Two Towers/Summary

Summary

Book Three

Chapter 1: The Departure of Boromir

• Short chapter
• ARagorn on his own, caught between Amon Hen or back
• Depiction of what Aragorn sees from the summit (nothing), contrasts with what Frodo saw
• Aragorn hears fighting
• Boromir's fight offscene
• Brought low by Orcs but also by behavior toward Frodo
• Aragorn traces Orcs to Saruman, emergence of conflict with Saruman
• He keeps Boromir's final confession to himself
• Makes the decision to follow Merry and Pippin rather than abandon them to help Frodo and Sam
• Funeral songs for Boromir (Legolas and Gimli)

Chapter 2: Riders of Rohan

• Three heroes run and run and run
• Picture of a desolate landscape
• Flashback narrative, squabbling Orcs
• Further into Rohan, get glimpse of Gondor
• Foreshadowing of storyline: need to deal with Sauron, but deal with Saruman first
• Far off Eagle spotted
• Finding of Lorien brooch
• Stop for the night
• Losing hope
• 36 hours behind Orcs (thanks Boromir)
• Background on Rohirrim
• Trio surprises Rohirrim horsemen, pissing contest
• Aragorn reveals himself as the Heir of Elendil
• Eomer trusts Aragorn b/c of Boromir
• Eomer informs the party that they attacked/burned the Orc party
• Gives background on Rohan, setting up rest of Book 3 - Rohan weak, Saruman on the prowl
• Picture of Saruman's war stretegy
• Why Saruman is dangerous
• Gandalf unpopular in Rohan - doomsayer (foreshadowing Wormtongue)
• Edge of Fangorn Forest - remains of Orcs
• Strange figure (old man) appears, then disappears, does not return for several chapters
• Chapter begins fresh narrative, creates interesting branch of narrative, stalls Frodo and Sam developments

Chapter 3: The Uruk-hai

• Steps narrative up a notch
• Cuts to Pippin and Merry
• Merry fight/capture scene
• Pippin doubts his presence on the quest
• Addresses black sheep of why they were included
• Chapter begins to weave the sub-plot of Ugluk and Grishnakh (Mordor and Isengard)
• Ugluk (Isengard) - show-off, junior in first command, kbarks, stupid speeches, puffs chest
• Grishnahk (Mordor) - grizzled old vet, seen and done it all, dismissive of Ugluk
• Hobbits exploit situation (need to keep prisoners alive, fights breaking out)
• Orc medicine - fast and rough
• Internal power struggle between Orcs, precipitated by principle of "least intelligence"
• Running running running
• Question mark over fate of two hobbits
• Grishnakh tries to run off with the hobbits (knows about ring, etc)
• Merry and Pippin watch the battle while snacking on lembas bread
• Escape into the forest, miss Eomer's last battle with Ugluk
• Final words of chapter, "The smoke rose high and was seen by many eyes", is ominous foreshadowing

Chapter 4: Treebeard

• Fangorn Forest
• Antique forest
• Pippin - Took leadership bloodline, important in the Shire
• Treebeard makes his appearance
• Callback to "The Shadow of the Past", possible sighting of Entwives
• Treebeard shows sarcasm, name-drops Gandalf
• Callbacks/comparisons to Tom Bombadil
• Treebeard cares for the Hobbits
• Ents depicted as independent
• Saruman's look: "his face... became like windows in a stone wall; windows with shutters inside"
• Characterization of Saruman
• * Treebeard suddenly decides now is time to make a stand (may have been planning this for a while)
• Original depiction of Treebeard (Fangorn) was a servant of Saruman, traps Gandalf and keeps him prisoner
• Still a bit dark
• Story of the Entwives
• Entmoot scene, trees decide to go to war
• Anti-climatctic
• Chapter brings in the fantasy aspects of Middle Earth

Chapter 5: The White Rider

• Deus ex machina
• Takes us back to Legolas/Gimli/Aragorn
• Aragorn follows trail of Merry and Pippin, recalls scene, they continue into the forest
• Aragorn searching for redemption
• Gandalf's return (the strange old man)
• Deus ex machina - reveals the lack of a plan for LotR
• Somewhat ham-fisted
• Emotional weight of his fall trashed (hero syndrome)
• Gandalf initially acts stoned - is confused about who he is
• Only asks for news
• Gandalf seems surprised by obvious things (Sam joined Frodo), Gandalf continues to not explain how he got there
• Gandalf mentions Galadriel's concern about Boromir (raises questions: why would they let him continue in the party without saying anything?)
• Gandalf lays out bad guys strategy (Mordor and Isengard), Sauron able to overpower Saruman, Saruman doesn't have chance at getting the ring
• Info about Nazgul, Ents
• Legendary nature of Ents reinforced
• New trio for the quest - off to war in Rohan
• Edoras and house of Theoden
• Finally get Gandalf's story
• Confusing/badly explained, but not referenced much after
• Shadowfax
• Chapter represents break in narrative of Book 3