The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
By: J.R.R Tolkien
I assume you have read The Fellowship of The Ring, though if you have not, all you have
to know is in the end of the Fellowship of The Ring, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli follow the
Orcs who have captured the two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, and that Frodo and Sam together,
travel to Mordor. to give a brief summary of the book, The Two Towers.
Merry and Pippin are hauled around by the orcs for several days. When the Riders of Rohan
surround them, one of the orcs tries to get away with them but is killed. They escape and
flee into the forest. There, they meet the Ent, Treebeard, who takes them to his home and
listens to their stories. He is enraged by the tale of the evils around and gathers the
long idle ents. They elect to rouse the forest and attack Isengard themselves. Meanwhile,
Aragorn and the others pursue the hobbits' prints into the forest and meet an old man. It
turns out to be Gandalf whom they had assumed dead after his fall in Moria. He tells them
what has transpired and urges that they all go to Edoras, the capital of Rohan. There they
release King Theoden from the evil lies of Grima, a servant of Saruman. Theoden rallies
his people to go fight Saruman and they ride tirelessly to the aid of their countrymen.
They make a desperate stand against Saruman's armies and finally overcome them with the
help of the ents' trees. Gandalf rides to Isengard and the Company of the Ring is almost
united, excluding the two other hobbits and Boromir. Merry and Pippin recount their tale
and the defeat of Isengard. Saruman has retreated to the inner stronghold. Gandalf mounted
the stairs to speak to him. Saruman tries to get Gandalf to join him, and help Sauron rise
to power. Gandalf breaks Saruman's magic staff and announces that he is cast from the
council of wizards. Soon after they ride off towards Rohan. When it becomes apparent that
the forces of Sauron are afoot, Gandalf rides off in the other direction to prepare to
fight the lord of darkness. Frodo and Sam move closer to Mordor with great difficulty.
They find Gollum, a creature who once bore the Ring, and who has been following them for
some time. The hobbits force him to lead them into Mordor. The journey is long and
exhausting. Gollum first leads them to the main gates that cannot be entered. He tells
them that there is another way, and they begin another long walk. They run into a group of
men from Gondor and slowly begin to trust them. Faramir, the brother of Boromir, shows
them hospitality in a wilderness fortress and they exchange their tales. From this
encounter, the hobbits receive enough food to continue their quest. They leave the company
of Faramir and journey to the other gate to Mordor. There they watch a great army march
out to wage war on the world. Gollum leads them up seemingly endless staircases and into a
secret tunnel. In the tunnel, Gollum abandons them and they find themselves attacked by a
wretched spider-like beast named Shelob. The spider overcomes Frodo and Sam eventually
beats the creature away. He weeps when he finds that Frodo is no longer breathing and
takes the Ring, meaning to continue on with the quest. He overhears a couple of orcs as
they carry away Frodo's body and realizes that the poison of the spider merely makes the
victim appear to be dead. He follows the orcs and is closed out of their fortress as he
watches them carry Frodo away.
Review by Sonia, 10th grade. |