View Single Post
Old 01-11-2011, 09:50 PM   #35
Elemmakil
Pile O'Bones
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 19
Elemmakil has just left Hobbiton.
Sting

Another thing I should like to have seen more of is the rewrite of Hobbit c. 1960 that was intended to bring it more in line with the published LoTR. As I recall (too lazy to get up and go to the shelf...) he got three (?I think that's right) chapters in but abandoned the project when an unidentified friend, to whom he had shown the draft, commented something to the effect that "it was very good, but not The Hobbit".

While I respect the reason behind the decision, I rather wish he had postponed showing this friend the draft for at least another chapter or two (or three or...) as it was fascinating to watch how he tried to reconcile The Hobbit with his later works. For example, to help explain why Gandalf could not read the inscriptions on the swords found in the Troll cave (since, as is obvious from LoTR, he certainly could), Tolkien rewrote the text slightly to state that the swords were covered in dried orc blood, and would need to be cleaned and repolished to read any inscriptions.

The text cuts off at the end of "Roast Mutton" - had Tolkien gotten to at least the next chapter we might have been rewarded with, for example, a fuller description of Orcrist and Glamdring. While certainly not all would agree, I at least think it would have been very cool.
Elemmakil is offline   Reply With Quote