(p. 59) it is told that Yavanna made for the Elves of Tirion
... a tree like to a lesser image of Telperion, save that it did not give light of its own being; Galathilion it was named in the Sindarin tongue. This tree was planted in the courts beneath the Mindon and there flourished, and its seedlings were many in Eldamar. Of these one was afterwards planted in Tol Eressea, and it prospered there, and was named Celeborn; thence came in the fullness of time, as is elsewhere told, Nimloth, the White Tree of Numenor.(4) In A the sapling did not 'hold only lightly to the earth', but 'Aragorn and Gandalf dug deep.'
In the account of the riding from Rivendell and Lorien at the end of the chapter it is not said in any of the texts that Elrond brought the sceptre of Annuminas and surrendered it to Aragorn; this was only inserted on the final proof. Elrond's daughter is named Finduilas (VIII.370, 386, 425; at this stage Faramir's mother was named Rothinel, p. 54); and in A my father added, after 'Finduilas his daughter', '[and daughter of Celebrian child of Galadriel].' This is the first mention of Celebrian, by this or any name. In the last sentence of the chapter in A Aragorn 'wedded Finduilas Halfelven'; this name survived into B, where Faramir's mother Rothinel was changed to Finduilas, and Elrond's daughter Finduilas was changed to Arwen, called Undomiel.(5)
NOTES.
1. All names in RK not mentioned in my account can be presumed to be present already in A, with the exception of Beregond, which was only changed from Berithil on manuscript C. Thus Elfhelm is called 'Elfhelm the Marshal' (RK p. 244; cf. VIII.352); and the last king of the line of Anarion is Earnur, here first named (RK
p. 245; cf. VIII.153). The rather puzzling reference to Min-Rimmon (RK p. 245: 'tidings had gone out into all parts of Gondor, from Min-Rimmon even to Pinnath Gelin and the far coasts of the sea') goes back to A.
2. The words of Elendil do not appear in A.
3. In A the name Celeborn is spelt with C; so also Celebrian. In this chapter and in the next the C spelling reverted to K in the finely-written third manuscripts, but on both it was then corrected back to C.
4. Cf. also the Akallabeth in The Silmarillion, p. 263, and Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, ibid. p. 291.
5. Arwen first emerged in the fair copy of the following chapter,
'Many Partings': see p. 66.
Note on the Chronology
A curious point of chronology that arises in this chapter concerns the lapse of time between the departure of the host from Minas Tirith and the destruction of the Ring.
At the beginning of the chapter, against the words 'When the Captains were but two days gone', the figure '19' is written in the margin of A, i.e. March 19. This is the chronology described in VIII.432, according to which the march from Minas Tirith began on the 17th (the 18th in RK).
When in RK (p. 239) it is said that 'the fifth day came since the Lady Eowyn went first to Faramir', and that was the day of the destruction of the Ring and the fall of the Dark Tower, the same is said in A (and subsequent texts); and at the head of that page my father noted: 'F.
sees E. on 19. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.' This day was therefore the 24th of March. But this is strange, since already in the first draft of
'The Field of Kormallen' Gandalf had declared that 'in Gondor the New Year will always begin on the 25th of March when Sauron fell
...' (p. 46). In A, Eowyn says that this day was 'seven days since
[Aragorn] rode away' (RK p. 240), which agrees with the date of March 24 for the destruction of the Ring. But my father changed
'seven', as he wrote, to 'nine', which would presumably give March 26
as the day of deliverance. He then changed 'nine' to 'eight', giving the 25th as the day, and 'eight' is the reading in B and C, changed in C to
'seven' as in RK: this presumably implies that the date of the departure from Minas Tirith had been changed to the 18th. - On the significance of the
... a tree like to a lesser image of Telperion, save that it did not give light of its own being; Galathilion it was named in the Sindarin tongue. This tree was planted in the courts beneath the Mindon and there flourished, and its seedlings were many in Eldamar. Of these one was afterwards planted in Tol Eressea, and it prospered there, and was named Celeborn; thence came in the fullness of time, as is elsewhere told, Nimloth, the White Tree of Numenor.(4) In A the sapling did not 'hold only lightly to the earth', but 'Aragorn and Gandalf dug deep.'
In the account of the riding from Rivendell and Lorien at the end of the chapter it is not said in any of the texts that Elrond brought the sceptre of Annuminas and surrendered it to Aragorn; this was only inserted on the final proof. Elrond's daughter is named Finduilas (VIII.370, 386, 425; at this stage Faramir's mother was named Rothinel, p. 54); and in A my father added, after 'Finduilas his daughter', '[and daughter of Celebrian child of Galadriel].' This is the first mention of Celebrian, by this or any name. In the last sentence of the chapter in A Aragorn 'wedded Finduilas Halfelven'; this name survived into B, where Faramir's mother Rothinel was changed to Finduilas, and Elrond's daughter Finduilas was changed to Arwen, called Undomiel.(5)
NOTES.
1. All names in RK not mentioned in my account can be presumed to be present already in A, with the exception of Beregond, which was only changed from Berithil on manuscript C. Thus Elfhelm is called 'Elfhelm the Marshal' (RK p. 244; cf. VIII.352); and the last king of the line of Anarion is Earnur, here first named (RK
p. 245; cf. VIII.153). The rather puzzling reference to Min-Rimmon (RK p. 245: 'tidings had gone out into all parts of Gondor, from Min-Rimmon even to Pinnath Gelin and the far coasts of the sea') goes back to A.
2. The words of Elendil do not appear in A.
3. In A the name Celeborn is spelt with C; so also Celebrian. In this chapter and in the next the C spelling reverted to K in the finely-written third manuscripts, but on both it was then corrected back to C.
4. Cf. also the Akallabeth in The Silmarillion, p. 263, and Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, ibid. p. 291.
5. Arwen first emerged in the fair copy of the following chapter,
'Many Partings': see p. 66.
Note on the Chronology
A curious point of chronology that arises in this chapter concerns the lapse of time between the departure of the host from Minas Tirith and the destruction of the Ring.
At the beginning of the chapter, against the words 'When the Captains were but two days gone', the figure '19' is written in the margin of A, i.e. March 19. This is the chronology described in VIII.432, according to which the march from Minas Tirith began on the 17th (the 18th in RK).
When in RK (p. 239) it is said that 'the fifth day came since the Lady Eowyn went first to Faramir', and that was the day of the destruction of the Ring and the fall of the Dark Tower, the same is said in A (and subsequent texts); and at the head of that page my father noted: 'F.
sees E. on 19. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.' This day was therefore the 24th of March. But this is strange, since already in the first draft of
'The Field of Kormallen' Gandalf had declared that 'in Gondor the New Year will always begin on the 25th of March when Sauron fell
...' (p. 46). In A, Eowyn says that this day was 'seven days since
[Aragorn] rode away' (RK p. 240), which agrees with the date of March 24 for the destruction of the Ring. But my father changed
'seven', as he wrote, to 'nine', which would presumably give March 26
as the day of deliverance. He then changed 'nine' to 'eight', giving the 25th as the day, and 'eight' is the reading in B and C, changed in C to
'seven' as in RK: this presumably implies that the date of the departure from Minas Tirith had been changed to the 18th. - On the significance of the
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