Post by Elfhild on Mar 31, 2021 18:43:05 GMT
In this rejected draft, Frodo is taken to Minas Morgul, not Cirith Ungol, after Shelob bites him. The geography is somewhat different in this early version.
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Now they issued from the Loathly Tower. Evening was falling: away in the West over the valley of the Anduin there was some light. Far away loomed the Black Mountains and the tower of Minas Tirith, had they known. But in the East the sky was dark, with black and lowering clouds that seemed almost to rest upon the land. An uneasy twilight lay in the shadowy streets. Shrill cries came as it were from underground, strange shapes flitted by or peered out of alleys and holes in [gaping] houses; there were [dispirited] voices and faint echoes of monotonous and unhappy song. All the carven faces leered, and their eyes glowed with a fire at great depth.
The hobbits shuddered as they hurried on. Feet seemed to follow them, and they turned many corners, but they never threw them off. Rustling and pattering on the stones they came doggedly after them.
They came to the gates. The main gates were closed; but a small door was still open. Sentinels stood on either side, and at the opening stood an armed warder, gazing out into the gathering dust. The Orcs were waiting for the messenger from Baraddur.
--The Story Foreseen from Lorien, Treason of Isengard, 336-7.
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I always thought this was so spooky! The hobbits are being chased around the streets of Minas Morgul by ghosts. Even the statues are haunted.
(Tolkien had two ideas of how the Hobbits get out of this situation. 1. Frodo wears the Ring, stabs the warder. Sam comes running, and the sentinels think he is a goblin coming to help. The two hobbits run away. 2. Frodo and Sam, both wearing orc clothes, decide to simply walk out the door. "Swagger is the only hope, Mr. Frodo, begging your pardon." (337) LOVE THAT QUOTE. The orcs think Sam is some guy called the Captain of Morgul, and he manages to escape. Frodo tries to come along behind. At that moment, an alarm goes out, with word that the REAL captain was killed. Frodo has to make a speedy escape by tackling the warder and getting out that way. They escape just before a Nazgul comes.)
----
Now they issued from the Loathly Tower. Evening was falling: away in the West over the valley of the Anduin there was some light. Far away loomed the Black Mountains and the tower of Minas Tirith, had they known. But in the East the sky was dark, with black and lowering clouds that seemed almost to rest upon the land. An uneasy twilight lay in the shadowy streets. Shrill cries came as it were from underground, strange shapes flitted by or peered out of alleys and holes in [gaping] houses; there were [dispirited] voices and faint echoes of monotonous and unhappy song. All the carven faces leered, and their eyes glowed with a fire at great depth.
The hobbits shuddered as they hurried on. Feet seemed to follow them, and they turned many corners, but they never threw them off. Rustling and pattering on the stones they came doggedly after them.
They came to the gates. The main gates were closed; but a small door was still open. Sentinels stood on either side, and at the opening stood an armed warder, gazing out into the gathering dust. The Orcs were waiting for the messenger from Baraddur.
--The Story Foreseen from Lorien, Treason of Isengard, 336-7.
----
I always thought this was so spooky! The hobbits are being chased around the streets of Minas Morgul by ghosts. Even the statues are haunted.
(Tolkien had two ideas of how the Hobbits get out of this situation. 1. Frodo wears the Ring, stabs the warder. Sam comes running, and the sentinels think he is a goblin coming to help. The two hobbits run away. 2. Frodo and Sam, both wearing orc clothes, decide to simply walk out the door. "Swagger is the only hope, Mr. Frodo, begging your pardon." (337) LOVE THAT QUOTE. The orcs think Sam is some guy called the Captain of Morgul, and he manages to escape. Frodo tries to come along behind. At that moment, an alarm goes out, with word that the REAL captain was killed. Frodo has to make a speedy escape by tackling the warder and getting out that way. They escape just before a Nazgul comes.)