Book –The War of The Ring

Book –The War of The Ring

(= History of Middle-Earth 8/12) 
(=History of The Lord of the Rings, 3/4)

Author: J.R.R Tolkien, edited and commented by Christopher Tolkien 

Score: 10/10
Year: 1990 (original) ; 2002 (this paperback edition) 

Publisher: Harper Collins (paperbacks)

ISBN 9780261102231

Pages 476

For this HOME book 8 and History of LOTR book 3, Christopher adopted the initial title his father had for The Two Towers (aka T.T), book 5 : The War of the Ring. 

It follows, however, the various jotted ideas, outlines and drafts starting with several chapters of T.T's book 3 in the first part - as The War of the Ring is divided into three - before moving on to book 4 in part 2 and book 5 in part 3. There's a total of 28 chapters, numbered in roman numerals. 

Thus, part one is divided into chapters I-VI, covering the story in and around Isengard, and part of what lead to it, from Helm's Deep, adding portions to T.T. book 3 that hadn't been studied in HOME 7. 

After chapter I about changing chronologies at this point of composition, the five subsequent chapters follow the earlier conceptions of : II Helm's Deep, III The Road to Isengard, IV Flotsam and Jetsam, V The Voice of Saruman, and VI the Palantír. 
There were many stages of consecutive and concurrent writings, re-writings, and drafts variously hard to deciphers at times, as JRR often wrote in a nearly illegible pencil, over-writing in ink, and going back a phrase, or a whole paragraph or passage, before changing names, or story elements, and despite many differences between these earlier versions, most elements that would be published in T.T. start to arise and take shape.

As shown in notes, some or all of the composition of these T.T chapters took place in mid 1942, or later, as some of the drafts were written on the backs of letters from those dates, and letter exchanges from December 1942 confirm this theory. 

It appears that JRR didn't compose anything new for the entire year of 1943, as shown in letter exchanges from April 1944, where mentions of having resumed with new chapters, studied in The War... Part two. 

This part is divided into VIII chapters : I. The Taming of Sméagol , II. The Passage of the Marshes, III. The Black Gate is Closed, IV. Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit, V. Faramir, 
VI. The Forbidden Pool, VII. Journey to the Cross-roads, VIII. Kirith Ungol.

These were composed in April and May 1944, and in the earliest conception, an important battle in the Marshes had taken place during Sméagol's younger years, but later, JRR would greatly expanded the gap of the Ages in the mythology. Portions of the passage in the Marshes also show specific gifts from the Elves given to Sam weren't yet conceived, and that the earliest ideas about Sam and Frodo's ascent into the Tower was going to be very different from the published work - as hinted to in outlines JRR had written and which were presented in HOME book 7. 

Faramir, basically 'came' to JRR, and 'wrote himself' into the story, gradually taking the rôle he'd finally receive in the published LOTR, though not immediately, as his name remained with his initial one, Falbond, changing only in the course of the third draft, and his rôle gradually came forward with the next one. 

Also, by the time of working on the War of the Ring's material, Christopher found that his father composed some portions of the Lothlórien chapters later than what he had assumed during research for HOME 7 and adds in part III, chapter I an addendum to Treason of Isengard (=HOME 7), as he found more draft material from his father that actually belonged to the same period of composition of said book. 

This third part of War of the Ring continues with chapter II, composed most probably in October 1944 as can be ascertained from letters of that month, and before a year and a half's long break before JRR would resume working on the LOTR 3, Return of the King. This chapter II deals with LOTR book V, began and abandoned, the stories of a) Minas Tirith, including Gandalf's travel towards it, and its the original descriptions, and b) The Muster of Rohan, namely the preparation towards the next stage in the war against Sauron, after the fall of Isengard, and occurring, more or less as JRR attempted to harmonize chronologies, simultaneously with the journey undertaken by Frodo and Sam, studied in part two.   

C.T includes in c) his father's various outlines to end LOTR, at the time conceived as a 5-book series of 10-12 chapters each, and much before the expansion to the final 6-book aspect that it'd take. 

Chapter III goes further into the heart of the portions set in Minas Tirith, followed by two parts in chapters IV and V for Many Roads Lead Eastward where JRR's composition was shifting towards the elements leading to The Path of the Dead and the stay of the company's with the Rohirrim, and chapter VI concentrates on the elements of the Siege of Gondor, with most of the preliminary writing already in the shape that this chapter would later be in Return of the King, but with notable differences shown by Christopher - for ex, Denethor is cold but not as mean or important as his rôle would take later.

The elements that would continue Return of are seen in the following chapters, first with outlines in VIII with The Story Foreseen from the Forannest, followed by further developments for Denethor in chapter IX, The Houses of Healing in X which would be greatly extended in the published form, and also sees retained elements but changed Rôles. 

In Chapter XI, The Last Debate, we read dialogue exchanges about the Path of Dead, with quite a few differences and many elements that wouldn't be taken into the published form, whilst those retained change narrators, as JRR kept shifting the dialogues given to each of the members narrating their shared adventure on that path ; and finally, chapter XII of The Wars of the Ring is the last one of Return of The King's book V, chapter X : the Black Gate opens. 

During composition of outlines, JRR hadn't envisaged a book VI in LOTR, and was planing to wrap the story shortly after the Black Gate's opening seen in this last portion, but as he came nearer to it, the extension of Lord of the Rings became inevitable, because all the various added material, scenes, dialogues and locations didn't bring a conclusion to several threads that would have been left unfinished! 

The War of the Rings ends with one additional chapter numbered XIII : the Second Map, and an index from page 440-476 and a few additional, unnumbered pages with the back cover information for HOME volumes 1-5. 

If you love reading the Lord of the Rings and want to see the various stages of composed chapters, their reordering and ever shifting concepts leading to the final version, read HOME 6-9!