Thoughts on ‘The Two Towers’ – The Lord of the Rings Part 2
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien ends with Frodo fleeing with the ring, after Boromir tries to forcefully take it from him. Luckily, Frodo’s ever faithful companion – Sam – follows him, refusing to let Frodo be alone in his perilous journey to Mordor, to destroy the ring.
There is not a chance in hell that I’d have enjoyed reading the book as much as I did if I hadn’t seen the movies (Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy that came out between 2001-2003). I said this in my review of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ too, but I will say it again—my brother and I were school kids back then, and we absolutely LOVED watching the movies in theatres. One summer vacation, we made our parents rent the DVDs so we could watch all the movies together. That was the last time we did such a long movie marathon as siblings. Good times.
Okay, back to the books—they are soooooo slow. It took me a month to read this one, but I was able to enjoy a few pages every day before going to bed because there was no anxiety over “what’s going to happen next.” Since I already knew the whole story.
The Two Towers essentially follows three different journeys:
1. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli looking for Merry and Pippin, who get kidnapped by Orcs
2. Merry and Pippin’s misadventures with the Orcs, their eventual escape, and meeting with an Ent called Treebeard
3. Frodo and Sam trying to get to Mordor to destroy the ring
There are also several battles and skirmishes through the chapters, with Sauron, the villain, unleashing his army to defeat those standing in his quest for absolute power. But mostly, The Two Towers is once again about a lot of walking, hiking, walking, and some more walking. If I hadn’t seen the movies, this would’ve definitely been a little more frustrating to go through for readers like me who prefer minimal descriptions and more action in their stories. Especially since the second book doesn’t give readers an account of what is happening with Frodo until the very end. WHAT THE HELL???
Book 2 begins with a chapter called “The Departure of Boromir”, which starts with the unexpected death of Boromir – a character most readers probably care the least about. It’s been so long since I saw the movies, that I was surprised at how early on he dies in the book. And even though it is revealed how his heart is easily corrupted by the ring, which fair to say, is one of the many factors that lead to the breaking up of the fellowship of the ring, he proves to be a worthy hero in his last moments. I really didn’t care much for Boromir’s character, and it’s easy to despise him a lot more once he gets corrupted due to the ring, so I was surprised at how his death managed to make me feel a tiny bit emotional. It’s largely due to the fitting farewell he receives from Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas, who give him a hero’s funeral, even singing an ode to his valour, courage, and sacrifice.
But soon after this chapter, ‘The Two Towers’ is a long-winding book about the characters trying to get somewhere. But again, it’s not like it was completely boring, or that I was struggling to finish it, it’s super slow, yes, but it’s the kind of novel that you can peacefully enjoy a few chapters of, and leisurely read it over how many ever days you want. But I really missed all the songs from the first book, which were most charming literary ingredient in ‘The Fellowship of the Ring”. Unfortunately, the are few songs in book two, this is of-course owing to the fact that the characters are in a more treacherous stage of their quest, but still, some more of those poetic verses would’ve been welcome.
Very obviously, Tolkien saves the best parts for last – Frodo and Sam’s scary journey through the dark, dangerous path towards Mordor. Their expedition is written very vividly, and we finally meet Gollum, aka Smeagol, the creature who was in possession of the ring before Frodo’s uncle had it. As far as The Two Towers is concerned, Gollum is undoubtedly the most interesting, comical, creepy character. The way Tolkien differentiates between Gollum’s split personality—the cowardly, subservient one versus the conniving evil one—is fantastic.
After Gollum, it’s the tree-character Treebeard that fascinated me the most. As a child, when I saw the movies, I was absolutely blown away by the twist—that there was an ancient breed of sentient trees that walked upon the earth and had feelings. The subtle nature versus evil, exploitative humans’ theme is well-executed through the POV of the Ents. And as far the more human-like characters are concerned – the every-faithful Sam is undoubtedly the most likable. His unwavering support, devotion towards Frodo is bound to win readers in book 2, if they weren’t already on ‘Team Sam’.
In one of the last chapters of the book, there’s a point where both Frodo and Sam aren’t too sure of their mission succeeding, their situation is desperate, their cause seems lost, and in their darkest hours, Sam wonders if their epic journey would make it to songs. The following is a fan favorite quote, which of course, struck a chord with me too –
Sam: I wonder if people will ever say, ‘Let’s hear about Frodo and the Ring.’ And they’ll say ‘Yes, that’s one of my favorite stories. Frodo was really courageous, wasn’t he, Dad?’ ‘Yes, my boy, the most famousest of hobbits. And that’s saying a lot.’
Frodo: You’ve left out one of the chief characters – Samwise the Brave. I want to hear more about Sam. Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam.
Sam: Now Mr. Frodo, you shouldn’t make fun; I was being serious.
Frodo: So was I.
The last part of The Two Towers is quite exciting and slightly better-paced, especially when compared to the rest of the book that moves at a challenging speed. The cliffhanger with which ‘The Two Towers’ end is one of the best cliffhangers ever – totally anxiety inducing, and will make you want to grab the next book almost immediately.
Once again, I get why fans say the movies are better than the novels! But if it weren’t for Tolkien’s elaborate world-building, we would never have the films, would we! That said, I plan to watch the movies once again, having gained a newfound awe for Peter Jackson and team, they really breathed a special kind of life to Tolkien’s vision.
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