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~SUMMARY
OF THE TWO TOWERS~
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THE
TWO TOWERS
BOOK
3
Aragorn,
Gimli and Legolas decide not to follow Frodo and Sam into Mordor,
but instead to follow Merry and Pippin, who have been kidnapped
by Uruk-Hai. They chase the group of Orcs through the
land of Rohan, for many miles and many nights without rest.
The discover the trail of the Orcs and follow it. Unfortunately,
the Orcs are more than 36 hours ahead. Eventually, 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 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.
In the mean
while, Pippin and Merry are being taken by the Orcs of Isengard,
the Uruk-Hai, with the White Hand as a sign. Actually, it appears
that also other 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 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 Orcs, who have been
cutting beautifull trees in his woods without apparent reason,
makes him angry. He calls for an Entmoot, a gathering of Ents.
The Ents gather and, initiated by the coming of Merry and Pippin,
the Ents decide to attack Isengard to take revenge. They march
forth.
Meanwhile,
Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas find the place where the battle took
part. They do not find the bodies of the hobbits, but intead,
Aragorn finds a mysterious trail leading to the forest. In this
forest the meet and old man, clothed in white. He appears 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. Gandalf knows that Frodo is
venturing East. They cannot help him directly, but instead 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 is angry with Gandalf, because he
took Shadowfax, the mightiest horse in his country, after his
flight from Isengard earlier. 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, having made a deal
with Saruman to become the ruler of Rohan and the husband of
Théodens sister-daughter Eowyn when Saruman conquered
all. After the advice of Wormtongue Éomer is held captive. Théoden's
only son 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 rises to be one of
the great Lords of Rohan and mobilizes his army. He will lead
them himself against Saruman. Wormtongue is free to go.
Together,
they all ride within a day to the Isen, where they see 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 sounds and, under the cheers "Helm for Théoden",
Théoden himself rides to battle. Together with Éomer and Aragorn,
they 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 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. The battle is won.
In the mean
while, while Isengard's army is batteling at the Isen, the Ents
attack Isengard. After some time, 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 is not conquered yet,
he has locked himself up 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,
after having left Edoras, also resides in Orthanc. In his anger,
he 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, he is caught by Sauron, who is
in the possession 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 to quickly go 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 are being followed by Gollum.
The capture Gollum by force. Gollum tries to escape, but he
is captured again. Frodo makes him swear on the Ring not to
run away. Gollum will be their guide to Mordor, because he knows
the area. 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 black tall gates. It is imppossible to enter. Gollum
claims to know a 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
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. Faramir lets them
all 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. It 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 pass on by high stairs to the pass of Cirith Ungul. Suddenly,
Gollum is gone.
What they
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 intent, being helped with the light from Galadriel's
phile, he pushes Sting 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 in the cave, he hears
Orcs passing, who discover Frodo's body. They say that he is
only poisened, but not death. they take him along to their fort.
Sam follows them. There he is, alone; Frodo is captured by the
enemy.
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RELATED
LINKS:
Lord
of the Rings
 -=[RBoW]=-
Lord of the Rings : background on LOTR
-=[RBoW]=-
Fellowship of the Ring : summary of the 1st book of LOTR
-=[RBoW]=-
Return of the King: summary of the last book of the trilogy
Other
books
-=[RBoW]=-
The Hobbit : summary of the Hobbit
-=[RBoW]=-
The Silmarillion : summary of the Silmarillion
-=[RBoW]=-
Bibliography : a list of Tolkien's books
- J.R.R. Tolkien:
The Lord of the Rings. London: HarperCollins Publishers,
1994. ISBN0-261-10320-2
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