I've been reading The Treason of Isengard, which is just Christoper Tolkien's collation and notes on the draft material of LotR -- specifically the second from Moria to the Riddermark.
I finished it last night and thought I'd put a few amusing facts here, mostly to do with language.
- One of Tom Bombadil's names among humans was nearly Frumbarn, because it's Old English for "first born."
- Treebeard was originally a villain, because "ent" in OE means "giant."
- Boromir originally didn't die in the wilderness and accompanied Aragorn to Minas Tirith, only to betray it to Saruman when the aristocracy rallied behind Aragorn.
- Amon Hen is meant to be overtly magical, though Tolkien dithered over whether the ring's effects allowed Frodo to see his visions there, or if anyone could do so.
- In one of Eomer's earliest reactions to hearing Gandalf had died, he said "oh yeah that wizard" and Tolkien penciled wicca above the word wizard, so Gandalf was nearly called a wicca in the books.
- Gandalf was also nearly called "Gondelf" in the Riddermark, as it's the OE version of the ON "gandalf(r)," which just means "magic spirit."
- Gondelf
- Many of the riders of Rohan originally didn't speak the common tongue, which was Modern English. They spoke OE, and so the door warden who accosts them when they come to Eodoras (not yet Edoras, that's another fact lol) just speaks straight OE and only Aragorn and Gandalf understand him. There was no translation provided for the reader lol.
- Though I think Tolkien actually carefully chose the phrasing so that readers could pick up on the words: almost all of them survive into MdnE.
- For years and years Aragorn was known as Trotter and not Strider, and it's clear that as his other names and titles changed, Tolkien thought of him as Trotter throughout.
- He originally wasn't even Aragorn, but Elfstone. Like, that was his name, just for no real reason.