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north by tracks as westerly as he could find through the
continued his journey north by tracks as westerly as he could find through the
skirts of Fangorn, and so over
Limlight, then over Nimrodel and Silverlode through the eaves of Lórien, and
then on, avoiding Moria and
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Dimrill Dale, over Gladden until he came near the Carrock. There he crossed
Anduin again, with the help of the Beornings, and passed into the Forest. The
whole journey, on foot, was not much short of nine hundred miles, and this
Aragorn accomplished with weariness in fifty days, reaching Thranduil on the
twenty-first of
March.
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It is thus most likely that the first news of Gollum would be learned by the
servants of Dol Guldur after Aragorn entered the Forest; for though the power
of Dol Guldur was supposed to come to an end at the
Old Forest Road, its spies were many in the wood. The news evidently did not
reach the Nazgûl commander of Dol Guldur for some time, and he probably did
not inform Barad-dûr until he had tried to learn more of
Gollum's whereabouts. It would then no doubt be late in April before Sauron
heard that Gollum had been seen again, apparently captive in the hands of a
Man. This might mean little. Neither Sauron nor any of his servants yet knew
of Aragorn or who he was. But evidently later (since the lands of Thranduil
would now be closely watched), possibly a month later, Sauron heard the
disquieting news that the Wise were aware of
Gollum, and that Gandalf had passed into Thranduil's realm.
Sauron must then have been filled with anger and alarm. He resolved to use the
Ringwraiths as soon as he could, for speed rather than secrecy was now
important. Hoping to alarm his enemies and disturb their counsels with the
fear of war (which he did not intend to make for some time), he attacked
Thranduil and
Gondor at about the same time. He had these two additional objects: to
capture or kill Gollum, or at least to
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deprive his enemies of him; and to force the passage of the bridge of
Osgiliath, so that the Nazgûl could cross, while testing the strength of
Gondor.
In the event Gollum escaped. But the passage of the bridge was effected. The
forces there used were probably much less than men in Gondor thought. In the
panic of the first assault, when the Witch-king was allowed to reveal himself
briefly in his full terror, the Nazgûl crossed the bridge at night and
dispersed
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northwards. Without belittling the valour of Gondor, which indeed Sauron found
greater far than he had hoped, it is clear that Boromir and Faramir were able
to drive back the enemy and destroy the bridge, only because the attack had
now served main purpose.
My father nowhere explained the Ringwraiths' fear of water. In the account
just cited it is made a chief motive in Sauron's assault on Osgiliath, and it
reappears in detailed notes on the movement of the Black Riders in the Shire:
thus of the Rider (who was in fact Khamûl of Dol Guldur, see note 1) seen on
the far side of
Bucklebury Ferry just after the Hobbits had crossed (
The Fellowship of the Ring
I 5) it is said that "he was well aware that the Ring had crossed the river;
but the river was a barrier to his sense of its movement and that the
Nazgûl would not touch the "Elvish" waters of Baranduin. But it is not made
clear how they crossed other rivers that lay in their path, such as the
Greyflood, where there was only "a dangerous ford formed by the ruins of the
bridge" (p. 277). My father did indeed note that the idea was difficult to
sustain.
The account of the vain journey of the Nazgûl up the Vales of Anduin is much
the same in version B as in that printed in full above (A), but with the
difference that in B the Stoor settlements were not entirely deserted at that
time; and such of the Stoors as dwelt there were slain or driven away by the
Nazgûl. In all the texts the
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precise dates are slightly at variance both with each other and with those
given in the Tale of Years; these differences are here neglected.
In D is found an account of how Gollum fared after his escape from the Orcs of
Dol Guldur and before the Fellowship entered the West-gate of Moria. This is
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in a rough state and has required some slight editorial revision.
It seems clear that pursued both by Elves and Orcs Gollum crossed the Anduin,
probably by swimming, and so eluded the hunt of Sauron; but being still hunted
by Elves, and not yet daring to pass near
Lórien (only the lure of the Ring itself made him dare to do this afterwards),
he hid himself In Moria. That
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was probably in the autumn of the year; after which all trace of him was lost.
What then happened to Gollum cannot of course be known for certain. He was
peculiarly fitted to survive in such straits, though at cost of great misery;
but he was in great peril of discovery by the servants of Sauron that lurked
in Moria, especially since such bare necessity of food as he must have he
could only
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get by thieving dangerously. No doubt he had intended to use Moria simply as a
secret passage westward, his purpose being to find "Shire" himself as quickly
as he could; but he became lost, and it was a very long time before he found
his way about. It thus seems probable that he had not long made his way
towards the West-
gate when the Nine Walkers arrived. He knew nothing, of course, about the
action of the doors. To him they would seem huge and immovable; and though
they had no lock or bar and opened outwards to a thrust, he did not discover
that. In any case he was now far away from any source of food, for the Orcs
were mostly in the East-end of Moria, and was become weak and desperate, so
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