduced on p. 34. Here the conception is radically changed, and the 'horns', now four, are no longer a device surmounting the tower of diminishing cylindrical tiers but are integral to the marvellous structure of Orthanc. (26)
The successive versions of the description of the tower differ in the statements made about the name Orthanc (the earliest statement on the subject appears in a rejected note to the manuscript of 'Treebeard', VII.419: 'It is not perhaps mere chance that Orthanc which in Elvish means "a spike of rock" is in the tongue of Rohan "a machine".'). The preliminary draft, following description 'A', has:
This was Orthanc, the citadel of Saruman, the name of which had double meaning (by design or chance); for in the tongue of the Mark Orthanc signified cunning craft, invention, (machine such as those have who fashion machines), but in the elvish speech it means the stony heart, [?
This accompanies the drawing labelled 'Orthanc (2)', reproduced on p. 33, where the basal cone is black, and steeper than in 'Orthanc (1)', and the tower much more slender. Against this second description of the tower my father subsequently wrote:
(C) Or - if first picture [i.e. 'Orthanc (1)'] is adopted (but with cone-like rock as in second picture) [i.e. 'Orthanc (2)']:
[a tower of masonry] marvellously tall and strong. Seven round tiers it had, dwindling in girth and height, and at the top were three black horns of stone upon a narrow space where a man could stand a thousand feet above the plain.
This precisely fits 'Orthanc (1)'. It seems likely then that that picture was made after the first description 'A' was written, since it differs from 'A' in that the tower possess three horns at the summit.
The accounts 'B' and 'C' were rejected together and replaced in the manuscript by the following (all this work obviously belonging to the same period):
(D) And in the centre, from which all the chained paths ran, there stood an island in a pool, a great cone of rock, two hundred feet in height, left by the ancient builders and smoothers [> levellers] of the plain, black and smooth and exceeding hard. A yawning chasm clove it from tip to middle into two great fangs and over the chasm was a mighty arch of masonry, and upon the arch a tower was founded, marvellously tall and strong. Seven round tiers it had, dwindling in girth and height, and at the top were three black horns of stone upon a narrow space, where a man could stand a thousand feet above the plain.
This conception is illustrated in the drawings 'Orthanc (3)' and '(4)' on the same page as 'Orthanc (2)' and reproduced below (the distinction between the two enters into successive descriptions of the tower in 'The Voice of Saruman', pp. 61-2). On the back of the page bearing 'Orthanc (1)' my father wrote: 'This is wrong. The rock should be steeper and cloven, and the tower should be founded over an arch (with greater "horns" at top), as is shown in small sketch (3).' He also wrote here: 'Omit the water-course', but struck this out. A stream or 'moat' surrounding the basal cone is seen in 'Orthanc (1)'. In description 'D' the tower stands on 'an island in a pool' ('in the lake', see note 25 ).
Finally, a rider was inserted into the first manuscript bearing the definitive description as found in TT (p. 160): 'A peak and isle of rock it was, black, and gleaming hard; four mighty piers of many-sided stone were welded into one, but near the summit they opened into gaping horns, their pinnacles sharp as the points of spears, keen-edged as knives'. The only difference here from the final text is that my father first wrote that the top of Orthanc was three hundred feet above the plain; but this was changed, perhaps at once, to five hundred as in TT. On this rider he wrote: 'to fit Picture (5)', which is reproduced on p. 34. Here the conception is radically changed, and the 'horns', now four, are no longer a device surmounting the tower of diminishing cylindrical tiers but are integral to the marvellous structure of Orthanc. (26)
The successive versions of the description of the tower differ in the statements made about the name Orthanc (the earliest statement on the subject appears in a rejected note to the manuscript of 'Treebeard', VII.419: 'It is not perhaps mere chance that Orthanc which in Elvish means "a spike of rock" is in the tongue of Rohan "a machine".'). The preliminary draft, following description 'A', has:
This was Orthanc, the citadel of Saruman, the name of which had double meaning (by design or chance); for in the tongue of the Mark Orthanc signified cunning craft, invention, (machine such as those have who fashion machines), but in the elvish speech it means the stony heart, [?
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