This brief outline (Marq. 1/1/23:3), scribbled on a torn sheet of good paper (in fact, the back of an unsent letterTN1), is little more than a collection of notes in now-faint pencil on miscellaneous points that Tolkien jotted down as a reminder to himself of loose plot-points that would need to be addressed in the wrapping-up. Unlike Plot Notes E, which represent the final work on the Second Phase, these notes seem to belong to the beginning of the Third Phase.
Bilbo’s treasure all lost on the way home – except his kettle & a pair of studs.
And were the dwarves forever at his service?
Send message back by Thrush to Lake Town – it arrives too late but reaches Bard before his last shot.
Bring him <?word> in last <moment>.
Wood-elf king gives back orcrist
How troll-key fitted – Gandalf explains.
Trolls had <?even> <illegible>TN2 Moria, where Thrain son of Thror <was> prisoner
Bilbo hangs his sword over mantlepiece & has his mail put on a stand
Prophecy came true for the Dale became rich, and the Dwarves of Thror for long were good till their race faded, and gold flowed down the river & <fountains> were made.
Battle of Five armies and disenchantment of Beorn
Written in the left margin:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
||
woodelves, |
dwarves, TN3 |
eagles, |
men, |
bears, |
goblins |
wolves |
6 |
7 |
But <illegible> Bilbo got out of it was a set of useful proverbs
Written in the right margin:
Lost his <reputation> & found another.
Digs up <?trolls’> treasure, <distributes> it.
The most notable feature of Plot Notes F is that the inclusion of dwarves among the participants in ‘The Battle of Five Armies’ (which is finally and for the first time given that name) suggests this event might have now shifted from taking place not far to the west as part of Bilbo’s return journey, but as the culmination of the events at the Lonely Mountain. Even so, Tolkien remained in difficulties deciding just which of the forces present counted as one of the ‘Five’; cf. the commentary on page 714 following the Third Phase text. Beorn’s bear army is still present, as in the final page of Plot Notes B. One significant and intriguing new element here is the brief mention of the ‘disenchantment of Beorn’; see the commentary on Bothvar Bjarki following Chapter VII for more on this unrealized motif. Otherwise, these notes closely correspond to what Tolkien actually came to set down once he began writing the Third Phase text; the two significant departures are the absence of Beorn’s bear-army (his prowess being upgraded until followers would have been superfluous),TN4 and of the loss of Bilbo’s treasure (a scene which Tolkien began to write but then crossed out; see page 690 & Text Note 11 on page 698).
TEXT NOTES
1 The unsent letter (1/1/23:4), written in Tolkien’s neatest script, is undated; Tolkien tore the page in half and only the top half survives (because of its blank verso’s reuse for plot-notes). It represents Tolkien’s reader’s report for some unidentified publisher on a book he had been sent to evaluate for possible publication. Despite the letter’s lack of context, Tolkien’s opinion is clear, as he definitely advises against publication: ‘. . . published without a competent revision it would receive ungentle handling from any reviewer in this country who knew anything about Old English. I hardly like to think of what I should say about it, if I was a reviewer myself, and not your adviser.’ Possibly this letter was not sent because it was superseded by a more circumspect replacement.
2 This illegible word seems to begin with p- and end with -d, but it is clearly not plundered, the reading of the Third Phase text (see page 688), because it lacks the ascender for the -l- and has an ascender immediately followed by a descender in the middle; possibly it is two short words run together, the first of which ends in -ly. The doubtful word preceding this word or phrase might be been rather than even.
3 This word is circled, but the significance of this is unclear: possibly Tolkien hesitated between the old idea of the Battle of Anduin Vale (without the dwarves’ presence) and the new idea that seems to be emerging of bringing the battle to the Lonely Mountain (where he could segue between the Siege of the Mountain directly into the battle). For more on the Battle of Five Armies, see the commentary on page 713ff following the Third Phase text.
4 See the North Polar Bear’s similar immunity to goblins (‘for of course goblins can’t hurt him’) and similar tactic of wading into battle with a sea (‘more like 1000’) of goblins in the Father Christmas Letters for 1932 and 1933: ‘squeezing, squashing, trampling, boxing, and kicking Goblins sky-high’; see Letters from Father Christmas pages 74 and 87 and the commentary following Chapter VII.