This page is
concerned with the summary of Tolkien's bestseller, The Lord
of the Rings: The Two Towers (1954)
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THE
TWO TOWERS
BOOK
3
Aragorn, Gimli
and Legolas decide not to follow Frodo and Sam into Mordor, but
instead try to catch up with Merry and Pippin, who have been kidnapped
by Uruk-Hai. They chase this group of Orcs through the
land of Rohan, for many miles and many nights without rest.
Unfortunately, the Orcs are more than 36 hours ahead. Finally,
they encounter Riders of Rohan, of whom Éomer, the third
marshal of Rohan, is the leader. They tell the Three Hunters that
they ambushed a band of Orcs during the night and that none of
them did escape. Although no foreigner is allowed to travel through
Rohan without permission of its King, Éomer gives Aragorn and
his comrades permission to go and he even provides horses.
Pippin and
Merry are kidnapped by the Orcs of Isengard, the Uruk-Hai, who
have a White Hand as a sign. Actually, it appears that different
groups of Orcs are present: Orcs from the Misty Mountains, who
just want to kill the prisoners as a revenge for Moria, Orcs from
Mordor lead by Grishnak, and the Orcs from Isengard, whose
task it is to deliver the Halflings alive to their master, Saruman.
The Orcs get into a fight because of arguments what to do with
the prisoners and this allows Merry and Pippin to escape. During
their escape, the Orcs are attacked by the Riders of Rohan. Merry
and Pippin remain unseen because of their elven cloaks, and manage
to escape into the woods. There, in the woods of Fangorn,
Merry and Pippin meet a strange creature, Treebeard. He
is an Ent, a sheperd of trees. He takes the hobbits to his home
in Wellinghall and listens to their story. Their story and the
behaviour of Orcs, who have been cutting beautifull trees in his
woods without apparent reason, make him angry. He calls for an Entmoot, a gathering of Ents. The Ents gather and, further encouraged
by the coming of Merry and Pippin, they decide to attack Isengard
to take revenge. They march forth.
Meanwhile,
Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas find the place where the battle took
place. They do not find the bodies of the young hobbits, but instead,
Aragorn finds a mysterious trail leading to the forest. In this
forest the meet and old man, clothed in white. He reveals himself
to be Gandalf, arisen again from the dead to fulfill his task
in Middle Earth. He is now no longer Gandalf the Grey, but Gandalf
the White, the White Rider. He tells them the Hobbits are
in safe hands. Gandalf learns that Frodo has entered Mordor together
with Sam. He is beyond their reach now, but to aid him, he plans
to distract Saurons attention from the borders of Mordor by starting
the war against Sauron in the West.
The first war to be fought is against Saruman. For this purpose,
they travel to Edoras, where the Golden Hall of the King of Rohan, Théoden, son of Thengel, stands. They are not joyfully
welcomed. Théoden was grieved by Gandalf, because Gandalf took
Shadowfax, the mightiest horse in the country, after his earlier
flight from Isengard. The King's advisor, Grima Wormtongue argues not to listen to them. Then Gandalf, with the aid of some
magic, reveals Wormtongue is a traitor, who made a deal with Saruman
to become the ruler of Rohan and the husband of Théodens sister-daughter Eowyn when Saruman has conquered the Western Lands. Wormtongue
also advised to hold Éomer captive after his return from the fields
of Rohan. Théoden's only son, Theodred, died during a recent raid
of Isengard Orks at the Isen. Gandalf urges Théoden to quickly
raise an army and defend the Isen against the host of Saruman.
Théoden, relieved from Saruman's spell, leads the Rohan army to
the Isen.
They all ride
within a day to the river Isen, where they discover the outnumbered
remnants of the Rohan army, which suffered many losses. Gandalf
leaves on Shadowfax, now his horse, to "arrange some things".
The army moves to Helm's Deep, where the mighty Hornburg
is situated. They reach it just in time. Within a day, a mighty
army of Orcs appears. A great battle is fought. After a vigorous
fight the Orcs conquer the Dike at Helm's Deep. The Rohan army
flies to the Hornburg or to the caves of Agarlond. At dawn, the
mighty horn of of Helm Hammerhand sounds and, under the cheers
"Helm for Théoden", Théoden himself rides to battle. Together,
Éomer and Aragorn are in the frontline of the battle, fighting
the Orcs back. Suddenly, Gandalf appears with the remnants of
the scattered army of Rohan, leaded by marshall Erkenbrand. He
also brings a mysterious dark forest. The Orcs are in fear after
seeing all these armies raised against them, and they fly into
the dark wood. None of them are seen again.
In the mean
while, while Isengard's army are fighting in Helm's Deep, the
Ents attack Isengard. All the walls are torn to the ground and
the valley is flooded to kill the fires under Isengard. Théoden
and a small company, including Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli
visit Isengard, where they are welcomed by the two hobbits Merry
and Pippin. Saruman has not surrendered yet; he locked himself
in Orthanc, the Tower of Isengard, which is unbreakable.
Gandalf talks with Saruman, who tries to influence the audience
using his magic voice. Gandalf casts Saruman out of the Order
of Wizards and breaks his staff. Wormtongue, who fled to his master
Saruman after his unmasking, throws a round black stone at Saruman,
but barely misses. Pippin picks it up. Saruman chooses to remain
in the tower.
Next day,
they ride to Edoras. At night, Pippin steals the black ball from
Gandalf to take a closer look at it. It is a Palantír,
a far-seeing stone. However, Pippins sight is caught by Sauron,
who is in the possession of another Palantír. Thinking Sauman
captured a halfling, he quickly sends a Nazgûl to Isengard.
Pippin barely escapes from the attraction of the Palantír. Gandalf
takes Pippin on Shadowfax away from Isengard and Rohan to Minas
Tirith, the capital of Gondor. Aragorn takes the stone and
reveals himself to Sauron as the heir of Isildur. These events
will make Sauron to attack the West quickly, although his forces
are not at optimal strength. This will buy Frodo and Sam some
time by distracting the attention from the borders of Mordor.
War is at hand.
BOOK
4
Sam and Frodo
enter the Emyn Muil, an area of cliffs and tall rocks.
They notice they're being followed by Gollum, who is eventually
captured by force. Gollum tries to escape, but he is captured
again. Frodo makes him swear on the Ring (the precious) not to
run away. Gollum will be their guide to Mordor, to which he has
travelled before. The road to the Morannon, the gates of Mordor,
leads through stinking marches (the Dead Marches) and other desperate
areas.
Finally, they
reach the gates of the Morannon. They see a vast army of Orcs
and big tall black gates. It is imppossible to enter. Gollum claims
to know another way into Mordor, a way which is not watched as
intensly as the Black Gates. Gollum is quite mysterious about
this high pass, which is the pass of Cirith Ungol. On their
way to this pass, which is located more to the south, they travel
through Itilien, which once was a part of the land of Gondor.
They meet warriors from Gondor, lead by Faramir, the brother
of Boromir and son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor. Hearing
the story Frodo tells, Faramir wants to know more and takes Frodo
and Sam (Gollum managed to hide) to his hiding place in Ithilien,
Henneth Annûn. There Faramir learns about the fate of Boromir
and the quest of the Ring. Meanwhile, his soldiers have captured
Gollum. Although he has discovered the presence of the One Ring,
Faramir decides to let them go and provides them with food. He
warns Frodo for the proposed road to the Cirith Ungol.
Frodo, Sam
and Gollum travel south until they reach the valley of Cirith
Ungol. In this valley, Minas Ithil, the home of the Nazgul,
the Ringwraiths, is located. It is a valley of death. While passing
this valley, they see an army coming out of Minas Ithil, heading
for war in the West. The army is lead by the King of the Nazgul.
One moment, he stops because he is sensing something. A moment
later he passes on, leaving Frodo and his companions undiscovered.
They travel by high stairs to the pass of Cirith Ungul. Suddenly,
Gollum is gone.
What Frodo
and Sam do not know is that this pass is guarded by a veil creature, Shelob. Shelob is a large evil spider, with whom Gollum
made a deal. Suddenly, Frodo and Sam feel their way blocked by
a strong spider web. Frodo cuts the strings with Sting. He is
attacked by Shelob and slain by her. Sam picks up Sting and in
a desperate attempt, being helped by the light from Galadriel's
phile, the sword Sting is pushed into Shelobs belly. She retreats.
Sam rushes to Frodo, but he is lifeless. Sam takes the Ring from
Frodo to finish the quest alone. While invisible in the cave,
he hears Orcs passing, who discover Frodo's body. They say that
he is only poisened, not death. They take Frodo to their stronghold.
Sam follows them. There he is, alone; Frodo is alive, but captured
by the enemy.
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