The War of the Ring Read Free Page B

over them. At this time they were at the outer end of a wide vale, a bay in the mountains of the south. On its further western side the Tindtorras were hidden in darkness; beneath their feet [> the peaks], some miles away, lay the opening of the great cleft in the hills which men of that land called Heorulf's Clough [> lay the green coomb out of which opened a great cleft in the hills. Men of that land called it Helm's Deep],(10) after some hero of ancient wars who had made his refuge there. Ever steeper and narrower it wound inward under the Tindtorras, till the crowhaunted cliffs on either side towered far above and shut out the light. Where it issued in the vale, upon [added: the Stanrock,) an outjutting heel of land, was built the fastness of Heorulf's Hoe (11) (Hold?). Stanrock. [> was built the fastness of Helmsgate. There Heorulf the Marcher had his hold.]
    A scout now rode back and reported that wolfriders were abroad in the valley, and that a host of orcs and wild men, very great indeed, was hurrying southward over the plain towards Heorulf's Hold.
    'We have found many of our own folk lying slain as they fled thither,' said the scout. 'And we have met scattered companies, going this way and that, leaderless. Some are making for the Clough [> Helmsgate], but it seems that Nothelm [> Heorulf]
    is not there. His plan was changed, and men do not know whither he has gone. Some say that Wormtongue was seen today [> Some say that Wormtongue was seen in the evening going north, and in the dusk an old man on a great horse rode the same way].'
    'Well, if Nothelm be in the Hold or not, [> 'It will go ill with Wormtongue, if Gandalf overtakes him,' said Theoden.
    'Nonetheless I miss now both counsellors, old and new. Yet it seems to me that whether Heorulf be in his Hold or no,] in this need we have no better choice than to go thither ourselves,'
    said Theoden. 'What is your counsel?' he said, turning to Eomer who had now ridden up to the King's side.
    'We should be ill advised to give battle in the dark,' said Eomer, 'or to await the day here in the open, not knowing the number of the oncoming host. Let us drive through such foes as are between us and Herulf's Clough [> the fastness], and encamp before the Hold [> its gate]. Then if we cannot break out, we may retreat to the Hold. There are caves in the gorge [> Helm's Deep] behind where hundreds may hide, and secret ways lead up thence, I am told, onto the hills.'
    'Trust not to them!' said Aragorn. 'Saruman has long spied out this land. Still, in such a place our defence might last long.'
    'Let us go then,' said Theoden. 'We will ride thither in many separate companies. A man who is nightsighted and knows well the land shall go at the head of each.'

    I interrupt the text here to discuss some aspects of this story. The names present an apparently impenetrable confusion, but I think that the development was more or less as follows. My father was uncertain whether 'Heorulf' ('Herulf') was the present lord of the 'Hold' or the hero after whom the 'Clough' was named. When he wrote, in the passage just given, 'which men of that land called Heorulf's Clough, after some hero of ancient wars who had made his refuge there' he had decided on the latter, and therefore the name of the present 'Westmarcher' (precursor of Erkenbrand) was changed, becoming Nothelm.
    Then, changing again, Nothelm reverted to Heorulf, while the gorge was named after Helm: Helmshaugh (note 10), then Helm's Deep.
    The fastness (Heorulf's Hoe or Hold) standing on the Stanrock is now called Helmsgate, which in LR refers to the entrance to Helm's Deep across which the Deeping Wall was built.
    The image of the great gorge and the fortress built on the jutting heel or 'hoe' arose, I believe, as my father wrote this first draft of the new chapter. In the outline 'The Story Foreseen from Fangorn'
    (VII.435) Gandalf's sudden galloping off on Shadowfax is present, and 'by his help and Aragorn the Isengarders are driven