Book Review – J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers”

Today I finished reading J.R.R. Tolkien‘s The Two Towers, the second book in his epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings.

Technically speaking, The Two Towers is actually composed of two books from a series that includes an introduction, a prologue, and six “books”.  The Two Towers consists of Books III and IV.  These two books are parallel and occur simultaneously in the overall story.

Book III – The Treason of Isengard

As we remember from the events in The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins is on a mission to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom in the land of Mordor.  Should the One Ring fall into the hands of Saruman or Sauron, then the fate of Middle-earth would be doomed.  Accompanying him on this dangerous mission are a team of people including Gandalf, Aragon, Boromir, Legolas and Gimli.  Samwise, Merry and Pippin, fellow hobbits from the Shire, have also accompanied Frodo on his mission to destroy the One Ring.

At the end of the previous book, the Fellowship was attacked by a gang of Orcs, and Frodo decided to head off on his own.  Samwise couldn’t leave his friend behind, so he joined Frodo on a boat and the two of them sailed down the river to continue to Mordor.

In Book III, Boromir is attacked and mortally wounded by a group of orcs, the Uruk-hai.  The orcs have left and Merry and Pippin are missing, both of them presumed to have been kidnapped by the orcs.  By the time that Aragon arrives it’s too late to save his friend.  With his last words Boromir tells Aragon to defend Minas Tirith, Boromir’s home, from the forces of Sauron.

Aragon finds Legolas and Gimli, and the three of them decide to chase after the Uruk-hai and to try to rescue the kidnapped hobbits.  They take off running and follow the tracks left behind by the orcs.

Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin are trapped with the orcs and are forced to keep running with them.  The orcs have orders to take their hobbit prisoners back to Mordor for interrogation and most likely horrific torture.  Luck favors the hobbits when the orcs are passing through the land of Rohan and the Uruk-hai are attacked by horsemen known as the “Riders of Rohan.”  The two hobbits are able to slip away and escape while the horsemen kill the orcs and burn their bodies.

Merry and Pippin flee into the nearby Fangorn Forest where they soon meet giant, treelike creature called Treebeard.  Treebeard is an Ent, a walking, talking tree that acts as a guardian of the forest.  Treebeard and his fellow creatures are known as Ents.  Treebeard takes the hobbits to his home and later to a council with other Ents.  After listening to the hobbits’ tale and of Saruman’s destruction of the forests, Treebeard takes the hobbits to a council with more Ents.  It’s determined that the two hobbits are telling the truth and that something must be done to stop Saruman from destroying the trees.  The Ents become enraged and take the hobbits with them on a march to Isengard, the home of Saruman.

While the two hobbits are with the Ents, Aragon, Legolas and Gimli have also crossed into Rodan and they meet with the Rides of Rohan.  When speaking with Eomer, the leader of the Riders and the nephew of King Theoden, the trio learns that the Riders attacked and killed a large group of orcs the previous night.  Although there were no orcs who survived, Aragorn finds a set of hobbit footprints heading into the Fangorn Forest.

In the forest, the trio encounters an old man who looks like Saruman.  But it’s not Saruman.  This is really Gandalf, the same wizard that they saw fall into the abyss deep in the mines of Moria.  Gandalf recounts his tale of falling into the abyss, his battle to the death with the Balrog, and then his resurrection and increase in power.  Previously he was Gandalf the Grey.  Now he’s Gandalf the White.  After telling the trio that Merry and Pippin are safe, Gandalf joins the trio and they head to Edoras, the capital of Rohan, to meet with King Theoden.

At Edoras, the four companions try to speak with King Theoden and convince him of the approaching danger from Saruman, but they run into resistance by Grima Wormtongue, King Theoden’s trusted advisor who became corrupted by Saruman and, thus, has weakened Theoden’s kingdoms through lies and persuasion.  King Theoden is finally convinced that he is not as weak as Wormtongue has made himself to believe, and Wormtongue is expelled and banished from the kingdom of Rohan.

King Theoden decides to move his population to the safety of a valley called Helm’s Deep.  The king’s forces, along with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, are moved to the fortress of Hornburg at the entrance to a system of caves that will protect the women and children.  The rest of the men take up arms and wait for Saruman’s approaching army of orcs.  Before the orcs arrive, Gandalf flees on an unknown mission.

Saurman’s army arrives and there’s a terrific battle as the orcs launch a full-scale assault against Hornsburg.  King Theoden and Aragorn resist the orcs as best that they can, but the orcs simply overpower them.  Just when the battle looks bleak for the defenders, Gandalf suddenly arrives with the remains of an army that lost earlier to the orcs.  Gandalf’s assault against the orcs turns the tide in the battle, and the remaining orcs flee into a forest where they are all killed by Huorons, treelike creatures similar to Ents.  After winning the battle, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and King Theoden head to Isengard to confront Saurman.

Meanwhile, Treebeard and the Ents have successfully attacked Isengard and destroyed Saurman’s ability to manufacture weapons and troops.  Saruman and Wormtongue are trapped inside of Orthanc, the central tower at Isengard.  When the group from Helm’s Deep arrives they are reunited with Merry and Pippen.  Gandalf tries to talk to Saruman and he offers the wizard a chance to repent, but his offer is refused.  Saruman is then cast out of the Order of Wizards and the White Council.

Wormtongue throws an object from an upper window at Gandalf, but it misses the wizard.  Pippin picks up the item and discovers that it is a magical seeing-stone, an item that allows a person to see another part of Middle-earth.  However, the seeing-stone works both ways, and it’s possible for the person doing the looking to also be viewed.  When Pippin takes a peek into the seeing-stone he encounters the Eye of Sauron.  Sauron sees Pippin and thinks that he is the hobbit carrying the One Ring, when in reality it was Frodo who was hundreds of miles away.  Gandalf thinks that Pippin is now in danger from Sauron, so he quickly takes him away to the fortress of Minas Tirith in the land of Gondor.

War is coming to Gondor.  As Gandalf rides away with Pippin, King Theoden, Aragorn, Merry, Gimli and Legolas remain behind to gather the remaining forces of Rohan so they can aid Gondor in their imminent war with Mordor.

Book IV – The Journey to Mordor

After sailing down the river and continuing on land, Frodo and Sam eventually capture Gollum, the wily creature that has been stalking them for some time.  Gollum hopes to steal back the One Ring, his “precious“, and keep it for himself.  Although Sam is disgusted with Gollum and doesn’t trust him, Frodo pities him.  Frodo makes Gollum promise to show the way to Mordor in exchange for not being killed by the hobbits.  Gollum does so and begins to act like his old personality Smeagol.

Gollum leads the hobbits through a gloomy and swampy land called the Dead Marshes to avoid being spotted by the orcs.  They eventually make it through the marshes and reach the Black Gate of Mordor, but it’s heavily guarded by orcs and other creatures.  Passing through the gate is a death wish.  Instead of passing through this gate, Gollum promises to show the hobbits to a secret entrance into Mordor.

The hobbits are skeptical about Gollum’s intentions but they agree to go to the secret gate.  Their journey takes them south into the land of Gondor where they are soon captured by a group of Gondorian rangers led by Faramir, the brother of Boromir.  The two hobbits are taken prisoner and transported to a secret underground hideout where they are continually questioned and interrogated about their mission.  Sam becomes frustrated to the way that Frodo is being treated, and he accidentally reveals to Faramir that Frodo is carrying the One Ring.  Frodo also comes clean and tells Faramir of the mission to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

That night Gollum is captured by the rangers while he’s diving into a sacred pool to catch and eat fish.  The rangers are willing to execute Gollum, but Frodo negotiates for the creature’s freedom.  The next morning Faramir decides to release Frodo, Sam and Gollum and to allow them to continue with their quest.  Before they leave, Faramir warns Frodo that Gollum may be hiding information about the secret entrance to Mordor.

The trio continues through Gondor and Gollum leads Frodo and Sam to a massive staircase built into a mountain pass.  He pushes them to the point of exhaustion.  When they finally reach the top of the stairs, Gollum then urges the two hobbits to follow him through a pitch black tunnel, the secret entrance to Mordor.  Inside the tunnel Gollum slips away and the two hobbits are on their own.  But they’re not alone in the tunnel.  When Frodo uses a device that creates artificial light, he and Sam see that they are being stalked by a massive spider named Shelob.  The two of them flee and reach an exit, and they use their swords to cut through the spider’s web and leave the tunnel.

Frodo and Sam mistakenly think that they’re safe until Gollum sneaks up and ambushes Sam.  The hobbit is able to fight him off and slip away, but Shelob attacks Frodo before Sam can arrive and help.  The spider stings Frodo and he collapses onto the ground.  Sam is able to use Frodo’s sword to attack and badly wound Shelob, forcing the spider to flee.  The hobbit thinks that his friend is dead, so he takes the One Ring and decides to complete the mission to destroy it on his own.

This changes though when Sam hears orcs approach, and he has to put on the One Ring to hide from them.  He watches the orcs pick up Frodo’s body and carry him through the tunnel.  Sam follows along and overhears the orcs talk about how the hobbit is still alive and he’ll be waking up in a few hours.  Apparently the spider never eats “dead” meat or drinks cold blood.  The orcs take Frodo into Mordor so that he can be searched and interrogated.  The book ends with Sam chasing the orcs and trying to rescue Frodo Baggins.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers a good story?

Yes, this is a good book and a great continuation to the story established in The Fellowship of the Ring.  In order to get the most out of The Two Towers, it really helps if you have read the previous book.  If you were lost or had trouble understanding the characters and events in the first book, then you’re going to be in trouble here with The Two Towers.

I definitely enjoyed Book IV more than Book III.  It felt like Book III included so much material and so many characters that it could have been expanded and printed as its own separate story in The Lord of the Rings.  On the other hand, Book IV was more focused and it seemed to have a smoother flow to it, from the hobbits capturing Gollum to the encounter with the spider Shelob.

As a whole, The Two Towers is still a great read and a fun journey into a world of fantasy occupied by medieval armies, orcs, wizards, and other mysterious and fascinating creatures.

In 2002, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released to the theaters as part of Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy.