The Reunification of the Entish Bow - Discussion

[Bêthberry]

This most recent selection is taken from older pieces found on loose leaves interspersed with the narrative of the Downfall of the Lord of the Rings. Its authorship is pseudonymous--apparently a surviving family member of one of the principals in the story. It is by all accounts an apocryphal text which may be included here with the other apocryphal texts unless there is a revolt among the literati concerning canonicity.

Clearly this alternate text--indeed, all of them, from various hands--suggests that the accepted narrative may tell a limited story about the traditions of Man. Certainly there is a greater range of reference and idea in the unauthorised texts. The idea of simultaneity of serial time when viewed from an overarching memory is here explored far more fully than the primary texts themselves allow.

Whether this was composed prior to or after Frodo's visit to the House of Bombadil with the other hobbits cannot now be determined, particularly in view of this theory of time. The textual evidence does not allow for it. There is a strong preference among many learned readers to date Frodo's visit before the Wouldship's visit, but holographic tests of dating have not yet been done to verify this reading preference.

The text appears to be a conflation of two prior texts which we may call T and LB. The T text is widely enough known that I do not need to refer to it here. However, the LB text is less widely known and may in fact for many be represented solely by the recently discovered Digital Scribe Scrolls found here.

The text is clearly incomplete. A dinner with some anticipated problems is clearly suggested as well as exploration of the long defeat in subsequent ages referred to in the canonical T texts. It is possible the author anticipates a foray into Seventh Age Sarehole, now a posh neighbourhood of Birmingham interrupted rather barbarously by one of the monstrous M highways.

It is also possible that the author contemplated the Wouldship's journey along M40 to the actual barrow of T himself, in order to verify an alternate text by a scribe known only as The Squatter of Amon Rûdh, found recently in a digital barrow frequented by adoring dead fans of T.

Whether these possibilities were explored remains to be seen. Certainly scholars are still exploring the digital remains of the LB texts and we can look forward to analysing their place in the entire panoply of apocryphal texts. It is known, for instance, that one further text exists which recounts how the Woodship would ship wood back to Yê Auldë Forestë but that text is still undergoing extensive archeological treatment to ensure that it does not disintegrate when it is transcribed onto the new digital scrolls here. For the time being we must hope that further excavations will bring to light more adventures of the Woodenship in the Seventh Age.

RIP Lucy and Desi and, of course, JR himself also.