The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Book 2

The Most Popular Classic-High Fantasy Bestsellers Books - J. R. R. Tolkien's The Two Towers: Info, Plot Summary, Review and J. R. R. Tolkien Biography

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Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Book 2: The Two Towers (416 Pgs.)

Volume #2 of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

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Book III: The Treason of Isengard

As Aragorn searches for Frodo, he suddenly hears Boromir's horn. Aragorn finds Boromir mortally wounded by arrows and his assailants are gone. Before Boromir dies, Aragorn learns that Saruman's Uruk-hai have kidnapped some of the hobbits, in spite of his efforts to defend them, and that Frodo had vanished after Boromir had attempted to take the Ring from him and that he truly regretted his actions. In his last moments, Boromir charges Aragorn to defend Minas Tirith from Sauron. With Legolas and Gimli, who had been fighting Orcs by themselves, Aragorn pays his last tributes to Boromir and sends him down the Great River Anduin on a funeral boat, the usual methods of burial being impractical. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli later resolve to follow the Uruk-hai captors and save Merry and Pippin. Meanwhile, after some hardship, Merry and Pippin escape when the Uruk-hai are attacked by the horsemen of Rohan, called the Rohirrim or "Riders of Rohan". Merry and Pippin escape into the nearby Fangorn Forest, where they encounter the giant treelike Ents. The Ents resemble actual trees, except they are able to see, talk, and move. These guardians of the forest generally keep to themselves, but after a long contemplation on whether or not the Hobbits were friends, or foes, their leader Treebeard persuades the Ent council to oppose the menace posed to the forest by the wizard Saruman, as suggested by Merry and Pippin, as Treebeard realizes that Saruman's minions have been cutting down large numbers of their trees to fuel the furnaces needed for Saruman's arming of his dark army.

Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas come across the Riders of Rohan led by Éomer, nephew of King Théoden. The trio learn that the horsemen had attacked a band of Orcs the previous night, and that they had left no survivors. However, Aragorn is able to track a small set of prints that lead into Fangorn, where they see an old man who disappears almost as soon as they see him — they assume him to be Saruman. Shortly afterward, the three meet Gandalf (again, they at first take him to be Saruman), whom they believed had perished in the mines of Moria. He tells them of his fall into the abyss, his battle to the death with the Balrog and his resurrection and his enhanced power. Gandalf tells them that Merry and Pippin are safe, and the four ride to Rohan's capital Edoras, where Gandalf rouses King Théoden from inaction against the threat Saruman poses. In the process, Saruman's spy in Rohan (and King Théoden's trusted advisor) Gríma Wormtongue, is expelled from Rohan. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas then travel with Théoden's troops to the fortress of Hornburg, in the valley of Helm's Deep. Gandalf rides away before the battle begins, though he gives no reason for doing so. At the Hornburg, the army of Rohan led by King Théoden and Aragorn resist a full-scale onslaught by the hosts of Saruman. Yet, things begin to go ill with Rohan, until Gandalf arrives with the remains of the army of Westfold that Saruman's forces had previously routed. The tide now turns in Rohan's favour, and Saruman's orcs flee into a forest of Huorns, creatures similar to Ents, and none escape alive. Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas, along with King Théoden and Éomer, head to Saruman's stronghold of Isengard.

Here, they reunite with Merry and Pippin and find Isengard overrun by Ents, who had flooded it by breaking a nearby dam of the river Isen, and the central tower of Orthanc besieged, with Saruman and Wormtongue trapped inside. Gandalf offers Saruman a chance to repent, but is refused, and so casts Saruman out of the Order of Wizards and the White Council. Gríma throws something from a window at Gandalf but misses, and it is picked up by Pippin. This object turns out to be one of the palantíri (seeing-stones). Pippin, unable to resist the urge, looks into it and encounters the Eye of Sauron, but emerges unscathed from the ordeal. Gandalf and Pippin then head for Minas Tirith in Gondor in preparation for the imminent war against Mordor, while Théoden, Merry, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas remain behind to begin the muster of Rohan, to ride to the aid of Gondor.


Book IV: The Journey to Mordor

Frodo and Sam discover and capture Gollum, who has been stalking them in their quest to reach Mount Doom and destroy the One Ring, as Gollum attempts to reclaim the Ring for himself. Sam loathes and distrusts him, but Frodo pities the poor creature. Gollum promises to lead the pair to the Black Gate of Mordor and for a time appears to be like his old self Sméagol. He leads them through a hidden passage of the Dead Marshes in order to avoid being spied by Orcs. Frodo and Sam learn that the Dead Marshes were once part of an ancient battlefield, upon which the War of the Last Alliance was fought. Upon reaching the Black Gate, Gollum persuades Frodo and Sam not to enter, where they would have been surely caught. Gollum tells them of a secret entrance to Mordor. Thus, they head south into Gondor's province of Ithilien, where they are accosted by a group of Gondorian rangers led by Faramir, the brother of Boromir. Frodo learns from Faramir of Boromir's death. Faramir and the Rangers lead Frodo and Sam into a secret hideout where Sam accidentally reveals to Faramir that Frodo carries the One Ring. As a result of this, Frodo reveals the plan to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Later that night, Gollum is captured diving for fish into the sacred pool. Frodo negotiates Gollum's freedom with Faramir. The following morning Faramir allows them to go on their way, but warns them that Gollum may know more about the secret entrance than he has been telling them.

Gollum leads them past the city of Minas Morgul and up a long, steep staircase of the Cirith Ungol and into the lair of an enormous spider named Shelob. Gollum hopes to get the Ring from Frodo's bones after Shelob is done with him. The hobbits escape Shelob in her lair and mistakenly assume that they are safe. However, Shelob sneaks up on Frodo. Sam attempts to warn Frodo but is attacked by Gollum. Shelob stings Frodo in the back of the neck and he collapses to the ground. Sam fends off Gollum, who runs off back towards Shelob's cave. Sam then drives off Shelob by wounding her with Frodo's blade, Sting. After seeing Frodo lifeless and pale, Sam assumes that Frodo is dead and debates chasing Gollum and abandoning the Quest in favour of vengeance. Sam resolves to finish the Quest himself and takes the Ring, but when Orcs take Frodo's body, Sam follows them. He learns that Frodo is not dead, but only unconscious, and is now a prisoner. Sam falls into a swoon as the orcs reach the undergate of the Tower of Cirith Ungol. The book ends with the line, "Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy."

Source: Wikipedia

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J. R. R. Tolkien: The Two Towers

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J. R. R. Tolkien: The Two Towers - Review
Reviewed by Jill Marshall

It was a desperate enterprise, to form a Fellowship of Nine Walkers to accompany Frodo son of Drogo, Ring Bearer, on his hopeless quest to return the Ring of Power to the fires of Mount Doom, to destroy it utterly for all time.

As you will know by now, the fellowship failed at the end of the first part of this trilogy. Gandalf fell into the abyss in the Mines of Moria as he battled with the Balrog; Boromir fell under the evil influence of the Ring and attempted to take it from Frodo by force. The company was attacked by orcs and scattered. Boromir died defending Pippin and Merry, but at the end they were taken hostage by orcs and carried away, and in the tumult Frodo and Sam set off alone on the final stage of their desperate journey to Mordor

When The Two Towers opens Aragorn has lost control of the situation:

'This is a bitter end. Now the Company is all in ruin. It is I that have failed. Vain was Gandalf's trust in me. What shall I do now? Boromir has laid it on me to go to Minas Tirith, and my heart desires it; but where are the Ring and the Bearer? How shall I find them and save the Quest from disaster?'

It is an evil choice which lies before him:

'Let me think!' said Aragorn. 'And now may I make a right choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day!' He stood silent for a moment. 'I will follow the Orcs,' he said at last. 'I would have guided Frodo to Mordor and gone with him to the end; but if I seek him now in the wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death. My heart speaks clearly at last: the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer. The Company has played its part. Yet we that remain cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left. Come! We will go now. Leave all that can be spared behind! We will press on by day and dark!'

The three companions, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, who represent the three great races of Middle Earth, begin a relentless chase from the Falls of Rauros across the Vale of Rohan to the very eaves of Fangorn Forest in a bid to rescue the two hobbits from their merciless captors. It is a heroic effort:

'This deed of the three friends should be sung in many a hall.'

Thus says Eomer of Rohan, who meets them on the plain and tells them that he and his men have already intercepted and killed the orcs on the border of the ancient forest. The three companions are still in some doubt about the fate of Pippin and Merry, when they encounter Gandalf, who has returned from death in order to continue the battle against the evil shadow. He is now presented as the White Rider, mounted on Shadowfax, so that the companions are momentarily confused as to his true identity, but it is a joyful, if hasty, reunion.

There is much to do. The traitor Saruman must be dealt with. Saruman is the leader of Gandalf's order, but he has spent too long studying the ways of the enemy and he has succumbed to the power of the Dark Lord. He seeks the Ring for his own use, and he has raised his own fighting force. Gandalf and the three companions ride across Rohan to rally King Theoden of the Mark. King Theoden makes his stand at the Hornburg against the forces of Saruman, and it it a hard-fought battle, but they receive unexpected assistance from the Ents out of Fangorn. If you want to know what kind of help a group of ancient shepherds of trees can render in this situation, you'll have to read the book, and you might find out what happens to Merry and Pippin too.

Now, what has become of Frodo and Sam? They have chosen a bitter route through the Emyn Muil hills and the Dead Marshes. They are heading, without hope, straight for the Black Gate of Mordor. Still Frodo does not know the way and cannot find his way, until he and Sam fall in with Gollum, who has secretly pursued them all the way from the Mines of Moria. Gollum is drawn by the power of the Ring and an uneasy truce is maintained between him and the hobbits. Gollum agrees to lead Frodo into Mordor through a secret entrance that he claims to have discovered during his wanderings alone.

If you want to know how Gollum keeps his promise, you will have to read the book for yourself. It is a grievous story of treachery illumined only by the love of Samwise for his master. Do you remember what Elrond said to Frodo, as the Company of the Ring prepared to leave Rivendell?

'I can foresee very little of your road; and how your task is to be achieved I do not know. The Shadow has crept now to the feet of the Mountains, and draws nigh even to the borders of the Greyflood; and under the Shadow all is dark to me. You will meet many foes, some open, and some disguised; and you may find friends upon your way when you least look for it ...'

Another nerve-shredding episode of The Lord of the Rings.

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