Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

While the first volume very much has a beginning, as the point-of-view character Frodo finds out about the ring he inherited, and the third volume very much has an ending, with a climatic battle, good versus evil and the clash of civilizations, the second volume starts in the middle of the story and ends very much in the middle of the story.

Don't pick this book up without having read The Fellowship of the Ring first.

The Eponymous Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers of the title refer to Orcthanc and Minas Morgul, although a case could be made for any number of other important towers that play roles here.

The book starts at an awkward spot - the Fellowship for which the first book was named has just been forcibly broken up. Frodo and Sam have left the band, frightened at the influence the Ring they carry is having on their fellows, and resolved to complete the quest alone. Boromir has been killed attempting to save the two younger hobbits, Merry and Pippin, from evil Orcs. He has failed and the remainder of the fellowship, knowing that Frodo and Sam at least are at liberty and chose their path, follow the path of the marauders to try to rescue the prisoner hobbits.

For fully half the book, the story follows these characters, leaving the fate of Frodo and Sam to the second half of the book. This is strange storytelling to a modern reader, who is more used to the (apparently relatively new) technique of interleaving chapters that switch from one sphere of action to another and back again, keeping us apprised of what is happening to various groups of characters alternatively. One is forced to speculate that The Two Towers might not be quite so draggy in spots if Tolkien had employed this device.

Monsters, Spiders and Talking Trees

In Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, we discover that Gandalf, thought killed in The Fellowship of the Ring, has survived, but that a fellow wizard, Saruman, is a traitor. The hobbits are saved from Saruman's minion orcs by the Ents, eldest tree spirits that take the form of walking, talking giant trees. Our reduced fellowship, the dwarf, elf, man and wizard, enlist the help of the rider of Rohan, a rather primitive, by Gondorian standards, society that lives on the plains protected by Gondor.

Turning our attention to the two hobbits who fled the fellowship, we find Frodo and Sam making their way toward the enemy's land. They meet up with the sad, strange creature Gollum, from whom Bilbo had found the ring many years ago, and are forced to enlist his treacherous self into their company to further their own goals and prevent him from giving them away. Alas, for good intentions, Gollum leads the two directly to the lair of Shelob, a giant spider, who stings Frodo with a poisonous bite, allowing him to be captured by orcs. It is at this inauspicious moment that the second volume of The Lord of the Rings ends.

Just try to quit reading here!