10.12.2003, 13:42
HoME 7 XVII. THE GREAT RIVER
As he gazed into the blackness away east the clouds broke
and the white rind of the new moon appeared riding slowly up
the sky; [but its faint light did little to illumine the further
shore.](6) Sam looked up at it in wonder.(7) Even as he did so a
dark shape, like a cloud yet not a cloud, low and ominous, for a
moment shut off the thin crescent and winged its way towards
them, until it appeared as a great winged shape black against the
dark heaven.(8) Fierce voices greeted it from across the water.
Frodo felt a sudden chill about his heart, and a cold like the
memory of an old wound in his shoulder: he crouched down in
the boat.
Suddenly the great bow of Legolas sang. He heard an arrow
whistle/whine. He looked up. The winged shape swerved: there
was a harsh croaking cry and it seemed to fall, vanishing down
into the darkness of the eastern shore; the sky seemed clean
again. They heard a tumult as of many voices murmuring and
lamenting [written above: cursing], and then silence. No more
arrows came towards them.
'Praised be the bow of Galadriel and the keen eye of Legolas!'
said Gimli. 'That was a mighty shot in the dark.'
'But what it hit who can say,' said Boromir.
'I cannot,' said Gimli. 'Yet I liked that shape as little as the
shadow of the Balrog of Moria.'
'It was not a Balrog,' said Frodo, still shivering. 'I think it
was...' He did not finish.
'You think what?' asked Boromir quickly.
'I do not know,' said Frodo. 'Whatever it was its fall seems to
have dismayed the enemy.'
+ la note (8)
8. The dark shape 'like a cloud yet not a cloud' that momentarily
cut off the moon's light is surely reminiscent of the shadow that
passed over the stars as the Company journeyed on from Hollin
in 'The Ring Goes South' (VI.421 - 2), and which Gandalf
unconvincingly suggested might be no more than a wisp of cloud.
Then too Frodo shivered, as here he 'felt a sudden chill'. As I
noted (VI.434), the former incident was retained in FR but never
explained: the Winged Nazgul had not yet crossed the Anduin.
But it seems likely to me that the shadow that passed across the
stars near Hollin was in fact the first precocious appearance of a
Winged Nazgul.
et plus loin:
XXI THE URUK-HAI.
Grishnak does not name the Nazgul (TT p. 49), but says 'The winged
one awaits us northward on the east bank'.
dans HoME8
II. THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES
This section of drafting peters out here. In the manuscript the text
becomes that of TT at almost all points: the sequence of the story has
been reconstructed, so that the change in the weather and the flight of
the Nazgul follows the passage of the pools of the dead faces; and
there is no further hint of the idea (going back to the preliminary
notes, p. 105) that the beholder's own face was mirrored as dead when
the moonlight shone on the pools.
It is notable that in the draft the Nazgul is said to have been flying to
Isengard. In the manuscript as first written this was not said: '... a
vast shape winged and ominous: it scudded across the moon, and with
a deadly cry went away westward, outrunning the moon in its fell
speed.... But the shadow passed quickly, and behind it the wind
roared away, leaving the Dead Marshes bare and bleak.' After the last
sentence, however, my father added, probably not long after, 'The
Nazgul had gone, flying to Isengard with the speed of the wrath of
Sauron.' The rewriting of the passage, so that the Nazgul returns and,
flying lower above them, sweeps back to Mordor, was done at a later
time (see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter); but the
words in TT (p. 237) 'with a deadly cry went away westward' are in
fact a vestige of the original conception.
VIII.THE STORY FORESEEN FROM. FORANNEST.
NOTES
1. But Wizard King takes to air and becomes Nazgul. These words
can only mean that Nazgul refers specifically to the Ring-wraiths
as borne upon 'winged steeds'. But my father cannot have
intended this. I presume that since in this part of The Lord of the
Rings the Ringwraiths were 'winged', and their power and
significance for the story lies in their being 'winged', he had
nonetheless made this equation, and so slipped into saying that
when the Black Captain (Lord of the Nazgul) himself mounted on
one of the monstrous birds he 'became a Nazgul'. This occurs
again at the end of the outline.
encore plus loin ...
IX.THE BATTLE OF THE PELENNOR FIELDS.
A difficulty with this view is that in
Outline V the Nazgul King is 'unhorsed', whereas in 'The Fall of
Theoden in the Battle of Osgiliath' his descent on a 'huge vulture-
form' is at the centre of the story. Since the 'vultures' are referred to as
'winged steeds', it is possible that the word 'unhorsed' was used in this
sense, though that does not seem very likely.
j'espere Elesgal que tu as de quoi lire un peu ici !!!
As he gazed into the blackness away east the clouds broke
and the white rind of the new moon appeared riding slowly up
the sky; [but its faint light did little to illumine the further
shore.](6) Sam looked up at it in wonder.(7) Even as he did so a
dark shape, like a cloud yet not a cloud, low and ominous, for a
moment shut off the thin crescent and winged its way towards
them, until it appeared as a great winged shape black against the
dark heaven.(8) Fierce voices greeted it from across the water.
Frodo felt a sudden chill about his heart, and a cold like the
memory of an old wound in his shoulder: he crouched down in
the boat.
Suddenly the great bow of Legolas sang. He heard an arrow
whistle/whine. He looked up. The winged shape swerved: there
was a harsh croaking cry and it seemed to fall, vanishing down
into the darkness of the eastern shore; the sky seemed clean
again. They heard a tumult as of many voices murmuring and
lamenting [written above: cursing], and then silence. No more
arrows came towards them.
'Praised be the bow of Galadriel and the keen eye of Legolas!'
said Gimli. 'That was a mighty shot in the dark.'
'But what it hit who can say,' said Boromir.
'I cannot,' said Gimli. 'Yet I liked that shape as little as the
shadow of the Balrog of Moria.'
'It was not a Balrog,' said Frodo, still shivering. 'I think it
was...' He did not finish.
'You think what?' asked Boromir quickly.
'I do not know,' said Frodo. 'Whatever it was its fall seems to
have dismayed the enemy.'
+ la note (8)
8. The dark shape 'like a cloud yet not a cloud' that momentarily
cut off the moon's light is surely reminiscent of the shadow that
passed over the stars as the Company journeyed on from Hollin
in 'The Ring Goes South' (VI.421 - 2), and which Gandalf
unconvincingly suggested might be no more than a wisp of cloud.
Then too Frodo shivered, as here he 'felt a sudden chill'. As I
noted (VI.434), the former incident was retained in FR but never
explained: the Winged Nazgul had not yet crossed the Anduin.
But it seems likely to me that the shadow that passed across the
stars near Hollin was in fact the first precocious appearance of a
Winged Nazgul.
et plus loin:
XXI THE URUK-HAI.
Grishnak does not name the Nazgul (TT p. 49), but says 'The winged
one awaits us northward on the east bank'.
dans HoME8
II. THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES
This section of drafting peters out here. In the manuscript the text
becomes that of TT at almost all points: the sequence of the story has
been reconstructed, so that the change in the weather and the flight of
the Nazgul follows the passage of the pools of the dead faces; and
there is no further hint of the idea (going back to the preliminary
notes, p. 105) that the beholder's own face was mirrored as dead when
the moonlight shone on the pools.
It is notable that in the draft the Nazgul is said to have been flying to
Isengard. In the manuscript as first written this was not said: '... a
vast shape winged and ominous: it scudded across the moon, and with
a deadly cry went away westward, outrunning the moon in its fell
speed.... But the shadow passed quickly, and behind it the wind
roared away, leaving the Dead Marshes bare and bleak.' After the last
sentence, however, my father added, probably not long after, 'The
Nazgul had gone, flying to Isengard with the speed of the wrath of
Sauron.' The rewriting of the passage, so that the Nazgul returns and,
flying lower above them, sweeps back to Mordor, was done at a later
time (see the Note on Chronology at the end of this chapter); but the
words in TT (p. 237) 'with a deadly cry went away westward' are in
fact a vestige of the original conception.
VIII.THE STORY FORESEEN FROM. FORANNEST.
NOTES
1. But Wizard King takes to air and becomes Nazgul. These words
can only mean that Nazgul refers specifically to the Ring-wraiths
as borne upon 'winged steeds'. But my father cannot have
intended this. I presume that since in this part of The Lord of the
Rings the Ringwraiths were 'winged', and their power and
significance for the story lies in their being 'winged', he had
nonetheless made this equation, and so slipped into saying that
when the Black Captain (Lord of the Nazgul) himself mounted on
one of the monstrous birds he 'became a Nazgul'. This occurs
again at the end of the outline.
encore plus loin ...
IX.THE BATTLE OF THE PELENNOR FIELDS.
A difficulty with this view is that in
Outline V the Nazgul King is 'unhorsed', whereas in 'The Fall of
Theoden in the Battle of Osgiliath' his descent on a 'huge vulture-
form' is at the centre of the story. Since the 'vultures' are referred to as
'winged steeds', it is possible that the word 'unhorsed' was used in this
sense, though that does not seem very likely.
j'espere Elesgal que tu as de quoi lire un peu ici !!!
