Last week, I introduced the first book in The Lord of the Rings series, The Fellowship of the Ring. Today, we will explore the second book: The Two Towers. This book starts off with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli hunting down a group of orcs who kidnapped Merry and Pippin, following them north to the land of the Rohirrim. The men of Rohan got to the orcs first, and slaughtered them on the edge of Fangorn Forest. Merry and Pippin escaped into Fangorn when the fighting broke out, and ran into someone that they did not expect. Aragorn and his companions go to Théoden King in Edoras, where they set out to battle traitor Saruman's army of Uruk-hai at Helm's Deep.
The second half of the Two Towers takes us back to Frodo and Sam when the fellowship parted, and follows in their footsteps for the remainder of this book. The task has fallen to these two to complete the journey that they set out upon: To destroy the Ring. As they draw closer to Mordor, Frodo begins to feel the Ring as if it was an actual, physical presence weighing him down. There are dangers both above and below him, as well as the ever present power of the Ring. To get into Mordor, Frodo and Sam have to make several difficult decisions, and not necessarily one's that will ensure that they come out of this mess alive.
I love the title of this book: The Two Towers. There are several theories on which two towers in the book this actually references. My belief is that the title is pointing towards Orthanc, which is Saruman's stronghold in Isengard, and the tower of Barad-dur, which is where the dark lord Sauron abides in Mordor. If you have read this book and have your own idea, I encourage you to share it in the comments below. Next week we will finish up this trilogy with the third and final book: The Return of the King.
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