
The three of them set off to chase the Orcs. Boromir dies, and his body is set down over the Falls of Rauros on a 'funeral boat' Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli decide to follow the Orcs who had captured Merry and Pippin, rather than following Frodo and Sam. I - The Departure of Boromir - Aragorn finds Boromir hit with many arrows, who tells him that Orcs took Merry and Pippin, and that they were still alive.Gandalf and Pippin then head for Minas Tirith in preparation for the upcoming war. Pippin, unable to resist the urge, looks into it and has an encounter with Sauron. This turns out to be one of the palantíri. Wormtongue throws something from a window at Gandalf and those with him. After giving Saruman a chance to repent, Gandalf casts him out of the order of wizards. There, they reunite with Merry and Pippin and find the fortress overrun by Ents, who had flooded it with the nearby river and besieged Orthanc, where Saruman hid in refuge. Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Théoden, Éomer, Gandalf and some guards then head to Saruman's stronghold, Isengard.Ĭover of the The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power tie-in Edition The fleeing Orcs run into a forest of Huorns half-tree, half-ent creatures and none escape. At the Hornburg, they resist an onslaught of Orcs and Men sent by Saruman, and Gandalf arrives the next morning with the Westfold army led by Erkenbrand just in time. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas then travel to the defensive fortification of the Hornburg, while Gandalf goes north in search of Erkenbrand's men to bring as reinforcements. In the process, Saruman's agent in Edoras, Gríma Wormtongue, is expelled. The four ride to Edoras and persuade King Théoden that his people are in danger. He tells them of his fall into the abyss, his battle to the death with the Balrog and his reawakening. However, Aragorn is able to find small prints and they follow these into Fangorn, where they meet a white wizard who they at first believe to be Saruman, but who turns out to be their wizard friend Gandalf, whom they believed had perished in the mines of Moria.

The forest generally keep to themselves, but are moved to oppose the menace posed to the trees by the wizard Saruman, who has been chopping down trees in the forest to fuel fires for his furnaces.Īragorn, Gimli the Dwarf, and Legolas the Elf, tracking Merry and Pippin, come across Éomer of Rohan and his riders who tell them that they attacked the Orcs the previous night and left no survivors. Merry and Pippin head into nearby Fangorn Forest where they encounter treelike giants called Ents. The Hobbits Merry and Pippin escape from the Orcs who captured them when the Orcs themselves are attacked by the Riders of Rohan. While the first section tells of an epic battle, the struggles in much of the second are internal.Ĭontents Book III: The Treason of Isengard

The narrative of the second part returns to the hero's quest to destroy the evil that threatens the world. The first section follows the divergent paths of several important figures from The Fellowship of the Ring, but tells nothing of its central character, on whose fate so much depends, enabling the reader to share in the suspense and uncertainty of the characters themselves.

It begins and ends abruptly, without introduction to the characters, explanations of major plot elements or a satisfying conclusion. Loosely, any pair from a set of six towers in the story could plausibly fit the title: Cirith Ungol, Orthanc, Minas Tirith, Barad-dûr, Minas Morgul, and the Hornburg.īecause The Two Towers is the central portion of a longer work, its structure differs from that of a conventional novel. He also produced a final cover illustration showing these towers, but the publisher decided not to use it in order to save money on the production costs. However, he eventually settled on Orthanc and Minas Morgul and wrote a note to this effect which appears at the end of most editions of The Fellowship of the Ring. In letters and one sketch, he considered several possible sets of towers, including Minas Tirith and Barad-dûr, and even the possibility of leaving the matter ambiguous. Tolkien came up with the title under deadline pressure and later expressed dissatisfaction with it.
