Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
As we learn through the first book we come to see that the company of the “Lord of The Rings” goes through hard trials. There is much more to come through their journey though especially in the book of “The Two Towers.” In the book of “The Two Towers” Frodo baggins, and Samwise Gamgee must journey on their own to finish the task that was left for Frodo. While Aragorn II Elessar, Legolas the elf, and Gimli the dwarf search for Peregin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck, most commonly known as Merry and pippin.
It all starts with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli searching for Merry and Pippin. The three adventurers go off through the fields tracking down those two hobbits that have been captured by the nasty orcs. The leader of the orcs is none other than the huge appalling Ugluk. He leads his team of orcs, which are known as the Uruk-hai Scouts, to Isengard. That way Saruman could have the hobbits and find out where the ring is. Their plan taking the hobbits to Isengard ended faster than they had expected for they were attacked by Rohirrim. The orcs tried to fight valiantly, but it still ended in ruins for they could not putt up a good fight because they were being shot at by arrows, and their enemy was behind trees on horseback so they couldn’t determine where they were most of the time.
While the Orcs were fighting the Rohirrims, Merry and Pippin started to sneak away from the orcs clutches. They successfully escape and begin to head into the “Forrest of Fangorn”. In the forest the hobbits meet an unexpected ally. They encounter an Ent who is known as Tree Beard. Tree Beard, and the other Ents, are on the verge of extinction because there are no more Entwives. Entwives are female Ents. Tree Beard goes onto the conversation on who are you towards Merry and Pippin. Through their conversation Tree Beard learns that Saruman has turned evil, Gandalf is dead, and a war is breaking loose. Tree Beard then goes through the struggle of deciding whether or not to help the hobbits on their quest to save Middle Earth, but decides in the end to help them. In order for Tree beard to fully help the hobbits he will need the help of his people, and he must pursue them to fight at their next gathering.
The next gathering comes, and the hobbits wait patiently to hear the verdict of their talking. The stress is slowly eating them for sometimes it sounds good, but other times it sounds bad. Tree beard them comes back with a young looking Ent called QuickBeam. They call him QuickBeam because he is much faster than most Ents. Tree Beard walking with QuickBeam shows great success with the conversation for one has already agreed to join in on the cause to fight for Middle Earth, and the safety of all Ents.
As time progressed it seemed the gathering was going nowhere until the Ents finally agreed to help the cause and fight for Middle Earth, and stop Saruman. The army of the forest begins to march on singing with their hopes high, and while Tree Beard carries Merry and Pippin along for the ride. As they Marched through the forest to stop Saruman their spirits are held high as they head towards isengard, but trouble strikes. The longer they progressed the more the Ents considered the situation, and slowly started to lose their raised morale. That can be a major issue because if the Ents lose a will to fight for Middle Earth and to stop Sarumon then that means they may not either putt up a good for, or in the end won’t fight and just head back home.
With that occurring the three heroes travel through the fields still in search for the hobbits not knowing of their situation they only think of the worse. When in reality they are perfectly fine and safe with the Ents. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli run with high hopes though of the safety of their hobbit friends until they ran into a situation. The three men ended up meeting Rohirrim. The Rohirrim were horse people located in the lands of Rohan.
While stopped by the horsemen of Rohan they asked the three travelers why they were running through their lands, and what purpose they had. As always Gimli has a smart remark which then putts the company in harms way, but because Aragorn and his charismatic skills he was able to calm them down and get the information he needed. Aragorn founded out that the hobbits were no longer in the orcs captivity, but they do not know exactly where or when they left. What they do know is that the hobbits are fine. After a long conversation with the leader of the riders of Rohan the company was able to acquire horses so that way they could travel at a greater pace so they can find their lost companions.
Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli ride through the fields in search of the lost hobbits with high hopes! They continue their journey though at a faster pace, and yet they still go a bit slower so Aragorn can keep up with the track. As they finally where the track may end they notice that it’s in the Fangorn Forest. Judging from what they have heard on the stories and tales of the forest they think that they shouldn’t enter it, but Aragorn being the heroic hero that he is insists they go. Gimli uneasy with that idea thinks they shouldn’t enter it for if they do then they may die searching for them, or die with them if they do meet up for they are low on rations. Aragorn still tied up with his idea insists they go through the forest to find the hobbits, and if they do find them at least they will know for sure of their safety and wouldn’t mind starving to death with them.
The three men enter the Fangorn Forest, but night starts to approach and the cold slowly starts to get to them. They then stopped where they were at and made a camping site for the night. Seeing the situation they were in they were going to have to be extra careful with watch for the night. For the stories of the Fangorn Forest still trailed with their thoughts. The three men took turns keeping watch and making sure the fire tended to. Suddenly a man appeared in a cloak. After his appearance the three men lost their horses. When all that had passed Gimli thought it could have been Saruman, but Aragorn thinks otherwise.
The men continue their long hard travel in search of the hobbits until they meet a man yet again covered by a cloak. He was far off in the distance like the other old man. Gimli took out his battle axe, and Legolas drew his bow keeping it ready to shoot. Just as they were about to strike and have a full on war the man covered by a cloak revealed himself. It was none other than Gandalf, but he was no longer known as Gandalf The Grey. Now he is known as Gandalf The White. He was able to be victorious in his battle. He defeated the wretched beast that they encountered from Moria known as Balrog. Gandalf then later told the men that the hobbits were fine, and that they had business elsewhere. So the company took off to theodon’s kingdom to forewarn him of a battle.
Gandalf then brought back the lost horses and the company rode off to see king theodon, and tell him to no longer side with Saruman and to fight against him. The plan was easier said then done though. The company has met yet another challenge with their quest. When the four men arrived at the kingdom of Rohan Gandalf The White noticed something strange with the king, and his advisor. He noticed how weak he was, and how the advisor was calling all the shots and how dark King Theoden was. Gandalf then used his powers to save Theoden from the darkness that he was in so he could actually have good judgement. Witnessing the display, Theonds advisor, Grima Wormtongue, ran away in fear.
With all of that behind them King Theoden request for his sword for he then knew it was time to engage in battle. He rode out with the Riders of Rohan to stop Saruman and his evil plans, but alas the man was too late! Struggle after struggle occurs within “The Two Towers”, yet they still can continue with strength and hope. The next phase that had happened was Saruman’s army striking down Rohans outer defense causing for the great battle of helms deep to occur.
The men gather in helms deep waiting for the aid of Gandalf. For Gandalf told them to wait there and not lay a foot in Isen until he had arrived. They followed his instructions very carefully and thoroughly. Not before long an army of orcs had arrived. The men were not ready for a long period fight so it was either do or die. The war raged on and the three men, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli fought bravely during the fight until their defenses were breached. The orcs had used their explosives to tare down the wall of defense leaving them vulnerable to any attack. When all was looking dull and bleak Gandalf appeared as he said with reinforcements! He led a charge to destroy the Orcs. After the fight had occurred they had to venture off to isengard to the tower of Orthanc.
Once arriving at the tower the men were then ready for yet another battle, but instead they see that they were a bit tardy to the party. The men notice that none other than Merry and Pippin were just sitting on a slab of rock smoking and waiting upon their arrival. The place was filled with water because of the battle the Ents did. The company was then back together again excluding Frodo and Sam. The task at hand though still wasn’t done. The men still had to confront Saruman and putt a stop to him once and for all.
Gandalf tries very hard to make a deal with Saruman that wouldn’t permanently harm him or affect him greatly, but the darkness was too great within Saruman. Saruman’s pride was to great and he was by far from wanting to compromise. Seeing the situation Gandalf decided to take matters into his own hand by destroying Saruman’s staff. After the destruction of Saruman’s staff Grima Wormtongue then foolishly threw the palantir out the window hoping to hit someone, but it horribly missed. Not only did he just give away Saruman’s prized possession but he also messed up a perfect revenge moment.
After the fight the men gathered together spending a good relaxing downtime together. Legolas was able to meet the Ents and same with Gimili, and Aragorn as well. After their encounter they all went their separate ways. Gandalf told the Ents though to fill the places with water to Saruman could not escape. As the Ents went back home Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Pippin, and Theoden continued out from the area. The group rested well for the night, but not so much for Pippin. Pippin’s curiosity got the best of him. He went over to Gandalf while he was sleeping so he could take a glimpse at the palantir. When he took a look inside the palantir he started to see things. Gandalf awakens and then notices what had just happened so he seized the palantir from Pippin and took him straight to Gondor to the city of Minas Tirith.
Through this entire journey it’s slowly the beginning of Aragorn learning the ways of being a king for he has a lot of time to make up for being gone and living a life that wasn’t really his own. He is going to be the new ruler in Gondor
After all of the issues that the six men had to go through it’s time to move onto Frodo and Sam. During this time period it’s three days after the company has been disbanded. Frodo and Sam head off to Mordor so that they can finish the task at hand, and that’s destroying the ring. The two start off with just each other figuring out where to go so they can finish this task. What they don’t know is that this entire time the two have been followed by an unexpected soul.
Gollum makes his appearance to them clear when he tries to take the ring from Frodo. Frodo and Sam stop Gollum from taking the ring, and they capture him and make a deal with him. Their deal is that they will not capture Gollum anymore if he takes them to Mordor. Gollum agrees to this and starts calling Frodo master, and slowly starts to enjoy their company. Uneasy about Gollum Sam questions if they should really trust him/it for they don’t know entire what it can do. Frodo tells Sam later on that he is their only way to Mordor so Sam still carries along with Gollum being their guide.
As time passes Gollum starts to get feelings for the ring the longer he is with the hobbits. He plans on taking the ring sometime, but his good side “Slinker” says they should be good and help the hobbits. The bad side which is known as “Stinker” says they should kill the hobbits and take the ring all for themselves.
Later in the story Frodo and Sam meet Faramir who is brother to Boromir. Faramir constantly interrogates Frodo on what he carries that is so great. His curiosity was getting stronger and stronger for what Frodo was carrying. He was trying to find some way to make the hobbit talk, but he wouldn’t. Then Faramir found out about Gollum. When he heard of the things about Gollum he knew that he could get the answer from him, but what he didn’t know is that he jeopardized Frodo’s and Sam’s lives. After Frodo helped Faramir capture Gollum, Gollum, became very mad at Frodo and lost all trust in him which made him move more on to his bad side.
Gollum’s bad side’s plan was to take Frodo and Sam to Her. Her is Shelob, and Shelob is a giant spider who consumes and adapts. Her story was that she was here for many centuries before the time of man. She lives in the mountains waiting for food. Gollum praises Her and helps Her get food. The two have a pact together. Gollum’s plan is to feed Frodo and Sam to her so that way he could then possess his precious and no longer have to wait on Frodo.
As this new situation slowly starts to rise up Frodo and Sam begin to continue their journey with Gollum. Frodo still unaware of the bad things about to happen just freely moves along with Gollum, but Sam notices things. Sam starts to watch Gollum and makes assumptions that he is up to no good. He then hears Gollum talking about bad things that he is going to do to them and goes on a complete tirade, but Frodo doesn’t listen. Gollum then slowly starts to deceive Frodo and his friendship with Sam so that way he could take him out of the picture. That’s one of the many struggles that happens within “The Two Towers”.
As Gollum proceeds to lead Frodo to his demise Sam still tries to convince Frodo that Gollum is up to no good. Frodo still stubborn as usual continues with Gollum. Sam tries to stop him one last time, but it was too late. They were already in the lair of Shelob. The giant spider proceeds to attempt to consume the hobbits. Gollum disappears from this action to watch them get swallowed alive, but Sam says otherwise. He grabs his sword and putts up a fight to defend his master Frodo. SamWise tries his hardest to defend, but arrives to late to the rescue. Seeing Frodo’s dead body on the ground he takes the ring and decides to finish what his master has started. He then heard someone coming to his area from a distance so Sam quickly hid. Orcs came and noticed Frodos dead body on the ground, but what Sam thought was dead was actually a living breathing Frodo who was just paralyzed by the spider. Realizing this he now knows his new mission. To save Frodo from the orcs so he can finish his quest once and for all.
This long story went over the common themes within the book “The Two Towers”. Hard trials are shown throughout the entire book. Not one chapter of the book shows an easy going moment. It’s always one hardship after the next just so that way Frodo Baggins can destroy the ring once and for all.