The Two Towers Analysis

The Two Towers is a good title for this novel, and not just because it includes two towers in it (two at the least; for more on the many towers in this book, check out "What's Up With the Title?")....

To be fair, some of the action in this story appears in dialogue. For example, Gandalf explains his battle with the Balrog in his own words, and Merry relates the destruction of Isengard directly t...

We doubt there are many people out there who would argue that The Two Towers isn't an adventure novel. We've got fighting, mayhem, danger, and secrecy on every page. And of course, what generates a...

Throughout both the Aragorn and Frodo plot lines of The Two Towers, there is an increased sense of seriousness. The Fellowship of the Ring was pretty funny, with the clear contrasts between the chi...

There are plenty of battles in The Two Towers, what with the Rohirrim's destruction of the orcs who have captured Merry and Pippin, the conflict between Gandalf and Gríma Wormtongue, the pulling d...

There's the Eiffel Tower, the Tower of London, the Leaning Tower of Pisa—if you've got a tower in your backyard, you've probably got something interesting going on. Towers are signs of wealth, po...

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die,One for the Dark Lord on his dark throneIn the Land of Mordor w...

Tolkien was absolutely not a fan of using the word "trilogy" to refer to The Lord of the Rings: "The book is not of course a 'trilogy.' That and the titles of the volumes was a fudge thought necess...

Tolkien has a clear, straightforward style, so the language of The Two Towers is not too challenging. What might make this book a bit difficult is if you suffer (as some of us here at Shmoop do) fr...

Note: Obviously, there are two distinct plots in The Two Towers. There is the story of Aragorn and Company teaming up with the Riders of Rohan to face off against the troops of Isengard (which tak...

The CallBy the start of The Two Towers Book Four, Frodo and Sam have not lost their will to continue on with their quest (at least, not yet), but they don't know how to get where they need to go....

Disclaimer: In this three-act plot analysis, we will follow the plot of the Ring quest in this analysis, since that is the journey that frames the whole Lord of the Rings series. For more informat...

In Tolkien's Middle-earth, the dwarves have a language that they keep secret. Thus, Gimli is the public name of our favorite dwarf. In his own language, he has a name that he will never tell to non...

The raciest thing we get in The Two Towers is Éowyn looking at Aragorn with, ahem, interest. There is less than no sex in these stories, since the whole focus is on fighting evil and manly (nonsex...

All of Tolkien's shout-outs in The Two Towers are to his own work. He mentions things that happen in his The Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, and in his collection of fictional elvish mytholo...