Tolkien wrote drafts out by hand; he'd make scribbled notes on one draft that might get worked into the next. Most of the drafts were preserved, so we get to trace how the story evolves and changes. Basically, it's the Track Changes of doom.
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
First off - Tolkien sets out to write a sequel to the Hobbit, and he has absolutely no idea what it's about. But the man's a pantser (not a panther, autocorrect), so he just starts writing. And Hobbit nonsense amuses him, so we get a lot of Hobbit nonsense at the start.
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
As he's writing and revising, Tolkien realises that yeah, the one dangling plot hook from the Hobbit is the nature of the ring. So, he starts noodling with the idea that the story is going to be about the Ring somehow.
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
Around this point, there's also one of the most significant significant turning points in the development of the story.
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
The Hobbit are walking along the Road. They hear a horse approaching.
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
There's a mysterious rider, hooded and cloaked.
They hide.
He sniffs.
Pulls back his hood. It's Gandalf!
So, obviously, the solution is to not have Gandalf show up at Crickhollow, so he can't be there to rescue Olo and Olo won't tag along to Rivendell. So, where's Gandalf?
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
He's been imprisoned.
By who.
"The Giant Treebeard."
There are a bunch of Tolkien's 'the story foreseen' outlines in the History of Middle-Earth books, and virtually all of them have a note about the evil Giant Treebeard, who's totally going to do something mean to our heroes.
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
He'll capture Frodo. He's the one who captured Gandalf. He's in league with Sauron. Or Saruman. Tolkien's really, really hazy about most of the rest of the story, but if there's one thing he's absolutely sure about, it's that Treebeard's a bad egg.
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
Other ideas will never survive. For example, the first hint of what would become 'the Scouring of the Shire' is the idea that a dragon might invade Hobbiton at the end of the book.
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
But Tolkien considers options like "Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Odo, Trotter, Glorfindel, Gimli."
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
Or "Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Trotter, Boromir".
Or the "ablative Hobbit" setup, where it's just the six Hobbits and Gandalf.
It's Gandalf's nemesis who changes quite a bit. At first, it's going to be a host of orcs on the bridge. Then, a Black Rider. Then he hits on the idea of it being a Balrog (another pull from his Legendarium).
— Gareth Hanrahan (@mytholder) October 26, 2020
Later, he even thinks of revising the scene so it's Saruman!