The War Of The Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien;

Author:J.R.R. Tolkien;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-06-17T00:00:00+00:00

Dunharrow

The references in A to the Hold having been preserved as a refuge, and to ‘the torchlit stone hall’ in which the feast was held, are explained and expanded in subsequent texts.

Text B was followed, no doubt immediately, by a third version (‘C’), clearly written in ink, which however again stops at the same point. Here the entry of the Riders into Harrowdale is described in very much the same way as it is in B:

They followed it [the mountain-stream] and saw it spring with a last leap into the Snowbourn River that white and fuming on its stones rushed down upon its swift journey to Edoras far below. To their right, dark and swathed in cloud, loomed the vast tumbled mass of great Dunharrow, but its peak and cap of snow they could not see, for they were crawling under the shadow of its knees. Across the valley upon the mountain-side lights were twinkling.

It was now Éomer, not Aragorn, who replied to Théoden’s question ‘But was it not the full moon last night?’; for Aragorn was no longer a member of the King’s company.

‘No, the night before,’ said Éomer. ‘Five days we have passed on the road: it has been slow since we took to the mountain-paths; five days remain until the day that you appointed for the muster at Edoras.’

‘Then here at Dunharrow maybe we can rest a while,’ said the King.

‘If you would take my counsel, lord,’ said Éomer, ‘you would remain here until the war that threatens is over, lost or won. [Struck out at once: You have ridden far and taxed your strength in the war with Saruman. Victory will have little joy for me, or for your people, unless we can lay our swords at your feet.]’

‘We will speak of that later,’ said Théoden.

They rode on. Merry looked about him. He was tired, for he was riding himself now, on a sturdy hill-pony furnished for him at Helm’s Deep; but he had enjoyed the journey among the passes and high dales, the tall pine-woods, and the bright waterfalls. He loved mountains, and the desire to see and know them had moved him strongly when he and his friends had plotted to go with Frodo, far away in the Shire.

He rode with the King’s company, and often he had jogged along beside Théoden himself, telling him of the Shire, and the doings of hobbit-folk. They had got on well together, although much of Merry’s language was hard for Théoden to understand. But all the same, and in spite of the honour, he was lonely, especially at the day’s end. Aragorn had ridden on far ahead with the swifter riders, taking Legolas and Gimli; and he missed Pippin deeply. The fellowship seemed now altogether scattered.

They came now in the dusk to a stone bridge across the Snowbourn …

It would be interesting to know why (at this stage in the development of the narrative, when they would all meet again at Dunharrow) Aragorn with Legolas and Gimli and others went on ahead (see note 9), but no explanation is given.

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