THE TWO TOWERS by JRR Tolkien
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
‘I have no fitting gifts to give you at our parting,' said Faramir; ‘but take these staves. They may be of service to those who walk or climb in the wild. The men of the White Mountains use them; though these have been cut down to your height and newly shod. They are made of the fair tree lebethron, beloved of the woodwrights of Gondor, and a virtue has been set upon them of finding and returning. May that virtue not wholly fail under the Shadow into which you go!'
The hobbits bowed low. ‘Most gracious host,' said Frodo, 'it was said to me by Elrond Halfelven that I should find friendship upon the way, secret and unlooked for. Certainly I looked for no such friendship as you have shown. To have found it turns evil to great good.’
TITLE—The Two Towers (Books 3 & 4 of The Lord of the Rings)
AUTHOR—JRR Tolkien
PUBLISHED—1954
PUBLISHER—Allen & Unwin
GENRE—high fantasy
SETTING—Middle-earth
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—enchanted forests & the ancient power of trees, attempted eco-cide & environmental destruction through war, industry, & pollution, rustic wisdom, pity / forgiveness / redemption, wizards, hobbits, elves, dwarves, & different clans of men, DID rep, absolutely stunning writing, the distinction bw good & evil in literature—or “romance”—vs the “real world,” brotherly love friendships & commradeships (asexual bromance), betrayal & fear, #ErusPlan, scawry spidewrs, vivid descriptions of landscapes that have been brutally destroyed by war & industrial violence
“Still, we do what we can. We keep off strangers and the foolhardy; and we train and we teach, we walk and we weed. We are tree-herds, we old Ents. Few enough of us are left now. Sheep get like shepherd, and shepherds like sheep, it is said; but slowly, and neither have long in the world. It is quicker and closer with trees and Ents, and they walk down the ages together.” [Treebeard]
Summary:
Books 3 & 4 of The Lord of the Rings—published as Vol. 2: The Two Towers—are the sequels to Vol. 1: The Fellowship of the Ring; with Vol. 3: The Return of the King (Books 5 & 6 of The Lord of the Rings + the Appendices) being the final installment of the series. These books continue with the adventures of the Fellowship, now on their divergent & respective paths.
My thoughts:
On this reread I was particularly drawn to the camaraderie between Éomer, Gimli, & Aragorn during the battle at Helm’s deep, & the continued development of Gimli & Legolas’s friendship. The mental image of Éomer & Aragorn charging into battle together screaming their swords’ names was *mwah.* & Gimli & Éomer’s banter was hysterical.
In Book 3 I was also especially interested in the deeper look into Orc sociocultural elements that we got through the eyes of Pippin while he & Merry were their prisoners. I thought Tolkien’s discussion of the nature of their languages & varied dialects was fascinating.
Book 4 has always been my least favorite of the six books of this series so I was super curious to reread it this time both a) in community with the #FellowshipOfTheReaders bookclub, & b) while listening to the Andy Serkis-narrated version. Apparently many of the FOTR readers had similar feelings & yet in discussing it together we found *so* much this time around to love about this book from Tolkien’s stunning & devastating writing of the different landscapes from the horrible Dead Marshes to the hopeless Dagorlad & Morannon, from idyllic Ithilien to the treacherous path into Cirith Ungo), to Sam’s character in particular & his rustic wisdom & the important role he plays in balancing Frodo’s pity & sense of doom with his own vigilance & sense of justice. And obviously listening to Serkis do the “real” Gollum voice for all of Sméagol/Gollum’s dialogue was absolutely top-tier. Highly, highly recommend.
“‘But I should like to know—‘ Pippin began.
‘Mercy!’ cried Gandalf. ‘If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?’
‘The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole history of Middle-earth and Over-heaven and of the Sundering Seas,’ laughed Pippin. ‘Of course! What less?’”
SPOILERS⤵️
Something else that is affirmed again every time I reread THE TWO TOWERS is how in the books Éomer never abandons Théoden but rather is thrown in jail by Gríma & so is then with Théoden at Helm’s Deep; Faramir never attempts to take the ring from Frodo; & Frodo never sends Sam away in Cirith Ungol; & whatever-whatever about tension & plot & movie story-craft blah blah but those are three changes I never liked that they made in the films so every time I reread the book I super appreciate all those elements especially.
I also much prefer book-Éowyn who is a somewhat older, wiser shieldmaiden-type character with none of that weird whiny attitude or questionable cooking skills (🙄) they gave her in the films. 😒 (Caveat: Miranda Otto was cute as a button though & played the role as it was written for her immaculately. 😚👌🏻) Oh plus Frodo & Sam actually get to eat the rabbit stew in the book too. 🐰🌿🥣😋 It’s also funny because I love almost all of the changes they made for the films from books 1 & 3 but *so* many of the deviations from the TTT book bothered me.
Anyway I still love both of my children them equally. 👀😁
I would recommend this book to readers who love high fantasy featuring intricate worldbuilding, deeply nuanced characters, & a mythology predicated on natural theology. This book is best read while watching the films on a loop in the background—I think they add so much depth to each other that I do still really appreciate in spite of their major differences.
‘Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima!’ he cried, and knew not what he had spoken; for it seemed that another voice spoke through his, clear, untroubled by the foul air of the pit.
But other potencies there are in Middle-earth, powers of night, and they are old and strong. And She that walked in the darkness had heard the Elves cry that cry far back in the deeps of time, and she had not heeded it, and it did not daunt her now.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Final note: I can’t wait to move on to books 5 & 6. . . RETURN OF THE KING is probably my favorite of the book. . . especially Book 6, I—
CW // environmental devastation & mass casualties vividly reminiscent of Tolkien’s experiences during WWI; a tragic character with DID
Season: late winter/early spring (the action of these two books takes place between February 26th & March 12th)
Music pairing: Howard Shore
Further Reading—
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: A Reader’s Companion, by Christina Scull & Wayne G Hammond
THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE EARTH Vols. 6-9:
IX. The End of the Third Age / re-issued as SAURON DEFEATED for the box-set
See my list here for more recs: “Complete recommended & TBR list of works by & about Tolkien”
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