The Two Towers (Book Review)

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Title: The Two Towers
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Publication Date: 11 November 1954
Copyright Date: 1955, 1965 by J.R.R. Tolkien
Recording Date: 1990 Recorded Books, Inc.
Narrated by: Rob Inglis
Recording Time: 16 hours, 40 minutes

THE PLOT:

(via wiki)

Book III: The Treason of Isengard

A party of large Orcs, Uruk-hai, sent by Saruman, and other Orcs sent by Sauron and led by Grishnákh, attack the Fellowship. Boromir tries to protect Merry and Pippin from the Orcs, but they kill him and capture the two hobbits. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas decide to pursue the Orcs taking Merry and Pippin to Saruman. In the kingdom of Rohan, the Orcs are killed by Riders of Rohan, led by Éomer. Merry and Pippin escape into Fangorn Forest, where they are befriended by Treebeard, the oldest of the tree-like Ents. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas track the hobbits to Fangorn. There they unexpectedly meet Gandalf, resurrected from the dead.

Gandalf explains that he killed the Balrog. He was also killed in the fight, but was sent back to Middle-earth to complete his mission. He is clothed in white and is now Gandalf the White, for he has taken Saruman’s place as the chief of the wizards. Gandalf assures his friends that Merry and Pippin are safe. Together they ride to Edoras, capital of Rohan. Gandalf frees Théoden, King of Rohan, from the influence of Saruman’s spy Gríma Wormtongue. Théoden musters his fighting strength and rides with his men to the ancient fortress of Helm’s Deep, while Gandalf departs to seek help from Treebeard.

Meanwhile, the Ents, roused by Merry and Pippin from their peaceful ways, attack and destroy Isengard, Saruman’s stronghold, and flood it, trapping the wizard in the tower of Orthanc. Gandalf convinces Treebeard to send an army of Huorns to Théoden’s aid. He brings an army of Rohirrim to Helm’s Deep, and they defeat the Orcs, who flee into the forest of Huorns, never to be seen again. Gandalf, Théoden, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli ride to Isengard, and are surprised to find Merry and Pippin relaxing amidst the ruins. Gandalf offers Saruman a chance to turn away from evil. When Saruman refuses to listen, Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers. After Saruman leaves, Wormtongue throws down a hard round object to try to kill Gandalf. It misses and Pippin picks it up; Gandalf swiftly takes it, but Pippin steals it in the night. It is revealed to be a palantír, a seeing-stone that Saruman used to speak with Sauron, and that Sauron used to ensnare him. Pippin begins to be entranced by its power. While Gandalf sleeps, Pippin examines the palantír, inadvertently causing Sauron to see him; as Pippin is a hobbit, Sauron believes Pippin has the One Ring. Gandalf is awoken by the commotion and is able to save the incapacitated Pippin. Gandalf immediately rides for Minas Tirith, the chief city of Gondor, taking Pippin with him.

Book IV: The Ring Goes East

Frodo and Sam, heading for Mordor to destroy the One Ring, struggle through the barren hills and cliffs of the Emyn Muil. They become aware they are being watched and tracked; on a moonlit night they capture Gollum, who has followed them from Moria. Frodo makes Gollum swear to serve him, as Ringbearer, and asks him to guide them to Mordor. Gollum leads them across the Dead Marshes. Sam overhears Gollum debating with his alter ego, Sméagol, whether to break his promise and steal the Ring.

They find that the Black Gate of Mordor is too well guarded to pass through, so instead they travel south through the land of Ithilien to a secret pass that Gollum knows. On the way, they are captured by rangers led by Faramir, Boromir’s younger brother, and brought to the secret fastness of Henneth Annûn. Unlike his brother, Faramir resists the temptation to seize the Ring and, disobeying standing orders to arrest strangers found in Ithilien, releases them.

Gollum – who is torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his desire for the Ring – guides the hobbits to the pass of Cirith Ungol, but leads them into the lair of the great spider Shelob in the tunnels there. Frodo holds up the gift given to him in Lothlórien: the Phial of Galadriel, which holds the light of Eärendil‘s star. The light drives Shelob away, and Frodo and Sam are able to get through the pass safely. However, after they leave the pass, Shelob appears and attacks Frodo; before he can help his master, Sam is attacked by Gollum. After fighting off Gollum, Sam picks up Frodo’s sword, Sting; and the Phial. He seriously wounds and drives off Shelob, but after the fight, he finds Frodo unresponsive. Believing him to be dead, Sam takes the Ring to continue the quest alone. Before Sam gets far, however, Orcs find Frodo; Sam overhears them and learns that Frodo is still alive.

The Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the 1990 Rob Inglis audiobook narration of The Two Towers. His voice is a perfect match for this story and I have no doubt that his voice acting played a role in directing some of the live action performances for Peter Jackson’s film trilogy. There are of course a lot of audiobook options available for this series, and I might eventually listen to the others. However, for my part, I find no fault whatsoever with the original.

There was a time when I was more familiar with the written source material than the Peter Jackson films. Time and laziness have flipped the old paradigm. It’s just easier to watch three perfect films than to read three perfect books. Now instead of being delighted to notice a line of book dialogue while watching the movie, I celebrate hearing the film lines come through in the source material. Let me give a bit of advice to any would-be book-to-screen adaptors. Do what Peter Jackson did and use as many of the author’s words as possible. The Two Towers film is REPLETE with dialogue pulled directly, or nearly so, right off the page. This is wise. Tolkien was an unbelievable writer. It was a joy to notice the places where the film dialogue overlapped with the books, over and over again, as I went through this book.

The Two Towers is divided into two books, with the first focused on the remainder of the Fellowship, saving Rohan, and bringing down Saruman. The second book within the book is the story of Sam and Frodo after they left together for Mordor, without the others. Both sides of the tale are great. I enjoyed Merry and Pippin’s interactions with the Ents, especially their food-based victory celebration at Isengard. The growing friendship between Legolas and Gimli was fun to read, particularly their keeping count of who kills the most orcs. This might seem macabre if the orcs were pitiable creatures, with families, just doing what they can to find a better life but Tolkien does not present them that way in the text.

Gandalf’s return was excellent and enjoyable, also. It’s hard to put myself in the headspace that I occupied the first time I read the story, but objectively I think Tolkien both hides his return well and also explained it in a satisfactory way.

This seems like a good spot to interject on something for which Tolkien is known and for which he is sometimes is derided. He believed that if a story has catastrophes (nearly all of them do at some point,) they should also have eucatastrophe. Real life has both. Why not stories?

(from wiki)

A eucatastrophe is a sudden turn of events in a story which ensures that the protagonist does not meet some terrible, impending, and plausible and probable doom. The concept was created by the philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien in his essay “On Fairy-Stories”, based on a 1939 lecture. The term has since been taken up by other authors, and by scholars.

If you have ever had a near death experience, or an almost-but-not-quite serious accident, you might reframe your lucky moment as your own personal eucatastrophe.

The best part of The Two Towers is the journey of Frodo and Sam, with Sam being the primary point of view character for their tale. We also get introduced to Gollum as a major character. Tolkien’s story proves Gandalf correct in his belief that the pity of Bilbo might prove to be fortuitous. He also does a good job of showing that there is still good in Gollum, even if the evil in him might be the more powerful of his two natures. Gollum – unlike the orcs – is not a character beyond hope of redemption. Even his betrayal of the hobbits comes across as understandable, if not admirable. He betrays them after he feels betrayed by them.

The star of the book is Sam. I have a sense that Tolkien greatly admired most of his characters, but that he loved Samwise Gamgee. There is an intimacy and emotional punch with Sam’s part of the story that surpasses how Tolkien wrote the rest. Perhaps Tolkien saw himself in Sam, or maybe he just wanted his readers to see themselves in Mr. Frodo’s gardener. There might be no better writing in all of fantasy literature than Sam’s combat with Shelob. The rest of the cast feels very archetypal, but Sam is the stand-in for us. He’s also the hero.

The book ends on a cliffhanger, with Mr. Frodo in mortal peril and the armies of Mordor on the march. Will Sam save his Master? Will Aragorn and Gandalf rally the world to face Sauron? What role does Gollum still have to play? I very much look forward to reading and finding out.

If you haven’t picked up The Lord of the Rings in a while, i highly recommend it. The Two Towers is a truly outstanding work of literature.