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The Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It is preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring and followed by The Return of the King.1 Title
Tolkien came up with the title under deadline pressure and later expressed dissatisfaction with it. In letters and one sketch he considered several possible sets of towers, including Minas Tirith and the Barad-dûr, and even the possibility of leaving the matter ambiguous. However, he eventually settled on Orthanc and Minas Morgul and wrote a note to this effect which appears at the end of most editions of The Fellowship of the Ring. He also produced a final cover illustration showing these towers, but the publisher decided not to use it in order to save money on the production costs.
Loosely, any pair from a set of five towers in the story could plausibly fit the title: Cirith Ungol, Orthanc, Minas Tirith, Barad-dur, and Minas Morgul.
From the age of 12, Tolkien lived within a few miles of Perrott's Folly, and the adjacent tower for Edgbaston Waterworks, in Birmingham. Local lore holds that these were inspiration for the towers in the book.
2 Structure
Because The Two Towers was conceived as the central portion of a longer work, its structure differs from that of a conventional novel. It begins and ends abruptly, without introduction to the characters, explanations of major plot elements or a satisfying conclusion. The first section follows the divergent paths of several important figures from The Fellowship of the Ring, but tells nothing of its central character, on whose fate so much depends, enabling the reader to share in the suspense and uncertainty of the characters themselves. The narrative of the second part returns to the hero's quest to destroy the evil that threatens the world. While the first section tells of an epic battle, the struggles in much of the second section are internal.
3 Contents
3.1 Book III: The Treason of Isengard
Hobbits Merry and Pippin escape from the OrcOrc or Ork an Old English word ('orc-neas' from Beowulf) for the zombie-like monsters of Grendel's race was revived by J. Tolkien in his Middle-earth legendarium. For the origin of the word and its usage in other fantasy works, see: Orc. In Tolkien's writs who captured them and encounter treelike giants called EntThe word Ent comes from Middle English, and means giant. In the original sense of the word, Ents are probably the most ubiquitous of all creatures in fantasy and folklore, perhaps second only to Dragons. The word "Ent" as it is historically used can refers. These guardians of the forest generally keep to themselves, but are moved to oppose the menace posed to the trees by the wizardIn the fiction of J. Tolkien, the Wizards of Middle-earth are a small group of beings outwardly resembling Men but possessing much greater physical and mental power. They are also called the Istari ("Wise Ones") by the Elves. The Sindarin word is Ithron'' SarumanSaruman is a fictional character from J. Tolkien's universe, Middle-earth. Saruman the White Curunir Lan in Sindarin) was the first of his order of Wizards (or Istari) who came into Middle-earth as Emissaries of the Valar in the Third Age. He was the lead.
AragornAragorn is a fictional character from J. Tolkien's fantasy universe of Middle-earth. Aragorn was born on March 1st in the year 2931 of the Third Age, as the son of Arathorn II and his wife Gilraen. Aragorn was a direct descendant of Elendil and Isildur, w, Gimli the DwarfKhazad" redirects here. See KHAZAD for the block cipher named after Khazad-dum. The Dwarves of J. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth are beings of short stature, often friendly with Hobbits although long suspicious of Elves. They are typically b and Legolas the ElfThe Elves (always spelt such, never "Elfs") are one of the races that appear in the work of J. Their complex history is described in full only in The Silmarillion and it is mentioned tangentially in The Lord of the Rings''. Elves were the first inhabitant, tracking Merry and Pippin, meet their wizard friend GandalfIan McKellen portrays Gandalf in The Two Towers. Because of his openness he is well-liked by many Tolkien fans. This article is about the fictional character from J. Tolkien's books. For other meanings of Gandalf see: Gandalf (disambiguation Gandalf is a, 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 reawakening. The four ride to Edoras and persuade King Théoden that his people are in danger. They travel to the defensive fortification Helm's Deep, where they resist an onslaught of Orcs and Men sent by Saruman, before heading to Saruman's stronghold in Isengard.
There, they reunite with Merry and Pippin and find Orthanc besieged by Ents. After giving Saruman a chance to repent, Gandalf casts him out of the order of wizards. Wormtongue throws something from a window at Gandalf and those with him. This turns out to be one of the palantíri. Pippin, unable to resist the urge, looks into it and has an encounter with Sauron. They then head for Minas Tirith in preparation for the upcoming war.
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